Best raw bar in Vancouver?

[chefrodrigo]

Have a couple of days off with nothing to do so I thought I'd check out BC. Looking for great fresh seafood. Hole in the wall/ non touristy is a plus.

Thanks

Rodney

[Fat Guy]

I'd go with Joe Fortes or Blue Water. Neither is hole-in-the-wall or non-touristy, but they're the best: high turnover, excellent product, and they know how to work with it.

[westside yuppie]

Given Vancouver's location this should be an easy question to answer, but its not. For some reason, seafood places are thin on the ground in Vancouver.

I agree with Fat Guy, but with some reservations. The feedback on Bluewater Cafe is that the food is great but the service is dreadful and not in line with the high prices. Joe Fortes does high volume so their food is fresh, but the cuisine is very mainstream. Also, the place is huge, so not really a hole in the wall.

One place to consider would be Rodney's Oyster Bar in Yaletown. Its a hole in the wall, not very touristy, all about oysters. I have never been there, but I have friends who like it. Perhaps some other posters could comment?

[Fat Guy]

I think that gets to the point that, while Vancouver has a great reputation for seafood, and while you can get great seafood in Vancouver, much of the premise is based on misconceptions about the seafood market. Chances are, almost all the good seafood you eat in Vancouver is coming from elsewhere, particularly Seattle but also the East Coast. There are some phenomenally good local products, like spot prawns, but they're the exceptions. Even the oysters are overwhelmingly coming from elsewhere.

[malachi]

Bluewater quality is excellent. Outrageous oysters. Yes, in many cases, they come from elsewhere but the quality (and the range) is amazing. Service... as noted, may not be in-line.

You might want to consider an early AM trip to Granville market instead...

[Explorer]

Agree with others re: blue water and fortes. blue water was such a disastrous experience for us on service, but you can always lower your expectations and go for the raw stuff.

The chef at Fortes was bragging that he does lots of turnover on oysters and they know some of their suppliers pretty well. Email him if you want something really special. He hinted that he's open to it.

There is a variety of scallops that comes from Northern BC (sorry I forgot the exact location). C restaurant has them on their menu; Robert Clark does a great job with it. C has a taster's box, mostly of raw stuff. Although they have been inconsistent lately, call ahead.

[d.hawksworth]

Here's a list of current products available, since British Columbia is so large we have a problem with day boat - style fishing. We lack the infrastructure to be able to catch fresh product and get it to the Vancouver market with in 48 hours, also in the small fish department like red mullet, sardine type fish. Trying to get fresh squid in impossible - live weathervaine scallops would be incredible but the current product is more than exceptable. I just remember schucking 200 a day, making stock from the skirts of the scallops and drying the roe.

The list isn't bad it just lacks in a few departments, consistency and freshness.

Lingcod

Halibut

Salmon

Sablefish - Blackcod

Dungeness Crab

Clams

Mussels - Saltspring

Albacore Tuna

and ground fish when available ( Idiot fish )

some oysters

Sea Urchin

Side strip prawns

Spot prawns

Petrale Sole

Skate

Alaskan Weathervaine Scallops

Geoduck clam

Trout

Edited August 24, 2003 by d.hawksworth (log)

[chefrodrigo]

Thanks to everyone for the replies. We just arrived back home from 2 days of eating.

The suggestions made here were exactly what we found. We arrived in Vancouver about 7pm Sunday evening. Blue Water was close to our hotel so that was our first stop.

We usually like to eat at the bar of whatever restaurant we are at so we had a seat at the bar of blue water. There were only 2 other couples at the bar when we sat down but the bartenders still managed to ignore us enough that we picked up our things and moved to the sushi bar.

Things improved with the 2 lively sushi chefs and a good waitperson. We started with 2 each of every oyster they had. I think it came to about 20 oysters and they were all very good. Then a few rolls and toro sashimi and again very good.

In short good food/ questionable service

The next day we did a little shopping late morning at Granville Island and then back to eating. We tried to go to Rodney's Oyster bar but it was closed because of some film crew setup outside.

We went to Joe Fortes and had 16 oysters and a couple of beers. Good oysters and friendly bartender.

Then we moved on to The Fish House for another 14 oysters and a steamed dungeness crab. I was expecting less for some reason when we arrived but this turned out to be the best service we had on our trip. Chris, the bartender, was very helpful and friendly. After the food and another beer we told him we were going to hit one more spot for seafood. He recommended Tojos for something different and off we went.

At Tojos we had the chefs choice sashimi plate, eel sushi, toro sushi, and mixed tempura. All excellent.

Vancouver is a beautiful city. I'm hoping we have a little more time to explore the next time.

Thanks Everyone

Rodney

[Coop]

It's always been my belief that the highest posotion one could attain in Vancouver was hostess at Earl's, I see there is a new contender, bartender at Bluewater. Also in the running waitress at Elixer. These are very important people and we deserve the shitty service they provide us because of our lowly positions on the food chain. What can you do?