A knowing friend swears by the steak and fries, and wines, served at The Smoking Dog (1889 West 1st Avenue, Kitsilano, 604-732-8811). This Belgian-style bistro boasts a loyal clientele and patio dining in season, at a peaceable location.
The Lazy Gourmet Bistro (1605 West 5th Avenue, Central Vancouver, 604-734-2507), in a former legion hall, is the creation of baker Susan Mendelson of Nuts About Chocolate fame. In this artsy space with eccentric touches, Mendelson serves postmodern fire-toasted pizza and rich seafood bisques, along with more substantial entrées and signature desserts.
A regular goes on about the black-bean soup at Ouisi Bistro (3014 Granville Street, Central Vancouver, 604-732-7550), but there’s more to this cozy space in upscale South Granville: it’s popular for its Louisiana-style dishes, and jazz and blues.
Also on South Granville, squeeze into Bin 942 (1521 West Broadway, Central Vancouver, 604-734-9421), not much more than a hole in the wall. This eccentric space produces highly unusual tapas, salads, mussels, and other “petit nosh,” and has an impressive variety of wines, as does its parent “tapas parlor,” Bin 941 (ç,zj3 Davie Street, Downtown, 604-683-1246). Both places also have lineups, at last look. Purists will scoff, but I include here a cluster of licensed restaurants along Main Street in East Vancouver with live music and, in some cases, bars that mock their restaurant licensing (liquor licensing in British Columbia remains vaguely Byzantine). The Montmartre Café (4362 Main Street, 604-879-8111) delivers jazz, fusion, world music ( local Croatian artists, for example), and poetry readings; the Cottage Bistro (4468 Main Street, 604-876-6138) leans to blues, folk, and jazz; and the playful Locus Café (1421 Main Street, 604-708-4121) delivers alternative something. Locus’s guest book reads, hyperbolically: “a new way of looking at the world.”
Seen by a legion of fans as a genuine bit of bistro Paris, La Regalade (2232 Marine Drive, West Vancouver, 604-921-2228) is an easygoing room with an open kitchen. Classic beef bourguignon and coq au yin may well pop up on the menu, along with rum baba and tarte Tatin. Then there’s cozy Truffles, just south of the Burrard Street Bridge and open into the early hours — really a late night deli-café (1943 Cornwall Avenue, Kitsilano, 604-733-0162). And a place that
doesn’t claim to be a bistro, but feels bistro to me, is Café Salade de Fruits (1545 West 7th Avenue, Central Vancouver, 604-714-5987). Maybe it’s the simple space, the limited menu, or the barebones ( francophone) staff, but here you can expect to dine inexpensively and well on perhaps lamb, duck, or a steamy pan of mussels with fries and mayonnaise. Burgoo Bistro 4434 West 10th Avenue, Westside, 604-221-7839), near the Varsity (movie) Theatre, is also recommended for both its ambiance and its food.
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