Feenie’s
Ever since I saw Rob Feenie beat Iron Chef Morimoto - in his own style of cooking, no less - I have wanted to try out one of his restaurants. Funny, since my sense of direction and general whereabouts is basically lost in Vancouver, we were walking right by Feenie's patio and I said, "The food here looks good," only to realize we were walking to the door of the place. We were meeting 2 of Simon's friends and were a bit early. We had a really good Manhattan while the rest of our party arrived.
As the waiter explained the night's specials as "Rob's favorite…" or "Mr. Feenie designed this dish this morning…", it didn't take long for me to feel a little weird that most of the people here were likely so because of Feenie's celebrity status reputation. All of a sudden I felt like I was paying to see Rob Feenie walk about his restaurant and chat to people, rather than for exceptional food, which is what I had come for.
After scanning the menu a few times, skipping over things like lobster poutine (which I had a single bite of - pretty good) and an ultimate hamburger, I ordered an onion tart with boar bacon appetizer and the pork chop for dinner. The little pile of greens that came with the tart were tart as well, which was a nice contrast to the tart itself. The tart was light and savory, but I felt a little weird paying for it. Falafel stands and mom and pop shops are definitely more my territory, I think.
When the pork chop arrived with a tiny portion of bok choy, I curse myself for passing up ordering a side of fingerling potatoes and the opportunity to try truffles for the first time. To the credit of whoever might've made it, this was probably the best cooked pork chop I have ever had outside of my own kitchen. The brine really kept the meat tender and flavorful and I was very impressed with it. The portion sizes actually left my stomach perfectly contented afterwards, but my wallet was feeling the burn. I imagine that restaurants like this aren't created with a frugal mind, though someone should really get on with making one.
I sampled a bit of stout ice cream, which was actually very good, like a rich, dark chocolate, and had a piece of unaccompanied biscotti. For all intents and purposes and because the ice cream was so delicious, I imagine Feenie's makes a decent piece of biscotti. So, I hereby acknowledge that the reason I cannot find good biscotti anywhere is because what I am looking for in biscotti must not be biscotti at all. When I want biscotti, I really want a tall, thin crispy cookie that I can dunk in my coffee. For that reason and that reason alone, my Biscotti recipe is the best in the world.