I’ve always referred to The Smoking Dog as the best restaurant in ‘Yorkville’ – the block radius around West 1st and Cypress. Funny thing is I’ve never been there but was always impressed with their "We Do Not Except VISA" sign on the front window. Turns out it’s been a great restaurant for awhile and has been under new management since last summer. Jamie Maw reviewed The Dog in this month’s Vancouver Magazine and gives us some much needed background.
Shortly before he died last spring, Jean-Claude Ramond sold The Smoking Dog to Jean Seguin and Judith Andrews for $400,000. Over the summer, the restaurant continued to pull in some of its regulars for chef Pasqual Georges’s bistro cooking… But restaurants (and landlords) can’t stop to grieve too long. And smartly, Seguin, Andrews and Georges have reshaped the Dog’s menu, adding a number of smaller plates and less expensive mains (including a very good hamburger with frites at $13) that will appeal to the neighbours. You’ll also find a smart new list of cocktails and highballs, including that winter favourite of professional scotch drinkers, a noggin of the Famous Grouse for the resounding thump of $5.95. Now that’s downright friendly.
I’ll be visiting The Dog in the New Year.
Last modified: December 27, 2005
