Something to crow about
Mark Laba
Province
Chef/owner Daniel Alexandre with a seafood platter and a plate of those delicious sardines. Photograph by : Jason Payne, The Province
SENHOR ROOSTER RESTAURANT
Where: 850 Renfrew St., Vancouver
Payment/reservations: Major credit cards, 604-434-1010
Drinks: Fully licensed
Hours: Tues.-Thurs., 5-10 p.m.; Fri.-Sun., 5 p.m.-12:30 a.m. Closed Mon.
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As a kid, my two cultural idols were Foghorn Leghorn and Mr. Spock. I soon realized I’d never attain the cool logic and personality of a Vulcan, but I could certainly embrace the barnyard idiocy and blustering banter of a half-cocked rooster. I imagined that if old Foghorn Leghorn wanted an ounce of respect, he might go off to some European boarding school and return not as a Southern hick but as a rooster of wealth, breeding and good fortune, perhaps as Senhor Rooster, the playboy known from the Costa del Sol to Portugal.
Hearing about this place, I was anxious to taste how chickens got an upgrade, making the transition from the world of Col. Sanders to the flame-grilled piri-piri sauce-spiked sunny shores of the Algarve. The chef and owner, Daniel Alexandre, has been making small waves in the culinary community with his unpretentious restaurant, now moved to bigger digs and attracting the stalwarts of the Portuguese community along with those looking for rustic flavours, grill mastery and great saucing.
Paid a visit with the X-Man and we arrived to find ourselves the only ones in the place. It felt like one of those Mafia scenes where the restaurant is cleared out for a meeting between crime bosses. But the X-Man and I barely have a nickel to rub between us, so if I wasn’t knocking him off, I doubted he was planning my demise, either. That settled, we got down to the real business of the evening — eating. The owner and chef himself, Mr. Alexandre, served us and said it wasn’t always this slow a night and the weekends really start hopping when he has live music and a dance floor going. I think with the recent move and Dine Out going on, this restaurant has been overlooked and is well worth the discovery.
Started with an appetizer of grilled sardines ($9.95) and a small complimentary plate of Portuguese sausage and some very tasty and zesty pickled veggies and olives to get the palate kick-started. The sardines were of the large variety, meaning not those skimpy things crammed into tins that bill themselves as millionaires. These critters seemed as long as my forearm and grilled to perfection before being finished off with a slight basting of olive oil and balsamic.
“Watch how it’s done,” X-Man said as he de-boned the sardine like Hannibal Lecter. The flavour was amazing, a little earthy, a little salt-water laden with the balsamic tweaking the pungent fish flesh with a bit of sweetness.
For mains, X-Man chose the dry cod with onions, shredded potato and egg ($18.95), while I took on the succulent flame-grilled whole Cornish hen ($16.95). X-Man’s dish is a Portuguese classic, a hearty mound of complimentary flavours that truly embodies the rustic nature of Mediterranean comfort. My Cornish hen was simply amazing, piri-piri sauce sumptuously encrusting the flame-tinged skin and protecting the juicy meat. A fresh side salad cooled the tastebuds ignited by the fiery homemade piri-piri.
One visit can’t do justice to the wonders that await, from prawns piri-piri to crab cakes, pork and clams to baby back ribs as well as specialty items like paella or the mariscada seafood platter. And, of course, a Cornish hen so enticing it would have Foghorn Leghorn shopping for a wedding ring.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Hearty flavours from the sun-drenched shores of Portugal.
Grade: Food: A; Service: B+; Atmosphere: B+
© The Vancouver Province 2007