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Cru


makanmakan

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I recently went to CRU for the first time, and never posted my experience. :-(. Sorry, just being lazy.

I will start with this, my experience at CRU was amazing, and the food was delicious.

If your going with one other person, I suggest getting the three course dinners, its only like $30. In my case, I ordered 6 different dishes, and requested that they come out one at a time. I love eating like this. They were also willing to split the glasses of wine, which allowed me to make additional wine pairings as we ate. Yummy yummy yummy. The restaurant itself, is sexy, smallish, comfortable, I really really liked everything about it.

Here is what I had(in order).

-Course 1. Ceasar Salad. This ain't the Ceasar Salad that you continually regret ordering at some bad pub, cause you just dont want the fries. Deliciously greasy croutons. Served in such a way that you have to cut the lettuce to divide it up, but it really makes it fresh and delicious.

-Course 2. Carpaccio. With Dried bread cracker. Delicious. Fat chunks of delicious parmesan cheese.

I paired course 1 and 2 with a lighter white. I requested that we split the glass of wine, the waitress brought two glasses and split up the wine. I don't like too much wine with my food. Plus this is a great way to share an evening with a date. My date was loving it.

-Course 3. Sorbet. Pear and Strawberry. I loved the pear, my date was diggin the strawberry. I like sorbet before main courses. It really helps freshen up the palette. Just so refreshing, and it really throws in an exciting twist.

-Course 4. Lamb, medium rare to rare. Melt in your mouth delicious. Served with a sort of filo pastry. I had to order extra bread $4, to slop up all the sauce. Just could not let it go to waste.

-Course 5. Tenderloin. medium rare to rare. Soooo good. I paid the extra and got the fried foie gras. It too was sooooo good. Soooooooooooooooo good.

The waitress paired course 4 and 5 with a fuller red. Did the same thing, one glass split into two smaller ones. A great way to allow you to pair more wines.

-Course 6. Creme brulee. Need I say more. It was Creme brulee. Really sweet top with a soft delicate under. Pretty good, nothing to write home about.

Total.... $120. $140 with tip. One of my fav restaurants for sure.

The restaraunt itself is small, simple and elegant. It was busy but not loud, it was just fantastic. Allowed for a very good experience.

I have also heard the macoroni is to die for, and the short ribs too. I discussed these options with the waitress, and she convinced me I'm just gonna have to come back to try those ones out.

Authenticity is all that matters.

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I suppose it all depends on whether you're going the Prix Fixe or à-la-carte route.

My current favourite dish at Cru is the Smoked Albacore Tuna, with beets, truffle vinaigrette and crispy shallots. Heaven on a plate. Before that appeared on the menu, I almost invariably ordered the Beef tenderloin Carpaccio with aperberries, truffle aioli, shaved parmesan and crostini. And if you're in the mood for soup, try whatever soup of the day is bubbling in the kitchen as they're unfailingly excellent.

Their Herb-crusted New Zealand Lamb Loin with provençal-style tart and haricots verts is a newer menu item introduced this fall along with Baked Butternut Squash Spätzle with caramelized onions, squash, mornay sauce and parmesan cheese. Both dishes are outstanding. Shortribs are phenomenal. And the Beef Tenderloin cabernet mushroom demi, blue cheese soufflé is definitely one of my go-to dishes.

I know you're a dessert girl, so I'd definitely try the Goat Cheese Cake with sour cherry compote and biscuit sablé and Bitter Chocolate Torte with port-stewed rhubarb and crème fraîche. Word on the street is that they also make a mean Lemon Tart served with cranberry sorbet and orange caramel.

Oh, and if it's a frou-frou girly cocktail you're looking, ask for a "Mim-tini". Delish!

If you do a search for my previous posts on Cru, you'll find a number of photos from my meals there which include a few of the dishes I mentioned. In fact, I have a few parked on my camera right now from dinner there last week. With any luck, I'll get around to posting them sooner rather than later.

Have a fabulous meal!

Joie Alvaro Kent

"I like rice. Rice is great if you're hungry and want 2,000 of something." ~ Mitch Hedberg

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I have had some v good food there, including the excellent short ribs and mac and cheese :wub: but I have to say that I don't share your opinion of the Caesar, thoughtbox: grilled lettuce is not my bag, and I left a fair amount of my (not that large to begin with) salad behind.

For those who don't mind their Romaine slightly toasted, I'm sure you'll enjoy it, the dressing is quite nice.

Agenda-free since 1966.

Foodblog: Power, Convection and Lies

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I'll second the shortribs and mac 'n cheese - I'm a serious mac 'n cheese afficionado and while this isn't my homemade cheesier-than-even-Jamie's-cheesier-than-Mariah-Carey-potatoes mac 'n cheese :wub: it still gets my thumbs up.

Laura Fauman

Vancouver Magazine

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Here is the Cru special events thread: LINK. I also had them listed for quite a few dishes in Ling's Best of 2005 thread: LINK 2.

I would suggest:

Starters - tuna carpaccio (I'm with Moosh on this one, but be sure to get the Chianti if you can - full name Marchesi de Frescobaldi 2003 Chianti D.O.C.G.), or if it is still on the menu the butter lettuce salad (for the vinaigrette alone).

Main - duck confit, or gnocci with mornay and cheese sauce. The next main on my own list is the shortribs with mac & cheese as Mim et al give it super high praise.

Dessert - creme brulee in general is my favourite dessert of all time, however if you can get it (don't know if it's on the regular menu now) the steamed date pudding is also really good (is everyone doing a version of this now BTW? Newest fad dessert). Or if you can convince Mark/Dana to do so, try a chocolate souffle. Obviously in advance and with a surcharge, but it is great.

The floor staff is excellent (not to mention the kitchen), and super accomodating if you give them advance notice on anything. Also 3-course prix fixe is $36 IIRC.

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thanks so much, everyone, for taking the time to feed my obsession on this dinner. heh.

i think the short ribs and mac'n'cheese will definitely be ordered after all the praise! oh, and the goat cheese cake too. sounds yummy.

moosh, t'is a girls' night out, so a frou-frou mim-tini will be very appropriate!

i'll try to remember to take some pics like a good egulleter, and report back.

Quentina

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I had the best dining experience at Cru last night…. It is my new favourite place!

To me it has all the elements: great food, great atmosphere and phenomenal service.

Originally we were going to go for the prix fix menu but changed our minds and decided to share some of the “small” (not really small imo) plates.

After hearing what we wanted, our server brilliantly suggested that we have the food in two courses.

We started with the local Mussels and Clams steamed with leeks and a mustard-saffron cream and the Smoked Albacore Tuna, with beets, truffle vinaigrette and crispy shallots. Both of these were outstanding. I loved the smoked Albacore tuna more so than my dining companion so I got to eat most of it. Lucky me!

With these two plates we also had the Hand-cut Frites with garlic aioli and some bread to sop up the cream sauce from the mussels. The frites and aioli were extremely moreish and a huge portion to boot.

This first course was paired with Burrowing Owl Pinot Gris… as suggested by our server. It was deliciously crisp.

Next up… Crispy Duck leg confit, warm bacon dressing frisée salad and organic potatoes and the Warm wild Mushrooms on grilled crostini with rocket salad and aged balsamico. Again, two more winners, though for me, I found the confit a tad too salty but my dining companion loved it so she got to eat most of it. Nice when these things work out so well.

With these plates, I had Jim Barry “The Cover Drive” Cabernet Sauvignon. Not necessarily the best pairing but it is a wine I really like and as I spotted it in the wall cabinet, that’s what I decided to have.

Now partway through this second course, a woman sat down at the table next to us absolutely reeking of perfume. (Why do women, and some men for that matter, do this? It is really unnecessary). Anyway, it was so bad that we actually had to move to the bar in order to be able to enjoy the final portion of our meal.

This turned out to be fortuitous because we ended up chatting away with the bartender, Mark (whom, I might add, is an extremely gracious host), the other servers and one of our fellow diners, and just had a great old time.

We each ended up having another glass of wine at the bar and of course dessert - Goat Cheese Cake sour cherry compote and biscuit sable and a glass of Sauternes for me (as it was my birthday :biggrin: ).

What I thought was going to be an early night (our reso was for 5:30 p.m.) turned into a long and luxurious evening of food, wine and conversation. I think we left around 11.

When we were out the door, we both commented that this was one of our finest restaurant experiences EVER! I can’t wait to go back!

Edited by appreciator (log)

sarah

Always take a good look at what you're about to eat. It's not so important to know what it is, but it's critical to know what it was. --Unknown

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i knew you guys wouldn't disappoint me! wow, cru is definitely my new favourite place. i'm already planning my next meal there.

first off, the room is gorgeous. simple, clean and so pretty. i love the blue light at the entrance and the light fixtures.

we had a lovely and friendly experience with all the staff and our server (whom i didn't get the name), was wonderful and so helpful.

we started with a couple of drinks. joie, i forgot about the mim-tini, sadly, but they make a mean lemon drop! my friend had the "out by 8" and it was very tasty.

for our first courses with the ceasar salad and the smoked albacore tuna. the ceasar was interesting and i loved the "crowtons"! but the tuna, oh the tuna....melted in my mouth in a symphony of song. simply delicious. i had a glass of the viognier/pinot gris by heartland. nicely paired.

for our mains, one friend had the tenderloin with blue cheese souffle (which was high on my list), my other friend had the lamb loin and i had to have the braised short rib with mac'n'cheese. wow, is all i have to say. the beef short rib was so tender, such a full deep flavour and the mac'n'cheese was full of yummy cheesey goodness. i had this with the peter lehman barossa shiraz.

dessert.....they had the lemon tart. lovely and tart. nice crust. i had the goat cheese tart (thanks, joie). i have never had anything remotely close to this. interesting with the goat, but i loved it. not too sweet, gentle goaty flavour and the sour cherry compote was perfect with it.

i have nothing bad to say about this night. i only can count the days till my next visit. thanks, to all of you for your recommendations. you were all bang on. yay! :wub:

Quentina

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