Tableau Bar Bistro’s Buttermilk Fried Cornish Hen & Gravy

We’ve come to know and rely on Tableau Bar Bistro in Coal Harbour as one of the most consistently excellent restaurants in Vancouver. Save for its daily specials, it doesn’t change all that much, and the most recent steak frites we tucked into there was just as outstanding as the first, not to mention all those in between (among the best frites in the city). Until recently, it anchored the reasons why we went to the restaurant in the first place. Enter the Buttermilk Fried Cornish Hen, which we had never noticed on the menu until our last visit (likely on account of our hitherto blinkered tastes). The outer crunch is deafening, the meat deliciously tender, and the seasoning spot on. It reminded us of the fried treasures they use to dish at Refuel back in the day Tableau’s foray into Americana is limited; it’s a French restaurant, after all. That means they don’t mess around with the pommes purée, which comes piped and hot, begging to be drenched in the supplied gravy and/or dolloped on the flaky biscuit. They also manage to fit a few haricots vert under the hen pieces; there’s some green there if you look (promise). The portion size is for gluttons, so the price works at $24. Pair yours with a cold glass of ‘Turonien’ Vouvray ($14).