Posts Tagged: Oakwood Canadian bistro
Posted by Taraneh | March 28th, 2012 | Leave a comment »
Kitsilano’s newish hotspot Oakwood Canadian Bistro received a visit from Globe and Mail restaurant critic Alexandra Gill, who was generous with praise for what she considered Canadian fare done right.
Gill pointed out that Canadian cuisine is a rare but growing dining option with Edible Canada, the Flying Pig Canadian Bistro and Oakwood Canadian Bistro all opening in the last year. Here are some juicy excerpts from the seasoned restaurant critic’s review:
On the poutine:
“If ever there existed a more delicious “beer sponge” (as food writer Calvin Trillin describes it in The New Yorker magazine), I certainly haven’t tasted it. Served in a cast-iron skillet, the Oakwood’s version starts with a thickly hand-cut Kennebec potatoes fried to a golden crunch. Richly roasted veal-bone gravy is poured over top, and chunky Quebec cheese curds layered throughout.
The skillet is given a quick blast of heat to melt down the cheese’s stringy texture while retaining a slight rubbery firmness and faint squeak. Then it’s crowned with a warm, pink clump of thinly sliced beef brisket, smoked in-house over maple and hickory chips. O Canada! This is true poutine bliss.” read more »
Posted by Taraneh | March 6th, 2012 | Leave a comment »
I’m just waiting for Oakwood Canadian Bistro’s able, young chef Mike Robbins to compete for Top Chef Canada. In the meantime, he’s a Kitsilano gem and his talent is shining once again on Oakwood’s new spring menu. Get the goods while you can.
As usual, you can count on Oakwood to deliver what matters: All dishes are made from seasonal and locally sources organic products. The meats are organic, local and free of hormones and antibiotics; the seafood is sustainable and Ocean Wise certified. Breads, pastas, butchery and sauces are all done in-house.
About the new menu
New dinner menu highlights include fried octopus komatsuna ($7), mussel and clam ‘chowder’ ($16), vegetable tagliatelle with pesto and patty pans ($16), beef tartar with garlic wilted pea shoots ($17), braised boar and potato agnolotti ($19), Cornish hen and wild mushroom roulade ($21), brick cut ribeye with potato croquette ($24) and whole Nova Scotia branzino ($30).
I have tried the braised boar with agnolotti. It wasn’t easy. My husband ordered it and I kept sniping at his bowl in an undignified manner un-befitting a food writer. The tender boar meat falls gently into the hand-made, potato-filled pasta, and benefits from the 3D, hedgehog mushroom enhanced sauce.
My husband retaliated admirably, stealing bites of my tender cornish hen, which comes with seared breast, decadent, bacon-wrapped mushroom roulade and cauliflower puree. There were other infant veggies on the plate, but they were gone too quickly to note.
We ended by trying the bumble berry (rhubarb, cherry and blackberry topped) cheesecake – a fresh, spring dessert that comes in a mason jar.
And you can dine in such style while watching hockey. I can’t think of an easier way to please everyone.
The Oakwood Canadian Bistro, 2741 West 4th, 604-558-1965, TheOakwood.ca
Posted by Taraneh | February 1st, 2012 | Leave a comment »
We already posted on Tourism Vancouver’s Dine Out, the mega food festival where epicures get to try 3-course meals at the best local restaurants without breaking the bank. If you haven’t taken advantage of the savings yet, then get on it. Only a few days remain; Dine Out comes to a close this Sunday, February 5.
One of our favourite local spots, new kid Oakwood Canadian Bistro, has a tasty $28, 3-course Dine Out Menu which we’ve included below. And don’t forget to pair your Dine Out adventure with Oakwood’s premiere BC craft beers and hand crafted cocktails. You can make reservations through the Tourism Vancouver website.
Dine Out 2012 at The Oakwood Canadian Bistro
Appetizer
Roasted potato, pepper and leek soup with garlic foam
Poplar Grove Pinot Gris / Kronenbourg
or
Radiccio salad with honey vinaigrette, goat cheese, candied pecans and bacon lardons
Taltalus Reisling / Monster Merlot read more »
Posted by Taraneh | December 29th, 2011 | Leave a comment »
Still in need of New Year’s Eve plans? Good news, Kits residents: We’re giving away New Year’s Eve dinner for two (three-course meal, with DJ and Champagne toast) at Oakwood Canadian Bistro, Saturday Dec. 31, 8:00pm to 2:00am.
Entering the contest is simple. All you have to do to enter is “like” Kitsilano.ca on Facebook. We’ll draw a winner 10:00am, Friday, Dec. 30.
Oakwood, Kitsilano’s newest dining option, is an intimate neighbourhood spot specializing in down-to-earth Canadian fare. The food is fresh, honest comfort cuisine by young Executive Chef Michael Robbins, who uses only local, sustainable products. Oakwood—a real community player—got in touch with us and offered to treat two Kitsilano.ca readers to New Year’s dinner. View Oakwood’s New Year’s Eve dinner menu after the jump. read more »
Posted by Taraneh | December 27th, 2011 | Leave a comment »
New Year’s Eve plans have always flummoxed me. When I was a young squirt it was simple. Mom made a bûche de noël and we waited for the countdown on television, usually falling asleep and drooling on the couch cushions before the ball dropped.
As an adult, the more I plan my New Year’s Eve party hopping, the more likely it is the evening will fall flat. That being said, I like to dress up.
My solution: No more house parties or clubs. Just intimate dinner action. That way at least I’m guaranteed good food. Sometimes my husband and I make an extravagant feast at home and head to the beach for a midnight stroll. Or we go to a Kits restaurant event like the ones I’ve listed below. read more »
Posted by Taraneh | November 12th, 2011 | Leave a comment »
Enjoy your weekends a little more with brunch at Oakwood Canadian Bistro, Kitsilano’s latest neighbourhood restaurant. Chef Mike Robbins does weekends right with a menu that features a selection of seasonal, unpretentious dishes for $10 each, plus the tempting possibility to order the $15 burger for breakfast.
Don’t miss the albacore tuna nicoise benedict ($10), or the braised short rib served with fried eggs, marinated tomato and potato pancake ($10). If you’ve got that morning sweet tooth, opt for the delicate stuffed brioche French toast with blueberry mascarpone ($10). Wash it down with 49th Parallel’s artisan coffee.
Brunch served 10:00 am- 3:00 pm, Saturday and Sunday. Book a table here. Check out the full brunch menu here: OakwoodMenuBRUNCH
The Oakwood Canadian Bistro is the newest member of Kitsilano.ca’s Local Profile section. You can also take a look at their updated fall menu full of local, organic comfort food. The striploin steak with dijon hollandaise and onion jam is pictured to the right.
The Oakwood Canadian Bistro, 2741 West 4th, 604-558-1965, TheOakwood.ca
Posted by Taraneh | October 21st, 2011 | Leave a comment »
Marlon Brando told Johnny Depp, “We only have so many faces in our pockets.” Well that’s how I feel about rave reviews, and yet I must give one to Kitsilano’s new Oakwood Canadian Bistro. The restaurant at 2741 West 4th buzzed last night at the official launch party, although doors opened softly this summer.
Oakwood Canadian Bistro describes their cuisine as honest Canadian fare. I think that description is too humble for menu items like the thick AAA burger, made with house-ground AAA beef shoulder that’s flanked by a crispy buttermilk fried onion and smoked cheddar, in a plump, house-made sesame bun. Every time owner Mike Shea or bistro general manager Amy Wheatley emerged with a tray of AAA slider tasters, the crowd pounced. (AAA burger pictured right)
Wunderkind executive chef Mike Robbins, who is only 27, creates the seasonal menus using only organic, horomone and antiobiotic free, Ocean Wise and sustainable ingredients. You can count on the fact that everything on the menu, from the pasta to the condiments and salt on your Caeser glass is made in house.
read more »
