GOODS: Centuries-Old Sake Breweries In Town For Special Supper At “Pied-A-Terre”

Pied-a-Terre is located at 3369 Cambie Street in Vancouver, BC | 604-873-3131 | www.pied-a-terre-bistro.ca

The GOODS from Pied-a-Terre

Vancouver, BC | Pied-a-Terre restaurant Venerable sake makers, Nakashima Brewery and Fukumitsuya Brewery, will be offering a rare chance to sample their sakes made in the time honoured manner this coming Thursday May 23rd at Pied-a-Terre restaurant.

Chef Andrey Durbach is preparing a Japanese-inspired 7-course French menu to accompany this fine and never before seen in Vancouver selection of sakes. After graduating from the Culinary Institute of America, Chef Durbach moved to Japan to open the kitchen for a new French restaurant in the countryside north of Toyko. This was the beginning of a life long admiration for the food and culture of Japan. A return visit to Japan in November 2012 inspired Andrey to partner with That’s Life Gourmet (Vancouver’s premium importer of sake) to present this adventurous and one-of-a-kind dinner event. “This is such an exciting opportunity to showcase the versatility of sake and present this distinctive beverage in a modern European context.” said Chef Andrey Durbach.

Nakashima Brewery is the 300 year old brewery behind the Kozaemon brand of sake. Located in Mizunami city, Gifu prefecture, Kozaemon the 14th, the president of Nakashima, and his brother Nobu Nakashima, the Toji (master brewer), brew a sake that is true to their heritage and region, keeping family traditions alive and healthy. Using local heritage rice as well as premium rice from Nagano, Hyogo and Okayama, Nakashima Brewery produces a rich and versatile range of sakes.

Fukumitsuya Brewery was founded in the Edo Period; its origins date back to 1625. The brewery is located in Kanazawa, a city renowned for its rich history, amazing food and cultural traditions. The sakes are well-structured, refined and the brewing methods are rooted in nearly 400 years of experience and commitment to quality and tradition. Mr. Junichi Yageta is the export manager for Fukumitsuya Brewery.

Mr. Kozaemon from Nakashima and Mr. Junichi Yageta from Fukumitsuya Brewery will be in attendance at Pied-a-Terre to present their sakes. Mr. Kinoshita from Amabuki Brewery will also be on hand to offer a sample of their special flower yeast sake. Details and menu after the jump… Read more

GOODS: La Buca & Pied-A-Terre All Set For 7th Annual Wild Game & Mushroom Festival

Andrey Durbach and Chris Stewart's annual Wild Game & Mushroom Festival runs Oct 19- 30 at La Buca and Pied-a-Terre

The GOODS from Pied-a-Terre & La Buca

Vancouver, BC | Our Seventh Annual Game & Wild Mushroom Festival is fast approaching! Join us from October 19th to the 30th to enjoy dishes such as scallop carpaccio with duck prosciutto and truffle vinaigrette and roast lingcod with gnocchi and chanterelles. View the full menus at Pied à Terre and La Buca or click through the jump… Read more

GOODS: Cambie’s Pied-a-Terre Dishing Three Course Dinners For Two (With Wine!) For $99

Pied-a-Terre is located at 3369 Cambie Street in Vancouver BC | 604-873-3131 | www.pied-a-terre-bistro.ca

The GOODS from Pied-a-Terre

Vancouver, BC | Pied-a-Terre restaurant has brought back it’s keenly-priced table d’hôte menu. To relaunch the much heralded menu, Pied-a-Terre is offering what is surely the best value dining experience in Vancouver. Order dinner for two from the 3-course table d’hôte menu and the restaurant will throw in a bottle of wine, mineral water, and coffee.

“I designed the table d’hôte menu to offer classic bistro favourites at a great price,” said Chef Andrey Durbach. “After all, a neighbourhood bistro is supposed to be the kind of place you can afford to go to any night of the week.”

The table d’hôte, or fixed price menu, offers a choice of modern French classics: heirloom tomato salad with basil and goat’s cheese; duck confit with walnuts, grapes and Sarladaise potato; and crêpes with warm berries and crème fraîche. At $38 per person, with 3 choices for each of the 3 courses, the menu delivers great options and great value. At $99 for 2 people including a choice of a bottle of house red, white, or rosé wine, the value is even better. These prices make it easy to finish the meal with an after dinner drink from Pied-a-Terre’s extensive list of cognac, calvados, and eaux-de-vie. Read more

On A Mission: From Pied-A-Terre To Tableau – Searching For The City’s Best Steak Frites

by Claire Lassam | Setting rare to well aside, there are, in this girl’s opinion, really just two kinds of steak-eaters: those who like their meat tender at the expense of taste, and those who prefer to chew for flavour. If you’re in the first category, you probably spend a lot of money on tenderloins when you go out for dinner, and that’s lovely. Really it is, but this article is not for you. That’s because this piece is about steak frites, and when you get to a proper one you get a thick, juicy, chewy steak. Sure, it will have a bit of gristle and some fat, but it will be well marbled and – if you’re in luck – it will have been marinated long enough so that when you take your first bite, the meat gives way easily.

It should be a hanger steak, but a flank or a skirt steak will do. On the plate (or next to it) will be frites, a sauce of some type, and – hopefully – some freshly made mayo. That’s all you need for perfection.

The frites should be about the width of a pencil, and very crispy; the kind of crispy that comes from double frying so that when you get to the ones at the bottom of the plate they aren’t soggy. That’s very important.

The sauce is also vital, but the type is often left up to you. Any good steak frites will come with a few options, usually a red wine jus, a Bearnaise, a herb butter, a peppercorn sauce or one laden with mushrooms. I’m nearly always a sucker for a mushroom sauce, but sometimes if I’m feeling crazy or, as in the case for this article when I ate 5 steak frites in relatively rapid succession, I’ll mix things up a bit and get the peppercorn. And, as I intimated above, a good steak frites should come with mayo. If it isn’t on your plate when it arrives, you may not be in a very good restaurant.

To find the perfect steak frites on this mission, I only went to French bistros, and by that I mean places with large French wine lists and Boris on the beer list; the small, cozy kind of restaurant where for an appetiser you can get a solid onion tart or freshly shucked oysters (preferably both).

My search started out with a bang at Tableau in Coal Harbour, despite the fact that it broke a few rules. It was a sirloin steak, for starters, and it came with just one sauce (my beloved peppercorn). But it was a beautiful steak – very thick, and perfectly cooked; quite bloody in the middle but nice and charred on the outside. It had a bit of chew and just enough sauce to smear on each cut. The frites came on the side and were a deep golden colour with a big pot of home made aoli. And to really put things over the top, there was also a salad on the plate. That’s not essential, but a very nice perk indeed. For $18, it was also the cheapest steak I’d have on this mission. Afterwards, I suspected that I had already found the best steak frites in town, but I didn’t mind soldiering on to a few other places. Read more

GOODS: Cambie Street’s “Pied-a-Terre” Now Open For Prix-Fixe Holiday Season Lunches

Pied-a-Terre is located at 3369 Cambie Street in Vancouver BC | 604-873-3131 | www.pied-a-terre-bistro.ca

The GOODS from Pied-a-Terre

Vancouver, BC | Cambie street’s French favourite, Pied-à-Terre, will be open for holiday lunch from December 12th to 23rd. The restaurant will be offering a three course prix-fixe with heart warming dishes from the kitchen of chef Andrey Durbach. Voted best casual French three years running by Vancouver Magazine, Pied-à-Terre delights in classic bistro fare. Think terrine maison with bacon and onion marmalade; goat cheese salad with hazelnuts and pears; duck confit with cassoulet lentils and quince duck jus; or classic steak frites with creamed spinach and peppercorn or red wine shallot sauce. Cap things off with dessert of chocolate tart with whipped vanilla crème fraîche or rum raisin bread pudding with maple anglais. The full lunch menu is available online at www.pied-a-terre-bistro.ca. Learn more about the restaurant (including its holiday hours), check after the jump… Read more

GOODS: Cafeteria, La Buca And Pied-a-Terre Prepare For Game & Wild Mushroom Festival

Pied-a-Terre at www.pied-a-terre-bistro.ca | Cafeteria at www.cafeteriavancouver.ca | La Buca at www.labuca.ca

The GOODS from Pied-a-Terre, La Buca, and Cafeteria

Vancouver, BC | As he does each year as cooler temperatures set in, Andrey Durbach will be offering diners at cozy neighbourhood rooms Pied-à-Terre, La Buca and Cafeteria the chance to taste the earthy flavours of in-season mushrooms and wild game. Running from Oct. 11th to 23rd, the Game & Wild Mushroom Festival is a must for food lovers who are particularly drawn to freshly picked wild mushrooms, hearty cuts of rarely featured game and the rich reductions that Durbach is known for. Get all the details after the jump Read more

GOODS: Enjoy A Love Affair With Your Food At Pied-A-Terre, Cafeteria And La Buca

Pied-a-Terre at www.pied-a-terre-bistro.ca | Cafeteria at www.cafeteriavancouver.ca | La Buca at www.labuca.ca

The GOODS from Pied-a-Terre, La Buca, and Cafeteria

Vancouver, BC | Diners in search of sparkle this Valentine’s Day will flock to Andrey Durbach and Chris Stewart’s neighbourhood restaurants, Cafeteria, Pied-à-Terre, and La Buca. Reasonably priced boutique wines and cocktails match three-course menus that are rich in flavour and value. Get all the details on what each restaurant has in store for their guests on the 14th after the jump… Read more

Cambie French Fave Pied-à-Terre Now Serving Holiday Lunches…

Pied-a-Terre is located at 3369 Cambie Street in Vancouver BC | 604-873-3131 | www.pied-a-terre-bistro.ca

News from Scout supporter Pied-a-Terre:

Vancouver, BC | Beginning today and running until December 23rd, Andrey Durbach and Chris Stewart will open the doors to their cozy neighbourhood room, Pied-à-Terre, for holiday lunch. Durbach has crafted a special three course menu priced at $32.50 that is sure to entice lunch goers looking to stay away from the office a little longer. Guests can expect French fortified classics like Scallop Ravioli with Tomato, Gin, Fine Herbs and Crème Fraîche; Fillet of Trout served with braised Lettuce, Peas and Ginger-Soy Beurre Blanc; Coq au Vin with Pommes Purée and French Beans.

Pied-à-Terre will serve holiday lunch from noon to 2:30pm. Dinner is served seven nights a week; Monday to Saturday from 5pm to 10:30pm and Sunday from 5pm to 9:30pm. For reservations please call 604.873.3131 or for more information please visit www.pied-a-terre-bistro.ca. Read more

Celebrate The Arrival of 2010 With Down To Earth Decadence

Andrey Durbach is offering set menus and à la carte options for New Year’s Eve at his Vancouver restaurants.

News from Scout supporters Pied-a-Terre, La Buca, and L’Altro Buca

Vancouver, BC | On December 31st, L’Altro Buca, Pied-à-Terre and La Buca will be opening their doors for those looking to ring in the New Year with classic comfort food in one of three of Andrey Durbach’s award winning dining rooms. Read more

Deana Lancaster Does Shrooms And Eats Horse at L’Altro Buca

by Deana Lancaster | It’s autumn. Curled and broken leaves layer the sidewalk like sodden paper mâché, and a cement sky is gray with rain. It’s my favourite season, but still, it weighs heavily. Time to pull the crock-pot from its hiding place behind the toaster and load it with browned meat, fistfuls of herbs, and wild mushrooms that taste of the forest they were found in.

Even better: to slip into the quiet, art deco elegance of L’Altro Buca in the West End to satisfy my craving for crispy-skinned meats and the lusty flavours of fungi at Andrey Durbach’s annual Game and Wild Mushroom Festival. The ingredients that Durbach sources – locally foraged morels, chanterelles, matsutake, porcini and field mushrooms – are more varied and pristine than what I can dig up (figuratively, if not literally), and his cooking is much more refined than I can accomplish (with crock-pot or not). Read more

Wild Game And Mushroom Fest At The Two Bucas and Pied-A-Terre

Annual Festival brings Fall Flavours to Andrey Durbach’s menus October 15th to 24th

News from Scout supporters Pied-à-Terre, La Buca and L’Altro Buca

Vancouver, BC – Join Pied-à-Terre, La Buca and L’Altro Buca in celebrating an adventurous selection of rare game, bold sauces and the finest fungi during this year’s Game and Wild Mushroom Festival, held October 15th to October 24th. Chef Andrey Durbach’s distinctive menus highlight the flavours of the autumn harvest and will offer diners a chance to experience the earthy tastes of locally foraged morels, chanterelles, matsutake, porcini and field mushrooms served alongside hearty cuts of unsung game and the rich reductions that Durbach is known for. For the first time, the Game and Wild Mushroom Festival will be featured on the menus at each of Durbach and Chris Stewart’s three restaurants. Read more

Q&A With Andrey Durbach

Each week, Scout poses 60 questions to a local who has made life in BC that much more interesting. They pick and choose. The minimum response is 20 answers. A Rorschach test, for sure…

Andrey Durbach is the executive chef and co-owner of Parkside, La Buca, and Pied-a-Terre restaurants, and the author of the children’s book Delicious Chicken Soup.

Default drink of choice: Cold beer

Drink you’ll never have again: Instant coffee

Sexiest fashion item for the opposite sex: Choker necklace

Favourite wine varietal: Sangiovese

The person you can imitate: My French Bulldog, Withnail (and yes, I know he’s not a person).

One thing you’d like to change about Vancouver: I’d change the rain into sunshine

Bartender who could sell you anything: Charles Forsberg

The thing that you eat that is bad for you that you will never stop eating: Ice cream

Cheap place for dinner: Phnom Penh

Three things about your neighbourhood that make you want to live there: Cioffi’s; the privacy; the views.

Last place traveled: Montreal

Biggest fear: Rats

Cliche that you use too often: It’s not a cliche, but I do swear a lot

Best sneaker in the world: Lacoste

Best bar stool in the city: Don’t have one

What are you proud of: Maintaining a vibrant and meaningful relationship with my wife while working my entire adult life in the time sucking, soul crushing, pressure cooker of the restaurant industry

The thing that makes you the angriest: People who think that 8:30 is too late for dinner

Saddest thing about Vancouver: The shitty architecture

Talent you wish you possessed: I wish I were mechanically inclined

Musical instrument you long to play: The mixing board

Sport you gave up: Football (the one you play with your feet)

The game you’re best at: Sauce station on Saturday night

Mac or PC: Mac, of course

The scariest situation you’ve ever been in: In the back of a Honda civic doing a 720 across three lanes of traffic on an iced up I-5

Best concert experience ever: Talking Heads, Burning Down the House tour

Describe your tattoos: A half sleeve Ganesha, in full regalia, seated on a lotus flower surrounded by an aura of conch shells, very detailed and brightly coloured.

The dish you’re most proud of: Green pea, mint and ricotta agnolotti with ragu of lamb cheeks

The thing that makes you the most nervous: Irrational people

Town you were born in: Winnipeg

Old television shows you can tolerate re-runs of: Yes, Minister

Quality you admire most in yourself: My capacity for independent thought

Album that first made you love music: Joe’s Garage by Frank Zappa

The career path you considered but never followed: Air traffic control

The one country that you have no interest in ever visiting: China

The thing you’re addicted to: Manchester United Football Club

Pied-à-Terre

3369 Cambie Street, Vancouver BC | MAP
Phone: 604-873-3131 | RESERVE
Web: www.pied-a-terre-bistro.ca
Email: eat@pied-a-terre-bistro.ca (please note that reservations are only taken by phone)

The Team

Owners: Chris Stewart and Andrey Durbach
Executive Chef: Andrey Durbach
Sous Chef: Caity Hall
Floor Manager: Brad Lauzon

About Pied-à-Terre

At Pied-à-Terre, classic French dishes are anything but rustic. Enjoy a traditional prix fixe bistro lunch or linger late into the evening over Coquilles St. Jaques and a Campari. This bijou restaurant is your new home away from home.A delightful neighbourhood bistro, Pied-à-Terre seats just 30 people. Free of formalities, classic French cuisine has all the room it needs to shine.

Awards

Best New Informal, Silver, Vancouver Magazine Restaurant Awards 2008
Best Bistro/Brasserie, Gold, Vancouver Magazine Restaurant Awards 2008
Food & Wine Go List, 2008