Pastis Bistro, 2153 West Fourth, Vancouver: By Lezah

Swank Home


Last night I was part of a group of five who had dinner at Pastis Bistro prior to heading out to a play. Although they normally open at 5:30, they accommodated our special request for an earlier table time with great ease.

Pastis specializes in French Bistro-style fare, and is located in the funky Kitsilano area of Vancouver. The ambiance of the restaurant was very pleasing, the décor was French country, and the wait-staff was both plentiful and exemplary.

Three members in our party ordered wine, a white Zinfandel from La Firenze winery in Naramata, BC. This choice was made as one of our party had done a wine tour in the Okanagan and actually had a wonderful visit to this vineyard. Only one person ordered an appetizer, which was a beautifully presented salad of butter lettuce.

Now, I’m not overly keen on fish (which accounted for about half the menu) and won’t eat either veal or lamb on principle, so by the time the figurative dust had settled, I really had two choices: a New York steak or a vegetarian cheese in phyllo pastry dish. Since I had eaten a cheese & phyllo pastry for lunch, I figured a 5 oz. steak should be the order of the day. Unfortunately, the steak was slightly overdone (I had ordered medium rare, and this particular steak had no hint of rareness), but even worse, it was very tough and grisly. I actually almost had to ask for a different knife in order to cut it - it was so tough. On the other hand, the béarnaise sauce was the best I’ve ever had, and I was given a very generous portion. The menu had stated that the steak would be served with pommes frites, which, it turns out, is French for french fries. The fries were not your usual McDonald’s fare – although they did resemble them, they tasted nothing like fast food fries, and instead had a rich, slightly salty - but not too salty - flavour. They were lovely. There were no other vegetables served with the meal – not even a piece of parsley! When you consider that this was the cheapest item on the menu (at $21.95), I expected a bit more.

Everyone else in our party ordered from the fish menu, and all were happy. Trout, bouillabaisse, shrimp and mussels were all ordered and consumed with no complaints.

Only two of our party ordered dessert - guilty party here! I chose the Half-Baked Chocolate Cake with Ice Cream, which at $9 was a bit pricey, considering the cake had a diameter of roughly 2.5 inches and the ice cream was just one small scoop. Again, the presentation was wonderful, and the taste was indescribable. It had an interesting blend of characteristics: the outside was a spongy crust but inside it was molten chocolate that oozed out in a veritable Callebaut stream; the ice cream was homemade with traces of vanilla bean. My friend ordered the apple tart, which was a work of art.