After spotting the term “homemade” attached to a number of items displayed in Echo Café, I was apparently inspired to run with the concept and made myself feel right at home, knocking over my cappuccino and covering the table in rich milk foam.
I was seated with my family at a long communal table that runs down the centre of the café. In a bid to relocate my daughter, Blondie, to a seat away from her brother, The Boy, pursuant to some raucous, cheesecake-fuelled animosity between them, I carelessly tipped my nearly full cup. This was a shame, really, given the great quality of the cappuccino and the elegant little heart design that was crafted into the foam.
The table was of the heavy wooden variety with a decidedly porous, natural grain finish, permitting espresso-tinted milk to seep right through it and eventually drip onto the floor below.
I surveyed the room and clocked a pair of raised eyebrows from another patron reading a book nearby. It was one of those moments in which I felt every ounce a parent rather than a diner, but remarked to myself that the café’s owners, who were manning the fort, were remarkably patient and seemed unphased by my misadventure, providing support with damp cloths, despite the fact that the café seems to attract a decidedly adult audience.
I appreciated their good humour as I was eventually able to settle back into my sampling of the solid, confidently simple fare that defines Echo’s menu.
The café is spacious and airy, with both communal and more private tables. This would be a great spot for a quiet respite from the bustle of Lonsdale on a Sunday afternoon. Indeed, a number of other patrons were buried in their newspapers, accompanied only by a steaming cup of caffeinated goodness.
Customers order their meals at the till, situated next to bright and tempting displays of quiches, panini, wraps and all manner of baked goods that beg to be tasted.
Seeking a good cross-section of Echo’s menu, we opted for Spanish Omelet with a side of spinach salad, a bowl of Cream of Broccoli Soup with a chive scone, a Thai Chicken Wrap and a Pesto Chicken Panino, which was grilled to order.
The Spanish Omelet was my choice and I wasted no crumb, devouring every creamy morsel of that savoury treat, a multi-layered assemblage of thinly sliced potatoes, fresh herbs and eggs. The omelet retained a remarkable lightness despite its generous potato content and benefited from a healthy dose of pungent garlic and fresh, fragrant notes of oregano, thyme and little flecks of dried red chilies.
The accompanying spinach salad consisted of a handful of crisp, fresh leaves with a sprinkling of concasse tomatoes and a drizzle of balsamic vinaigrette. The dish made for a light but satisfying meal and was my favourite of our selections, though my wife DJ’s Cream of Broccoli soup was very good as well.
Too often, cream of anything soups tend towards the thick and pasty, with barely discernible bits of proteins or veggies adding nominal textural contrast. Not so with Echo’s soup, which featured a tasty stock nicely augmented with a lift of cream (rather than dominated by dairy) and bite-sized, still ever-so-crunchy morsels of broccoli. The chive scone was buttery and rich and married nicely with the soup.
The Boy’s Thai Chicken Wrap was a curious sandwich, exclusively showcasing the sweet and tangy elements of Thai cuisine and omitting the salty, sour and spicy notes that help round out these flavours. Still, the wrap was well prepared, stuffed full of chicken in a subtly flavoured mayonnaise not unlike a salad cream with carrot sticks and romaine lettuce. Blondie’s Pesto Chicken Panino, stuffed with white chicken meat and a quarter-inch of fresh spinach, made for a hearty meal that bested her at the halfway point.
Her appetite may have been tempered, mind, by the fact that I promised to go back for dessert, the siren-like call of the various cakes and confections proving too enchanting to ignore. In addition to the aforementioned spilled cappuccino and a spicy, perfumed chai tea for DJ, we tucked into Caramel Cheesecake, Chocolate Cheesecake, a slice of Double Chocolate Loaf and an assortment of in-house baked shortbread cookies.
The cheesecakes were a solid three inches tall, and in a battle of the two the chocolate prevailed, principally due to its modest sweetness; dark chocolate notes balanced the richness of the cream cheese and chocolate crust.
Of the shortbread cookies, the matcha tea and original flavours shined in particular, allowing the signature butteriness of the dough to shine through clearly, though none of the other flavours, including cranberry, chocolate, and lemon, were so intense as to eclipse the innately rich qualities of the cookie. The Double Chocolate Loaf was moist and decadent, a good pairing for at least a couple sips of a strong espresso-based beverage.
The savory portion of our meal, including sodas and juices, was $40. The sweets and their corresponding drinks, were $28.
Echo Café is located at 116 East 14th St. in North Vancouver. 604-971-3246. facebook.com/echocafenorthvan
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. He can be reached via email at [email protected].[email protected]
