I predict that The Village Table, Deep Cove's newest dining destination, will do well.
It has embraced certain tried and true Vancouver restaurant conventions which, when combined according to a proven formula, can often add up to long-term success. These conventions include sparse, minimalist decor, familiar, crowd-pleasing menu favourites, a professed commitment to sustainability, and a name that suggests a sense of community.
A recent Friday night visit to The Village Table with my frequent back-up taster, Gil, revealed that while the restaurant may not be breaking any new culinary ground, it is nevertheless doing many things right.
A 7 p.m. lineup outside the door and steady inbound volume until closing time suggest that The Village Table has successfully tapped a nerve in an area with just a handful of trendy dining options.
Once seated, the first thing Gil and I noted was that the acoustics in the restaurant challenge quiet conversation. The bare-walled, principally wooden space is narrow and sparingly furnished, facilitating very little sound absorption. At the height of the dinner rush, every seat in the restaurant was occupied, creating a raucous, echoing din that required top-ofyour-lungs speech. Regrettably, as the traffic began to thin later in the evening, not everyone adjusted the decibel level of conversation accordingly. A boisterous diner at a neighbouring table regaled the entire room with intricate details about his boat. He carried on at a volume that would only have been excusable had he personally caught, cleaned and filleted the restaurant’s entire seafood inventory.
Our meal began with two appetizers: a plate of light, fresh and spicy wok-fried squid and a dish of fiery prawns, which our server very aptly described as "jambalaya without the rice."
Both dishes came with a peppery bouquet of naked arugula and delivered admirably on the promise of chili heat. A slice of rustic bread accompanied the prawns and was a welcome vessel for the dish's piquant, tomato-based sauce.
The menu, which arguably establishes The Village Table as a seafood restaurant, is incredibly ambitious, covering the gamut of casual fare staples from fish tacos to hamburgers, Caesar salad to pasta primavera. There are many Ocean Wise selections available and the restaurant's mission statement, boldly emblazoned on the front of every menu, promises to use organic and local ingredients as much as possible.
There are a handful of pricier entrées (ranging from $24 to $29) available that include blackened steelhead, simply grilled salmon, a sixounce beef fillet, and black pepper scallops. I selected this latter for my main course, while Gil chose an entrée of halibut and chips with homemade tartar sauce.
Both the scallops and the halibut betrayed an essential skill clearly possessed by the kitchen: the ability to cook seafood to just the right temperature. The scallops, accompanied by a generous helping of al dente barley risotto, were plump and succulent, while the halibut retained its moisture and delicate, flaky texture. Unfortunately, the seasoning on both dishes detracted from their overall quality, the batter on the halibut containing scarcely a grain of salt while a deep pool of concentrated, demi-glace style sauce in which my scallops were nearly floating, proved exceedingly salty.
I would not expect The Village Table, which has only been open about six weeks, to have perfected every last detail of dinner service yet, especially with such a large menu on offer. I found it refreshing that the service staff also seemed to acknowledge that the restaurant is a work in progress, exceeding expectations in most areas while at the same time learning from guest feedback to improve in others. Our server was keen to hear our thoughts about each course of our meal and seemed personally invested in ensuring that the chef and owner learned the feedback for the next iteration of the menu.
It is worth noting that the Village Table permits diners to bring their own wine. As part of the painfully slow but steady de-antiquation of British Columbia's liquor laws, diners are now permitted, in certain participating venues, to bring their own wine selection to accompany dinner. A venue typically charges a "corkage"
fee for the privilege, a levy that is often equal to the value of the least expensive wine on the restaurant's list. The Village Table charges a modest corkage fee of $15 per bottle. Given the standard 100 per cent mark-up on wines at most restaurants, any bottle that a diner purchases from an outside source that is priced more than $15 and is brought to The Village Table, becomes a cost-saving measure. This is bound to be a traffic-driving policy for the restaurant.
The Village Table is located at 473 Dollarton Highway in the Dollarton Village mall. Phone: 604-770-1077.
Chris Dagenais served as a manager for several restaurants downtown and on the North Shore. A self-described wine fanatic, he earned his sommelier diploma in 2001. Contact: [email protected].
