Rare

I admit, I'm more than a wee bit tipsy right now. Can we blame Rare? They were the ones providing us with wine, after all.

I guess that Conrad and I don't know Vancouver as well as we like to think. We'd made reservations for the Pacific Culinary Institute restaurant tonight since it was so close by. Kendall College in Chicago operates a good dining room (in the old Sara Lee factory on Halsted at the river, and it's BYOB!), so we thought that the local cooking school, with access to the nearby market, could be fun.

But then serendipity intervened. We were walking home from our big boozy lunch, heading to Hornby to catch the ferry, when we decided to cross the street and glance in the window of a new restaurant. Rare was the name, and we were hoping to see a menu for curiosity sake. Instead, an article from a local publication was posted, and while reading on the demise of previous inhabitants of the location, we were waylaid by the manager who invited us in to look at a recent menu.

The operation focuses mostly on local goods, taking its name seriously to include rare ingredients in its dishes and wine list. We had a good chat with the manager about the place, and after several minutes, we were keen to come back for dinner. Sorry Pacific Culinary Institute. We made an 8:00 reservation.

So, let's set the stage. A cold night in Vancouver. A quick ride over from Granville Island on the Aquabus. A short walk from there. We were greeted by name - now that, sadly, is a rarity! - and seated. An amuse bouche was first up, consisting of a leaf of lettuce adorned with a piece of smoked char and some diced dried apricot. Interesting start, we were intrigued about where this could go.

The menu was one of those "troublesome" ones where a lot of options vied for our attention. Among the things catching my eye were a smoked cauliflower soup, a dish of BC venison, and the Okanagan quail. Oh, and the Guinness pudding for dessert. Conrad was drawn to a few other options. What to do? Have the chef decide!

For $65 each, 6 courses that we could choose ourselves or let the chef come up with. We were content to go with the latter. The chef, we will say, made a good go of it. What was funny to us was that we were coming from the meaty Midwest (Chicago), and dining in one of the epicenters of seafood-y Northwest cuisine. Nonetheless, we dined well on red meat tonight, and had little fish. But no complaints - just because everyone here does salmon doesn't make it good.

So the courses, as best I can recall them in my still somewhat tipsy state:

Broth from the beef short ribs with hedgehog mushrooms and a smear of carrot and sherry puree. This was so simple, if you think about it, but the wine was a marvellous match!

A risotto with shavings of truffle. One of those dishes you bring close to your nose and just breathe in the fragrance.

Veal with parsnips and a Pinot Noir foam. Yes, I know, just last month I was done with foam. And then tonight I tasted it with the veal and parsnips, and a delicious raspberry flavour shone through. Conrad had the same reaction, and we very much adored this whole dish. Besides, parsnips? Not often seen on menus, which is a darn shame.

I wish I could remember the finer details beyond beef with cremini mushrooms. Oh yes, mushrooms again. I know, I hate them, don't I? I liked the ones tossed at us tonight!

More beef, and we could have wept at this one. No, really. Fine fine meat. Oh yes, other stuff, too. We barely noticed. This beef was outstanding in and of itself.

Chocolate macaroon to give us a segue into dessert.

Ahhhhh: two desserts. Note that we did not get venison or quail or cauliflower soup, nor were we disappointed. But I did get the Guiness pudding for dessert - a light bread pudding in a creme anglaise, all of it with a flavour that was citrusy in nature and not the heavy, rich, beery flavour I expected. Conrad, meanwhile, was served a trio of chocolate treats, including a brownie with an ice cream (strawberry, I believe - I didn't get much of a bite) that was fresh and not too sweet, a ganache, and a piece of cake.

What else? Well, a delicious Pinot Noir. The 2004 Burrowing Owl from Oliver. So smotth, and it paired very well with a number of things. It was a fine recommendation.

But let's single out the best thing. The food was fine, deliriously good in some cases. But what we liked most was all the attention. A personalized menu - simple in these days of word processing, but we sure noticed. The waiter - Joe - was great, and we quite enjoyed chatting with him and with the manager/host. These are the things that make us want to come back

So we will. Our next trip is set for October, and I can vouch that Rare will be one of the places we'll want to visit again. Given how they adapt the menu to seasonal and local ingredients, we could be in for another very interesting evening of dining!