Two Chefs and a Table

I've always had a hard time finding a restaurant that's the real thing in Vancouver. So many restaurants are hyped, or regularly get high reviews in the 'best of' installments of the free weeklies, but seem completely undeserving of their fame. Hons the best Chinese restaurant in Vancouver? Did you just shoot up a large amount of heroin? How could anyone think that? Any random dim sum place is better than that place. Hons is the worst Chinese food I've ever had. This blog is the outlet of two cooking impaired persons who love trying out all the restaurants there are out there in Vancouver, and want to set the record straight about what's really good and what's not. We've got a few favorites nobody seems to talk about.

Two Cooks and a Table can safely be added to the small list of decent high-end eatery joints I've visited in Vancouver. The meal for two we had on Saturday night cost the same as the meal at refuel, but we left far more satisfied. Degree of Satisfaction is the quotient that most matters to us. Satisfaction having numerous facets, including ambiance, service, speed, food quality and value. I view the meal as an escalation of stimulation leading up to the climax of the main course. Amuse bouche should lead with a playful note to a small but creative opener that excites without overwhelming and shows off the creativity of the chef, leading to a slightly more large-scale opener that shows more heft and ambition and meatiness. The main that follows shouldn't feel like a disappointment after the openers. It should feel like everything was leading up to it, and you have room to spare to appreciate it, and it doesn't feel overwhelming or cloying or, conversely, too spare or slight. The dessert should be a small but sharp burst to wipe away what came before but that also shows creativity and doesn't disappoint. You still want excitement from the dessert.

My meal started with the amuse bouche outlined below by Kweepo, which was a very nimble little bite, true to its nomeclature. My first opener was a broccoli soup with truffle oil and french croutons that felt traditional but still refined. You could taste that it was homemade, and not out of a can. The quantity was just right. A good light soup opener, though not extraordinary. The scallop opener that followed was delightful - an elegant line of six thin slices of scallops doused in a sauce and little chunks of red and green peppers and enough black pepper to turn its journey through my taste buds into a pleasant progression from sweet to spicy to scallopy. A fine little dish. The beef wellington main was excellently balanced. I'd never had the dish before, and it wasn't a bad experience. The beef inside the sweet and tasty pastry was not too raw yet still quite tender and fell apart nicely on the fork. The baby zucchini and baby carrots were delectable and fresh and complemented the beef well, and the cooked tomato was a nice touch, although it felt a tad too rustic and could have used a little dash of excitement and textural variety, be it a sauce or a puree, to counter the solidity of the beef and vegetables. The chocolate mousse that capped it was an elegant little ebony breast topped with a golden caramel nipple. My only gripe: It didn't look like an actual breast. By way of eccentric touch, a sprinkling of sea salt iced the top. The salty was spare enough to just barely enhance the sweetness.

Judged on the scale of escalation, my meal at Two Chefs and a Table peaked at the second opener, and plateaued or slightly dipped at the main, so it wasn't perfect, but it was still excellent. I must note that Kweepo's Mixed Grill was the best dish of the evening, a tidy presented perfect quantity, a finely balance triple combo assault of lamb and sausage and risotto that worked well together. Lamb was definitely too salty, though. Fraiche retains the title for Best Lamb in Vancouver, alongside The Afghan Horseman.

You sense that cooking is what this place is all about, and that is how it should be. This is not where people come to hang out and be seen. There is barely room for 20 people in the place. The restaurant is a little cave of corrugated steel in the middle of the most drug- and prostitute-infested block in the city of Vancouver. The mere act of braving the way to this place is a test of your fortitude and devotion to the culinary arts. The menu is small, changes on a weekly basis or thereabouts, showing a chef constantly thinking and coming up with new tastes. This is a cook's mind I can respect and would like to explore over some more visits.