ARC Dining has taken over the spot where Herons restaurant used to be. The restaurant has beautiful views of the mountains and water, and it’s a great place to have a relaxed meal with a good friend.

ARC’s chefs are Dana Hauser, and one of my favourite Vancouver chefs, Alessandro Vianello.

Alessandro is great at creating what I call “gourmet comfort food” – uncomplicated dishes made from fresh, local ingredients.

The cocktails at ARC are innovating and mixed to perfection, and I love the small details, like the candied ginger garnish in this Moscow Mule.

Fresh bread is served complimentary at each table, and its served with butter and tomato jam made in-house.

Some menu items have delightful details, like the Village Farms Tomato Caprese ($17), that comes with burrata, balsamic reduction and… powdered olive oil?? – this stuff is amazing, and it looks fantastic on a plate. The powder melts instantly in your mouth and it tastes just like olive oil.

As a guilty pleasure, we ordered the Chef’s Perfect Fried Pickles ($8) – served with their house mustard, these pickles where truly perfectly fried and crispy.

The wine list at ARC Dining features some great BC wines. I had a chance to sample some delicious Blasted Church vineyards 2013 Pinot Gris. This Okanagan wine has fruity and citrus notes, and makes a great summer sipping wine.

The wine goes great with seafood, so we ordered the Marinated Scallops ($17) next. The scallops are paired with smoked bacon, clams and apples, in a  tangy hop vinaigrette.

For my main course, I ordered the Caramelized Cauliflower ($24) with chickpeas and toasted almonds. This is a great dish for vegan or vegetarian. The dish was quite satisfying.

The Poached Asparagus ($12) came next. This dish was served with a soft poached egg on top and drizzled with truffle hollandaise sauce. The asparagus had a hint of lemon butter, and were accompanied by green peas that gave it a nice little crunch.

Ah, this dish is a must order at ARC – the Mountain Mushroom Toast ($10) on Rosemary bread. This, is truly comfort food at its finest. The toast was crispy, the mushrooms were buttery. This dish was a winner for me.

We ordered the Bag of Doughnuts ($8) for dessert. The doughnuts come in a paper bag and are “shaken not stirred” at table side and served with fruit and jelly dips.

This doughnuts where so good, they deserve another shot.

Speaking of desserts, I highly recommend the hand churned ice cream ($8). The maple and hazelnut madness is complete decadence.

Arc Dining lives up to their motto: “Life is complicated, good food shouldn’t be”.  Follow them on Twitter:

@ARCDining