When I first pitched this idea to Alec in December, it seemed obvious that we should do it. Consume all of Vanmag’s “25 things to taste before you die” in one day.

It sounded like an all too perfect follow-up to our Porchetta Crawl. But after we had gone through the logistics and planning, we were both beginning to have our doubts. It felt about 6 meals and 10 locations too far. Even if it was possible to fit that much food in, could we actually make it to all our spots around the city before they closed?

The answer is one click away.

Video: 25 Things To Taste Before You Die

Surprisingly the day went far smoother than we expected. This was helped greatly by our dry run, a week before the shoot. We were able to stop by and chat with everybody, let them know of the insanity that was coming their way. Of course we sourced and cancelled out any potential duds on the list. (The ostrich sate did not make the cut!)

The stars of the show were definitely Fable’s Duck meatball and Suika’s Snackbar’s Rib Steak. But both restaurants delivered a second offering that was even tastier. The Canned Tuna that Trevor Bird concocted was nothing like we had ever tasted, reminiscent of a delicate tuna nicoise. Suika’s sweet sensation of a Short Rib fell off the bone and into our mouths so quickly, I’m glad we had one on our research trip. On the sweet front, Cadeaux Bakery and Chocolate Arts more than delivered, providing the necessary sugar rush to jumpstart our day.

One of the biggest surprises on the tour was Sofra’s Pide with their pomegranate beef turkish pizza with a fried egg on top, perfect for any breakfast, lunch or dinner. Woodland Smokehouse’s light and flaky jalapeño sausage roll redefined an old classic. And Nine Dishes provided not only the fastest and coldest beer, but a spicy sichuan cold chicken dish which easily trumped the sausage on the original list.

On the drink front, Jay Jones worked his magic, transforming Belvedere IX (a vodka that should have never happened) into the amazing Silk Purse. He then elevated PokPokSum’s Pineapple drinking vinegar to new heights in his Dos Piñas, videos for both are forthcoming. Matt Martin formally from the now closed Fat Dragon BBQ, brought back his JunMai Sour for us to sample at the Cascade Room, a tasty pink pearl of a drink that we hope will hit their regular menu.

It’s not often, or ever that you get a chance to vet an entire top 25 of anyone’s list. Although while we were left scratching our head on a few of the picks on the list, the discoveries we made along the way, made our Vancouver gastronomic journey simply amazing. It is a testament to the city we live in, that we have so many great food and beverage items to sample in just one day. Or more. Or less.

Let’s hope Vanmag doesn’t release a top 100 this year. Burp.

Gourmet vs Gourmand is a web series of culinary adventures shared by Alec and Johnathon. Over the past few years, the eating duo have ploughed through Choucroute at Le Crocodile, trekked through the wilds of North Carolina and West Broadway in search of BBQ, buried a lamb barbacoa in Alec’s backyard and gotten Lost in Robson’s Koreatown culture of meat and Karaoke. They are currently planning their next quest, GvsG: 8 1/2 Pizzas, due out this June.

How do you truly compare four different porchetta sandwiches from across Vancouver? Eat them all at the same lunch! To help burn off the 10,000+ calorie carbo load, it’s always good to throw in an exercise regime in the middle of it all. So do it all on bikes!

We set out on an adventure that would test our limits of pork absorption and pedal power. The Porchetta Crawl started on a simple need. The need to discover more about this delicious italian pork roast and the variations in taste and style that was on offer around town.

Starting with Moccia & Urbani’s homespun version that is only available on Saturdays, we biked through the city for stops at Big Lou’s, Meat & Bread and the Pronto Caffe.

The end result is the video you’re about to watch. Warning! Have a porchetta sandwich close by, you will be hungry.

The Porchetta Crawl

Gourmet vs Gourmand is a web series of culinary adventures shared by Alec and Johnathon. Over the past few years, the eating duo have ploughed through Choucroute at Le Crocodile, trekked through the wilds of North Carolina and West Broadway in search of BBQ, buried a lamb barbacoa in Alec’s backyard and gotten Lost in Robson’s Koreatown culture of meat and Karaoke. They are currently planning their next epic quest, GvsG: An Unexpected Journey, due out this spring.

I don’t want to poach too much from my piece, but it’s fair to say that I know my offal. I’ve worked with most pieces of most eaten animals, which has included boiling a pig’s head for headcheese, sautéing lamb kidneys, grinding chicken livers, peeling a cow tongue, pressing veal sweetbreads and searing succulent little duck hearts.

One thing that is for sure: it’s a tricky to make a tough, iron-tasting or super-gelatinous piece of organ, trotter or cartilage taste delicious. So when it comes to eating it, it’s good to have low expectations.

But from the moment this array of charcuterie arrived, we had a feeling something magical was about to happen.

The main event

On it was house-made cured hog’s snout, beef heart tartare, porchetta di testa (rolled pig’s head), pancetta, smoked mackerel with potato and mackerel aoli, pancetta, duck prosciutto, and a pig skin bruschetta (yes, you read that correctly) done in a Sicilian style with capers, olives and tomato concasse. And that was just the proteins. Garniture included crostini, pickled red onions, carrots, cucumbers and eggs quick-pickled in beet vinegar.

Phew, right? It was so extensive it was hard to know where to start. But from our first bite of beef heart tartare (which was divine) it was clear that Vergen not only knows what he’s doing, but that he seriously respects his ingredients and knows how to work with offal.

The other magical thing with offal is what it can do for food costs in a kitchen. In fact, the crazy-sounding pig skin bruschetta was an exercise in improvisation from Vergen, who challenged one of his cooks to play with the often-discarded skin right before the platter came out. While the final result was a bit soggy, the idea behind the attempt was admirable. The lip-smacking gelatinous effect of the braised skin, cut with the astringency of capers and acid and served on grilled bread, was pretty delicious and certainly unexpected.

Most importantly, that plate helped to make a point, a point I’ll write about in Saltscapes in more detail, but one that I think goes thusly: in trying to eat local meat, in trying to eat sustainably, chefs have to be creative, they have to be smart, and they have to let the ingredients lead. Every item on that charcuterie plate was made with the above in mind, and perhaps more importantly, with love. It was obvious.

A brief tangent away from offal: this plate of smoked sturgeon arrived near the end of the meal, and at this point I was convinced Vegen was just showing off. Apparently the locally-raised fish came from an event he recently catered, and it sat on a bed of fermented cabbage with a garnish of green apple julienne. It was beautiful, precise and original.

Smoked New Brunswick sturgeon with sauerkraut and green apple julienne.

I hope Mr. Vergen is aware of how high he has set the bar for himself. Or maybe that’s the point.

Bocuse Team Canada 2013 - Chef Alex Chen, Commis Jack Beers, Coach Dan Olson

“The simpler the food, the harder it is to prepare it well. You want to truly taste what it is you’re eating. So that goes back to the trend of fine ingredients” – Joel Robuchon

“Only you can judge your life. You have to live up to your own expectations.” – Wolfgang Puck

“I’ve long believed that good food, good eating, is all about risk. Whether we’re talking about unpasteurized Stilton, raw oysters or working for organized crime ‘associates,’ food, for me has always been an adventure.” – Anthony Bourdain

“Perfection is the goal, excellence is the standard”

“Food is our common ground, a universal experience.” – James Beard

These are some of the inspirational quotes on the walls of the Bocuse d’Or Canadian team’s training kitchen. Located in the Railway Cafe in Gastown and built in 2012 to the same size specifications as the actual Bocuse competition kitchens, it is Bocuse Canada’s first permanent training space and was where Chef Alex Chen and Commis Jack Beers were intensely practicing for the past year until a week before the main Bocuse d’Or competition happens on January 29 and 30. As in previous years, the Bocuse d’Or takes place in Lyon, France and is one of the highlight events of SIRHA, an enormous trade exhibition for international hotel, food and hospitality industry.

Named for the internationally renowned French chef Paul Bocuse, the Bocuse d’Or has been held every two years since 1987. The competition format has remained fairly constant and predictable for many years but a number of significant changes were introduced for the 2013 event. In previous years, the candidates were given the primary fish and primary meat themes six months before the competition and this gave the teams from 24 countries a significant amount of time to design and practice for the creation of two platters (one per theme), plus three garnishes per platter. For this latest competition, the meat theme (beef tenderloin and oxtail) was still announced six months ahead, in July 2012, but the seafood (European turbot and French blue lobster) was not announced until just under two months before on November 30, 2012.

There were also rule changes for the garnishes: on the day before the competition, the chefs will be presented with a number of seasonal market produce ingredients that they will have 30 minutes to choose from and that must be featured in two of the three garnishes for the fish theme and the same for the meat theme. The third garnish for each theme should be representative of the candidate’s home country. Once the market ingredients have been chosen, each of the teams (consisting of a Chef, a Commis who must be 22 years of age or younger at the time of the competition, and a Coach) will only have one hour to design and write the menu. (This is a huge difference from having six months to create, refine and practice!) Also for the first time, the fish theme will not be presented on a platter. Instead, the teams will need to execute 14 identical plates: 2 for official presentations and 12 plated portions for judging. The presentation of the meat theme remains unchanged: 2 composed plates while the remaining 12 portions are presented on a large platter. All of these changes are designed to more closely resemble a restaurant environment where chefs must consistently execute dishes under constantly changing conditions. Of course this is still a Bocuse competition so the usual time restrictions and judging rules applies:
•  The teams have 5 hours and 35 minutes to prep, cook and plate.
•  A few things can be brought into the competition kitchen (custom tools, equipment, already-peeled vegetables, stocks, etc.) but everything else must be prepared from scratch.
•  The fish theme must be presented at the 5 hour mark.
•  The meat meat theme must be presented at the 5 hour 35 minute mark.
•  There are penalties if the food is not presented on time.
•  During the competition, each team will be provided with an additional member who is usually a culinary student or apprentice from one of the cooking schools in France. It is up to each team to decide how to best utilize the additional person. (Note that there could be a language barrier if the new person does not speak the team’s language but fortunately Commis Jack is fluent in French.)
•  The coach is not allowed in the cooking area but can stand just outside and communicate with the team.
•  The judging panel consists of 24 chefs (one from each competing country).
•  12 teams will compete on the first day and the remaining 12 teams compete on the second day. For both days, 12 judges score the seafood plates and the other 12 judges  score the meat platter.
•  Team scores are based on visual presentation, technical skill, cooking ability, creativity, and taste. (It’s interesting to note that while so much emphasis is placed on beautiful presentation, two thirds of the marks are based on the food’s quality and that includes taste.) In the event of a tie, factors such as organization, efficiency, and cleanliness come into play.
•  The top three teams are awarded bronze, silver and gold medals plus cash prizes. There are also awards for best meat platter, best seafood, best apprentice/commis, best culinary identity and best poster.

To date, the highest that Canada has placed is 4th back in 1999 with Chef Allen Sulatycky and Commis Dan Olson (now the current Coach for team Canada!) The community of chefs is a small close knit one and competition chefs even smaller. After Dan Olson competed as apprentice, he spent a number of years working at various Four Seasons hotels across Canada (including Toronto), and the last seven years were in Beverly Hills as the Executive Chef of the Hotel Bel Air. The current Bocuse Canada Chef, Alex Chen, was also previously working in Beverly Hills (as Executive Chef of the Beverly Hills Hotel in Hollywood) but he had always wanted to represent Canada at the Bocuse d’Or. After winning the candidacy position, Chef Alex moved back to Vancouver to train and was hired as the Culinary Architect for Moxie’s Grill & Bar. (Moxie’s has been supporting and sponsoring the Canadian Bocuse teams for the past 7 years.) Commis Jack Beers was working in Toronto under executive chef Jonathan Gushue at Langdon Hall in 2010 and competed for the apprentice spot. Chef Jonathan and Chef Alex had previously worked together at the Four Seasons Toronto years ago.

On January 21, a group of local media and food bloggers were invited to the Bocuse Canada training kitchen to meet Chef Alex and Commis Jack and taste some of the ingredients and components that the team will be preparing in France. Due to the extremely competitive and strategic nature of the Bocuse d’Or, we were only exposed to certain things and asked not to share others. Another reason that we couldn’t see everything was that over $15,000 worth of equipment and supplies had already been packed up and sent to France back in mid-January!

You can follow Team Canada on Twitter as they finish preparations for and compete in the Bocuse d’Or:
•  Chef Alex Chen – @ChefAlexChen
•  Commis Jack Beers – @ChefJackBeers
•  Twitter hashtag – #GoAlexGo
•  Bocuse d’Or Canada – @BocusedOrCanada
•  Official Bocuse d’Or – @BocusedOr

Night owls will be able to watch the competition live on the official Bocuse website starting at 1:00AM PST on January 29th and 30th (10:00AM Central European Time – Lyon, France is 9 hours ahead of Vancouver, Canada). Twelve of twenty four countries (including Canada) will compete on the 29th and the remaining twelve competes on the 30th:
http://www.bocusedor.com/web-tv-1

The pictures that follow show chefs Dan Olson, Alex Chen, Jack Beers in action and the sample plates that we tasted. (Photos by fellow Foodist Cliff Hammerschmidt.)

Chef Alex Chen slicing the beef tenderloin and bone morrow roulade

Assembly line of chefs putting together the Meat Plate

Assembly line of chefs putting together the Meat Plate

Final touches on the Meat Plate

Chef Alex Chen describing the Meat Plate

Commis Jack Beers with a large black Perigord truffle

Fish Plate: Pan Roasted Bone-in Turbot, Saffron Potatoes, Butter Poached Lobster, Lobster Hollandaise, Cauliflower Puree, Lobster Vinaigrette

Meat Plate: Sous Vide & Roasted Beef Tenderloin Roulade wrapped in Pancetta with Bone Marrow center and Chicken & Porcini Mousse, Seared Foie Gras, Bluefoot & Black Trumpet Mushrooms, Potato Gratin with Oxtail and Beef Cheeks, Oxtail Jus, Carrot Puree, Shaved Black Truffles

The Bocuse d’Or is actually only one of many cooking competitions being held at SIRHA. The mind reels at the amount of sheer cooking talent present in one location within a few short days. In addition to the Bocuse d’Or competition for savoury cooking, there is also the French Bakery Cup for bread, four pastry competitions including the World Pastry Cup, and several coffee competitions amongst others.
http://www.sirha.com/events/events/programme-by-profession

A great book for Bocuse d’Or enthusiasts is Knives at Dawn by Andrew Friedman, a fascinating and detailed account of Team USA’s journey up to and during the 2009 Bocuse D’Or competition. I found the post-competition chapters to be particularly insightful. Almost all of the press is devoted to the lead up, the competition itself and the results but there’s not much published information about ‘what happens after’.

Bocuse d’Or 2013 Results Update>

Congratulations to Chef Alex Chen and Commis Jack Beers on their 9th place finish! The final placement and scores of the 24 countries was:

1: France (1687 points)

2: Denmark (1616 points)

3: Japan (1604 points)

4: UK (1598 points)

5: Norway (1541 points)

6: Sweden (1502 points)

7: USA (1495 points)

8: Iceland (1471 points)

9: Canada (1387 points)

10: Hungary (1355 points)

11: Belgium (1348 points)

12: Finland (1328 points)

13: Switzerland (1326 points)

14: Estonia (1302 points)

15: Australia (1300 points)

16: Netherlands (1282 points)

17: Singapore (1249 points)

18: Guatemala (1223 points)

19: China (1203 points)

20: Italy (1103 points)

21: Sri Lanka (1093 points)

22: Brazil (1058 points)

23: Morocco (997 points)

24: Mexico (990 points)

Due to the early hours, I was only able to watch a few parts of the live Bocuse d’Or webcast but I did manage to catch some of Team Canada’s cooking. It was very exciting to be able to see them working on the final versions of what I had tasted at the media event, and it gave me a whole new appreciation for the team’s long preparation.

The following images are courtesy of Chef Alex Chen.

Chef Alex Chen competing at the Bocuse d'Or 2013

Team Canada's fish plate

Team Canada's meat platter

I’ve had a few great and memorable sandwiches in life, as well many purely functional ones and far too many feeble ones imprisoned tightly together aboard industrial plastic serving trays.

However, I have only tasted one sandwich that I would fight for, and even dare I say, go to war for.

While memory plays tricks on us, making past meals grander than reality, this one is jammed, locked, and eternally stowed in my mental taste library within the vault of distinguished tastes accessed only by the most elite taste buds serving my palate.

Dear reader, you probably dismiss this sandwich’s greatness, as did I the first time. Having just disembarked from an 22 hour air journey, taste buds pummeled by the military grade umami flavours infesting the sort of cuisine only found at high altitudes by those turning to the left when embarking a trans-continental flight.

When landing in Uruguay there was nothing to indicate what was about to happen as I was briskly ferried by heavy transport to a production office housed in a wooden colonial building amidst a sleepy residential neighbourhood

It was the end of winter, and soon I learned the whiff of smoke in the air wasn’t heating, for Uruguayans are practical and just wear a thicker home knit sweater when temperatures drop.

Rather, before lifting their hammers to start the work day humble builders alight a mound of wood in a 3×1 meter open air cast iron grill such that by lunchtime hot smoking charcoal is ready to receive slabs of top grade beef.  I would learn to love that beef, and immediately loved how well the workers ate, better than the highest of executives in the tallest of buildings.

A production assistant, who by the laws of the film-making jungle cannot rest until tasked with something to over-perform given they are over qualified and over eager, asked if I’d like something to eat.   Not being one to make a fuss I just asked for something simple, whatever is enjoyed locally.    I thus heard a word that unknowingly would become my new god – “chivito” – but swollen with ignorance thought nothing of it.

After some work calls back to my London and Paris HQ’s, then a briefing on how the impending weather would impact our week of filming, a pale bland plastic Styrofoam clamshell dropped its sweaty self before me wheezing disappointment.

This low deepened as opening the clamshell released a cloud of stagnant steam from the packet time forgotten.  With dread and my peripheral vision full of eager Montevideo-ians awaiting my judgment of their sandwich, their culture, and very existence of being I grasp the soft roll who dutifully carried a light cream sauce while collecting juice dripping with dignified intensity off the hot churrasco like steak and through the simple fresh tomato and lettuce dressing.

The full force of my attention was violently grabbed then, there, and forever by this sandwich. The softness and structural integrity of the bun balanced with the heft and heartiness of fresh charcoal grilled meat honed by intensifying dressing was despite the humble carrier an elite execution in the field of international sandwich excellence.

Now, when filming in far flung corners one must always be wary of a too well meaning host misrepresenting a nation by hand picking a few narrow aspects and suppliers to frame your view of the place. Especially an emerging country excited to host their first Hollywood A-lister production in a burgeoning film industry eager to expand commercial work.

Though great, this sandwich was not yet to be trusted.  My week was committed to the honest study of the chivito.  My hosts were challenged and committed with pleasure to sourcing specimens from the widest range possible of chivito makers.

It quickly became clear the tastiness wasn’t a story of artisanal provenance in a ‘local-vore’ world of cutting edge ancient biodynamic methodologies as found on the menus of top tables around the world; nor the by-product of a food truck revolution, food rave movements or any sort of hyper specialized pop-up craze.

No, their methodology firstly requires farmers outside the city to each day allow their cattle to wander out into fields of grass that grow as grass does, on its own, naturally, without any intervention. The cattle eat this meal daily, everyday, all the while until they are of an age to be butchered by the hands of the farmer and aged a bit to then be sent to little restaurants around Montevideo who grill and tuck the meat into a bun typical of the bakeries invariably on their block.  Like I said, no 100 mile mumbo jumbo, organic this, artisanal that, it is only a chiveto after all.

Over the week I had many chivetos from many makers in many neighbourhoods, all with much the same effect as the first. On our final day after a marathon indoor technical shoot amidst a cavernous green screen I was presented with a departing chiveto by the local executive producer. I then proceeded to thank the crew for their work, professionalism, and hospitality. Words most rightfully thought directed at the film but I knew to be equally of the sandwich.

Before climbing back on a plane and into umami land, I snuck off on my own, free of escort to a sandwich bar in the colonial style center of town – a place notably only for its ability to go unnoticed.

I asked a kind man half my age who looked twice my age due to a life of honest labour for a final chiveto. A pictorial menu saved my linguistic inadequacy, the sort of menu a literate gastronome steers well clear of. I pointed and was duly served yet another exceptional sandwich, thus reaffirming yet again my findings.

A great sandwich or any other meal does not come once. For once can only be relied on as a good memory. The mind is powerful enough to over impose perception of excellence on anything that subsequent trials prove underwhelming, failing to live up to expectations.

Only with repeated trial can one be sure of excellence in taste.

I may have lost count of the number of chivetos trialed but you can count on it being a sandwich without equals.

Iowa Swabian Hall munching on barley shoots. The pig that resembles a shar pei as much as a typical swine was a bit camera shy.

(OK the title doesn’t quite make sense but I’m still going with it.)

When I was back in Iowa for a few weeks this September, a story in the Des Moines Register about a local pig farmer doing some pretty out there things caught my attention. Since it was only 30 minutes from my parents’ house, I decided to try to pay a visit – and in true Iowan hospitable form, Rustik Rooster Farm‘s Carl Blake immediately responded: “Sure, come on up.”

It was about 5 years ago that Blake started breeding Iowa Swabian Hall pigs, thanks to a tireless drive to find the best tasting pork. He stumbled across a German breed developed around 1820, crossing the Chinese Meishan pig and Russian Wild Boar. A pig unlike any you’ve seen before, it maximizes flavour and fat in one productive little animal.

And Blake is the only farmer in North America with the breed, thanks to a fortuitously timed phone call to the Genetics Research Department at Iowa State University, who just happened to have had a few spare Meishans rooting around. The Iowan version of Swabian Hall was about to take off.

My trip to the farm ended up being only partly about the pigs. A former computer engineer who grew up on a pig farm, Blake has a bit of mad scientist in him. He’s not only on a quest to breed the perfect pig, but also make farming them more efficient (both environmentally and economically) than industrial containment operations that litter the Iowa landscape.

“There’s a bit of Green Acres in every Jetsons solution,” he told me. Blake sees genetics as the key to solving many of the problems with industrial pig farming. Iowa Swabian Hall breeds not only yield a tasty product, their litters are naturally twice the size of your typical pig.

Another consideration is the vast amount of feed required to satiate the pigs’ appetites. For this, the inventive Blake experimented with hydroponics. He can produce several tonnes of organic barley shoots – including the nutritious sprouted seed and root mass, often missed in conventional feed – year-round, in energy efficient chambers using organic compounds to prevent typical problems like mould and bacteria.

Barley Seeds, Day 1 - After 5 days they're fully sprouted and used as feed

As we wandered the farm on the sunny September day, I was introduced to one of the boars used to breed Iowa Swabian Hall…who frankly scared the crap out of me. My eyes grew wide at Blake’s apology: “I won’t take you to meet Hercules in the other pasture…he’ll take one sniff of your perfume and potentially cause some damage. He can jump 9 foot fences.”

…I don’t wear perfume, but given the tusks and aggressive snorting emanating from the smaller boar, I was completely OK with this.

But back to how it tastes - what exactly is the big (culinary) deal about these pigs? 

It wasn’t until a trip to 2010′s pork worship festival/contest Cochon 555 in San Francisco that the breed had started to earn cult status among the nation’s top chefs. Blake was approached to contribute a pig, but there were two problems: how to get it there and how to package it up.

A perfect storm of fate allowed his pig to hitchhike with a friend’s rabbits headed on a truck that way. But as for packaging, Blake searched for a way to communicate just how special he thought his pig to be. I still chuckle when I picture this: inspired by vintage wine packaging, the pig was packed in a coffin of satin lining and styrofoam, and boxed in a custom crate with hidden screws and hinges so only the intended recipient could open it.

To hear Blake tell it, Perbacco’s Chef Staffan Terje had never seen anything like it. He contacted Blake after taking delivery of the crate: “What on earth is this? Are you kidding me?!”*

*Knowing chefs like I do, I suspect that this is not a direct quote – but I’ll keep it clean for the younger readers.

With Chef Terje’s deft handling the Iowa Swabian Hall took top honours at Cochon 555 that year, and a simple Iowan pig farm became an overnight culinary sensation.

I chatted with Chef Matt Steigerwald and Chef de Cuisine / Head of Charcuterie Andy Schumacher, of Iowa’s outstanding Lincoln Cafe, who use Blake’s pigs for a number of nose-to-tail preparations.

To them, the breed is a redder more flavourful meat with 12-14 pounds of back fat per pig: pure, rich, white fat that is coveted by charcuterie enthusiasts and pastry chefs alike. Unlike other heritage breeds, which are good for one or two charcuterie preparations and just OK for the rest, the entire Iowa Swabian Hall has an ideal ratio of fat to meat throughout the body. Not to mention the red meat and pure white fat make for a visually impressive salumi.

Iowa Swabian Hall Pork with Black Garlic and Pickled Watermelon Rind, Daikon and Apple

Over dinner at the Lincoln Cafe, my family and I sampled Blake’s pork in the form of rillettes, sausage and an elegantly prepared pork belly. I’m not going to claim I could tell the difference between Iowa Swabian Hall and a Berkshire or Tamworth, but I have had a fair amount of pork belly in my day. It was abundantly clear that Steigerwald and Schumacher knew what they were doing in the kitchen.

And the result was some damn tasty pork.

Pork Rillettes with Pickled Fennel

You can find Iowa Swabian Hall pork on very select restaurant menus around the United States, and particularly in the midwest. And if you ever find yourself road-trippin’ I-80 I unreservedly recommend a stop at Lincoln Cafe in Mt Vernon, Iowa.

Follow Carl Blake on Twitter or Facebook for updates, and watch for his upcoming appearance on Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern this December.

In order to appreciate the food we are consuming, I believe that one should have some idea of where their food comes from.  As you can imagine I was very excited when the opportunity arose to visit our Foodist friends at Cutter Ranch in Clinton BC, a place where many Foodists buy their lamb, pork and beef.  Cutter Ranch owners, Sasha and Tyler, kindly open their farm doors to us, providing the perfect backdrop to a simple country feast.

This incredible experience started by travelling the dirt country roads for numerous kilometers to get to their property, passing and dodging meandering bovines along the way.

We arrived around dusk which added to the romanticism of the country-life. The sun was setting turning everything into a smokey golden hue.

Tyler greeted us with an open beer and introduced us to our main course; a lamb roasting over an open fire.

In the distance the subtle lapping of a stream and the bleating of sheep could be heard, as the ever-playful dogs on the property were eager to greet and meet potential new playmates.

As we waited for the meat to cook we toured the vast property and were introduced to the flock. We all took photos, imitated the sheep and then meandered over to the garden that Sasha and Tyler planted and grew especially for our arrival.

Suddenly we all became a little more country as we plucked fresh vegetables straight from the earth for our meal. Potatoes, beets, carrots, leeks, onions, with fresh dill. The epitome of fresh was crunching into soil-covered carrots only seconds after being pulled form the earth.  The sweetness incomparable to anything you can buy in a grocery store.

Dinner preparation began as the sun went down. 12+ foodies all crowded in a country kitchen. The booze was flowing and contentment fluttered across everyones face as each person had a task in preparing the meal, which was done it the utmost of their culinary abilities.

The lamb was being taken apart, the vegetables being washed and knives were being sharpened. At the end of all the turmoil we had a feast that was literally picked from the back yard.

For me, this was an amazing experience and a great way to get away from the stresses and business of the city. Time seemed to slow down and moments were more genuine that night. Preparing and sharing a home grown, freshly picked meal with friends is probably one of the more intimate experiences one can have.

We were fortunate to have enjoyed this experience.

With the growing support of customers and the continual growing demand Cutter Ranch is moving to a much larger farm in the Kootenay’s just outside of Cranbrook BC.  Their animals will be enjoying 70 acres of pastures, hayfields and forest, along with 2 creeks that run through the property to allow them to continue to water their animals on glacier fed water.

If you are interested in learning more about Cutter Ranch or inquiring about their meats please visit www.cutterranchlamb.ca or follow @CutterRanch on twitter and be sure to check out the flickr page for more images.

To set the tone I rode in on public transit. It gave me time to compose some initial thoughts and write this intro while standing up. At about 10 mins away, I’m thinking when I arrive I will be greeted by a conveyer belt with basket after basket of traditional fatty fair food gently trundling its contents into a bubbling deep fryer. There it will sit I imagine for an unhealthy length of time, sapping out any real flavour until it is dumped out onto a floppy styrofoam disk that will virtually collapse under the weight of the oil and I will be forced to parcelize these globs with aid of a bendy fork made of a substance widely known as “plastic” but what most of us are pretty sure has the molecular structure of taffy.
I’ll let you know how it goes…

Getting off the bus I feel the annual rush of excitement from ingrained memories of years of roller coaster rides and that terrorizing top corner hairpin on the Mad Mouse. Now suddenly I can’t wait to indulge. Bring it on PNE! I’ll wallow in your artery clogging corridors of depravity.
It’s actually pretty frightening how much power a few brightly coloured umbrellas, flags, carny-folk and the words PLAYLAND has over me. This place — this unabashedly obscene cacophony of visual and literal noise, may just dilate my arteries enough for me to take the hit today.
The reality is, I’m not here to partake in the rides or the games. Let’s face it, there is really only one reason I’m here: the promise of bacon.

It was a short wait. In the Marketplace building 2 sisters from East Van have set up to sell their passion for peanut butter.
Monkey Butter, as it has come to be known, was started in their kitchen. Kathleen and Gillian Gook geek out on tricking out traditional Peanut Butter with surprising flavours.

The Bacon Maple flavour immediately sirened me and I nearly wrestled fellow foodist Nathan for the sample spoon. I emerged victorious while he settled on the White Pretzel Chocolate version. Also available were White Chocolate Raspberry, Dark Chocolate Bananas, Salted Caramel and Dark Chocolate Cherry.
Now content and bacon-fixed we moved on…

Pennsylvania Dutch Funnel Cakes

Closer to the Colosseum was the booth of long time fair food family, the Poudriers. Perry Poudrier’s path to the PNE was paved through after being head chef at Children’s Hospital. Perry and wife Suzanne operate the Funnel Cakes booth and now spend their spare time thinking up diabolical things to deep fry. PNE time for them pays for that privilege. This year’s fare had us trying a deep fried Wagon Wheel and a Maple Bacon Funnel Cake, both laced with whip cream. These were both as good (or bad) as you’d expect but the Wagon Wheel trumped the bacon here for both Nathan and myself. It was lighter than expected. They do try to preserve textures as well as tastes here in their experimentation. Each concoction goes through a 3 step family approval process.

Pacing us around in front of the prize home, we encountered the largest chocolate fountain this side of the other chocolate fountain next to it. One was dark, the other milk chocolate. Powers Chocolate is a healthier reprieve for deepfry sogged fair goers. Fresh strawberries, bananas, pineapple on a stick are inserted through the flowing velvety chocolate curtain. Simple and delicious.

That fruit abated the guilt enough for us to press on quickly in search of more… Hey! Gelato!
68 flavours of the famous 218 flavour total of La Casa Gelato have been featured at the PNE for over 20 years.

Vince Misceo started with 16 flavours but lately he’s been getting pretty wacky. He’s been messing with Seaweed, Kimchi, Gargonzola & Blue Cheese, Chanterelle and Porcini Mushroom flavours. We went straight for the Bacon Maple (again!). I also tried the “King of Asian Fruits”, the Durian gelato. Durian has quite a unique taste and I thought it was strangely good. Others near me cried out that it tasted of onions and BO so maybe you lightweights should just stick with the vanilla.

One of the newer food vendors to join the PNE (after waiting on a lengthy list and enduring an arbitrary selection process as I understand) is Granny’s Foods. These guys are a mainstay in the Texas fair circuit and a big part of their popularity is due to the deep fry food craze. They are known for their regular cheesecake but at fair time why wouldn’t you deep fry it too?
Their main draw this year is deep fried Kool-Aid. No liquid center as you may expect just the distinct Kool-Aid colour and flavour. Smacks of sugary breakfast cereal.

Granny's Foods ~ deep fried Kool-Aid

At this point Nathan and I toyed with the notion of giving it all back atop the Paratrooper but we clenched up and headed back to work. A few other interesting items of note this year include the classic Candy Apple wrapped up in the equally classic Cotton Candy. But for me the highlight was the BBQ area. This year I tried the Smokin’ Babes. Daughter of repeat Canadian National BBQ Champions, Smoke and Bones (who’s booth is right beside hers). You won’t regret her ribs and have a side of baked beans which she finishes with grilled peaches.

Fair food is what it is: Indulgence. So indulge and walk it off! See you next year PNE and thanks for the bacon.

The last time I was in Mexico, I was a pale 17 year old, away from home and my family for the first time. I was sent to Monterrey as part of an exchange program, and promptly adapted to the strict diet of  homemade tortillas, made fresh daily by the host family’s housekeeper, ice cold cerveza and buckets of margaritas prescribed by the host family’s oldest brother.  It is that trip that instilled in me the taste of that region of Mexico, of fresh coriander and lime, that tortilla soup I tried just outside of Torreón that I have never been able to replicate, steak grilled with cactus pads from a roadside pit stop in the rainforest on the way to Mazatlan, quesadillas served dripping hot outside the Tec de Monterrey. 20 years on, I still remember those meals.

And so, in flipping through a copy of National Geographic Traveller in January of this year, I discovered a little place called Tulum. Located just south of Cancun, and far away from the maddening crowds of resort tourists, Tulum’s hotel zone is comprised of one main strip of boutique hotels, beach side cabanas, yoga studios and exceptional restaurants – a perfect combination to discover a new part of the country that had so held my heart decades earlier.

I started the adventure over mango margaritas and fish tacos with friends, at La Zebra. Known for their fresh fruit margaritas and mojitos, made using local produce, they use an antique hand crank to press sugar cane juice. The result is exceptional, with just the right amount of sweetness, a perfect accompaniment to ceviche, tacos and the sound of the ocean. It was only polite to follow the mango margarita with a watermelon margarita and a Tortugioto – an incredible combination of tequila, fresh cucumber juice, lime juice and hand pressed sugar cane juice.

As I had already done some thorough research on where to eat, it was by chance that I met some ex-pats who had retired in Tulum, and who edited my fairly comprehensive list, adding and subtracting places to miss and adding that new place that had recently opened – which is how I found myself walking down the road in a tropical monsoon in search of Casa Onde, a pizza place, complete with wood burning oven on the main road. The owner, Sylvestre is a local with a passion for sourcing fresh ingredients, including the buffalo mozzarella which he gets from a farmer an hour away. The pizza was good, and although I’ve had better, there is something quite wonderful about eating firewood pizza in a jungle in the middle of a thunderstorm.

The following day, I rented a bike and cycled into town in search of paleta, those fresh fruit ices which seem to be a staple of Latin America. After several wrong turns, passing street taco stand after street taco stand, and promising myself the chance to stop and have one, I found what I was looking for. My directions to find this stand were simple: “Opposite the bus station, everyone will know where it is.”

And there they were, row after row of the most delicious fruit. The hardest part was trying to decide on which flavour to try first, and I left with a pineapple paleta dripping down my hands in the hot Tulum sun.

It was a perfect moment. And so I got back on my bike, and cycled back to the beach. After all, there was lunch to be had.

Tulum: Part 2 will be posted later this week

“You’re right, I never would have found this place.”

A long communal table at the Food Truck Fest

There are lots of great things about the Waldorf’s festival, happening every Sunday between now and September 2nd. A mock-beach dance floor. A DJ that just happens to know you want to hear Michael Jackson, and then Buffalo Springfield, and then Missy Elliott, and makes a seamless transition between the two. All those food trucks you’ve been meaning to try but haven’t managed to locate downtown.

But I think one of the best things about the festival is that it’s a party by Vancouver, for Vancouver. No hotel is going to suggest a tourist check out a carpark near East Hasting and Commercial. Everyone’s invited – families, hipsters, foodies – to rock out for an hour or the whole afternoon.

It’s just what Vancouver needs – a casual, food-focussed all-out summertime block party.  So what’s on offer? Ice cream, Korean tacos, papusas, grilled cheese, juice, and the best lamb burger you’re ever going to taste (out of 4 wheels or no).

Tzatziki, feta, and seasoned lamb make this one delicious burger from Street Meet. (And the crunch from the chips can be heard around the city.) $12

Street Meet's seared tarragon-crusted Organic Ocean albacore tuna with pickled beans, medium-boiled eggs, potatoes, kalamata olives and cherry tomatoes. $12

Street Meet's braised pulled pork risotto balls with basil-truffle aioli - the perfect bite ($5)

Korean Tacos from Cartel. Back to food truck roots, Korean fusion bulgogi tacos at just $3 each.

PazzaRella Pizza. Taking authentic Neopolitan pizza trend to the next level with an actual wood-fired oven inside a food truck. And they pull it off with perfect leoparding.

Sarb from Soho Road preps his kebabs. There's a tandoor *on the truck*, pumping out some seriously delicious naan bread.

Just don’t forget your sunscreen and stay hydrated out there!

The Waldorf Hotel Food Truck Fest. 1489 East Hastings. Sundays through September 2nd, 12pm-6pm. All ages with 19+ beer garden. Free admission. 

Truffles Cafe at Van Dusen Botanical Gardens has simplified life by offering a picnic where they do all the work! All you need to do is show up, pick your spot, and eat while enjoying the spectacular gardens.

For $58, you can relax and enjoy:

- admission for two to VanDusen Botanical Garden ($21.50 value)
- a sturdy picnic basket with lined picnic blanket
- two regular-sized sandwiches of your choice
- two small salads of your choice
- two beverages (including coffee, juices or sparkling water)
- a selection of cheese and crackers with grapes
- cookies
- napkins and utensils

Also, $2.00 from every picnic sold will be donated to Karma Exchange, a registered non-profit charity that helps girls in northern Ghana access education.

The lunch was great – with the highlight being the chicken panini – and it ended up being a lot of food for two people. And at the end, we just popped everything back into the basket, dropped it off, and spent the rest of the afternoon meandering through the park.

You should go.

Into the Vineyard is an independently owned and operated company in Vancouver that specializes in creating customized wine travel experiences in all of the major wine regions of the world. Much of their clientele are well-off individuals who lead busy lives and don’t have time to research and plan vacations but who want a unique and personal experience based around wine. They seek out and partner with local tour companies in each region who have deep relationships with people in the wine industry and are able to take their guests to places that are not normally available to the public. Even if you could walk up to the gates of Chateau Margaux, gaining entry is a different matter entirely. Some of the wineries are accessible to the public but the tour companies are able to arrange time with people and access areas that normally would be unavailable. In conjunction with their network of contacts in the tourism industry, Into the Vineyard can arrange for day tours that only include wineries or multi week affairs that incorporate sightseeing, luxury accommodations, bike tours, hot air balloon rides, and many other ways to immerse yourself into the locality of interest.

My curiosity piqued, I contacted Into the Vineyard to get a better idea of what they might be able to offer for my summer trip. The process of booking with them was different from the norm where you buy ‘off-the-shelf’ packages, flights, hotels, tours, etc. It’s more akin to going to a restaurant, talking to the chef and sommelier about your likes, dislikes and tastes, and allowing them the freedom to design something just for you. When I first contacted them about their services, they asked me a number of questions about what geographic area I wanted to explore (Napa), potential wineries that I was interested in visiting, budget, tour duration, and the types of wine experiences I was looking for. Beyond the informal questionnaire, they also do their own research on potential clients and discovered that I was a Foodist. As a result, my husband and I were invited by their most well connected partner in California, Viviani, to do a few days of touring.

Viviani provides customized luxury vacation packages for those travelling to the west coast and is Into the Vineyard’s contact for tours and events in states of Washington, Oregon and California. It was started by Linda Viviani over 30 years ago when a conversation with her mentor, Robert Mondavi, led to the idea of filling a hospitality gap for a certain breed of wine enthusiast. Her business has since grown encompass a wider range of offerings. For those who want more than just wine and food to round out their days, her company can also arrange for hang gliding, racetrack driving, boating, plane rides, skydiving and more.

When choosing where to put your vacation dollars, the value equation can run the gamut from a bargain basement package to the best that money can buy. A Foodist analogy might be from a humble bowl of congee all the way up to a three Michelin star meal. I’m lucky enough to have tried both ends of the spectrum and much in between, and while a meal at a world class restaurant isn’t for the everyday (or even every year), it’s within the realm of possibility if the desire is there. Since we had already gone to many wineries on our own on past trips, we were curious to see what a premium guided tour would be like so decided to place ourselves in Viviani’s hands for one day.

All of the arrangements were made through Into the Vineyard and I was presented with a itinerary proposal prior to the final booking. In my prior conversations with them, I hadn’t specified any particular wineries that I wanted to visit but I did mention favourite wine styles, producers, and the types of places that we’d visited before. Our itinerary included a guide/driver with a luxury vehicle, lunch, and stops at four wineries in Napa and Sonoma.

Our trip took place at the beginning of July and, in addition to the day of guided touring, I’d also researched many wineries to visit on our own. The guided tour day was scheduled for our last full day in California. On our own, we managed to cover eleven wineries, tasting rooms and/or tours. These visits ranged from superficial and touristy to relaxed and slower tastings, from less than hospitable service to fun conversations, by ourselves or with tourist groups, and a few more thrown in for good measure. By the time our guided tour day came around, I was pretty eager to see how it would be different from our own days. My first surprise was when our guide introduced herself and it was none other than Linda Viviani. As we drove to our first destination and we got to talking, I knew that this day was going to be something new.

Vineyards at Donum Estate

Linda has lived in Sonoma for over 30 years and has directly been involved in the growth and evolution of the California wine industry. I really got the sense that she was connected to everyone. The tour guides that she employs also tend to be locals who have lived in the area and have been immersed in the industry for many years. She had a great depth of knowledge of the area, the people, and many other things that weren’t necessarily related to wine. While driving between wineries, she told us about interesting places in the area, her favourite restaurants and the best ways for a stranger to experience her home as a local would. Though her company caters to a variety of clientele, her personal passion remains making connections between her favourite wineries and wine enthusiasts. The selection of wineries is based on what she and her staff feel will be the best fit. They won’t recommend a winery unless they think it will be a good fit, and that includes choosing wineries in an appropriate price range. However, if you want to taste nothing but 100 point wines they can make the arrangements, but that would be based on someone else’s palate and not necessarily be the best match for you.

The next thing that I noticed was the slower and more relaxed pacing, and it was interesting to feel the difference from our faster self-guided days. The first place that Linda took us to was the Donum Estate in Sonoma. The only California wine region that I’ve explored previous to that was Napa Valley. I’ve heard people describe Napa as being the Disney of the wine industry with its carefully maintained buildings, well manicured plots, popularity with tourists, traffic bottlenecks, and higher price tag. As we entered Sonoma wine country, I noticed its quiet ruralness and liked it immediately. There were rows of vines for miles and miles, and then the mountains beyond them. It was a very peaceful place to be.

Donum Estate wines

We drove down a gravel road into the estate and were graciously met by Anne Moller-Racke, Donum’s president and winegrower, and Brooke Gadke, their hospitality director. Anne and Linda have known each other for many years and greeted each other as longtime friends. Donum isn’t open to the public for tastings so we had a private tasting under the open sky, surrounded on all sides by Donum’s rolling fields. Anne spoke about her background and winemaking approach while Brooke introduced their wines to us. Anne has been farming Donum’s lands since the late 80s and inspired by Burgundy, her goal is to produce the best estate grown Pinot Noir and Chardonnay possible. From her German farming heritage, she believes that great wine starts in the vineyard and that means constantly working the fields. Appropriately, Donum’s bottles have “The gift of the land” inscribed on the foil and their label shows a pair of hands cupped together holding a small pile of soil. I’m by no means an expert on Burgundy and this isn’t a tasting-centric post (there’s the rest of the Internet for that), but I was enamoured with the character of the wines and willingly seduced by the setting. Instead of a nameless employee pouring wines and repeating a well rehearsed script, we were having an engaging conversation with the person who has the greatest influence of what goes into each bottle. One of my favourite memories from the day was of Anne casually emptying her glass of premium wine onto the ground for the next pour. It was a beautiful and fitting gesture. I think wine is too often an overly serious subject.

Tasting Donum Estate wines in the vineyard with Anne Moller-Racke

We also took a quick walk through the vineyard up to a newly built terrace on a hill overlooking the fields and it had a great view of the source of my favourite wine of theirs, the West Slope Pinot Noir. On the walk back down, I spoke with Brooke about one of my favourite subjects – restaurants. Wine country and culinary tourism go hand in hand and it was great to get her local perspective on some of my favourite restaurants in the area. There’s only so much that research can tell you and nothing beats the opinion of someone who has experienced it firsthand.

As I would come to observe at each of our stops, our time at Donum passed all too quickly and I understood why Into the Vineyard recommends a small number of wineries per day; I could easily have stayed at Donum for hours.

Loxton Cellars wines

The second stop was Loxton Cellars, also in Sonoma, and we were introduced to winemaker and owner Chris Loxton. Chris has a Ph.D. in Physics but he was incredibly easy going and one of the most down to earth wine people I’ve ever met. He practically gave all the credit for his wines to Mother Nature and her grapes. Loxton Cellars doesn’t own its own vineyards but Chris sources grapes from small growers that are able to meet his exacting farming standards. Even though he has a very scientific background, he prefers to get into the vineyards and see firsthand how the grapes are doing. He believes in growing great grapes and letting the wines express the quality and character of the grapes. His approach seems to involve setting up initial conditions as best he can, and then waiting and trusting in the outcome. My husband and I have engineering and physics backgrounds respectively so it was fascinating to see how someone who went even further in academia approaches the very natural process of making wine. At its simplest, the equation is just grapes plus yeast equals wine. There’s a great deal of impersonal science in modern winemaking, but Chris seems to have gone back to some of the basics of human senses rather than letting it all be about the measurements. Microclimate variation and adjusting for it are extremely important to him and he was able to illustrate this point by showing us the few acres that surround his winemaking facilities. Between the soil, sun-facing direction, sun and wind exposure, there were noticeable variations in growing conditions over the span of a few yards. Chris originates from Australia where his family has been growing wine grapes for generations. At Loxton Cellars, he makes Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, and Cabernet Sauvignon but specializes in premium Syrah wines. There are multiple offerings of Syrahs, including a Port-style Syrah that pairs beautifully with chocolate. Loxton Cellars is open to the public and sometimes Chris takes people on a “Walkabout with the Winemaker” tour. We had to be on our way to our winery lunch stop so there wasn’t time but I would definitely come back for it.

Lookout Ridge is situated near the top of the Mayacamas mountains that divides the Sonoma and Napa regions. Perched at the top of an extremely steep hill, the panoramic view from it was truly breathtaking. The vineyards were planted all along the steep hill face below the estate buildings and it was incredible to think of the amount of care and commitment required to tend the vines. I’ve seen pictures of steep vineyards overlooking Germany’s famous Mosel River Valley and I imagine being there would be similar to what I felt standing at the summit of Lookout Ridge. No picture could do it justice. The winery was founded in 1988 by Gordon Holmes who had a successful career in finance and Wall Street but now focuses his considerable energies and contacts on philanthropic projects. We were also joined for lunch by one of Linda’s tour guides, Marilyn Webster. Marilyn has worked for Linda for over 12 years and she accompanied us for the remainder of the day. While we had a relaxing lunch on the patio with some of his wines, Gordon told us how he came to start his Wines for Wheelchairs program after his wife was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. As the disease progressed and she required the use of a wheelchair, Gordon saw firsthand how much people take their mobility for granted until it is no longer available to them. Realizing that there are many people in third world countries who don’t have the means to even purchase a wheelchair, he started his Wines for Wheelchairs program where each bottle of wine purchased is guaranteed to provide one wheelchair to a person who needs it. In first world countries, people usually need a wheelchair due to a medical condition but in many places of the world, war, unsafe working conditions, disease and poverty all contribute.

Lookout Ridge - Wines for Wheelchairs

Gordon has also partnered with some of the top winemakers in California to produce his wines, and each of them has donated their time to Wines for Wheelchairs. Currently, Lookout Ridge wines by Cathy Corison, Drew Neiman, Greg LaFollette, and Marcus DiGiulio are available and the name of each winemaker is prominently displayed on the label that they had a hand in making. Wines for Wheelchairs is just one of his ongoing projects and Gordon spends much of his time traveling to less fortunate parts of the world trying to match efficient solutions to those who need them. Lookout Ridge is not accessible to the public and it was a real privilege to visit this place and meet Gordon. Even Marilyn had not been here before.

After lunch, we drove down the other side of Mayacamas to our last stop of the day, Palmaz Vineyards in Napa. Along the way, Marilyn pointed out a few of her personal favourite places in the area and shared some of her own experiences of wine country. There are so many interesting little stories that give a place more character and depth, and you wouldn’t be able to easily discover these on your own. This was another pleasant surprise to spending a day with two professional guides.

Main building of Palmaz Vineyards

As we drove up the Palmaz driveway, the main building came into view and it was impressive not only for its size but for the beauty of its architecture and the backdrop of estate grown vines. We were met by Amalia Palmaz, the wife of the husband and wife team who purchased the property in 1997 and made the winery what it is today. Amalia was an extremely gracious host and it was wonderful to learn about the winery from one of the people that started it and who is still hard at work there today. Palmaz Vineyards is the result of a family’s long labour of love and was built to its current state over many years. The winery site was originally known as Cedar Knoll back in 1881 and it is one of the oldest sites in Napa Valley. Its early history was quite successful but Prohibition was not kind and it sat derelict and forgotten for almost eighty years until it was purchased by Julio and Amalia Palmaz. Julio Palmaz is actually Dr. Palmaz and is famous for inventing the coronary stent that bears his name. The Palmaz family believe that a gentle winemaking processing makes complex and elegant wines, and that gravity-flow is the most gentle process. This involves the grapes starting at a certain height and each step in the winemaking process is located below the previous step, and the wine moves from step to step by gravity alone. It’s a centuries old winemaking technique and it was used in the very early days of the California wine industry. (The Culinary Institute of America’s historic Greystone campus in St Helena was originally a gravity flow winemaking facility.) No pump is ever used in Palmaz’s entire winemaking process. In order to achieve this goal, they had to build a facility that is 18 stories high, or 180 feet. Over 80 feet of this alone is needed to filter the wine by gravity since you need that much height in order for a column of wine to create the necessary pressure. It’s an extremely labour intensive method but the Palmaz family believes that it makes better wines and is worth the effort.

Even though the process is a very traditional one, the facility is entirely modern. The most impressive example of this is the room where their fermentation tanks are located. The property is divided into 24 parcels of land and the wine from each parcel is fermented separately from the others. After the grapes are harvested (this is done at night by the way, so that the grapes are cooler and closer to the temperature of the winemaking cave), they are hand sorted and crushed, and the grape juice flows through a trapdoor and down into one of the waiting tanks below. The tanks are all sitting on a custom designed carousel that rotates the filled tank away from the trapdoor and moves the next one into place, ready for the grape juice from the next parcel of land. While the grape juice is in the tanks, the fermentation process is entirely computer controlled. They’re able to dial in a ‘fermentation profile’ of brix versus time and the computer will adjust the conditions so that the wine ferments according to the pre-set profile. It’s an awesome place to see and I felt like I was in a movie set. (Palmaz Vineyards has actually been used as a filming location.) Three of the family members (Julio, son Christian and daughter Florencia) have scientific backgrounds and they’ve had a direct hand in designing many aspects of their modern facility.

Fermentation tanks on carousel at Palmaz Vineyards

After the wines have been tank fermented, it’s time for them to be blended. The decision of how and what to blend is done by Amalia, her two daughters (Florencia and Jessica), and two other winemakers, all of them women. Each person has blind samples of the wine from each tank and will independently decide on which and how much of each sample will make the best blended wine. Then as a group, then will try each other’s blended samples and refine and discuss and re-blend until everyone has agreed on which blend is the best. Sometimes the process can take weeks but this family doesn’t believe in cutting corners. Once the final blend has been decided on, the ‘recipe’ is entered into a computer and wines in the tanks are blended together via a vacuum chamber method. Palmaz offers private tours and tastings by appointment only and all tours are conducted by one of the family members. It’s the most interesting winemaking facility that I’ve ever seen and I would recommend making a visit for any wine connoisseur.

Our last stop on the Palmaz tour was the tasting room and Amalia took us through a private tasting of five wines paired with delicately prepared canapes. From the first sip, the texture of their wines was noticeably different. These were some of the softest and most elegant wines that I’ve ever had. The nose and taste were also beautiful (as expected) but the softness really stood out, even in their Cabernet Sauvignons. It was amazing to see how well the family’s vision for wine actually translated through to the end product. Even though this is a prestigious winery, Palmaz Vineyards is very family oriented and their wines are named after members of the family. Amalia has led a remarkable life and as we tasted through the wines, she shared some of her personal stories with us. We lingered for a long while enjoying the wines and conversation, and we lost track of time and ended up staying longer than scheduled but that was the perfect way to end our day.

Much of the process in making great wines is labour intensive and it also requires the patience to let things run their natural course. As a consumer of wine, it’s easy to forget that these wonderful products on shelves, in cellars, on dining room tables and poured into glasses are the result of the hard work of real people. I got to know some of these people, what they’re working towards, and see that reflected in their wines. They focus their energies on quality over quantity, and all of them believed in older vines, lower yields, smaller grapes, and that stressed vines produces better wines. They were honest, open, warm, gracious, and very proud to share their wines and stories with us. The feeling was more akin to comfortably talking in a friend’s living room and relaxing with a few glasses of wine, except that the wine happens to be fine house made wines and the metaphorical living rooms are extraordinary.

After our tour, I re-read the initial proposal from Into the Vineyard. As far as the times, places, and people, our day went pretty much as the itinerary described. In reality, it was so much richer than the facts listed on the page. When I first met her, Linda mentioned that her role is in building relationships with people and creating experiences to match accordingly. I thought she did a great job of choosing places to match our tastes and preferences. People pairing if you will. It’s easy to find great wines in Napa but it’s harder to find the kind of deep personal experience that leaves a lasting impression. As my husband succinctly put it, “it wasn’t what I expected, it was better”.

At some point, I hope to be able to explore the regions of some of my other favourite wines. German Rieslings. French Bordeauxs. Alsatian Gewurztraminers. I also intend to return to Northern California wine country in the future as it’s fast become my favourite destination. After that memorable day, I would have no reservations approaching Into the Vineyard again to create a wine experience through Viviani. Until then, my husband and I have a few beautiful bottles from each winery cellared away and some great memories.

Tea cocktails at Urban Tea Merchant

Summer isn’t typically the time of year when one can’t wait to get their hands on a nice, steaming, hot cup of tea, but at The Urban Tea Merchant over heated tea lovers can opt for something substantially cooler and more refreshing this year, while still indulging in a much loved cup of tea. This summer Urban Tea has paired up their amazing selection of top quality teas with well known Vancouver Mixologist, Ben Lambie, from Ensemble, to create some deliciously light and refreshing tea cocktails exclusively for Urban Tea Merchant.

Fellow Foodist Brenda Lowe and I visited the Tea Merchant on what should have been a beautiful, early summer day to experience the new teas, the new menu and the new cocktails.  Sadly it was raining. Of course. It’s Vancouver. But when tea lovers get together it’s hard to feel down for any reason. We were warmly greeted in the beautifully colourful signature store on Georgia St. by Casey James (marketing and events director) and Reza Nasooti (tea sommelier) who were wonderfully informative and welcoming.

Tea cups with a decidely carnivale flare

The Tea Merchant almost exclusively sells TWG fine teas, which vary greatly; from the freshest, top quality traditional teas to some delicious, lively and unexpected blends which carry you away on a sensory experience you would never expect.  I brought a sample of New York Breakfast Tea (because I adore all breakfast teas) up to my nose and suddenly felt as though I’d been pulled into the film Breakfast at Tiffany’s. 1960s, Manhattan, sweet and pink with a hint of chocolate…  It was amazing!

Brenda and I were given an aromatic tour of TWGs new summer teas.

Brenda and I were then led back to the dinning room to sample new items from Urban Tea’s new summer menu and to try out some of Ben’s cocktails.  Being brunch time I opted for a spinach eggs benedict and, of course, a Matcha Sour. Brenda chose the new Summer Westcoast Tea Service and the Bain de Roses Martini.  I must say I was quite surprised by the matcha sour, which I chose because it seemed somehow wrong, but it was really, really quite good – unexpected, and something I would definitely have again.  Brenda’s martini was light and refreshing, the perfect cocktail for a hot summer day (if only it had been a hot summer day!)

The food was fantastic, as always (the scones and cream alone are to die for).  Much of it infused with various teas available in store, as well as being local, seasonal and exceptionally well prepared.

The Westcoast Tea Service

I need to make a point of returning to Urban Tea on a gorgeous summer day – if only to sit out on their patio with a glass of their tea sangria to keep to me cool.  But until then I will be happy with a little home brew based on their recipe below.  Good thing I came home with a sample of the preferred tea for the recipe: TWGs Eternal Summer:

• Place 10 generous teaspoons of tea leaves into a filter and place into a 1L pitcher
• Add 3 cups of cold/room temperature filtered water
• Add 1 cup white grape juice and 3 tbsp pomegranate syrup (for non-alcoholic) or 1 cup red wine and 6 tbsp pomegranate syrup (for alcoholic)
• Place the pitcher into the fridge and let steep for 2 hours
• Remove tea leaves and add fresh fruit.

Eternal Summer Tea Sangria

Thank you Urbane Tea Merchant, it was a beautiful, tea infused summer afternoon, in spite of all the rain.

Photos courtesy Brenda Lowe and myself

This nostalgic era is ghosted everywhere in this city if you know where to look. A world all around us yet shadowed in the past so that one can never get it back, unless you are willing to suspend reality. Hey, isn’t that what weekends are for? Your vehicle of change for this evening is a funky old pink double-decker bus. Now doesn’t that just say “WTF” already? It jars you just enough to upset the balance of your universe and goads you in to stepping onboard. You don’t make the decision to get on one of these things everyday, so when you do, you must be prepared for a few surprises. Deeper and deeper we spiral into this diabolical plot. Just enough out of our comfort zone to be slightly uneasy, then once the edge is taken off any fear, another level of the evening’s depths presents itself and we must take another step deeper into the abyss of time…

Who here can resist such temptation? The beckoning button of change… Dare to cross the threshold. Go on, close your eyes and press it. Who knows what will happen? You see the thing with buttons is, sometimes you can only push them once. Muahahahaha!

I did manage to suppress not only my urge to press that button but also that cheesy annoying Vincent Price voice in my head.

The first secret location turned out to be the old police headquarters’s “Coroners Court” building, now the home of the Vancouver Police Museum. The space is a bit creepy but hard, gritty and oozing with just the right amount of immersive themeing to take us all back to the seedy underbelly of the old downtown. I was now thoroughly entrenched in the past. Near the back, in the “wet room” of the morgue exhibit (which actually really was a fully functioning morgue), we were offered a Pimms Cup cocktail to steady our nerves. It seemed as though things were going to get, shall we say interesting…

As we made our way through this amazing collection of crime scene vignettes, I found myself with a glass beaker in my hand — “The blood of bulls” ( Salad – Beets with blood orange granite, mint and pomegranate ). Gruesome for sure, but a great combination of flavours.

..and then a steamy Erlenmeyer flask filled with Tomato consomme, pickled cauliflower and Hijiki seaweed. I found this one a little too acidic and not as pleasant a flavour palette, but full marks for the creativity.

Whisked away once more on the bus-that-time-forgot we disembarked a few blocks away at the new Vancouver Urban Winery. This moody setting will be selling wine on tap in the near future. Tonight it was our speakeasy. We stepped into this Hopperesque painting…

…to discover rows of tables in a large hall. Bar at one end, and between one wall of wine kegs while the other wall ensconced a row of stainless steel vats where the wine will eventually be vinted and sealed into beer-like kegs. Kegging wine will allow establishments the ability to sell good quality wine by the glass without having to mark it up for potential incurred wastage. Within 3 months the winery portion of this venue should be in full swing but the room itself is already booked on the weekends for the entire year.

The evenings food was prepared by Dubrelle Culinary School grad, now Executive Chef at Bishops Restaurant, Andrea Carlson. Her much appreciated passion for local, organic ingredients grown and produced in a sustainable manner showed through on this parade of plates:

Poached Hen’s Egg on crostini with Forest Mushroom salad and red wine reduction. Paired with 8th Generation Pinot Noir 2010. Ya gotta love wild mushrooms and this egg trend is fun and delicious, but is it getting out of hand?

Pitt Meadows flat iron steak with potato pave, root vegetables and a mountain huckleberry & rosemary jus. Paired quite nicely with my favorite wine of the evening, Therapy Syrah 2008. A good and appropriate meat and potato interpretation. The texture of the pavé felt a little like forking through a heavy pastry, a nice surprise when dealing with a typical heavy potato.

Riesling baba, orange blossom semifreddo with pistachio and persimmon. Paired with Naramata Lang Vineyard’s Off Dry Riesling 2008. The Baba was quite sweet on it’s own but taken with the cool creamy semifreddo it was an endearing finish to the meal. An amazingly pungent floral explosion.

The dessert played out with a quartet of Lindy dancers scampering around the room in perhaps a weak attempt to get us all on our feet but more probably to reinforce the illusion yet again. After a few parting conversations and comparing notes with fellow tweeters, we all dissolved silently into the streets of the city.
I can’t “unpush that button” or ever relive that exact evening but… Swallowtail always seems to present that button to repush, swirling time, altering our perceptions and allowing us to play inside memories we never knew we even had.

Vancouver's newest cantina meets yoga studio, Che Baba.

“Hey! Long time! How are you?” shouted Stephan Gagnon as his face lit up when I walked into Che Baba.

I looked around, and was met with a dimly lit room filled with locals cheerfully chatting over delicious looking continental fare such as beat salad with confit shallots, pistachio encrusted liver paté, mushroom risotto with truffle oil, gnocchi with sage & brown butter, braised lamb with celeriac purée, fish en papillote with quinoa, squid stew on crispy polenta, and other terrific looking plates. No wonder these people were cheerful—the menu looked and smelled amazing.

“What is this place Stephan?” I wondered as I took in the funky curves and patterns that seemed reminiscent of the psychedelic sixties. “And how have I not heard of it before?” I challenged my friend, who was grinning widely as he gave me a tour.

What Gagnon showed me was a new concept in Vancouver’s restaurant scene: one part local cantina and one part yoga studio. The eclectic, psychedelic aesthetic started to make sense, reminding me of hippy living rooms of the early seventies. Gagnon, who practices yoga himself, had created a spot for he and his friends to practice, relax, laugh and eat good food together.

The designer and builder behind Les Faux Bourgeois and other popular Vancouver restaurants has created an ambiance somewhere between zen and psychedelic.

“In Spanish-speaking countries like Argentina, “che” is a slang nickname similar to “dude” or “bro” and “baba” is an Indian word for “father”, “wise man” or “guru” Stephan explained with his thick French Canadian accent and a glint in his eye. So essentially the restaurant is called “Dude Guru”! Hilarious.

“When we opened Les Faux we wanted to create a friendly, unpretentious bistro for the neighbourhood. But when it started getting so busy it became hard to get in, and sadly the locals from the neighbourhood came less and less often.” Enter Che Baba.

“I haven’t done any marketing or promotion at all.” Gagnon explained “I’m so busy doing my own thing, I don’t even know what’s going on in the industry these days, and I wanted to create a warm, friendly space for the neighbourhood.” He went on to explain how he managed to convince local chef Marta Pan (owner of Pan-o-Pan Foods) and Geoff Van Hussel to join him on this unique neighbourhood project.

The large illuminated sign on the side of the building still advertises the print shop which used to be house in the building, and Gagnon plans to use that space as a community-access art project to showcase various artists in the neighbourhood.

As with other past projects of Gagnon’s, which aside from Les Faux Bourgeois include Vancouver gems such as Jules, Gastropod, and Bistrot Bistro, he teamed up with his partner Scott Cohen. Nearly all the design concepts and construction was done by Gagnon himself in the workshop at the back of the building.

This isn’t really a restaurant review website, so I’ll spare you the long descriptions and my opinions of my first visit and just post a few photos below of our plates to give you an idea what to expect. But I predict good things for this spot and will be heading back soon—who knows, maybe even for a yoga class!

This gem of a restaurant only seats around 35 and they don’t take reservations so locals can access the space on a first come, first seated basis. So much for Gagnon’s idea of creating a restaurant for those frustrated by how busy Les Faux is. But I’m confident you’ll find it worth a little patience if you have to wait for a seat.

Che Baba is open seven days a week for brunch, lunch and dinner (just brunch and lunch on Sundays) and is located at 603 Kingsway (just down the street from Les Faux Bourgeois), Vancouver, BC; 604-558-1519 www.chebaba.ca @ChebabaCantina (no reservations)