While it was gloomy outdoors on Monday evening, the glitz and glitter was inside Vancouver’s new Convention Centre West, which played host to 800 people attending the fifth annual BC Restaurant Hall of Fame gala. Appropriately, the expansion’s inaugural event was an opportunity to put the not-quite-finished facility and Executive Chef Blair Rasmussen’s team through their paces — quite a feat since it was said that the kitchen was not yet operational.
^ Ballroom foyer with glass curtain exterior walls and woodblock feature wall.
The reception beforehand gave attendees an opportunity to marvel at this impressive space before attention was turned centre stage to presentations and speeches in Canada’s largest convention centre ballroom. While some have declared the structure “esthetically underwhelming,” to do so looking from the outside completely misses the point. What is iconic for those who will attend functions here, is the natural setting on display through the floor-to-ceiling glass curtain walls.
Memorabilia from the 12 inductees’ careers were on display in the ballroom foyer for guests to peruse while being serenaded by the jazz of Terminal Station, sipping wine or beer, and nibbling on delectable hors d’oeuvres, such as Okanagan chevre & roasted vegetable tarts, Island scallops, Polderside duck rillettes, and chanterelle gougere. Yet they could only begin to tell the multitude of stories represented by the accomplishments of these culinary icons.
Indeed, we have come a long way from the BC restaurant industry’s pioneering days, not to mention Expo 86. Therefore, it is fitting that the BC Restaurant Hall of Fame, Canada’s only such institution, was created in 2004 to not only honour these individuals but also to provide a means of recording this heritage for posterity. Hopefully, there will be some repository for the public to access this history.
^ 2009 BCRHOF inductees.
Once all were seated for dinner, Lieutenant Governor Steven Point and Mayor Gregor Robertson were piped in with their party to the head table. Both offered their congratulations in introductory speeches, while Premier Gordon Campbell delivered his via pre-recorded video. Then, in quick succession, the following inductees were presented with their awards:
Active Restaurateur
David Aisenstat: The Keg Steakhouse & Bar, The Shore Club Vancouver, Ki, Hy’s Whistler
Geoffrey Howes: The Salmon House & Coho Lounge, Aqua Riva, Horizons Restaurant
Industry Award
Back of the House
Thomas Haas: Thomas Haas Chocolates
Scott Jaeger: The Pear Tree Restaurant
Front of the House
Darren Gates: Joe Fortes Seafood & Chop House, GoldFish Pacific Kitchen
Jean Turcotte: The Cannery Seafood Restaurant
Friend of the Industry
Sid Cross: Co-Founder, The Chef’s Table Society of BC; Western Living Magazine
Jamie Maw: Co-Founder, The Chef’s Table Society of BC; Vancouver Magazine
Pioneer
George Frankel: Bridges Restaurant
Bruno Patassini: Westin Bayshore
Primo Villanueva: Primo’s Mexican Grill
Special Lifetime Achievement Award
Duncan Holmes: Journalist
^ Weathervane scallop tartar with Hecate Sound dungeness crab salad & shaved fennel.
While taking in the spectacle, guests were quietly presented by banquet staff scurrying about the darkness, a three-course dinner of Weathervane scallop tartar with Hecate Sound dungeness crab salad; maple sake butterfish on a bed of du Puy lentils; and an entrée of British Columbia “Petite Marmite” — L7 bison short rib, barley-fed pork belly, and free range chicken with primeur vegetables, green gnocchi, and porcini & moelle toast.
^ Maple sake butterfish on a bed of du Puy lentils with Venturi-Schulze balsamico.
Introductions from category presenters and a dozen biographies & acceptance speeches have the potential for a drawn out evening of stifling yawns in palms. But with the audience busying themselves enjoying their food and the speakers largely mindful of their time allotment, the pace was comfortable. In fact, maybe just a little too rushed when you have engaging orators — such as Sid Cross, Jamie Maw, and Duncan Holmes — or amusing anecdotes — as when Geoffrey Howes related how his entry to Canada was dependent on providing an immigration officer with The Savoy’s omelette recipe or when Thomas Haas described how in the first few minutes of his kitchen apprenticeship, the chef struck him in the forehead with an apple peeler which left a scar he still bears to this day.
^ Duncan Holmes regales the audience with his acceptance speech.
Subsequently, one had the opportunity to solicit further details from the inductees during the dessert reception. However, a plethora of desserts, both pre-prepared and prepared to order, constituted a nagging distraction.
^ Raspberry panna cotta.
^ The Fort Wine Co. Saucy cranberry dessert wine.
It was just a matter of time, before the guests began melting into the dark downpour, quietly concluding an elegant evening.
~ photos by Jackie Connelly, text by Rick Green
