Monday, August 1, 2011

The Alibi Room

Vancouver's Gastown District is charming with an old-town feel emanating from the brick sidewalks and boutique stores lining the quaint streets.

Tucked into a neighborhood just a little off the main drag is a hip little place called The Alibi Room.

In our quest for all things gastronomic, we came across this highly recommended restaurant known for an extensive beer list as well as for pretty good food.  Of all the great meals that we had during our week in Vancouver, this was toward the top of our list.  Extra points for their sustainable philosophy.  Of course, the top of the list is like the results of a 50m swim meet in which the difference between first and eighth place is still less than one second.

Items of note: Everything, including the stellar burger Eric ordered and that I failed to photo because I thought, it's just a burger.  But it's the Captain America (er, in Canada) of burgers.  Perhaps that smoky onion mayo?  Who knows...

The Wild Salmon dish was rich in mouthfeel and in Omega 3s, I'm sure.  The roasted vegetables were notable, but not as much as the black rice.  Black rice has been creating quite the buzz recently.  It's also known as "Forbidden Rice" because back in China's heyday, black rice was set aside for the Emperor, forbidden to anyone else.  High in nutrition, nutty in flavor, but still kinda expensive, I love the texture and the fact that my first actual eating experience was in this down-to-earth, progressive hangout for the hip and young in a developing area of Vancouver.  This town rocks!!

But the surprise and delight for me that evening was the Free-range Chicken WINGS.  That's right.  Admittedly, I expected some Buffalo Hot Wings, being that I'm so American and naturally ethnocentric.  These were crispy on the outside, piping hot, moist, and tender on the inside, and tossed in a honey, garlic, chili, and herb concoction that blew my mind in its utter simplicity.  I almost drank the sauciness at the bottom of the bowl, it was so good.

Finally, the molten chocolate cake was truly molten, which is surprisingly messed up 50% of the time, but it was also more voluptuous than others, and Eric threatened to lick the ramekin regardless of the fact that we were in public.  It was served with their homemade cashew brittle that was amazingly light and airy, yet solid and crunchy.

The Alibi Room - it's so good, it's criminal.

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