Thanks to the stupid cold that has been going around and decimating practically everyone I know (probably due, in no small part, to my lovingly spreading it to my friends and co-workers) the hubby and I were unable to keep our originally scheduled reservations for our Dine Out Vancouver dinner at the Parkside Restaurant. Luckily, the restaurant was able to easily reschedule our dinner and that’s exactly what we did last weekend.
Before I go any further, I have to say that I ADORE this place. The Parkside is everything that is right about the restaurant industry in Vancouver. Located in the residential section of the West End of Vancouver, the restaurant is located on the bottom floor of what seems to be an apartment building. On either side of the Parkside, and in front and back are also nice three to four story apartment buildings, many of which are reminiscent of the brownstones so popular in New York complete with tree lined streets. The restaurant is probably built into what was once either one or two suites in the building and comfortably seats sixty, with a well sized patio and a private dining room that seats six. Two words I would use to describe the décor are clean and classy. They have chosen to decorate with nice rich dark woods, creamy walls and all the furniture features the same dark wood with clean lines without forfeiting comfort along the way. Since the room is not large you are easily able to see everyone in the room but surprisingly we weren’t bothered by any other conversations happening around us. Not quite a cone of silence but just as good.
The menu at the Parkside, like any fine dining restaurant, changes on a regular basis, featuring what is available locally and in season. Their cocktail menu also reflects the best of the season and will feature new concoctions on a regular basis. Generally all the items on the menu can be purchased a la carte, but one great feature of the Parkside is that they offer their whole menu as a three- or four-course fixed price menu. Three courses are generally $45 and four courses $52. There are some premium items on which there are additional prices, but if I was ordering foie gras I would pretty much expect that anyways. For Dine Out, the Parkside featured a slightly smaller menu (four choices per course) for $35 per person. As I have stated in a previous post, of the many restaurants that participated at the $35 level, the Parkside was one of a very few that offered great value for the price we paid.
When we got there, we found that they offered valet parking for $7. We decided to take them up on this offer, since it is always so hard to park in the West End (not enough parking for all the residents and the visitors to this quaint restaurant/entertainment district) and it was still drizzling after four days of rain. We hadn’t timed our arrival very well so we were half an hour early. We expected we would get seated at the bar to wait out or reservations, but when we arrived, there were a few tables available and they courteously seated us at our choice of tables. I decided I just had to try one of their cocktail creations so I ordered a Limetto Sling while the hubby had his regular Stoli & tonic. The Limetto Sling was a gin based cocktail that for lack of a better way to describe it, tasted like an adult Shirley Temple with a little extra lime. As my husband described it, it was alcoholic candy. The server was very, very pleasant and not at all distant and condescending, as you can sometimes find in some fine dining restaurants, and gave us a few minutes to go over the menu. My husband chose to start with pumpkin ravioli, ordered the braised veal cheeks and veal flat iron steaks and finished with an espresso pana cotta. I ordered the Alsatian Onion Tart to start, the fillet of Steelhead Trout and finished with the Lemon Tart Brulee with Blood Orange Sorbet.
We both got kind of selfish with our starters and I didn’t try my husband’s pumpkin ravioli, but he says it was great and found it interesting to have the traditionally sweetened pumpkin in a savory starter which featured a light sage butter sauce. My Alsatian onion tart was spectacular and featured a curly endive salad with bacon.
Our entrees were perfectly timed to appear at our table about five minutes after our entrees were cleared. Service throughout the night was prompt and never once during the whole dinner did we feel we were being rushed or that we were left waiting for long periods between courses. The veal was so tender, with the veal cheeks virtually melting in my mouth before I had a chance to chew on it. The grilled flat iron steak was also grilled to perfection, medium rare. The sauce that accompanied it was strong enough to stand up to the meat, the potato croquette and the spinach on the plate, without over powering any of them. My Steelhead Trout was amazing. Somehow the fish came out almost airy, and was perfectly seasoned.
The desserts are what put the Parkside into the stratosphere for us. First the Espresso Pana Cotta was brilliant. It was flavoured with Tahitian vanilla bean, a pricey but tasty variety of the vanilla bean we are used to. The pana cotta was the perfect consistency and featured white-chocolate foam giving the final dessert presentation the feeling of a cappuccino in a cup. The Lemon Tart brulee that I ordered was outstanding. I love chocolate like any girl in their right mind, but if it is done right, I will always choose the lemon dessert. There is just something about a perfect lemon meringue pie, or a lemon sorbet. The brulee was outstanding. The tart shell was the perfect consistency, the lemon filling was made with quality Meyer lemons and the blood orange sorbet and blood orange pieces that came with it were a perfect flavour match. The doubles espressos we ended the night with rounded out the experience.
This is a restaurant that we will definitely be back to visit. I look forward to trying out the menu during the summer when so many fruits and vegetables are in season. In the meantime I am looking forward to Eat Vancouver coming in May.
