What epitomizes Canadian food? Top Vancouver chefs gathered with ministers, media and suppliers at the Vancouver Art Gallery Sunday to showcase some of our finest ingredients.
C Restaurant’s Robert Clark started things off with the raw bar; Fanny Bay oysters on the half shell, fresh scallops with sea asparagus (also on the half shell), geoduck and sea urchin while the sunny room on the sunny room on the patio held five tables with specially prepared dishes and local wine. Chefs were tasked with creating a dish based on a Canadian ingredient that was then paired with local wines.
Vikram Vij (Vij’s) served a chicken curry with mint mango chutney highlighted by Therapy wines while Pino Posteraro of Cioppino’s created one of my favorite dishes of the day, a dry cranberry and blueberry salad with grains topped with Comox Valley buffalo mozzarella. The pairing suggestion for this was a Pinot from Vista D’Oro Farms that really brought out the sweetness of the blueberries.
The red meat quotient was handled by BBQ master House of Q with bar-b-qued brisket on a sweet potato latka and a round of beef tenderloin with a dry merlot from the newly launched Lulu Island Winery. As we made our way around the room of riches, sun was streaming through the windows and screams of excitement could be heard from the zip line just outside in Robson Square.
Hidekazu Tojo of Tojo’s Restaurant demonstrated popping a pink salmon sushi (garnished with asparagus and salmon row) into his mouth in one bite then ushered me to the Quails Gate table to complement it with a fruity Chenin Blanc.
The next stop was Nk’mip’s table, shared with John Bishop (Bishop’s), who prepared a lovely cold plate of Yukon potato cubes, celery root and Jerusalem artichoke pastry, and roasted red pepper relish, then Ned Bell of Cabana Bar and Grille in Kelowna prepared dessert. Paired with the Tinhorn Chardonnay, he called it “a study in apples” – cheesecake with cubed Fujiya apples, apple sorbet, red sugar and for the ladies a white chocolate heart.
Once everyone had had a chance to sample the dishes and thank-yous had been offered all-around, Nathan Fong hosted a taste test judged by Steve Thomson, B.C.’s Minister of Agriculture and Lands and dynamo Tracy Cameron, a Canadian Olympic Bronze medalist in rowing. They did a great job of identifying various ingredients and chose Tojo as top chef of the day, as did the popular vote.
~ Degan Beley
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