#35: Coast Restaurant - January 25, 2014

This is Dine Out Vancouver Part II. I had high hopes for this one. On the second day of my new job, my manager took me to Trattoria for lunch. It was a Tuesday, so their lunch special was any of their pasta dishes at $11 or something. I ordered the Fusilli Lunghi, and without a doubt it was the best pasta dish I have ever eaten. I wanted to take a picture of it in all it's glory, but it was my second day on the job and didn't want to leave a weird impression. My boss explained that Trattoria was part of the Glowball Group of restaurants, and that some of their other locations were not far from where I was living. One of these locations is Coast Restaurant. Coast was the only Glowball Dine Out menu that really drew me in, and if they could make their dishes half as good as Trattoria's pasta it was worth it.

I'm going to describe this experience as being a "disappointment sandwich." You've probably heard of the "sandwich technique" of giving feedback, where you give someone criticism in-between giving them compliments so you don't emotionally destroy them. This is going to be pretty similar.

Compliment: Coast is a hella cool place. Floor to ceiling, everything is chic and modern. The 360 degree raw bar in the middle is probably an awesome view from the loft-like 2nd floor seating. The typical oak-finished wine cellar is replaced by sleek stainless racks with glass doors, which compliment all the raw and industrial accents. If you want to impress a girl on a first-date, suit up and take her here. Have a few drinks and oysters at the bar, and then settle into a comfortable table to two.

Compliment: I ordered the Mussels with Frites, and Stephen ordered the Dungeness Crab and Sun Choke Chowder. I'd be so bold as to say that after vacationing in Ireland in 2012 and PEI in 2013, we are mussels and chowder experts. We've eaten mussels made for us personally by Chef Michael Smith, and tested about 75% of the chowders competing in the chowder competition at the PEI Seafood Festival. We know our stuff (or at least think that we do). 

I'll start by saying that visually, the dishes were stunning. The mussels were literally the size of my thumbs, and not the shell, the meat! I've never even eaten an oyster that big. Our waiter confirmed that they were local BC mussels. There must be something post-Fukumisha in the BC water. The chorizo and feta sofrito was ridiculously flavourful, and made for a broth that I could drink by the barrel. I would have killed for a few pieces of bread to soak up the broth from my bowl. Though frites were not a good substitute for crostinis, they were also amazing. At first I thought they would be overkill, but damn were they ever good.

Apart from the few bits of extremely undercooked pieces of potato, the chowder was the best we've ever had. The miso and sake definitely turned this usually rustic stew into a high-end gourmet app. The crab, mussels, and clams were perfectly cooked, and the broth was creamy and savoury. It was just wow.

Criticism: Here's where it started to go down hill. The mains were bad. Very bad. Had I not paid only $38, an effective discount of 50% of what I would have paid, I would have marched into the kitchen and asked the chef "What the hell?!" 

Firstly, Salmon Two Ways was really Salmon One Way But We're Going To Throw Some Olive Tapenade On One Of Them To Make It Look Like We Spent Twice As Long Prepping Your Plate. One was supposed to be olive-crusted, and the other was supposed to be roasted. Both were grilled the exact same way and they weren't grilled fresh to order. That salmon had been sitting under a heat lamp for I don't know how long. There was zero distinction between the "Two Ways," besides the little bit of muddle black olive on one of them. It was dry and bad, and I'm mad at myself for letting it slide. The pea-basil purée was pleasant and the prawn and bacon croquette was quite good, but it didn't make up for two pieces of disrespected salmon. Apparently there was a cauliflower purée as well (I didn't see or taste it), and the wild mushrooms were pretty blah. Overall, I'm pretty angry how bad it was.

Stephen order Grilled Alberta Beef Oscar Style. The Oscar part, shrimp and Hollandaise sauce, was thick, creamy and delicious. The same can be said for the whipped potatoes, which coming from me is saying a lot since I hate mashed potatoes. However, the Alberta Beef, much like the Salmon Two Ways, was totally disrespected. It had no seasoning. It was perfectly cooked medium-rare and the texture was wonderful, but where the heck was the salt? 

I don't know how these mains went so wrong. They were simple dishes. Whoever was on the protein station that night needs to get it together.

Compliment: I was pissed after my main, and once I get it in my head that I don't like something, it's usually hard to change my mind. I have to say that Coast almost redeemed themselves with an exceptional dessert (almost). I wasn't excited about it initially because the description was uninspiring: "candied puff pastry, assorted fillings, anglaise." Boring, right? WRONG! The candied fish-shaped puff pastries were really tasty and flaky, and the filling was sweet and dense. I still can't figure out what the filling was, but it tasted like a chocolate and passion fruit mousse, but with a cheesecake density. The Anglaise was beautifully smooth and tasted like fresh vanilla bean and tart fruit. I assume the intention was to dip the taiyaki in the Anglaise, but the presentation of the Anglaise in a water glass made it difficult. Something about have the depth would have been appreciated.

Compliment: The wait staff at Coast was very pleasant. We had about 3 different waiters serve us in the span of an hour. This meant that we never waited for anything and we were well attended to.

In summary, the apps and dessert were extraordinary. The mains were a huge disappointment, and the mistakes that were made with the salmon and beef were inexcusable, even if I did only pay half-price for Dine Out. The point of Dine Out Vancouver is to entice people to come in because the menu is so cheap, and come back because the food is epic. Coast missed the mark unfortunately. I would not have paid full price for those mains.

View from our table of the bar

Stephen had to order the caesar... it was pretty awesome.

I really liked the table setting

Muscles and frites... look at the SIZE of those things!!!

One of the best chowders of life.

Salmon one and a half ways...

Oscar would have called for more seasoning.

Delicious, but presentation could use some work.

THE STATS - Out of 10

Taste: 3 for the mains, 9 for the apps and dessert. I'm not even going to average them out like I usually do. The mains were that bad.
Creativity: 7 - Though the dishes were all close to traditional for what they were, we went from Mediterranean apps to "Canadian" mains to Japanese and French inspired desserts. The "variety" gets extra points.
Service: 6 - Basic friendly and attentive service. Not extraordinary, but not bad.
Bang for your buck: 4 - At Dine Out Vancouver prices, we didn't feel like we were being ripped-off. At full price of about $35 for the mains, like I said, I would have marched into the kitchen and confronted the chef for sending out such bad food.
Overall experience: 6.5 - Great start, great finish, but the main event sucked.

Would I go back? I don't know. I'm interested in sitting at the bar and indulging in the seafood tower, but I'm hesitate because of the in-acceptable salmon and beef. I don't know if they deserve more of my money. I'm still thinking about it.
Who would I recommend it to? Couples and groups under 4 people. The seating seems like it would be a little tight for a group that was more than 4 people. This is a great date spot if you're looking to effortlessly impress.
For what occasion? This isn't a "hey, it's Friday night and there is nothing in the fridge, let's go out" type of place. It's great for romantic special occasions like anniversaries, birthdays and Valentine's Day.
It was better than: If we just talk about the apps, the seafood was as good as Ireland and PEI. But, the mains just killed it.
It wasn't as good as: L'Abattoir, The Fish House in Stanley Park
Expect: A full house. Definitely make a reservation! The vibe is really lively and chic, so dress your best!

Top 50 Worthy? For the apps, yes. For the mains, no. I'm sure the menu overall is Top 50-calibre. Maybe if we had paid full price we would have gotten our moneys-worth.