I ate at Vij's.
I have had lunch at Rangoli's before and ordered from Vij's counter at BC Place (the best stadium food I have ever had), but this was my first time at Vij's.
Holy fuck.
Holy fucken fuck.
That was my original, visceral reaction. Two weeks or so later as I am typing this, I truly cannot find better words to describe my reaction to and my enjoyment of the dinner I had there on the 16th. Quite simply, I have never eaten a better meal.
I had portobello mushrooms sautéed in green onions and khoa as an appetiser and Vij's signature dish, wine marinated lamb popsicles in a cream curry sauce served on turmeric and spinach potatoes as an entrée. (Lamb popsicles are lamb medallions served with the long rib bone
still in; hence, popsicles.). Both dishes were admirably seasoned, with just the exact amount of spices to bring out and not overpower the flavours of the mushrooms and then the lamb, both or which were cooked to perfection. I even seeped up the remaining curry sauce with an extra portion of naan; it just did not seem right to have it go to waste.
The quality of the Vij's experience goes beyond the food. As the restaurant does not take reservations, one has to show up in advance of the 5:30 PM opening to secure a table on a first-come, first-served basis (or alternately come later and wait for a table to free up), a wait which serves to build up the anticipation towards the meal to come. Once inside, the wait staff is almost overly attentive to every detail, including offering up free amuse-gueules such as pekoras. And on the evening I was there, the master himself, Bikram Vij, was at the restaurant playing the part of the consummate host, going from table to table to greet and engage his guests, enquire as to how everything was and being forced to listen to the overly-effusive praise of this newly-minted fan-boy.
- Otherwise, I hit some of my familiar haunts:
¤ Salt (Gastown): I had both a charcuterie and a cheese plate; I wonder how common that double is. What I discovered this time around is that Salt has a fairly deep sherry selection (25+); I assembled a sherry flight to go with my cheese plate.
¤ The Irish Heather (Gastown): I used to go to the Heather back in 1997 when it first opened across the street from its current location. A few years later, when I travelled to Ireland, I realised that the Heather had really captured the look and feel of a typical Irish pub. The current location is a bit fancier (the same can unfortunately be said about Gastown in general. Gentrification carries on forward in its seemingly endless invasion of diverse, 'lived-in' neighbourhoods...) but it is still one of my favourite places to have a pint. That they have a number of local brews on tap is certainly a contributing factor.
¤ Rain City Grill (Denman Street): Having dinner prepared with local West Coast ingredients, next to Second Beach (I think; I usually get the beach numbering wrong.) watching the sun set: yeah, that is not a bad evening.
¤ Dynasty Seafood (West Broadway Street): My favourite dim sum place in Vancouver, it is consistently ranked one of the best. The fact that it is located next to the hotel where I usually stay (Holiday Inn) is an added bonus.
¤ Yaletown Brewing Co (Yaletown): For years now, they have had for years now a great Sunday night deal where pints and wood-oven pizza are on special. Unfortunately, I missed out this time but popped in for a few Monday night pints. Their beers are consistently decent.
- I took in a baseball game. The Vancouver Canadians, A-level affiliates of the Toronto Blue Jays, were hosting the Boise Hawks at the ancient Nat Bailey Stadium. There were a few familiar familial names in the line-ups: Dickie Thon Jr was at shortstop for the Canadians, while Boise started Shawon Dunston Jr in centre-field and... Trevor Gretzky in left-field. The little Great One (the Grate One? The Not-so-Great One? The Passable One?), in his first full pro season showed, at least on the day I saw him, limited pop in his bat but really good speed. Evidently, Poppa Gretzky was in the Stadium taking in the game, but if he ws, he was well-hidden. (If I had to bet on one of those three making it to The Show on the basis of that one game, I would go with Dunston: he covers a lot of ground in the outfield and has a nice swing.)
As for Nat Bailey Stadium, well, it is what I expect of a single-A stadium, a bit decrepit, with advertising covering the OF fences and seating capacity around 3,000. I had been there before so I knew what to expect; I just wonder if a city the size of Vancouver could not do a bit better.
Some additional notes:
¤ Given the capacity, it is not entirely surprising but both the Saturday and Sunday games were sold out.
¤ I was sitting in the first row, right behind the Canadians' on-deck circle. As an added bonus, there was full waitress service in my section.
¤ To the crowd's delight, the four-man grounds crew broke into a coordinated dance routine as they were raking the basepaths prior to the top of the 6th.
¤ Boise won 3-0.
Random Observations:
- I am never more at peace with the universe as when I am walking the Seawall from Burrard Inlet around Stanley Park to False Creek.
- I travelled from Victoria to Vancouver by bus/ferry. The ferry ride through the Gulf islands is quite pretty, which is a bit surprising given it is essentially a functional transportation lane.
- On the way back from the baseball game, I walked up Cambie from Prince Edward to Broadway, a neighbourhood that describes itself as 'Cambie Village'. It features shops, restaurants and bars, including the Bier Craft Bistro on the corner of 17th, which features a deep selection of Belgian and Belgian-style beers. Seemingly more of a local bar right now, it should soon become a favoured stop for visiting beer-lovers.
- I have walked a few beaches on this trip on both sides of the continent. I was more than pleasantly surprised, almost shocked, that Third Beach, below the western tip of Stanley Park, offered the best 'sight-seeing' so far.
Sent wirelessly from my BlackBerry device on the Bell network.
Envoyé sans fil par mon terminal mobile BlackBerry sur le réseau de Bell.
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