VANCOUVER: Famous chefs of the future

There are so many reasons the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts is a unique place. The cooking school is in a prime location at the mouth of Granville Island. Inside is a restaurant with huge picture windows of the marina and mountains on one side, and windows into its student kitchen on the other. Best of all, it features a 2-for-1 special Monday to Thursdays in January and February.

Normally, lunch is $24 and dinner is $36 for three courses. I think the school’s 2-for-1 deal is one of Vancouver’s best-kept secrets. Bookings fill up fast and there’s a limit of 6 people per table.

Staffing the restaurant is the final part of training for students in the culinary arts and baking/pastry arts programs. This includes front-of-house service.

We sat in front of one of the dessert windows. Apparently everyone in the baking program dreads the chocolate station because it’s smack dab in front of diners. I sympathize – though it didn’t stop us from gawking as one student made tray after tray of chocolate nougat for the bakeshop.

With supervision from the chef instructors, the students design and prepare the daily three-course menu, based on what suppliers have sent that day.

We had three choices for each course, and there were enough of us that we tried almost everything on the menu.

The Bombay-style scallop tartar was the most ambitious appetizer. I’m a sucker for tartar anything, though here, the scallops with a hint of curry were almost overwhelmed by the sweetness of the caramelized red onion. The pommes gaufrette gave a nice crunch to balance out texture.

The layered prawn and goat cheese napoleon played to its natural flavours on baby field lettuce with balsamic vinaigrette. The marinated broccoli florets however were a strange and unnecessary addition. No complaints on the broccoli, apple, acorn squash soup with herb croutons.

Everyone passed on the chicken pasta entrée with most of us ordering the pan-roasted lamb sirloin. We like the baa-baa. The meat was incredible, delicious and all cooked to order with a great tarragon sauce.

I got a taste of Kevin’s seared steelhead trout with garlic confit, braised beluga lentils, bell peppers and rapini. Very good, but it was no baa-baa.

The restaurant has a thoughtful wine list with about a dozen reds and whites. We got a deep 2003 Tommaso Valpolicella Ripasso.

Desserts were beautiful but I wished they had a knockout punch. There was a bit of a post-Valentine’s theme with red velvet cake with cream cheese icing, chocolate mousse with a phallic garnish, and a five nut tart with crème anglaise and chocolate ice cream. They were good and hopefully by the time students graduate, they’ll be fabulous.

The last item on the agenda is a feedback card. Top marks for gorgeous plating, working with fresh ingredients, and friendly service. The food was very good but I’m still waiting for the wowza factor. The students are probably saving that for when they open their own restaurants.

Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts, 1505 W. 2nd Ave, Vancouver, (604) 734-4488, toll-free 1-800-416-4040. Hours and more info here.