December 13, 2004
One of the most impressive changes seen in Vancouver in the 35 years that I have lived here has been in the selection of wine and the wine service in the restaurants.
In our early years in Vancouver, we went to Seattle for a periodic wine fix. There was a time when Seattle grocery stores had more wines that Vancouver’s liquor stores. The department stores had wine bars. While my companion was shopping, I passed many an educational hour with six or eight tasting samples in front of me. One evening, we stumbled across a restaurant called The Other Place with food and wine service that was a revelation.
Trips to Seattle decreased when the exchange rate turned against the Canadian dollar for a decade or two. In the past year, the Canadian dollar has begun to recover. One can again think of Seattle – except that the restaurant scene in Vancouver today keeps us here. Seattle’s one remaining advantage seems to be the department store wine bars and that is hardly as compelling as it once was.
As for memorable restaurant experiences, Vancouver is full of restaurants ranking right up there with my memory of The Other Place. What impressed me about that Seattle restaurant (long since closed, alas) was, first, the excellent wine list; secondly, the excellent menu; and finally, the seamlessly professional service. The restaurant had only two sittings for dinner, with two and a half hours for between. As if by magic, guests usually found they were ready to leave after two hours and twenty minutes. Only later did one realize that the service was able to turn over the tables in this time, without the patrons ever feeling they were being hustled.
The Parkside Restaurant on Haro Street is kind of restaurant that keeps one in Vancouver for all the reasons that The Other Place was impressive.
Indeed, it is one of many. I am writing about it because the owners, Andrey Durbach and Chris Stewart, recently welcomed me and my companion there for dinner. I had not previously dined there, which is my loss. The point of the invitation was to show off the prix fixe menu ($40 a person for a three course meal) that the restaurant created this fall.
Since I am a wine writer, not a restaurant reviewer, I paid a great deal of attention to the wine list and the wine service. On that score, this is one of Vancouver’s best restaurants (and the food exceptional as well).
There are two wine lists. Most diners probably are content with the “basic” list that features sixty wines under $60, with the least expensive at $28 (a decent South African white called Flagstone Noon Gun). The selection of British Columbia wines is small but well chosen. The choices include Blue Mountain Chardonnay and Pinot Noir; Stag’s Hollow Sauvignon Blanc and Merlot; La Frenz Sémillon and Kettle Valley Gewürztraminer; Glenugie Pinot Blanc; and two sparkling wines from Blue Mountain.
For more Okanagan reds, one goes to the restaurant’s Reserve Wine List, where the selection includes Burrowing Owl Syrah, Poplar Grove Benchmark Merlot and Blue Mountain Pinot Noir Reserve, all $70 or less. High rollers might head straight to the reserve list and its Turley Zinfandel.
The real test of a restaurant with a good wine list is: does the staff know what to do with it? We let the staff at Parkside choose wines by the glass to match our menu choices. We knew we had made the right decision when a rich mushroom soup was matched creatively with a Madeira while a seafood chowder was paired with a crisp French Sauvignon Blanc.
Subsequent pairings were not just right; they were exquisitely right. Blue Mountain’s elegant Chardonnay did not overpower a seafood risotto, nor did the risotto overpower the wine. A Vino Nobile de Montepulciano had the power to stand next to the most complex lasagne I have ever tasted. A fortified French red from Banyuls stood up to a chocolate dessert while a more delicate French Muscat was served with an apple tart.
Six different dishes and each one was matched superbly with the appropriate wine. Who needs Seattle when the wait staff is that good?
|
