Bishop's

My beautiful wife's favourite restaurant in Vancouver is Bishop's (http://www.bishopsonline.com), and I must say it's one of mine as well. Since it was her birthday last Thursday, I took her there for dinner.

The service, as always, was impeccable, and the food was delicious. The whole wheat pumpkin seed soda bread that came was particularly tasty.

I had probably the best fresh raw oysters I've had (and not a grain of grit to be found, which with raw oysters is an amazing feat), followed by a splendid grilled breast of duck with sweet potato mash and seasonal vegetables, and the chocolate hazelnut torte for dessert.

For her, the cream of asparagus soup, Dungeness crab cake, and crème brulée. Everything was fabulous and we have a wonderful meal.

We also took advantage of the "new" law that says you can take leftover wine home. This might seem like a small thing, but what it does is open up the wine list when there are only two of you dining. Just about every restaurant has wine by the glass and a small selection of hald bottles; but, the wines by the glass tend to be, without being a snob about it, ordinary, and the selection of half bottles is quite limited.

When there are only two of you, and you've both had a pre-dinner drink, and one has to drive home afterwards, it doesn't make sense to have a full bottle of wine. The ability to take the rest home is the perfect compromise.

The sommelier suggested the Noble Ridge Pinot Noir to go with our dinner, and it was fantastic - an excellent pick to go with out excellent meal.