Holy Guacamole

My first trip to Mexico is etched in my memory for lots of reasons, although the divine taste of perfect guacamole resides near the top of the memorable heap. Out for dinner at an open-air restaurant in old Vallarta, I witnessed the 60 second miracle that is fresh-made guacamole.

A member of the wait staff wearing a crisp white oxford and pressed black pants appeared beside our table with a trolley carrying avocado, lemon, cilantro, tomato and onion. With mortar and pestle in hand he spent one short minute mashing these ingredients together for the best guacamole I've. ever. had. Until that day, I had no idea what guacamole was actually supposed to taste like.

Fast forward to lunch at Cobre the other day, with a mouthful of guacamole, and I was reminded of that first trip to Mexico.

Cobre (52 Powell Street) is Spanish for copper and it's yet another new restaurant in Vancouver's always-improving Gastown district. It opened last July. Once the sole territory of those who ask for (and clearly need) a lot of spare change, Gastown is now like fertile F&B soil giving life to a totally decent new restaurant every month or two.

The cuisine at Cobre is nuevo latino, a self-bestowed descriptor. Nuevo Latino features ways of eating inspired by places like Argentina and Mexico, Cuba and Brazil.

This Gastown restaurant is a really comfortable space - red brick walls surround you, exposed wooden beams are up above and appealing, colour-filled canvases have been placed around the room.

The menu includes so many Spanish words that I started to feel like Madonna singing La Isla Bonita - trying my best to get the pronunciation down pat, but nobody's really buying it. And that's just the pronunciation. Forget about what the words actually mean!

Thankfully, Cobre offers a printed glossary of food terms from the menu containing the English translation. A very handy tool indeed. The glossary is also on their website if you want to bone up on your Espagnol before you head down to Cobre.

Once I understood what my lunch choices were, I started with the tuna ceviche featuring local albacore. It was served on a small, tasty pile of cold, purple potatoes.

Next was crispy chicken taquitos, assembled like a taco log cabin with fantastic guacamole. I can't honestly say the guac was as good as that unforgettable experience in Puerto Vallarta, but it was pretty darn good.

As for the taquitos? They were okay, a little bland but well-placed beside a pool of hot sauce. Here's a pic of the taquitos and the guacamole (I don't know what's wrong with my camera phone right now, but for some reason this picture makes the taquitos look like they're floating on an ice sheet although really it's just a white plate).

Dessert was a fabulous creation with caramel and pineapple - here's a picture of it from above which really doesn't make it look nearly as scrumptious as it was.

We had a really good time at Cobre - our server approached us with ease and subtlety while our food went down very well. So when you're in Gastown, look beyond the souvenir shops for another reason to chill in Vancouver's oldest neighbourhood.