Category: food

Steakhouse Monotony: Chop

May chose Chop (17635 Stony Plain Road NW), the high-end steakhouse belonging to the Moxie’s Group of restaurants, for the site of her birthday dinner on Saturday. She had called in to make a reservation a few days prior, and thankfully so, as it was fairly busy that evening.

I had to wonder why Chop chose the location it did – opting for a building shared alongside the economy Sandman Hotel and a Denny’s. Not the best first impression for a place looking to carve out an identity in the rapidly expanding upscale steakhouse market in Edmonton. I hope their two new branches (one that just opened in Winnipeg and another coming up in Richmond) have more inspiring locales.

Mack and I were the first to arrive, and were promptly shown to a plush leather eight to ten-seater booth. The walls were lined with brown felt, accented by a gorgeous cream orb lamp suspended above our table. The rest of the dining room was dressed in predominantly grey and brown tones in swathes of rectangular divides and columns. Very dim (to the point where the bathrooms were a nice bright refuge), it exuded a much different atmosphere than the more friendly Moxie’s.

As others started to arrive, we shifted around and ended up sitting at a part of the booth that curved. Mack found that it wasn’t designed that evenly – the table could have used a few extra inches on his side. We also found it difficult to have a conversation at ease across the wide table – the sound tended to rise up into the ceiling, and speaking with an indoor voice to be heard was challenging.

Interior aside, I was interested to see how the food at Chop would stack up to the city’s other fashionable steakhouses, including Ruth’s Chris, Ric’s Grill, Lux and Von’s. I was happy to read that sides were included with steak entrees, which was an immediate plus for me (interesting side note – the beef is “Canadian” and not specifically listed to come from Alberta). I ended up ordering the 6oz. Petite Filet Mignon ($29) with wasabi-infused mash potatoes, while Mack decided on the Top Sirloin Oscar ($29) and a starter Caesar ($6).

Our appetizers arrived fairly promptly. I’m not sure why I thought the “puff pastry twist” on Mack’s salad would involve croutons made from the savoury treat, but we were given a literal bread twist, sprinkled with cheese and of course, made from puff pastry. It was great, as was the salad itself (despite being a tad overdressed), flaked with generous shavings of parmesan.

Caesar Salad

When our mains arrived, the buspeople were able to automatically dole out dishes by seat numbers, resulting in a smooth, efficient distribution. As for the plate presentation, I was underwhelmed (especially with Mack’s dish), but that may be my own jaded response to the rather bland visual combination of mashed potatoes, steak, and steamed vegetables. My filet mignon was cooked to my requested medium rare, as was Mack’s sirloin, so no complaints on that side. May and Andres both ordered fish, and they found their entrees to be fairly tasty as well.

Petite Filet Mignon

Top Sirloin Oscar

Macadamia-Crusted Mahi Mahi

Our waitress was great throughout the evening – patient (a necessary virtue when dealing with large groups) and appearing just enough often enough to convey attentiveness without being overbearing, she was even able to secure a complimentary slice of cake for the birthday girl on a dime.

24 Layer Chocolate Cake (looked like a showstopper, but was really just a cake with many layers)

While our entire experience at Chop was reasonably enjoyable, I don’t think there was anything that distinguished Chop from its counterparts, or at least, made it notable. To be fair, this could also be due to the fact that I feel a waning need to dine on expensive steak. So try Chop, but don’t expect anything more than a pricey piece of meat served in dim surroundings.

Chop
17635 Stony Plain Road NW
(780) 487-2467
Monday 11am-11pm, Tuesday-Thursday 11am-12am, Friday 11am-1am, Saturday 4pm-1am, Sunday 4-11pm

Food Notes

  • Liane Faulder wrote about a new sushi place called Teriyaki Corner (6290 199 Street NW) and about the forthcoming opening of a second Sobeys Urban Fresh on campus. I still have no idea what the Journal is doing to her (or what she is doing to herself…I still can’t figure it out) – the front page article this past week was a reprint from a Canwest affiliate, and her only contribution was a compilation of little pieces of news. The only article so far that I’ve really enjoyed of hers was a few weeks back, about her crash course at the NAIT School of Hospitality and Culinary Arts. Obviously, the market scene still belongs to Judy Schultz, but Liane needs to carve out her identity, pronto.
  • There’s a new cafe in town: Danilo’s is a new caffe bar in Westmount (118 Avenue and St. Albert Trail). It received a mixed review in the Journal a month ago.
  • Devlin’s received an absolutely rocking review in the Journal this weekend. Great for Executive Chef Sebastian Lysz.
  • While I’m sure the September 17 FEASTival of Fine Chefs will be great (sold out a month in advance), it’s hard to imagine paying $105 for a meal. Of course, at this point, I am used to paying upwards of $40 a plate without blinking, so perhaps I just need some time to build up a price tolerance.
  • The New York Times did a piece about Susur Lee’s preparations for his first venture into the city’s dining scene. He seems eerily unfazed by the pressure.
  • Worth a visit for the name alone, New York’s upcoming Permanent Brunch will offer a “bacon list” in place of a typical wine list. The owner’s bacon tasting strategy cracked me up: “We’ll taste four or five things and then do a shot of Lipitor.”
  • I stopped by City Centre Mall last week and came across a makeshift cafe offering free samples of Nescafe coffee. Bright orange and brown signage, funky acrylic furniture, and a tidy coffee bar drew my attention easily, and I was able to get a sample of the caramel latte for free (decent, creamy drink from powder). It turns out the cafe has been making the rounds around shopping malls in Edmonton, and City Centre was their last stop. They will be there until September 9.

 

Nescafe cafe

  • On our way to the City Centre Market this weekend, we passed by the Beaver Hills Park on 105th Street and picked up some free corn, courtesy of the Downtown Edmonton Community League.

 

With corn

  • We stopped by the Sunshine Organics booth for a bit of breakfast at the Market. We each had a Bean North Roasters coffee ($2.15) and a Ham, Egg and Cheese Bun ($6). Made with a spelt bun and topped with a tomato, it felt like the healthiest breakfast either of us had eaten in some time.

 

Ham, Egg and Cheese Bun from Sunshine Organics

  • After picking up a few things, we wandered into 29 Armstrong (10129 104 Street), a design-forward furniture store in the Warehouse District, where we took in a few clever installations. I also learned from City Palate that the store doubles as a cafe, offering Transcend-roasted coffee and Vietnamese subs and desserts from Nhon Hoa.

 

One of 29 Armstrong’s installations

Forgettable and Generic: That’s Aroma

Neither Mack or myself had any particular craving in need of relief on Wednesday evening, so we resorted to ruffling through my mess of coupons to determine our dinner destination that night. We ended up at the nearby That’s Aroma (11010 101 Street) located in the Hys Centre building just north of the core. A member of the Sorrentino’s Group , That’s Aroma is known for their pervasive use of garlic in their dishes. I had heard mixed reviews from friends who had been here in the past, with comments mainly emphasizing the poor value of the food served. As this was our first time to the restaurant, I was open to seeing what they had to offer.

It was still relatively early, so it was no surprise that the restaurant was empty save for two tables. The décor reminded me of the Little Italy location of Sorrentino’s – warm cream walls, wood accents, and homey touches here and there – a garlic wreath, and several garlic clove-themed paintings. The one-page paper menu was nicely presented and easy to read, but I found that their descriptions could have used better language.

Interior

After some discussion, we decided to order the shrimp-stuffed mushrooms ($9.50), and one pasta entree each. Being on a shrimp kick, he chose the Capellini Oriental ($17), while I opted for the Garlic Pasta ($16), in the hopes of tasting a dish that would utilize their ingredient claim to fame. Also, the “Asian touch” was of interest to me – what did it mean? A dash of soy sauce? Having been cooked by an Asian chef?

I would have appreciated the bread course prior to receiving our appetizer, but in any case, they arrived at the same time. Focaccia triangles were served with an entire bulb of roasted garlic, while our stuffed mushrooms were served on an escargot plate, covered with a layer of baked mozzarella. I eagerly spread several cloves of the garlic onto my slightly stale piece of bread, but I found the resulting flavour to be less than pleasant – the musky, guttural nature of the roasted cloves didn’t appeal to me. Mack liked the shrimp-stuffed mushrooms (which weren’t actually “stuffed” as much as placed on top), but I wasn’t feeling the combination.

Focaccia with Roasted Garlic

Stuffed Mushrooms

Service was consistent throughout, but by the end of the night, our waitress’s peppy-fake “Absolutely!” response to everything crossed the border of tolerable to cloying. And though we likely shouldn’t have high expectations for proper tabletop arrangements from a chain, she should have removed our wine glasses and side plates without request.

Our entrees were delivered not too long after we completed our starter, presented on whimsically-bordered plates I have seen used at other Sorrentino’s restaurants. Both of us thought the portion sizes were good (and resulted in enough left over for a small lunch the next day). The quality, on the other hand, was variable. Mack was happy with his dish as a whole – the creamy rich sauce with garlic essence was quite nice, and he liked the presence of both large and small shrimp. My pasta itself was tasty – the sauce agreeably married heat from chili flakes with the husky undertones of garlic, but the chicken was another story – dry to the point where I needed more water to wash it down. Besides the chili, I also couldn’t figure out the supposed “Asian” twist to my dish.

Capellini

Garlic Pasta

We were tempted to try the garlic ice cream (served with lady finger biscotti), but ended up skipping dessert to be sure we wouldn’t miss Sarah Palin’s primetime debut. Sadly for That’s Aroma, halfway through the RNC coverage that night, we had already forgotten what we had for dinner.

That’s Aroma
11010 101 Street
(780) 425-7335
Lunch: Monday-Friday 11am-2pm; Dinner daily 5-10pm

The Cooking Chronicles: Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries

While at Save-On Foods after work today picking up groceries for dinner, I noticed that two pints of strawberries were on sale for just $1.98. Much too cheap to resist, I picked up a box and some bulk dark chocolate melting wafers to try my hand at making Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries.

It turned out to be the perfect dessert to make while I let the butter chicken simmer away on the stove. On another burner, I melted the chocolate, dipped the washed fruit, and placed them on wax paper to allow the coating time to harden. I was finished this exercise by the time the rice was ready, and the strawberries themselves were ready to be consumed when we had had our fill of dinner.

A nice weeknight treat, the chocolate-dipped berries were easy and elegant to pull together – always a plus in my recipe book!

Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries

Korean on Campus: Gaya Korean Restaurant

Tucked away on the east side of Campus Towers, Gaya (11147 87 Avenue) is dwarfed by both the sheer size of the sign and instant recognition of the Earls chain. The small Korean eatery had always caught my eye in passing, but I never did set foot through their doors in my university years. Now, having the time and income to reclaim lost eats, I found some spare time between meetings on campus and headed there for an early lunch.

It was barely past 11, so I was understandably the only customer at that point. With eight tables arranged in the small space, minimal décor, and a radio soundtrack, ambiance clearly wasn’t the reason for dining here. I was quickly given a one-page laminated menu, a glass of water, and ample time to peruse the selection if dishes. Prices of the one-bowl meals ranged from $7.95 to $10.95 and though I was feeling not all that hungry, I decided to order the Stone Bowl bee bim bob ($10.95), as it is something of my benchmark dish for Korean joints.

Interior

Three more parties trickled in during my stay, the majority of them seeming to be regulars, or at least familiar with Gaya and their offerings. I settled in with my book, content as I heard stirrings in the kitchen.

A short while later, a large warmed bowl filled with a base of rice and topped with pickled bean sprouts, cucumber and carrots, ground beef, and a fried egg appeared before me, along with two small bowls containing kimchi and more bean sprouts. I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised with the fully-cooked egg, as that was what was plainly stated on the menu, but I had hoped for a bee bim bob similar to the one I had at the restaurant named for the dish, where a raw egg cooked in the piping hot stone bowl as the rice and vegetables were mixed together, lovingly coating the bowl’s contents in a creamy makeshift sauce. The rice-to-topping ratio at Gaya also meant that I had more rice than accompaniments, even with the inclusion of the additional bean sprouts.

Stone Bowl Bee Bim Bob

At $10.95, my meal was a bit pricier than I would hoist on the income of a starving student, and also not as enjoyable as other Korean meals I’ve had in the city. That said, their service was prompt and friendly, so I wouldn’t mind returning to Gaya in the future – but for a different dish.

Food Notes

  • Kerstin’s Chocolates has reopened after their summer holiday and will be holding a special event for their “VIPs” on Thursday, September 4 from 5-9pm, with free drinking chocolate, an unveiling of their new products, and launching of a wedding cake service (with samples). Head to The Cocoa Room (10139 112 Street) if you’re interested.
  • For those in the downtown core, the 9th annual 4 Corners BBQ takes place this Friday, September 5th. Head to Abbey Glen Park (102 Street and Jasper Avenue) for a $5 barbecue lunch.
  • The Downtown Edmonton Community League is hosting their annual Corn Fest on September 6 at Beaver Hills Park (105 Street and Jasper Avenue). I’m not sure what’s involved, but I’m assuming corn will be served in some capacity.
  • At my local Panago yesterday, I picked up a copy of “Panago Cucina”, a beautifully put-together magazine featuring recipes using their house line of products including oils and seasoning salts. They’ve really done a great job marketing their brand as one offering “upscale” pizza.
  • Even for those on the waffle side of the fence, the idea of spraying pancake batter from an aerosol can must be an irresistible selling factor of Batter Blaster. I must admit, even from the review on Chow, I’d buy it for the novelty factor alone.
  • Mack and I stopped by the St. Albert Farmers’ Market just before heading off to Goose Lake on Saturday. As I was in the mood for produce and edibles, I was disappointed to see that the majority of the vendors were selling crafts or jewelry that day. After walking through, we went back and picked up some blackberries, tomatoes, basil and homemade cookies.

 

At the market

Weekend at Goose Lake

Mack had been talking about bringing me to “the lake” all summer, and over the September long weekend, we finally made it to Goose Lake.

Goose Lake

We drove out on Saturday afternoon, arriving a little while before supper was to start, and had some time to laze around the fire with an alcoholic beverage in hand.

Our home for the weekend – Haights’ Haven (not quite the log cabin or insect sanctuary I had pictured)

Kim the Firemaster

Mack’s grandparents and Tom around the fire

After a dinner of Shirley’s chili and the massive sourdough sandwiches Mack and I had made the night before, we hung around the lake. Our canoe trip was cut short due to water seepage into the boat, but we did make it back on shore in time to see Tom catch a good-sized jackfish.

Tom with fish

We ended the night with some more time around the fire (with marshmallows!) and two card drinking games in Nightmare Nook – Sociables was particularly fun!

Mack playing Sociables

We woke up to the sound of people and pots on Sunday morning. That was one of the nicest things about staying at the lake – we were well taken care of, as both breakfast and dinner were prepared for us by Mack’s relatives, and we barely had to lift a finger all weekend.

The afternoon gave way to recreational pursuits including a leisurely bike ride through the neighbouring campsite, clowning around at a playground, and a lengthy canoe ride (in a fiberglass boat this time) across the lake. Though we weren’t able to get all the way to the weir due to a run-in with silt and weeds, we did see two blue herons.

Biking

Swinging

Tom looking like he’s having the time of his life

Canoeing

Mack, Tom, Mike and Stacey also started a fierce (and mouthy) battle of horseshoes, and we spent more time around the campfire to feed our hunger for flame-kissed hotdogs.

Mike and Mack playing horseshoes

Sitting around the fire

Quite possibly the best picture from the weekend

 

Roasting hot dogs

Peanut

Skippy (the two most adorable dogs I’ve seen in a long time)

Dinner was again a family affair. Stacey helped everyone barbecue the meat of choice they had brought along, and Shirley prepared a number of side dishes for everyone to share. Dessert on this night was a fabulous lemon meringue pie.

My steak and potatoes

Lemon meringue pie

Tom and Mike do “the pose”

We were a little less industrious this evening, and simply relaxed by the fire, entertained by a stream of politically incorrect jokes and pyro tendencies. The stars shone with force that night, and had it been a little warmer, I would have liked to lay down to fully appreciate their majesty.

Monday morning consisted of breakfast, group photos, clean-up, and of course, a rematch for the horseshoe gang. Kim also introduced me to “the book” – a loose-leaf record signed by all who have stayed at the lake.

The “kids”

Thanks again to Fred, Shirley, Stacey and Karen for all of your hospitality – I had a great time! It was nice to get away from the city for a while, be “off the grid” as Mack calls it, and to kick back and relax in the outdoors. Mack’s complete set of photos is here.

Kitsch Worth Exploring: Sophie’s Cosmic Cafe

Brunch is my favourite type of meal, and though the food served during this time can, in most instances, be duplicated fairly easily at home, there’s something about waking up on a weekend morning to have breakfast in a brightly lit, bustling, comfortable diner. I’ve sought out most of the restaurants that fit this bill in Edmonton, and have slowly started to branch out to Calgary, but all travel situations provide me with an additional opportunity to sample diners frequented by the locals.

I turned to the Georgia Straight Golden Plates awards to point me in the right direction, and found Sophie’s Cosmic Café. The website didn’t provide menu details, but the kitschy décor cinched it for us.

Located in the pedestrian and window-shopping-friendly Kitsilano neighbourhood, it was packed with just a few tables to spare at 11am. We were seated within minutes, giving us a brief moment to take in the incredible square footage of collected “junk” displayed on walls and every nook and cranny available – I was certain I could’ve spent hours up close with the garage sale all call.

Interior

Mack poses appropriately with a Mr. T jewelry collection

The menu options posed a challenge to us, with many tempting dishes. In the end, I opted for the thick-cut French toast to be served with sausages ($9.95), while Mack heeded my suggestion and ordered the scrambled eggs and pastrami, served with hashbrowns and toast ($10.95).

Mack used the word “efficient” to describe our experience at Sophie’s, and I can’t disagree with him. Our food arrived after no more than ten minutes after the waitress took our order, and unlike Nellie’s, our waitress continuously topped up our mugs with coffee without being asked. Moreover, a request for water was filled immediately. The food was great as well – the sausages, crackling and crispy on the outside, but juicy and soft on the inside – were the best I’ve had at a diner in recent memory. The French toast was indeed thick-cut, so much so that the very centre of the bread hadn’t had enough time to soak in the egg mixture before being thrown onto the pan, but that was a minor complaint. Mack thoroughly enjoyed his breakfast as well, with the scramble relieving his craving for eggs.

Thick-cut French Toast and Sausages

Pastrami and Eggs

Sophie’s Cosmic Café is a fun, friendly and fast diner that’s worth the visit, and even better, is situated in a neighbourhood worth sticking around for later.

Sophie’s Cosmic Café
2095 4th Avenue West
(604) 732-6810

An Exquisitely Choreographed Dance: Vij’s

Vij’s has a reputation that precedes itself. Between its consistent top-five Canadian ranking, celebrity sightings, and tales of its mythically long wait times, perhaps owner Vikram Vij was blessed with foresight in choosing the large tusked animal as its symbol – there is no doubt that great expectations are the elephant in the room.

Exterior lineup (you know you’re in Vancouver when you see at least two other people pull out their wireless devices to check for internet)

Even though we had eaten a full meal not three hours prior, we joined the line about 20 deep outside Vij’s at around 5:15. When their doors opened fifteen minutes later, some of the line stragglers behind us failed to be seated, and faced with a wait time of at least an hour and a half, chose to head elsewhere. Others however, through the course of our meal, either chose to lounge in the bar at the rear of the restaurant, or, when that was full, took their drinks out onto the outdoor patios to wait it out. We were glad not to be amongst that crowd.

My only minor complaint about the restaurant was their lack of more than one bathroom – for the number of people frequenting the restaurant, I would think regulations would stipulate at least two stalls per gender.

Interior

After the waitresses swept through the room, efficiently doling out menus, glasses and tin carafes of water to each table, we were also given a free cup of warm chai, and throughout the moments of menu perusal, three hot samples to try from a basket offered by a gregarious server (a pakora, a fry, and a spiced chip of some sort). It was the beginning of the Vij’s welcome: hospitable efforts that made us feel like guests instead of diners.

Chai (the cups were too cute)

I already knew I wanted to try the spicy paranta ($11.50) made with ground crickets that I had read about in the Globe a few months back, and I remembered the praise always heaped upon the wine-marinated lamb popsicles ($26.50). For our second entree, I thought a vegetable-based dish would round out our meal nicely, so opted for the cabbage, potato and bell pepper in coconut, blueberry and cilantro masala with homemade crispy noodles ($24).

Our wait was pleasant, and though I was disappointed that we didn’t see any celebrities (Shermie had waited alongside Eric McCormack on her last visit), our door-side table did provide many opportunities to gawk at the patrons that did pass through (a Buddhist monk and two Southern beauty queens walk into Vij’s…). The paranta arrived, complemented by a turnip salad. Had the menu not mentioned crickets, I would have assumed, from both the taste and the texture, that the thin bread was made from whole wheat flour. The turnip was nicely prepared as well, albeit too spicy for my palate.

Paranta made with roasted, ground cricket and chapati flour

Our entrees, served with a bowl of rice and a basket of naan bread, were the stars of the show. The lamb popsicles were our favourite, perfectly grilled and immersed in a creamy fenugreek curry sauce. I’ve been scarred in past experience with lamb, but if it were always cooked to such tender conditions, I’d opt for lamb over pork anytime. The masala received a more mixed review, as I found the potatoes a tad undercooked, but the unusual addition of blueberries were a nice sweet treat.

Naan bread

Lamb popsicles

Masala

The entire evening was a satisfying blur of attentive waitresses, a thorough attention to detail, and a surreal feeling that accompanied my first dining experience that felt wholly like an exquisitely choreographed dance. Unlike our meal at The Blue Pear, where being tended to by several people resulted in a scattered and haphazard impression of the service, the fact that multiple waitresses had a hand in our evening made us feel more at home and taken care of. Perhaps that had to do with the little things – immediately bringing us a cooling bowl of raita when I mentioned offhand that one of the dishes was a bit spicy; a mere forty-five seconds between an empty basket of naan being replaced by a fresh basket; and most impressive of all, the use of a plate warmer to ensure that the food to be consumed didn’t lose their heat upon transfer to an individual’s plate.

Suffice to say, our experience at Vij’s survived the hype. Bravo to the staff, and keep up the great work.

Vij’s
1480 11th Avenue West
(604) 736-6664

Rob’s Renaissance: Cactus Club Bentall 5

I will admit I had a good chuckle when I initially read about Rob Feenie’s appointment as a “Food Concept Architect” for the Cactus Club chain. His punt from grace seemed complete – the tale of his dispute with the co-investor in his highly-praised Feenie’s and Lumiere restaurants provided much fodder for gourmand gossip, and after being forced out, his acceptance of a job that at the time seemed beneath him was surprising if not downright sad. I had visited Feenie’s for brunch last year, and though I wasn’t too impressed, probably couldn’t judge him too harshly without feasting on his supposed masterpieces being served next door at his signature Lumiere eatery. Last month, a review in the Globe & Mail started to pique my interest in his Cactus Club creations, in what the writer deemed to be Feenie’s renaissance, Lumiere-lite, if you will, in having to work with a finicky clientele interested in trendy food for a reasonable price, it seemed he was hitting it out of the park.

Though I was certain they didn’t take reservations, I called to make sure, and indeed, the new Cactus Club Bentall 5 (the only location thus far that serves Feenie’s signature dishes) seated only on a first come, first served basis. I asked what time I would have to be present to beat the rush on a Friday evening, and she advised me to show up at 4:30pm.

Exterior

While Mack and I weren’t sure we could make such an early dinner time, we ended up there just before 5 after visiting the Vancouver Aquarium and Stanley Park. There was a wait for patio seating, but as we weren’t picky, we were led almost immediately to a cozy booth in an area situated between the kitchen and the bar, right in the thick of things.

Interior

The restaurant was grand, but not off-putting. Two levels of seating were graced with natural light that flowed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, accenting the sparkly newness of it all – the dark, leather-bound seats, a beautiful high-standing glass wine case, and a wide, spacious bar frequented by the label-adorned business class. The room was bustling, busy in a way that made diners feel self-congratulatory in their restaurant pick, and even more so when stumbling into the bathroom, which featured not only automatic taps and flush toilets, but a plastic-wrapped toilet seat that instantly revolved with “fresh” material at the touch of a button.

The menu, as expected, featured a mix of salads, burgers, and larger entrees very similar to what might be expected at Earls. Rob Feenie’s touches were not clearly marked, so we checked with the waitress, who pointed to the panko-breaded chicken breast salad and butternut squash ravioli ($16), as two examples. I couldn’t resist the ravioli, salivating at the mere idea of truffle oil, while Mack decided on a seafood pasta dish, the prawn and scallop spaghettini ($19). Having been on a slider kick the last few months, we also ordered the mini burgers ($11) to start.

Mack checking for wifi…and success!

While we waited for our first course, I sipped on a “better than sex” (their description, not mine) bellini, and Mack enjoyed a beer. When our burgers arrived, they looked so delectable that we were sad they didn’t serve them in fours. We quite liked them, though to be honest they were nothing special – simply scaled-down versions of a bar staple.

Mini Burgers

Our entrees, on the other hand, made the meal. The ravioli was exquisite (and Giada-esque) – aromatically infused with truffle oil, dotted with crumbled amaretti cookies and pine nuts, and filled with sweet pureed squash – it was like having a dessert course for dinner. Mack similarly liked his spaghettini, attractively presented with the noodles twirled and topped with a scallop and shrimp, he was pleased to find two more of each buried underneath. The food was also deceivingly filling, but not to the point where we were uncomfortably full.

Butternut Squash Ravioli

Prawn and Scallop Spaghettini

I can say without hesitation that our experience at Cactus Club Bentall 5 was a great one. And to Rob Feenie – I owe you an apology: if you ever decide to make a lateral move to Earls, I may be made a believer yet.

Cactus Club Bentall 5
588 Burrard Street
(604) 682-0933