It's the closest thing Vancouver has to a foodie empire, West is part of an innovative dining group that also owns Whistler's Araxi and Yaletown's Blue Water Café. A street front façade sleeps through the day under a manicured row of shade trees awaking in early evening to a valet parade of Vancouver staunchest food lovers. The interior space is divided between a long bar with premium wines and top-shelf alcohol opposite a central dining room with Cassina leather chairs and crisp white tablecloths. Amongst rice paper lampshades and leather-paneled walls is an elaborate sculpture from Werner Forster suspended from the ceiling like an culinary angel.
The Food
Often reviewed at Vancouver’s best restaurant, West chef Warren Geraghty creates a kitchen of Northwest cuisine utilizing mostly organic and locally sourced ingredients. The culinary journey begins with appetizers like veloute of parsnip with toasted peanuts, leek-stuffed raviolis with grilled cauliflower and lamb salad with pesto of heirloom tomatoes and figs. Main course is a mix of land and sea with sablefish served with lobster mushrooms and chanterelles, roast loin of lamb with mint polenta and rabbit served in its own black pudding. Pastry Chef Rhonda Viani cooks up a menagerie of parfaits and sweet terrines in varying flavors of grape, chocolate, lemon and apple.
Last Word
Downtown Vancouver eatery received rave reviews from UK’s Independent and a fickle magazine editor expecting to find dull, fussy faire and instead found a fresh-spin on old culinary staples.
