1. Mamie Taylor’s
Even though the restaurant’s website calls the place a “modern American restaurant”, it is a crime to even think of the food here as that ordinary. In fact, this joint is my favorite one to date as the dishes are although in plain letters may sound just like something you’ve might have had before, the style of cooking and the final taste that comes with each meticulous bite that you take is of a whole other caliber.
This is Mamie Taylor, a taxidermist lounging space with great and affordable food manned by partners Simon Kaulback and Ron Oliver. Having worked as bartenders before, both men, despite being first timers when it comes to heading their own restaurant are much knowledgeable in terms of knowing what it takes to please potential diners. Employing former Bistro Pastis executive chef Tobias Grignon was part of their master plan to come up with a menu that will see the use of local ingredients cooked in the best and most appetizingly awesome way possible.
This is a place where conversations about food becomes just as interesting as the ornaments of wild animal heads that graze about the walls of the place. There is also a big bright open kitchen that sees a small brigade of chefs who are all working at a calming pace despite the number of orders that continuously come in. The smell that fills the kitchen inevitably escapes out into the dining room leaving patient customers jittery and excited like little kids for what’s to come up.
To start things off, they offer a miniature plate of chicken fried Sweetbreads, the outrageously perfectly fried skin paving way to a delicate thymus gland that is bleeding with juices. The only thing missing to complete the already tasty dish is a thin pool of curried gravy that is heavenly in terms of flavor.
For those who want to indulge head-on even before the mains come in, the Oxtail Fondue is a pot a feu of all things enticingly delicious. At the bottom layer is an oxtail spread that is delicate in a melt-in your mouth sort of way, deep in terms of its meaty essence and sublimely tender all at the same time. Atop it is a thick layer of swiss and goat cheese, with the fullness of the swiss dutifully masking the slight tanginess that is often associated with the goat variety. The addition of fill-ins such as green apples, chili and chopped up parsley cuts through the richness that is provided for by both the cheese and oxtail spread, making it that much more easier to devour. For proper etiquette, scoop up a small amount of everything inside the pot and layer it on top of a nicely grilled and immensely buttery slice of sourdough.
As for the main feature, a current addition to their already profound list of delectable items is the Bacon Wrapped Oysters. Here, the star of the plate are the three abominable pieces of oysters with each one tightly enclosed in a thick swirl of smoky bacon whose inevitable saltiness paves way to a sudden overflow of a sweet and briny juice that is intimately satisfying. Contrasting its could be overtly satiating effect on the palate, there is a semolina flour based gnocchi that is tender and surprisingly light. As for viands, there are of course your requisite sides like brussel sprouts and butternut squash, all elegantly tossed in a savory Apple and Walnut Tartar Sauce.
What could possibly be considered as the best slab of Pork Chop that I have ever had insofar, Mamie Taylor’s succulent version is one that is filled with cornbread stuffing. Despite its seemingly simple presentation along with bits of bacon wrapped apples and roasted kale, the dish is incomparable in terms of taste.
Even your regular go-to Mc Donald’s original Cheeseburger has been glorified a million times right here. The secret is developing a six-ounce patty that is loaded with rich intensified meaty goodness while still making sure that it is pull-of-the-fork tender and juicy. This is what has just been accomplished with Grignon’s Burger. Being an imitation that is definitely better than the original, his recipe comes with melted fontina cheese, house-made yellow mustard and a sundried tomato relish that has been spread all over the interior of a sesame seed bun. Served with a sufficient amount of skinny fries and ketchup, the burger has lived up to its name and has now come to be a mainstay in my list of favorite dishes in the city.
Mamie Taylor’s
251 East Georgia St
Vancouver, BC
2. Campagnolo
The mark of a good restaurant is when the diner knows not what to expect. In the five times that I have dined at Campagnolo, no two experiences of mine were identical. They do perform the standard pasta and pizza ensemble but the dishes that they pull out are seasonally inspired which only means that loyal accolades to their creations will always have something new and exciting to try out. The restaurant works in close collaboration with the Vancouver Farmer’s Market. The summer months expanding from June to October is the time when they man a tight stall at Thornton Park for what is known to many as the Main St. Station Farmer’s Market. Head Chef Ted Anderson is passionate about sourcing everything that is fresh, local and wild, carefully picking his way through an array of promising ingredients from which he can base his evening market menus from.
The kitchen is smart enough to keep renegaded specials. For antipasti, their Crispy Ceci is what has gotten me here on a constant basis. Pan fried chickpeas sautéed in a melange of spices giving it a subdued red-orange tint. There is no other way of accentuating such a humble piece than by simply adding virtuous greens like spinach and mint spiked up with chilies and lemon. Each wave of bright, earthy and spicy notes is refreshing to the palate and the combination is almost impossible for the mind to forget.
I have come to love this place particularly for their pasta dishes all of which are made fresh by hard working hands each day. Every recipe that they put together is interesting and modern in a purist sort of way. Pasta lovers can be separated into two camps, those who prefer hearty bright red tomato based sauces and those who are more attuned to the white based version. I generally position myself as a follower of the tomato group but for Campagnolo’s outstanding Rigatoni number, I am more than willing to make that special exception. As good as Mascarpone Cheese already is when eaten in a dessert like Tiramisu, it tastes even better when used as a sauce base for the inflated like tubes of toothsome rigatoni. The creaminess was not over the top, but rather refined and subtle enough to allow for the mild earthiness of the Truffle Sausage and cripified flakes of the dark and bold Russian Kale to easily be figured out by the palate.
Risotto when done right will definitely be a force to be reckoned with, as is the exact case with this one. Arborio rice entranced in the rich savouriness of celery root minus the extra starch was soothing in its intricate blend of clean and delicate notes. The chefs went an extra mile by adding bite-sized cuts of Bone Marrow, the sublime juices that flow out if it is just uncanny in terms of taste. A mixture of vinegar and sugar is all it takes to create a basic Agrodolce. The concentration enhanced further with tender blocks of apples allowing for a complex topping to take place diverting the attention of your senses with each monochromatic mouthfuls.
The Pizzas are not to be overlooked as the semi-open kitchen roughly creates some of the best that I have ever had in the city. Their version is what I consider to be of second place material barely slipping a notch away from the perfected ones over at Pizzeria Farina. The mark of a real pizza is one that bears a perfect crown, which in this case is a narrow circumferential edge that gleams in its charred bubbled design, the result of a successful fermentation process. Reaching the acute texture is important, which means that the crust must be crunchy, chewy, tender and airy all at once. It is a tough bargain, but they manage to pull things off quite profoundly.
Toppings are stripped to the bare minimum and the final pieces are sold with a manageable price-tag. Take their all-Italian pieces religiously put together for under $15. The Romana is basted with hand-crushed Stoney Paradise San Marzano Tomatoes toppled with the hard-to-find neon green Sicilian Castelvetrano Olives and salty strips of Anchovies. Patterned after Italy’s national flag, the Margherita Fior di Latte is colored with a spread of plump red tomato sauce, snow white mozzarella and green Basil.
Creativity is taken into serious consideration. The key element to their Cotechino is Red Kuri Squash, which mindfully speaks of fall with its mellow, sweet and chestnut-like flavor is held upright by the unpasteurized cow’s milk cheese called Fior di Latte. As bare as the presentation may seem, it is a camouflaged base of sofritto, a tasty breed of pan fried onion, garlic and celery infused with honorable herbs like rosemary and thyme, that gives the pizza its over-all profile.
Desserts are just as well-crafted and ever changing. In the past, it was an Olive Oil Cake that had people talking and blogging for months. For this season they have come up with new ways to present familiar trends, i.e. Mascarpone Cheesecake with Coronation Grapes and Pistachio Crumble, and Chocolate Budino with Cocoa Nibs, Hazelnut and Brown Butter.
Adam’s childlike twist on the all-American Butter Tart got me appreciating a properly hand rolled pastry dough. Slightly thick crust that is buttery, crumbling effortlessly to make way for tasty filling made by combining together brown sugar, maple syrup, melted butter and vanilla for extra kick. The unexpected give away were the slices of Dried Prune Plums which gave my mouth something to play with. Surpassing an interesting chewiness is a depth in flavor that is to be complemented by a pleasurable sweetness. It has toasted pine nuts as well which merely gives off a faint nuttiness and a texture that is easy to overlook if you are not paying careful attention. Instead of having it with a glass of milk, the tart itself is served in a dish already filled in with a shallow pool of cold and creamy milk. I could not have thought about it better myself, for serving it with a big blob of ice cream might surpass other tender elements, which makes milk the next best thing.
Campagnolo
1020 Main Street
Vancouver, BC
V6A 2W1
http://www.campagnolorestaurant.ca/
3. Dunlevy Snackbar
Theo Lloyd-Kohls resides just a few blocks away from his first restaurant which is hidden behind the scene of the downtown crowd along East Hasting’s Dunlevy Avenue. Hoping to reinvent this side of town through delivering soul satisfying food at wallet friendly prices, he enlisted the help of current manager Mira Campbell and former The Parker chef, Aarin Smith. Mira still heads the front of the house when I came in early on a Saturday night for a shot at their newly established dinner service. Friendly and upbeat, she exudes the very same charm that the space holds. Church pews turned into benches by painting it in a dainty vintage pink color catches my fancy upon first entry along with the two-seater round table tops that are apparently made from reclaimed floor boards, outsourced and put together by Theo himself. Artistic frames and paper cut-out deco gives the small room a kitschy look, making it seem like one that is a blast from the past, simple yet full of character and originality.
Rooted in the much celebrated food culture of Korea, Aarin Smith brings an unpredictable medley of dishes that are more creative than usual. Take into consideration their widely trending plate of fried, triangular cut slices of Pajeon or Korean Pancake. A heavily replicated recipe is updated into a modern vegetarian version. It is stripped to the bare minimal with only thin strips of mild but slightly sweet green onions to cut through the one-noted taste of the rice flour battered pancake.
Another personal favorite is the Bibimbap. Served in a Dolsot or stone bowl that is heated prior to plating, a mount of white rice is first placed in the bottom of the bowl before individually seasoned toppings like spinach, carrots and shiitake mushrooms are neatly arranged on top of the rice to make it look like a personal wheel of vegetable fortune. The crowning jewel is a perfectly cooked sunny side up egg and a side dish of gochujang or hot pepper paste, which must then be gradually mixed according to ones personal heat level preference as soon as the sizzling bowl hits your table. On other days, the bibimbap comes with ground meat or if your really lucky, pork belly.
Mix and match things up with their two feature steamed buns, the first being a lean mean Pork Belly with Spicy Cilantro Salad and Lime Gochujang and the second, a no-meat option, Oyster Mushrooms cut up finely to look almost like tofu tossed with Picked Cucumbers and Hoisin. The bottom flap of the bun which has already been soaked in the suggested sauce is clearly the best part, so I deliberately separate and save it for the last as I pick up the rest of the fillings using only the clean, top flap of the bun, my personal way of eating hand-held buns like this one back when I was still a young unpolished eater.
A South-American twist on Asian flavors never seems to hurt anyone, which is why Aarin ingeniously came up with the Mexican inspired Fire Chicken Tostada in the first place. Cleverly prepared, the chopped up chicken is perfectly cooked to a tender-T, soft to the bite and ridden with a spicy juice that can only be described as short of addictive. The scavenger that I am, I salvaged the remaining red-orange tinged sauce that was used to dress the cuts of chicken by pouring it onto my half of bibimbap.
Consistency is the key when it comes to the ingredients that make up each one of their dishes, the nuance of flavors easily detected by the slightest bite. Every plate has been patterned from something of a more familiar origin yet tastes new and original. I almost had my eyes on the $50 all-menu option which would come to include equally inspired inventions like the Roasted Shishito Peppers with Lime Mayo, Inari Pockets with Fermented Black Bean in Sicuhan Sauce and a Smashed Cucumber Salad with Puffed Rice, Chili Oil and Cilantro. But alas, I thought that we might not make it through all of the items in one sitting so I decided on taking just half of the menu and come back for the rest. It seems to have been a good call as the place does warrant countless more visits if only for repeated servings of rice and pancakes.
Dunlevy Snackbar
433 Dunlevy Ave.
Vancouver, BC
4. Matchstick Coffee
Much has changed after I moved out from my much favorable humble abode along the newly coveted neighborhood of Fraser. First on the list was the fact that I was moving away from a place that was slowly becoming the next big thing for anyone that’s a coffee aficionado. Fraserhood has become home to much loved coffee establishments like JJ Bean, Prado cafe + kitchen, cafe crema, bows & arrows, and my personal favorite, matchstick coffee.
After spending a good number of years convincing coffee enthusiasts that their brews are some of the best in the lot, matchstick decided to open up a second cafe at the foot of Chinatown. This was a very smart move considering that the brand itself has come to have a reputable following. Having a wave of followers, who mostly are not situated anywhere close to their first cafe will mean that their second abode will benefit both old and new patrons alike.
Interior wise, Matchstick has come to be known as one of those rising hipster cafes that boasts a clean, minimalistic interior. This they achieve through the use of modern woodwork. Clean white walls make the space look even bigger than it actually is, an optical illusion that is further enunciated by the use of oak inspired communal furnishings.
A beautiful space is of course nothing without the goods that it harbors. Matchstick has come to be increasingly popular due to their intelligent hand-crafted brews. By this I come to mean that they not only do they roast their own beans but they also sell a handful of seasonally changing single-origin beans.
Matchstick prides itself for being able to source beans from across the globe. Their Guatemalan Beans for example, is sought after for its bright, crispy and citrusy notes. They also have beans coming in from Colombia and El Salvador, places that have become known for their ability to produce coffee beans that are nutty, chocolatey and fruity in profile.
These beans can either be purchased by the bag or freshly brewed by the cup. Their knowledgeable baristas will dutifully prepare your drip coffee via a smartly calibrated pour-over method. By this I mean that they have a set of Chemex brewers on hand, each one perched upon an electronic scale so as to make sure that each cup is meticulously prepared to a T.
Those wanting something more on the predictable side can go for any of their classics on offer. My usual preference is their Cafe Latte. In order to pull of a perfect latte, each cup must consist of manually-pulled espresso shots and delicately aerated milk. Matchstick gets their shots pulled correctly every single time with the help of their La Marzocco espresso machine. Their steamed milk is also a wonder on its own, as it is luxuriously rich and creamy all at once and carefully poured into the cup thus allowing for the barista to create a proper latte art.
To further extend your already ethereal coffee experience, you can choose to pair your cup of joe with any one of their delectable Croissants (plain,chocolate and almond). Made in-house, each piece is definitely a work of art in itself and much more exquisite than what you can normally get anywhere else. That which makes their croissants much more special is the fact that their bakers chose not to skimp on the layers of butter.
Matchstick Coffee
213 E. Georgia Street
Vancouver, BC
604.336.0213
http://www.matchstickcoffee.com
Big Plate, Small Bites 