Every good day should be like an artisanal triple decker sandwich. It begins with a quality piece of glutenous herb-crusted bread, followed by a fabulous and sustaining activity. Cap it off with a bigger piece of bread and then eat and repeat until your body can’t help but beam and overflow with the quantity and quality of goodness in which you have indulged.
In other words, every good day revolves around and is sandwiched between food. Every good Italian, like ourselves, knows how to make and eat a good sandwich. So this is our perfectly constructed and executed panini of a day.
The day began on a wine note. We mean high note. Hotel Georgia’s Hawksworth has taken the soundly seasoned and scrumptious cake as one of Vancouver’s top restaurants since it’s critical acclaim in 2012. Fitting for the finnessed palate or first-time foodie, Hawksworth is the place to see and be seen.
A light-leaning Beaujolais and a fresh-faced Chenin Blanc accompanied us at lunch where we ventured through the paths of a saliva-inducing pate de campagne and a rustically crisp lemon English pea agnolotti. The winner of Georgia Straight’s Golden Plates Awards for best fine dining, best chef, and best wine list this year — to name a few — dining at Hawksworth is an unparalleled experience.
If you are going for a full blown meal to impress the in-laws, we recommend starting with the foie gras torchon which is served with beets and pistachios; the pistachios bring out the nuttier flavours of the foie gras. To accompany this masterpiece, indulge in a glass of Sauternes. This sweet wine star of France is balanced with beautiful acidity and, depending on its age, a full bouquet of melon and other fruits and beautiful butterscotch hit the palate.
As a main, the roasted elk striploin is full of flavour and, as a lean meat, is perfect if you’re trying to zip into that size two. The earthy flavours of the elk combined with the accompanying nettles and gin-berry jus would work beautifully with a full bodied American Syrah which evokes the flavours of blackberry, boysenberry, pepper and cloves.
After having feted ourselves fully at Hawksworth, these two uptown undergrads, fully armed and loaded with post-wine glee, stumbled, or strutted up the steps into the Vancouver Art Gallery for a dash of Douglas Coupland. A Vancity local, Coupland’s exhibit has become a quick favourite in the city. Puzzlingly titled, everything is anything and anywhere is everywhere, Coupland takes you through a tour of his brain — his ideas about the omnipresence of technology in our generation. The experience as a whole is one of intense contemplation of the 21st century condition and what lies ahead of us, but he doesn’t take the topic too seriously, adding elements of colourful and light humour.
A highlight and favourite of ours was the Lego room. This simplistic yet strangely profound element of the exhibit illustrated the relative uniformity of a (sexually) suburban dwelling while juxtaposing it with an impressive and eclectic urban jungle of Lego towers across the room, aptly titled Towers. We were fascinated to discover that the towers had been crowdsourced from groups of both adults and kids. Coupland took these creations and mixed, matched and assembled them into an urban landscape from 2500.
Finally, after wearing out our Prada soles and art-focused pretension, the last bite of the sandwich was nibbled across the street from the Vancouver Art Gallery at Faubourg, Paris. One step into this gem feels like a step into a cafe in the Marais district of Paris! Classic chandeliers, an open and airy room, and ample itty-bitty tables made for just enough room for a quick espresso, two seasonal macarons, a lemon tart, and a pompous post-art gallery debrief.
All the best in making your own sandwiches, and mangia away!
