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13 dine in or take out options for Valentine’s Day in Metro Vancouver
Mia Stainsby’s suggestions for what to do on Valentine’s Day.
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Chef and restaurateur Angus An is working flat out during Dine Out Vancouver and then it’ll be Valentine’s Day.
Is it any wonder that he and his wife and business partner Kate Auewattanakorn haven’t celebrated Valentine’s for years given their brood of restaurants, including Maenam, Fat Mao Noodles, Longtail Kitchen, Sen Pad Thai, and Popina Cantina — and An’s role as consulting chef at Mekong Thai restaurant in Whistler.
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“What we look forward to and celebrate more is Family Day with our son,” he says.
At Maenam, the most Valentine-y of their restaurants, 90 per cent of bookings are couples on Feb. 14.
An will run the regular set menu this year as he just introduced the tasting menu format last year and it changes frequently. “And I don’t want to use Valentine’s as a reason to charge more,” he says.
Love isn’t demanding. It doesn’t require pricey restaurants or the romance of hushed, carpeted surroundings, or a French restaurant, although, I must admit, the French know how to turn on the love endorphins. So as Valentine’s Day looms, this roundup of possibilities covers the gamut.
L’Abattoir
217 Carrall St., Vancouver
The rooms are intimate and cosy in this Gastown heritage building and they’ll handle the special day for you like pros. You can be certain of a wowza dinner.
The Acorn
3995 Main St., Vancouver
Acorn is offering a special Valentine’s multi-course family style menu for vegetarians and vegans — and if you can’t get it together for Feb. 14, the menu runs on Feb. 13, too. “A true expression of our pursuits, showcasing the best ingredients from our local foraging and farming community,” they say.
West Coast Table
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The Arbor Restaurant
3941 Main St., Vancouver
This is the more casual next-of-kin to The Acorn and for Valentine’s they’re doing a clay collaboration. The vegetarian dinner involves welcoming drinks, snacks and three courses and after all is said and eaten, you may take home the ceramic plate made by the folks at Community Clay Pottery. That plate itself retails at $44 whereas dinner, with plate, tip and taxes included, is $99. Someone was not so good with the math. You win.
Bacchus
Wedgewood Hotel
845 Hornby St., Vancouver
It’s Valentine’s every day here with its old-world charm and gracious service. You have the choices of afternoon tea, with add-ons of caviar service and sparkling cocktails, or the Valentine’s dinner under newly landed chef Stefan Hartmann. Tables in the lounge or dining room are within range of live piano music. And if Valentine’s includes a hotel stay, the Celebration Package includes sparkling wine, chocolate dipped strawberries and $100 toward food and beverage at Bacchus.
Bar Susu
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2650 Main St., Vancouver
Quick, before this place realizes how damn good it is and starts to price things accordingly. Great value for exceptional cooking in a cool, casual setting. The Valentine menu starts at $65 per person with a beverage pairing option.
Birdies Charcoal Grill
It’s a ghost kitchen with takeout and delivery service only. The main draw is the grilled beer-brined chicken with sides and sauces like arroz verde, arroz chaufa, salsa criolla, aji verde, chimichurri, habanero and lime mayo, which reflect a co-owner’s Peruvian background.
Cafe Salade de Fruits
1555 West 7th Ave., Vancouver
If you like things a little boho, try this longtime classic French bistro in the La Maison de la Francophonie de Vancouver building. The small space, the French music, the dishes like moules frites, magret de canard, and cuisses de grenouilles a l’ail — garlic frog legs — will transport you to the Latin Quarter.
Dirty Apron
540 Beatty St., Vancouver
Couples can cook together, with instructions from a chef in a professional kitchen with the best equipment. After the hubbub of cooking, the class retires to the dining room for food and wine. Except, oops, this year’s Valentine’s class sold out way back in November. Let this be the other lesson. Get an early jump on this interactive Valentine’s experience for next year.
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Fresh Ideas Start Here
7515 Market Crossing, Burnaby
What? But it’s a fish store. Yes, one of the best. With a chef on board. They do a Valentine’s Day kit for two: the Seafood Kit, the Shellfish in Love, and ready-to-bake Salmon Wellington. For pick up or delivery. Have candles and sparkling wine on standby. Pre-order at eatfish.ca.
H Lounge
Westin Bayshore Hotel
1601 Bayshore Dr., Vancouver
Dine in a private glass dome under the stars with a sound system, cushioned seating for two to six guests, a view of Coal Harbour and lights of the downtown skyline. The Valentine’s tasting menu can be paired with cocktails and wine. And if you’re too late to book a dome, there’s more room in the dining lounge.
Hot Chocolate Festival
Many locations. hotchocolatefest.com
Valentine’s marks the last day of the annual Hot Chocolate Festival running across 10 municipalities with over 160 participants, such as Beaucoup Bakery and Cafe, Beta 5 Chocolates, East Van Roasters, The Federal Store, Ladurée, Mon Paris Cafe, Temper Chocolates, Thomas Haas Chocolates, and To Live For Bakery.
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Juke Chicken
182 Keefer St., Vancouver
“I clucking love you,” says the card that comes with a bouquet of yummy fried chicken, including heart-shaped ones. Should you go all in, you can add their chicken skin and honey caramel chocolate bar by Beta 5 Chocolates. Pre-order and pick up on Feb. 14 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. The Chickadee Room downstairs will have a Valentine’s edition of their monthly 1980s Jeopardee, testing your IQ on the fine art of romance.
Maenam
1938 West Fourth Ave., Vancouver
How to light up tastebuds! Here, they’ll be running their Thai set menu as per usual and it will be available for takeout as well. “People often can’t get reservations,” says owner and chef An. “The takeout will be like our chef’s menu, with seven to eight dishes.” The upside to takeout? Enjoy a dinner with lots of PDA at home and it will cost a little less than dining out.
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SIDE DISHES
Where’s our Green Stars?
Upon attending a Dine Out Vancouver vegetarian dinner collaboration at The Acorn restaurant with guest chef Jan Ostle of the Michelin Green Star restaurant Wilsons in London, I wondered why Vancouver doesn’t have a Michelin Green Star for sustainable and eco-friendly practises.
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Restaurants like The Acorn and Burdock have long been super champions of local, organically grown products and sustainably run kitchens. Burdock’s Andrea Carlson as a green chef goes back decades. She pioneered the 100-mile menu when she was at Raincity Grill, and before that, championed locavore cooking at Bishop’s and Sooke Harbour House. And Mott 32’s another story, with its internationally recognized environmentalist owner and a side company, Plastic Conscious, that’s developing plastic alternatives and other sustainable goods for the restaurant industry.
At The Acorn there is zero waste — well, the only thing to hit the garbage is the lamp oil from tabletop candles. Cooking oils become biodiesel fuel. Dishware is by a local ceramicist. Plastics are all compostable. All products are local or from B.C., including Vancouver Island salt and Salt Spring citrus. They grow some of their own herbs and flowers at a garden co-operative. Almost all wines and spirits are local.
The Acorn chef Matt Gostelow constantly finds ways to use every part of the plants he cooks with. With a squash, he’ll use the innards to make vinegar, the skin is dehydrated and made into edible dust. When I visited, he had cured squash ribbons, squash pearls and squash dust on one dish. And the kitchen’s wary of the environmental footprint of ingredients — choosing local hazelnuts but eschewing local almonds because of the amount of water required to grow the latter.
The Acorn owner Shira Blustein feels her restaurant’s operations are just as green as ones with Michelin Green stars and even more as some serve meat and fish. Acorn’s largely vegan dishes tread ever-so-lightly on the environment.
So, Michelin. What gives?
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Source: vancouversun.com