Ethnic Eats – Sampling the World’s Cuisine Without Leaving Vancouver

There’s been a lot of summertime drinking going on chez moi, but it’s been a while since I’ve posted a Happy Hour and it’s also been a painfully long time since I’ve been trying (and failing) to get to The Cascade Room. We can all breathe a collective sigh of relief because now both of those things have happened.

The thing about The Cascade Room is that they are trying to bring back the “golden age of the cocktail” so there are martinis on the list, but nary a cosmo to be seen. Instead there are drinks reminiscent of another time; gimlets, sazeracs, old-fashioneds and pimm’s. They also have wallpaper, but I’ll get to that later.

Last night I was drinking bourbon since I’ve been on a bourbon kick most of the summer and while you may not think of bourbon as an ethnic drink (coming as it does from our American neighbours), let me tell you why it is: We have no bourbon in Canada. Not any of the good stuff anyways. We have rye. And the Shebeen sees Scotch and Irish whiskies done well, as do a few other places around town. But most places (BCLD included) have only a limited selection of bourbon and it’s rare to see a bourbon cocktail on the menu.

So when I saw the mint julep I ordered it straight away. It’s been ages since I’ve had a proper mint julep.

Giant and full of crushed ice, it arrived on the table like an oasis in the desert. Minty and fresh, all subtle flavours mixing together deliciously and not struggling for dominance. I sat and sipped and watched the Main Street crowd go by while I waited for my drinking companion. In many ways the mint julep is the perfect drink for summer, but I wanted to experience the full range of what The Cascade Room had to offer, so I moved on to The Cascade Room Cocktail: “bourbon shaken hard with fresh pressed apple & lime juices, vanilla bean, bitters and egg white, served straight up with a shaving of roasted hazelnut.”

I’m generally of the opinion that the simpler cocktails are the better ones; rye and ginger, vanilla stoli and coke, scotch and ice…so i admit that I was a bit hesitant about this one. And…I didn’t love it. The bourbon, apple and vanilla flavours went well together and should definitely be attempted again in another experiment, but the hazelnut seemed like overkill to me and I think the eggwhite definitely ruined it. No matter, there are still several drinks I need to try in the full compliment of bourbon-based cocktails before I can move on to another section of the menu. Next up:

Sazerac: bourbon, bitters and sugar stirred over ice and strained into a chilled absinthe and pastis washed glass with a lemon twist.

Millionaire: Tennessee sour mash whiskey shaken with lemon juice, grenadine and egg white, served straight up.

and my personal favorite, the Whiskey Sour: bourbon, lemon juice, and sugar, shaken and served over ice.

Most drinks are $8 or $9 and all contain at least 2oz of premium liquor, which is why I only managed to have 2 this past evening. But I will definitely be back soon. I love the “novelty” of serving almost all classic cocktails (they also have some new concoctions on the fresh sheet), I love the decor, which is part modern mixed with gorgeous lush wallpaper. I love the signs on the walls. I love the blue neon sign on black. I even love the snacks. Of course I love the snacks! Rolled in lemon pepper batter and dipped in sundried tomato aioli, this is the best calamari I’ve had in quite a while.

About the only thing I didn’t love was the service. While it wasn’t exactly lacking, it was sitting right on the line. A puff of air from the kitchen could have sent it right over into bad. There was no smiling, there was no picking up of feet (by that I mean service was not slow but sluggish), and there was no…enthusiasm. We were looked after and suggestions were made based on what we were drinking (which could imply attentiveness) but even this was done so apathetically as to be disappointing. We’ll see how that goes. I will kee you abreast of any developments after future visits.

Tonight is a dark ‘n’ stormy night, so before I head off I will leave you with this parting shot:

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The Cascade Room

2616 Main Street, Vancouver

The grey skies have me hankering for patio weather and reminded me that I haven’t posted a Happy Hour post yet. Which makes this the perfect opportunity to re-live some patio drinks at Havana a few weeks ago. Above is the Mango Margarita, which was popular at our table of girls, but which I found to be a little sweet. I do like a tropical fruity drink on a hot day, but mango has never been my favorite and its presence in place of a salty lime one was not overly appreciated.

So instead we reverted back to the tired and true Mojito, a drink that Havana does exceptionally well. A perfect amount of muddled mint, sugar, ice and of course rum and you really can’t go wrong. The mojito is one of my all time favorite drinks.

For a variation on a good thing, next we tried the Strawberry Ginger Mojito. I was a bit apprehensive after the mango madness, but the strawberry ginger mojitos proved to be only slightly sweeter and fruitier than the original version, with a bit of something extra to balance out the flavours. Definitely another fave, and there may have to be a re-match scheduled between these two.

They do also have excellent food at Havana’s, as evidenced by the Lobster ceviche appetizer below. However, if you’re going to drink three (plus) pitchers between three people, you may want to consider ordering a little more than that. Trust me.

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Havana
1212 Commercial Drive