Tel: 604-985-9853

Web: http://www.anatolisouvlaki.com

Twitter: @AnatoliSouvlaki

Advice: Take a long a friend or two and share a variety of dishes.

I decided to create a couple of Greek Nights for my own personal indulgence recently and to visit a couple of long time restaurants who have been around for years. This was my first visit to Anatoli, a wonderful family run restaurant that has been serving fine Greek cuisine for over 30 years.

Dip Tasters

Greek Salad

I began the meal with the delicious Dip Tasters ($9) home-made pita, and a selection of dips the homous, eggplant and tzatziki; followed by a wonderful Greek Salad ($8) fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, onions, feta & olives.

Spanakopita

Garithes

Saganaki

Paidakia

Kleftiko

Next was the outstanding Spanakopita ($9) Spinach, feta, herbs wrapped in filo & baked with mint – yum! This was followed by another outstanding dish, Garithes ($14) prawns and vegetables in white wine with tomato, feta and ouzo sauce.  The next dish was a known favourite that I had to try, a specialty in Greece, the rich and delicious Saganaki ($11) Pan fried mountain sheep cheese done with a touch of brandy. Next was to try the first of two lamb dishes, the Paidakia ($31) juicy flame grilled lamb chops followed by the Kleftiko ($23) another lamb dish, Shoulder of lamb braised until it melts off the bone and it was delicious.

Dessert Platter

Who could resist finishing the meal with some Greek sweets, I enjoyed all three as I savoured my way through the Veriko, Baklava and Ekmek.

The restaurant is quite large with seating throughout and very hospitable staff. Don’t take as long to visit for your first time as I did, I am looking forward to a return visit soon!

Review by: Richard Wolak

140 East Esplanade Avenue, North Vancouver

Tel: (778) 340-3379

Web: http://www.cafeforcontemporaryart.com/

Twitter: @cafca140

Advice: Check out their website for their events calendar.

Anytime I am on the North Shore I stop in for a visit to this wonderful café that has an art gallery inside the café. The idea for the art gallery is to showcase local artisans and to provide customers with an escape of sorts, to walk through the exhibits while sipping espressos and other café beverages. The café is beautiful, spacious and well-layed out and has baristas who are passionate about making great coffee.

Espresso

My beverage of choice here is an Espresso ($3) that is always served with a bite size cookie. You will find a complete beverage menu of coffees, tea, and juice along with sandwiches, scones, cookies, muffins and more.

Review By: Richard Wolak

138 Victory Ship Way, North Vancouver

Tel: 604-986-7437

Web: http://pinnaclepierhotel.com/the_lobby.html

Twitter: @PinnaclePier

Advice: Located inside the Pinnacle Pier Hotel.

Bread Basket

Warm Fig and Shallot Goat’s Cheese Tart

Phyllo Crusted Baked Brie

Overlooking Burrard inlet and the downtown Vancouver skyline, my friend Meena joined me for dinner and we were delighted with the many Ocean Wise seafood selections as well as their vegetarian choices. To start a bread basket arrived to the table with a delicious spread, then to begin our meal, I had the outstanding Warm Fig and Shallot Goat’s Cheese Tart ($10) mission figs, roasted shallot, and Okanagan Chevre and Meena had the Phyllo Crusted Baked Brie ($9) with mission fig and cherry compote, organic greens and passionfruit vinaigrette, served with fresh baguette.

Lobster Bisque with cinnamon crème

Cauliflower Soup

I then had the delicious Lobster Bisque with cinnamon crème ($8) and Meena had the delicious special soup of the day the Cauliflower Soup ($6).

Roasted Vancouver Island Sablefish

Roasted Tomato Penne

For our entrée I had the Roasted Vancouver Island Sablefish ($24) soy and brown sugar glaze with sautéed baby bok choy & ginger rice and my friend had the Roasted Tomato Penne ($15) with tomatoes, roasted garlic, olive oil, baby spinach and feta cheese.

Hazelnut Tart

Espresso pot du creme, chocolate mousse

Apple Tart

For dessert I had the Hazelnut Tart ($8) which I didn’t care for and the Espresso pot du creme, chocolate mousse ($8) and Meena had the best dessert of the night, the Apple Tart ($8) topped with vanilla ice cream. The service was terrific, and our server was helpful in assisting Meena with Vegetarian options.

Review By: Richard Wolak

1 Lonsdale Avenue, North Vancouver

Tel: 604-924-4444

Web: http://www.quattrorestaurants.com/gindex.html

Twitter: @GustoDiQuattro

Advice: Reservations suggested.

Romantic hideaway by night, a place to escape by day, this fine dining contemporary Italian gem is located minutes away from the northshore seabus terminal. I had dinner on my own recently, which gave me an opportunity to visit Executive Chef Nik Lim who is so passionate about cooking and wonderful guy to chat with about food and most of all Italian cuisine.

Caprese

Taking a look at their menu you will see that they have it divided into Classics and Seasonal, most of the classics are Roman and ones that are constant for remaining on their menu, then there are the Seasonal and most of those have an added a west-coast influence to the original modern Italian. I reviewed their wine list which had a good selection of wines by the glass.  I had some of their tasty home-made focaccia bread dipping it into the extra virgin olive oil while deciding on which dishes to order.

Steelhead Salmon

Gelato

To begin I had the Caprese ($14) –vine ripened tomatoes, fior de latte mozzarella, EVOO and fresh basil from their Classics menu, I also had a glass of the Tantalus Riesling ’07 ($10.95) the next dish was the outstanding Steelhead Salmon ($30 market price) with sweet potatoes, spinach, bacon, broth topped with a tarragon aioli of their Seasonal menu. To end this delicious meal I had their Homemade Gelato ($9) vanilla bean & hazelnut praline with an amaretto cookie.

The restaurant is cozy and intimate with fine service, I was happy that I ventured on the Seabus from downtown to the northshore for this wonderful dinner.

Review by: Richard Wolak

132 West 16^th Street, North Vancouver

Tel: 604-980-7373

Web: n/a

Twitter: n/a

Advice: Off the beaten track and well worth checking out.

Kashk-e Bademjan

Mast-o Moosir & Mast-o Khiar

Doogh

A group of my friends and their friends had dinner last week at Cazba, where our Persian friend Shahab lead us on a tasting journey of Persian delight and what a delight it was. We ordered all the appetizers to share, beginning with the delicious Kashk-e Bademjan ($3.95) deep fried eggplant, served with pita bread; Mast-o Moosir ($2.95) yogurt with shallots; and Mast-o Khiar ($2.95) yogurt with cucumber. Shahab had wanted me to try the Doogh ($1) a salty like cold beverage, so I ordered it and well in the end it wasn’t to my liking.

Fesenjoon

Rice

Chelo Kbob Koobideh

Chelo Kabob Barg

Chengeh

Ghormeh Sabzi

For our main courses, we each had our own dish and tasted some of the others when they weren’t looking. These entrees were large and very good, I had the Fesenjoon ($9.95) pomegranate sauce with walnut and chicken along with a large plate of rice. Shahab had the Chelo Kbob Koobideh ($6.95) two skewers of ground beef, served with rice and tomato. Jay had the Chelo Kabob Barg ($8.95) one skewer of beef steak with rice and tomato. Our other friends had the Chengeh ($8.95) chunks of beef with rice and tomato; and the Ghormeh Sabzi ($6.95) herbs mixed with beef, served with a plate of rice.

Persian Ice Cream

Persian Tea

The dessert selection was limited, I had to try some so I had the Persian Ice Cream ($2.95) a bowl of Safron ice cream and one of our friends at the Bamiyeh ($2.95) small balls almost like Gulab Jamun that you would find in an Indian restaurant. To finish our meal we each had a glass of Persian Tea ($1) I was impressed, after waiting for over 45 minutes for a table, the food was well worth the long wait.

Review by: Richard Wolak

Barista Tristan Bacon

1412 Rupert Street, North Vancouver

Tel: 604-983-6652
Web: http://www.mojacoffee.com/

Twitter: @mojacoffee

Advice: Closed Sundays. Use a google map or gps to find them.

Orange Spice

Located within the city’s reach is a gem that is worth your discovery, Moja Coffee a roaster and café in a quiet business area with no walk by traffic only customers who are serious and passionate about their coffee. The décor is super clean, simple with white walls, a wooden espresso bar that showcases their espresso machine “Victoria Arduino” which is one of the finest espresso machines around, a handmade 3 group lever espresso machine. Great selection of industry magazines to read and enhance your coffee education experience.   I usually have an Espresso Macchiato which is so smooth and delicious, this time I had their Orange Spice. The espresso here is their own custom roast which is only available here in their café, you can’t get it anywhere else, so I suggest you visit as soon as you can. The Baristas are perfectionists and it shows here, true passion. They feature a variety of Thomas Haas pastries including his croissants which are baked on site fresh daily.

Review by: Richard Wolak