THE HIRED BELLY
The Hired Belly continues his quest for worthy, under-the-radar-spots with a visit to Fish Café (2053 West 41st Ave., 604-267-3474), a long-running West Sider in Kerrisdale that continues to land decent seafood for a fair price in comfortable surroundings.
It's surprising how challenging it can still be to find specialists in freshly caught and uncomplicated marine cuisine in Vancouver. Although a couple of offshoots have come and gone, the original Fish Café, which first surfaced 13 years ago, continues to flourish, with chef-owner Marcus Stiller at the helm and focused on only fresh seafood.
On this day we were lured by a tweet that hard-to-find white spring salmon was on the menu for a short time. Stiller cooks salmon as well as anyone in the city, so we were hooked.
His Finest-at-Sea-sourced white spring did not disappoint. It was perfectly seared with crunchy blackened skin on the outside and pale, moist, surprisingly dense flesh within. The substantial portion arrived in the house skillet, with lemon butter sauce on the side ($16.95), as well as fries and house salad.
The irony is that white spring for years was shunned by B.C. fishers who couldn't sell it to the big packers because its flesh wasn't red, like Sockeye. However, many kept it for their own tables, knowing that nothing tastes quite like barbecued fresh white spring.
How times have changed. Fish Café's wine list likely won't win any awards but it's a good match for this menu, well stocked with affordable budget tastes such as Kiwi Giesen Sauvignon Blanc, South African Kanu Chenin Blanc or Aussie Langhorne Creek Merlot Shiraz. You don't find too many lists that top out at $38 a bottle or $8 a glass (most are $6 to $7), but here's one, with a smart lineup of local R&B beer tagged on the end.
From snapper to swordfish, trout and Arctic char, Stiller cooks it and knows where to source it fresh-a fact not missed by a loyal clientele who come for the generous platters, the grilled calamari, blackened snapper and, yes, the white spring.
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Long-running O'Douls, which closed June 2, will re-emerge, fittingly in fall, as Forage, an uber-sustainable but smaller room, still on Robson, developed in partnership with BC Hydro Power Smart and others, including Green Table Network. While chef Chris Whittaker has always been one of the city's more forward thinking, locally inclined chefs, look for even more regional ingredients to fit the bill. Opening sometime in October.
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Few have contributed as much towards Vancouver's enviable international culinary rep as much as Barbara-Jo McIntosh, whose unique Books to Cooks (1740 West Second Ave., 604688-6755) has hosted such luminaries as Michel Roux, Mark Bittman, Donna Hay, Anthony Bourdain, Gordon Ramsay and Michael Pollan, author of In Defense of Food and The Omnivore's Dilemma. The welcoming and prolific store celebrates 15 years with a packed fall calendar. Events sell out quickly. Details at bookstocooks.com.
