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Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/570556
oCtoBer 2015 BCBusiness 115 iLLustration: mark atomos piLon at Vancouver's Century Plaza Hotel on Burrard, the restaurant formerly known as Beyond is now C|Prime: Modern Italian Steak & Wine. "I really thought there was a market niche in Vancouver that could be addressed in the steakhouse market," says general manager Sergio Cocchia. "We've got some very •ne high-end steak- houses, and we've got the more mainstream, and we felt there was a price point and a market seg- ment that wasn't being serviced. It's a more modern take than the old-day Manhattan kind of Italian steakhouse." The 4,800-square-foot Rat Pack-inspired interior wraps around a central bar surrounded by a mix of tables and booths. Wine is showcased not just on the menu— C|Prime has a Wine Spectator award of excellence—but also in a glass- walled wine room at the entrance. C|Prime chef Bruce Woods, for- merly corporate chef for Umberto Menghi, is back in Vancouver after a stint in Toronto, most recently at Harbour Sixty Steakhouse. Vancouver chef David Gunawan had a busy summer. at the end of may, he and Dara young launched Grapes & soda on west 6th, right next door to their locavore restaurant farmer's apprentice. it's a wine bar with a twist: the food is paired to the wine rather than the other way around. the 25-seat wine bar serves natural, organic wines along with fresh, seasonal food designed to bring out the quality of the wine–tapas-style snacks, cheeses and charcuterie–and artisanal cocktails paired with desserts. then in July Gunawan brought his farm-to-table approach to royal dinette, a new street-level restaurant below Donnelly Group's Blackbird public House on Dunsmuir at Hornby. "David's been consulting on our menus for years," says Donnelly Group president Jeff Donnelly, who this summer was in the process of securing the company's first toronto locations. "we have such a good relation- ship and he was so easy to work with that when we decided that that downstairs level wasn't working for us, we went to him." the 70-seat restaurant has pastry and butchery stations plus a counter where diners can watch the open kitchen on the other side. royal Dinette is an evolution of farmer's apprentice, says chef Gunawan. "it's the latest version of the vision, serving honest, simple, delicious food. everything is open, no hidden agenda. what you see is what you get." –F.S. David Gunawan launches more locavore locations and Donnelly Group heads to Toronto C|Prime BesT TaBLe the chef's table, for eight to 12 people, is popular at lunch, says Cocchia. "it's the perfect table. you get to watch the kitchen; you're watching them make the pasta–it's a great spot." musT-Try order Cocchia claims C|prime's linguine with clams is the best in the city. "Getting that right is not easy— getting it to be as flavourful as it should be and making sure it's fresh and the pasta doesn't clump because it doesn't have a heavy sauce." drinK uP C|prime offers a changing selec- tion of 16 wines by the glass at various price points. "it's a great opportunity to try testers or to order something more high-end than is normally available by the glass," says Cocchia. insider TiP all C|prime breads and pastas are handmade so the pizzas are particularly good. on the lunch menu are pizza margherita, pizza crudo and pizza diavola. Century Plaza's new restaurant surpasses Beyond by Felicity Stone TAKE A SEAT C|Prime's dining room in the Century Plaza Hotel on Burrard P o w e r L u n c h N e w + I m p r o v e d