Ouest / West In Vancouver

[MsRamsey]

I decided to call Ou(W)est. The person who answered was a man named Tim. I told him that I had read a press release, and asked whether there were any changes other than the name change. He assured me that Chef Hawksworth is absolutely still there. When I asked whether the menu was changing, he told me that Chef Hawksworth routinely changes his menu every 3 months. Instead of the previous tasting menus, there will now be two 5-course tasting menus and two 8-course tasting menus.

In terms of the "look" of the restaurant, there has been some remodeling. (I've never been there, so I am only reporting what Tim had to say and cannot interpret it in a meaningful way.) The barrier that was apparently in the middle of the room has been taken down. The colors and the lighting have been dabbled with, creating what he described as "more movement."

[Fat Guy]

Were I in charge, I'd rewrite and reissue that press release to emphasize Mr. Hawksworth's continued participation in the restaurant.

[Coop]

As you probably noticed I have been monitoring this thread all day. I am interested in the goings on at wouest because my wife and I are looking forward to a dinner at the restaurant on Fri. 17. I noticed also chef Hawksworth was logged on a few minutes ago, so i hope to see a posting from him telling his followers (stalkers?) all is well.

[annabel]

Is this a thinly vieled hint that Chef Hawksworth is no longer in the restaurants employ?

Coop, this is Annabel, West's publicist and the sender of the press release that Giblert posted.

Firstly, let me reassure you (and everyone at egullet) that Chef Hawksworth is still very much at West. He will absolutely be there on the 17th when you come for dinner and is no doubt looking forward to meeting you and cooking for you. As you probably know, he is a big fan of the egullet site and loves feedback from its members.

It seems I have been a little remiss in mentioning him only in the first paragraph of the release and not anywhere later. The sucess of any restaurant relys heavily on team work, which is why I try to give dues to the other people that attribute to that success - and there are many others who were not mentioned. However, you can rest assured that Chef Hawksworth remains at the crux, and is as commited as ever to leading his brigade and to bringing you outstanding cuisine.

Edited January 11, 2003 by annabel (log)

[annabel]

Were I in charge, I'd rewrite and reissue that press release to emphasize Mr. Hawksworth's continued participation in the restaurant.

I will do that - it was only released to local media yesterday and will be distributed further afield on Monday, thanks for the feedback. Sometimes when you're working so closely with the subject you forget to state the obvious!!!!!

[Fat Guy]

Thank you very much, Annabel, for the clarification.

[annabel]

This doesn't look good. The Web site is terrible with the pointless opening animation that you CAN'T SKIP, errors on several pages, Nothing about the chef, and no photos. The name change makes no sense (can you say "equity"?) and seems to point to a general "dumbing down" along with with the new menu, which - as Cabrales pointed out - doesn't look nearly as interesting as it used to. Why do they play up the pastry chef so much in the PR when the true star (up until now) in the kitchen is certainly Hawksworth? But you'd think that if he was gone they wouldn't even mention his name, and instead play up the new chef. What gives here?

Oh my!!

Where to begin??

Ok, first, yes - our new 'west' website needs work. In fact it is a work in progress and we should have mentioned that on the site, as well as providing you with the option to 'skip' the intro - a very valid point - thank you. My apologies, we have suffered some technical set backs today but will be jumping right on it to bring you something as streamlined and proffessional as the restaurant itself. Please give us a few days and check back later next week.

Let me try to explain about some of the changes, the colours of the new logo have been chosen to represent the four seasons (okay, maybe they don't exactly match everyone's opinion, but that's what we're hoping to convey) and the name has changed from Ouest to West to follow the evolution of the restuarant to become a true representation of our region, of Vancouver. By that I mean that we don't want to be known as a French restaurant in Vancouver, but as a Vancouver restaurant. The influences in Chef Hawksworth's cooking are really global, yes, he spent time with Raymond Blanc, Marco and others in Europe but he is from Vancouver origionally and is an advocate of sourcing locally for the best ingredients and cooking seasonally - the changes seem to reflect this.

He is far from gone, but very much in situ at West and I'm sure he will be the first to tell you that his menu has not been 'dumbed down' but is just more extensive. There's tons of exciting stuff - if the menus are not up on line I will post them for you here later.

(I know he's a star!)

Edited January 11, 2003 by annabel (log)

[thelastsupper]

The dinner menu also does not seem to describe dishes in the style that Chef Hawksworth used to label his dishes.  For example, "Grilled One Pound Lobster with Rosemary Herb Butter and Golden Pomme Frites".  Chef Hawksworth would probably not label his lobster as being "one pound"; if there were a label, it would have been the origination point of the lobster.  The "Salad 'West' with choice of vinaigrette" sounds inappropriate for the chef as well. 

Cabrales,

This is Mr. Hawksworth's menu. Both items that you mention were on the menu on the website before it changed. Which reminds me, I really need to finish that write up . . . some things to say about lumiere also.

[thelastsupper]

Is Lumiere going to change their name to 'Light' also?  

Look for Chef Feenie's upcoming book, Lumière Light. --From Lumière's website. (I am as baffled as you are.)

[cabrales]

I can't accept these are necessarily positive changes. Look at the lunch menu, and ask onself what sort of restaurant one would infer it would tend to be served at. Granted, the menu could be well-executed by Chef Hawksworth, but the strategic positioning of the restaurant has changed (not in a positive direction, in my own assessment without having sampled the cuisine at West).

[Fat Guy]

Cabrales, was Ouest even open for lunch before? I've got no problem with a restaurant casting a wider net so long as the core cuisine is not compromised and remains available to anyone who wants it. At the same time, a restaurant can't be all things to all people. Mr. Hawksworth's challenge now will be striking the right balance between the restaurant's business and culinary goals.

[cabrales]

Steven -- Yes, for a while there was even a lunch/brunch menu with certain breakfast-type items, according to the website. I do not know whether those items were only served at the bar (??).

[tighe]

...was Ouest even open for lunch before?...

When I was there in November, Chef Hawksworth said that they had just recently begun serving lunch.

[cabrales]

There's a "Small Plates" menu, as well as a "Lunch/Bar" menu.

[mamster]

Does this have anything to do with people (or trademark lawyers) confusing the restaurant with Tom Valenti's in New York?

[Johnathon]

I don't believe it has anything to do with copyright infringement or trademark issues. The change as far as I know was to look deeper into the local, regional and seasonal aspects of the west coast and to add David hawksworth's culinary prowess to the mix to make a restaurant indicative of the Vancouver area and it's local flavours.

I have purposely waited until the changes were done before going down to see, sample and take in the new menu and decor. As a long time fan of Ouest and especially Chef's contributions, I was a little leery about the proposed changes as I felt what was there was exceptional. But I realize that I am only one voice of many. Fat Guy ponts out an excellent thought that one restaurant cannot be everything for all people and Ouest had never situated itself as such so I am very interested to see how this new look and marketing will play out.

I will be there tonight to take in the changes and will post my thoughts afterwards for the new "West".

Edited January 17, 2003 by Johnathon (log)

[Fat Guy]

Jonathon, that will be appreciated.

[Coop]

My wife and I went to West on Friday night and are happy to report that all is well. Having not dined at Ouest I can't compare the two experiences. However I have never had a better time in a restaurant in my short (46) life. I will be posting a review in the next couple of days on the Ouest page. Shall we start a new thread for West? Also I should say I think that that the room was very nice and the sculpture was stunning.

[cabrales]

Steven & Coop -- Perhaps the Ouest thread should be renamed West, and we could continue the thread.

Coop -- I appreciate your upcoming report.

Edited January 20, 2003 by cabrales (log)

[Schielke]

I will be heading West in the near future...well actually north but you get the point.

I will be visiting Vancouver the weekend of Feb 15th and have secured my reservation at West. I am really looking forward to this meal, from all of your accounts it should be great. I wish I could bring my camera for pictures, but it broke recently and I am spending some of my camera replacement money on dinner at West.

I hope to make it to Lumiere for some of their bar fare on this trip. My next trip will have to be to Lumiere...unless I want to go to West again.

I also would like to note that Jonathon and Coop owe us each a report on West.

Finally, I just noticed that this was my 1000th post on eGullet!

Ben

[Coop]

Ben: You are correct about me owing you a report on West. I did not want to jump on it too soon, feeling it needed some sober thought before composing. I will start by saying that in the last couple of years my wife and I have pulled away from restaurants that offer what some would call fine dining. The reason for this is we were constanly dissapointed by the lack of excitment we found both in the room and on the plate (I think 2 good examples of dissapointing meals were ones had at Pastis and 900 West). This being said all my fears were put to rest by dining at West.

To begin with the room is brilliant. Upon entering you notice how large but warm it is. First thing I noticed was the bar with the wall of wines from floor to ceiling. On the far wall is the kitchen concealed behind paned glass. It looks brilliant. The hostess greeted us then offered us the opportunity to sit at one of the chef's tables (of which there are 2). We declined the offer wanting to sit in the room.

After being sat at a beautiful table we were offered apperitifs. White wine for us, a Pinot Blanc I recall. Then came a very well thought out wine list. From which we made our selection the Shooting Star syrah. We have long been Jed Stelle groupies so what could be better.

We were soon joined at our table by chef Hawksworth. The chef knew I was an E gulleter and was making sure that every part of our experience was going to be the best he could offer. We also found David's presonality to be warm and genuine. This is off to a great start.

We decided after much thought to go with the Chef's menu. Here we were flying blind. Suspecting though that we would love everything brought to our table.

Amuse Bouche Chicken Ballontine

Slice of chiken sausage bursting with what else Chicken flavour.

Oyster Custard with Dashi Soya

Maybe my favorite dish. Combined the texture of custard with the mineral and brine flavour of the sea. Very nice.

Ahi Tuna Carpaccio with Fresh Wasabi, Apple Dice and Celery Jus

Slices of seared Tuna rare in the middle on an apple and celery dish. As with all the dishes you could smell them at about three paces from the table. Unbelievably intense clean flavour of celery and apple highlighted above the richness of the Ahi. Oh boy.

Sunchoke Soup with Black Truffle Crostini

Soft cream soup with crostini of diced mushrooms monted with truffle oil. One could taste all the ingredients on thier own and together no easy trick.

Sablefish with Shimeji, Shitake Mushrooms and Manila Clams

A perfectly seared piece of Black Cod sitting on a bed of delicate soba noodles, surrounded by intensely flavoured roasted chicken broth. Maybe as good as anything I have ever eaten.

Roast Cannon of Lamb with Lamb Osso Bucco, Butternut Squash Gnocchi and Aromatic Jus

A piece of Lamb loin roasted and sliced like a tournedo accompaning a piece of lamb shank sliced across like osso bucco. Very nice dish to end the evening and finsh the wine.

We were also served a pair of brilliant desserts the highlight was the passionfruitsauce around mine. It seemed to fill the area around our table with the aroma of passiofnruit. Excuse my lack of words concerning the desserts which were brilliant but I seem to be out of words.

We finished the dinner with two crema topped Americano's. A comment here must be made about the service. It was what one must expect in a fine dining experience but only better. The thing that I noticed was the service of the people who were not directly responsible for our table. It was warm and effficient. This seems unusual. I expect the waiter, manager and hostess to look after our every need, which they did well, but it was the other staff that seemed to also be concerned with how the experience could be made as perfect as possible.

On the way out the door we were again met by the chef and the manager who asked us about our experience. What could be said, other than all was even better then we had expected and I expected a lot. The hostess also presented us with a personalised copy of our Chef's menu in a silver folder as well as a press kit. Nice touch.

I believe next time we go back we will order from the regular menu, the entrees looked great. We then walked to our car and back into our mundane lives in the suburbs.

I should also note that on the way through the bar we met E gulleter Jonathan who I should point out has 2 sides to his face unlike his avatar. Now only he owes the board a report.

Cheers Coop

[Schielke]

Now, I am even more excited than I was before. Great report Coop!

Ben

[Schielke]

I found a review of West in this week's Vancouver Straight:

West Review

It looks like they like it!

Only 100 hours to go until I get to eat there.

Ben

[Schielke]

The new West Web site is up as of today!

West not Ouest!

Ben

[kobykoby]

Packed up the kids to the baby sitters and had lunch with my wife at West Saturday.

Lunch is about all we get out to together so we like to make them count.

Notes about West.

Room is beautiful. When we arrived, the room was mostly empty, and that seemed to

make the background music seem a little loud, but it got better as the room started to

fill out after about 1.00.

The server that we had could have been better - she seemed annoyed when we only

had water - and wound up not mentioning the special (grilled ocean perch - great fish)

until after my wife had made her order, and I had asked about the soup.

My wife had the Fish & Chips - terrific - she shared

The fish had the authentic, batter fried look - but tasted wonderfully light

chips were great too, although my personal preference is for matchstick frites.

My wife loved the house "ketchup", but thought that the spicyness of it

slightly overwhelmed the very light and well executed fish.

I had the daily soup (green asparagus with bacon (pancetta?)) and curried turkey

salad. My soup wasn't decorated with the sprig of something that I saw later on

another bowl at a nearby table. Another oversight by the server?

The turkey salad had a good balance between a very light curry taste, and

the very slight bitterness of the endive.

The food - sounding ordinary but executed wonderfully - was great.

My wife says the food is "zanshin" -- forward. She preferred Pino's Enotecca,

probably because the space there felt more intimate - not sure.

West was way better than our last lunch out - at Diva - which was a disappointment.

West was definitely worth the trip out from Steveston - even for lunch. Don't know

if its the first one we'll go back to right now.