Nearly a year ago I wrote a that doubled as a wish list. My working copy was called Restaurants We Dont Have But Should. I asked chefs and restaurateurs about the food concepts theyd most like to see arrive in Vancouver. These were, in no particular order of desirability: a new and improved style of ramen house that used top-drawer ingredients and served really good beer and cocktails; a higher-end vegetarian restaurant that was less about a lifestyle choice and more about cuisine; an authentic Spanish tapas joint that was as cool as it was casual; and a Bao Bei-like Southeast Asian eatery that was an atmospheric step up from East Georgias famed Phnom Penh.
While the Southeast Asian eatery has yet to become a reality, regular readers and serial diners know full well that weve since welcomed a Spanish tapas restaurant and Im happy to report that two more of the hitherto absent concepts are on their way, namely the updated ramen house and the discerning, forward-thinking vegetarian restaurant.
While I cant go into detail on the former just yet (no location has been secured and I dont imagine well see it open until late 2013), I can tell you everything I know about the latter, because its opening is imminent.
The wholly vegetarian Acorn is coming to us from local musician Shira Blustein and chef Brian Skinner. (Theyre aiming for the first week of July). The 50-seater with a 10-seat bar will be in the old Ciprianos space at 3395 Main. The ebony stained, wood-clad interior is being done by local designer Scott Cohen (see also Le Faux Bourgeois, Pronto, The Waldorf) with mirror installations by Henderson Dry Goods. I expect it will look good, and that there will be many late nights (they have a 2am liquor licence).
Itll be good for the neighbourhood to have something new and original to try.
Though Ive never to my knowledge eaten Skinners food, he has an impressive pedigree. He apprenticed at Bin 941 and cut his teeth in London, at Pierre Gagnaires Michelin-starred Sketch, at the private members club Institute of Directors, and at Viajante under star chef Nuno Mendez. Hes also been a stagiere at Noma in Copenhagen, counted by many as the worlds best restaurant. And, until recently, he was a chef-instructor at the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts.
So will Acorn be ultra fancy? I cant imagine it being overly so. Rather, I see a cozy neighbourhood restaurant with a solid bar program and a well presented, reasonably priced menu that just doesnt happen to have any meat on it. The way in which it will attract a fair number of people who arent vegetarians will be by virtue of its concentration on quality instead of theme. From everything that Blustein and Skinner have told me to date, the fact that the food will be vegetarian will be purely incidental, as it should be.
Blustein is particularly blunt about her motivation: Whenever Ive come home from touring and eating great vegetarian food all over the world, Ive just looked at what we have here and just said fuck, you know? I may be a devourer of bacon, a lover of offal, and an occasional victim of blood pudding, but I know.
And its more than just the food thats bad. Many of Vancouvers vegetarian establishments still cling to the outdated notion that they are funky, not knowing that in the restaurant lexicon that word has come to mean awful decor, lacklustre service and uninspired food from menus that change every few years instead of flexing and fluxing as they really should with the seasons. Acorn could be the sea change that the milieu is long overdue for. I hope so, and I hope to see some of you in line (please bring jerky).
