None other than the New York Times has given Vancouver the gold medal for having some of the best food and restaurants in the history of the winter Olympics.

NYT’s food critic, Sam Sifton, visited the city in January, an advance man for the millions who will arrive for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver from Feb. 12 to 28.

“While in the city and its suburbs, I fed as if in danger of imminent execution. And I was able to confirm earlier reconnaissance: Vancouver is among the best eating towns in the history of the Winter Games,” he wrote in a column published in the newspaper earlier this week. 

Now, we are not so insecure as to think that a stamp of approval from some New Yorker means now we’ve made it but it is nonetheless good to have kudos for what many Canadians already know. Vancouver is indeed a great town to eat in, as anyone knows who has dined at Daniel Boulud’s fabulous Lumiere and DB Bistro Moderne, or the glitzy Market by Jean-Georges Vongerichten, (both chefs have star restaurants in New York) or Umberto Menghi’s ’s divine Il Giardino Di Umberto – Menghi also shares the wealth by offering cooking classes in Italy for those inclined toward gastro-toursim.

The discovery Sifton made, though, is that there also less toney delights. He breakfasted on maple-glazed smoked salmon bits served with a sour dough roll and a cup of coffee with cream, purchased from Longliner Seafoods outside Granville Island Public Market. He admitted that as breakfasts go, it wasn’t much to look at. But looks are not the point.

“Eating them together here on a dock in False Creek…is to experience something of the solemn, awestruck joy that the philosopher Edmund Burke called the sublime. Gulls come close, beg for scraps. They won’t get any,” he wrote. Now that’s some smoked salmon.

Sifton explains that the culinary greatness flows from some of Vancouver’s natural and acquired benefits: two million people from a wide variety of countries and cultures to stir things up or at the very least create an interesting fusion; great ingredients from the icy sea and rich farmland; and then money – people who can afford to eat out a lot.

Money isn’t wholly necessary to eat well, however, and Sifton recommends Chen’s Shanghai in the Richmond area, a restaurant he calls “charmless-looking” yet serving up terrific cold seaweed salad, addictive cold steamed shrimp, and incredible steamed soup buns that explained why the charmless-looking place is packed. Meanwhile the nearby Shanghai River resto offers black vinegar spare ribs with pine nuts which he says “are reason to swoon: addictive jet-black nuggets of fried sweet and sour porkiness that can float a fellow into the city on a cloud of happiness.”
It’s not all Asian, however, though Asian is a huge influence in the city. Sifton picked out the Pourhouse in the Gastown area of Vancouver, where he had a pint and a liver pate to die for.
Meanwhile Sifton gives special credit to two well established Vancouver destinations. Vij’s offers Indian food, a welcome break for anyone wanting a break from Asian-fusion which dominates the city. “Try a plate of chickpeas stewed in star anise and date curry, served over grilled kale, and see if your universe doesn’t expand,” writes Sifton.
Then there’s Tojo’s, a Japanese restaurant created in 1988 by Hidekazu Tojo. “Those who visit the restaurant should demand a bar seat and ask Mr. Tojo to prepare what he wishes — omakase is the relevant Japanese term. Then hold on for the ride,” writes Sifton. “Local delicacies might include albacore sashimi, as fatty and fresh as if it were caught that day; a king-crab salad; a cone of dried seaweed filled with giant clam; a steamed, smoked sablefish with sea urchin as good if not better than Mr. Matsuhisa’s famous black cod with miso sauce.” Such fare ran Sifton about $200 per person and “it is worth every dime.”

Sifton’s elegy to food in Vancouver makes you think that it might be worth it to go there, skip the sports, and simply eat for a week or two.

“There will be lines at the airport when you leave, so those who know hunger will leave plenty of time in the morning for another trip to Shanghai River, for just one more bite of those ribs,” wrote Sifton. “Everyone else at the airport will be eating sandwiches from Tim Hortons. No medals for them.”

Read Sifton’s column in the New York Times  

Addresses and phone numbers for the restaurants he raves about

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