The Refinery
1117 Granville St.
Vancouver
604-687-8001
www.therefineryvancouver.com
Signature Drink: Manhattan
Signature Dish: Cannellini Humus
Rating: ** 1/2
Wine & bites for 2: $80
I was a frequent visitor here, back in the days when this was still The Sugar Refinery. Students, blue-haired couples from West Van and the downtown cognoscenti would congregate in this delightful little dump, drink booze out of teacups and listen to some of the city’s best jazz players explore the beauty of 12-bar blues.
The nostalgia hit especially hard as I walked up those still-unfinished stairs to the new, posh eatery that sits on top of Sip Resto Lounge. I wondered if they ran out of money or just decided to leave the stairs—rather shaky after all these years—as a tribute to the former inhabitants.
Turns out it’s all in the name of environmental friendliness. All the wood is reclaimed or recycled, the floor is a compacted tire mixture, and the wine bottles decorating the room are simply old bottles with new skins (i.e. labels). It’s a soothing space of blues, whites and browns, with nice music playing, although the ridiculously drafty windows and poor lighting in the back could use a bit of fine-tuning.
There’s also no kitchen, at least, not much of one. In fact, although the concept is labelled as a “market-style eatery,” “food-optional speakeasy” might be more accurate. Perhaps it’s an attempt to get around the BCLDB’s antiquated liquor laws? There’s a full page of grapes, with a decent number of by-the-glass selections, a half page of mixed drinks, and a half page of food, most of it charcuterie. In fact, the latter gets its own menu, with all available meats and cheeses duly listed (heavy emphasis on salamis).
I was a bit peeved to find no hot food on the menu. My friends and I were hungry after long work days, and were looking forward to some serious chow. We also didn’t think we were unreasonable to assume that if an establishment labels itself as an “eatery,” then it means that one could go there to actually, you know, eat.
We settled in with good grace, however, and decided that ordering almost everything would surely do the trick. A few glasses of Quail’s Gate Cabernet Sauvignon ($11 each) also helped to calm us down, although specky stemware was another irritation.
We started with something called a St. Maure brulée ($12). This turned out to be a small slice of bruléed chevre (the St. Maure) with beets and lemony frisée. It was a tasty combo, albeit rather small, but we had plenty of bread, since we got a large dinner-sized plate of slices, both toasted and plain, at the beginning of our meal. The last was a nice touch, especially with the constant refills from the bread basket throughout the evening.
The pâté du jour ($12) followed. We ordered the porcini and portobello version, but were told there wasn’t enough left for a full serving and would we mind half a pork terrine as well? Why, no, we didn’t mind at all. The mushroom was so velvety and rich, we suspected some foie gras involvement. The pork was nicely textured, not too coarse, but could have used a little more flavour.
Poached figs with Serrano ham and a tiny amount of crumbled gruyere ($12) was disappointing. While the two figs themselves were lovely, they were so small we almost mistook them for grapes. We also thought it was a bit lazy to serve everything separately. A good toasting in an oven to melt cheese over ham-wrapped figs would have worked wonders.
Cannellini humus ($8) was an improvement, as was beef carpaccio ($14), served with more of that lemon frisée. The one dessert we tried, a goat’s cheese cake ($9) tasted too much like, well, goat’s cheese, and not enough like cake. The crumbled almond sprinkled between layers was inconsistently—and oddly—seasoned, and I ended up biting right into a crumb that had obviously absorbed all the black pepper in the dish. After all the tears and choking had subsided, I decided that I prefer my desserts without any sinus-clearing side effects.
The servers are delightful and the room is very pretty. The wine list is good and the cocktails are classic. It looks like a restaurant, but is really just a wine bar with banquet seating. And there’s nothing wrong with that, really, apart from the fact that they say they’re open for dinner. And there just isn’t any in sight.
Puglia’s Grapes Aren’t So Primitivo
This south-eastern region of Italy borders the Adriatic and Ionian seas. It’s southern portion, Salento, makes up the “high heel” of Italy’s boot. The Primitivo varietal grown here is the precursor of the red Zinfandel planted all over California, and is famous for its blackberry, anise and pepper notes. Try the 2006 35° Parallelo Primitivo del Salento I.G.T. from Casa Sant’Orsola, $9.99 at BCLS. Best with braised or grilled meats, game, spicy cheese and pasta with meat or mushroom sauce.
Top Shelf
Afternoon Delights
Nu Restaurant + Lounge is celebrating the season by offering complimentary canapés with their cocktails, weekdays from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Enjoy fennel-crusted albacore tuna, butternut squash puree, barbecued pork and other tasty bites. Call 604-646-4668 or visit whatisnu.com.
Dining Out
A la carte nouveau
Parkside Restaurant (1906 Haro St) has switched their prix fixe menu to a very reasonable a la carte selection. There is also a six-course chef’s tasting menu for $65, as well as a holiday lunch menu running Dec. 9-19. Call 604-683-6912 or visit parksiderestaurant.ca.
Braise and Beer
Every Tuesday, Fuel Restaurant (1944 West 4 Ave) will be featuring a different braised meat dish prepared with the beers from Vancouver’s own R&B microbrewery. Dishes will include stout-braised shin of beef and porter-braised venison shoulder, among others. Each week’s feature dish will cost between $26-$28 and includes a glass of R&B beer. Call 604-288-7905 or visit fuelrestaurant.ca
Food in Brief
Chef Tina Fineza of Flying Tiger has added on the exec chef role at Abigail’s Party to her roster. Throw in her recent consulting gigs for Les Faux Bourgeois and Habit Lounge, and Fineza is becoming a hot kitchen commodity.
Shangri-La’s dream team for Market by Jean-Georges (to open in January) now includes David Foot as Executive Chef, Wayne Harris as Executive Sous Chef, and Robert Stelmachuk as Sommelier. Things are heating up…
