Tiki - A cocktail party of tropical proportions

Our lastest Pop-up Restaurant, shelter from the rainy day, Vancouver blues.  April 13, 2012

  

Tiki is currently SOLD OUT, but if you want to get on the waiting list, we will be releasing a few more tickets the week before.  Email us at theswallowdive@gmail.com if you want in.

Location Imagine a warm indoor jungle, koi pond, whimsical wooden bridge, orchids blooming all around you.

The Food There will be five tiki stands in the jungle serving canapés and hand-food for under $5 each. We’ve collected together a diverse group of Vancouver’s underground culinary stars to create tropical themed nibbles.

• Butter on the Endive chef Owen Lightly formerly of Araxi & West will dazzle us with his gorgeous canapes.
• The classy Curious Oyster Catering boys on fresh shucked BC oysters.
• Caribbean whole pig smoked by Anatoli Belov Woodland Smokehouse. 
• Soho Road bringing the spice to the mix and their delicious homemade naan and Indian food.
• Sea Monstr Sushi creating some classic Tiki rolls.
• One more mystery sweet tiki creator.

The Drinks Tiki inspired cocktails are the stars of our show, mixed by award winning bartender Hailey Pasemko!  There will be beer as well to keep you cool. 

 

What to wear? We encourage tropical inspired outfits, bright colours and crazy hats, whatever you like.  Please remember that it will be warm in the jungle, and there is no space for a coat check at this venue.  As this is a cocktail party (standing), wear your most comfortable, sexy shoes.

Time: 8pm to midnight
Tickets: $15 including one Tiki cocktail

Love & Hate - My Top 10 Vancouver Food Trends

Grain of salt required, please. This rant is coming from a wine nerd and chef that finds it a little too easy to get a touch of the rage.  I was raised in the West End, so I've watched Vancouver's food culture blossom like an atom bomb.  Here they are...Vancity food trends that put a bee in my bonnet or a zip in my sip...

1. The Continuous Gastown Food Explosion! - Lukewarm - It's great, but lets clean up Commercial Drive before we put ANOTHER tiny, hipster eatery into Gastown please.  Commercial Drive should be like Gastown, shouldn't it? It's got the best groceries and delis in town, why not the best selection of restaurants?  It baffles me.
2. Glutards - I only hate the pretend ones - It's unbelievably annoying to cook for fake gluten intolerant guests.  You take half your bloody day to make a separate lasagna with rice noodles or whatever.  Anddd... they eat the tasty real noodle version and leaving a tiny portion for the rest of us normal folk.  Sigh.
3. Paleo Diet - Hate it! -Eat like a caveman, hmmm.  No processed foods, grains, dairy or fun!  Just eat meat all the time, cause that's super healthy and great for the environment.
4. $17 tiny pizzas - Starting to hate it - Nicli, Nook, Campagnolo, Barbarella, Farina, you're all making very tasty pies, but you're starting to inch your prices up a titch too much.  A sliver of dough with a smattering of tomato sauce and 9 artfully placed pieces of bacon and arugala is not worth $17 bucks.  You're making a killing, so maybe I'm jealous.
5. Steak Frites - Hate it - It's boring.  We think of it as 'fancy food', ridiculous! Just because it's written in French doesn't mean I should pay $25 bucks for steak and chips.
6. The death of fine dining - Hate it! - Take off your running shoes everyone! Come on Vancouver, sometimes it's nice just to get gussied up, go out and be served like a king?  With the exit of Lumiere and many others, it's sad to see all of our new restaurants in the bistro category. 
7. Asian Fusion - Still love it! - Bao Bei, Fat Dragon, Wild Rice - This cuisine IS Vancouver, we need more of it!  Barbecue pork, potstickers, dim sum, more, more!
8. Man-Food - Starting to hate it - Meat & Bread style eateries.  Have you ever noticed how a ton of our new restaurants/butcher sandwich shops are throwing the salad out the window in favour of a thick slab of braised pork ass?  Bring the salad back, someone, quick before my heart stops.
9. Hot & Sticky foods - Lukewarm - Pomegranate, dates, figs - Meh - Dates stuffed with goat cheese, um.. I can't taste the cheese anymore, my filling is screaming at me. Pomagranates, tasty but yesterday's news, super not local. Figs, still love em, the green ones are local even.  Bake them slowly with a dash of a good balsamic and then serve them with Tiger Blue, BC cheese. 
10. The Death of Sweet Wine - Hate it! - As much as Salt Tasting Room tries to promote it's sherry selection, it's still not catching on.  Joey's wine bar for example, has not one even off-dry wine on offer.  A good German riesling like Balthasar Ries would be fine.  JUST ONE!  Why do we hate anything that's even slightly sweet?  Brainwashing and memories of Blue Nun, I guess.

Cocktails & Oysters

Lûdzu, is my favorite cocktail making, evil genius.

The guy makes his own bitters. That takes a lot of time...and doesn’t make you any money. So if you do it, you do it because you have an obsession.

I was actually introduced to a bottle of his Pirate Rum before I ever met him.  It was clearly created by someone with a remarkable palate and attention to detail. I knew I had to work with him.

Don’t tell him I said this, but he eats a lot of weird stuff.

We were on a road trip once and stumbled upon this Bison farm. Lûdzu insisted we buy all the Bison tongue we could eat, and then fiendishly went to work preparing it back at camp into a fabulous pate. It was incredible.

So, i’m excited to announce that we’ve finally paired up to create something tasty for Dine Out Vancouver.... voila!

Cocktails & BC Oysters
Join us in a classy underground bar, hidden in a chinatown warehouse for Cocktails & Oysters.

Cocktails (4) 
Gin & Tonics are all well and good, but it’s easier than you think to impress dinner guests with first class cocktails. Let Lûdzu show you how!

• 2 Classic Cocktails. These are your Go-To’s for dinner parties
• Lûdzu explains when to shake, when to stir, and how to make them with style, while effortlessly rambling off fun facts about their historic significance
• Local Ingredients Cocktail
• Made with local herbs and ingredients, hand picked by Lûdzu himself.
• Molecular Mixology
• Crazy cocktail creations using foams and mists

BC Oysters (4) 
Curious Oyster Catering will lead a tasting of 4 distinct varieties of local oysters.

• Experience the intricacies of varying flavor profiles, in the freshest local oysters from Desolation Sound, BC
• Black Pearl - White shell with black stripes, light and sweet with hints of melon 
• Marina’s Top Drawer - Gold in color with a frilly shell. Sweet and smooth
• Beach Angel - Robust and briny flavor, with a long, clean, cucumber finish
• Outlandish Gems - Delicate meat with hints of green apple candy and a delicate, briny finish

• How to shuck without stabbing yourself :)
• What to look for when buying oysters
• How to detect red tide

Dates:
Sat Jan 28, 7:30-9pm - Sold Out
Sat Feb 4, 7:30-9pm - Sold Out

Ticket price -  $89
Double Date Rate (Group of 4+) - $79 

Email now to book - theswallowdive@gmail.com
Chef Robin

Chefs List - Top 5 Favourite Restaurants in Vancouver

Wonder which restaurants in Vancouver are closest to our local chefs hearts? I've polled a few friends in the field that I know, love, respect and fear slightly. Chefs are by nature pick-aparts, everything is critiqued. Join any chef at a restaurant table and they won't be able to help themselves. It's like itching a mosquito bite, MUST DO IT. The perfect panel to highlight some of the true gems in Vancouver's huge roster of restaurants. It was really hard to narrow it down, there are so many wondrous restaurants, it was like choosing which body part you wouldn't mind losing. However, the final tally of restaurants were the ones that we dined in and left fully inspired or scratching our heads in delighted confusion at the artistry and perfection that graced our table.

Note: I have to keep the chefs vaguely anonymous as we all work in the industry and wouldn't want a scandal:)

So, here they are...
Chef Francie Pants
1. Nook
2. Motomashi Shokudo
3. Little Nest - Try: Any pastries! Especially the ricotta muffins.
4. Shiro sushi - Try: Sushi Fry #3 - on the special menu, it's salmon/halibut deep fried
5. Lin's Chinese - Try: Crispy Pancakes stuffed with BBQ pork

Chef Tee Wo
1. Au Petit Cafe - Try: Any sandwich with hot peppers
2. Kintaro - Try: Miso Ramen w/ fatty meat and rich broth, may kill you.
3. Belgian Fries - Late night chef craving most likely, like crack.

Chef Cork
1. Raincity Grill - Pacific Northwest at it's finest, great BC wine selection as well
2. The Nook - Try: Chicken Liver Pate kicks your mothers ass!
3. Tojo's - Try: You must order the set menus, they will blow the creative lid off your noggin'
4. Toshi Sushi- worth the wait. Try: House Roll or BBQ eggplant
5. Cibo

Chef Vega
1. West - amazingly consistent, creative, adventurous. Try: Octopus Salad with a glass of sherry!
2. Hawksworth - Try: Melon and Chicken Satay appetizer is pretty cute.
3. Bishops
4. Cru
5. Pied a Terre

Sommelier X
1. Maenam - Try: Red Curry Duck. Lunch special is a great deal.
2. La Quercia - Try: Seven course family style tasting
3. Chambar
4. L'Abattoir
5. Vij's