Word on the street is that Joey’s (not to be confused with Joey’s Only Seafood House), which recently opened up a beautiful restaurant on Broadway Street, and is famous for their Bellini, is opening two new locations in Downtown Vancouver.

The first location is confirmed. Located at 818 Burrard Street, close to Robson Street, Joey’s will take up what used to be Caffe Sette. Ali, owner of Caffe Sette, informed me that the offer from Joey’s was quite generous.

The second location, which is still under negotiation, is the old office space where DHM used to be. The corner of Nelson Street and Hamilton Street. I’ll update you in the new year as more information becomes available.

Update, January 3rd, 2007:

Joey’s plans on doing catering from their Yaletown location and their Burrard location will feature a winebar similar to what you would experience at Salt.

Find out more about Joey’s Restaurants here: joeysrestaurants.com

Gastropods, better known as being the largest and most successful class of mollusks (source: Wikipedia), can also be referred to as a great restaurant on West 4th in Vancouver.

Gastropod
1938 West 4th Avenue, Vancouver (MAP)
TEL: 604-730-5579
FAX: 604-730-5675
WEB: gastropod.ca

Chef Angus An sure has his work cut out for him. FCI graduate at the top of his class, he’s worked for some of the world’s finest chefs (including at Nahm, the world’s only Michelin starred restaurant).

Things to check out at Gastropod:

• The decor – it’s minimalist and elegant
• The Gastropod drinks – they were delicious and a good start to the evening
• The beef cheeks (if they’re still on the menu, it might be beef ribs)
• The pork …

I still haven’t had a chance to check out the restaurant thoroughly. It was only a light grazing. The fennel risotto was not to my taste (or anyone at the table for that matter) and there was a mixup with menus at the start of the meal (we only got drink and dessert menus, some people had beef shortribs on their menu, others had beef cheeks). Overall, the food and the drinks that we did get in the end really made up for it.

Fuel Restaurant on 4th officially opens on January 3rd, 2007 (for both lunch and dinner) but for the inside scoop, read on, below.

Fuel is located next to Gastropod at 1944 West 4th Ave. which seems to be a strange place to put nice restaurants, but let’s see what the upcoming year does for fine dining in the area. (Word is that more restaurants are coming to the area.)

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to dine at Fuel and thoroughly enjoyed it. The food was so good that in some cases, that I forgot to take photos of the food, and in others, I ruined the presentation first by taking a nibble.

Here’s some photos from the evening…

Mona’s Dinner:

• Fresh made bread, some butter and salt
• Caramelized Onion Consomme, smoked Spanish paprika, manchego cheese
• ‘Sloping Hills’ Organic Pork, crispy shoulder, poached loin, braised fennel, russian garlic, blood orange
• Apple Cake, apple puree, hazelnuts

Raj’s Dinner:

• Fresh Local Pumpkin Soup, seared weathervane scallop, crystallized sunflower seeds paired with the Hawke’s Bay Sauvignon Blanc
• Warm Matsutake & Chantrelle Mushroom Salad, poached egg, fresh thyme, aged sherry vinegar (I destroyed this one before taking a picture… It was just so tempting to take a bite!) paired with a lovely French Gewurztraminer
• Duck Confit & Foie Gras Mousse Terrine, toasted brioche, warm shallot confiture (I forgot to take a picture of thisone, it got inhaled, so what you see are remnants) paired with a beautiful Riesling (I was so stunned by her beauty, that I didn’t listen properly when she told me her name)
• Crispy Rainbow Trout, roasted local organic baby beets, swiss chard, buttered potatoes, hazelnut brown butter emulsion paired with the Calina Chardonnay from Chile
• Slow Cooked Organic Beef Shin & Seared Weathervane Scallop, wilted arrowleaf spinach, fingerling potato vinaigrette paired with the 2004 Burrowing Owl Merlot
• Apple Cake, apple puree, hazelnuts

Overall, a great demonstration of Robert Belcham’s talent for food and Tom Doughty’s talent for pairing that food with great wine.

At the end of dinner, Robert was eager to present his all-star lineup of staff including Ted Anderson, former sous-chef at Figmint.

FUEL Restaurant
1944 West 4th Avenue, Vancouver (MAP)
TEL: 604-288-7905
FAX: 604-288-2700
WEB: fuelrestaurant.ca