Now Open: Elem Debuts with Bold Flavours and Pitch-Perfect Technique

The room of Main Street’s newest restaurant, Elem, is actually three separate spaces divided by vibe. There’s the wood room, which feels warm and grounding, the curtain room, airy and wistful, and the largest of the three spaces: the concrete room. With a white textured ceiling (that’s more expansive loft than office park) white stone walls and sleek marble tables there’s a chance the room could feel cold. But velvety booths soften the space and two parallel kitchens bring a buzzing energy making it feel like the newest hot spot in town.

One of the kitchens is helmed by Winnie Sun, the brains behind Elem’s cocktail lab. Like the room itself, the bar program she’s devised is inspired by opposing elements (in this case, water, air, fire and earth). The reason her workspace is a kitchen and not just a bar is that Elem’s also employed a zero-waste program. Here, fruits, vegetables, even chocolate scraps that would usually be discarded by the kitchen are instead transformed into the restaurant’s signature (and show-stopping) beverages.

Take the curry leaf cocktail ($21), part of the “Water” inspired menu, a soy milk clarified mix of taro rum, lacto-fermented honeydew, and curry leaf, which is one of Sun’s many repurposed ingredients. The resulting drink is delicate yet exploding with flavour. The notes of honeydew are so concentrated it’s like biting into summer fresh melon, yet it’s balanced: the curry leaf is never bold enough to overpower, instead adding an almost-lemongrass-like complexity. Equally intriguing is the Mexican Coca Cola ($26), from the “Earth”-inspired portion of the menu. Adictivo anejo, mezcal, Mexican Coke syrup, mole, house-made tepache (a traditional Mexican drink made from fermented pineapple and piloncillo) combine to create a spirit-forward take on the classic soda.

Similarly, Chef Vish Mayekar is inspired by an exploration of seemingly disparate elements: his personal travels. From California to Spain to Bangkok and beyond, the flavours and spices from all over the world are distilled into bold yet refined dishes. Like his take on a classic Peruvian dish, the Hawaiian kanpachi tiradito ($28). Traditional elements of the dish like aji amarillo, corn nuts, paper-thin avocado and diced red onion mingle with a bright green herb oil, masterfully sliced fish and a delightfully citrus and umami forward leche de tigre. Stopping at one bite is practically impossible thanks to the array of textures.

The hand-chopped venison tartare ($29) has a similar effect thanks to a luxurious amount of texture: perfect cubes of bright dill pickles, scooped up with sunchoke chips that are fried until they are so deeply golden that with even a second longer in the fryer, they’d be burnt. But instead the chive and pecorino-dusted chips are shatteringly crisp, a foil to the gnocco fritto that also arrives with the dish. These golden pillows are generously covered in sumac and garlic ash, and light as air.

While the tartare seems a study in texture, the rabbit and chestnut cavatelli ($36) is one in subtlety. Here, the simple joy of buttery sauce upon chewy, house-made pasta marries with braised rabbit that melts on your tongue—this is no small feat. The notoriously lean protein takes a deft hand to master, and Mayekar has done it, and highlighted it with simple adornment: thinly sliced maitake and roasted chestnuts. That simplicity makes this dish scream nostalgia in a way that feels like coming home.

Though at Elem, home can take many forms: the bavette ($54), too, tasted like memories to me. Marinated for two days in salsa borracha (or, drunk salsa, often made with tequila or beer) the interior of the steak is spicy in a way that takes me back to thinly sliced carne asada I used to pick up from my local Vallartas back home in California. But this is no thin steak, it’s juicy and rich but the punch of spice kicks through it with ease but finds a sense of palate symmetry thanks to melty cioppino onions and broccolini that’s at once earthy and acidic

Just as strikingly spiced are the barbecued carrots ($18), whose centres taste of the sichuan spice they were marinated in. When served atop smoked yogurt brightened with mandarin kosho and topped with tiny crispy pearls called bubu arare, this dish becomes both a conundrum and deeply addicting.

Already, Elem seems to satisfy the ultra-Vancouver equilibrium of chic-coolness and warm generosity. In a restaurant as buzzy as this with a kitchen defined by community (the back of the house is almost entirely comprised of past Caffe La Tana staff) it tracks that the dishes would find that same balance of opulence and subtlety; between what feels like a once a year treat and a daily craving.

The balancing act here is undeniable, the play between bold spice and subtle flavours seems, too, to reflect the elements. Fire, water, earth and air all swirl between each other like some sort of dance that keeps you interested in the current bite, while equally intrigued about what’s to come. We, too, are excited to see where Chef Mayekar will continue to innovate.

Elem

2110 Main Street