A big pot of Escamoles, or Ant Eggs, sent in by Philip from Mexico City. These are fried in butter with shallots. Giddy up!

Thai deep fried squid, perfectly cooked, is an unparalleled (if slightly guilty) bar snack. I liked this so much, I tried a calamari version as soon as I got home to somewhat mixed results. I got the seafood cooked very well, with a nice light treatment, but the flour largely came off. I need to learn more about this.

My prep & calamari version was good, but needs work!

I was excited to try Ensemble restaurant, newly opened by Chef Dale MacKay, of Canadian Top Chef fame, in the revamped Corner Suite space. Gone are the blue chairs, but otherwise it feels much the same, just a bit warmer with red finishes.

As the former head chef of Lumiere and Canadian media darling, you can perhaps forgive a certain amount of hubris from Dale MacKay. And as the Chef worked the room, I saw some star-struck faces, while the house TVs shamelessly played Top Chef episodes in the background.

The cocktail list is short and interesting, but the ones we tried were too fruity to my taste. The wine list is unpretentious, featuring some decent wines at the $40 level, and some nicer ones at $70+.

The menu is enticing to read and has a fun mix of modern french food, but my excitement was soon put to rest. It was immediately apparent that portion size is preposterous, with most dishes around 4 bites at most, and the price point at an intimidating $12-18 or more per dish. Worse than this, the execution fails to live up to such high billing.

The Hamachi dish ($15) was particularly offensive, with a bit of grapefruit overpowering a tiny quantity of delicate but strangely coloured Hamachi, and a sesame and tofu puree combination that made no sense to me. Not only was the dish not good, at the price it was almost insulting. Do they know that Guu is next door?

The featured spot prawn cocktail dish was tiny and boring, but at least it was pretty and the horseradish cream on top was delicious. I liked the sweet and sour eggplant dish, ($8) and taken from Top Chef, a tiny portion of black cod was nice if unsophisticated with chili, bok choy and cilantro. ($18) The potato gnochhi was a highlight, with rocket and tomato butter sauce, ($10) while the lamb loin was extremely bland, almost tasteless, served with a strangely rich bulgar with black garlic and shiitake. ($24) Moules frites ($18) was average, and we had to ask for bread, which was oily and limp, shocking in a “French” restaurant.

Overall I thought there was a serious lack of acid and the seasoning seemed to be all over the place. The food just wasn’t that good and there wasn’t much of it.

I am sure the service was just trying to be helpful, but they were so attentive that they were annoyingly present and it felt like they were trying to turn our table. And when we ordered a bunch of dishes to share, they started out being served at a nice pace and ended up bringing everything at once, including the Moules, swamping our table and confusing our palettes. Pouring wine, our waitor was “not paying attention” as he poured 3 glasses ranging from small to huge and I was pleased to benefit from the imbalance.

Ensemble should compare themselves to the market and not to the now-defunct Lumiere. You can’t charge those prices for that food and expect to stay in business. The Top Chef novelty will wear off, and in my opinion, unless they make some changes in the direction of the fun and affordable concept I read about (but did not for a second see), they are doomed. Certainly the group I went with will never go back. After spending almost $100 per person we were underwhelmed and still famished and went out into a rainy night to find another restaurant to finish our dinner.

On a recent trip to Thailand, I fell in love. With the food.

I am going to profile a few of my favorite things, starting with coconut smoothies. Fresh coconut is delicious and in the form of a cold refreshing smoothie it makes the perfect indulgence on a hot afternoon, with a sensuality that no beer can rival.

Now I want to try the alcoholic version.

One of the highlights on the new Pourhouse menu is the $17 burger, a mix of ground chuck steak and brisket. Simple and delicious, served with a bag of fries, this burger will go with just about anything you want to drink. Which, in my case, is lots of everything.

Somehow it took me eight months to visit Suika, an izakaya at Broadway and Fir, opened by the owners of Kingyo, one of the best izakayas in the city.

Like Kingyo, Suika has a charming, well-lit interior, an attentive staff and an exciting menu. The sake list is better than most and the fresh sheet is tantalizing. I was tempted by exciting fusion dishes like kimchi tomato, offering a familiar taste with a different texture, and corn tempura, a guilty pleasure that I wanted to dip into something. Sashimi shake salad is tossed table-side, a fun spectacle for a salad that was light on raw fish. A duck rice bowl impressed, but it was the beef short rib that caused my jaw to drop in disbelief, this dish is alone worth the visit, falling-apart tender, rich and gorgeous. Aburi style is featured, with sauces on pressed sushi, and we consumed many raw prawns. The taro root was served thick and the only dish I might not have again.

Unfortunately on my first visit we were seated at the worst table in the house and I was left staring at the bathrooms and penned in by a big group, which took some effort to take calmly. Worse, Suika promptly informed us that we had a 90 minute table limit and they were not kidding around. Food and drinks came out at a frenetic pace and at 60 minutes we were given last call for food.

The point of an izakaya is to socialize over drink and food, so the militant table limit poses a big problem for me, especially given the location.  But this does not diminish my overall enthusiasm for Suika and I look forward to a return visit at a better table. Designated drivers need apply.

Suika
(604) 730-1678
Fairview
1626 W Broadway
Vancouver, BC V6J

This via REUTERS/Dwi Oblo: cobra meat burgers. At foodandtell.com, we are fond of camel burgers, but this is a new one for us. Apparently hunters in Central & East java catch 1000 cobras per week for burgers priced at about $1.15 each. And just like every time people consume snakes, there is talk of an increase in sexual viritlity. Giddy-up!

Aside: I think this is the least appealing restaurant action shot I’ve seen in a while.

Pre-dinner cocktails at L’Abattoir (it happens). The meathook and the newly created “Last Fury,” an attractive mix of Gin, yellow Chartreuse, sparkling wine, lime (as per Miss Fury’s memory).