(Article courtesy: The Intrepid Diner)
The Intrepid Diner asks: What Makes a Restaurant Excellent?
We all agree that the best restaurants feature convenient location, welcoming ambience and a tolerable noise level, food that pleases, excellent service and friendly staff, and value for money spent. Have I missed a few? Perhaps. But when in one’s estimation even some of these virtues apply to a restaurant, surely that establishment must rise from the “Good” to the “Excellent” category. I hope you’ll agree that this month’s review of Part and Parcel is justified.
Location? Can a few meters from the corner of Hillside on Quadra put P & P any closer to most members? Available parking: plenty.
Ambience? Following eighteen months of takeout only service, Part and Parcel reopened with a new décor featuring white linen table cloths and candles. Thee small touches of elegance quickly let guests feel welcome and even pampered in this small space.
Noise? Even though Intrepid recently joined some of you as a Costco hearing aid wearer, excessive noise level remains one of the most annoying aspects of nearly all fine dining establishments. P & P cannot be so charged, in part due to its small dining area.
Service? Once you are seated, your server takes your drink order (beer, wine and several special cocktails in addition to nonalcoholic options) and hands you an attractive menu. Your drink is on its way while you peruse the menu and whet your tastebuds. Once your order is placed, it arrives in good time, prepared to your exacting specifications. Your server will return often to make sure you are still content.
Food? Here too Part and Parcel is a solid qualifier for our Excellence rating. P. & P.’s dishes could be thought of as a Flexitarian’s Delight, an artful mixture of vegetarian and not. Delicious fries (or “Fancy” fries) serve to introduce your meal or complement any entrée. Although the menu changes often, current dinner options include charred broccoli, fried Brussels sprouts with gorgonzola and red wine or Parisienne gnocchi as well as a beet and soba salad laced with spicy tahini dressing. Interspersed with such garden fare, however, are lingcod, lamb shoulder and a memorable kamut fried chicken sandwich. An option for the latter is to amp up your lunch or dinner night by making it Nashville spicy for a loonie more. (Nashville, btw, is about 5,000 to 8,000 on the Scoville Heat Scale.) A fine cheesecake or one of several other rotating options will round out your experience.
Price? Only two items over $22 on the dinner menu. Have a peek at lunch or dinner:
Part and Parcel is open Tuesday to Saturday, 11:30 till 9:00. No reservations taken.
2656 Quadra Street, just off Hillside.
Sidebar: Part and Parcel was a 15th Century legal term. By the 18th Century
however, the phrase entered common usage and, while both nouns essentially
have the same meaning, the redundancy does add emphasis to a comment.
Article courtesy of: The Intrepid Diner
