Best French Casual 2015

Best French Casual winners of Vancouver Magazine's 26th Annual Restaurant Awards

April 21, 2015

• Gold: Tableau Bar Bistro
• Silver: Au Comptoir
• Bronze: Bistro Wagon Rouge
• Honourable Mentions: Pied-à-Terre, Jules

The compact card at Tableau Bar Bistro (Gold) exemplifies everything one could reasonably want from a neighbourhood bistro: French onion soup, steak tartare, moules frites, cocktails “worth bypassing the wine list for”—all in a room whose immaculate beauty doesn’t discourage you from dropping in straight from a workout. Au Comptoir (Silver) arrived in Kits this past summer and promptly whisked all who passed through its doors to some idealized Paris (“Stubbornly authentic—merci!—without the Parisian attitude—merci!” quips a judge); its lunch and dinner menus offer enough exclusive options to encourage visiting twice in a day. Putting extra emphasis on “casual,” Bistro Wagon Rouge (Bronze) delights with its notion of “blue-collar French” cuisine. No matter what its oft-changing menu offers, one judge says the “simple, honest food makes me feel like I’ve been invited to a friend’s house in the country.” Honourable Mentions: Pied-à-Terre, Jules