Rockin' Ronnie Shewchuk slices up his delicious lamb popsicles hot off the grill after being marinated in herbs de Provence, rosemary and Dijon, served with balsamic vinegar and fresh mint.

Foodists.ca is extremely excited to present our second annual Barbecue Bootcamp featuring BBQ Champ and author, Rockin’ Ronnie Shewchuk.

Modelled after last summer’s smash hit Foodists.ca event, we guarantee you will go home stuffed with unbelievable food, ideas, tips and a renewed passion for grilling. You will be inspired to up your outdoor cooking game after you see what Ronnie pulls off the grill! Here are all the details:

Barbecue Bootcamp

Join international barbecue champion Rockin’ Ronnie Shewchuk for this outdoor cooking extravaganza featuring the essentials of grilling and southern-style barbecue. The four-hour cooking and eating demonstration (actually, it’s more like a piece of smoke-infused performance art ) will include an overview of tools and equipment, rubs, sauces and marinades, techniques for quick and easy grilling and slow-smoking, plus tall tales and legends from the world of competitive barbecue. You’ll learn from Ronnie and enjoy samplings of great dishes from his bestselling book,  Barbecue Secrets DELUXE!, including:

• Smoked Oysters with Barbecue Sauce
• Quesadilla with Mango, Brie, and Fresh Basil
• Planked Tandoori Salmon with Peach Chutney and Yoghurt Sauce
• Barbecued Brisket Sliders with Slaw and Texas Red Beans
• Grilled Tuscan Game Hens on Arugula Salad
• Spice-crusted Pork Blade Steaks with Grill-Roasted Vegetables
• Grilled Pineapple Spears with Cajeta Sauce

Not only is this incredible value on its own, we will be including wine tastings, pairing each of the dishes with Vincor wines,, including the classic pairing with barbecue, Ravenswood.

All attendees will receive a bottle of Ronnie & Denzel’s Natural Champions BBQ Sauce (a $10 value) and be entered in a door prize draw, and when you register you can choose to include a copy of Barbecue Secrets DELUXE! at a special discounted price of $20.

BBQ Bootcamp promises to be a celebration of gourmet backyard cooking. If you want to seriously upgrade your grilling and barbecue skills, don’t miss this.

Ronnie will have copies of his latest book (a merging of his two previous books plus many new recipes) and sauces on hand and for sale, and there will be a door prize for attendees.

WHEN: Saturday, August 28, 2010 from 11:00am to 3pm (PST)
WHERE: Private Residence, 2762 Wall St., Vancouver, BC
WHAT TO BRING: Just your appetite and possibly a notepad and pen!
TICKETS: Click to purchase tickets.

Rare beef tenderloin steak with gorgonzola butter from last year's BBQ Bootcamp.

“Klahowya” is an aboriginal greeting meaning “welcome” and I certainly did feel at home among friends at the launch of The Fish House’s Klahowya menu a few days ago.

To honour the new Klahowya Village aboriginal experience in Stanley Park, Chef Karen Barnaby and her talented kitchen staff have created a menu that will run until September 6th. The dishes feature fresh, local ingredients like cedar planked salmon, cold smoked bison—even pickled milkpods and elderberries—prepared in traditional aboriginal ways and paired with a selection of wines from aboriginal Okanagan winery Nk’Mip.

I thought the food was delicious, the wine quite terrific, and of course the setting idyllic, but don’t take my word for it, check out this video by local foodie Jason McRobbie (@thegoodfooddude) or check out The Fish House online. It’s a popular spot, so I recommend making reservations.

I’ve been dragging my heels on writing this article for months. I think perhaps because I didn’t want everybody and their cousin to know about one of my favourite restaurants in Vancouver. There, I said it: Yew Restaurant at the Four Seasons Hotel is one of my favourite restaurants in Vancouver.

Plenty of food review websites have sung the praises of Yew, and since its opening in late 2007 the restaurant has won numerous awards and accolades, so it felt like another article in favour of this Vancouver hot spot seemed unnecessary to me—hell, even my sharp tongued friend Andrew Morrison gave Yew his stamp of approval. What more could I offer that hasn’t already been said?

Oh what the heck, let’s give it a go anyway.

If we’re honest, most people consider hotel restaurants to be over-priced and filled with tourists and businessmen or discount buffets crowded with senior citizens looking for a deal. The food is most often “classic” styles—which is coded language for uninteresting or passé, right?

Yew is none of these things. Not even close.

A restaurant has to be about the food first and foremost for me. And the continental offerings featuring fresh, local ingredients prepared by Yew’s kitchen are consistently delicious and well presented. This brigade really knows how to season food and dress a plate!

Every month or so, Yew has been putting together set menus called “No Passport Required” with a selection of appetizer, entrée and dessert for only $35. I don’t know about you, but $35 for a dinner of this calibre is terrific value.

For example, last month’s appetizers featured BC spot prawns with artichokes, fennel and aigo boulido vinaigrette. Also offered was basil soy bean soup with hierloom tomato as well as seared foie gras & chicken liver mousse with grenache vinegar and ficelle to start. Yum!

For mains they featured crispy skin duck confit, roasted fingerling potato, green beans and olive jus or a local seafood bourride with saffron lobster broth and potato & pea shoot. The third main was an agneau of roasted lamb sirloin with socca and tomato-coriander sauce. Hard to choose, right?

For dessert they showcased what they called “noisette”, which was a delicious home made brown butter hazelnut financier with vanilla crème Bavarian & raspberry sorbet. With a little coaxing, you could convinced your waiter to bring you some of the remarkable small dessert offerings they feature on their lunch menu (I recommend you try the shooter glass filled with tropical fruit infusion with apricot purée ravioli—oh my…).

But not everyone is a Foodist, and an important extension to the kitchen for many are the mixologists manning the house bar. Well, let me tell you, if you want a killer Negroni or an Old Fashioned made right, or some more adventurous “new school” cocktails, Yew will not disappoint.

Big fan of trying new wines? Not a cheap hobby though, right? Well Yew is the place for you. With a selection of over 300 wines, the staff will open any bottle on their list as long as you order at least two glasses. ANY bottle.

Oh it gets better wine lovers! They host what they call Wine Down Sundays, where any wine of the menu is 50% off (or, as my wife likes to say, “two-for-one!”). If the food, service or room descriptions didn’t get your attention, that should wake you up.

Are you starting to understand my affection for this place? Uh-huh, thought so.

The dining room is comfortable and warm—especially compared to the stodgy old Chartwell’s days. Like its name (a Yew is a an indigenous tree to BC), the interior reflects BC’s natural surroundings with lots of natural light bouncing off the lustrous wood and rock elements.

There are various types of dining areas, from small tables, cozy booths, and even a large communal maple table and sky-lit dining room enclosed in glass for large parties. There’s also a funky lounge and bar area for more casual encounters contrasted by a gorgeous private dining area surrounded by glass and rows upon rows of fine wine.

The service at Yew is absolutely top drawer. This is a hotel restaurant in the finest tradition where every staff member is trained in the hospitality business and works to make you feel special, such as saying things like “Give our best to your wife Andrea” as you leave. How did they remember her name, let alone mine? Impressive.

Eating at Yew feels like an odd combination of dining at a friend’s house and being a famous celebrity with the attention that comes with that status.

In fact, Andrea and I ate at Yew one evening many months ago, and without realizing that we were Foodists or anyone other than any regular guest, the General Manager Jeff Hanson came to our table after our meal with an offer of complimentary dessert items they were featuring on their lunch menu and asked how our meal had been—which had been terrific of course.

When he offered his personal business card, I reciprocated, handing my work card (not Foodists card), and the very next day Jeff emailed, thanking us for coming in and inviting us back again soon. Not because we were food writers, just because he genuinely cared and took the time to express his welcome.

Another time we were eating with a large group in the large private dining area and Yew’s talented chef, Oliver Beckert, sent over a couple of plates of his smoked mashed potatoes, which the staff had remembered that I was crazy about (seriously, you have to try this stuff—it’s magic). He came by to say hello in person and make sure everybody was happy—oh, we were downright giddy of course!

The staff at Yew treat their guests like they genuinely care—quite a contrast to the attitudes of servers in some of their “fine dining” competitors in Vancouver (most of which cost much more too).

Beyond the terrific food, drinks, ambiance or even service, what makes a really great restaurant dinning experience? Some might describe it as context, such as the mood you’re in that night. Sure, that’s fair. But I tend to be in a pretty good mood when I’m out for dinner, don’t you? I think beyond context, it is the magic created when a place starts to take on an authentic personality of its own. And this is often done through storytelling, and Yew is an excellent example of this.

We’ve gotten to know one waiter over the months who’s worked at Yew for more than two decades. One night he told us about the relationships he’d forged with regular clientele who generously support him in raising funds that he uses to build schools in impoverished communities in his home country of Morocco. Powerful stuff.

Another staff members sat us at “Mr. Segal’s table”, explaining that Vancouver entrepreneur and philanthropist Joseph Segal ate lunch at his own table every day when the restaurant was known as Chartwell’s. But after the renovations and renaming to Yew, he came less frequently, complaining that the smaller tables bothered him as they impeded his ability to spread out his papers and keep working while dining. The restaurant quickly had a new table made that at first glance looks just like the others, but on closer inspection is 7″ wide both directions. I’ve eaten at this table a couple times and it somehow feels special when you sit at Mr. Segal’s table.

Now that’s storytelling. That’s Yew.

I’m not a big fan of food bloggers running their mouth after an initial visit to a restaurant (and really hate those that seem to dole out positive reviews for free meals…). Getting a sense of a place takes time as they have bad days and evolve and change over time, but since rediscovering Yew a few months ago, I’ve eaten there numerous times with my wife, friends, family, clients and even with international dignitaries—foodies all.

I am happy to go on record to say that Yew has been one of our favourite places to dine in Vancouver in 2010.

So why did I wait so long to write sharing this worship with you all? Well, to be honest, I sometimes fear that if word gets out that a place is making wonderful food and pouring terrific wine at great prices, the wrong kind of crowd would fill the place and I wouldn’t want to go anymore. But join me for dinner at Yew tonight and let’s make sure that never happens! Shall we dine at Mr. Segal’s table?

YEW restaurant + bar is located in the Four Seasons Hotel Vancouver
791 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6C 2T4
Phone: 604.692.4939 for reservations or use Open Table.
web: http://www.fourseasons.com/vancouver/dining/yew_restaurant.html

Barbecue Champion Rockin' Ronnie Shewchuk slices BBQ Tri Tip to "oooohs..." and "aaaahs..." from the crowd.

Congratulations to our friend Rockin’ Ronnie Shewchuk for his success with the weekly BBQ at Fairmont Pacific Rim‘s  Lobby Lounge Patio.

I got to taste samples of the all-you-can-eat buffet they are featuring for $19.95 every Sunday—and let me tell you, considering it includes pulled pork, fresh bread, beans, amazing tidewater coleslaw, potato salad and grilled pineapple with Mexican caramel sauce, that is a real bargain.

This is world-class barbecue. In fact, it’s the very same stuff that won Rockin’ Ronnie the honour of leading the first ever Canadian BQ team to victory at a major US BBQ competition.

I know where I’m having lunch next Sunday, how about you?

Recently my friend Ryan and I mustered the nerve to meet at “The Bull” for dinner. And you know what? It was good! I know! It wasn’t fancy like a visit to Ruth’s Chris or Gotham, but we enjoyed the old school steak served with baked potato or fries plus salad or veggies.

Pepper steak, served with sautéd mushrooms and veggies, plus fresh cut fries and garlic toast—oh, and soup to start. Not bad for twelve bucks.

The signs outside the decrepit looking building, with their loud and proud offer of “Prime rib dinner for only $8.95!” have always made it seem like a place for penny-pinchers, not those interested in a good cut of meat. And really, is a good deal on beef really such a good deal later on when you pay the price? Nuff said.

Once inside however, one of the first things I noticed is that they serve only Alberta Grade A beef. Hmm. The only person in the clean but unadorned dining room was an old Chinese woman named Linda. When asked about the restaurant, she rambled on for minutes in her thick Cantonese accent about how she and the cook had been there for over 25 years, and how before that the line cook had been grilling up steaks at Black Angus for 17 years. With an additional 6 years before that even, this adds up to 48 years in the kitchen over a hot grill. That would explain why when I asked for my pepper steak to be medium rare, it was indeed medium rare. Exactly right in fact.

The old cook has been on the grill, making steak "the right way" for 48 years.

Folks like Chowhound have called this place “a strange relic,” going so far as to describe the clientele as “an odd mix of truckers, tattooed longshoremen, prostitutes, and slumming hipsters.” Now that may be so, but I don’t it’s fair to write this place off entirely. Perhaps I like “sketch” more than most (I think I do), but I enjoyed its kitschy diner-style ambiance appealing compared to the generic Keg vibe we’ve come to expect from typical steakhouses. You could shoot an entire movie using this restaurant as a backdrop.

Sure, the ingredients weren’t über high-end, and the preparation wouldn’t win any awards, but  I quite enjoyed the humanity of Brave Bull’s House of Steaks. It was comfortable, we were treated well, and our reasonably priced steak dinners ($32 total for two!) were delicious. And that’s no bull.

The dining room is more like a diner than a steak restaurant, but it has tons of old school charm. These two Chinese young people were there on a date.

For some photos of our trip, check out my Brave Bull set on Flickr. Oh, one last thing. They only accept cash apparently.

PS – One bit of interesting trivia about the Brave Bull is that the logo was designed by famous Canadian design icon Jim Rimmer, apparently in exchange for a case of chicken burgers! Awesome.

I loves me a good cupcake. Don’t you? There’s something slightly less guilty about eating a couple (or six) little cupcakes compared to stuffing your face with a thick slab of moist chocolate cake smothered..with…rich….butter…..icing……ooooooooooohhhhhhh—oops sorry, sorta lost myself there for a second.

Anyway, I am honoured to have been asked to serve as a judge of the upcoming 1st Annual Vancouver Cupcake Challenge happening on Sunday, June 20th at the Roundhouse in Yaletown. Competition is said to be healthy, but a cupcake competition is a wholly different situation.

I’m a little worried about eating a billion calories in one sitting—I don’t want one night of glorious cupcake delight to cause the onset of type 2 diabetes! But I hope they don’t want me to spit like they do at wine tastings—that always seems so wrong. That should be a rule: you just don’t spit out good cupcake. Ever.

Speaking of rules, I’m taking my role as judge seriously and have been thinking about what criteria cupcakes should be judged on. I like the idea of judging originality, with decoration and presentation key factors of course. What about frosting style? Or more importantly, cake to frosting ratio? Obviously texture and moistness of the cake itself is very important, but what about the wrapper removal or “crumbiness” of the cupcake? No one likes a cupcake that’s hard to get at or one that falls apart all over your favourite shirt. I think this calls for some pre-event cupcake research? Anyone want to help?

Please join me to taste Vancouver’s very best cupcakes and help choose the People’s Choice Award. Admission to the event is FREE, and apparently there are doorprizes too!

What Vancouver’s 1st Cupcake Challenge
Where Roundhouse Community Centre in Yaletown
When June 20th, 2010 11:00am – 3:30pm
Info http://www.eventbrite.com/event/701084964

UPDATE

Yesterday was the event and it was a success from where I sat at the judges’ table. There were over 1100 attendees and they even had to close an hour early because all the vendors sold out of cupcakes! Among the cupcake vendors represented were Big City Cupcakes, Bon Gateau, Pink Sugar Cupcakery, Indulgence, Cupcake Couture, Frosting Cupcakery and Baker’s Market.

The judges were challenged to rate the following cupcake flavours, based on taste (10 points), presentation (5 points) and originality (5 points):

Strawberry Cheesecake (Big City Cupcakes)
Double Chocolate (Bon Gateau)
Oreo (Cake Tease),
Vanilla with maple/caramel swirl (Cupcake Couture)
Neopolitan (Frostings)
Lemon and Vanilla (Indulgence)
Root Beer Float (Pink Sugar Cupcakery)

The winning entries were as follows:

Vancouver’s Best Cupcake Food Bloggers’ Choice – Big City Cupcakes’ Strawberry Cheesecake
Vancouver’s Best Cupcake People’s Choice – Frostings Cupcakery’s Neopolitan
Vancouver’s Best Cupcake Judges’ Choice – Frostings Cupcakery’s Neopolitan

Congratulations to Mijune and Nicole Marie Events for producing a terrific event.

NFA chefs work in the background preparing their culinary creations for guests. On the wall to the right you can see a chalkboard describing the six course set menu.

Everyone has by now heard of the trend of underground restaurants. There are those who swear by it and others who argue that it’s a bad idea. I say bring it on. I love the challenge of entertaining group dinner parties and if my friends invited some cool people who showed up with their beverage of choice, and were willing to compensate me for my costs and time, why not? Why should we hide that?

Recently a select few Vancouver foodies were invited to sample some culinary offerings from one of Vancouver’s first underground restaurants, NFA, short for No Fixed Address. Hidden in an apartment *somewhere* in Vancouver, chef Steve and sous chef Damian wanted us to sample and comment on new menu items—an assignment I was glad to accept.

From the moment we walked in I knew this was something special. Having already had a couple of these “underground” dining experiences under my belt, I was familiar with the routine and was already making comparisons to previous encounters. There was something more polished and refined about chef Steve’s operation than I expected—it felt almost mainstream, but in a good way (if that makes any sense).

Soy and ginger marinated salmon with Thai basil on lime chili creme fraiche atop a thin slice of Asian pear. OMG.

Like any underground restaurant I suppose, NFA is for those who’ve lost interest in flashy, pretentious dining, but still want memorable culinary experiences lovingly crafted by passionate gastronomes. NFA’s dining room (an apartment living room) was comfortable, flickering candlelight creating a warm ambiance, and the direct interaction with the host chefs, who double as your servers, gave the evening a genuine and intimate feeling.

NFA's medley of marinated squid with various preparations, some stuffed with three types of chorizo, and some battered and fried crispy.

NFA’s set menu of six courses served over a couple of hours was a balanced combination of fresh, local ingredients prepared with Asian and Mediterranean flavours in perfect harmony. At first glance a few of the dishes seemed to border on pretentious while avoiding the stacked towers of precariously balanced items surrounded by meticulous squeeze bottle dribbles. After initial bites of each dish, it became obvious why such care was given to their presentation.

NFA's Crab & scallop cake. One of the best crab cakes I've ever eaten. Not kidding.

I’ve been to a few of these now and have hosted something similar myself, so I can say with confidence that chef Steve has created something special with NFA and I recommend everyone try it for themselves. “But it’s an underground restaurant!” you say? No problem. Look up NFA on Facebook, chef Steve at 778-847-3853 or email him at bookings@nfa-reservations.com and he’ll hook you up with a chance to dine with him yourself.

I guess underground dining isn’t so underground anymore.

[Note: for more photos from my NFA underground dining experience, visit this Flickr set]

Hosted by the South Okanagan Wine Association each year, Banée was modeled after Burgundy’s famed Banée de Meursault, a wine industry celebration that marks the end of pruning and the beginning of a new season.

Originally a small gathering of South Okanagan winery owners and winemakers enjoying a wine-focused, no-frills forum to taste local and international wines, exchange ideas and share meals, the Banée has grown and word has spread but the concept remains the same.

As a member of the invited food media, the weekend started on Friday with a private dinner and tasting at Passa Tempo Restaurant at Spirit Ridge, followed by a Culinaria celebration at the host hotel Watermark Beach Resort with tastings, exhibitors, an Iron Chef competition and even an auction.

Saturday started with an interesting breakfast discussion about how social media could be used to benefit and grow the South Okanagan wine industry followed by a whirlwind media tour of some of the South Okanagan’s best vineyards. It was like having a backstage pass, giving us a rare glimpse behind the scenes at the wineries and allowing us to meet and get to know the personalities behind the South Okanagan’s success—many of whom are simply hard-working farmers.

After a terrific lunch at Walnut Beach Resort (ohhhh, the pepper bacon sandwich…) and wine discussion where we literally got to give feedback directly to the winemakers themselves, there was a dizzying “speed tasting” event. (Note to self: spit your wine out next time, no matter how good it tastes).

The Banée wrapped up with a gala dinner at Spirit Ridge featuring exquisite food and wine from all over the South Okanagan and was filled with joviality and a sense of community.

Thanks to my friend Sid Cross and the South Okanagan Wine Association for inviting me to participate in this rare event. Banée 2010 has left me with some great memories I will cherish forever. And more importantly, I know have a much better understanding of what makes the South Okanagan area so unique and its wine so good. The secret? The people. Well, that and their passion for quality wine and hard work they’re willing to dedicate to that pursuit.

Click here to view photos from Banée 2010.

[NOTE: This is a preliminary report and I will update, revise and add more details and images of interest in the next day or so. I promise the title of this post will make more sense then. Thanks for your interest.]

I’d already eaten at both Vancouver locations of Provence before (Marinaside is a great place for weekend brunch in summer), and I enjoyed each experience, so when the lovely PR powerhouse Nancy Wong invited me to dine with some of the city’s culinary elite, I knew there was only one answer: yes please!

I like fish when it’s done well, but that’s the trick isn’t it? You can muck up fish faster than Anthony Bourdain can drink a shot of snake blood rice wine—wait, what? Anyway, I was looking forward to seeing what Executive Chef Jean-Francis Quaglia had in store, and curious to find out what all the hoopla about their fish celebration was about.

With varying tales of its origin, the French have their own quirky version of April Fools’ Day called Poisson d’Avril (literally April’s Fish) where people welcome spring with a little fun and some practical jokes, such as sticking paper cut-outs of fish to friends’ backs without them noticing. They could walk around for hours before someone finally points and yells “Poisson d’Avril!”, exposing the victim. The fun lasts the whole month of April, with restaurants, patissiers and chocolatiers, serving fish-shaped treats to customers with a giggle. Oh those French, such clever tricksters.

When I arrived at Provence Marinaside, a quaint French restaurant tucked along the eastern edge of Yaletown next to False Creek, I found the dining room decorated with adorable child-like drawings of fish. Huddled in the corner was a growing crowd of the who’s who of Vancouver’s food scribes, and as I joined them I was welcomed with an offering of two rosé options, one from the BC Okanagan, the other from France—I sampled both of course, preferring the Hester Creek actually.

As I chatted with old friends and introduced myself to many foodies I’d only ever known from their writing, I felt a soft tap on my back. A quick glance behind revealed nothing in particular, save for a waitress setting a table. Then I noticed the paper fish stuck unknowingly on the backs of virtually everyone in the busy dining room and realized the games had begun. Would a child run through the crowd yelling “Poisson d’Avril!” soon?

When dinner was served, I found myself at a table with my old friend Rhonda May of CityFood. Across from me sat the bon vivant Sid Cross and his charming wife Jane. Beside me sat food writer Judith Lane, Vancouver Magazine‘s Christina Burridge, and Paul Kamon from Urban Diner. At the next table was another group of food fanatics, including Vancouver Foodster Richard Wolak, George Froehlich of Savvy Insider, Cassandra Anderton of Good Life Vancouver, Michael Schratter of 24hrs, freelance food writers Jason McRobbie and Raj Taneja, and fellow Foodist Melody Fury, founder of Vancouver Food Tour.

Halibut Cheek Confit with snow pea sprouts, piquillo peppers and tapenade crostini.

As the dishes started to arrive, starting with halibut cheek confit followed by a duo of smoked fish, we feverishly started to dismantle the plates before us. Not surprisingly, by the time we’d finished our mackerel façon bouillabase and were served our entrées, conversation had turned to cooking, wine and recent culinary exploits. I loved the food, although like any great meal, it was the lively conversation with good humoured, like-minded people that made the experience so memorable.

Duo of Smoked Tuna and Salmon with pearl onions, gherkins and mixed greens.

Entrée options included citrus dusted wild salmon served with asparagus and fingerling potatoes, halibut with dried plum vinaigrette with saffron potatoes and green beans, and baked sardines with Mediterranean vinaigrette, farro, arugula and spinach. There was also a daily whole fish option of sea bream served with seasonal vegetables and seven grain rice, and a pan fried sablefish on a bed of snow pea sprouts, piquillo peppers, shaved fennel, orange, and black olive essence.

Mackerel Façon Bouillabase with poached mackerel, saffron rouile and gruyère cheese.

Ever the sucker for black cod, I ordered the sablefish and was not disappointed. The sweet, oily flesh was highlighted by the mild citrus and anise flavours. The pea sprouts and olive drizzle provided a savoury counterpoint to the buttery fish, and the Hester Creek rosé provide a lift that reminded me that summer was on its way.

Sablefish with snow pea sprouts, shaved fennel, orange and black olive essence from Provence Marinaside.

Another advantage of sitting at a table with fellow food loonies, was the swapping of samples from one another’s plates. Rhonda May’s sea bream was delicate and fresh, while Paul Kamon’s sardine dish was confident and packed with flavour. It seemed these two ordered food that reflected their personalities—wait, what does ordering a fatty fish say about me? I enjoyed the complexity of my sablefish choice, but after sampling a number of the offerings, I’d have to say I would order the baked sardines on my next visit.

So, did I feel compelled to write this glowing report because they comped me the meal? Well, kind of to be very honest, but you know what? It was good and they deserve the praise. The set menu is terrific value, the Ocean Wise fish offerings were delightful and the service was warm and friendly.

I will offer one criticism to keep me honest though. Sadly typical of many restaurants in this city, the website for Provence Marinaside (and its sister restaurant Provence on West 10th) is rather unfortunate—frankly it’s unbearable and needs a complete makeover. (I know someone they can talk to when they’re ready to make their online marketing match their cuisine.)

As the evening wound down and I prepared to leave, our effervescent host Nancy giggled as she reminded me about the long forgotten paper fish taped to my back. On it was a 20% off coupon good at Provence Marinaside—now that’s an April Fools’ joke even my jaded food writer friend would approve of—regardless of who paid the bill!

The Poisson d’Avril celebration continues throughout the entire month of April, featuring a choice of appetizer, entrée and dessert for $45 per person. While you’re there, enter the contest to win a cooking class for two with Chefs Alessandra and Jen-Francis Quaglia in your own home!

Provence Marinaside is located at 1177 Marinaside Crescent (just around the corner from Urban Fare), Vancouver, BC; 604-681-4144 www.provencevancouver.com/marinaside
Reservations

Of course there are wonderful memories of food which can lead a person down a path, like the first time I tried dim sum and tasted a coconut bun back in the mid-70s with my mother’s work friend Mai Mah in what was then a thriving Vancouver Chinatown. I am now a voracious Chinese food consumer. Or how children go hunting with their fathers or uncles, leading them to appreciate where food comes from and respect the fact that an animal—or a plant if you get right down to it—gave up its life for your sustenance and enjoyment.

Everyone who knows me knows that I eat meat. Lots of it. Too much probably. Heck, I even have a t-shirt with the title of this post “Meat Is Murder” emblazoned across the chest, with “Tasty, tasty murder” in smaller letters beneath. But few probably realize that I come from a prairie farm family, where like many young kids, grew quite fond of animals like cows, pigs, horses and even chickens. And one particular incident is forever burned into my memory—one that could easily have turned me off eating meat forever.

When I was young, we would travel back to Manitoba to visit family over the summer holidays. My mother, sister and I would often stay at Uncle Henry and Auntie Shelley’s farm. What could be better for a kid who’d moved to the big city when he was five? Feeding the chickens and collecting eggs in the morning, taunting the sheep and cows in the fields in the afternoon, and horseback riding whenever we felt the urge. I even became so enamored with the big sow and her newly-birthed piglets, that the adults found me sound asleep beside her in the mud and poop filled pen one afternoon.

I wasn’t a foolish child. I was a prairie kid, and although I hadn’t been hunting or involved in a slaughter yet, I knew where food came from. In fact, I distinctly remember helping Uncle Henry get those same piglets ready for castration and the horrible shrill squealing they made as their manhood was sliced away in one clean motion. But that isn’t the scarring memory I’m about to share.

My Uncle Henry can be such a jerk. Oh I love him of course, and he’s actually really funny, possessing a charisma that is undeniable. As a young boy, he was someone I thought represented a ‘real man’ and looked up to him, but he was also quite impatient and cruel at times. And he didn’t suffer fools. For as long as I remember, it’s been his way or the highway. Period. No debate.

One afternoon, as the warm summer sun began to set on another lazy day in what in my mind has, over the years, gelled into a homogenized memory of farm life perfection, my uncle gave me a holler to come help him with something. This wasn’t unusual and I was ever keen to earn my uncle’s respect as a farm hand. Into the yard I ran, to discover him with an axe in one hand, and a large chicken in the other. Between us, like an ominous plinth of death, sat a large section of tree trunk. This was obviously a chopping block as it was stained red with the evidence of previous encounters.

“It’s time you became a man,” said Uncle Henry, “it’s your turn to help with supper.” He explained that he would hold the bird, still very much alive, but oddly subdued hanging from his large leathery hands, and I was to make one confident swing of the axe, severing the bird’s neck, killing it instantly. I knew how this went. I wasn’t afraid. I could do it. I was ready.

I lofted the heavy weapon to my shoulder as Henry positioned our victim on the stump, which oddly just lay there, like a virgin willingly surrendering herself on a sacrificial altar. The farm was grew quiet, or perhaps I had become temporarily deafened by the sound of blood rushing in my ears. This was really happening.

After a deep breath, I heaved and swung the axe, landing a clean blow as instructed. At that precise moment however, my uncle jumped back quickly, releasing the chicken from his hold. The bird’s headless body suddenly became animated, running straight at me—still standing there, axe in hand—spraying blood upward, onto itself and onto me. It frantically ran in circles, but silently all the while, bumping into objects in the farmyard until finally slumping to a final resting place against the house, twitching pathetically.

It was then that the sound returned and I heard the howling laughter from the window above the dead foul. A window that I now saw framed my mother, my aunt, my sister, and a bunch of my cousins. Uncle Henry was beside himself with glee, laughing historically. His plan to make me a “real man” evidently a success. And I was the evening’s entertainment.

To this day I can see that yard and feel the headless bird as it bumped into my leg. Somehow, miraculously, I managed to keep my composure and even help prep the bird and enjoyed it’s roasted flesh for supper that late summer evening. It was 1979 and I was ten years old.

I still eat foul, even though—perhaps especially because—I know exactly where my food comes from. In years to come I would accompany Uncle Henry on hunting excursions, and even help down a dear and prepare its meat for storage over the cold winter months.

I relish those memories of the farm and I still enjoy a good horseback ride, although these days one of my favourite red meats is horse. Go figure. In fact, this reminds me of our good friends at Cutter Ranch in Clinton, BC. Our second batch of grass-fed, un-medicated lambs are nearing slaughter age, and a bunch of Foodists are again going to butcher an animal ourselves, like we did with a pig called Wanda. Pictured below is Cutter Ranch owner Tyler McNaughton holding Angus 2, a three month old monster that is remarkably over 100lbs. She’s scheduled to fall to the hands of the Butchers of Gastown on May 15th. Stay tuned for an account of that, including pictures and video.

What early memories, good or bad, do you have of food experiences?

Travel is often defined by memories of food. Perhaps it’s the multi-sensory aspect of the experience, but it’s often the meals and snacks we try when on an adventure to some far away place that stick with us the longest. If the myriad of blogs and online banter about its food culture is any indication, Vancouver is a wonderful place to visit, ripe with memories for the making.

With so many people arriving in Vancouver this month for the 2010 Winter Olympics, followed by numerous designers converging this spring for Design Currency: Icograda Design Week Vancouver 2010, many will be wondering where to eat while in town. This brief overview should give new visitors some ideas where to go.

Continue reading Designer Eating in Vancouver.

Discovery

A few weeks ago, food writer Alexandra Gill wrote in a Globe And Mail article that Divino WineBar was “her favourite restaurant of 2009″. OK, what? Divino? The place on Commercial Drive next to the Italian Gelatria Dolce Amore? Huh?

Divino WineBar opened last year after lengthy renovations that saw the gelato shop move from its prime corner location, giving way for what looked to be another wine bar with charcuterie and cheese offerings similar to Salt or Au Petit Chavignol. At first I thought it was a welcome addition to the neighbourhood in which I live and I had high hopes, but they soon faded.

Saying that first couple visit “did not impress” is being kind. Nothing seemed organized, the server was a vegetarian and knew nothing about the meats she was serving us, and the wine list was generic, uninspired and over-priced. A second visit was more of the same, except now there were LCD televisions blazing away, attracting an unsavory and frankly unwelcome downtown & Yaletown crowd. One more failed visit led me to abandon all hope. In retrospect, I’m surprised I, or any of my Foodists compatriots, didn’t write up a scathing review of the place.

But then this glowing article by Ms. Gill, whose opinions I have found hit and miss, but it inspired a few of us to go back and let me tell you: she speaks the truth! David Fert is a master sommelier and has a unique talent for pairing wines, and chef Jefferson Alvarez is nothing less than a genius. We tried as many dishes as we could, seeking the flaws or exaggerations in Ms. Gill’s account or her experiences—couldn’t do it. The room is now cozy and genuine, the food is playful and passionately prepared (how does he do that in that tiny kitchen?) and the wine is superb. You could really lose control in a place like this. I’m a little worried that it is so close to my apartment…

If Foodists had a rating scale, we’d be awarding Divino Wine Bar five floating Buddhas. Go there. Now. You won’t be disappointed.

Destruction

The weekend was shaping up well and Andrea and I happened to be standing by our living room window when we heard the terrible sound of screeching as an auto accident unfolded before us. A car, headed northbound on Victoria Drive, was struck from the side and spun around in front of us, only then to take off at full throttle southbound. We watched in horror as the terrified driver and passenger ran up the curb, over a sign, missed a fire hydrant by inches and ran straight through the wall of South China Seas at the corner of Grant and Victoria.

South China Seas is one of the Foodists favourite food importers in Vancouver, and the Victoria location was in fact where the collective officially launched back in 2008, so you perhaps you can picture me, standing with my hands on the glass yelling to the driver below “No, no, no! Brake! Hit the brake! Stop! Stop! Don’t hit my store!!” to no avail.

I was the first one on the scene, calling 911 as I ran, and found the driver of the car—which was still on, transmission engaged and wheels spinning—pulling her friend from the wreckage, followed by what looked like her groceries! After getting her and her passenger, who seemed rather injured, to lie down and showing some people how to administer C-spine immobilization, I ran into the store.

I’ll never forget what I found inside. The owners, Don and Joyce, weren’t there at the time of the accident, and their employee Mayumi, was standing in shock moaning and crying. The store looked like it had been destroyed by a bomb blast. The area where she had been standing was gone—literally buried under heavy rubble. How she escaped with only a bruise on her wrist I’ll never fully comprehend, but she explained that when she heard the screeching of tires, she turned around and began to walk the length of the deli cabinet when the wall beside her burst inward, sending dozens of bottles of sauces, shelving, and shards of glass flying. Apparently she dove through the passage beneath the counter beside the cash register and out of harms way. Amazing.

Thankfully no one was badly injured during this terrible accident, but it comes at a bad time for South China Seas. Owner Don Dickson says “This is a huge blow and it is difficult at this point to even take it in.” They are now faced with rebuilding much of the store, which may take months and their kitchen, in which they host cooking classes and prepare many of their products, was damaged.

To further complicate things, Dickson explained that since Granville Island (location of their other location) was being turned into an Olympics venue, they were counting on the East Van store as an option for Public Market customers who couldn’t access the Island. “We were even contemplating a delivery service so that orders from Oyama, Tenderland, Armando’s, The Salmon Shop and so on could be picked up at Victoria Drive.” says Dickson.

What Can We Do About It?

Plenty. Small businesses like Divino Wine Bar and South China Seas are part of the fabric of East Van—its what makes our neighbourhoods great. Let’s get out there and support these people. Next time you are considering a nice meal out, call David at Divino and tell him the Foodists sent you. And when shopping for your next meal at home, muscle your way through the Olympics crowds and show Don and Joyce your loyalty at their Granville Island Store until they can rebuild and re-open the Victoria location. Send them an email and send them your support and promise to spread the word about the greatest little import food store in Vancouver. Let’s bury them with our business and turn this accident into a tremendous PR moment for them.

Photos from the accident can be viewed on Flickr and a video tour of the wreckage can be seen on YouTube.

Last night I was pleased to attend the first Salt Cellar Tasting Series of 2010, featuring Oyama Sausage Company and Vista D’Oro Farms & Winery. John van der Leick, owner of Vancouver’s favourite provider of local artisanal charcuterie and sausage, regaled the crowded room with stories about the passion and care that goes into each product made by Oyama. Vista D’Oro owner, Patrick Murphy, was also present to explain the background and craft that goes into each of their unique, hand-crafted wines and spirits.

Patrick introduced Vista D’Oro to the group by expressing his family’s dedication to old world fruit growing and wine making techniques. Likewise, John told a story about how his family has been making ham and sausage for five generations and Oyama was started by his uncle. Both men expressed their dedication to artisanal practices, explaining that for them it essentially meant avoiding shortcuts and using ancient ways to produce the best results possible—often by hand, at greater expense, and resulting in products with shorter shelf lives than modern methods. John and Patrick both understood that their businesses would not likely ever become large, hyper-profitable corporations as a result, but as John’s uncle once said, “It is better to be a small boss, than a big slave.” I liked the magic combination of passion and humility both these craftsmen exuded.

The tastings began with with ’08 Gewürztraminer and Pinot Noir ’07 paired with Tuscan Wild Boar Salami and Bayonne Ham respectfully. The gewürz was light and fresh, which complimented the sweet, gamey boar, and the pinot, aged in old French oak for 11 months, was surprisingly robust. The third pairing was a cocky little Merlot ’08 made by “a passionate Italian in Oliver” matched with a Lonzo, which melted in your mouth.

As the next round of tastings got under way, John told another story, this time about the quality and health benefits of old-world meat preservation, sharing his favourite Italian proverb: “It is better to spend your money at a good butchers than at the doctor’s.” Amen to that. I got the impression that I could sit for hours listening to his stories about and opinions about food, such as his claim that since Rob Feenie’s disappearance from the scene, Vancouver has no real star chefs, leaving room for others to move in. He also claims that no one in Vancouver has really mastered the ceviche!

The second round of pairings included a brand new Syrah ’07, which had been siphoned off the barrels only six hours before we tasted it. He was quite literally sharing with us the experience of testing a wine before bottling, trying to determine whether it was ready yet. With notes of white pepper, citrus and a noticeable alcohol component, it matched nicely with the deep red sherry beef from Oyama. The next in this flight was completely different and shockingly original—something Vista D’Oro calls a Pinto Noix. Which is literally their pinot noir which has spent ten days on top of the green walnut husks used to make their D’Oro walnut wine. More like a sherry than a conventional wine, the Pinot Noix (noix is French for nuts) paired spectacularly with Oyama’s duck liver mousse. Oh my gosh, if you’ve never tried this duck liver mousse, you haven’t lived. Trust me. And finally, we all tried some of Patrick’s famous D’Oro fortified walnut wine, which drinks more like a port as it’s been aged in brandy casks for nine months and blended with frosch, merlot and cab franc. It was perfectly twinned by a sausage containing nuts. Delish.

A final surprise of the night came as Patrick poured a new product of his—a fortified plum wine called Cyprianna based on an old family recipe and made from the fruit trees planted along the driveway on their farm. In fact, as a young boy Patrick apparently learned to make this drink from his grandfather. Let me tell you friends, after a glorious night of wonderful complementary flavours, this drink stood alone. It’s combination of mildly strong alcohol matched with a wonderful plum flavour and the sexy burnt orange colour made it the perfect dessert drink. I longed for more and was pleased to learn it would soon be available in liquor stores.

To summarize the evening I would use the word ‘authenticity’ to describe the company, the room, the service, and especially these two men who came together to bring us wonderful meats and wines to sample. To be fair, there were a selection of cheeses and condiments too, but these weren’t really the evening’s main acts. The atmosphere was jovial, with people introducing themselves to strangers beside or across from them, and if the moans (literally) issuing forth as people first tasted something is any indication, everyone had a good time indeed. The room itself was a bit too crowded for my liking, my friend and I feeling rather claustrophobic in the dimly lit cellar, but meeting Patrick and John, hearing their stories and tasting their pairings easily made up for it. It was a wonderful experience in artisanal authenticity, and a wonderful reminder of the minor renaissance we’re experiencing in the BC food industry. I’m grateful for dedicated companies like Vista D’Oro and Oyama for doing what they do and hope they never stop.

Apron modelled by Foodists Editor, Degan Beley

This post was supposed to be a review of the recent Night With Theo Chocolate event at The Refinery in Vancouver, but the event’s organizer and host Eagranie—a fellow Foodist—beat me to it, posting a terrific recap on her personal blog The Well Tempered Chocolatier. Needless to say, the room was packed, the Theo Chocolate was delicious, and the Farmstead Wines were perfectly paired. So I won’t write up a long-winded review of that event.

Instead, I’m going to write about why I love being a member of Foodists.

As we approach the one year anniversary since the official launch of Foodists, it feels like I’ve been part of something special. It really doesn’t matter how this community began, it’s become much more than a blog or a club. There are many aspects of being a Foodist, such as the wonderful food we make and eat together, the culinary events we host or get invited to, the amazing wine we drink and stories and recipes we share with each other, but my favourite thing about the Foodists are the Foodists themselves.

Foodists.ca is made up of some of the highest calibre people I know and I’m proud to call every one of them friends.

I don’t remember exactly when it happened, but our little food blog morphed from a place to post articles about some dish we made, some restaurant we discovered, or an event we attended, into something much more than that. To me, Foodists  feels more like a collective of like-minded and loyal friends than merely taste bud-obsessed culinary junkies.

When I consider what it is that I like so much about these people, I am struck by a number of things. Beyond being intelligent and articulate, Foodists are creative people, open-minded and willing to take risks and try new things. These people know who they are and what they like, and each of them are keen to embrace life and relish sharing experiences with others. Foodists are willing to invest the effort, hard work and expense to experience something special, yet they are surprisingly generous.

Coming from different backgrounds, with varying interests and education, Foodists are passionate people spread across cities such as Toronto, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Victoria and of course Vancouver. Many have never even met in person, yet correspond as though they know each other well.

In fact, the word passion is a good way to describe what Foodists are about. Every member of this collective seems to squeeze as much out of life as they can, and I find that inspiring.

Although many of our contributors have their own businesses, some in the food industry, there is very little self-promotion on Foodists.ca, and no one is getting paid. We write together for the same reason we eat together—because we want to.

As one of the founders of this site, I am grateful for generous folks who shared our vision and helped get us to where we are today. There are so many stories and examples of the generosity and dedication shown, such as those who loaned us their strategic and technical web brilliance to make the site happen. Or those who continue to provide content and editorial leadership, ensuring the site achieves and maintains a high quality level. Nearly every Foodist has at some point helped organize, coordinate, photograph or even host an event over the past year. Finally, many members have generously provided food, wine, or even their cooking skills for special events. And all the while, each member contributes to the growing collection of stories, reviews, recipes and recommendations that makes Foodists.ca so popular. Did I mention no one is getting paid?

I could continue, but I think I’ve made my point. And this community continues to expand, with new members joining the collective recently, each bringing their own perspective and insights to the group.

A final thought about the members of Foodists that may be obvious to the reader by now—these people work as hard as they play. These are people who get things done and I respect that a lot.

One example of that hard work was the recent Night With Theo Chocolate event mentioned above, which Eagranie put together with the help of some friends and sponsors. But make no mistake, this event was hard work and she poured her heart and soul into it, and it showed. She is a fine example of what it is to be a Foodist and I’m proud to know her.

The Foodists collective is more than a group that unites lovers of food and wine, and its community is made up of more than just those who view food as more than merely nutrition. We adore food. We get off on food. Food is life, and these people understand that life takes work. Life is sometimes expensive. Life is fleeting and best enjoyed in the moment. Life is to be shared. And I love sharing food and life with my fellow Foodists.

I hope everyone reading this is lucky enough to have friends who enjoy food and life as much as we do as Foodists. Consider hosting a Foodists-inspired event of your own and tell us about it. Send photos and a description so we can share it with others.

A warm welcome to our new Guest Contributor, Pailin Chongchitnant! Pailin (pronounced “pie-lin”) is from Thailand, but currently lives in San Francisco and studies at the California Culinary Academy. She’s a hardcore Foodist who appreciates all manner of cuisine, though her passion for Thai culture has never faded, so her latest hobby is self-producing a YouTube cooking show “Hot Thai Kitchen,” where she teaches the art of real Thai cuisine online. Check out Pailin’s first Foodist post about farmers markets in San Fran, and stay tuned for more.