WHY would a chef who has worked around the province and as far away as Mexico, and has headed up upscale Italian and trendy Yaletown kitchens, give it all up to open a sandwich shop south of Grand Boulevard?
"Because I wanted to paddle my own canoe," says Erik Smith, owner of the new (and cleverly named) S'wich Café on Queensbury.
"I know what it's like to work 17 hours a day for someone else. I know what I'm good at, what I'm passionate about, and this is what I wanted to do."
On the lengthy list of restaurants he's worked the burners at are The Hermitage, Le Gavroche, Senova, the Poor Italian and he worked as executive chef at r.tl Regional Tasting Lounge in Yaletown.
He also spent some of those years cooking at a ranch in Mexico, and developed a love for ranching and horses.
He spends his off-hours competing in rodeo.
"That's my other passion in life - I know they don't often go hand-in-hand - but with my own business I'll be able to go and compete."
The café, with its slick western theme, also serves as a useful archive for his belt buckles and equine photography.
Choosing North Vancouver as the location for S'wich was a no-brainer.
"I was born at Lions Gate Hospital, grew up in Lynn Valley. I always come back here."
So last November, he took over the café space, made some modest improvements and opened his doors, making his sandwiches to order: wellstacked beauties made with carefully curated ingredients, as many of them local and sustainable as he can find.
I dropped by for a weekday lunch last week. It was busy, and what struck me about the gathered crowd: either they were all friends of Smith and his staff, or else they were being treated like friends.
"I really like the turkey, brie and cranberry," said the staffer serving me, as I dithered over my choices. "I like them all; but it's really good."
I needed the prompting - all of the options on the "S'wich Board" are tempting; others include Honey Ham & Three Cheese, Roasted Veggie & Goat Cheese, Roast Beef & Cheddar, Chicken Pesto and Spicy Italian.
"I'm sorry, what did you order again?" Smith asked of me. "I had a goldfish moment. My brain resets every three seconds."
My sandwich, when it arrives, is an agreeable arrangement of tender turkey layered with just sweetenough cranberry-orange confit, a handful of crisp mixed greens, double cream brie all on a dense, crusty roll from Westview Bakery.
The latté I have alongside it, made with beans roasted by Cowboy Coffee, is a rich, creamy confection.
S'wich Café is at 644 Queensbury Ave., North Vancouver. Call 604-973-0133; visit www. swich.ca.
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I had my first halibut of the season last weekend when Ned Bell, executive chef at Four Seasons Vancouver, teamed up with culinary dynamo and former Four Seasons exec chef Lynn Crawford.
The duo was cooking for a full house at a dinner for Visa Infinite cardholders in the hotel's Yew Restaurant and Bar. The culinary mash-up included a celebration of West Coast Ocean Wise seafood, though that didn't mean we were excluded from a taste of Crawford's luscious bison carpaccio salad, one that she has made at her own Ruby Watchco restaurant in Toronto.
She also worked the room, talking up tables and signing copies of her new cookbook Lynn Crawford's Pitchin' In: 100 Great Recipes from Simple Ingredients.
The talk of the table, though, was the fantastically moist halibut, cut from a 25kilogram fish caught off the coast of Haida Gwaii by Steve Johansen of Organic Ocean. Bell served it with a kicky chimichurri, pepper relish and crispy chick peas, and paired it with the delicious Meyer Family Vineyards 2009 McLean Creek Chardonnay.
Yew was the first Vancouver restaurant to serve Organic Ocean's Pacific Coast, Ocean Wise halibut this year, and the fish will now be making regular appearances on the restaurant's lunch and dinner menus, and in its fish & chips, natch.
Yew Restaurant and Bar is in Four Seasons Vancouver, 791 West Georgia St., Vancouver; 604-692-4939; www.yewrestaurant.com.
