February 16, 2006
by Mike Bailey of The Columbian

Applewood Northwest Cuisine's lunch menu features a chicken dish of the day. Shown is grilled chicken medallions with bell pepper and cilantro tapenade and olive goat cheese crema, served with jasmine rice and green beans. MIKE SALSBURY/The Columbian

WHERE: Applewood Northwest Cuisine, 212 N.E. 164th Ave., Suite 11, Vancouver, 360-882-3725, applewood.net.

WHY: Chef Peter Gallin says dinner service is his focus at this east Vancouver restaurant, but Applewood also opens from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. weekdays for lunch with a menu of appetizers, sandwiches and a handful of entrees. The daily chicken, salmon and pasta specials are great deals, with 6 to 8 ounces of salmon or chicken served with a choice of jasmine rice or garlic mashed potatoes plus a vegetable and bread for $8 to $9. Sauces rotate each day for the chicken and salmon. One day it could be Thai peanut or roasted garlic apple cider cream, the next day a blackberry vinaigrette or honey mustard sauce. Among the pasta specials are lemon curry cream sauce with salmon and shrimp or chipotle cream sauce with grilled chicken and vegetables.

YOU SHOULD KNOW: Even though there is one sauce offered each day for the salmon and chicken specials, you aren?t limited to that sauce. Gallin said any of the sauces used with standard menu items can be substituted. Those include the orange saffron aioli used on the crab cake appetizers, the honey-mustard tarragon spread that dresses up the turkey sandwich and the mustard horseradish spread with thyme that comes on the beef loin sandwich.

BE SURE TO TRY: If you have a hearty appetite, add the panbrowned Dungeness crab cakes to your meal. Plump with rich crab meat and minimal filler, the cakes are served with the orange saffron aioli drizzled on the plate. Chopped red and yellow peppers garnish the plate and add even more flavor.

DON'T GO IF: You habitually salt your food before tasting. The chicken and other meats are seasoned, including salt, before they are cooked.

COST: Every item on the lunch menu is less than $10. The daily chicken or pasta dishes are $8; salmon is $9. A grilled New York steak is $9.50. Sandwiches, priced at $7.75, include grilled ham and jack cheese, Applewood-roasted pepper-crusted beef loin, roasted turkey breast and ground sirloin burger. Each comes with Kettle-brand potato chips. Appetizers range from a havarti cheese quesadilla, $4, to the crab cakes, $7. Caesar salad, spinach salad and soup of the day also are on the menu. There is an extensive entree offering at dinner, with prices of $19 to $24.

HOURS: 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, 5-9 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday.