West Van’s dining landscape just got a little weaker. Fraîche Restaurant, which was named one of Canada’s Top Ten Best New Restaurants of 2008 by enRoute magazine, permanently closed after its New Year’s Eve dinner service. It’s a pity that a fine dining eatery of this calibre (one of just a handful remaining in this increasingly casual city) couldn’t crack the code of one of the country’s wealthiest neighbourhoods. Perhaps this is just further evidence of the West Coast’s lack of enthusiasm for the fancy/expensive/formal milieu. In any event, here’s hoping chef Nicholas Lim, manager Paul Garbini, and the rest of the staff land on their feet.