A strangely comforting eatery, much like its dishes
Mark Laba
Province
Dishes once familiar, get a much more interesting treatment. Photograph by : Arlen Redekop, The Province
BAREFOOT KITCHEN
Where: 1725 Davie St., Vancouver
Payment/reservations: Major credit cards, 604-681-9722
Drinks: Fully licensed.
Hours: Sun.-Thurs., 11 a.m.-11 p.m., Fri.-Sat., 11 a.m.–midnight
– – –
I always thought Godzilla would’ve made a great Japanese fast-fry short order cook. With his atomic breath that moves between a slight radiation vapour to an all-out fiery nuclear blast, he could handle a dinner rush no problem with plenty of time to spare to duck out and destroy an entire neighbouring city before dessert. Which would’ve made him a great candidate for handling the chores of a Japanese yoshoku restaurant. In fact, I think manning the stoves in a yoshoku eatery for all those Japanese movie monsters who might, in these modern times, find themselves out of their usual line of work and in need of a career change, would be a great choice.
Yoshoku joints have been popping up on the local landscape like protected marmots lately, offering their unique Japanese twists on Western food. The familiar becomes slightly unfamiliar with this cuisine, not unlike that nutty uncle of yours who after a few shots of peach schnapps takes his toupee off and does the Chicken Dance.
This relative newcomer to the scene is especially great if you happen to be a foot fetishist. The Barefoot Kitchen’s décor in this neat, underground space consists of large, colourful footprints hoofing it all over the walls. It’s an odd combination of both a Japanese fast food environment complete with a backlit menu board over the ordering counter much like McDonald’s and the clean line modern offerings of contemporary Tokyo with its brightly lit hip factor. In other words, it’s both a little strange and comforting, much like the food served here.
Peaches and I sampled a bunch of stuff and put our taste buds to the test with this hybrid fare, starting with the savoury Teriyaki Hamburg Steak Set ($10.50). Arrived with French fries, carrots, broccoli and a choice of either garlic bread or rice and a second choice of either miso or corn soup. Hamburg steak is the Japanese version of Salisbury steak, meaning ground beef shaped into a steak-like shape, and I found this critter particularly succulent, delicately spiced and tender as a baby calf lowing in the moonlight and with the teriyaki sauce there was something entirely decadent and delightful about the whole thing.
Also tried the Tonkatsu Set ($8.50), a breaded pork cutlet served with a citrus soy sauce, an odd steamed squash-like species on the side, plus the above-mentioned soup and starch options. The breading was the best part of this construction with its gnarly surface texture that, as in the world of snowflakes, emulates the theory that no two crispy shards are the same. The meat might have endured too much of a fry bath, taking a touch out of the tenderness but the citrus soy smoothed things over.
There was also a potato salad in the mix, though I’m not sure which dinner set it came with. Actually it was potato salad and a green salad with lettuce, cukes, tomato and ranch dressing all combined and the flavour was oddly satisfying, kind of like a Japanese white trash recipe.
There are also curry dishes and some classic pastas like the meat sauce or carbonara varieties or for the more daring the Mentaiko with thick spicy fish eggs. The new menu also offers a couple of hot pot and donburi bowl creations including a kimchi concoction and a chopped fatty tuna on rice respectively. For dessert try red bean paste and yuzu sherbert or crème brulee. To Western eyes and tastes, it’s kind of like familiar dishes that have been abducted by aliens. After they return they’re just not the same but somehow just that much more interesting.
THE BOTTOM LINE: How the West was re-invented.
RATINGS: Food: B; Service: B+; Atmosphere: B
© The Vancouver Province 2008