I know that this holiday season I am not alone in welcoming extended family to my home.
Now is the time of year when, in the spirit of giving and kinship, we share our spare rooms, our pull-out sofas, or our sincerest, most heartfelt recommendations for hotel accommodations. It is a time when many of us will be reminded daily of why we clamored to leave home the moment we were able to cover a full month’s rent on our own.
In my case, I will be hosting my in-laws visiting from England. I must confess, I am exceptionally lucky. My mother-in-law and father-in-law are charming, easy-going people with whom I get along swimmingly. For those skeptics among you, I assure you that this is the truth and not an ingratiating comment made in recognition of the fact that this column can be read online the world over, England included.
Nevertheless, nearly every familial visit is attended by a certain pressure to show the very best of our homes and our cities, as if to justify why we have put so many miles between us and our nearest family members. Sitting in The Beach House one recent Sunday morning, watching as the sun burned a hole through the thick clouds besieging Point Grey and shimmered across the sailboat-laden Burrard Inlet, it occurred to me that brunch is a brilliant way to get the best of all worlds. You can show off the culinary prowess of your city without completely breaking the bank.
Spectacularly situated just metres from the lapping waves at Dundarave, The Beach House has long been a popular restaurant on the North Shore.
While its current menu manages to find space for accessible items like the Dockside Burger (made with beef from celebrated, ethically raised Pemberton Meadows) and Haida Gwaii halibut and chips, The Beach House still tends towards fine dining and is, consequently, a destination restaurant that may not fit your entertainment budget for visiting family more than once a year. However, the Beach House’s newest brunch menu, launched at the end of October, celebrates the restaurant’s best assets (great location, professional service, and tasty, well-prepared West Coast cuisine) for a fraction of the cost of dinner.
Accompanying me for brunch (read: in-law hosting reconnaissance mission) was my wife DJ, who has a finely tuned, well-travelled brunch palate and can quickly distinguish between a thrown-together brunch menu and a thoughtful, deftly prepared one. I am pleased to report that The Beach House provided the latter.
We arrived for our 11 a.m. reservation and were immediately seated at a fantastic window-side table. We noted that the service staff, which was exceptionally young but suitably professional and endearing, was clearly having some fun with the music playlist that morning, enlivening the room with an unusual mix of anti-Muzak tunes that included the Violent Femmes, The Cure, and Trevor Hall.
Our meal began with a couple of mimosas, a favourite brunch tradition, and then segued into a shared yogurt parfait, an enormous bowl of thick and creamy Greek-style yogurt scented with vanilla and topped with a crispy granola mixture and mountains of remarkably flavourful strawberries and plump raspberries. The fruit stood head and shoulders above the quality of berries you’ll find in most produce stores this month.
For her principal dish, DJ selected a brioche French toast with berry compote, maple syrup and whipped cream. This generously portioned dish consisted of four, inch-thick triangles of melt-in-your-mouth brioche bread and a liberal, but not overbearing, topping of house-made berry compote, with both the syrup and whipped cream served on the side, allowing the diner to adjust the richness and sweetness of the dish to his or her preference.
For my main course, I chose the seafood Louie salad, which, I must admit, falls a touch outside my habitual brunch repertoire. I am so very glad I ventured in this direction as the salad was nothing short of outstanding, from its elegant presentation to its beautifully balanced and complex flavours.
Easily one-third of a head of crisp and chilly iceberg lettuce was sliced on a sharp bias and topped with fresh B.C. Dungeness crab meat, of which, by my estimate, there was at least three ounces. To this combination was added crispy bacon, sliced hard-boiled egg, avocado, halved grape tomatoes, five poached prawns and a creamy, Thousand Islands style emulsion. In addition to the seafood combination I chose, the salad is available with either prawns or crab only. The seafood Louie is a superb and eminently sophisticated brunch item, one I am likely to suggest to my father-in-law.
Our meal of one shared plate, two mains, two mimosas and two coffees was $74 before taxes and gratuity.
The Beach House is located at 150 25th St., West Vancouver. 604-922-1414. thebeachhouserestaurant.ca
Chris Dagenais served as a manager for several restaurants downtown and on the North Shore. A self-described wine fanatic, he earned his sommelier diploma in 2001. Contact: [email protected].
