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Colony Northwoods cooks up the things we like to eat most

North Van eatery setting up shop as the place to go

I have not seen a restaurant location on the North Shore this busy since last Christmas season.

Colony Northwoods, located in the thriving, eponymous new Northwoods Village complex on Old Dollarton Highway, was Gastown-on-a-weekend busy. The restaurant, which is the third location of the Colony group (the others are in Kitsilano and Mount Pleasant) was a heavily anticipated addition to the North Shore dining scene and the latest in a string of Vancouver brands that are seeking to find favour on this side of the bridges; Heirloom, Taqueria, Tap and Barrel, Meinhardt, and the imminent Nicli Antica and Tacomio are other examples.

The northward expansion seems to have been a smart one for Colony, if the throngs of eager diners on a recent Saturday night were any indication. I just managed to snag three seats at a communal table near the entrance of the main dining area before every single space in the restaurant was fully occupied and an exponentially growing waitlist was formed.

I was visiting with new friends John and Jonalyn who had managed to score a babysitter on a Saturday evening and were keen to check out a happening spot. We chose well.

Colony is a chalet-style room with a high A-frame roof and contemporary, minimalist, but still inviting interior design with a nice mix of communal tables and booth seating.  There’s also a sprawling patio space that I’m certain will be waitlist-managed as well next summer.

Looking around the room as I sipped a potent but delicious riff on a Margherita, made with tequila and smoky mezcal, I was struck by the wild diversity of the crowd; teens at a nearby table sat grinning sheepishly at each other on what resembled a first date, a long series of tables pushed together hosted a huge family event, possibly a birthday, while other groups covering a wide range of ages sipped colourful drinks and tall pints (the restaurant serves around 20 different beers on tap) while an eclectic soundtrack provided a foundation for the steady din of conversation. We felt like we were part of something cool, the hottest space to be on the North Shore that evening. With ski season around the corner, and the entire Northwoods Village complex seemingly drawing traffic for everything from shopping to banking, I suspect Colony is going to continue to be a success.

Following my Margherita, I chose a tasty, tart pint of sour beer from Electric Bicycle Brewing. It was a food-friendly brew, pairing very well with a first round of appetizers that included delicious, spicy and generously portioned Deep Fried Squid with a heady, complex sambal, deep fried green beans, and garlic chilli sauce. A dish of deep fried Buttermilk Cauliflower with chipotle mayo was my favourite plate of the evening, a perfect salty and buttery beer snack that once again made me question why parents in the 1970s never thought to do more exciting things with this versatile and consistently pleasing vegetable. A platter of potstickers was similarly tasty and beer friendly, the dumplings revealing fragrant notes of ginger and garlic that lifted the moist filling of ground chicken, pork and cabbage.

We concluded our appetizers with a round of fish tacos. While these appear on the appetizer section of the menu, the tacos were sizeable and could easily have served as a main course for one person on the tail end of an appetizer or two. The tacos come two to an order, but a third can be added for just $5. The cod in the tacos was lightly battered and quickly fried, preserving the fish’s moisture and yielding a pleasant texture not unlike well made tempura. Topped with crispy slaw, the tacos were served with fresh pico di gallo and chipotle mayo.

For mains, we selected a fantastic mixed grill dish of barbecued chicken and ribs, which was comprised of a succulent, large half-breast of chilli dry-rubbed chicken and half a rack of melt-in-the-mouth tender baby back ribs. Neither protein was plagued by that insipid, meal-spoiling flavour of liquid smoke that too often features in casual barbecue fare; the flavours here were simple and pure, not unlike a successful backyard grilling session at home. The plate came with a side salad of crunchy broccoli and mushrooms with almond slivers, as well as a large helping of fries.

A flatbread of barbecued chicken featured the same good quality breast meat from the grill plate, but was accompanied by thinly sliced zucchini, roasted garlic, tomatoes, onions, cheddar and mozzarella cheeses, herb oil, and a subtle drizzle of tangy, spicy housemade barbecue sauce.

A final dish, the Nashville Hot Chicken Sandwich, was a weighty affair with crispy, southern fried chicken, lettuce and pickles stacked inside a grilled bun enhanced with cayenne butter. The chicken had a nice crunch on the exterior and remained juicy in the middle.

After trying to determine the thematic thread that underpins Colony’s varied, multi-influence drawing menu as I worked my way through the meal, I at last concluded that the food here is simply an assemblage of Western casual classics, expertly executed and with respect for the traditions from which they hail. Colony essentially cooks up the things we like to eat most, under a single roof.

Our enormous meal for three, plus drinks, was $127 before gratuity.

2100 Dollarton Highway (Northwoods Village), North Vancouver. 604-770-4980. Colonybars.com.