vou. i fadian Cutsine

DINNER

Tues.-Thur, Excluding Tandoori
Oak . Jan 8107

Lunch 12-2pm fez ®

Mon-Fri

2 for

Exquisite
Buffet ‘9%
Sun & Mon 5-8pm

Open 7 Days a Week 985-5477
Hours Tues - Sat 5-10pm, Sun & Mon 5-9pm

‘arr
GP 75 E. 3rd St., N.Van. ample puking we side of buskding :

‘Manufacturers of Danish Salami, Rolle Polse, Paté, Medister. etc.
FRESH MEAT « DELICATESSEN - IMPORTED CHEESE
Canned Fish imported from Denmark — ~ Candies — Remoulade ~ Fried Onions

Tartaletter — Danish Oslicacy, etc.

‘Open January 5:00 pm
: Regular Menu _¢ Dinner Only .

1373 Marine Drive, West Vancouver 926-4913

This uek tan 2-7)

- Prime Rib (English Cut)

and

“Au Jus” with yorkshire pi

AFTER redigesting
1996, the Table .
Hopping research crew
has come up with the
best dining adventures
of the year past.

Sonie Savory, SOME sweet,
all worth again. In
the spirit of New Year's
renewal, those adventures will
travel from birth through
renovation and revival to
fond fareweils in this ovo part
presentation (Look for part
two in the Sunday, Jan. 5
issuc).

Without further adicu, in
with the new:

A whole new cuisine
rolled across the Burrard
Inlet in 1996 and onto the
menus of adventurous local
diners: the exotic Southeast
Asian cuisine of Thailand.

It began with the small yet
feisty Krua Thai (1445
Lonsdale Ave., North
Vancouver, 99-9349) on
Lonsdale, but it was not
alone for long.

Thai Palace, 157
Chadwick Crt., North
Vancouver, 987-2009.

Eddie Chiu moved his
Palace irto the second-storey
SeaBus-side restaurant local
that formerly housed Scallins
pasta bar and Crossings
restaurant.

Chiu and the Palace
brought larger scatin, capaci-
ty and an expanded
menu from his other Palace
on Robson Street in
Vancouver. .

The Paface housed the
reigning king of the Thai hill.

Unul the arrival of the:

Thai House Restaurant,

a choice of soup or Bridge House salad

$12.95

_ Not valid with any other conpon or promotion

One special per coupon

Capilano Suspension Bridge
3735 Capilano Road

985-7474

CAPILANO

SUSPENSION
BRIDGE AND PARK

hopping

180 Esplanade, North
Vancouver, 987-9911.

Patrick Chen hosted the
Oct. 26 gala launch of his
sixth That House. This one in
the 7,000 sq. ft. locale best
know on the North Shore as
the Harvest House building.

The soft-spoken Mr. Chen
feigns humility, but the for-
mer Bangkok hotelier, with
Thai Houses in Kitsilano,
Richmond, Mctrotown and
English Bay, is kine real reign-
ing Thai food

With three me options to
choose from North Shore
diners are all winners with a
Thai. It’s Southeast Asia’s
most interesting cuisine and
qualifies as the North Shore’s
best new exotic menu item of
the year.

But there were others.

Ciao Mein, 235 15th St.
West Vancouver, 922-1117.

Joe Troll’s 29-year-old
prandson Jason Troll brought

is successful experiment in
Sino-Roman cookery to West
Vancouver with the opening
of his second Ciaa Mein
restaurant, this one in the old
Granite Cafe locale.

The Troll touch added
much warmth and inspired
gastronomic experimentation
to the Granite.

It qualifies as 1996’s best
new culinary idea.

As to the best new North
Shore restaurant in 1996, the
Table Hopping nod goes to:

Bravo Cucina, 1209
Lonsdale Avenue, North
Vancouver, 985-3006.

Sami Bentroudi’s small
Italian bistro is intimate,
warm and serviced by a first-
rate dining room staff.

Excellent food. A good
wine list.

Rebirths and resurrec-
tions:

From birth to rebirth. Top
of the list is:

Not valid Valentine’s Day,

VIVA VIVACEL... The team behind the best restaurant |
overhaul of 1996 (left to. right): Phil: Heise, .Lalit: _
Sharma, Mario Corsi, Gamal Hanna, Ori, Holubttsky. -

and Gilles

Vivace! Ristorante, 60
Semisch at West Esplanade.,
North Vancouver, 984-
0274.

Mario Corsi’s reunion
with Gamal Hanna, a key
player in the success of Corsi
Trattoria, resulted in the

grand overhaul of the faded
Cafe Roma on Esplanade.

Vivace! is what Cafe Roma .
should have been: an expan-
sive Iealian dining room that
is at once opulent and warm
— a marriage of Roman’ ~

sophistication and Italian

informality.

» Slate floors and rich -
mahogany tables, grand |
Mediterranean pillars, and
floor-to-ceiling windows, an
excellent bar, a big menu and
top quality food

Farther cast:

The Savoury Restaurant,
4390 Galiant Ave., North
Vancouver, 029 2373.

proaching his 25th year
at " helm of his fine Deep

other’ 's Day o or New Yeats Eve.

One coupon per group. no separate cheques.

If you have two or more items from our bar, desert or appetizer menu, we will i
enrdially invite you and yout guest to enjuy 2 complimentary entree when a 1

second entree of cquat of greater value is purchased.

LIVE MEXICAN ENTER AINMENT
RESERVATIONS RECOMMENDED AT 985-TACO
1700 Lonsdale, North Yancouyer,

Lo------=

Langlet at the ber of Vivace! restaurant. ’-

Cove restaurant, Augusto =
Pecorelii joined forces with
Laurent Neveu. The partne
ship relieved Pecorelli of his
solo captaincy at the Savoury’s
helm, revitalizing the restau-
rant and Pecorelli in the" -
PreThe Ra 1052 Deep -
¢ Raven,
Cove Rd., North
Vancouver, 929-3033.
West-side Vancouverite

Dave Feller led a a

ed and much-applauded >:
Raven revival that has put the:
Raven back atop the local.
pub heap. ;

He filed the dark Ra
with natural light and‘an’ -
excellent selection of ales on

. The Raven now also
boasts one of the best ventila-
tion systems in the land. Not -
smoke- free, but close.

A good Feller indeed.

The Lynnwood Inn,
1515 Barrow St., North
Vancouver, 988-6161.

Another beverage house
overhaul much overdue. The ©
North Shore’s oldest beer
hali has been dragged into ..
the *90s. Bur not too far. Still
an unpretentious place of -*
blue-collar thirst quenching
and waterfront bloodlines.
Good for the Lynnwood,

Anniversaries and mile-
stones:

What would a year be -
without them?

Some of the more note-
worthy on the North Shore:

Cactus Club, 1598
Pemberton Ave., North
Vancouver, 986-5776.

Club founders and guid-

ing lights Scott Morison and
Richard Jaffray celebrated the
10th year of their Cactus
Club partnership with one of
their best years ever. The
original Pemberton Avenue
locale is booming, and the
Cactus couple now preside
over a chain of seven Cactus
Clubs that employ close to
400 people and generate
about $14 million annually in
gross revenues.

Not bad for a pair of 31-

See Cactus page 9