Vancouver’s smorgasbord of cuisines

Reporting from Vancouver, Canada — 

Take your mark.

Get set.

Eat! Vancouver is one of the hemisphere’s most ethnically diverse cities, and its cuisine scene is practically an Olympic Village unto itself.

In honor of Greece’s role in the Olympics, let’s start with Vancouver’s Greektown, on West Broadway in the Kitsilano neighborhood across English Bay from downtown.

Part-grocery, part-café, Parthenon sells classics such as keftedes (meatballs), spanakopita (spinach and cheese in phyllo dough) and souvlaki (skewers) from behind glass cases; 3080 W. Broadway, Kitsilano; (604) 733-4191.

Bar food at Kitsilano Billiards, a couple of blocks away, includes souvlaki and saganaki (flaming cheese); 3255 W. Broadway, Kitsilano; (604) 739-9544.

Kitsilano (“Kits” to its friends) has also become a culinary hotbed these days. Celebrity chef Daniel Boulud opened Lumière and DB Bistro Moderne a couple of miles east on Broadway. Next door, the restaurant Thomas Haas, originally from the Black Forest in Germany, purveys such sweets as pear-almond tart and chocolate truffles with fillings from conventional caramel to outré lime-cachaça.

A short hop southeast, in the South Granville neighborhood, Vij’s is to India’s cuisine what Wolfgang Puck’s empire is to California’s: stylish, taste-defining places that have spawned cookbooks and packaged foods.

Vij’s is open only for dinner, and its “no reservations” policy means even celebrities queue up (locals still talk about Martha Stewart); 1480 W. 11th Ave., South Granville; (604) 736-6664, www.vijs.ca.

I had lunch at Vij’s sister restaurant, Rangoli, a modernist space with red tile floors and stainless steel bathrooms where Bollywood videos pulsate from tiny screens. Cauliflower, spinach, onion and potato pakora come with dal and mango chutney, and with lamb in cumin and a light cream curry.

Rice pudding arrived so cold it was revelatory. Even water is served with style in hammered copper pitchers; 1488 W. 11th Ave., South Granville, (604) 736-3701, www.vijsrangoli.ca.

Canada may be officially bilingual, but there’s scant evidence of French culture in Vancouver. That said, Café Salade de Fruits, a short walk north of Vij’s inside the Francophone Cultural Centre, proudly flies Quebec’s gastronomic fleur-de-lis -- omelets, moules frites, steak frites and poutine -- in a greenhouse of a dining room; Francophone Cultural Centre, 1551 W. 7th Ave., South Granville; (604) 714-5987.

Down Granville Avenue (detour before the bridge to Granville Island) is the renowned fish-and-chips stand Go Fish.

Its culinary roots are British, but this counter with outdoor seating and water views also serves fish tacos and New Orleans-inspired poor boys; 1505 1st Ave., South Granville; (604) 730-5040.

Across False Creek, Granville Island Public Market and its food court are prodigiously polyglot and blissfully chain-free. Purchase reasonably priced pirogis, sushi, German sausages, double-wide pizza slices and fresh pressed juices, and enjoy them at the market’s indoor-outdoor dockside tables; 1689 Johnston St., (604) 666-6477, www.granvilleisland.com.

Downtown Vancouver’s West End bursts with izakaya, Japanese pubs. The interior at Kingyo is like manga meets modern opera, with dissected tansu chests splayed across faux concrete walls. Small plates include ebi-mayo (tempura-fried prawns in chile mayonnaise) and beef tongue that you grill on a hot stone at your table, with yuzu pepper sauce; 871 Denman St., West End, (604) 608-1677, www.kingyo-izakaya.com.

Maneki Neko (welcoming cat) and Yoda figurines top the counter at the intimate student hangout Gyoza King. Classic izakaya fare such as karaage (fried boneless chicken), yakitori (chicken skewers) and butter-broiled asari clams accompany the namesake gyoza dumplings; 1508 Robson St., West End, (604) 669-8278.

Down the block, aim-to-please staff and a contemporary setting make Sura friendly to neophytes of Korean cuisine. Soju (Korean-style vodka; add lemon for a flavor burst) goes well with kalbi and bulgogi (grilled meats) and a small selection of banchan (side dishes), all overseen by a chef from Korea. Even the kimchi is made in-house; 1518 Robson St., West End; (604) 687-7872.

Across the street at De Dutch, clocks are set to both Amsterdam and Vancouver time, and Delft-blue vessels and practical vinyl tablecloths adorn the neat-as-a-pin dining room.

All the better to enjoy sweet or savory pannekoeken from the Netherlands. Choose from dozens of possible toppings for these thin, chewy, plate-sized pancakes; the “Canadian” has fried eggs, bacon, tomato slices and a pitcher of maple syrup (which I give a gold medal to over the more traditional Dutch stroop syrup); 1725 Robson St., Unit 1, West End, (604) 687-7065, www.dedutch.com.

Given that there’s a regular sushi day in the school lunch program, Japanese food is practically home cooking in Vancouver. But city ordinances prohibit sales of most street foods except hot dogs. The solution: the Japa Dog. These hot dog carts look humble, but their output is anything but. Start with good-quality beef, turkey, bratwurst or Kurobuta pork sausages.

Toppings include the standard terimayo (fried onions, teriyaki sauce, mayonnaise and confetti nori seaweed), sakana (fish sausage with tuna flakes) and korokke (with mashed potato and green cabbage); various locations, www.japadog.com. As this story went to press, a Japa Dog restaurant was scheduled to open this month at 530 Robson St.

Across town, a one-block stretch of Commercial Drive is Vancouver’s very Little Italy. Café Calabria feels straight out of “Moonstruck”: life-size glossy white Roman statuary, murals of la bella Italia, chandeliers, round marble café tables, and cookies, gelato and sandwiches served with the requisite attitude; 1745 Commercial Drive, Grandview-Woodland, (604) 253-7017, www.cafecalabria.com.

The deli and takeout shop La Grotta Del Formaggio makes significant sandwiches and sells cheeses from France, Greece, Italy and Canada; 1791 Commercial Drive, Grandview-Woodland, (604) 255-3911.

Sweeter aromas waft from Fratelli, consistently voted one of the city’s top bakeries; 1795 Commercial Drive, Grandview-Woodland; (604)255-8926, www.fratellibakery.com.

For a fancier Italian dinner, Cioppino’s Mediterranean Grill is Vancouver magazine’s restaurant of the year, in the atmospheric former warehouse district of Yaletown.

Chef Pino Posteraro proudly prepares local spot prawns (with arugula and Grana Padano), sablefish (pan-roasted with soy sabayon) and Dungeness crab (in risotto). The restaurant keeps 68,000 bottles of wine.

Prices are steep, but in the words of my server, “Pino’s a perfectionist, and if we’re not too, we hear about it”; 1133 Hamilton St., Yaletown, (604) 688-7466, www.cioppinosyaletown.com.

A short walk east of Yaletown, waiters have been ceremoniously lifting silvery domes off plates -- in unison -- at the William Tell for generations, revealing specialties inspired by Switzerland: cheese fondue, chateaubriand, veal with morels and crêpes Suzette; 765 Beatty St., Crosstown, (604) 688-3504, www.thewmtell.com.

Nearby is Chambar, a sparkling Belgian restaurant in a bustling series of rooms beneath vaulted ceilings. There are about three dozen Belgian beers, moules frites and mains such as Argentine grilled entrecôte; 562 Beatty St., Crosstown, (604) 879-7119, www.chambar.com.

To see Vancouver at its most eclectic, head to Main Street in the southeastern section of the city, home to block after low-slung block of Asian cafés, French bistros, Singaporean street food, dance and yoga studios and vintage clothing shops.

Eighty-three-year-old Gunnar Gustafson wakes at 5:30 a.m. to bake at Liberty Bakery. His output: cakes, tarts and breads from his native Sweden; 3699 Main St., (604) 709-9999.

The Jamaican bobsled team is not slated to compete in Vancouver, but if it does, the Reef should rightly be its home away from home; the rum punch flows, spicy Calypso sauce arrives in juice bottles, yam fries are a foot long, and “jerk” is a compliment; 4172 Main St.; (604) 874-5375, www.thereefrestaurant.com.

About 20 blocks south is the Punjabi Market neighborhood, where you can shop for saris and gold jewelry, henna tattoos and Bollywood videos, and enjoy curry plate lunches and rainbow-colored desserts.

Although Vancouver has a Chinatown just east of downtown, it’s rather raggedy. I’d opt instead for Richmond, south of town and adjacent to Vancouver’s airport.

Richmond’s history includes Japanese fishermen and Chinese canners who came for the salmon trade on the Fraser River. In the last two decades, it’s been the epicenter of Asian immigration to western Canada.

The new Aberdeen Centre shines like a chichi mall in Beijing or Shanghai, with a Ferrari and Maserati dealer, shops selling rustic Japanese pottery and those incredibly lifelike plastic models of food, and the tony Fisherman’s Terrace Restaurant, famous for Peking duck; Aberdeen Centre, Third Floor, 3580-4151 Hazelbridge Way, Richmond, (604) 303-9739.

A short drive away, Jade’s dim sum has been voted the region’s best; 8511 Alexandria Road, Richmond, (604) 249-0082. And diners at Shanghai River can watch noodles being hand-pulled, through a plate glass window onto the sprawling kitchen; 7831 Westminster Highway, Richmond, (604) 233-8885.

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