FABLE DINER’S ‘RENO’S’-VATION
New friendly-food stop nails burgers and breakfast, but features a hit-and-miss selection of other dishes, writes Mia Stainsby.
Before Fable Diner, which opened this summer, there was Reno’s Restaurant — a vintage diner or, more to the point, a greasy spoon. Still, it had reasons to exist — a jukebox and all-day breakfasts for about $5. As one customer said online, “Great, if you are broke.”
Fable owner/chef Trevor Bird isn’t crying over its closure. His honest opinion?
“A lot of people wish it didn’t change and think it was iconic, but ... it was a sh—hole,” he says. “The women’s bathroom didn’t have a stall door and there was a yellow rope holding on the men’s door. We gutted the hell out of it.”
What is iconic is the Lee Building that houses it, a handsome Edwardian structure built in 1911 that was the tallest structure south of False Creek at the time. There’s been a diner at street level since 1949, and Bird and partner Ron MacGillivray are happy to keep the tradition going.
If an old Reno’s customer walks in, it won’t be a complete shock — it’s still a diner, albeit with tweaks and fancy bits. Prices are higher but Bird offers a very good value $8 Reno Burger with a free-range beef patty, pickles and fries. He sticks by the farm-to-table philosophy of his other restaurant Fable, on West 4th Avenue. Fable Diner is natural habitat for hipsters (with lots of babies in tow, I found), but when I visited, there was an old guy having that $8 burger for supper.
And burgers are what customers want, judging by the burger parade marching out of the kitchen. It was the favourite of dishes I tried, too.
There are two — the simple Reno Burger and the FD (Fable Diner) Burger, which is $15 and a leaning tower of four patties, pickles, heirloom tomato, cheese, lettuce, house-made sauce, that comes with soup or salad. It sounds insane, but it’s quite manageable because the meat is lightly formed and delicious. The milk bun from Swiss Bakery can handle all the groping and squishing required to finish the burger. And the fries, with potato skin attached, compel you to finish. They go into intensive care — brined and vinegared to cut richness, deep-fried, then steamed, then shallow-fried, then hot fried. You’d expect oil-clogged fries, but they are crisp and dry.
“We go through an absolute crazy amount of burgers,” Bird confirms.
The rest of my meal was hit and miss, which is quite a disconnect from what I know of the food at Bird’s other restaurant. Diner food should be simple, unpretentious and delicious. An heirloom tomato salad ($12) displayed signature moves: lovely local produce, house-made ricotta (although it doesn’t say so on the menu). It’s simple but tastes of quality.
A side of corn on the cob was really good — grilled, cut into thirds, and sprinkled with queso, tomatoes, chili and lime.
A roast duck pancake ($14) with kimchee and Kewpie (Japanese mayonnaise, superior in taste to western versions) was a mess in appearance and flavours. A generous serving of duck was obscured and overwhelmed by a blanket of mayo, nuts and seeds; they all sat atop a couple of western-style pancakes, cushions for a heap of food.
Korean chicken leg ($15) with kimchee fried rice, bok choy, tamarind and gochujang sauce is a far cry from diner fare and I panted in anticipation. The glistening but anemic chicken leg, partly covered with house-made gochujang sauce, was a letdown — I was hoping for scorch marks from a grill, or something deepfried and sticky with sauce. The fried rice was cut into a square, nice but overcooked.
My heart leaped at the idea of bourbon-roasted peach pie
with pecan streusel. Again, I was disappointed. The streusel was tough and inedible, the peaches were bland and the bourbon, missing in action.
A lemon meringue parfait was much better and with a tall, billowy crown of marshmallowy meringue caramelized by blow torch. Glancing at our neighbour’s six-layer chocolate cake, it looked very good too, and the couple was enjoying every bite. In diner tradition, there’s a sundae and milkshake program made with local Birchwood Dairy ice cream.
The all-day breakfast is a strong suit here. I ended up at Fable when I went to Jam Cafe downtown one weekend morning only to find an hour-long lineup. Fable has a much larger space and we were seated right away (although a lineup started growing shortly after). I was cheered by our happy and attentive server (Kelly, her name tag said) and my simple order of eggs and toast was great — delicious eggs with orange yolks, delicious potatoes and toast; my husband was happy to see huevos rancheros on the menu and pronounced it the best he’s had, thanks to a smoky and dark chipotle sauce. The drinks list features a few cocktails, craft beer and ciders, and a handful of B.C. wines, available by glass, half-litre or bottle.
I do love the family-friendly feel of this place, and seeing MacGillivray stop by a table with a baby on board, trying to make the stoic little guy laugh.
As a supporter of farm-to-table food culture, Bird is a founder of meatme.co, which connects consumers with ethically raised meat. “You buy a share of meat and it’s delivered to your door,” he says. “It’s been going for four months and got awesome traction.”