More space for both the store and the deli and plenty of affordable gourmet fast food
Mia Stainsby
Sun
Michael Meinhardt shows some of the goodies available at Meinhardt’s on Arbutus. Photograph by : Ward Perrin, Vancouver Sun
MEINHARDT’S FINE FOODS
Overall 3 1/2
Food 3 1/2
Ambience 3 1/2
Service 3
Price: $
3151 Arbutus St., 604-732-7900
Open Monday to Saturday, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Sunday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
www.meinhardt.com.
Restaurant visits are conducted anonymously and interviews are done by phone. Restaurants are rated out of five stars.
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During the Vancouver International Film festival, I often fly out of the office to catch a film after work, grabbing food en route. One evening recently, dinner was a bag of almonds from a gas station and then popcorn at the theatre. When I emerged from the Ridge Theatre, my husband was famished and I needed a top-up. (Our movie pals had gone to Meinhardt’s before the film so they weren’t part of the musical score with tympani of stomach rumblings.)
Anyway, that’s what it took for me to finally get to Meinhardt’s Fine Foods in its new location next to the Ridge on Arbutus Street. It’s not as central as their original, located on South Granville and given that, I’d expected this location to be its satellite. Nay. It’s more like the flagship. It’s twice the size and in the store part (as opposed to the spiffy deli), you can actually steer a shopping cart around. The look is more Dean and DeLuca but without the New York prices. The deli section (for take-away or eating in) is much bigger than the Granville location and this one has a hot food section. The bakery greets you as you walk in and you feel a gush from the salivary glands. I quickly scoped out an almond tart topped with a pregnant poached pear (cooked in sherry and scrumptious, I discovered later).
Most savoury dishes are sold by the 100-gram so we tried a number of small portions of things. Soba noodle salad, two Florentine meatballs (with spinach mixed in), a couple of shrimp wontons (if reheating, don’t overcook the plump prawns!), a small piece of halibut with a red pepper sauce (again, careful about overcooking!), and a couple of tarts, the fat pear one and a banana coconut tart.
On another visit we tried the popular free-range rotisserie chicken. At $8.99, it’s a best buy, I’d say. Indian dishes are winners, too. You can’t ask for better fast food. The chef is Elke Brandstatter who spent some time cooking at Whole Foods Market. Big sellers at Meinhardt’s include hearty dishes like beef stew and shepherd’s pie topped with yam. The chocolate decadence cake has garnered loyal fans and so have the carrot cake, marshmallows and the tarts.
Some foods don’t bear up as well in sitting the deli counter as others but some actually improve — like the stews, Indian dishes, mac and cheese and some meat dishes, like the meatballs. Salads aren’t at their best sitting around (our soba noodle salad had a starchy texture as it was pretty much the end of day for them), nor are seafood and sushi (the brown rice in ours had also been overcooked). But still, this is affordable gourmet fast food and relief for rushed lives.
Michael Meinhardt has joined his mother Linda, who began it all, and is now the director of business management for the company. They’ll be opening another in Calgary, he says, in 2010.
© The Vancouver Sun 2008