Take a bite out of Vancouver's famed market

VANCOUVER, B.C. — To local foodies, this city is nirvana, a gastronomic paradise of curries, dim sums, seafood and French cuisine.

You can stroll to Yaletown, Vancouver's little SoHo, and sip a saketini while you wait for your salmon entrée at one of the trendy restaurants along the sidewalk.

Heck, you can even find happiness on the commercial strip of Robson Street, by snacking on a folded Nutella-strawberry crêpe while your significant other goes on a shopathon.

But in Vancouver, if you want to eat where the top chefs eat, if you want the city's best soups, breads and one of the best sausages in North America, then the Granville Island Public Market, really, is all you need.

Here, your glazed doughnuts can be made to order. Your artisan-bread maker offers everything from potato-and-chive to fig-and-anise loaves. Your cured meats can be as adventurous as your palate dares: caribou, wild boar or horsemeat, anyone?

More of a food destination than Seattle's Pike Place Market and cheaper than the gourmet offerings at San Francisco's Ferry Building Marketplace, Granville's market has established itself as a serious foodie destination rivaling some of the best markets in Europe.

Chef's market

Granville Island is located south of downtown. You can drive there and be among about 15,000 tourists and locals fighting for the 700 parking spots every weekend, but that's a fool's fight, vendors tell me.

So I hopped onto the water taxi for the two-minute ride across False Creek to Granville Island, a formerly rundown industrial park reinvented as a retail hub 27 years ago.

One of Canada's most successful urban redevelopments, Granville Island is now 37 acres of boutiques, fish-and-chips cafes, little theaters and kayak-rental centers. The public market, though, is its anchor.

Echoes of vendors hawking peaches and the thousands of feet pounding the pavement could be heard before my water taxi even docked.

On many mornings, you can spot restaurant chefs strolling around, chatting with vendors or roaming around for inspiration. Chefs love this market because of the wide selection of Asian and European produce, spices and gourmet food and the freshest seafood. They love the vendors who know the difference between a conchiglie and a rotelle pasta.

Executive chef Robert Clark of C, one of the city's best restaurants, shops here. So does chef Vikram Vij, whose restaurant, Vij's, is considered one of the world's top Indian restaurants by The New York Times. The chefs' presence put this market on the foodie radar.

On a recent morning, I met with celebrity chef Rob Feenie, who agreed to act as my market-tour guide. Feenie owns the internationally acclaimed French restaurant Lumière and a recent addition, his casual eatery, Feenie's, both in the south end of the city. In the mainstream, he is known for his victory on "Iron Chef America" on the Food Network.

Like many chefs, Feenie buys his personal groceries here and gets cured meat and bread here for his restaurants.

He motioned for us to get started. The mad dash of the lunch crowd was just hours away.

Loaves to love

We streamed through rows of vibrant cherries and peaches from the Okanagan Valley, luscious red marbled steaks behind window displays and king salmon laid on ice.

On to the gourmet stalls, past the fresh tortellini and buffalo mozzarella at the Italian delis and the jams and fruit-infused vinegars at specialty stores.

We paused at South China Seas Trading Company, a favorite of Feenie and other cooks, to inspect the rare Asian spices and herbs. Then we headed to the food stalls, past the fresh pierogi and pork-pie booths and then to the Stock Market, which local patrons swear offers the best chicken soup in town. Finally we stopped at Terra Breads, a bakery that chefs love, said Feenie, as he walked back and forth eyeing the different nut and herb breads piled on top of each other.

The loafs go for about $3 to $6.50 (Canadian). One customer bought $40 worth. No special occasion, she said. It's just the best bread around.

She's right. The crunchy pecan-fruit loaf Feenie recommended was so flavorful it didn't need butter. In fact, many customers eat the breads out of the bag.

But the main attraction at Granville Island, the one stop to make if you could visit only one place, is Oyama Sausage Company, which makes the Kobe beef of sausages.

Devoted to sausage

A foodie tour

Where

Granville Island Public Market is open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily. Depending on the traffic at the U.S.-Canada border, it's about a three-hour drive to Vancouver from Seattle. Interstate 5 turns into Highway 99 in British Columbia and Highway 99 turns into Oak Street as it nears downtown. Granville Island is at the southwest edge of downtown, under the Granville Street Bridge.

Parking is limited on Granville Island. It's best to take a water taxi, operated by Aquabus. The water taxis charge $2.50 one way or $4 round-trip. They depart every five minutes from 6:40 a.m. until 10:30 p.m. For more information: 604-689-5858 or www.aquabus.bc.ca.

There is also False Creek Ferries: 604-684-7781 or www.granvilleislandferries.bc.ca.

A city transit route (No. 50 False Creek) also serves the island. 604-953-3333 or www.translink.bc.ca

Lodging

For lodging with a kitchen, see related article: "Home away from home, with a range." If you want to stay on Granville Island (sans kitchen), there is Granville Island Hotel. Regular summer rates start at $230 (Canadian). 604-683-7373 or www.granvilleislandhotel.com. For hotel deals, call Tourism BC at 800-435-5622.

Restaurants

There are a number of sit-down restaurants on Granville Island if you prefer not to eat in the market.

Enjoy great dining deals at Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts, 1505 W. Second Ave. On Mondays, lunch and dinner are two-for-the-price-of-one. Seafood buffets are offered on Fridays during lunch and dinner. Open for lunch from 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday-Friday and dinner from 6-9 p.m. Monday-Saturday. Brunch Saturdays from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Closed Sundays. 800-416-4040 or www.picachef.com.

Go Fish, 1505 W. First Ave. on Granville Island, is considered to serve the city's best fish-and-chips. 604-730-5040. Open 11:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday-Friday and noon to 6:30 on Saturday and Sunday. Closed Mondays.

Market tours

Eric Pateman of Edible British Columbia Culinary Experiences offers three-hour food tours around the market every Wednesday and Saturday mornings for $55 (Canadian), including food sampling from about a dozen gourmet vendors. For $25 more, you can get a three-course lunch. 604-662-3606 or www.edible-britishcolumbia.com.

More information

See www.granvilleisland.com

Foodies covet Oyama sausages much like Beluga caviar or Jamon Iberico. They are not sold in the United States, though devotees sneak these raw sausages across the border.

The lunch hour here was chaotic, so I returned to Oyama's three hours later only to stare at a glass display without the sausages I had been eyeing.

"Get there early," a regular advised.

With a café au lait in hand, still half asleep, I staggered back the next morning, 30 minutes before the market opened — only to find four patrons already salivating at the handmade sausages.

Oyama elicits unusual responses. I watched a Japanese tourist bite into a chorizo and get so excited he insisted his wife snap his picture in front of the sausages. A Montreal woman who sampled the chocolate pork paté was so delighted, she screamed.

"This is why I love Granville Island," said Feenie, who serves Oyama's sausages and cured meats at his restaurants.

Many local chefs have found no need to make their own since John van der Lieck started Oyama Sausage Company in the Granville market five years ago.

A fifth-generation sausage- maker who apprenticed in France, Austria and the Netherlands, this German-Dutch immigrant makes 300 different type of sausages and patés. The store is named after a small town in the Okanagan Valley, where he got started in Canada two decades ago.

His quest for perfection is legendary. He insists his hogs eat kale and alfalfa sprouts and now feeds them hazelnuts to enhance the fat flavor. He uses high-grade liquor to make lime-and-tequila chicken sausages.

"Food is one way you can enjoy life," the 46-year-old sausage-maker explained.

With Oyama sausages in mind, I checked into a hotel room with a kitchen.

I simmered his bourbon-and chipotle-pepper sausages in duck fat. My friend and I agreed that these juicy, sweet-and spicy links were the best we ever tasted.

No kitchen? No worries. Try his baked hams, smoked chorizos or patés. Snack on the oregano flavored Castellano Chorizo.

Or do like the chefs. Grab a baguette from Terra Breads and ask the Oyama staff to spread on goose truffle paté or duck-Piquillo pepper mousse.

Then take your lunch to the market courtyard and watch the street musicians perform with the backdrop of the downtown skyline. Heavenly.

Tan Vinh: 206-515-5656 or tvinh@seattletimes.com