My first job, at age 13, was assisting the custodian of my apartment building in Montreal.
I made $5 an hour for back-breaking and unglamorous work, which included trash removal, lawn mowing, carpet and linoleum uprooting, and other minor maintenance tasks. At 15, I moved on to packing bags at the local grocery store. I suppose the lessons of hard work and self-sufficiency were imparted by those jobs and have had a positive influence on my work ethic, but I sometimes wonder where I’d be now if I had embraced some of my passions more assertively earlier on.
Like food and cooking. Over the years I have noted with interest that the employees at Lonsdale Quay’s Soup Meister seem quite young. As it happens, they are indeed. For many of them, it is their first job.
Under the tutelage and mentorship of highly accomplished chef (and legitimately dubbed “soup meister”) Ralf Dauns, these young workers are learning skills that it took me many years to cultivate on my own.
As young as they are, I have found Soup Meister employees to be consistently helpful, professional and knowledgeable about the shop’s wares. I suspect this is because they quickly recognize what a great gig they’ve landed. I really cannot imagine too many other jobs available to first-time employees that are going to pay back such great lifelong dividends. An appreciation for good-quality, made-from-scratch food, as well as the technical skills to create it, are invaluable benefits. Dauns shared with me on a phone call that more than 200 young employees have worked at his operation since the beginning. I
sometimes think I’d be willing to do an internship with him myself if it meant getting a handle on creating a solid soup stock.
Dauns hails from the heart of Mosel Riesling country in Germany and has held tenure at top resorts and restaurants in Europe, the U.S. and in Canada. He eventually settled in North Vancouver and launched a small soup-focused outlet at Lonsdale Quay in 1995. He has expanded considerably since then to meet demand (including urgent, last-minute requests for stock and demi-glace from restaurant kitchens that have run-out of their own) and currently occupies a space that is home to both prep (get a load of those imposing, 150-litre stock pots) and retail service.
The Soup Meister has emerged as one of my all-time favourite go-to spots for meals in a pinch. I feel one would be hard pressed to find another source for a healthy, tasty, well made meal for the whole family for just over 20 bucks. Many of the Meister’s soups, available for takeout in generous single-meal or family-meal formats, change with the seasons, providing a forum for the best of what is available locally, while others, the “core soups” or menu staples, remain reliably available year-round. During a recent summer hot spell I picked up a sampling of Italian-themed soups as I feel that country’s cuisine is so compatible with this season, making use of the fresh produce that shines so brightly in B.C. from June to October.
The first soup in my tasting was Tuscan Bean, made with vegetable stock (several all-veg options are always readily available at Soup Meister), loads of the titular legumes, carrots, balsamic vinegar and ample quantities of celery and sundried tomatoes. Heavier on the tomato quotient, but not dissimilar in its mix of vegetables (but with the addition of cabbage, cannellini beans, spaghetti noodles and bay leaf) was the Minestrone, a perennial kids’ favourite, with mild seasoning and accessible ingredients. I find it remarkable that the vegetables in these soups all managed to retain a subtle al dente crunch; soups I make at home tend to render vegetables into indistinguishable mush.
A portion of Cream of Mushroom soup, a far, far departure from the insipid and artificially thickened stuff you might have experienced from a can, was a deliciously rich and deeply flavoured creation made with wild mushrooms, tomato, onion, yams and sweet potatoes, herbs (I am quite certain I detected the fragrant presence of tarragon in this) and lemon juice.
My favourite of the tasting was the Sicilian Connection, featuring loads of flavourful sausage that boasted heady, almost anise-like notes of fresh Italian basil, beans, spinach, Parmesan, herbs and tomato.
With a mini-loaf of chewy, herbaceous Turkish-style bread from neighbour Cobbs, the Sicilian connection made an eminently satisfying, filling but not overwhelming summertime meal. Single meal portions of soup from the Meister are typically around $5; in my estimation, it would be impossible to create soup of this calibre for the same price at home. thesoupmeister.com 604-983-2774
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At long last the mystery of what is going to happen to the old Matador space on Esplanade (in front of the Quay, underneath Café by Tao) is solved. The room, gutted to the core and radically redecorated (it has a much more open, airy feel to it now, despite being a tiny space to begin with), has opened as Five and Dime Cantina, a casual and inexpensive joint dedicated to tacos, burritos, quesedillas and other Mexican-inspired fare. I have it on good authority that Five and Dime’s lineup of house-made salsas is impressive, but watch for more on this place in The Dish column in the coming weeks.
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The Harmony Arts Festival is bringing a fun mixology-themed event to the Pier at Ambleside with Mixology Night on the Pier. The event features mixology stations, food and music and will showcase the skills of our province’s top bartenders, including North Shore born and raised barkeep Robyn Gray, currently the head bartender of Prohibition, one of Vancouver’s top cocktail culture revival destinations.
For more information, visit harmonyarts.ca.
Chris Dagenais served as a manager for several restaurants downtown and on the North Shore. He can be reached via email at [email protected]. North Shore News dining reviews are conducted anonymously and all meals are paid for by the newspaper.
