Angus An’s dishes balance lovely food that blurs the lines between European and North American cuisine, with just a dash of Asian

Mia Stainsby
Sun

Chef /owner Angus An of Gastropod restaurant presents lamb loin with candied butternut squash, crispy polenta and cumin-infused sauce. Photograph by : Glenn Baglo, Vancouver Sun

To my ear, Gastropod isn’t the most elegant of sounds. As for my stomach, ahhh, that’s another thing.

It loves Gastropod. I speak of Gastropod restaurant — not of other gastropods such as snails and slugs and other such things.

Chef/owner Angus An walks a high wire, balancing lovely food with affordability. Note, please, the $42.50 three-course prix fixe is a bargain, considering the smooth, sophisticated moves from the kitchen.

Gastropod, like many of the top restaurants in town (Lumiere, West, Rare, C) invested in sous vide equipment to handle the most important of jobs: cooking proteins and even vegetables, coddling and nudging them into the tenderest of moods.

Some say sous vide is a fancy name for boil-in-a-bag, but not true. Temperature control and timing is everything and the dishes go through many trial runs.

An calls his food modern European. Lines have blurred so much between Europe and North American cuisine that I’ll say, ‘sure, why not.’ It’s certainly not the Asian-influenced Pacific Northwest cuisine (although there are cameo appearances by edamame, panko and wasabi).

The food looks simple but it’s actually not. An manipulates flavours, textures and techniques quite seamlessly without leaving a trace of the labour involved. He has worked at Toque, a top-dog Montreal restaurant, and apprenticed at JoJo, a Jean-Georges Vongerichten property, which is to say, under one of the best chefs in New York.

He sought out a position at Nahm, a one-Michelin-star Thai restaurant in London, to learn the acrobatics of balancing flavours Thai cooks do so well.

It shows in dishes like the playful Oysters with Horseradish Snow, balancing the sea saltiness with a shallot reduction, sweet sauterne jelly and a hit of horseradish-yogurt milk “snow.” It’s lovely.

Tuna Mille-Feuille is a striped rectangle of paper-thin tuna (sliced at the point between frozen and thawed), alternating with sheets of marinated daikon and confit of red pepper with yuzu (citrus) dressing.

A creamy, earthy risotto is topped with a sparkly fennel salad; prawn cannelloni holds a secret — the pasta noodle itself is made of pureed prawns, then stuffed with prawns. I’m no fan of wispy foam sauces but his actually has flavour and some body.

Salmon is gently lulled in a sous vide bath, then takes a dive into hot oil with a tempura treatment; it’s served with a very sexy wasabi sabayon — how else to describe this silky smooth accompaniment with a flirty growl. Braised beef ribs (not sous vide) might jolt you awake — the dark-as-sin sauce has been spiked with espresso and it’s served with glazed chestnuts, chanterelles, burdock and cipollini onions.

Cylinders of lamb loin are ultra tender and served with cumin-infused sauce and stingy bits of polenta and squash. The sous vide duck breast is very bistro — duck confit is tucked inside a ribbon of lasagne noodle and a confit of oyster mushrooms, garlic sauce and Chinese broccoli complete the dish.

Desserts, so often afterthoughts, were mostly great — the cheesecake, amazingly light; the walnut tart had a crust I liked for a change; chocolate fondant is really a chocolate cake with the molten middle. One dessert didn’t make the grade — the rustic apple tart’s crust required the jaws of life to get through.

The room is cleanly minimalist and could use a little soul with art or more focus on music. An’s good-value international wine list is compact and user friendly, listing wine progressing from light to full-bodied wines.

Robert Belcham opens Fuel right next door to Gastropod sometime in January. He was former co-chef at Nu restaurant, named the best new Canadian restaurant by Enroute magazine this year. This block will suddenly be unbearably hip.

– – –

GASTROPOD

Overall: 4

Food: 4

Ambience: 4

Service: 4

Price: $$

1938 West Fourth Ave., 604-730-5579. Open Tuesday to Sunday, 5:30 to 11p.m. Will open for lunch in late January.

Restaurant visits are conducted anonymously and interviews are done by phone. Restaurants are rated out of five stars.

© The Vancouver Sun 2006

Mia Stainsby
Sun

We called on the experts to pull us through hosting Christmas dinner. Here are a few pointers from some of Vancouver’s best and brightest.

DENNIS GREEN

Bishop’s Restaurant

– Cut down on turkey roasting time by cutting out the thigh bone. You can’t be a klutz, though, as you need a small, sharp knife and some skill. “Sever at the knee and hip and pull out,” he instructs. The bird won’t lose its svelte shape, especially if you fill the cavity with stuffing. It will cut roasting time on a 20-pound bird by 21/2 to three hours, he says.

– Peel and prep vegetables ahead of time for cooking at the last minute. Make mashed yams or potatoes the day before in a casserole dish and reheat in microwave before dinner.

– Rest the turkey 30 to 45 minutes after cooking, in which time you can make gravy. Use red wine or port as well as stock. Instead of wrestling with a big roasting pan on your stove top, bring the gravy to a simmer in a 350 F oven. “Don’t worry about lumps at the beginning. A fine sieve does miracles,” Green says.

ROB FEENIE

Lumiere, Feenie’s

– Brine the bird! “The great thing about brining is it helps with people’s biggest worry — overcooking the turkey breast. It saves you,” says Feenie. Brines, which keep the bird moist, are made with salt, sugar, water and if you wish, herbs and spices and recipes can easily be found in cookbooks and web recipes. If you want to get really fancy, you can add vegetables and cook a “brine stock” (which must be cooled) for even more flavour. Feenie’s trick is to add a twenty-sixer of Jack Daniels for a peaty flavour.

– Use some white wine or even a little red wine in the gravy.

– If cooking for a small group, you don’t have to cook a whole bird. Do two turkey breasts or some turkey legs and don’t forget to brine. You can make stuffing separately or insert underneath the tenderloin of the breast. If you want flavour, tuck a strip of bacon in as well. You can even stuff the leg — get the butcher to debone it and use the space for the stuffing.

– To zoot up brussels sprouts, braise in stock after blanching. “The best combination is brussels sprouts and bacon. There are so many cool bacons out there. Or good Oyama sausage. Add chili flakes and bread crumbs for a little more interesting flavour,” says Feenie.

ANGUS AN

Gastropod

– An revisits his past for turkey leftovers ideas. He makes Chinese noodles with julienned turkey meat, vegetables, bean sprouts and thinned sesame paste. “It’s like a salad,” he says. A legacy from his days in Montreal, he loves cold turkey sandwiches on rustic french bread with gravy and cheese curd for a poutine-like creation. “In London, I knew a couple of guys who put french fries in there, too.”

– To give the turkey a flavour boost, slip some tarragon butter under the breast skin. “Make a tarragon compound butter, open up the skin and smother it on the breast.”

SEAN HEATHER

Irish Heather, Salt, Salty Tongue, Lucky Diner and soon,Pepper

– Since he cooks both a ham and a turkey, Heather often doesn’t cook a whole turkey. “I do the breast with stuffing inside. I use sausage meat, herbs, mushrooms and dried apricots for moisture and flavour. There’s no waste and it cooks faster.”

SUSAN MENDELSON

Lazy Gourmet

– Buffets make for lighter work and “People can eat what they want and you don’t miss out on conversation,” she says.

– To appease dieters, have lots of salads. Dress salads lightly and have extra on the side. Have grated cheese on the side as some guests might be lactose intolerant.

– Use the freshest, most wonderful ingredients so you can make simple dishes that taste delicious.

– Print out the menu for the buffet table. “People love to know what’s in the dish and what it’s called.”

– Do as much ahead as possible. “Set the table ahead of time. You’re wrong if you think it takes 15, 20 minutes.”

– Make mint tea, or add fresh mint to black tea at the end of the meal. “It’s a beautifully refreshing end.”

– – –

Bishop’s chef Dennis Green suggests this comfort dessert to end a traditional Christmas meal. With late-harvest wine in the compote and rum in the cake, it’s no ordinary comfort dish.

For the dried fruit, he suggests using cherries, apricots or figs or a combination of them. The compote can be made the day before to develop flavour and even the cakes can be made the day before and warmed up in a microwave oven. Individual little cakes look better but you if want less fuss, you can make it in an 8-inch square pan.

HAZELNUT SPICE CAKE WITH DRIED FRUIT AND LATE-HARVEST RIESLING COMPOTE

Compote

1 cup dried fruit

1 cup late-harvest Riesling or other late-harvest wine

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup honey

1 cinnamon stick

1 star anise

Cake

1/2 cup hazelnuts

11/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

Pinch of nutmeg

Pinch of cinnamon

Pinch of cardamom

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup dark rum

Compote: Roughly slice large dried fruits such as apricots or figs. Leave cherries whole.

Place wine, water, honey, cinnamon and star anise in a saucepan on medium heat. Once the mixture simmers, add dried fruit. Cover with a lid, then simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat, leave covered and let cool. Remove and discard cinnamon and star anise. Refrigerate until needed, up to 7 days.

Cake: Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease and flour six 1/2-cup ramekins.

Place hazelnuts on a cookie sheet and toast in the oven for 5 to 10 minutes, until fragrant and golden. Transfer to a clean tea towel, then rub them gently to remove the skins. Let cool.

Combine hazelnuts, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon and cardamom in a food processor. Pulse until the nuts are finely ground.

Cream butter and sugar in electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Lightly mix in buttermilk and rum. Add the dry ingredients and mix batter well.

Pour batter into the ramekins. Bake in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the centre of the cakes come out clean.

To serve: Dip the bottom of the ramekins in hot water. Run a knife around the edge of the cakes, then gently unmould them. Place a warm cake on each plate and spoon some compote on top. Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Makes 6 servings.

© The Vancouver Sun 2006

Most stick to the traditional favourites when it comes to cooking for members of their family and friends

Mia Stainsby
Sun

Dennis Green (second from left), a chef at Bishop’s Restaurant, takes cookies from the oven as wife, Sandra, and son Tyler (front) bring in cut-out gingerbread men and son Darcy rolls out dough for more Christmas cookies. Photograph by : Peter Battistoni, Vancouver Sun

On Dec. 25, in most restaurants, not a creature will stir, not even a mouse. It’s the one day chefs will be home, cooking not for strangers but for people they know. There’ll be none of that duck confit or foie gras or noisettes of anything because they will, it seems, cling to tradition — even if it’s not.

Angus An didn’t celebrate Christmas as a child but, as an adult, he’s a turkey and Brussels sprouts man all the way. (See today’s restaurant section for a review of his exciting new restaurant, Gastropod.)

Like a lot of ambitious young chefs, An travelled and cooked abroad before opening his restaurant. Last Christmas, he and his wife Kate were in Dublin with friends from London. Their Christmas past reveals something about a chef’s Christmas — their dinners come in size XL.

The Dublin dinner included turkey with bread stuffing as well as a lamb roast, roasted Brussels sprouts, Yorkshire pudding, mushroom risotto, parsnips with maple syrup (“A kind of heads up that I’m Canadian,” he says) and green salad, with rice pudding for dessert.

The meal lasted from 3 to 9 p.m. “To be honest, I felt like there should have been more food. It was a whole-day feast,” says An, whose restaurant is high-end and refined. “It was about comfort. The guys cooked and the girls looked.”

Growing up, his Taiwanese mother tried cooking turkey twice after moving to Canada but used the Chinese method of curing, which drew out the moisture.

“Man, that turkey was dry,” he recalls. After that, they did Christmas like many other Asians in Vancouver — in restaurants, over a communal hot pot meal, he says. But once he left home, he went hot turkey.

– – –

The celebrated Rob Feenie, of Lumiere restaurant, hesitates before divulging what he’ll be having for dessert this Christmas. “Cracked glass!” he says, bursting out laughing.

That, of course, is three colours of Jell-O, bound by whipped cream over a graham wafer crust.

“I know this is awful to say, but I love it.” he says. “It was great when I was a kid. I still love it!”

But he does have time for truffles and foie gras on Christmas Eve. He and his family spend the evening with his friend Michel Jacob’s family. Jacob, owner/chef of Le Crocodile, usually cooks a sumptuous French meal starting with foie gras and brioche. This year, Feenie takes over that meal.

In previous years, he’s gone to Palm Springs for Christmas, but this year he’ll spend it with family over a traditional Christmas dinner of “Mum’s turkey, Mum’s stuffing, Mum’s mashed potatoes, Mum’s baked yams and Mum’s Brussels sprouts.” And, oh right, his mum’s cracked glass.

In Palm Springs, he cooked poultry, but not necessarily turkey. “Once, I took a pheasant through customs to Palm Springs. I’d poached it with black truffles and vacuum packed it, and reheated it once I got there.”

– – –

Dennis Green, chef at the high-end Bishop’s restaurant, nails the essence of a North American Christmas dinner.

“Everybody likes the ritual. That’s what makes it Christmas,” he says. “We stick to the rules — turkey, gravy, traditional stuffing with herbs from the garden, brussels sprouts, carrots, parsnips, mashed potatoes. I’m happy to give in to tradition.”

He prefers a comfort dessert, like a hazelnut spice cake, which he serves with dried fruit and late-harvest riesling compote — a light and elegant alternative to Christmas pudding or fruit cake.

Having a happy bunch of people at Christmas, he says, is more important than a display of cooking prowess. He kickstarts the season in early December by baking cookies with his sons, Tyler, 12, and Darcy, 15, usually gingerbread and shortbread.

– – –

To Sean Heather, the man who can’t stop opening restaurants (Irish Heather, Salty Tongue, Salt — Pepper opens very soon and, just recently, he opened The Lucky Diner, formerly The Diner), Christmas food is about stoking good memories and adding more to the bank.

“I’ve seldom had a bad Christmas, so it’s about remembering good times. It’s about spending time together and following traditions and passing them to my children,” says Heather. “If they [were] traditions like stealing cars, I wouldn’t want them to learn it, but this is good stuff, so yeah, why not!”

He starts the day as if his family were starving, cooking a full Irish breakfast of black pudding, white pudding, Irish rashers, pork sausage, stewed mushrooms, eggs and toast.

As an appy before the main event, Heather cooks up a Dublin-spiced beef brisket, which he serves with a chutney and Wheaton bread.

The main meal (for 18 family members this year) is a feast of Belfast ham brined, smoked, covered in honey and studded with cloves and mustard, turkey with sausage stuffing, Brussel sprouts and his mom’s Christmas cake with marzipan and royal icing.

“My kids will eat the legs off a chair. They’re great eaters,” he says.

Incidentally, his restaurant Irish Heather stays open from noon to 6 p.m., serving turkey and ham to Christmas orphans in the neighbourhood. It’s not advertised and it’s one of the few restaurants — other than hotel restaurants — you’ll find open on Christmas.

– – –

For catering queen Susan Mendelson, of Lazy Gourmet, December centres around Hanukkah, which occurs Dec. 15 to 22 this year.

“It’s eight days of eating and visiting,” says Mendelson. On the 22nd, she will host a dinner for about 50, a “small” party by her standards.

“Because Hanukkah is a festival of the miracle of one night’s oil lasting eight nights, we eat a lot of greasy foods,” she laughs. For her, the symbolism translates to latkes with apple sauce, sour cream and roasted red pepper puree. One year, she made a Krispy Kreme Doughnuts dash to Delta to fill the oil quota. “We bought a whole bunch of boxes of it. Oh my god, it was fabulous.”

She’ll also make something with fish and a brisket. “I don’t want anyone to know, though, how I tenderize the brisket with a tin of Coke.”

– – –

Running a restaurant and catering business helps with a chef’s big dinners. Some confessed to having staff help.

“I get some help now from the chefs at the restaurant,” says Heather. “In fact, they do a sizable chunk of it. The other thing is, I bring bus trays home. I put all the dirty dishes on them and take them to the restaurant to wash them in the industrial washer.”

He adds: “It helps when you have a restaurant.” Or two or three or four, in his case.

© The Vancouver Sun 2006

There are plenty of places to get your seasonal food fix

Mark Laba
Province

It’s beginning to cost a lot like Christmas. So, as you deck the halls with boughs of holly and wreaths of shmaltz herring, put out your manger scene and hook up your electronic reindeer that double as a home-defense alarm system (“Back away from the baby Jesus or you will be incinerated”), it’s probably a good time to think about getting your turkey fix with all the fixings. Or ham. Or artfully moulded tofu posing as gobbler meat.

Not to mention tripping out on tryptophan and wandering the streets in your stretch pants, mistletoe stuck to the soles of your shoes.

A few more glasses of rum-spiked eggnog under your loosened belt and you’ll be kissing the neighbour’s dog.

So, maybe getting out to one of these spots is an ounce of prevention worth a pound of cure or, in the case of turkey, a pound of prevention and just forget the whole ounce thing altogether.

PAN PACIFIC

When you’ve got a place with five pointy things on the roof, you’re bound to do things big. Although it makes for a dangerous landing spot for Santa and his hoofed team. He’d be better off taking the Hummer and using the valet parking.

Nonetheless, the various Pan Pacific dining venues are offering everything from buffets to Christmas brunches and dinners.

There’s the Santa’s Brunch on Sunday, Dec. 17th and Christmas Eve and there’s also a Twelve Days of Christmas Buffet weekdays.

Christmas Eve has the Five Sails Restaurant putting on a fancypants shindig adding a little foie gras to the traditional roast turkey and fixings. The Cascades Lounge and Cafe Pacifica, as well, have a Christmas Eve buffet with turkey, roast duck, lamb loin and more.

Then there’s a Christmas Night dinner at the Five Sails that runs the gamut from pan-seared quail to beef tenderloin along with more traditional fare.

Honestly, the number of events and options is mind-boggling and, in my case, utterly confusing.

Check out the website www.dinepanpacific.com and click on the Special Event listing or call 604-891-2555 for more info or reservations.

HART HOUSE

If any place visually embodies the classic Christmas ambience with a Charles Dickens bent, this Tudor-style mansion on the shores of Deer Lake is the fulfillment of all of Tiny Tim’s dreams. And at such reasonable prices even Bob Cratchit could afford the buffet or dinner here.

So, it makes sense that until Dec. 22nd there’s the famed Dickens Lunch Buffet at $32 per person. Look for the roasted winter-veggie salad with pumpkin-seed dressing, chilled tiger prawns with horseradish cocktail sauce, baked ham with maple syrup and cinnamon glaze, butternut-squash cannelloni and roast turkey and apple bread stuffing.

Christmas Day offers four seatings at $55 per person or $30 for kids 12 and under, with starters like duck rillette, a choice from three entrees featuring roast turkey with chorizo bread stuffing and fixings, grilled beef tenderloin or ling cod with herb risotto. For dessert, New York cheesecake or chocolate Guinness cake will satiate the ghosts of Christmas past and present.

6664 Deer Lake Ave., Burnaby, 604-298-4278, website, www.harthouserestaurant.com

FLEURI RESTAURANT AT SUTTON PLACE

Essentially, it’s hotels that stay open on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and you can’t go wrong with the offerings from Fleuri.

The Yuletide Luncheon Buffet runs to the 22nd and has some pretty tasty offerings.

Think roast turkey with apple-sage stuffing, slow-roasted ham or an antipasto platter. $30.50 per person, kids 12 and under, $15.50, and there’s also a Christmas Eve Dinner and Christmas Day brunch and dinner along with a Sunday Festive brunch on the 17th, 24th and the 31st.

An amazing array of items on display to tempt all your senses and trigger your inner glutton.

The Christmas Eve and Christmas Day shindigs sport everything from gobbler and all the trimmings to beef tenderloin and butter-poached prawns to lamb chops or sea bass in a creamy leek sauce.

At $71 per person for a five course Christmas Eve dinner; $76 per person for a five-course Christmas Day dinner extravaganza; and a $57 buffet that’ll fatten you up like a Christmas goose.

845 Burrard St., Vancouver, 604-642-2900 or check the website, www.vancouver.suttonplace.com/Holiday_Festivities.htm

GOBBLER ON THE GO

The above-mentioned Pan Pacific and Fleuri Restaurant both offer take-away turkey dinners with all the fixings.

The Fleuri version throws in an 18-lb. bird with apple-sage stuffing, veggies, cranberry sauce, mashed ‘taters and cranberry cheesecake for $300. Feeds 8-13 people. Call 604-682-5511 ext. 5475 to reserve.

The Pan Pacific turkey take-out also involves a big bird, about 18-20 lbs. Comes complete with Okanagan peach and bread stuffing and all the other stuff plus a choice of dessert from Yule logs to eggnog cheesecake. Must be ordered by Dec. 20th as there are limited quantities, so call 604-891-2555 if interested.

If you’re after a down-south-style Christmas wingding like something Elvis would’ve chowed down on, check out the Memphis Blues Barbecue House’s 15-lb. smoked free- range turkey at $60.

Locations are 1342 Commercial Dr., Vancouver, 604-215-2599; 1465 West Broadway, Vancouver, 604-738-6806; 1629 Lonsdale Ave., North Vancouver, 604-929-3699; 289 Bernard St., Kelowna, 250-868-3699. Throw in some baked beans and marshmallow salad and it’s Christmas at Graceland.

Max’s Deli at 3105 Oak St., Vancouver, 604-733-4838 is dishing up a $150 feast that’ll feed 10-12 people. There’s a 20-lb. turkey with all the right stuff from mashed ‘taters to stuffing to cranberry sauce. Nothing fancy but very tasty.

Hon’s adds a little Chinese influence to your festive season with a $198 special with roast turkey and six side dishes to choose from. It’s like Christmas in Beijing. Check local listings for a Hon’s near you.

Finally, if you’re like me and the whole notion of Yule logs and Jell-O salad moulds, glazed ham rolls and eggnog bowls leaves you out in the cold, rejoice in Kaplan’s Star Deli Hannukah offerings.

Delicious chopped liver, chicken soup with matzoh balls, kreplach, roast turkey and potato latkes. Gives me the strength of Judah and the Maccabees and the energy to spin the dreidel into the wee hours of the morning. Located at 5775 Oak St., 604-263-2625

© The Vancouver Province 2006