Vivo Bistro, October 29th

I would love to be able to tell you that I love the place. In one way I do - the space is great, it would make a perfect neighbourhood pub. And that is where the owners should aim, but instead they are trying to hit the bistro thing, the janes on the common buzz, the almost fine dining, but not downtown "schtick".

This was our second visit. On the first occasion I was somewhat appalled at the wine list - it was 100% Bishop's Cellar. This was later confirmed by Bishop's salesman extraordinaire, Wayne Coyle (what else can you say about a guy who gets their wines into so many places without really knowing very much about wine?). I can't blame him, but I do object to a restauranteur who allows a significant part of their menu, and their image to be "subbed out". What's next I ask? The salads? Maybe soups brought in from some outsourcing soup kitchen? In the end, a restaurant has to take ownership of their entire menu, and that includes the wine list, and, more troublesome, the beers for sale. Most restauranteurs know a tiny bit about wine. Very few know squat about beer, and even less about beer and food matches.

On this visit, the wine list had changed. Substantially. But not for the better. In fact it provides an even greater inside joke for someone who understands the local wine scene. The list now reads like a Port of Wines "old favourites" list. There was not one wine that has anything original, unknown, or is adventurous in the slightest. The Bishops only list provided a lot more interest, and frankly, matches with the food stuff than the one the place has now.

And the beers are no better than they were my first visit. Not one smell of a good beer - only Molson products, and Heineken (does Molson distribute that now? It was on a Molson tower). As far as I am concerned, a restaurant in Halifax, heck, Nova Scotia, without at least one true local beer choice has a flawed drinks list. Check out the good places, and you'll find Propeller, Garrison, even some special label efforts (Opa has its own brand, from Propeller). So Vivo, this beautiful little spot 10 minutes from my house has Rickards Red, "beer by colour" from Molson, made somewhere in Ontario, probably.

The food was good. Well there were a few things you would not expect. Although it was Sunday evening, they open from 5 til 9, and one would hope they'd have some bread that was somewhat fresh. Nope. Stale bread. I asked for some fresh, and they brought me more from the same loaf, I'm sure, but heated up so it is temporarily fresh. Not a good start.

The menu was somewhat disjointed, in that the Appetizers appeared to be designed to allow the place to function as a pub on its restaurant license (like the Nail and Kneecap does). This meant that chicken wings, quesadillas, and the like, shared a menu with beef bourguignon. A bit bizarre...

But the carrot ginger soup of the day we both ordered after the chilly, windy walk was good, a trifle sweet, perhaps, but hearty, warming, and apparently made there.

L's lamb shank was earthy, tasty and not tough, and the veggies were done right, with her waxy mashed potatoes to her liking. My coconut chicken curry was just spicey enough for Halifax, and the use of wild rice was a bit different, but it worked for me. The chicken was a sliced up breast, added to the curry during a stir fry, and therefore did not offer the same experience one gets by cooking it into the curry properly, but the menu offered the dish as vegetarian, with chicken, beef, or shrimp(I think). So I was not expecting it to be "cooked in". Despite my rag about the beer above, the Rickard's Red I had worked very well with the curry, in fact I think the wild rice made that match even better.

We passed on dessert, being full and having some good ice cream waiting at home.

So, in the end, will I go back? Hard to say. For lunch maybe, but the place sorely needs a knowledgeable sommelier to help them with their list. I'd say keep some of the old favourite wines, add some of the new exciting things now available in town, improve the by the glass selection (how many couples buy a bottle anymore?), and try to better match a few things up with the food. Plus there was not one Nova Scotia wine! Perhaps the owners are from away? Maybe they don't drink?

And the beer? Serve some real beer on tap, and have a few different things in bottle. A Hoegaarden would have been wonderful with my curry.

My initial comment about the place being lost between a pub and a restaurant did not hold when I got the bill. Dinner for two, with one beer, no dessert and tip was $68. No, that's not a pub, is it?


UPDATE, SUMMER 2007 - This place is gone, gone, goone. NOT MY FAULT!! Soon to be a coffee bar. Should be a pub.