When Rob Feenie decided to join Cactus Club as the new “Food Concept Architect”, I was definitely a little skeptical. First of all, it sounds like they just pulled that title out of thin air, and secondly, this happened right after the fairly abrupt shut down of his restaurants, Lumiere and Feenie’s after a dispute with his partners.
Cactus Club was never at the top of my list for casual dining. The most attractive thing about the restaurant was the auto-toilet seat covering that they had in the washrooms — and when the washrooms are the coolest thing in your restaurant, you know you have issues.
Fortunately for Cactus Club, one of the higher ups decided that it’s time to kick it into gear, and get the restaurant chain to be a place where people actually want to go and eat. After recently visiting a few different Cactus Clubs around Vancouver, it’s clear that they’ve been quite busy over the last year renovating not only the ambiance of the restaurant, but also the menu.
Many moons ago, Kenny used to claim that the best burger ever was at Cactus Club. Somewhere along the way, that fell apart, and the quality went downhill. Upon revisiting Cactus Club, I noticed that a few items on the menu had a small ‘RF’ designation next to them, signifying of course, that Rob Feenie had probably been involved. One of these items was the only burger on the menu, aptly titled “The Burger”. Most restaurants offer a few burger varieties to satisfy a wide range of customers, so when you’re confident enough to only have one, and you call it ‘The Burger’, it better be good.
The Burger is loaded with stuff. It’s got everything from the standard cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and pickles, to red peppers, relish, sauteed mushrooms and bacon. Then again, at $14.50, you’d expect it to come with everything but the kitchen sink. Despite the price, and my skepticism about Rob Feenie, after trying The Burger, I was very pleasantly surprised! It’s actually very good! It’s a pretty big burger, and between the veggies, bacon and mushrooms, everything is well balanced. It’s not dry at all, and not messy enough to have to wipe yourself up when you’re done. The natural juices from the different toppings compliment the burger wonderfully, and overall left me very satisfied.
For dessert I decided to try the Chocolate Lava Cake. It’s a pretty safe bet, as you could make it at home fairly easily. In addition to the molten lava cake, it comes with a scoop of “tahitian’ vanilla ice cream and a berry sauce. Now when Cactus Club says ‘tahitian’ vanilla ice cream, I assume that they mean ‘normal’ vanilla ice cream, because that’s what it tastes like. The Lava Cake itself was also a bit of a disappointment. It came out warm, but after cutting into it, was slightly overcooked. The chocolaty innards didn’t exactly flow out as I would usually expect from a Lava Cake, instead, the ‘melted’ chocolate was a little too hard.
Despite my dessert experience, this visit to Cactus Club refreshed my opinion of them, giving me a bit more confidence in the brand as well as in Rob Feenie’s involvement. The dishes they are serving, especially the RF signatures, feel a bit more upscale, and definitely seem to have quality in mind.
Five Loaves Rating:
Value: 7/10
Quality: 8/10
Overall: 7.5/10
Verdict: If you haven’t been to Cactus Club for a while, check them out, and try a RF Signature like ‘The Burger’.
Cactus Club Cafe
1530 West Broadway
Vancouver, BC
(604) 733-0434
Tags: Cactus Club, Chocolate Lava Cake, Rob Feenie, The Burger
