Carthage Cafe at 1851 Commercial has been open for a while now, a couple of years or more, but I hadn’t had the chance to visit there until today. A friend who shares a birthday with me in October invited me for lunch and we settled on the Carthage which he has visited several times before.
I have passed by the Cafe scores of times and had never really formed an impression of what it might be like. But I was still surprised and pleased to find an elegantly dressed and furnished haute Parisian cafe, with decoration that hinted at the warmth of North Africa. Pleasant saxophone jazz played in the background. Sparkling silverware and glassware was set on purple and white table linen, and every table was graced with a generous vase of fresh flowers.
Business was light over a rainy lunch hour, but the service was very friendly with good information conveyed about the daily specials. The menu is short, with mussels or couscous as their signature dish, each with an attractive set of optional Tunisian flavours. My friend had the daily omelet with salad, and I ordered the Croque Monsieur (to help me relive memories of my youth in Paris.) It is hard to review a restaurant’s menu over a single meal but both our dishes were perfectly executed and that augers well.
Prices were at standard Drive level, with appetizers at $7 to $10 and entrees between $13 and $18.
I’m already looking forward to my next visit and if you are in the neighbourhood, give it a try.
Posted by jakking 
Jak's View of Vancouver v.3 