CASUAL BUT VERY FINE
Seafood a great catch in Gastown spot
Secret Location restaurant struggled through several chefs. The high-concept room seemed to demand red lipstick and Louboutins. It wasn’t typical Gastown, and chefs came and went, including Jefferson Alvarez, who impressively pulled off modernist geek cuisine, which often is a major fail at being delicious.
The restaurant closed last year (the property’s owned by Chip Wilson) and award-winning L’Abattoir’s Lee Cooper and Jack Chen assumed a sub-lease, transforming it into Coquille Fine Seafood.
They gutted the room and designer David Hepworth (L’Abattoir, Pear Tree, Vancouver Club, Feenie’s, Lumiere) took it down a notch to a friendlier elegance — still fancy enough with pink velvet statement banquettes marching down the room with scalloped backs and flooring picking up the scallop motif. Tables and chairs temper the drama in mid-century modern lines. With the reno, seating increased to 100 from 50 and the entrance scooted around the corner to Carrall from Water Street, allowing for a patio.
The intent, Cooper says, is casual.
“We want it to be easy for people to get on board with it. They can come for a pint of beer and fish and chips or have a big lavish seafood tower with Champagne. It’s broader in appeal than L’Abattoir,” he says. “My parents don’t like to come to L’Abattoir. It’s not for them, but I hope they’ll come to this new place. People can come in shorts and T-shirts.”
Service standards are high and Liam Todd, 24, is a Doogie Howser of general managers (previously G.M. at Nightingale), and adds a sophisticated sparkle to the room.
It is most definitely a seafood restaurant, with just one and a half meat dishes. One’s a cheeseburger and that half is really a seafood dish (mussels) punctuated with andouille sausage.
Chen helms the kitchen, his first as owner. He worked for a good part of 10 years with Cooper (Market by Jean- Georges and L’Abattoir) and did stints at Beta 5 Chocolatier, Farmer’s Apprentice, and Royal Dinette; out-ofcountry experience included the two-Michelin star Lebury in London and Smyth in Chicago.
“I don’t know why, but the majority of people who come in want seafood,” says Chen.
“We try to use meat as background.”
Sustainable seasonal, mostly local seafood is pretty much a matter of course. As Cooper says, “It’s not a big part of our messaging. I’d feel it’s like bragging that you brush your teeth when you get out of bed.”
We started our meal with grilled Humboldt squid with black pepper glaze ($18). Tender slices of squid were tossed with julienne veg, herbs and greens to be wrapped into iceberg lettuce leaves. Food presentation is much more casual than at the sister restaurant, but Chen delivers on flavours. This was so delicious!
Side stripe shrimp tostada with avocado and serrano chili ($17) worried me as little round eyes of jalapeno pepper peered amid the herbal shrubbery, but it was fine. No incendiaries. And the shrimp, almost raw, had just hitchhiked in from the ocean.
Lobster risotto with Parmesan and lemon ($26) was simple; nothing special about the risotto but nice hunks of lobster stepped in to raise excitement. A smoked and grilled sturgeon with black pepper and lime ($29) was served atop baby bok choy; might have been overcooked just a bit, tightening up the protein, but it was a great piece of fish.
The kicker was an old-fashioned comfort dessert: banana cream pie. Sheesh! At the hands of Hilary Prince (Chen’s wife, sister-in-law to Lee, and pastry chef for both L’Abattoir and Coquille) there’s to be no holding back. I was all over this pie, crowned with balls of whipped cream given lift with white chocolate.
The short but eclectic wine list is compiled with passion and has none of the usual suspects. The house wines are made exclusively for them by Matt Sherlock, winemaker at Lock and Worth and Nichol wineries.
“The Lock and Worth Semillon and Nichol Syrah are made only for us,” says Chen.