26 ~ Wednesday, February 3, 1999 — North Shore News Our chef has created an authentic menu for crab lovers. Savour 5 different recipes: crab with chilli and garlic, spicy garlic chips, ginger and green onion, Dai < Ching sauce and black bean sauce. Experience authentic Szechuan today! ED CHILI RESTAURANT 741 Lonsdale Avenue 2088 SARA COLOR TING “Ar stAURAST™ Anchored at the foot of Lonsdale Tel. 987-3344 The Most Spectacular, Ice Show You'll Ever See! BY THE GREAT moscow CIRCUS ON ICE THE SERGEY BYSHKGE TROUPE @seoeceensesene visit us at: www.iicketmaster.ca Clip this coupon and save | $20.00 on the purchase of Four tickets or more, avail- able at ail Ticketmaster Centres. north shore news DINING Mitchell's Mexican comeback From page 25 Norte’s collapse, Mitchell “put one foot in front of the other.” He moved on. Less than 3 year later he was back in business. This ume with Peso Little Mexican Kitchen. He opened his first store in May 1998 in Coquitlam. It was an inspired idea: marry the low-overhead, fast- food aspects of enchiladas, burritos and other Mexican food to the boisterous counter service so successful- ly developed by the Bread Garden. Blessed offspring resulted. Peso Little paid more than a little. It helped pave the way for Mitchell’s return to the North Shore. Another twist of fate ensured that return would be sooner than later. Fiesta Mexicana closed its doors last summer, the victim of recessionary dining times and a vast 150-seat dining room that seemed empty even when it was half full. Mitchell, already on the hunt for a North Shore loca- tion for Norte The Sequel, crossed paths with the falter- ing Fiesta. Tr was not the first time. Way back in the carly “80s, it was Cisco’s place of GENERAL MOTORS PLACE February 3,6, and 7 NEWS photo Bead Ledwidge A Chipotle Chicken Burrito with a side of Mexican rice and black beans graces a table at Norte Mexicano. design its kitchen. Another marriage made in reunion heaven then, right? Not at first. Mexican food and frivolity. Mitchell had been a big part of that restaurant. He had helped build it and Fiesta /Cisco’s dining room was too big for w Jhat Mitchell wanted to do. He was set to look else- where, but negotiations pro- duced a modified restaurant space thar could accommo- date a more appealing 115- seat dining room and a North Vancouver Peso Little outlet. The Full Mitchell: eat-in, take-out Mexican cuisine to go at one end, full service Mexican/Southwestern din- ing room at the other. But the new Norte is not the old Norte. That was never the plan. Norte Mexicano is the next generation Norte. It is bigger — a cantina rather than a cafe — and its menu is more ambitious and, yes, more expensive. Entrees approaching $18? Aye, chihauhau, amigos. The price, perhaps, of providing niore than tacos. For Norte Mexicano, Mitchell and Michael Traquair, the chef behind Cafe Norte and Cafe Centro, have added a sharper seafood focus to such core . Mesican/Southwestern items as fajitas, enchiladas, que- sadillas and burritos. You'll find, for example, Grilled Seabass served atop shrimp taquitos and Chipotie Mussels with chorizo sausage. Elsewhere ar~ such See Focus page 27 Celebrating 20 Years February ‘79 - February ‘99 featuring three to six Oaily Do l-au- Den £ esp ecials until the end f Sebruary yf f in addition to our regular menu