Gastropod Restaurant

[Andrew Morrison]

Don't sweat it. Rejoice in the awesome gullet.

[mkjr]

Maybe it's just me, but her review is one of the most bizarre I have ever read.

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Sure but it is a review nonetheless. If I owned the place and saw a staff member kicking some paper around and not picking it up I would fire his ass ASAP as this is just plain sloppy and not professional. In front of customers makes it soo much worse.

I think that when I saw part of the review I was able to get a visual picture of things. To have this at the start of your dinner would also bug me.

I love to see both sides of the coin. I actually found the menu on line a little too much of everything. Can someone tell me what the supplement refers to. I assume you can put a tasting menu together but can not see a reference to the same (in which case if so the supplement price reference makes sense).

Would a negative review turn me off, only if it was from someone that I have been able to guage my tastes too.

The prices seem OK too in my view. If I was in Vancouver I would give this place a shot.

Edited March 29, 2007 by mkjr (log)

[*Deborah*]

Eventually a youngish man strolled toward us, kicking a piece of paper, not once but a purposeful 3 times, along the floor and under the counter. Perhaps he feared germs and didn’t want to pick it up? Looking vacantly into our eyes he asked, do you have a reservation?

^cruel, weird, personal attack...

I see that as a description weird behaviour, not as an attack! what's cruel about it?

In the entry way was an umbrella stand and a shelf with what I can only assume are postcards (I was hoping they were small menus) and business cards.

^weird thing to say, why do we care about the umbrella stand and shelf?

I don't, particularly, I kinda shrugged my shoulders. But whatever.

Maybe it's just me, but her review is one of the most bizarre I have ever read.

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Really?

You should see BCinBC's Penthouse Forum review of Senhor Rooster!!!!

[annanstee]

Uh yes- what is so personal about it? She didn't name the guy, or describe him to the point where he can be identified.

May I point that, while anyone may disagree with FB's point of view, calling the review bizarre, childish, condescending etc is pretty personal.

Edited March 29, 2007 by annanstee (log)

[nwyles]

I really do not see what all of the hub bub is about.

In reading all info from here and other places, there seems to be some sort of FOH issue at Gastropod.....................so remarking on the no eye contact, kicking paper does not seem out of place, but an observation, nothing more.

1.5 rating on the food is again, that person's impression. They certainly can not rate on what they did not have but did not like what they did. If everything on the menu has some sort of sous vide and guests are not digging it, Gastropod will adapt, or not survive.

With so many other restaurants out there, sometime people are not willing to give second chances. Fair enough. As a restaurant owner, I always appreciate a second one, but it does not always happen.

Anyhoo........................someone did not like a restaurant.

It happens.

[Memo]

There's always Waiterforum, the gullet's next-best friend.

Memo - Don't sleep in the sandbox, darling. Don't stand in the pouring rain.

Edited March 30, 2007 by Memo (log)

[barolo]

I really do not see what all of the hub bub is about.

In reading all info from here and other places, there seems to be some sort of FOH issue at Gastropod.....................so remarking on the no eye contact, kicking paper does not seem out of place, but an observation, nothing more.

1.5 rating on the food is again, that person's impression. They certainly can not rate on what they did not have but did not like what they did. If everything on the menu has some sort of sous vide and guests are not digging it, Gastropod will adapt, or not survive.

With so many other restaurants out there, sometime people are not willing to give second chances. Fair enough. As a restaurant owner, I always appreciate a second one, but it does not always happen.

Anyhoo........................someone did not like a restaurant.

It happens.

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Yep. It is not going away. People will say what they think - whether it is here, Chowhound, dinehere.ca, their blog or whatever. Astute restaurateurs will keep cool, look for the patterns in the comments and respond accordingly.

It sucks to have negative comments about your business posted to the whole world but it comes with the territory and the best thing to do is learn from it.

Some of the restaurants that are most praised here did quite a bit of tweaking in their early days so second chances are often rewarded.

[nwyles]

It sucks to have negative comments about your business posted to the whole world but it comes with the territory and the best thing to do is learn from it.

It certainly does, and learn we do. It just takes a little time

[barolo]

It sucks to have negative comments about your business posted to the whole world but it comes with the territory and the best thing to do is learn from it.

It certainly does, and learn we do. It just takes a little time

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I think most Vancouver restaurateurs have been pretty savvy about this and understand it far better than I do. When I read my comment in your quote it sounds patronizing, which wasn't my intention.

[nwyles]

It sucks to have negative comments about your business posted to the whole world but it comes with the territory and the best thing to do is learn from it.

It certainly does, and learn we do. It just takes a little time

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I think most Vancouver restaurateurs have been pretty savvy about this and understand it far better than I do. When I read my comment in your quote it sounds patronizing, which wasn't my intention.

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I did not see it as patronizing at all.

It really does suck to have negative things posted about your restaurant, and it is there forever, popping up and reminding you of an experience gone bad.

For someone like myself, a crazy OCD, negative comment chasing freak, it is just the red flag in front of the bull.

I actually posted all of the comments from Dinehere.ca for my staff to read, and wrote in what nights and what waiters they were referring to, both good and bad.

It was not about beating anyone one down or anything like that. It was to show them what people were saying about them, their service and our food when they were so inclined. The last one was the kicker as it was one of my best servers, and longest with me. I can rationalize it in my mind..........they did not give him any real chance to show his service as they were two waters, a yam fries, two dinners, no dessert, but their perception was that he did not give them service and perception is reality.

[SushiCat]

BUMP

stopped by at Gastropod to see about all the commotion. The room is very nice and it has a buzz that makes you feel like you are out on the town. We had a very good waitress and she helped make our night fun and memorable, there were a few things she didn't know off the top of her head, but I don't fault her for that, she was pleasant and found out what she needed quickly and without pretention. She was attentive but not cloying and really made us both feel that our happiness came first! Cocktail list, wines and menu are all interesting with enough to chose from even if you are trying to avoid the sous vide (which I was not).

While we were deciding on various things to order, I noticed the bartender elaborately preparing a drink and then I saw it after it had been poured. This turned out to be the rhubarb cocktail. Had to try that and it was WOW! Muddled rhubarb, basil and some gin, I'm sure there was a bit of simple syrup and on top a shaving of blood orange rind. Excellent mix of flavours, refreshing and not nearly as tart as one might expect. Top marks on this one!

For starters we had the tuna tartare and the asparagus salad. I think others have mentioned the tuna, it is quite fine, with a thick layer of tuna, somehow crispy panko, and avocado. It is sublime and I know I'm leaving out some key details, but I only had two small bites. I had the aspargus salad which I have to say ranks up there in the top five of all time memorable dishes! If you are an asparagus fan, and/or a fan of perfectly cooked egg yolks, then I urge you to drop by and try this dish! The egg is preparred sous vide, and the yolk is served on top of Parmesan foam, which serves as the 'white'. it is both beautiful and incredibly delicious.

For main dishes, I had the lamb which is served on Israeli cous cous prepared with mushrooms and chorizo, just enough to bring the flavours together - very balanced. An intense sauce rounds out the plate, it is a smoky roasted pepper sauce - thick, unctuous and great to pull the lamb and cous cous together. Very well done. My dining partner had the venison which was sublime! Venison really is a very good meat for us carnivores, I love it. It had a raspberry 'ketchup', tasted very fresh and raspberry to me, I couldn't discern any other flavours in it, or that it had been cooked. It went perfectly with the venison. Excellent pairing. It came with some type of potato sandwich, pardon me chef for not being able to describe this. It is on the menu that is posted on their website, but no additional data is coming from that tonight. There were several other options that intrigued us, including a 'two types of pork' entree but these two mains sounded best. Both meats appeared to be sous vide. The table closest to us, had one serving of that pork and it did look really good!

On the wine list, there are several options by the glass, and also two levels of both white and red flights. As a taster of wines, I really do appreciate the flight option, it allows you to have more than one type of wine and not get sloshed, therefore still enjoying the intense flavours of the food. So we ended up with one of each of the flights of red, therefore having six wines on teh table at once! We savoured bits, and ended up with two partial glasses that were much appreciated by the cheese plate eater! I think the concept has gotten them far, the chef clearly has outstanding talent, and I look forward to a continuing evolution by back and front of house as they settle in and bask in the interesting bounty of ingredients as well as the tourist season and all that has to offer. Good luck and glad to have you in the clump of new spots on that block !

I don't usually rate places this way, but food here is a 5 out of 5! FOH has some foibles, but they are climbing up to about 3.5 out of same 5. Don't pass them up, this is some fine dining!