Cru Restaurant

[Chef Fowke]

Chef Fowke. For a wine oriented experience on the North Shore, can I suggest Marine Drive. The food is okay and it's a bit pricey for what you get (not great food that trys too hard), but the list is quite good. Has Pastis re-opened?

Pastis has re-opened as Bistro Pastis (I think thats its name) Tuesday - Sunday.

[malachi]

Do we make the reservation under eGullet?

Do we bring wifes and Sous Chefs?

Name tags?

Black tie formal?

Has anyone been to Cru yet? How is the food...

sure

yes

no

heh

[Lounge Lizard]

I have emailed the proprieters and informed them of our upcoming dinner. I will follow up with them soon and report back.

Can anyone post that Georgia Strait peice on Cru?

[Coop]

You can see the review at thier site.

http://www.cru.ca/

Is this place getting too much run considering no one has done a review yet? I will take one for the team as I am going tonight. I expect it will be pretty good. I need to go somewhere while I wait for Andrey Durbach's new place to open. Anyone know anything about that? In Vancouver Mag they were saying he is the chef at Cafe de Paris. Is that true? I know he used to have a rep as a chef for hire. Enquiring minds need to know.

[Coop]

So Mrs. Coop and I went to Cru last night. We found the room to be very cool. Nicely done banquette on one side and sofas and tables on the other. Glad to see they didn't try to get every seat in they could.

Mrs Coop had the green pea panacotta with seared scallops to start. The panacotta was light in texture but rich in pea flavour. It sat on a bed of sauteed pea shoots and was surrounded by three perfectly seared scallops. Mrs Coop declared the dish a resounding success. I started with the seafood soup. It was a tomato flavoured fish broth with 3 mussels and a poached prawn to garnish. It's flavours were very nice. Not the intense sort of thing they do at Provence just a bit lighter. Garnished with a rouille crouton, very nice.

Mrs Coop then had the Duck Confit. It came with 3 roasted potatoes and a bit of frissee. It was all dressed with a bacon vinegrette. Mrs Coop knows her confit and she said this one was very good. I had the roasted duck breast which came on a bed of mascrpone polenta, with some sauteed zuchinni. The duck breat was perfectly rose and the polenta was very good. There was a bit of a balsamic-stock reduction sauce around the dish, very nice.

We had a bottle of Dogojollo sangiovese with our entrees. This wine lacked acidity and didn't really accompany our food that well. A minor problem though as it was quite tasty.

For dessert I went creme brule and Mrs Coop went for the white trash parfait. Again Mrs Coop picked the winner. Both desserts were very good but the parfait just seemed a little more interesting.

I have to tell you the staff is very good and the room very comfortable. The food is on a level with much more expensive restaurants. The portions were quite large especially for "small plates". I would recomend everyone try this place before it gets too popular to get in or they raise the prices. Our total was $136.00 with all I described and a couple of glasses of Chilean Sauvignon Blanc.

We noticed that the room was quite busy for a Wednesday night so decided to check out how thing were in this uber cool nieghbourhood. First we looked in at Memphis Blues and they were packed (no accounting for taste). Bin 942 was hopping as usual and the Fortune Garden seemed to be doing well. On our way back up Granville we looked into Star Anise. Oh how the mighty have fallen. They were completely empty and looked like they were going to stay that way. I remember in the mid 90's reservations needed to be made weeks ahead to get in. What happened?

["T"]

Thanks for the post Coop. I've been meaning to try this place but always get distracted and end up elsewhere. Sounds good though. That Dogojolo, I like it but every few months the liquor board (or agent) raises the price. I think it's a blend of sangiovese and cab/sauv with a touch of cab/franc, can't remember for sure.

[Rover]

Another very positive review in today's Courier ... Life is looking pretty optimistic for Cru. Hoping to be dining there later this week.

Rover

[Coop]

Is this event still on for the 22nd? Is there room available?

[Lounge Lizard]

I was just going to ask the same question. I am still confirmed to be there and will book space with Cru.

So who's in?

[Coop]

I'm there if it's still on. I am worried about meeting people live and in person after some of my posts though. Just kidding! Maybe.

[Lounge Lizard]

Well that makes two.....

[Chef Fowke]

Okay, i am in....and I am going to bring a Sous Chef for protection...

Is it official? We meet at 4:00pm?

[Rover]

My new job started sooner than anticipated and I'm not going to be able to make it at that time. Are you meeting for drinks and appetizers, or for dinner? I don't think I could get there much before 6:00 and that gives a 2-hour head start to the rest of you.

I don't want to hold up the event, so perhaps it's better that I pass on this one and hope to catch you all up at another time.

Darn! I was looking forward to this ....

It's no fun being a working stiff with conventional hours!

Hope you all have a great time and I'll be looking for the reviews and opinions!

Rover.

[Lounge Lizard]

I am confident ill still be consuming drinks well past 6 oclock

[Lounge Lizard]

Actually I havent checked to see if they are open that early ( 4pm) anyway .......Ill email Cru and report back

[Lounge Lizard]

I am checking with Cru on availablilty for Friday the 22nd. Please confirm ASAP all attending,Mark tells me they are "smoking busy"

[Lounge Lizard]

Well I think I will stay home and can peaches this weekend. I will be in Vancouver in the fall sometime perhaps a meeting will come together by then.

Cheers

[Coop]

So is this off then? I'm cofused(not the first time).

[Lounge Lizard]

Sorry just off for me. I was going to be travelling from Penticton but have too much work to get done here. My sous chef is going away for his vacation leaving me with a lot of shifts to cover myself. Can you belive these guys think that they should get vacations once a year? the nerve!

I hope you guys can get together. Call Cru ...Mark the owner has been watching the posts here and would be happy to see you I am sure.

I will in Vancouver in the fall for the Neptune foods trade show and hope to visit Cru then.

[Coop]

I propose that if it's to be only 3 of us we postpone till there is more of a turnout.

[Chef Fowke]

I propose that if it's to be only 3 of us we postpone till there is more of a turnout.

I can be free at anytime. Set a date and time and I will be there.

[Lounge Lizard]

I recieved an email from Cru today posting new press in Vancouver Province. I dont see making it down for awhile. Two of my staff are off due to fire evacauations. Tough times here for many.

Hope to keep in touch and visit the "big city" in the fall.

[westside yuppie]

Went to Cru on Saturday nite with my wife for an early dinner (7.30pm). We were pleasantly surprised with the whole experience. The place was full when we got there - apparently business has boomed since they got the good review in the Province. Who knew anyone reads the Province anymore?lol

We arrived on time and had to wait a few minutes while our table paid and left and was reset. Service was friendly and polite and the decor and ambiance in the room was cool and relaxed.

We both had the prix fixe menu. As usual my wife made better choices than I did. She had the seafood soup which was excellent, followed by the beef tenderloin - again excellent and the blue cheese souffle was yummy - and a large slice of the delicious chocolate hazelnut torte for dessert.

I had the beef carpaccio which was very good, followed by the duck breast on polenta. The duck was very good, crispy skin and tender and juicy inside. The mascarpone polenta was also good, but the dish lacked some colour and zing somehow. The sliced zucchini was too bland - perhaps chard or kale would have worked better- and the dish needed something sweet to accent the flavour of the duck. I finished with parfait for dessert, which was very good, if a little larger than I needed at that point.

I thought Cru was excellent value for the $$ and would strongly recommend it. It should provide strong competition for Bin942 - the chairs and tables are much more comfortable, the food quality is the same, the portions are large, the service was substantially better, the room is quieter. All in all a great addition to the neighbourhood.

On a side note, I see that Cru bills itself as a wine bar bistro. We went there expecting a bistro and were very happy with our experience. If I had gone expecting a wine bar I might have been a little disappointed with the wine list. On the plus side there were lots of good wine by the glass, but the list is a little small for a wine bar - though more than adequate for the menu.

[M'd]

Hello there all,

I am a newbie to this forum, but I have something to say.

Cru has the best feeling room I have experienced in a while. They manage to tread that fine line between "busling" and "calm". The conversation noise was just audible enough to put a BUZZ in the air (or was that the Dr. L Riesling) and it was subdued enough to expose a very pleasing flow of contemporary dining music in the background. I never had to raise my voice to be heard across the table even though the tiny room was PACKED.

The two Tartars are so defined in flavour that we found ourselves discussing the vivid elements for long stretches between glassfulls and spoonfulls.

I found the service to be a welcome break from the hippster fashion attack I have experienced at other "Wine Bars" and the such. Understated class and maturity makes this service staff stand out. Their confidence at the table never leaves you wondering,"Do you think they got that?"

Our experience at Cru was obviously a very good one. As a fellow member of the BC Hospitality Industry and lover of all things FOOD and WINE I congratulate CRU and it's Crew on a great beginning.

And hello to everyone here, I think this forum is a great concept. I can not wait to read some more threads!

Cheers,

M'd

[Chef Fowke]

My wife and I are going to try the restaurant out tomorrow before we go to Fennie's for dinner.

I cannot wait to try out the room. All the comments have been so favourable. The rooms sounds like the ideal Vancouver hot spot.