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