After making a success of Fish Cafe in Kerrisdale, owner-chef Marcus Stiller has branched out to Fourth Avenue
Mia Stainsby
Sun
Chef Marcus Stiller and Fran Dobrzanski (left) of Fish in Kitsilano, show off the fresh halibut dish in one of the restaurant’s serving pans. Fish is a spinoff of Fish Cafe in Kerrisdale. Photograph by : Mark van Manen, Vancouver Sun
Perchance you entertain notions of opening a restaurant, fantasizing about a life as something of a who’s who, admired and making tons of money. Well, let me introduce you to Marcus Stiller and the real stuff of running a restaurant.
He’s opened his second restaurant, Fish, a spin-off of Fish Cafe in Kerrisdale. This one’s on high-traffic Fourth Avenue in Kits, and Stiller oversees both kitchens. At the new one, he’s cooking seven days a week.
No rest for the wicked, huh? I ask.
“I’m trying to build,” he says. Did I detect a hint of exhaustion? Stiller is a big man — a big, big man, belying time for trips to the gym.
A seafood restaurant, like a fish shop, first and foremost, must smell of the sea or not at all. Fishy smells are well, fishy as to how long it’s been waiting for you to come and eat it. At Fish, it’s not fishy, a good first-sign as you walk in. Given that the place specializes in fish, it’s got the necessary turnover, as long as there are customers. Stiller has shipments six days a week.
The menu is really simple, following what’s worked out fine in Kerrisdale. There are choices of calamari, mussels, crab cakes, fish burger, fish and chips, crab or prawn curry as well as entrees of salmon, halibut or prawns with a choice of four sauces and rice or french fries. You choose how you want your entree cooked — grilled, deep-fried or blackened. And there’s usually a special, depending on what’s fresh and available from the supplier.
All of what I tasted — from the calamari, to whole trout, to halibut and snapper and fish burger — were indeed fresh and not overcooked, one of the major hurdles to get over cooking fish.
The french fries were notably good, apparently fried in clean oil at the right temperature. They were still sizzling hot, crisp and tasty. A little bit of salt and I was impressed.
The food is served in metal fry pans lined with newsprint, as it is in the Kerrisdale location. There was no liquor when I visited but they now have the licence and have one red, two whites and seven beers, which isn’t adequate, but he’s building up to eight whites and five reds.
The desserts were noticeably good when I visited but alas, the pastry chef is no longer there. But I did enjoy his lighter than light lemon tart and cherry clafouti. Stiller says they’ve been replaced by his chocolate torte, and plum upside down cake.
Once this summer’s red tide warnings are behind us, Stiller plans to open an oyster bar in the new spot. Right now, there’s a mix of seatings — a communal table, window counter seats, deuces and four tops.
The menu is on a blackboard on two sides of the room and it’s garnering interest. People peered into the window, noses pressed to the glass many times as we sat having our meal, feeling somewhat like zoo animals.
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FISH
Overall: 3 1/2
Food: 3 1/2
Ambience: 3
Service: 3
Price $
2278 West Fourth Ave., 604-734-3474.
Open seven days a week, 11:30 to 9:30.
© The Vancouver Sun 2006
