Tag Archives: Durbach & Stewart

Dinner at The Sardine Can

The Sardine Can has opened its doors.

Open from 3:00 pm daily, 26 Powell Street.

Menu

Sardine Can Opening Menu

We went last night (how could we not, really?).

We started with a glass of red. Total tally was three glasses each, working our way up the list.

20120516-135434.jpg

Then we had these gorgeous shrimp in spicy garlicky butter. Make sure you get some bread to sop up the juice.

20120516-135449.jpg

This is the partially eaten rice with paella bits…we didn’t get there till pretty late for us, so we were hungry enough to forget about the camera.

20120516-135457.jpg

These are the lovely piquillos rellenos, filled with bacalao.

20120516-135505.jpg

And a special half-and-half serrano and pata negra plate that Chef made for us. I managed not to get a pic of the amazing albondigas, or the tomato and manchego toasts, both of which were unbelievably tasty.

20120516-135511.jpg

And I completely failed on dessert pics; we had one of each, and a glass of sherry to go with each, and shared all of it.

Fantastic. Everything was great.

It’s tiny (19 seats), you may have to wait a little while. Sit at the bar if you can, and chat with Chefs Andrey and José. But go! don’t let the neighbourhood deter you. They open at 3:00 daily and I may be sneaking out of work early more than once this summer :D

Sardine Can

I know I talk about the Andrey Durbach/Chris Stewart restaurants a fair bit. It’s because I love eating at them, and have done for some years now. I have celebrated more birthdays at Parkside and Cafeteria than anywhere else, the MD and I ate our wedding dinner at Parkside, and according to my Foursquare whatsit, we’ve been to Cafeteria 19 times since it opened, nearly two years ago now. Pied-à-Terre and La Buca are also favourites, although simple geography tends to keep us on the East Side.

So they’re expanding again, into a tiny little hole in the wall at 26 Powell Street in Gastown, to be called the Sardine Can.

They posted a taste of menus to come earlier this morning.

Menu in theory……..

gambas pil pil — spicy garlic prawns $10
lomo embuchado — dry cured pork loin ham $10
guisado de pulpo — octopus, chorizo and potato casserole $10
albondigas — meatballs in tomato and Rioja wine $10
pa amb tomaquet y manchego — tomato, manchego & olive oil toast $5
arroz la bomba — Spanish rice with paella bits $10
queso cabrales — blue cheese and carrot jam toasts $5
chorizo y jerez — full flavored sausage cooked in sherry $10
piquillos rellenos — imported piquillos filled with salt cod $10
empanadas — beef cheek and potato pastries $10 (for 3)
bocados — mixed olives, spiced almonds, chickpea spread $5
diablos espanoles — warm dates stuffed with bacon and Mahon $5
pan — terra breads sourdough $2

terrine de chocolate — chocolate terrine with sea salt and olive oil $5
flan de dulce de leche — baked caramel flan $5

I think it’s fair to say that I will be a customer reasonably soon after they open, later this month.

Still alive; still eating :D

So the other night, I was riding Enzo down Main Street, after an unsuccessful hunt for espe handbags. Thought to myself, “Self, wasn’t the new Andrey Durbach/Chris Stewart restaurant supposed to open one of these days?”

Well, my self was correct, and being as there was an empty parking slot right out front of Cafeteria, I hopped off and popped in to say hello to some of my favourite people in the world. I had a chat, took a look around, saw that there was a spot prawn and salmon sashimi dish and Dungeness crab tortelloni on the menu, and called my Main Distractor to say “Let’s EAT!”

I did stop back home to change out of my scooter togs, but we were back, salivating, in an hour.

It’s called Cafeteria, and there are no tablecloths and no printed menus. The menu is instead on a felt board, easily adjusted to suit the whims of the chef, the market and the season. The “starter” small plates (including soup of the day, a Caesar salad, an asparagus and chorizo dish, and mushrooms á la façon du chef) are largely under $10 (the sashimi dish being a worthwhile exception—the Main Distractor just INHALED that baby), and the “mains” are under $20. Options included chicken schnitzel with spaetzle, pot-au-feu, the Dungeness crab tortelloni which just blew us away, red snapper and a duck breast “steak et frites” that looked like it came with polenta fries.

Wines come in at three price levels: $30, $40 and $50, with some available by the glass, and there is also a specials board for wine, ranging from $35 to $70 a bottle when we were there. There is also beer on tap (Red Racer) and Big Rock cider by the bottle (that’s a good BC alternative to Strongbow, by the way; nice and dry).

The space is clean and bright, with enough room between tables for my large posterior to easily enter and exit the banquette (ahem).

I did enjoy eating at Ping’s, but there’s no comparison. The menu is straightforward, concise, and oh, so Durbach. Not kawaii like Ping’s, but I have a limited tolerance for kawaii in relation to food in any event. Conversely, I appear to have an unlimited appetite for restaurants operated by Chris and Andrey. We’ve missed Parkside dreadfully this past year and l’Altro Buca as well.

Cafeteria is on Main at 11th Avenue; they don’t take reservations. They’ll be serving dinner daily from 5:00 pm. You may very well find me and the MD chowing down :D OH and I will probably have an espe handbag, since I ordered a couple online this morning and they’ve already shipped :D

This reads like promo material, doesn’t it?! but I just love it so, I can’t help it.