C Prime is very much a hidden gem tucked away in the lobby of the Century Plaza Hotel on Burrard Street. You might not even know it’s there, and yet they’ve got one of Vancouver’s best steak programs. C Prime also serves a menu of fresh takes on Italian classics. With an emphasis on whole animal butchery, Executive Chef Behshad Zolnasr blends local with the best Italian ingredients.
Spring Flavours and Seasonal Favourites
The menu at C Prime is always evolving. Dishes appear, disappear, or transform as the availability of seasonal ingredients changes. With the recent shift in seasons, Zolnasr was inspired to add new spring dishes to his menu. One of the brand new appetisers is the Murgella Burrata. The heavenly cheese rests on a bed of pea and basil purée and is shrouded in a cloud of tomato foam. The foam plays with the mind because it tastes like tomato but is white instead of the expected red.
Another new appetiser is the Scallop & Pork Belly. This one is hefty. It comes with quite a large piece of crispy confit pork belly topped with slices of Hokkaido Scallop. The contrast of sweet and savoury flavours in this dish excites the palate.
It is halibut season after all, so Zolnasr had to include his interpretation of the fish among the entrees. While steak is always tempting at C Prime, the halibut comes with a beautiful golden crust on a pea and fava ragu with grilled romaine, all in a beurre blanc sauce. Islands of smoked carrot purée dot the plate as well.
C Prime Ain’t Your Grandma’s Italian
Zolnasr is grateful for the freedom he has in the kitchen at C Prime. “We have some amazing owners,” he admits. Born and raised in West Vancouver, Zolnasr relishes the opportunity he has to share his unique culinary point of view with C Prime guests. “I don’t want to cook grandma’s recipes,” he explains. “I don’t want to be handcuffed.” For those who do want more traditional Italian food, there are excellent options in Vancouver. “I don’t want to compete with Cafe La Tana or Savio,” Zolnasr shares, “I want to do my own thing here.”
“You know when you’re growing up and you’re in high school or elementary school and you don’t know what you want to do and you’re kind of freaking out? Not me,” says Zolnasr with conviction, “I knew I wanted to be a chef from day one.” On one hand, he grew up watching the likes of Emeril Lagasse, so the idea of being a chef was always alluring. On the other hand, Zolnasr comes from a family that loves food. As an Iranian Persian, he has what he describes as a “deep cultural history of food.”
As a kid, he was always in the kitchen. “I would have friends over and they would all be playing and I would be in the kitchen making them snacks,” Zolnasr recalls, “It was just like hotdogs or whatever, but I’d be adding onions or parmesan crust.”
From Childhood Dreams to Executive Chef
In his early 20s, he backpacked and explored, cooking in Spain and at Gordon Ramsay’s eponymous restaurant in London before moving to New York City to work for Jean-Georges Vongerichten. “I tried to absorb as much as I could,” he remembers. His focus was on “honing skills not flavours.” However, as many Canadians know, it can be hard to work in the States, visa-wise, so Zolnasr thought, “Let’s come back and see how the food scene in Vancouver has changed.”
Being an Executive Chef is as much about teaching and training new chefs as it is about creating new dishes. The sharing of culinary skills is invaluable, and arguably a dying art. Technique can sometimes be neglected. At bigger chain restaurants, food comes to the kitchen pre-portioned. At C Prime, the steaks are cut by hand, and the sauces are made from scratch. Cooks will learn butchery. Zolnasr’s philosophy is “We will teach you skills you can take with you when you leave, not if you leave, but when.” And when his cooks do move on to other kitchens, he wants them to do so armed with invaluable knowledge.
Breaking down cuts in-house helps to lower ingredient costs. It also offers the opportunity to use the extras and off cuts in delicious ways. For example, spring menu items like the Braised Lamb Shank and the Cavatelli with a lamb ragu. At C Prime, you’ll find cheeks and collars right alongside the finest rib-eyes on a menu that is a deliberate expression of Chef Zolnasr’s culinary philosophy.
