New Eats: Beach Bay Café

You’d be hard-pressed to find a more ambient spot for dinner on a warm summer night than the 35-seat oceanfront patio of Beach Bay Café.

Inside is lovely, too—the former Raincity Grill space has been rebirthed as crisp, airy and white as line-hung linen—but there’s something unbeatable about enjoying your meal sea-breeze distance from English Bay. We began with chef Scott Korzack’s (previously of L’Abattoir and Bambudda) lightly pickled mackerel with crispy shallots and mint, plus elegant little toasts topped by savoury chicken liver mousse and ripe cherries. As a main, the Oceanwise Vancouver Island spring salmon was gracefully plated atop hyperlight potatoes (finished in a whipped-cream canister for maximum aeration), frothy dill fronds and plump shelled mussels, with a playful accent of potato chips for crunch. We loved former Fairmount bartender Adrian Lindner’s sauvignon blanc-based blanco sour, but it was dessert that really stole our hearts: a zesty lime semifreddo with fig-leaf cream (!) and a mallow-soft flourless chocolate cake with sweet coffee creme and cherry jam. Both were enjoyed as we wrapped ourselves in one of the cerulean pashminas offered to al fresco guests after sunset.

Add a post-dinner stroll on the sand, and your night couldn’t be nicer.  —Adrienne Matei

Beach Bay Café & Patio, 1193 Denman St., Vancouver, 604-685-7337, www.beachbaycafe.com