600056 Sat Feb 28 15:13:58 -0800 2009 40 57 Western Canada 0 4461267 I am planning a visit to Vancouver in May for the sole reason of procuring what I hear is some of the best fish in the world. I am looking for what makes Vancouver special: spot prawns, crab, oyster, salmon, you tell me. I am looking for off-the-boat fresh with simple preparations that really show off the fish. Cost is irrelevant as is ethnicity. I don't care it is fine dining or hole in the wall, I just want what is best and local. (Is there a market with a tasting bar where you can actually buy it 'off the boat' like they do in Spain or Japan?") Sushi is one of my favorite things in the world but here in LA we have all sorts of high-end places that "fly it in from the Tsukiji fish market daily" so I am not seeking out that experience in Vancouver. I once went to an amazing sushi place in Miami Beach that featured local fish only available in that area. Is there a sushi place in Vancouver like that? I have done a fairly comprehensive search of these boards and have not found a good thread addressing my quest. I would greatly appreciate your guidance. Sat Feb 28 15:13:58 -0800 2009 68093 wasabica 1 4461545 Well, for inexpensive eats featuring LOCALLY harvested seafood you could try Go Fish on Granville Island for lunch. Blue Water tends to be the top seafood restaurant (non-Asian) recommendation on this board these days. I think the seafood that makes this part of the world special is as follows: spot prawns (wild) that are much sweeter and more flavourful than their Southeast Asian counterparts; really great locally harvested oysters; wild sockeye salmon; halibut; sablefish (aka Alaskan black cod); excellent hand-peeled shrimp; superb tuna (although I imagine that you have that in LA in spades); clams; dungeness crab (admittedly out of season in May) and mussels...and although we are not known for scallops, there are some very good (sweet tasting) Pacific scallops harvested around the Qualicum/Parksville area. I am no expert on the sushi scene in Van, but Lime has been getting great reviews around here. Having said that, I am not sure if its menu focuses on locally harvested fish. I'm sure many others will chime in here. Sat Feb 28 17:33:22 -0800 2009 4461267 99971 anewton 2 4462899 This is very helpful for me - not as easy to research the best local fish as I thought. Thanks! Sun Mar 01 10:19:29 -0800 2009 4461545 68093 wasabica 3 4462953 >>not as easy to research the best local fish as I thought. I live here an I have the same problems. If you go to Maine or the Maritimes - you have lobster shacks, etc - seafood seems to be more in your face. We do have excellent seafood here, but only a few restuarants that specifically serve seafood. BTW the equivalent of Monterey Bay's Seafood Watch here is Oceanwise (administered by the Vancouver Aquarium)...come to think of it, their restaurant partner list is a veritable list of decent seafood joints: http://www.vanaqua.org/oceanwise/find-restaurant.html#Vancouver Sun Mar 01 10:38:34 -0800 2009 4462899 145820 fmed 4 4463012 this is great, thanks!! Sun Mar 01 11:01:05 -0800 2009 4462953 68093 wasabica 1 4461644 Lime (et al) are great but not Urasawa great. A number of sushi places here do serve local seafood - the top notch ones like Tojo's, Octopus' Garden certainly do (eg geoduck, Albacore, Sablefish, Oysters, etc.) SInce LA has fantastic sushi...I suggest you skip it and instead go to places like Blue Water (as anewton recommended...there is an excellent sushi bar there too), C, etc. A ferry ride away on Vancouver Island, Sooke Harbour House's kitchen staff are known to go diving for sea urchin, clams, seaweed, etc. (It has been a while so I don't know what it is like these days). You will be here for Spot Prawn Season (beginning of May to beginning of July) and many places will be doing special Spot Prawn menus including places like Raincity, Boneta, Nu, etc.). Oysters are excellent around these parts so you could check out an oyster bar or two (Blue Water, Rodney's Joe Fortes, etc.) Blue Water currently has 12 BC oysters on the menu. It's currently the height of King Crab season (unfortunately you aren't here till May)...but it is going for ridiculously cheap at Chinese Restaurants these days. ($25 per person right now for four courses.) Sat Feb 28 18:30:30 -0800 2009 4461267 145820 fmed 2 4462897 THis is exactly what I was looking for, thanks!!!! Sun Mar 01 10:18:25 -0800 2009 4461644 68093 wasabica 3 4462968 Let me add a few more personal recs (just reminded by the Oceanwise list): Cioppino's A Kettle of Fish Coast The Cannery Bishops Gastropod The Fish House Not all are "seafood" joints. Sun Mar 01 10:44:03 -0800 2009 4462897 145820 fmed 4 4463010 I am starting to research some of the spots you listed...and am wondering if perhaps I need to focus my fish pilgrimage more on victoria rather than vancouver? I am still learning and am not familiar with the area at all, thanks Sun Mar 01 11:00:52 -0800 2009 4462968 68093 wasabica 5 4463047 Perhaps anewton or other Victoria folks can comment on the seafood scene there (I'm not familiar). Vancouver Island is certainly a great place to go on a seafood pilgrimage (eg Oyster Farms, etc.). anewton alluded to Fanny Bay, etc near Qualicum/Parksville...these places are actually a couple of hours from VIctoria up the eastern coast of Vancouver Island. Sun Mar 01 11:13:53 -0800 2009 4463010 145820 fmed 6 4463829 If you end up in Victoria, check out Red Fish Blue Fish on Wharf by the Harbour Air float planes dock. I believe it was started by a former Go Fish employee, and is a similar take on very fresh, local fish, bivalves etc. And if that's not enough to entice you, it has deep-fried pickles and Mars Bars too :-). Sun Mar 01 16:01:44 -0800 2009 4463047 169233 grayelf 7 4464000 that sounds AWESOME, what a find, thanks Sun Mar 01 17:03:03 -0800 2009 4463829 68093 wasabica 8 4465337 Wasabica: I would focus on Vancouver, not Victoria, on your seafood quest. Vancouver is a MUCH bigger city and has a far more diverse restaurant scene, including seafood restaurants. Victoria has some places that do local seafood justice...i.e. Sooke Harbour House, Brasserie L'Ecole, Red Fish Blue Fish, Blue Crab, etc....BUT the scene is not nearly as good as Vancouver's, and none of the above restaurants (with the exception of Red Fish Blue Fish and Blue Crab) are strictly seafood restaurants. Tofino has some pretty good places to eat seafood but they tend to be expensive and Tofino is quite a slog from Victoria (five hour drive one-way). I would check out menus of Vancouver places like Blue Water, C, the Fish House in Stanley Park. If you really want to splurge you could check out Tojo's, but as others have commented, Vancouver's sushi scene on the whole is not a real draw for an LA hound. Good luck, and looking forward to your report. Mon Mar 02 07:32:24 -0800 2009 4464000 99971 anewton 9 4465838 thanks for the insight, you are savign me a lot of research work :) Mon Mar 02 09:50:00 -0800 2009 4465337 68093 wasabica 2 4681681 fmed, I have been trying to find places with special spot prawn menus during my visit (late may) and am having trouble. The concierge at my 5* hotel never even heard of such a thing, (sigh). Do you know which ones are doing it? YOu listed 3 above. I would be into trying one at a chinese restaurant also. I figure if they do it for crabs they must do it with the spot prawns? Wed May 13 17:44:22 -0700 2009 4461644 68093 wasabica 3 4681709 Yes indeed. Someone at a different forum just posted that Sea Harbour ($13.80/lb) and Koon Bo are doing spot prawn specials. I think pretty much all the Chinese Seafood places will be serving it as a special...try Sun Sui Wah on Main St. I'll keep my ear to the ground on actual tasting menus. Wed May 13 17:54:39 -0700 2009 4681681 145820 fmed 4 4681797 fmed, u are my hero :) Wed May 13 18:20:03 -0700 2009 4681709 68093 wasabica 5 4682870 he's everybody's hero Thu May 14 07:12:30 -0700 2009 4681797 192637 balini 6 4682934 Blushing. Thu May 14 07:36:14 -0700 2009 4682870 145820 fmed 2 4895348 Is spot prawn season over now? They're in season now in LA. What should I be looking for in terms of seafood in vancouver now? Mon Jul 27 16:40:48 -0700 2009 4461644 262621 peppermonkey 3 4895396 Spots are done for the year. You are in between seasons for most seasonal local seafoods....but you can get many things fresh all times of year here. (Crabs, Sablefish). Commercial fishing - Albacore, Halibut, are currently in season. Correction: Wild Salmon are now being harvested now (spring, sockeye, pink, chum). Mon Jul 27 17:00:18 -0700 2009 4895348 145820 fmed 4 4895557 Correction: Wild Salmon are now being harvested now (spring, sockeye, pink, chum). Mon Jul 27 18:05:48 -0700 2009 4895396 145820 fmed 5 4896110 Yup! Had some tasty Hawkshaw salmon at Campagnolo last week as an appetizer special. Served crudo, with pea tips, olive oil and some other things that have been forgotten (let's just say the wine bar is very good there). Probably the best salmon I've had. http://fuelrestaurant.wordpress.com/2009/07/02/hawkshaw-salmon-arrives/ Mon Jul 27 23:44:41 -0700 2009 4895557 87054 peter.v 1 4685703 lobster man in granville island.....great assortment of live local and imported oysters, live local mussels, clams etc... and dungeness crab they will cook live in their huge cauldron on the spot so you can go to the docks and eat it right there out of newspaper, and if spot prawn season should be able to find live spot prawns there as well.............also recommend blue water, ..live large, Tojos im not a huge fan of as the service is terrible and ive had some bad experiences but he does do some outstanding things with local ingredients........but mymy fave for sushi is octopus garden Thu May 14 22:56:20 -0700 2009 4461267 123911 busterbrown 2 4685738 Here's a link to a current thread on spot prawn tasting menus: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/618423 Thu May 14 23:23:42 -0700 2009 4685703 169233 grayelf 2 4690378 this is great, thanks! Sat May 16 18:31:25 -0700 2009 4685703 68093 wasabica 2 4690382 buster, do you know if there is a place on/near the docks where they will cook the fresh caught spot prawns on the spot like they do with the crabs? Sat May 16 18:33:36 -0700 2009 4685703 68093 wasabica 3 4690712 Contact Go Fish. They might be doing something with Spots. Sat May 16 22:29:23 -0700 2009 4690382 145820 fmed 4 4691446 Someone else posted this link on another thread.... http://www.metronews.ca/vancouver/live/article/228700 Here's some relevant info about GoFish: The Place: Go Fish, 1504 West 1 Ave, 604-730-5040 The Price: $10-$15 The Dish: Fried spot prawns, spot prawn tacones [sic], spot prawns and chips. The Details: Gord Martin’s cooperative with the False Creek fishermen means it’s literally just off the boat and on to a paper-lined basket near you. (Not sure why the [sic]'d Tacones...an AR editor perhaps). Sun May 17 10:00:25 -0700 2009 4690712 145820 fmed 5 4691496 Seems such a waste to fry those beauties. Still, delicious all the same. Thanks! Sun May 17 10:21:11 -0700 2009 4691446 68093 wasabica 3 4692034 actally not to sure, but they have the huge cauldron they cook the crab/lobster on the spot for you if asked, so i assume they would do the same with the live spot prawns as well if you asked.....lobster man that is. Sun May 17 15:08:47 -0700 2009 4690382 123911 busterbrown 1 4708943 UPDATE: I went to Blue Water last night - sat at the Bar. THey only had 3 spot prawns left, which were good. We got a poached spot prawn salad, the prawns were a bit mealy and overcooked. Oysters (local only) were fabulous. Yoshi did a couple of sashimi items for us, some were off menu. The local sockeye salmon, sable, and halibut was all amazing. So yes, we were able to achieve our goal of getting locally-sourced excellent sashimi. We also ordered their famous scallop/red sea urchin mousse which was a fun and tasty dish. Sat May 23 09:38:00 -0700 2009 4461267 68093 wasabica 2 4709355 Thanks for the report wasabica. Too bad about the spot prawns there - it sounds like an aberration to their usually stellar seafood. I know abou this mealiness...with spots, you have a very narrow window of opportunity to cook them once they are no longer alive...literally a couple of hours. Keep looking for them as they are in still in season. Sat May 23 13:44:07 -0700 2009 4708943 145820 fmed 2 4736438 Hey wasabica, I think we were at Blue Water the same night - Fri, May 22nd. We were there around 10pm and I'm embarrassed to say that it was my second dinner of the night - we had just finished stuffing our faces at L'Altro Buca in the west end. But my friend wanted us to try Blue Water Cafe and I'd heard they have the best seafood in town. Our waiter told us that they were running out of spot prawns so I placed my order for the appetizer as soon as we sat down. Was totally disappointed - they were mushy and bland tasting. I was pretty shocked that this could happen with such a fine ingredient. The chef sent out a second spot prawn appetizer when the waiter noticed we didn't like the first one, but the prawns were still mushy. I learned later from a spot prawn fisherman that they were probably overcooked, and then from a couple local chefs at a sustainable seafood tasting that spot prawns become mushy within a couple hours if they die with their heads on - stomach acid leaches out into their flesh. I'm glad fmed pointed out to me on another thread (http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/618423) that you had a similar report - most Blue Water fans didn't believe me when I told them I had a bad experience there. But I wish I'd had room to try their scallop/sea urchin mousse! Tue Jun 02 12:57:19 -0700 2009 4708943 264883 now_me_hungry 3 4744127 Too funny - we were there that same friday around 8:30-10:30 at the bar. We actually went back the following thursday and tried again, but this time kept it to the ama ebi (sashimi) and they were great. I saw your thread on the other board as well - we also had the C tasting menu but I didn't post on it as we were disappointed that the prawns were kind of afterthoughts in many of the courses where another fish was more dominant. (He would have lost on Iron Chef for sure). Based on your description I wish I did chambar. The cooking class was awful, chef had no problem with announcing he acquired the prawns in Chinatown (so prob not locally sourced) and they were pre-poached for a number of the dishes prior to the class. Thu Jun 04 22:24:53 -0700 2009 4736438 68093 wasabica 4 4750313 Oh dear, I totally take responsibility for sending you to that awful cooking class, sorry, wasabica! What a disappointment - the food has been great at Cascade my last 2 visits, especially the polenta fries and the pork roast (featured Sunday roast). I'm shocked that the chef didn't use the same supplier as the other chefs in town and got them from Chinatown. The prawns were still probably local though and they would have still had to meet minimum size restrictions, so I hope they still tasted OK. And I understand your point about the prawns being an afterthought in the C tasting menu, but I guess I was OK with that because I'd already had my fill of spot prawns in the previous weeks. I had also managed to get a sneak peak at the C tasting menu while surfing the internet before my trip, so I knew that I would be enjoying local halibut, scallop and rib-eye for the last few courses. I also thought the spot prawn pollen and pearls that came with the ribeye were pretty cool. And the citrus poached prawn at the Chambar demonstration was delicious, one of my favorite spot prawn preparations during the trip. Sun Jun 07 10:40:34 -0700 2009 4744127 264883 now_me_hungry 5 4753611 No worries. Every meal can't be perfect. We also had a mediocre and very overpriced meal at Cin Cin. However, all was not lost... We had a fantastic experience at Octopus Garden. So good we went back a 2nd night. Chef Sada agreed to do a full local menu for us. While we loved the spot prawns, it was the albacore toro that won our hearts. Here is my blog post with photos: http://foodandwineblog.thefoodietraveler.com/2009/06/07/unique-sushisashimi-experience-in-vancouver-octopus-garden.aspx Mon Jun 08 12:45:54 -0700 2009 4750313 68093 wasabica 1 4709103 The experts have already weighed in and I wouldn't encourage you to stray from your plan. I did however want to share my experience at Yew last night (Four Seasons) with the group, as I had one of those meals (entirely seafood-centric) that was so wonderful that I've been wanting to shout from the rooftop ever since. I decided to treat myself to dinner there after having one of those weeks (months?!) that make you wish the ground would open up and swallow you whole. Started with the most exquisite, lightly bbq'd calamari served with Japanese mustard. It was so tender I couldn't believe it was squid. Any other day I could have paired it with a salad and stopped there. Last night however, I moved on to devour the miso baked black cod served with clams and seaweed. The fish was baked to perfection! The flavours were balanced so beautifully and the meal so clean, so wonderful. The meal ended with a dessert trio made up of fresh mini cinnamon churros and chocolate mousse, vanilla bean ice cream with warm cherry compote (not sour, but subtley spiced), and an ounce of the richest hot chocolate I have tasted (it was liquid chocolate). Needless to say, I lingered for hours and wish it never had to end. While I normally I wouldn't think to write about such an experience, I just had to share it this time as the meal absolutely nourished my soul. I should add that while I am a very infrequent contributor, I think like many, I always benefit from the wonderful offerings of the regulars on this site (fmed, grayelf among others). So thanks so much for sharing your expertise and love of food with us! Sat May 23 11:11:28 -0700 2009 4461267 130233 sf toronto 2 4709357 Thanks for the thanks sf toronto! Sat May 23 13:45:09 -0700 2009 4709103 145820 fmed 3 4710644 Ditto :-) Sun May 24 09:20:57 -0700 2009 4709357 169233 grayelf 2 4709725 wow... Sat May 23 17:44:23 -0700 2009 4709103 68093 wasabica