So I had a really good set of meals in Vancouver over the last few days – one at old favorite Gotham Steakhouse, one at my consulting client’s office where they ordered Persian from Shishlik Grill in for lunch, and one vegan meal at my other old favorite, the Lebanese restaurant Nuba in Gastown.
And it struck me, as a foodie, that while these meals were good, their sum was better than their individual bites. In particular, the hummus-tabbouleh-falafel-pita combo at Nuba was solid all around – definitely good but not the best I’ve ever had – but the sum of all of them into a meal was extraordinarily satisfying.
This is true even in the case where the food itself is extraordinary. One of my favorite meals is the blackened salmon quesadilla at Aqui’s – it’s off-menu, so you have to know that you can order it, and how – and while that quesadilla is one of the best food items ever, it’s the whole plate – the mango salad, the tropical tea, and the special combination of salsas and pickled jalapenos that I add to it – that takes it over the top.
I mean, in one sense, I knew that – I knew a great meal wasn’t just one great dish – but walking out of Nuba today, with a really great, really satisfying Lebanese meal in me – really struck that home.
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-the Centaur
Pictured: Three great meals (or drinks) from the archives: a cauliflower steak (which they also have, in another form, at Nuba), a Page One or Cafe Salzburg from Cafe Intermezzo, and the blackened salmon quesadilla at Aqui’s (mango salad, with my custom four-flavor salsa combo on the side).
