Our merry wet feet ended up in this lovely high-ceiling’ed room pratically bordering Scarytown, Vancouver last night for a friend’s big 3-0. A dark, yet comfortable place – the service was friendly and… well… amusing perhaps is the word? He was an amusing fellow certainly – quick on the uptake and always quick with a quip and a comment. I must admit he was a highlight of the evening.

Yeah I know – it’s a bid foreboding to start a review that way… but oh well.

I smirk when dinner’s start with “Hey Russ — you’re drinking tonight right?” — from a person who very well knows that I don’t drink. Even more fun when I find my head nodding affirmative and suddenly there is a glass with a sparkly red and orangey concoction in front of me.

Champagne and cassis I am told.Sure. Why not.

It was different. Sadly I still fail to see the attraction. Kinda like Rihanna.

But I digress.

We were a small bowl of soup for an amuse bouche (yeah I know). I missed the description but it was reminiscent of a butternut squash soup with a good spicy hit of cinnamon. Not bad, not bad at all.

Starters were ordered and arrived – I had a spinach salad with proscuitto, candied pecans, and peaches. A tasty dish – and decently sized I might add, but at $13 — I’m just not sure value was to be had. There was also a brie crepe on the table, a cheese fondue and a few other plates.

Now the mains on the other hand were decently priced at an approximate $15 a plate and were at a respectable size. My coq au vin was tender and flavourful — but it doesn’t quite compare to the cholesterol-warming-version at Pastis, or the flavour explosion of Bacchus’. An interesting concept is you must order your sides separately (a la Gotham’s) — you get a good sized portion though for your dollars. We were passing around ratatouille, cauliflower gratin and a polenta — none of which were particularly memorable, but tasty for what they were.

At this point liquor was free-flowing along the table – when the cheese platter and chocolate fondue came — well all hell just broke loose. The women were hungry for stinky cheese (yes I just typed that) and the men were just hungry again — the fruit disappeared into the primordial chocolate goo and arose a whole different creature — one that had mutated into a wholly dis-similar species — one that had reached pure chocolate nirvana.

The cheese seemed to be at favour as well, but sadly I am not one with the fromage so I cannot say for sure.

All in all a fun evening had with good friends and good service. The food — neither spectacular nor memorable sadly, but certainly a tremendous value for bistro fare. As for me — Parkside and Mistral await.

A friend took me here in October of 2006 to celebrate my recent graduation and I loved the food and atmosphere, though I’ve heard from others that the quality has been inconsistent as of late. The interior decor of Cassis is very warm and inviting, as is the atmosphere. I ordered the Dungeness Crab, Apple, and Avocado Salad and the Coq Au Vin – both of which were excellent. However, don’t be fooled by the seemingly inexpensive prices of mains as you must pay extra ($5.50-8.50) for any sides like rice/veggies/potatoes, etc.