Cobre’s Latin Fusion

Around Vancouver in 52 Restaurants > Americas > Latin Fusion

I was going to write about Baru Cafe next, for a South America fusion feel, but it’s been 2 months since I wrote about Peru and I was at Cobre for an event during the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival (itself a long time ago) so here we go with that one.

I don’t love Cobre (or Baru either, for that matter). South America is a big place and it seems like a chef that tries to take on “a style of cooking that blends the passion of Argentina, with the exuberance of Cuba, the sultriness of Brazil and the joy of Mexico” is up for an impossible task. To top it off, I don’t like the way they deconstruct ceviche and spread the fish across the plate, and I think their most recommended item – chicken taquitos - is greasier and heavier than it needs to be.

But for the wine fest, they pulled out all the stops and created a five course menu paired with Argentine Familia Zuccardi wine.

There was pan roasted sablefish with serrano ham wrapped in melon which was tasty, if not particularly Latin. This was followed  by a prawn ceviche in coconut milk with mango and fruit pieces mixed in. These were paired with the Zuccardi Serie A Chardonnay Viognier and the Santa Julia Organica Torrontes wines. The ceviche was interesting – and I was happy to note, not deconstructed – and reminiscent of Brazil or humid coastlines.

For the next course, the wines were the Santa Julia Magna (the best blend each year) that in 2008 brought out notes of chocolate, black fruit and dirt and the Q Malbec, which was sweeter and redolent of cherry and plum. Both brought out the richness of the Yarrow Meadows duck breast and chicaron – the skin removed and re-fried. This turned out to be my favourite dish of the evening.

The next wines were even better – a 2006 Zuccardi Q Tempranillo and a 2006 Zuccardi Zeta – positioning black fruit and spice in the first against more cherry in the latter but the pork tenderloin didn’t stand up the the flavour as well as it could have. Fortunately, there was goat milk panna cotta and a Malamado Viognier. Literally translated as “bad lover”, it’s a play on words meant to invoke the tango and its sad, romantic stories and finishing the evening with bitter-sweetness.

The duck (as well as the wild prawn ceviche) is available on their regular menu, so you don’t have to wait for next year’s wine fest.

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Cobre
52 Powell Street, Vancouver