Vancouver!
It was time for a road trip, so Friday after work, we headed up to Vancouver, a short 3 hour drive away. Really, the weekend was eating, drinking, shopping and staying out of trouble. Vancouver is a great place to visit, the perfect road trip to a very international city.
Dinner Friday night at an old style steak house just off of Robson Street with an imposingly large menu and sheet of white butcher paper laid on top of the white table cloth. I agonized - partially caused by the late hour - ultimately choosing an iceburg wedge with bacon and blue cheese dressing and a lamb shank with mashed potatoes. My partner-in-crime had a caesar salad, steak and very excellent horseradish mashed potatoes. A cabernet, the Shadow of the Dog or the Hair of the Dog or something similar was served with; it didn't have much depth.
Appetizers at Cardeno's Saturday afternoon. Very excellent oysters, on the smaller side, crisp and sweet. I was reminded of what it's like to taste and experience oysters for the first time. An oyster virgins' questions: do I chew? what do they taste like? how should I eat them? I also enjoyed the Granville micro brews (so much so, that I had more later that night).
Dinner Saturday night, at the very excellent Fuel, one of Vancouver's newest, hottest restaurants. The bread - delicious crunchy rolls - was served in one of the most creative ways I've ever seen: the rolls were laid on a piece of granite, with unsalted butter and flakes of sea salt. The only sad part was that they didn't deliver more bread (which they could have. Walking out, I saw more rolls on the baking rack in the kitchen). I chose the warm mushroom salad as an appetizer. The salad was dressed with a poached egg and a sherry vineagrette. While the combination sounds odd, it was delicious. Pete ordered beef consomme, elaborately poured over fried manchego cheese slices; a comic strip was laid between the lead glass bowl and white serving plate, a nice twist. Main courses: trout with hazlenut sauce and a sauteed winter vegetables and a chorus of pork with a fennel compote (or something like that). A very nice Penfold's Shiraz accompanied.