Supermarine Seafood & Cocktails
1685 Yew | 604-739-4677 | Supermarine.ca
Open Monday-Saturday, 5:30pm-2am
James Iranzad and Josh Pape have become a power duo when it comes to new, successful restaurants in Vancouver. Wildebeest, their meaty, gamey, wild and boozy spot in Gastown draws crowds even on a Monday night; Pizzeria Bufala, their more family-friendly pizza joint in Kerrisdale, serves up excellent pies to adoring fans; and their latest venture, Supermarine, focuses on fruits of the sea and more excellent cocktails in Kitsilano.
When the latter opened earlier this year, then-chef Jacob Deacon-Evans designed a menu that was playful, innovative yet approachable, and vegetable- as well as seafood-forward. Dishes like vegetables Tony Danza, a ribboned medley of summer squash, were as excellent as the tempura snow crab over crab salad, or the beef and oyster tartare. Hardly surprising when you remember that Deacon-Evan’s pedigree includes extended stints working with luminaries like David Gunawan (Farmer’s Apprentice, West) and Andrea Carlson (Burdock & Co., Bishop’s). Cocktails, courtesy of Pape, matched the food, and the room, with its sea blue accents and side view of the beach, was in harmony with the other elements.
Change, however, came a couple months ago in the return to Vancouver of much-lauded chef Jesse Grasso. Grasso, who originally worked with Iranzad at Abigail’s Kitchen (what used to be in the Supermarine space), left a handful of years ago for Toronto and made a well-deserved name for himself at The Black Hoof. Having eaten there several times during his tenure, I can attest to his dab hand with the “odd bits” of butchery. Grasso returned to Vancouver and took over as concept development chef for all three of Iranzad and Pape’s properties, with a special focus on Supermarine.
The menu has since gone through a complete overhaul, which has yielded both hits and misses. A special one night of ricotta ravioli ($16) came in a fragrant chili- and parsley-flecked broth, topped with cured ham hock. It was just outstanding; the broth was clean and bright, with gentle licks of heat, the ricotta was fresh and delicate, and the ham hock was juicy. It’s a dish made for cooler nights and glass of the crisp Schloss Gobelsburg Grüner (did I mention there’s an excellent wine list?) was the perfect pairing for $10. Shellfish escabeche ($10) was less impressive. While made with excellent, plump clams one night, the flavour was dull and masked that mollusc-y taste of the sea (which, while typical of escabeche in general, seems counter-productive at a seafood restaurant).
Snow crab okonomiyaki($16), a Japanese pancake infused with various ingredients like green onion, seafood, pork, etc., drizzled with Japanese mayo and usually a sweet sauce like hoisin or a mix of ketchup, soy and Worcestershire (also known as okonomiyaki sauce) was middling. The pancake was a plain, slightly-thick round of what tasted like buckwheat, topped with green onion, crab and drizzled with the mayo. While the crab was lovely on its own, it was overpowered by the pancake and mayo.
In general, there are more hits than misses on the menu, and dishes like whole fish tacos (market price) are fun, but the overall effect of the new menu seems to be to downplay the seafood element and let meatier dishes like the rib eye ($44) shine. Even the new brunch menu focuses less on seafood than on eggs, bacon, duck and sausages. I’m sure it’ll be delicious, as this is Grasso’s forte, but for an ostensibly seafood-focused restaurant, I’m starting to wonder if perhaps a name change might not be in order.
All ratings out of five stars.
Food: ★★1/2
Service: ★★★★
Ambiance: ★★★
Value: ★★★
Overall: ★★★
Hear Anya every Monday on CBC Radio One’s On the Coast. Find her on Twitter @foodgirlfriday and Facebook.com/FoodGirlFriday.
Rating guide:
★: Okay, nothing memorable.
★★: Good, shows promise.
★★★: Very good, occasionally excellent.
★★★★: Excellent, consistently above average.
★★★★★: Awe-inspiring, practically perfect in every way.
