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

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A visit to a David Hawksworth establishment has been on my radar for some time now. He is one of Vancouver’s pre-eminent chefs.

We decided we would do Nightingale first. I booked us one of the Chef’s tables. It’s a side by side booth for two overlooking the kitchen.

It’s a neat experience, one I recommend doing at least once. I’ve had the opportunity twice now. Both experiences were very good.

Upon entering what surprised me most was the size of the place. It’s quite big, spread over two floors. The kitchen is on the second level so that’s where we were headed.

I started with a Bramble.

Blackberry, lemon and gin. Not too sweet. Very nice.

We ordered a variety of small plates. Most things are served family style apparently but that works really well for us anyways as we like to sample a bigger selection of dishes.

First up we had a salad.

It was very light and refreshing. Would be a perfect summer evening salad. Apples, fennel and asiago in a citrus glaze. This will become a regular on my summer menu.

Second up was a Bison sausage.

Served with lentils in a Chipotle sauce. Up until very recently this was served with mash potatoes but I really did enjoy the lentils with it. Somehow the textures worked really well together. The sausage was packed with flavor while the Chipotle had a milder note that complemented it well.

Then came the meatballs.

Soft and tender, with San Marzano tomatoes. I love the presentation with the big basil leaves on top. The anise flavour was very forward lending a beautifully overall taste to the dish

We also tried the Roasted Cauliflower.

It was served with a Tumeric Vinaigrette. Not for me personally I found the vinegar a little too strong for my taste. I’m not sure what type of vinegar was used in the vinaigrette but it wasn’t my favorite. I could certainly like the dish a lot if it wasnt so sour.

Our final dish, besides dessert, was buttermilk fried chicken.

As you can see served with pickles.

Now I’ll skip the pickles, ewwww, and go straight to the chicken. Which was excellent. Crispy outside, moist chicken. Definitely not your average KFC.

And for dessert…..

The Banoffee

Banana cake, caramel glaze with a white chocolate  and rum mousse.

Not my favorite….

The Banana cake was a bit on the dry side and I didn’t care for the mousse. It was the texture that put me off. You’d expect something creamy for mousse, but it was rather solid.

The overall taste was ok, but I wouldn’t order it again.

Our experience tonight was very good. The food was on par with what I expected. The service was excellent. The Chef’s table was a neat experience.

Now on to Hawksworth!

Food 8/10

Service 9/10

Ambiance 9/10

Overall 8/10

Visit Nightingale

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