Burdock & Co.

Dinner by the Light of the Moon

4 of 5

Andrea Carlson sketches her dishes before she cooks them, and you can taste the drawing. She opened Burdock & Co. at 2702 Main Street in April 2013 after years in some of the city's best kitchens, including five as executive chef at Bishop's. When Michelin arrived in Vancouver in 2022 it gave her a star, making Burdock the first restaurant owned and operated by a woman chef in Canada to earn one. Took them long enough.

The menus are built around the moon. Each tasting takes the name of a full moon, drawn from Indigenous calendars and the Old Farmer's Almanac, and runs seven courses at $175 a head. The cooking is hyper-seasonal and botanical, Pacific Northwest to the bone, built on relationships with growers, producers and foragers. Carlson talks about lightness in the food, and she means it. You will not leave stuffed. You will leave knowing what grows within a few hours of where you are sitting.

If the full menu is too much commitment, the bar menu serves individual courses and snacks, which is the smart way in on a weeknight. The room is open Thursday to Monday and closed midweek. Book the tasting for a night when you can pay attention, because food this quiet rewards people who stop talking about work.

Order this: The seven-course moon tasting menu, Bar menu courses and snacks, A wine pairing
The damage: $$$$
Go: Thursday to Monday; a weeknight at the bar for the lighter version
Find it: 2702 Main St, Vancouver, BC V5T 3E8