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Carnal Knowledge — Page 4
Defying the what-you-pay-is-what-you-get maxim is chef-owner
Neil Wyles at Hamilton Street Grill, a steak aficionado’s
paradise that, after a bit of a New Year’s makeover,
is an intimate and casual neighbourhood joint with prices
to match. This is Vancouver’s temple for certified
Angus beef; the stocky, black, hornless cattle produce
a fittingly unusual meat, with a nuanced, complex flavour.
But that’s not the only difference at work here.
“My new specification, and I’m going out
on a limb here, is 35- to 55-day-aged,” Wyles
tells me. “It was pounded into me that 30 days
is optimal for aging steak. But that’s old-school.
Today everything is so much more temperature- and quality-controlled,
you can let it go longer.”
Wyles receives wet-aged chunks of rib, short loin, and
sirloin from which he cuts his own steaks in-house (as
do Hy’s, Gotham, and the Shore Club). This also
helps trim prices: $34 for a 16-ounce rib eye; $38 for
a 20-ounce New York strip, served with fluffy Burbank
russet mashed potatoes and veg; and just $26 for a terrifically
bloody, grass-fed organic hanger steak (the muscle that
hangs from the bottom of the cow’s rib cage) with
tasty Kennebec frites.
Before throwing them on an “ordinary gas grill”
that reaches about 800°F, Wyles rubs the steaks
with pepper, plenty of kosher salt, and a little canola.
The result plays out in layers, like trance music for
your mouth: a crunchy salt crust, toothsome meat, a
fat explosion, then a browned-butter, gamey flavour
that lingers in the mouth. Our New York strip and rib
eye share the unmistakable Angus flavour profile, though
their textures—one fleshy and substantial, the
other soft and melting—are distinct. Wyles’s
signature starter is a silky Gorgonzola fondue, his
killer finish a moist warm gingerbread pudding with
caramel sauce and pumpkin ice cream. If steak’s
really back for everyday dining, I’m making this
my local.
Indulgence, affluence, nostalgia, and plain old meat-lust
might not be enough to fuel a local steakhouse boom.
Wilson’s on Beatty Street tried to make a go of
it in 2004 but failed, perhaps because the NHL strike
challenged the successful sports-steak equation (case
study: the new Players Chophouse). More recently, the
Steamworks offshoot Transcontinental launched a steak-heavy
menu and quickly retreated to more diverse fare. But
here’s hoping in soy-and-potatoes Vancouver, steak
eaters can finally come out of the closet: We’re
here, we love steer, get used to it.
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