(video courtesy of: katkam.ca)
Two Chefs & a Table Wine Drinker dinner goes Mediterranean; Bollywood Dreams ~ Opus Bar presents their 7th Annual Street Party on Friday, July 31st; Brooklyn Brewmaster’s Dinner at the Granville Room; British Columbia’s top wine producers team up to launch boutique wine sales agency; db Bistro offers ‘French To Go’ beach boxes for the fireworks; Mon Bella’s Tuesday Tasting Menu; Farmstead wine tasting at Firefly Fine Wines & Ales on Saturday August 8th; VinoCamp Returns to Vancouver with the Addition of CheeseCamp!
UPDATED: 5:25 pm Tuesday, July 25
Two Chefs & a Table Wine Drinker Dinner goes Mediterranean
Two Chefs and a Table is pleased to announce the next event in their Wine Drinker Dinner series. The dinner, set to take place Wednesday August 12th, will be built around a Mediterranean menu perfect for summer, with an emphasis on authentic Mediterranean ingredients, preparations and spices, don’t be surprised if you find yourself dreaming of Cinque Terre or the Costa Brava while you work your way through the six courses.
Once again, local wine expert Paul Watkin of the Seacove group has carefully and artfully selected wines to pair with the courses. The wines for this dinner are all from the historic vineyards of the Southern Europe and the Mediterranean and perfectly match the tastes and textures on offer.
The airy Two Chefs and a Table dining room will be the perfect setting for the Mediterranean Wine Drinker Dinner. It offers exceptional value and taste at only $65 per person. Reservations are recommended—call 778-233-1303 or email info@twochefsandtable.com. For more information on Two Chefs and a Table dining and catering, visit www.twochefsandatable.com.
Menu
First Course: Sole Escabache w/house made chili vinegar, frisee, micro greens
Wine: Aruspide Lando (white, Spain)
Second Course: Heirloom tomato salad w/feta cheese, olive tapenade, white balsamic
Wine: Ardales Airen 2007 (white, Spain)
Third Course: Pacific Sardine bruschetta w/roasted tomato, grilled lemon
Wine: Apollo (red, Greece)
Fourth Course: Grilled lamb sausage tagliatelli: house made sausage, thyme, butter
Wine: Tenuta del Portale IGT Aglianico (red, Italy)
Fifth Course: Duck cassoulet: Polderside duck confit, white beans, hand made duck sausage or/
Beef tenderloin: porcini roasted tenderloin, white truffle butter, mascarpone & blue cheese, zucchini blossom
Wine: Chateau Joanny Cotes du Rhone 2005 (red, France)
Dessert: Orange Mascarpone tarte or/Summer berry Pavlova
Wine: Chateau La Rame Sainte Croix-du-Mont 2004 (dessert, France)
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Bollywood Dreams ~ OPUS BAR 7th Annual Street Party Friday, July 31st 6pm – 9pm
2009 marks the seventh year of the annual summer street party for world-renowned Opus Hotel, voted one of the world’s top 100 hotels by Conde Nast Traveler. This eagerly anticipated event is one of Vancouver’s largest private outdoor parties, and draws over 500 invite-only VIPs into the streets. Invitees include media, local politicians, actors, key corporate clients, and VIP guests.
The OPUS Foundation is proud to announce its ongoing support of UNICEF’s Unite for Children, Unite against AIDS campaign. As a gesture of its commitment, The OPUS Foundation will present UNICEF Canada with a $10,000 donation as part of a commitment of $50,000 over 5 years.
The theme of this year’s event is Bollywood Dreams, and will feature beautiful sights, sounds, and dynamic entertainment presented by the Vancouver International Bhangra Celebration Society. Indian themed food and refreshments will be served in collaboration with Celebrity Chef Vikram Vij. Following the outdoor celebration, guests will continue this exclusive evening indoors, with a special dinner menu in Elixir and renowned DJs throughout the night in Opus Bar.
Celebrity Chef Vikram Vij and Elixir’s Executive Chef Don Letendre have created a sumptuous four-course menu of Indian delicacies and regional ingredients. Seating from 8:30pm, for reservations call 604.642.0557.
After Party Chef Culinary Showcase
$50.00 per person, add $25 for wine pairings
Portobello mushrooms in porcini cream curry on celeriac puree
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Coconut curried vegetables with cholia rice
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Wine marinated lamb popsicles with cumin potatoes
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Rice Pudding with rose water
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Brooklyn Brewmaster’s Dinner at the Granville Room
When? 6:00pm – 9:00pm Friday August 14, 2009
Where? The Granville Room (957 Granville Street, Vancouver)
How much? Tickets are $75 Call 604)633-0056
Brooklyn Brewery’s Garrett Oliver will bring his book The Brewmaster’s Table to life at a four course brewmaster’s dinner at the Granville Room. On Friday August 14th, beer lovers will flock to the Granville Room for the best beer event to hit Vancouver this summer. Tickets are $75 each, and include a 4 course dinner prepared by Granville Room Chef Kye Agrios (no modifications – vegetarians beware), paired with Brooklyn Beer.
Brooklyn Brewmaster’s Dinner at the Granville Room
$75.00 including Tax and Gratuity and Brooklyn Beer Pairings
BBQ Duck Terrine
Local asparagus, avocado and wax bean salad and mustard seed vinaigrette.
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Szechuan Peppercorn Crusted Tuna
Cucumber, tomato, seaweed salsa and blood orange ginger dressing.
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Garlic and Thyme Grilled Beef Tenderloin
Duck fat confit potato, baby vegetables and green peppercorn sauce.
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Mint White Chocolate Iced Parfait
Parisian fizzy fruit
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British Columbia’s Top Wine Producers Team up to Launch Boutique Wine Sales Agency
Vancouver, BC – July 23, 2009 – Two of British Columbia’s internationally recognized wine producers, Quails’ Gate Estate Winery and Burrowing Owl Vineyards Ltd have collaborated to establish a new boutique wine sales agency, Appellation Wine Marketing Ltd.
Quails’ Gate Winery, a small family-owned and operated winery established by the Stewart family, has been hand-crafting some of the Okanagan’s finest wines since 1989. Burrowing Owl Vineyards Ltd, founded by the Wyse family in 1997 is located in the South Okanagan and is committed to producing world-class wines. Both wineries share a commitment to producing the very best wines from the very best grapes, sourced from their Okanagan estate vineyards totalling more than 340 acres of vinifera grapes.
Appellation Wine Marketing, an independent sales organization led by President Jim Williams will represent the two premium brands, Quails’Gate and Burrowing Owl in British Columbia, with expansion to the Alberta market slated for 2010. The new company is a joint venture between the two featured producers, and as such, with a limited but high quality product line, can focus its energy on customer service. Appellation plans to broaden its portfolio of wines to include international producers whose quality approach to winemaking reflects
those of its founding Okanagan wineries. Appellation’s mission is to develop a world-class sales organization with a boutique wine agency approach, focussed on consultative selling and personalized service.
“I am very excited to be able to participate in this venture”, said Jim Williams, “Both of the producers that we will be representing have always made a full commitment to quality and to the VQA, made in BC, program. I am very proud to be their representative, and I really can’t wait to get started”, he said.
Mr Williams continued, “We have assembled a high calibre team of experienced sales professionals to cover the market, and we plan to move quickly to make contact with all of the existing customers of these two great BC wineries. We will be introducing a state-of-the-art order processing system that will make it extremely simple for our regular customers to place orders, but we are still a ‘people’ company and the personal contacts we develop with our clients will be paramount”.
Chris Wyse, President of Burrowing Owl and Tony Stewart, CEO and Proprietor of Quail’s Gate shared the view that the two brands fit together perfectly with little price-point conflict and similar production volumes. Mr Wyse added, “This will be a well balanced arrangement from the start, our corporate objectives and goals are of a similarly high standard and better still, we all get along very well together on a personal level.”
“For over twenty years, our family has worked hard to deliver the very best wines from Quails’ Gate to our customers,” comments Mr. Stewart. “An important value of our family is our desire to work closely with our customers and to learn how to better service their needs. With Appellation Wine Marketing, we hope to enhance our customer relationships by providing excellence in service and communications that is best achieved with a smaller ‘boutique-style’ agency that intimately knows our wines.”
Burrowing Owl Vineyards Ltd, located south of Oliver British Columbia, was founded in 1993 by the Wyse family. Their premium, gravity flow winery situated on 146 acres of exceptional grape-growing terroir in the south Okanagan Valley, was constructed in 1998. Burrowing Owl follows a “green” philosophy incorporating such initiatives as underground
barrel cellars to conserve energy, geothermal cooling and solar heating. On-site facilities include the winery with an annual production of approximately 30,000 cases, a 60 seat high-end restaurant, and an 11 room luxury Guesthouse featuring a 25 meter swimming pool and hot tub. www.burrowingowlwine.ca
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db Bistro feux d’artifice special | db Bistro fireworks special
Vancouver’s db Bistro Moderne has come up with two ways to help make this year’s Celebration of Light a feast for the taste buds as well as the eyes . . .
For the first time, they are offering ‘French To Go’ beach boxes for $20:
First option:
-cold gaspacho or summer green salad
-sandwich choices:
jambon beurre in crispy baguette
saucissons sec and cornichons
country duck pate with orleans mustard
choice of fresh fruit or tart
Second option:
-slice of country duck pate or pate encroute or salad
-grilled chicken panini , pesto ,arugula and smoked mozzarella or
-crab cakes sandwich , butter lettuce,tomato and sauce remoulade
-choice of fresh fruit or tart
Cheese with either option (add $5).
Visit: www.dbbistro.ca
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Mon Bella’s Tuesday Tasting Menu ~ July 28
With the extreme heat and long days in Vancouver this week, a perfect opportunity to work with high grade olive oils has presented itself. I was luck to receive a give of three exceptional Italian olive oils last week – so for this Tuesday Tasting Menu I have paired three olive oils to the food and wine. The olio extravergine di oliva are from the famous producer Carpineto.
Enjoy tonight’s tasting menu and join us this week as we feature only products from Chef Fowke’s urban garden, local producers and meats and seafood’s from within 400 miles of Kitsilano. Three to five specials will be featured daily on the chalkboard and will be available al a carte or as a tasting menu.
Tomato, Basil & Polenta Salad
banyul’s vinegar, tarragon aioli, olio il piccioli
Dungeness Crab & Fish Soup
smoked paprika, pinenuts, olio sillano
Pemberton Meadow Flat Iron Steak
cucumber salad, 3 year old parmesan, olio delle simarde
Featuring wines from Morning Bay Okanagan Vineyard.
Visit: www.monbella.com
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Farmstead Tasting Extravaganza!!! – Saturday August 8th
Saturday August 8th from 2:00pm to 6:00pm @ Firefly Fine Wines and Ales
Join Firefly Fine Wines and Ales and Farmstead Wines for one massive event. If you love fine wines and planet Earth this is a day to mark in your calendar! Come in and try a huge selection of Farmstead wines and with deeply discounted prices. 15% off the entire portfolio of Farmstead wines that day only!! Make sure to get here early as supplies are sure to go fast. Purchase enters you into a draw for great Farmstead prizes.
Firefly Fine Wines and Ales and Farmstead wines share a great commitment to the Environment and to great wines. Come in and enjoy both on Saturday August 8th.
Visit: www.fireflyfinewinesandales.com
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VinoCamp Returns to Vancouver with the Addition of CheeseCamp! First Wine and Cheese Camp in Canada
VANCOUVER, BC – VinoCamp is back after a successful first year and has become one of Vancouver’s most anticipated wine events of the summer. This year we are pleased to announce the world premiere of CheeseCamp. A different type of conference, “VinoCamp CheeseCamp 2009” is designed for people at the intersection of wine, cheese and technology. Participants are encouraged to take photos of what’s happening, blog, tweet and communicate about their experience online and off.
This year’s event offers a full afternoon of tasting and sampling along with expert educational sessions on international wines and cheeses and a live tasting will be held online for those unable to attend. Anthony Nicalo of Farmstead Wines and one of the speakers from the 2008 event says, “VinoCamp was a fantastic experience…fundamental in our ability to begin sharing our story effectively online. The connections and friendships were amazing and are still developing a year later. I can’t wait to participate in the next VinoCamp.”
“We modelled VinoCamp after the popular wine camps held in Napa and Sonoma by Silicon Valley bloggers. The first of its kind in Canada, we wanted something for local geeks who are also foodies/oenophiles,” said Lori Pike, VinoCamp co-founder. “Based on the overwhelming feedback from last year, we’ve expanded to include a second track devoted entirely to cheese and are excited to bring a participatory ‘Wine 2.0’ type experience to the city.”
Speaker sessions include “Old vs. New” by local wine critic Sid Cross and Daenna van Mulligan, the Wine Diva; “Cool, Single and Sustainable” from Mark Davidson of the International Sommelier Guild and Ingo Grady, Director of Wine Education at Mission Hill Family Estate and – a huge favorite from last year – David Sanders from Riedel giving a session on the “Glass as Messenger”. Dwight Sick, winemaker for Stags Hollow, will also conduct a virtual tasting via Twitter. Les Amis du Fromage will be bringing cheese and giving a session as well as other local cheese experts. Mark Anthony Brands is the wine sponsor.
VinoCamp will be held in the private lounges of the UBC Grad Student Centre at 6371 Crescent Road on Saturday, August 8th from Noon to 6 PM. Early bird tickets are on sale for $65 until July 17th, after which the price increases to $75.
About VinoCamp:
This is definitely not the wine festival. In a more unstructured form than a standard conference, VinoCamp Vancouver, and introducing the world premiere of CheeseCamp, brings wine, cheese, people and technology together in one place, making wine and cheese accessible, educational and fun. A different type of conference, “VinoCamp CheeseCamp 2009” is designed for people interested in technology, wine and cheese as participants are encouraged to use their favourite social media throughout the sessions. Join us for a memorable, fun, and interactive afternoon. You will learn more about wine and cheese, meet interesting people, and have a simply fabulous time. www.vinocamp.com
