Karri (left) and Nico Schuermans in the dining room at Chambar. The five-year-old restaurant took top honours in the ‘Best One-of-a-Kind Restaurant’ category of WE’s annual Best of the City readers’ poll.

Credit: Doug Shanks

ON THE PLATE: Tasty choices top Best of the City poll

Many of the results in the Dining Out section of WE’s annual Best of the City readers’ poll (pick up the March 11 edition of WE for the complete list of winners) have come as a pleasant surprise. I’ve poked fun at some of your choices in past years (I recall Denny’s taking the gold for Best Late-Night Dining some time ago), but I’ve done so while simultaneously admitting that my points of contention will always be outmatched by your mass of opinions (and the patience of my editor). If I’ve ribbed you, it’s only been in jest. This poll is for you, not me. And this year, I’m mostly tickled by your picks.

Kudos, most of all, for singling out Chambar (562 Beatty, Chambar.com) as the city’s Best One-Of-A-Kind Restaurant. It’s one that I never hesitate to recommend to locals and visitors alike. While the affordable Belgian-Moroccan hot-spot is not as refined as other fine-dining titans, the food and service at Chambar remain fixed at a par rarely achieved in frenetic, high-volume restaurants of any calibre. Five years after opening, the moules frites have never been dreamier, the blue-cheese-and-pink-peppercorn poutine any braver, nor the drinks list any better. With its refreshingly democratic sensibilities, it is at once home to jeans-clad hipsters, snooty cuisine wonks, booze aficionados, suits, cash-strapped artists, and legions of suburbanites who have SkyTrained in for a Canucks game. Even under great duress (as was the case during the Olympics, when they served 639 customers in a single night, breaking the previous, seemingly insurmountable record of 440), the veteran staff never makes one feel rushed, ignored, or anything other than sincerely welcome. That is the very model of dependability, the foundation in the manufacture of a jolly good time.

Of greater import, in the long run, is the tremendous impact Chambar has had on Vancouver’s restaurant scene. It has prompted dozens of new and aspiring establishments to follow its lead, listen in on its soundtrack, covet its style, measure its price points, and attempt to lure its cooks and servers away (of the latter, without much luck). Chambar’s owners have also given us its next-door neighbour, Cafe Medina (for my money, the best breakfast joint the city has ever had), as well as the Dirty Apron Cooking School just down the street. In doing so, the Chambar mini-empire has revitalized an entire city block — an achievement that is all the more astounding considering the restaurant’s relative youth.

What’s more, Chambar has proudly — not reluctantly — sent its alumni out to spread its gospel of fun into emerging neighbourhoods. Former bar managers Mark Brand, Josh Pape, and Tannis Ling have gone on to open their own places in Gastown and Chinatown (Boneta, the Diamond, and Bao Bei, respectively), all of which have become hot rooms in their own right. In a city where the newer establishments tend to sag and lose relevance once their initial buzz wears off, Chambar only gets better with age. I’m thrilled that you agree.

You chose wisely elsewhere, too. Nook (781 Denman, NookRestaurant.ca) came as a surprise to me as the winner in the Best New Restaurant category, but there’s no denying its allure. They do good pizza there, and I’ve never known the service to be anything but friendly and forthright. (Chef Angus An’s outstanding Thai restaurant, Maenam (1938 W. 4th, Maenam.ca), was tops in my book this year, so I’m glad you at least placed it third in that category, in a tie with Pourhouse.) 

What impressed me most were your choices for the city’s top chef. John Bishop, who took the gold in the Best Chef (Fine Dining) category, is hardly a shocker (he’s my perennial favourite, too), but what took me happily aback was your nod to the multi-tasking, multi-talented Tina Fineza at the Flying Tiger, an inspired choice for Best Chef (Casual). Though she isn’t as well-known as Gord Martin at Bins 941 and 942 (with whom she tied), Fineza never ceases to amaze me with the depth and breadth of her repertoire, exemplified by her numerous gigs moonlighting in menu development for approachable restaurants like La Taqueria, Abigail’s Party, and Le Faux Bourgeois — all while continuing to hold court at the Flying Tiger, where she plates reliably delicious and addictive Asian street food.

Naturally, there were some results that caused me to stare blankly at my computer for a few minutes, but it was great seeing fine restaurants like La Quercia, Cibo Trattoria, and Cioppino’s sitting high in your rankings for Best Italian. And one of my favourites, La Brasserie, won in the Best Restaurant for a Date category. I’m a little aghast that Kingyo didn’t place for Best Japanese, and that you, dear reader, have yet to recognize the world-class desserts at CinCin Ristorante. But, for the most part, well done. As with most things subjective, what is considered “best” is a mathematical construct subject to the comforting fact that if the majority disagrees with you, the truth always looks better as a personal experience, not a statistic.

So, go forth and scarf. Seek out and support restaurants that wonder what’s next and try their damndest to find out. And remember your responsibility when among friends: If you change one mind, it’s a dead heat; if you change two, it’s a landslide.