Bar Susu in Vancouver’s Mt. Nice neighbourhood, was meant to be a pop up, nevertheless it’s proved so profitable, it’s going to dwell on.
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Bar Susu
The place: 209 East Sixth Ave., Vancouver
When: 5 p.m. to 11 p.m., Monday to Wednesday; 5 p.m. to midnight, Thursday; 2 p.m. to 1 a.m., Friday and Saturday; 5 p.m. to midnight, Sunday.
Information: 604-874-4687, thisisbarsusu.com
The reservations web site went kaput for 3 days final month. That’s what occurs when your meals’s so rattling good it takes prime spot in Canada’s Greatest 100 Eating places — the explanation for the swarming at Revealed on Fundamental.
Gus Stieffenhofer-Brandson is the artistic engine of that restaurant and these days his expertise is spreading to different kitchens in a rising restaurant group. Bar Susu is one among them.
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Situated within the former Whip Restaurant and Gallery house, Bar Susu was meant to function a pop-up and testing floor for the yet-to-be-born Novella, which will likely be in the identical neighbourhood and is at present whacking its means via the town permits jungle. Chef de delicacies Ashley Kurtz is the chef de delicacies and drives the ladsu, collaborating with Stieffenhofer-Brandson.
Shock, shock, Bar Susu’s so profitable, they’re considering it doesn’t should be put down when Novella opens. “They” embrace twin brothers Cody and Clay Allmin, who’re co-founders of all three eating places with Stieffenhofer-Brandson, and likewise function Twin Sails Brewing and Thorn & Burrow Wines.
How did Bar Susu purchase the curious identify? Novella’s hoped-for identify was Susucaru, after a Sicilian wine, which interprets into ‘they stole it’ — which is strictly what the vineyard crew cried out after a lot of the grapes from their first classic had vanished.
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“Somebody took the Susucaru identify the day earlier than us and so they needed $30,000 to $40,000 for it,” says Stieffenhofer-Brandson.
No means. However Bar Susu grabbed part of that identify, and cheekily shows a bottle of Susucaru wine on their web site’s homepage.
Kurtz was chef de delicacies at one other swarm-worthy restaurant, St. Lawrence, earlier than he relocated to Revealed. His workforce will likely be transferring as much as Novella upon opening nevertheless it appears Bar Susu will stick with it in some kind. As Kurtz describes it, the Bar Susu meals is ingredient-driven with a deal with native and seasonal.
“Above all, it’s scrumptious and I attempt to do one thing distinctive, but acquainted and approachable,” he says. He hopes to have former Whip restaurant patrons return by providing tongue-in-cheek and toned down dishes reminiscent of hashbrowns with Mc’Rooster sauce.
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The menu has snacky dishes, $6 to $17, and bigger ones, $20 to $36, to pair with the pure wines and creative cocktails. Lately, a prix fixe was added for $55 per particular person. It’s referred to as Don’s Alternative after Kurtz’s nickname. He says the menu will hold altering, not “hyper-changing” as at Revealed, however maybe each week.
“I love to do it organically when one thing is available in season, however we’ll hold sure crowd-pleasers on.”
These embrace the grilled sablefish with pickled veg and tom kha, a Thai coconut sauce that’s spicy, scorching and bitter. The duck liver paté and the hashbrowns with Mc’Rooster sauce are keepers as nicely.
We had the Don’s Alternative prix fixe, beginning off with these hashbrowns with Mc’Rooster sauce, a lark that turned critical.
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“Gus and I have been creating the menu and we talked about some kind of fried potato utility and joked about doing McDonald’s hashbrowns. I ended up spending an entire afternoon within the depths of the Revealed kitchen reverse engineering McDonald’s hen sauce. I acquired a dozen packs of the unique stuff.”
Then he discovered the components for the sauce on-line.
“I found out all of the proportions, added just a few issues. I feel it’s the spotlight of my cooking profession,” he joked.
The hashed browns are good pucks of grated potatoes and the dish mimicks quick meals on checkered paper however most actually isn’t.
The duck liver parfait, ethereal and delicate with a touch of Madeira, is piped atop mini honey crullers. Quince jam and peanut brittle add a chew of acid and a ultimate crunch. A salad with Wonderful Organics greens was so recent and perky from harvest, it floated. It was frivolously dressed with elderflower French dressing.
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Mussels escabeche tartine was elevated with extra notes from sauerkraut and Nantais sauce from the French area of Nantes which lays declare to what’s in any other case referred to as beurre blanc.
The primary dish on the Don’s Alternative is off menu.
“That’s to attract individuals,” Kurtz says. “It modifications, relying on what we now have within the fridge from the massive cuts of protein I usually get.”
That day it was capicollo, nevertheless it wasn’t — not fairly. Usually, capicollo is a dry aged salami made with pork neck or shoulder. This was recent pork collar, brined for a number of weeks, rolled in spices, and hung to air dry however to not salami dryness. It concentrated the flavour however left it moist and tender. Served over a mattress of sauteed English peas, lettuce and shallots in a creamy white wine sauce, it was rustic and tremendous great!
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At this level, I’m realizing, this can be a superb deal for $55 per particular person, particularly as of late. There’s dessert to come back, not one, however two. An ideal dome of milk chocolate mousse, enrobed in a darkish chocolate mirror glaze over sea buckthorn cake, was beautiful. A darkish chocolate sauce that it sat in, nevertheless, was skinny and dripped on its journeys from the bowl to me.
The second dessert was pavlova, however a departure from the same old voluptuous meringue, piled with whipped cream and fruit. This was extra a meringue disc with a cow lick. Beneath it, some rhubarb confiture surrounded by chicory root creme anglaise. It was a reconfigured pavlova however yummy all through.
The wine record skews to pure wines with a deal with France and Spain’s Catalunya area. A blackboard lists rotating alternatives by the glass. Equally intriguing is the choice of amari, natural liqueurs and vermouth.
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“The pure wines work out nice for me. There are much less parameters to observe and so they are usually loads more energizing, juicier, much less aged, and deviate from traditional wine making,” says Kurtz. “It enhances how I cook dinner as a result of it permits me to get extra artistic and it’s much less about traditional pairings. I combine completely different cultures and methods and completely different types of meals.”
SIDE DISHES: An extended desk
The Araxi Longtable Dinner, an awe-inspiring outside culinary occasion, is again to full capability this 12 months. Except you lunged for tickets already, you’re out of luck this 12 months however keep watch over the Araxi web site for the 2023. It’s a bucket lister. That is the Longtable’s eleventh 12 months and as soon as once more, a daddy lengthy leg stretch desk is laid out on the plush inexperienced carpeting at North Arm Farm within the Pemberton Valley with Mount Currie looming within the distance. Visitors are welcomed with a cocktail reception with handcrafted libations, wines, canapés and dwell music. It’s adopted by a four-course household model dinner ready by cooks from Araxi and affiliated eating places Il Caminetto and Bar Oso, together with wine pairings from B.C.’s greatest wineries.
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A Whistler bbq
And right here’s one other al fresco eating thought within the Sea to Sky Hall. Whistler’s 4 Seasons Resort has revived its widespread barbecue, held each Thursday from 5 to 9 p.m. till September 6. You’ll discover salmon, chimichurri steaks, briskets, ribs and extra on the grill. To go together with the protein there are quite a few salads, cornbread, roasted corn on the cob and different sides. There’s dwell music and for enjoyable, sangria on sale from a classic camper van. The value is $56 per particular person and $25 for kids as much as 12 years.
Meat sweats
And talking of barbecue, H2 Rotisseries and Bar has rebranded to H2 Kitchen + Bar, with an emphasis on smokehouse classics and southern model delicacies. Attempt pitmaster Homer Baisa’s smoked brisket, slow-smoked pulled pork, St. Louis aspect ribs a la carte or go for one of many group feasts. The $66 Meat Sweats for 2, for instance, contains the three barbecued meats, alternative of sauce and three sides or a $169 Bone Board for 4 with entire bone-in gradual smoked beef chuck with a alternative of sauce and 4 sides — the latter’s solely accessible, pre-booked, on Fridays and Saturdays. There’s a milkshake menu, too, and in case your food plan permits for limitless energy, there’s a birthday cake milkshake topped with a birthday cake and sprinkles. All that and a stunning patio with ocean breezes
