One of my favourite boozy weekends of the year is Cornucopia in Whistler. This year, I decided to approach the festival like I would a martial arts tournament: with a fighter’s willingness to take a righteous beat down along with an open mind ready to explore the numerous possibilities being presented without reservation.
While the red-lining of the liver, brain and belly systems on an explicit diet of gourmet food and drink was readily encouraged, crashing in a messy fireball of wine, spirits and food, even if carefully hidden away in a luxurious hotel room, was certainly not. This year I returned prepared to rumble at a whole new level with another solid year of training under my widening belt.
FRIDAY
I roll into Whistler to join the judging panel at the Whistler Chef’s Challenge featuring Bearfoot Bistro vs. Sidecut. Particularly interesting was that these two restaurants faced-off in the summer during Feast in the Mountains, which resulted in a tie. The Iron-Chef style contest rematch was again a close battle where each side prepared 5 dishes over the course of one frantic hour using venison as their main ingredient.
In my opinion, the Bearfoot Bistro’s top dish was a venison carpaccio dressed with fresh Parmesan, egg, capers and a horseradish foam that was flash frozen with liquid nitrogen; delicious contrasting flavours and textures beautifully displayed on the plate made this a favourite.
^ Venison carpaccio with a liquid nitrogen frozen horseradish foam
Each restaurant played to their strengths. Bearfoot to their subtle and playful techniques and artful plating, and Sidecut to their unabashed big and bold flavours and their perfectly cooked and seasoned dishes.
^ Sidecut's roasted venison loin with persimmon, chanterelle mushrooms, fig and root vegetable puree
After a careful tasting and assessment followed by a quick conference among the judges , we declared the Bearfoot Bistro the overall winner of this most recent match-up.
Round 2 – feel out your opponent
Enter “CRUSH-lite” a.k.a. the industry trade tasting on Friday afternoon–a giant room of smiling purveyors ready to pour their latest libations. With over 75 wineries participating, there were some great wines to sip and taste. Some highlights for me were Painted Rock’s 2007 Merlot, and Kettle Valley’s 2007 Pinot Noir, Pepper Bridge’s 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon, and the Miner Family’s big red proprietary blend from Napa Valley reverently called ‘The Oracle”. All this wine sat nicely in my belly on the nest of house-made charcuterie by Owen Foster of Creekside’s Nita Lake Lodge.
Big Guns
Next up, five over-the-top courses prepared by world-class Chef James Walt and Co. at Araxi, each paired with a duo of fine wines from boutique producers from both Washington and California.
^ Nova Scotia Lobster Salad paired with 2007 Pahlmeyer Chadonnay and Miner Family Vineyards 'Wild Yeast' Chardonnay
^ Snake River Pork and Fraser Valley Veal Cheek with Pemberton sunchokes and sweet corn paired with 2007 Pepper Bridge Cabernet Sauvignon and 2006 Pepper Bridge Winery Reserve
^ Roasted Elk Tenderloin with potato and truffle foam with alba truffles, buffalo ricotta and truffle gnocchi paired with 1999 Merryvale 'Profile' and 2007 Pahlmeyer Merlot
^ Pemberton Meadows Beef Short Rib, North Arm Farm root vegetables and crispy onion paired with the 2006 Miner Family Vineyards 'The Oracle' and 2006 Ehlers Estate Cabernet Sauvignon '1886'
^ Okanagan Pears, caramel and spice poached with hazelnut panna cotta, warm beignet, along with petit fours paired with Merryvale 'Antigua' dessert wine (not shown)
SATURDAY
I woke up late morning with a text message from a colleague that stated that I was 4 glasses of wine behind. Little did they know I had the superior plan, which involved magical brown spirits in the afternoon. I jumped back into battle with the spinning round kick of liquids. Beautiful, strong and devastatingly effective. Whiskey.
Rye Cocktail Seminar
Vancouver Magazine ‘Bartender of the Year’, Shaun Layton of Gastown’s L’Abattoir held court behind his impressive arsenal of whiskey and mixing spirits. In an unassuming and professional manner, he shared some of his extensive knowledge and genuine love of whiskey from both Canada and the United States, while he made drinks for the entire room–rolling out some of his old classics as well as a new favourite cocktail called the Red Hook.
^ Vancouver Magazine's "bartender of the year", L'Abattoir's Shaun Layton, at his "Rye Cocktails: How to Pour Like a Pro" seminar
Old Pal
• 1 part rye
• 3/4 dry vermouth
• 3/4 Campari
- stirred
Algonquin
• 2 parts rye whiskey
• dry vermouth
• 1 part pineapple juice
- shaken with ice and strained
Sazerac
• splash of Absinthe
• sugar cube
• 2 parts rye
• 5 dashes of Peychaud bitters
- stirred with a lemon zest
Red Hook
• 2 parts Buffalo Trace bourbon
• 1.5 Punt E Mes
• 1.25 Luxardo
- stirred
After 4 very tasty and potent cocktails and numerous gulps of whiskey, I was quickly brought up to optimum blood alcohol levels. Next, I launched into CRUSH, the main consumer tasting event of the festival for a few more rounds armed with my camera.Compared to the previous day’s rather civil trade tasting affair, this evening’s event was something else entirely. It was a mass display of drunken revelry with much excitement and talk about the early start of the ski season during what will be a La Nina year; on this night the spit buckets stayed bone dry.
A short nap before Bubbles + Oceans, was a calculated decision. With the background murmur of hockey scores on the TV, I drifted into an inebriated stasis and let my liver try and catch up before the next booze barrage.
Bubbles + Oceans
It was a packed house at Araxi’s popular late night bubbly and seafood after party as expected; sushi and oysters were the perfect comfort foods for pairing with the 20 amazing selections from the world’s top Champagne and sparkling wine houses.
This was a truly decadent affair and the perfect ending to my annual Autumn journey into the mountains. Let the snow fall!
A special thanks to Tourism Whistler, the Top Table Group and the Summit Lodge and Aava Hotel for their generous hospitality. ~ PK
