Doppelganger dining

Honey Salt

Honey Salt in the new Parq Vancouver purports to be "a true neighbourhood restaurant." And perhaps it will be when the surrounding construction sites and parking lots are filled with condominium towers.

For now, however, the Las Vegas import is a true neighbourhood restaurant in the same way that the black-glass Luxor hotel replicates an Egyptian pyramid or the singing gondoliers paddling through the Venetian are modelled after those in Italy: a fun reproduction, with genuinely good food that will service its customers well, but dazzlingly ersatz.

The homestyle-themed mega-restaurant (294 seats when the patio opens) is an upscale clone of the original Honey Salt in Summerlin, an affluent planned community in Nevada's Las Vegas Valley. Both are owned by Elizabeth Blau and Kim Canteenwalla, the culinary power couple responsible for conceiving and overseeing Parq Vancouver's entire food portfolio; and both share a similar chef-driven, farm-to-table concept with dishes inspired by personal stories and the food they cook when entertaining family and friends.

Biloxi buttermilk fried chicken, for instance, is in homage to the Mississippi city where the couple met when developing a resort for casino magnate Steve Wynn. The New England Fry (here renamed Tofino Fry with sidestripe shrimp replacing Ipswich clams in a light, remarkably greaseless, addictively crunchy batter) gives a nod to her East Coast roots. Nana's Tiffin Chicken Curry (lean on the cream, but thick with potatoes and carrots) is inspired by childhood memories of Canteenwalla's mom's cooking in hometown Montreal.

While "Elizabeth and Kim" are not exactly household names in Vancouver, at least not yet, the "from-our-kitchen-with-care" shtick does coat an otherwise formulaic brand with a wooden spoonful of unpretentious appeal.

But whereas the original Honey Salt (designed by Blau herself) is quite warm and folksy with its thrift-store chairs and shabby-chic chandeliers, the Vancouver version (designed by Toronto's Studio Munge) is bright and glossy. The bar has a manufactured cosiness, tufted around the edges with throw rugs and chintz-covered sofas, but the dining room is oddly uninviting.

One wall of doll-house-looking farmhouse buffets and knick-knacks on recessed shelves is out of scale with another bare-white wall that is dominated by a giant scripted logo. A centre line of lime-green banquettes is swallowed up by wide-open space. While probably great for catering to large groups, which the resort's hotels and meeting facilities will no doubt attract, smaller dining parties are left with a Goldilocks sense of unease. Everything's just too big and cold.

Service, on the other hand, is very neighbourly and down-to-earth. Everyone is gracious and genial, even when they forget to take your coats. (At least this restaurant has a rack.) The bartenders charm in their earnestness to please and ease in crafting finely mixed drinks.

Executive chef Jason Labahn, a former chef de cuisine at Black and Blue who once worked in Vegas, adds bright touches to some very rich entrées. Simply grilled Iberico pork secreto, an incredibly tender cut of skirt steak from near the pig's belly, gets a vibrant streak of sherry vinaigrette to enliven a heavy side of roasted root vegetable and silky bed of smoked-egg aioli. Oily black cod is crisped up in its skin, surrounded by a creamy moat of roux-thickened chowder anchored with squeaky shrimp and crunchy green celery.

As with most home kitchens, the selections range from wholesome and healthy to junky and indulgent. The Honey Salt Market is a massive bouquet of fresh crudités from Klippers Organics that is literally set on a pedestal with an array of dips. It sure beats a platter of nachos when it comes to sharing snacks.

But then there is the sizzling shrimp, drowning in escargot-style garlic butter, a ginormous slab of banana-and-chocolate-mousse Society Cake and a whipped-cream-topped brownie sundae served in an oversized measuring cup. Unlike most home kitchens, some of these more gimmicky dishes were obviously conceived as Instagram bait.

There is something for everyone on the menu, which is really all you want in a large casual hotel restaurant. But it doesn't really offer anything new to Vancouver, where the farm-to-table concept is kind of old hat. And for a neighbourhood restaurant, it feels an awful lot like a chain.