AnnaLena
1809 West 1st | 778-379-4052 | AnnaLena.ca
Open for dinner and late night, Tuesday-Sunday, from 5pm.
When the long-running Kitsilano Daily Kitchen closed down a few months ago, I was curious to see who would take over what I always thought was a great room. The lucky winner of no doubt a pricey lease was chef Michael Robbins, formerly of Oakwood Canadian Bistro. This is Robbins’ first foray as owner/operator and AnnaLena (named after his two grandmothers) has a lot going for it.
First, that room. It’s been redone and slightly re-jigged, with clearly delineated pockets for dining that all flow to the back where the bar and exposed kitchen reside. The bar is long and well-stocked, in a jigsaw of dark wood shelves that are overseen by bar manager Kevin Brownlee. Everything benefits from the light (and fresh air on warm nights) that flows from the massive garage door windows at the front. My only quibble with the design comes from the supremely uncomfortable bar stools, which kept threatening to slide me off when I leaned forward (and who doesn’t at a bar?). Sitting at the bar could be a real draw for this space, so the stools are a definite pity.
The reason behind that potential draw is the above-mentioned bar manager. Brownlee is an extremely affable fellow who has put together a solid and heavily food-friendly cocktail list. The Los Bravos ($12) is brilliant, a refreshing and slightly spicy sipper that has a strawberry-pepper liqueur as its base. The latter, made by Brownlee, is good enough to bottle and mass produce, and works brilliantly with the reposado, cacao, lime and Peychaud’s bitters.
Brownlee isn’t the only engaging staff member. GM Jeff Parr (Chambar, Oakwood Canadian Bistro) leads a talented team of front-of-house rock stars. It’s the kind of service that makes diners feel comfortable without being pressed to express approval after every bite.
And speaking of bites…Robbins obviously has expended a great deal of care and effort in writing the menu. It reads extremely well, and the provenance of each ingredient is obvious on the plate. Some of the combinations aren’t as effective as others, however. Lovely Kusshi oysters ($3.50 each) are topped with compressed apple and jalapeno mignonette, and then graced with a heaping mound of shaved foie, light as snow. I love foie and I love oysters and this should work, but the mignonette and foie simply serve to mask the taste of the oyster, leaving me to wonder, what was the point? Bison tartare ($15) was disappointing. The meat was tasteless and oddly dry, while the “yolk two ways” (mainly little blobs of gelée) just didn’t give the necessary balance or moisture to the dish. The accompanying sweet onion buns were out of place. Tartare is best served with thin toast or crisps of some kind. These were too soft and bready to give textural contrast and did nothing for the flavour. Garlic confit lobster ($22) was another miss. The lobster itself was fine, but the bisque in which it sat was too oily to be identified as such, and the potatoes were tiny cubes of the Dead Sea, giving unpleasant salty jolts at random intervals.
Tamari-marinated pork belly with beets three ways ($21) was much better, both delicious and inventive. The pork was first cooked sous vide for several hours before being grilled to finish. Purple beets were roasted to sweet perfection, tiny yellow beets were shave paper-thin, and a lovely golden beet puree surrounded the plate. The whole ensemble sat over a bed of oat porridge. Sounds crazy, but it tasted divine, as did the grilled octopus in sauce gribiche (a chunky egg and mustard sauce). Buttermilk fried chicken with crispy skins ($14) was another solid dish, although the skins one night could have used more salt.
AnnaLena will most definitely do well here. The menu shows promise, the cocktails are outstanding and the staff are top notch. Here’s hoping it only get better from here.
All ratings out of five stars.
Food: ★★1/2
Service: ★★★★
Ambiance: ★★★★
Value: ★★★★
Overall: ★★★1/2
• Hear Anya Levykh every Monday on CBC Radio One’s On the Coast and find her on Twitter @foodgirlfriday and Facebook.com/FoodGirlFriday.
