Dine Out Vancouver - Society Dining Lounge

It's that time of the year again, 17 days of restauranting and eating. I haven't been as diligent this year blogging but this is a good time to resume. This year I begin my eats at Society Dining Lounge in Yaletown. Some of you may recall my previous posts about this, and admittedly I like it enough to return time and time again. The DOV menu this year though? Not as good last year.  The theme to my meal of the night, something a little different and small.  Yes, small.

Ladies who don't have huge appetites, this will be a good serving size for you, guys? Not so much unless you order other things off the menu (which mind you is good). Our starter selection was a spinach salad shaved fennel, red onion, orange segments, candied pecans,brulee "riopelle" cheese with orange vinaigrette or the sweet potato pulled pork croquette tarragon aioli, granny smith apple-green onion coleslaw.

While initially wanting to try the salad, the sweet potato was the better bet. The pulled pork isn't as pulled as we would normally like, rather small solid cubes actually, but it was tasty, and the coleslaw was refreshing, especially the granny smith bits. Small portion though. For a place that mixed comfort food and hip style, this could be closer to the size of crab cakes.

To the mains, you can either have the veal piccata thyme roasted polenta, roasted cherry potatoes, garlic white wine reduction or the prawn linguini lobster bisque sauce with garlic bread.  Sticking with the try something different theme, veal it was. Plus, I'd never had polenta before despite the fact there is a package of ready to eat polenta on my desk that I hadn't put there. The veal was fairly tender and enough flavour. The polenta had a really nice texture that reminded me of mash potatoes (one of my favorites), and the tomatoes balanced it all out. As tasty as it was, I wish it was a bigger portion.  There were 2 slices of veal, which could be bigger and add a third slice to enhance the presentation.  Additionally they could have really served more polenta. The plating doesn't feel right for an entree at that type of locale.

Finally dessert (probably the main reason we came here) was Chocolate Smore Flambé Creme Brulée (table side). I had been hoping they would flambé it in front of you, but it's brought out already in the process of burning. Looks really cool there, but you've got to be fairly quick with the camera before it burns off.  The smore is more brulée like but nice. A bit too sweet, but you've got a side biscuit (I don't know the name) that evens it out.

The highlight of the night? A Candy Collins. Say what? It's lemon juice, soda, with gin, and....COTTON CANDY! We spotted it at the table next to us, and believe me if I'd known about, I would've ordered it, but hey, it's something to look forward to next time =)