So I managed to talk the boys into venturing out of Coquitlam for a night and head downtown, where there is much more choice.
I’ve wanted to try Brix and Mortar for a long time, and tonight’s the night
After we got them to turn the patio heaters off (imagine sitting 1 foot from a roaring fire) we discovered the covered patio to be a very pleasant environment.
Now let’s get to the reason why we are here.
I bet you were expecting some food weren’t you?
Tonight is about drinking. If we accidentally eat some food that’s okay too.
So that’s a Basil Exposition. Gin, Orgeat, Basil syrup and Bergemot bitters. Very nice cocktail. Refreshing, with a good juxtaposition of sweet and sour.
We started with a cheese plate. Three artisanal cheeses and crackers with house made condiments.
The olive/mustard spread was the best of the three. One was Kimchi like, eww. And the other was very spicy. But everything went really well together.
I went with a Butternut squash/Lobster bisque next.
Yes that is a corn dog on the side. And it was surprisingly good and went very well with the soup. The soup itself was a little heavy on the butternut squash side. I’d like to see a better balance with the lobster flavor. It was also a bit on the sweet side. But still a very tasty bowl of soup.
Merilynn had Ling Cod. Served with aged cheddar grits, confit tomatoes and Nduja sausage.
That’s the first use of grits in this fashion I have seen and it really went well with the Ling cod, which was perfectly cooked. Everything works really well in this dish.
From the others I heard mostly positive reviews about their food. The duck breast was the best he had ever eaten. And he knows his food. None of them were thrilled with the seared scallops crudo. The wild boar rigatoni was good, not great. The chicken was excellent.
An awesome patio, good food and great drinks add up to a great choice for dinner in Yaletown.
8/10