Three things I’ll miss about Fuel Restaurant
4 Comments
Tiny Bites Consulting
November 16, 2009
You may have already heard that Kitsilano jewel Fuel Restaurant will be closing its doors at the end of the month. Many in the Greater Vancouver food community are lamenting its passing even though the people behind Fuel are not truly going away. They’re reopening a few days later as a more casual, Pacific Northwest concept that will hopefully be affordable enough for it to become a regular dining haunt of mine.
I was lunching at Fuel for one last time last week when it suddenly dawned on me that I had never written about what has been my top Kits restaurant pick for the past year. I wish this was less of a eulogy, but better late than never to go over the top three things I love about Fuel.
And who knows…maybe Fuel will listen to this little piece of mine and consider keeping these items around for the next incarnation.
1) Sitting by the open kitchen
There are only two circumstances where I would prefer to sit at the bar for a meal: a) when I’m dining solo and b) when I get to watch my meal being prepared.
The latter is why I prefer to take a barstool seat in front of Fuel’s open kitchen. Like my experience at Atlanta’s Two Urban Licks, eating by the kitchen allows me to watch the staff work their magic and whet my appetite with the sizzle of the grill and the aromas that waft my way as each plate comes together.
It also gives opportunity to converse with the people closest to the food and ask them questions: what’s in season? Where did you source your ingredients? How’d you make that amazing sauce?
2) Business lunch set menus
When I have a client or business partner that I want to impress, I usually take them to Fuel.
They offer $25 and $35 “business lunch” set menus, guaranteed from start to finish to take 45 minutes or less. Fuel won’t rush you if you wanted to dally, but it helps to know that they will accommodate 1-hour schedules and won’t mind when you whip out a laptop while you eat.
I’ve been able to get Wifi access and outlet power during all the business lunches I’ve had, so if you might need these services, ask – it may be something that they routinely offer.
3) Fried Chicken Fridays
The fried chicken special offered for lunch on Fridays is the main reason that I’ve been able to return so often to Fuel without draining my disposable income for the month. The $20 combo includes a beer plus 3 pieces of buttermilk battered chicken, seasonal greens, a butter-laden biscuit, and housemade gravy that I cannot get enough of.
They’ve improved the recipe since my first Fried Chicken Friday visit, now dunking said chicken twice into the buttermilk batter for extra crisp. Should this plate pass over to the new restaurant’s menu in December – and better yet, should this become a regular item not just to be enjoyed on Fridays – I suspect that I’ll become a familiar face at lunchtime in the Kitsilano area.
Fuel Restaurant
1944 W 4th Ave | Kitsilano
(604) 288-7905
Categories: Food, Kitsilano, Restaurants
A tale of two Daniel Boulud cities
1 Comment Karen HamiltonJuly 26, 2009
How often does one get the chance to try the cuisine of a celebrated chef in two different cities in North America?
I imagine that it doesn’t happen often – not unless, like me, you happen to live in one of them and your husband is in love with the glamour of the other.
Here’s our take on the two Daniel Boulud outfits in our hometown of Vancouver and our weekend getaway of Las Vegas, Nevada.
Daniel Boulud Brasserie (Las Vegas)
It was our first night in Sin City and my first day ever in this town of gambling and glitz when we strolled into the plush Wynn for our 6pm seating at DB Brasserie.
The ostentatious luxury that the Wynn oozed was certainly present in this restaurant. We were ushered to a patio table that overlooked a vast pond and an even more expansive waterfall, where we were told by our server, Paco, was the site of a light show and froggy song-and-dance as the evening waned. Puzzled by this description, we shrugged and looked at the menu.
Prices were sky high as to be expected of this town and of a restaurant of this reputation. My husband decided on the 3-course prix fixe. It was affordable at under $40 USD, but the quantities sounded enormous. I opted for 1 dish: a duo of beef containing Boulud’s signature slow-braised short ribs. That alone exceeded Kurt’s order by nearly $10, but I could at least expect to minimize food waste.
I should have just ordered a soup, because the kitchen adorned us with amuses and petit fours anyhow. However, I am incredibly glad that I had ordered the duo, because the short ribs were unbelievably spectacular. Worth every penny that we paid; I only wish it hadn’t been paired with a tenderloin. While clearly of good quality, it was so overwhelmed by the goodness of the short ribs that it somehow detracted from the discovery.
By the time dessert came round, the American portions had gotten to both of us, and Kurt declined the dessert that came with his meal. Paco, perhaps concerned that we weren’t enjoying our food, may have had something to do with the kitchen finding out about Kurt’s 30th birthday and sent him a molten ganache cake with a special message written on the plate. They threw something in for me since I was just sitting there…and then came the petit fours!
Combined with the show on the pond, meeting Chef, and the tremendous customer service of Paco and the rest of the front of the house, we had ourselves a good time indeed.
DB Bistro Moderne (Vancouver)
It was with this extreme experience in our short-term memory that we found ourselves at the Daniel Boulud restaurant in Kitsilano less than 3 weeks later, this time to celebrate our 3-year wedding anniversary in style. [Hmm - that's a lot of 3's.]
Incredibly, DB Bistro held up to its glamourous Vegas counterpart. No crazy hotel or giant pond frog with the voice of Louis Armstrong, but each dish exuded the same quality of taste that we first had in Nevada.
Each dish was again sized for American tastes: much too large for the smaller, multi-course portioning we are accustomed to in the West Coast. For the second time, Kurt declined the dessert that came with his prix fixe menu. For the second time, our server conveyed to the kitchen that we were celebrating our anniversary, adding also that we had homemade pie waiting for us at home.
You’d think that it would cause the kitchen to take a hint and simply send us off with a small plate of petit fours… instead, they chose the lightest of their desserts, wrote “Happy Anniversary” on the plate, and watched as we ate every last bite and thanked them for their thoughtfulness.
One thing’s for sure – if you are in a Daniel Boulud city and you celebrate a special occasion with them, make sure they know of it, because they’ll treat you like royalty.
Categories: Beyond Vancouver, Blogathon 2009, Blogging for Social Change, Food, Kitsilano, Las Vegas, Restaurants, Travel, USA
Visual Bites: The Eatery
4 Comments Karen HamiltonJuly 25, 2009
A few years ago, Bruce introduced me to the existence of The Eatery by way of linking me to its very-Astroboy website. Upon first glimpse, I had to try it. God only knows how much I loved my fill of Astroboy on the CBC cartoon slate.
The place was dark, loud, and crowded, with anime-pop blaring from every speaker and Art Deco-ness bursting from every corner. The lounge had space-age display cabinets proudly boasting its Astroboy figurine collection. From the ceiling hung a giant lizard of styrofoam, every inch covered in 80’s toy memorabilia. The Kits crowd was there in full force, with several large groups and one particularly rowdy birthday party. Near the storefront, the windows were covered by a screen with a very cheesy samurai film projected onto it. Above the movie was a neon-blue sign: “cool since 1983″. A TV in the upper corner was dedicated to an acid trip of “The Eatery” vignettes. I loved it!
Flash forward to present day. We’ve been to The Eatery at least a dozen times since our first visit and have consistently been impressed with the rolls we ordered. Similar to Alpha, one of my favourite japanese tapas bars, Eatery rolls do not need the usual accompaniment of soy sauce and wasabi. Whatever sauces it came drizzled with were more than enough. In fact, despite the unusual combinations of ingredients, each dish has its own cohesive flavour. It’s hard to describe.
In the dragon roll, for example, one doesn’t taste the eel and prawn tempura separately; the flavour and texture melded together so well that it just tastes like…well, “dragon roll”. I’m probably not helping you much with this description, but this place is definitely something you should experience if you love sushi as we do.
Here are some of the other dishes we’ve tried over the years. You can tell how long we’ve been enjoying them by the quality of the photo (I didn’t always have an SLR, you know).
Pepperjack Sesame Chicken Gyoza – $4.95 (5pcs) or $9.45 (10pcs)
Compared to the sushi, which were amazing, this was only so-so. I’ve had better gyoza at Ebi Ten (which isn’t saying much). Wouldn’t order this again unless we’re really craving gyoza, and if so, I’d go with the normal pork variety. The one thing I did like about it was that it was just swimming in gyoza sauce; mmm, sauce.
Dragon Roll – $7.75
BBQ eel over tempura prawns, avocado, and cucumber
I ordered this out of sheer curiosity and was very pleased by the outcome. It was my favourite of the three that we ordered. You have to try it yourself–it’s indescribably good.
Rock’N'Roll – $5.95
Crab, scallop, mayo, roe, cucumber, tempura crisps
Mild and light, with a crispy texture resulting from the mound of tempura topping. Nice complement to the super-spicy Volcano and the super-savoury Dragon roll. The mayo and roe helped to combine all the separate ingredients into one moist and lip-smacking bite.
The Volcano – $8.50
Tuna, scallops, salmon, avocado–tempura style–on a bed of spicy crab
This dish is less sushi and more of an entree. Four or five large pieces of tempura-ed sushi containing all of the above, topped with what seems to be a spicy red sauce (called dragon sauce, I think) and some sort of mayo. They aren’t stingy at all with the crab bed, which was absolutely delicious. We usually have to alternate between eating one of these pieces and the other rolls, as the spice level is cumulative.
We almost always order this dish when we visit.
Erotica Roll – $6.95
Avocado, salmon, tuna with roe and mayo over crab and cucumber
One of our regular orders for its colour, bite-by-bite contrast, and roe/mayo goodness.
Tataki Attack – $6.95
Crab, scallop, avocado and mayo wrapped with seared albacore tuna
On returning to this place with Bruce last month, this roll has replaced the Dragon Roll as my favourite. Buttery texture, light and smooth.
Fat Elvis – $6.75
Slices of tempura avocado topped with tomatoes, green onions and unagi mayo
I am addicted to avocado so this was a natural menu selection. Would have liked more seasoning on the avocado. Perhaps it needed more salt? Other than that, it was fatty and melt-in-your-mouth good like only avocado can be.
Zen Maki – $6.95
Crab, tuna, salmon, prawn, unagi, scallop, cucumber, asparagus, avocado, roe
Ginormous roll that you have to eat in several bites (me), or risk chewing with an overstuffed mouth for 5 minutes (Bruce). Not bad–I probably would have liked it better if I could have had all the ingredients on my palate at the same time.
Miss Piggy Roll – $6.50
Bacon, scallops, asparagus, roe, unagi sauce
Salty for a maki, considering all the bacon, but it was pretty good. I had focussed more on the other stuff we ordered, though.
Categories: Blogathon 2009, Blogging for Social Change, Food, Kitsilano, Restaurants
About Tiny Bites
Tiny Bites is a food blog that explores all things edible and imbibable in Vancouver, British Columbia. More >
Our Forum: Chefs’ Table Talk
Chat with other Tiny Bites readers and BC's restaurant pros on the province's newest food community forum.
Articles by Karen Hamilton
Read the food and non-food articles that I've contributed to sites other than Tiny Bites.
Tiny Bites on the web
You can find additional Tiny Bites contributions at these sites:
