Judas Goat

The search for a true spanish tapa's eatery in the city has proven futile. La Bodega was my first experience to spanish tapas's style meal. I was immediately fond of this expereince. And felt it was a lovely way to spend an evening getting better acquanted with friends. Enjoying an assortment of dishses with many flavors and some wine to complement the meal. Tapastree provided a more modern setting when they opened in 1997. And then Gord Martin's hipper Bin's, was introduced and Vancouver was set into a tapa's loving city. There have been many restaurant's that have come, tried with some or little success. Most with a new twist to Spanish Tapas. Which always made me wonder, why no one tried to bring a more authentic experience to Vancouver.

So when I heard about Barcelona and Judas Goat I got excited and hopeful. I manage to make it to Judas Goat on a late weeknight evening hoping to avoid a crowd. Sean Heather has added his third eatery after Irish Heather and Salt. He has slowly built a reputation in the industry, learning his craft the hard way. His early mistakes in the begining have made him stonger and wiser today. Chef Lee Humpries presides over the food at Judas Goat just as he does for the other two establisment.

The glass and concrete walls balanced the marble and composite plastic stools in this small 25+ seater eatery. Giving it an industrial chic. It is located in Blood Alley, an alley that some would have never considered walking through at night just a decade ago. But improvements and devlopment has seen many businesses enjoying success in the outskirts of downtown where rent and leases are much more profit friendly.

Once inside I was greeted and sat along the banquettes along the wall. Was explained how the ordering worked and I quickly glanced at the 'menu'. The menu was a sheet of paper with boxes for you to fill with pencil the quantity of each item you wanted. The entire room was small, no larger studio apartment downtown. Less than 800 sg ft, I think. There was no kitchen or bar that u normally see in other places. Salt located next door also has no kitchen, so I assume that the food prep and hot cooking would be done in Irish Heather.

The selection of wines was good for such a small place. And they have cider on tap. No beer on tap but the selection of beer were unique. I liked the bubbly and sangria(too small of a glass, though). The drinks sizes was small which was nice which meant you could try different drinks during the course of the night. The crostini's are nice, chorizo with chocolate odd tasty combination. Not a fan of them preparing all the crostini' ahead of time. The pork was fatty, fork flaky, almost melt in you mouth that I am sure many will like. The brisket meatballs were wonderfully moist without an overpowereing tomato taste and balance with a slightly salty cheese. The lamb cheeks, savoy cabbage in truffle oil was gamey and flavorfull. The truffle oil was evident almost overwhelming, but I felt in wasnt needed. The rabbit rillete with carrot panna cotta was really good. Especially the the carrot panna cotta!. Veal sweetbread was dissapointing as I love sweetbreads and wasnt expecting the way it was prepared. Always thought saltimboca meant sauteed. The food was good, but not outstanding.

Overall I liked the food at Judas Goat and looking forward to test out the rest of the menu. The service was very good esp the gentleman that was helping close that night. Says he's been with the company for 4 years when asked and explained that they are not a truly spanish tapa's. Which mean my search continues.......... The bill came to $90++. Judas Goat has small areas of improvement, none of if large enough that it would disuade anyone to come back. I am looking forward to going back, wanna try their sous-vide sablefish, foie grais and salads. :-D

Pros:
Grea for snacking(small meals)
Un-pretentious
Fast and prompt service
Cons:
Get's pricey when you add all the items and drinks
The seating can be tight, and table small if you have more than 4 food items

Ratings:
Food - 7
Ambience - 6.5
Overall - 7
Value - 6.5