Vancouver Day Two

Our second day in Vancouver was more action packed than our first. For starters we took a 6 mile jog around the Stanley Park perimeter. After surviving the run, we were tired, sweaty and dirty...and very hungry. It was around 2 pm and we found ourselves on lower Denman looking for food. Thankfully we were in the right place, as Denman St is a virtual international marketplace that stretches about seven or eight blocks from False Creek to W. Georgia St. Ramen, borek, fish and chips, yakitori, shwarma and more shwarma... you want it, this street has it.

Tube Steaks...another option near Denman Street 

One sign that caught our eye (probably because it was the first one we saw) was the takeout counter at the Raincity Grill offering Fish and Chips for $10. Raincity Grill is a well regarded establishment that offers the West Coast standard of local sourced fare in an elegant but casual setting. Considering 'local sourced fare' is an option in San Francisco or Seattle any night of the week, I never considered this restaurant when planning our trip. However the offer of freshly made Fish and Chips for only $10 (including 12% tax) was too good to pass up. While the wife waited for our Fish and Chips, I went looking for a second option (Being a foodie with so many choices, simply getting two orders of Fish and Chips was not an option). There were plenty of potential winners...the Canadian bistro (aptly named The Mullet and the Beaver), the borek place (borek is like a shwarma made with fried phillo dough instead of lavash, ala chimichanga vs standard burrito), and about fifty Eastern Mediterranean restaurants. I decided since shwarma was everywhere, I would choose a random spot and hope they were the best place in town. The place I chose was not, but at $6 dollars it did not break the bank either.  The chicken shawarma was stuffed with slightly dry chicken and combined with a tasty garlic yogurt sauce. Decent but nothing spectacular. The fish and chips were more exciting with two pieces of freshly prepared fried ling cod and fries. The batter was crisp and flavorful. However, one of the pieces was overdone and desiccated in parts. I was surprised that a place as well respected as Raincity wouldn't have better quality control over their dishes even if it was take out.

After an exhaustive stumble back to our apartment for some much needed relaxation, we headed out to the wilds of North Vancouver. I thought North Vancouver was just a place you drove through on the way to Whitstler but it is actually quite nice. First we stopped at Lynn Canyon Park to go over the free suspension bridge. The Vancouverites do their best to keep us foreigners away from the free sites and fleece us for some cash at Grouse Mountain and Capaliano Suspension Bridge Park. But we had the inside scoop from a turncoat. Lynn Canyon was tucked off a residential street in North Vancouver and you had to know it was there to find it. It was crowded with a mixture of domestic and foreign tourists, but still a beautiful site with an impressive suspension bridge and beautiful pools of water surrounding it.

The Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge

After dangling hundreds of feet above the ground for the first (but not last) time on our trip, we drove into downtown North Vancouver for dinner. We had 7:30 reservations at the The Lobby Restaurant in the Pinnacle Hotel but decided to get some drinks at a local establishment first. Looking across the street the District Restaurant caught my wife's eye. We had no idea what to expect based on the exterior but inside it turned out to be a Belgian-orientated gastropub. The menu proudly boasted its top offering, " The Onion Soup-probably the best you've had in years". As I have tasted many an onion soup in my time, I was ready to put this one to the test. But first I ordered a glass of the delightful La Chouffe ($8/pint) which appeared to be the only Belgian on tap (though the bottle selection was terrific). About midway through my beer I heard the sound of a propane torch being fired up....that could mean only one thing...my onion soup was on its way! I was presented with a small but classic looking cup of french onion soup shortly thereafter. It had the right aesthetic with the properly torched melted guyere cap dripping over a small ceramic bowl. The taste was out of this world. A luscious blend of bacon, beef and chicken stocks were fused together masterfully to create a decadent broth. As if that wasn't enough, little pieces of bacon floated through the bowl like little castaways waiting to be "rescued" by my mouth. The smokiness contributed by the bacon made this french onion soup a standout out in a crowded field. We also ordered something else that I completely forgot about because I was so focused on the french onion soup...maybe a charcuterie platter?

With a little bit of sadness we left the District for our dinner reservation at The Lobby. We had purchased a Groupon for the restaurant a couple of weeks prior. The Groupon provided for two appetizers, two entrees and a dessert for $49. Upon arrival the restaurant was very much a lobby. It was located right in the...well lobby. You would think that a hotel trying to be trendy would design a more innovative looking restaurant. Instead the restaurant looked like any standard Hilton temple to mediocre dining. Even the waitstaff wore coffee shop like attire complete with name tags. Luckily the food out shined the decor. We started with the BC Crab Cakes ($16) and the Alberta AAA Beef Carpaccio ($14). These were the best choices of the evening. The crab cakes were essentially crab croquettes deep fried and covered in panko with a generous amount of crab filling- no breadcrumb filler here.  Unfortunately they came with an out of season citrus sauce that added nothing to the dish. The Beef Carpaccio was the best executed dish of the evening. A classic preperation with arugula and shaved parmesan that highlighted the quality of the beef. We were scrapping the plate for that last sliver of beef.

The mains continued the theme of quality ingredients with mixed results on the execution. My wife picked the  Filet Oscar ($26) and I choose the Haida Gawaii Halibut ($23). The filet was cooked perfectly medium rare and stuffed with a generous amount of crab. The accompanying Bearnaise sauce was "unoffensive". The potatoes however were straight off the Hampton Inn breakfast buffet and the "seasonable" vegetable was some asparagus which must have come from the other side of our border. The halibut was a complete mess. The fish while attractive was overcooked and the tomato confit that was advertised turned out to be a flavorless tomato broth. We finished with a Pear Marscarpone Neapolitan that fared better than the mains. The neapolitan consisted of slices of caramelized pear sandwiched between deep fried waffers and a light marscarpone. It made for a gentile ending to our meal. Overall the meal was a good value because of the coupon but I would not eat here without one.

We finished our night by walking around the chic industrialized shoreline in front of the hotel. The shoreline consisted of a series of redone industrial piers complete with a non functional shipping crane as a homage to its recent 'blue-collar' past. It looks like the hotel is only one piece of the planned development in this area. In any case, we able to enjoy beautiful views of the dramatic Downtown Vancouver skyline. After taking some photos we wearily drove back to our apartment blissfully unaware of the wackiness that we would experience in Day 3.