Vancouver Good

Fuel Restaurant served their final dinner at the end of November 2009 and re-opened a few days later as Refuel, a more casual, more price accessible neighbourhood restaurant.

While I enjoyed Fuel Restaurant (I had an excellent 7-course tasting and a few Fried Chicken Fridays), when I dropped by Refuel a few weeks ago I found the room full, lively, and smelling of great food from the open kitchen. Plus, the fried chicken is on the menu, so you can have it any day of the week now! Change is good.

Our experience from Visit #1:

• The new room looks great – I’m always impressed  at how some subtle adjustments changes the vibe of a place. They’ve added a few extra tables and removed the wine storage in the room. I think they also changed the tables to casual wood tops and nixed the tablecloths.The walls have some cool moulded plywood action, which makes the room feel natural.
• Great menu selection with lots of snacks to share, starters, and mains with $22 being the highest price point. Off the menu you can still order a Cote de Boeuf or a whole Polderside duck to share. It was hard to decide.
• Our snack to start: spiced pork bits, extra rib and pork pieces tossed in a tangy seasoning. Good and messy
• Ox tongue salad with tender greens and a deliciously creamy ravigote sauce
• Lemon Risotto: creamy with sweet lemon flavour
• Crispy skin lingcod with bacony swiss chard, pearl onions. I also ordered a side of seasonal fingerling potatoes, which came out hot and buttery.
• Service was good, but not overly attentive. Portions were good, but not huge.

Next time: I’ll have to try the burger and fries. The fries are fried in beef tallow, which sounds pretty dreamy to a french fry lover like myself. And a burger and beer is $15.50 everyday between 3-6pm and 9pm-midnight.

Open for lunch, weekend brunch, and dinner daily until midnight, I’ll be adding Refuel to my list of restaurants to frequent.

Refuel Restaurant
1944 W. 4th Ave (b/w Cypress and Maple)
604-288-7905