For the last several years the term comfort food has been bandied about with increasing regularity to describe the concept of many restaurants in Vancouver.
It seems that for every instance of a restaurant based on molecular gastronomy, in which a chef can be found in the laboratory as much as in the kitchen, there is now a rustic counterpart that celebrates familiar ingredients prepared according to simple recipes, often sourced from a family tradition or a shared cultural heritage.
Many establishments have a good handle on the concept of comfort food, creating accessible fare for diners seeking a taste of home. However, like many culinary trends, the concept has evolved since its initial popularity and has begun to morph into something more ethereal and sophisticated.
I have witnessed the transformation of the humble meatloaf into a rare and decadent dish through the addition of foie gras and bone marrow. I have sampled mashed potatoes studded with pancetta lardons and finished with truffled mascarpone, a far departure from the pleasingly lumpy spuds that accompanied many a Sunday dinner at my house growing up.
I think that the secret to successful comfort food lies in its ability to foster a certain warm nostalgia in the diner, to bring to the surface familiar and happy associations with memorable meals past.
Perhaps this is why whenever I see the familiar green-and-white awning of David Hossini’s venerated North Shore institution, Inn Cogneato, I am immediately struck by both a hearty appetite and a sudden urge to call my mom. Inn Cogneato’s simple, tasty cooking is the very embodiment of good comfort food. There is nary a foam nor a reduction to be found among the dozens of dishes on the menu, which covers a broad spectrum of influences, including Persian and Mediterranean.
A staple of Inn Cogneato’s offerings, and a commonly cited obsession among the restaurant’s regular patrons, is the house-made Barbari bread, a traditional Persian flatbread that Hossini bakes up daily and uses to prepare the variety of sandwiches and hamburgers that feature on the menu. The bread is dense and toothsome with a subtle nuttiness imparted by a light dusting of toasted sesame seeds.
On a recent cold Friday evening my frequent dining buddy Gil and I descended on Inn Cogneato for a rib-sticking dinner. Like me, Gil is an orphan in Vancouver and rarely benefits from the comforts of a family meal. This probably explains why he issued an unabashed fist pump in the air when Hossini informed him that the soup of the day was chicken noodle, the penultimate dish in the roster of Western comfort food. The soup was, as Gil hoped it would be, simple and satisfying. Its opaque, noodle-rich broth contained coarsely chopped vegetables (the telltale signature of homemade soup) and generous morsels of chicken, all lightly seasoned with thyme. An accompanying basket of the aforementioned Barbari bread helped to mop up the last drops of the soup.
I ordered a pizza for the two of us to share while our main courses were being prepared. The Hungarian Feast pizza, one of my longstanding favourite menu items, is prepared with onions and peppers that have been cooked in red wine, adding a distinctly adult richness to the pie, which is also topped with grilled chicken breast and mushrooms.
For his main course, Gil chose a beef wrap, a donair-style pita wrap packed with tender, flame-grilled beef, house-made and potently garlicky tzatziki, fresh-sliced tomato and lettuce.
These fillings were contained in an especially large pita, making for a substantial meal. It must be said that, in general, Inn Cogneato’s portions are generous and represent great value for the price. The wrap came with a side of crispy seasoned French fries, which benefitted nicely from a sprinkling of the sumac-based spice blend that sits in shakers on every table.
For my main course I had an open-faced beef sandwich, an imposing slab of Barbari bread topped off with well-seasoned ground beef, tomato sauce and bacon, covered with a blend of cheeses and baked under the broiler. Imagine a massive, juicy and succulent hamburger crossed with a foot-long sub and you’ll get a sense for the dish.
In speaking with Hossini over the course of our dinner, it was revealed that Inn Cogneato supplies meals to a number of local schools as part of their hot lunch programs. As a father of two young children who is seldom home from work in time to join them for dinner, I must say that I take comfort in knowing that Hossini is providing the sort of honest and comforting food for kids on the North Shore that I would provide for my own. Inn Cogneato is located at 1403 Marine Dr. in West Vancouver. Phone: 604-925-0201.
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].
