Lucky’s lost some of the warmth but food’s still tasty
Mark Laba
Province
Lucky Diner chef Dan Tigchelaar with a dish of belly bacon-wrapped meatloaf. Photograph by : Jon Murray, The Province
LUCKY DINER
Where: 1269 Hamilton St., Vancouver
Payment/reservations: Major credit cards, 604-662-8048
Drinks: Fully licensed
Hours: Mon.-Thurs., 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m.; Fri., 11:30 a.m.-midnight; Sat., 10 a.m.-midnight; Sun., 10 a.m.-10 p.m.
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I knew a guy named Lucky, so nicknamed because he won a whopping sum of money on the lottery. It bought him a collector car, a new girlfriend 20 years his junior, along with new breasts for her, and numerous trips to the Bahamas where he could show off the fruits of his newfound wealth in all their fleshly glory. If he could’ve driven his car on the beach his life would’ve been complete.
And although Lucky hit it big, he remained — as he was the first time I met him — an habitue of diners and their greasy-spoon offerings. So I wondered how he would relate to this place, which could’ve been his namesake.
This place was once simply called Diner and owned by Heather Clark who was recently bought out by Sean Heather of the Irish Heather, Salt and Shebeen Whiskey House fame. In its original incarnation I was very much enamoured of the food, so it was with great relish that I hit this new venture to see what Mr. Heather, a restaurateur of great business savvy and a “look what I can do” culinary mentality, had done to the joint.
The digs look pretty much the same with high ceilings, retro lighting, one huge mirrored wall, and booth and chair seating, but somehow the atmosphere seems a little colder than it did before. Maybe it’s the absence of the homebaked cakes and pies you used to see sitting out on the front counter of the open kitchen.
I had to have the meat loaf ($13) because for me it’s the measure of all things diner-related and once I read that it was wrapped with belly bacon I was in for a penny, in for a pound. Served up with buttermilk mashed ‘taters and some green beans, this is a dense critter and, though not dry, lacking a moisture content that I associate with home comfort food and arterial coagulations. Somehow it didn’t hit the old cerebral cortex with that overwhelming sense that mama’s home.
But the Lucky Burger ($11) is very good, featuring a half-pound of organic beef from the Blue Goose Cattle Company, a family-run ranch in the South Cariboo, and you can gussy it up with bacon, three-year-old cheddar and a mushroom ragout. It’s served with Kennebec fries — the Kennebec potato has been described as a uniform, smooth tuber, kind of like Mr. Potato Head if he’d gone to Harvard. These handcut beauties are very tasty and the homemade spiced ketchup was OK but a hint of cinnamon threw me off a bit.
Peaches and I also dug into the grilled brie and roasted tomato sandwich with a side soup-of-the-day of tomato and thyme ($10). Very pleasing and the tomatoes had the ripe zing of Mother Nature after a day at the gym.
The Roasted & Confit’d Maple Hill Farm Chicken & Mushroom Pot Pie at the next table looked as impressive as its name with its mushroom-cloud shaped crust, as did the Reuben sandwich, and some folk I know have raved about the 28-day-aged ribeye steak with onion rings. For dessert the pecan, maple and bourbon pie is a nice treat.
On that note, if you want to play Dean Martin at the diner, try the bourbon milkshake.
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THE BOTTOM LINE
Andy of Mayberry gets a makeover and moves to the big city.
Grade: Food: B; Service: B; Atmosphere: B
© The Vancouver Province 2007