One couple was so impressed, they took a photo of a dish they particularly liked
Mia Stainsby
Sun
Chef Robert Belcham (left) and sommelier Tom Doughty, co-owners of Fuel Restaurant, with fresh local pumpkin soup, seared weathervane scallop and crystalized sunflower seeds. Photograph by : Steve Bosch, Vancouver Sun
Most people don’t obsess about the food they’re eating at restaurants. Unlike me, they barely comment on it, the flavours of their own lives being much more exciting than mine, obviously. It’s not that I spend the whole evening eavesdropping, but my ears are like radar to key food words.
Interestingly, at Fuel, we were bracketed by tables of diners who spent the entire meal kibbitzing about their food and one couple took a photo of a dish they were particularly keen about. Now that’s a sure sign of something extraordinary happening on the plate.
For me, Fuel is all-around fabulous. The food is utterly divine, servers are casual but well-seasoned and confident and a sommelier elevates the experience with his wine knowledge.
I was impressed to see he doesn’t upsell; his recommendation was actually one of the lower-priced wines and it was perfect with my dish. And there’s no purse-lipped formality — my jeans and motorcycle jacket fit right in. (I think.)
And I like the fact that, unlike in hot downtown restaurants, there are no Paris Hilton carbon copies here. It’s strictly a more settled Kits crowd. Staff recognizes return visits and remembers details.
Prices, for the exquisite food, are reasonable. Mains run from $25 to $34. Owners Robert Belcham, the chef, and Tom Doughty, sommelier and front of house guy, went for a small but elite crew in the kitchen. Instead of hiring a bunch of line cooks, they have half the number of experienced chefs who can work faster and smarter.
The room is streamlined and simple and modern. The entire kitchen is open for the eyes to devour, vis a vis the bar or from the street as chefs do prep work at the window. His background includes a stint at the spectacularly famous French Laundry in the Napa Valley. Most recently, he and Doughty were at C and Nu restaurants.
Belcham conducts the food like a maestro, controlling and balancing flavours and textures. It’s ultra fine cooking without being so sculptural, you hate to eat it. A simple pumpkin soup impressed the heck out of me. He extracts fresh, natural flavour by juicing the vegetable and using minimal heat.
In a bit of theatrics, the soup is poured atop a luscious seared scallop at the table and sprinkled with candied sunflower seeds.
Sidestripe prawns with Monterey squid and housemade chorizo featured angelically tender prawns; the onion consomme with smoked Spanish paprika and manchego cheese revs you up gently for the main act; lemon and parsley risotto came with an exclamation of beautiful smoked albacore tuna perched plateside; rainbow trout is beautifully buttery; Fraser Valley lamb couldn’t have been more succulent. A two-mushroom salad with poached egg is a tribute to a perfect tasting egg. The secret’s in the seasoning.
The pastry chef (formerly worked at C and Lumiere) is doing a great job, too. The fromage frais cheesecake with clementine sorbet and litchi liqueur humiliates most other cheesecakes.
Diners can opt for prix fixe menus — four courses for $59, five courses for $69 and six for $79, not bad deals at all.
Our server certainly knew how to win friends and influence tips — calling me “mademoiselle,” when I should be “madam.” He seemed to enjoy speaking in future tense
when presenting dishes. “It will have sidestrip shrimp . . . It will be braised . . . .”
Servers walk tall and proud and on delivering a dish or wine, slide behind the back in a Jeeves-like posture.
Doughty isn’t looking for wine awards with hundreds of cellared bottles. Instead, he moves it along with the menu, bringing in different wines to go with each dish. “My job is to find good value,” he says. “At Fuel, every other person asks for a recommendation or pairing.” His list is written in ascending order of price.
At meal’s end, we were munching on a plate of mignardise the kitchen sends out (passion fruit gelee, anise truffle, caramel with sea salt, coconut macaroon in this case).
“It’s nice to have a meal that affirms your faith in food,” my partner so rightly said, savouring the shock of flavour in the gelee.
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FUEL
Overall: Rating 4
Food: Rating 4
Ambience: Rating 4
Service: Rating 4
Price $$$
1944 West Fourth Ave., 604-288-7905. Open for lunch and dinner.
Restaurant visits are conducted anonymously, interviews are done by phone. Restaurants are rated out of five stars.
© The Vancouver Sun 2007
