At the end of last month, the good folks at the Vancouver Aquarium’s Ocean Wise Program celebrated their five year anniversary by getting together in an attempt to butter up (and fatten up) local food media with a three hour mystery Dine Around tour to show off their wide range of participating Lower Mainland restaurants.
Greeted at the main entrance to the Aquarium with flutes of Champagne, we were split into groups, read our rights, and then shuffled aboard awaiting tour buses. As we pulled out of the Aquarium parking lot, each and every right or left turn had all on board eager to guess our first mystery location. Shouts of “L’Altro Buca! Nook! The Teahouse!” could be heard as Chef Robert Clark of C Restaurant, and the evening’s Ocean Wise Ambassador, chuckled to himself in the back.
As we carried over the Lions Gate bridge, a silence fell upon us. Were we actually leaving the downtown core? Sure enough we were, and next thing we knew, we arrived at the North Shore’s Edgemont Village at a little gem of a resto, The Edge Bistro.
First up were the stout Saltspring Island mussels in curry cream with tomato concasée, paired with a buttery, yet light and citrusy Pacific Breeze Chardonnay. As we slurped up the excess broth, Chef Clark gave us all a quick lesson in mussel geography: a higher meat to shell ratio indicates a mussel that has thrived in the clean growing conditions of West Coast waters, whereas mussels from the East Coast tend to have a smaller meat to shell ratio due to the poorer growing conditions associated with their more polluted waters.
Up next, a hefty portion of pecan-crusted, shrimp and Dungeness crab-stuffed wild salmon with a mango mint salsa and orange ginger sauce. We barely had time to finish before our tour bus arrived to ship us to mystery location number two.
Back over the bridge to downtown, we pulled up to the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver and were warmly greeted by a host of managers who escorted us into the 900 West tasting bar at the centre of the hotel. What came next was a series of darling little amuse-bouches, each with its own wine pairing. Beet cured wild BC salmon and blinis with a lemon crème fraiche, Ahi tuna nicoise with a delicate quail’s egg and salty seaweed caviar (a first for us all), but the best dish of the evening was most certainly the pan seared Artic Char atop a Granny Smith apple fritter decked with Granville Island Lager Foam. Not a taste bud was missed with this delectable combination.
We were all a-twitter as we rolled out of the Fairmont heading to C restaurant, to meet up with our fellow groups and exchange stories of the evening’s culinary road trips.
And as if the first two restaurants weren’t filling enough, Executive Chef Robert Clark, treated us to two more courses of smoked Baynes Sound scallops, and finally, a Salt Spring Island goat cheese and vanilla mousse!
The Ocean Wise Program aims to be as inclusive as possible by involving any and all chefs, restaurants, markets and suppliers who want to commit to serving sustainable seafood, be it Panago Pizza or Provence Marinaside (both participating restaurants). Currently, there is no cost associated with becoming a member of the program. As such, various fundraising events occur throughout the year, such as the springtime Chowder Chow Down.
By keeping a close eye on the ever-changing ocean-friendly seafood list, the program educates and assists their members in selecting only the most sustainable seafood on the market. Spotting an Ocean Wise symbol takes the worry out of ordering or shopping, so that diners and consumers can feel confident they’re doing their part to help ensure the health of our oceans for years to come. ~ Katherine van der Gracht
