Dine Out Vancouver - Aurora Bistro

I went out for my first Dine Out dinner tonight. For those of you who don't know what I mean, it is essentially a sale on a restaurants. Every year around this time they do set menus at a discount price and Steve made a reservation for Aurora Bistro that I piggybacked on. As any regular reader of this blog knows, I really like Aurora Bistro, but Steve had never been and wanted to go.
My dinner began with a drink. A City Hall martini. Grey Goose vodka and just a few drops of Venturi-Schultze balsamic vinegar. I needed the drink. It has been a long week of travel and nights in hotels and this was my reward. The vinegar sat on in the bottom of the glass. I'm not sure if I was supposed to mix the vinegar into the rest of the drink, but that last mouthful of vodka and sweet vinegar was fantastic.
My first course of the night was bison carpaccio with pickled beets, Parmesan and smoked paprika aioli. It was very good, but I like nearly all carpaccio. Was it better than the gold standard of carpaccio for me, the one at Cru, well no. But it was still very good. I guess I would have liked a little more cheese, but it was great and I could have eaten two orders quite easily.
For my main course I had the vermouth braised veal cheeks that came with a couple of roasted root vegetables and these wonderful mashed potatoes that had a grainy mustard mixed through them. Very good. The veal was excellent. Everything you'd expect from a braised piece of meat. Fork tender. I couldn't ask for more. It was much better than the braised veal I had at Tony de Luca. Though that was good, this was more tender and better flavour. Plus I loved the mashed potato over the lentil side that came with that dish. With it I had a glass of the Fairview Cellars red blend of some sort, the recommended pairing for the dish. It paired well, it didn't blow me away though.
Dessert was a hit. Spiced Blood Orange Crème Brulee with a sesame shortbread. It is always a good week when I have creme brulee. To have it twice in a week was pure decadence. The great part though was this was quite different from the one at Jamie Kennedy. The blood orange flavour was quite nice, though the spice flavour wasn't all that big. I still loved it though. I love all creme brulee.
Overall the dinner was good and at $25 for the three courses it was outstanding value. I couldn't ask for more that way. The portions were a little smaller than what the restaurant normally serves and I thought I'd still be a little hungry after the meal, but the dessert seemed full size and that filled me up. Nothing like a rich decadent dessert to leave you feeling full.
Aurora Bistro. 2420 Main St. Vancouver. 604-873-9944.

Comments

[Lydia]

I was there last night too, and I was actually telling my boyfriend about this blog while we were there. Crazy!

I had the pickled beet salad, which had really tasty olive oil, and the cornish hen, and the creme brulee too. It was my first time there, and I really enjoyed it.