Item #30 – Cru menu

This piece of paper is a treasure for two reasons – the event and the location.

Cru Restaurant was a favourite for several years and for even more reasons. The ambiance – comfortable, intimate, not too loud, not too large – made it a treat to go for dinner. The menu and wine list were, to my limited range and palate, extraordinary. And the service was excellent. I have been known to wax on longingly about the cellar door Caesar salad, the beef tenderloin, the cheese selection, the risotto, the wine, and the house-made gelato. As I’m writing about it in the past tense, obviously it is no longer open, something that makes me sad to this day.

In 2011 I attended the BC Cancer Foundation’s annual gala event. Cruising the silent auction table, I spotted an item from Cru – a dinner for four people with a five-course set menu plus wine pairings. After all the glamour and fundraising and other thrills of the evening, the culmination was being the winning bidder (after much toing-and-froing with one other bidder) of the Cru package. Whatever I paid for it, it was worth it.

The Gala was in late October, and after confirming the details of the package with Cru, I worked out a date with my chosen guests. It was to be a girls foodie extravaganza evening, just in time for Christmas.

Cru pulled out all the stops for us that night. We had the best table (the one in the window at the front). From start to finish, everything was exquisite – the food terrific, ditto the wine and service and everything. As one of my guests was a regular at Cru (she loved it even more than I did), our meal was enhanced by extra service and servings. The evening was long and wonderful – a night to remember.

Cru closed less than six months later, and while I did have at least one more meal there before its last night, the evening with my three friends and that amazing meal will for me be the one I’ll always think of.

While I’ve had excellent meals and terrific evenings in other places (my summer dinner at The French Laundry in Napa Valley comes to mind), here in Vancouver I often feel that all other restaurants and meals will always place second behind that evening at Cru.

Thankfully, I have the menu from that night as a keepsake.