The Seattle crowd does Vancouver

[mamster]

Egulleteers took Vancouver by storm last weekend. Before I talk about our meal at Cioppino's, a few general notes about dining in Vancouver.

Only a palate of stone would dispute that Vancouver's dining scene outclasses Portland's and Seattle's. There is nothing in either US city in the same league as David Hawksworth's West or Rob Feenie's Lumiere or Diva at the Met's pastry chef Thomas Haas.

You could say the same if you were comparing Seattle with New York or Chicago--we don't have a Daniel Boulud or a Claudia Fleming either. But the Vancouver metro area has a smaller population than Seattle or Portland. What's going on?

The answer is written all over Vancouver's skyline. It seems like a new high-rise condo or apartment building is going up on every vacant lot in town, joining the dozens that already reach skyward from all parts of central Vancouver. On a per-capita basis, the city is growing faster than India.

These new developments are no eyesores. Vancouver is perhaps the first city ever to do modern architecture right on a large scale, and much of its newest housing sports gorgeous flashes of color and Asian accents. Even better, these buildings aren't scattered in sterile parks but touch down onto vibrant city streets full of eclectic shops and restaurants.

Rowhouses in downtown Vancouver:

The downtown peninsula of Vancouver isn't simply dense. It's dense like Manhattan. It's Hong Kong, North America. The city as a whole is twice as dense as Portland or Seattle.

That's not the end of the story, of course. About one quarter of Vancouver's citizens are Chinese, which is probably why Martin Yan, interviewed on book tour for <I>Martin Yan's Chinatown Cooking</i>, said that Vancouver had the best food of any of the Chinatowns he visited. Some of this food is to be had in the downtown core and the old Chinatown, at places like Kirin and Szechuan Chongqing. But some is in the very suburban Richmond, in the shadow of the Vancouver airport at Sun Sui Wah and the President Chinese Seafood.

If you were the proverbial food writer from Mars, you probably wouldn't expect to find great restaurants in Yaletown. The area of converted warehouses just east of downtown has a bit of a theme park feel. If you fired a cannon down the center of Hamilton Street, you'd destroy numerous BMWs.

But don't fire that cannon, please, because you might damage Cioppino's, and that would suck.

Cioppino's is an Italian restaurant, moderately priced and with an excellent wine list. It's divided into two rooms--the casual Enoteca and the slightly more formal Mediterranean Grill. The decor is relaxing and tasteful, and the Enoteca (which is the only side I've tried) has a beautiful wood-enclosed wine room which can be booked for special occasions. The two restaurants have separate menus and the Enoteca is slightly cheaper.

Cioppino's serves classic, rustic Italian food with occasional French accents. I don't know if they make duck confit in Italy, but I'm never sad to see it on the extensive menu, which features over a dozen each of appetizers and main courses, with some waiter-recited specials on top of that.

It's hard to say exactly what makes Cioppino's different from other rustic Italian restaurants, but it must have something to do with the skill of chef Pino Posteraro and his staff. It comes down to this: whatever you order, it's likely to be the best of its kind.

That was certainly the case with MsRamsey's lamb chops scotta dita, grilled over high heat to produce a flavorful crust and amazingly juicy meat that paired well with our bottle of Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. (Tighe, did you write down more about this wine?)

It was also the case with tigue's duck confit with Tuscan white beans and pickled cabbage. The best duck he's ever had, tighe sighed.

Duck confit:

nightscotsman and I chosed the special pasta, wine-braised veal cheeks over pappardelle: falling-apart tender meat and al dente pasta, the only sauce the braising jus.

I'm still on a tart kick, so I had the special wild mushroom tart appetizer, which had a deeply browned buttery crust. Tighe and nightscotsman had the scallop special, which was delicious but I can't remember what went into it, so I'll leave it to them to describe. Scrat (edit) had the tuna described below by nightscotsman and a main course of braised short ribs in red wine and marsala over risotto, which was excellent. The only reason it wasn't my favorite is that I make pretty damn good short ribs at home.

Seared tuna with mozzarella di bufala:

Mushroom tart:

If I'm overdoing the praise, it's because Cioppino's speaks to all my prejudices. I've had wonderful meals at Lumiere and West, and they're clearly more important and forward-thinking restaurants, but French-inspired New Canadian cuisine isn't my favorite genre. Rustic Italian is.

I've eaten at Babbo in New York, Al Forno in Providence, and Genoa in Portland. Cioppino's is better, period.

Edited April 15, 2003 by mamster (log)

[Rhea_S]

Excellent report!

I've eaten at Babbo in New York, Al Forno in Providence, and Genoa in Portland. Cioppino's is better, period.

And surely much, much cheaper.

[nightscotsman]

Thanks for the great review, mamster. It was a fabulous meal and certainly some of the best Italian I've had (with the possible exception of Travigne in Sonoma and a place in Chicago who's name escapes me). Though I loved my veal cheeks, I have to say MsRamsey's lamb was my fave - wonderful char on the outside and juicy and tender inside.

By the way, I think the photo you have labeled as the scallop app was actually Scrat's seared tuna and poached buffalo mozzarella with olive oil and ponzu. A great dish with the buttery tuna almost exactly the same texture as the fresh tasting cheese - who says you can combine seafood and cheese?

[mamster]

Aha! That's what it was. I knew that looked like tuna. I'm going to go back and edit.

[tighe]

That was certainly the case with MsRamsey's lamb chops scotta dita, grilled over high heat to produce a flavorful crust and amazingly juicy meat that paired well with our bottle of Vino Nobile di Montepulciano.  (Tighe, did you write down more about this wine?)

Uhhhh, who, me??

My sieve like memory for wines has struck again, maybe due to the wine. I can't recall who the maker was, but it had all the characteristics that I like about Vino Nobile: earthiness and more body than most Chiantis. At ~$70CDN I thought it was very reasonable as well.

I did have the waiter write down the name of the absolutely killer grappa I had after dinner, by far the smoothest I've encountered: Distilleria Botega 2000.

My duck was just out of this world. The composition of the plate was excellent, with the creamy/fattiness of the duck and white beans offset by the astringency of the pickled cabbage. (I know I took a couple shots of it, and I think the blurrier of the two may be the one that got posted...I know, always a critic.)

[nightscotsman]

I know I took a couple shots of it, and I think the blurrier of the two may be the one that got posted...I know, always a critic.

Sorry about the poor quality of the photos. The three that mamster posted were the only ones that came out reasonably well. All the others were unsalvageably dark.

[mamster]

See, this is why I made you guys take the pictures--I don't have to apologize for them!

I forgot to mention the grappa. Yours was a Tignanello grappa, right? I had a grappa di moscato and it was good but a lot harsher and more stereotypical firewater than tighe's.

["T"]

Ahhhhhhh..... Makes me proud to say I live in Vancouver.

So glad everyone had a good time. Interesting how you said Cioppino's was perferred over Babbo's. When the exchange rate is considered it must of seemed like a bargin.

[mamster]

To be more specific, Babbo reaches higher than Cioppino's and only succeeds sometimes. Cioppino's sticks to safer territory and always succeeds. I've had individual dishes at Babbo that were more interesting than anything I've had at Cioppino's. I prefer the room and the service at Cioppino's. They're hard to compare, so I blustered through anyway.

[Coop]

Seattle folk. Thank you for your reviews. This board has been less then active of late. It is nice to have people actually eating in our restaurants and posting thier comments. Maybe it is time for others in the city to start using this board for food conversations. I see that the Leff hound board seems to be the place of choice now for people who actually eat and cook in Vancouver.

Nightscotsman are you talking about Tra Vigne in the Napa Valley?

[nightscotsman]

Nightscotsman are you talking about Tra Vigne in the Napa Valley?

Yep, that's the one I was trying to spell. Though it's in St. Helena, Sonoma County, not Napa.

[Coop]

I havn't been to The Napa Valley in about ten years so they may have moved St helena, but isn't every thing between Carneros and Knights Valley considered Napa?

I used to love Tra Vigne and I am glad to hear they are still on track.