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

Dirty food secret #1 - Do you like Kraft Dinner?

I know you've eaten it before! Come to confession all ye sinners.

KD was invented in 1937 as a war ration staple to feed hungry soldiers cheaply at only 19 Cents! Fast forward to the 1980's, my mom used to serve this bright orange madness as a treat, cause kids love the shit. As you move into adulthood it's far more fashionable to treat KD with distain as crappy food reserved for white trash. But I was curious to relive my childhood so I whipped some up the other day, yes, I'm admitting it. As a chef, you'd think it was sacrilege, but if you've worked in restaurants you'd notice that chefs eat the more junk food than most. Cooking all the time gives you a hate for the food you make, and a jones for McD's.

So... A nice salad and some powdered pasta. Gulp, I still like it, ha!
So tell me, what do you think of the orange stuff? Nostalgic treat or road to an early grave?

Ingredients: Enriched wheat, milk, bacterial culture, salt, cream, lipase, microbial enzymes (to pre-digest it for me?), calcium chloride, modified milk ingredients; salt, sodium phosphates, colour (tartrazine), flavour(what the hell is 'flavour'?), citric acid

Salmon and Summer with In the House

The summer salmon run is almost over, so swallow tail will be cooking the last of the tasty little buggers on Sunday, Aug 21st at the latest In The House performance. If you don't know about In The House, they take over private homes in Vancouver and put on these incredible performances collecting artists from around the city.

Details are on the In The House site if you want to come eat and be thoroughly entertained. $30 for your salmon dinner and the show is amazing.

The Merits of Apples, Hops & Cheese in Quebec

Just got back from a trip to Quebec where I entreated the locals to suffer my butchered French. They were very kind and only gagged me once.

Highlight of the trip: A culinary focused jaunt from Montreal to Quebec City with my lovely Francophone buddies, Marco & Eliane. We tasted at every cider house and cheese shop that we could rustle up from Ile d'Orleans to Rougemont. Don't know if you can find any of their cider or brandy out here, but Cidrerie Michel Jodoin is tha bomb. Their brandy was like boozy liquid gold.

Best cheeses included; The hard to find...Le Bleu d'Elizabeth, Le Baluchon, L'anceire 3 year, Fritz Vielilli, Louis D'Or (bit like a nutty Gruyere) and a few you can get in Vancouver; Bleu Benedictine (made by monks), Savagine, find them at Benton Brothers.

If you are in Montreal you must go to Jean Talon Market, this is a massive open air market like Granville Island, but cool and not just for tourists (sorry Vancouver).

And lastly, I must mention the beer, I would need a few months to taste the wide array of microbrews available... the picture are my two favourites. One is a sour red ale fermented in red wine casks and the other is a smooth creamy blonde ale (both in the picture).

Pie Making at Pierre and Christine's in Montreal... Strawberry Rhubarb with iced cider... cause you're in Montreal. Thick steak with herb de provence and potatoes cooked in duck fat! A little 1974 Armagnac (Pierre's birth year bottle) to finish the night off. C'est Parfait! Thanks guys!!!!

Chef Montri's back to feed us... lucky souls

Back from Thailand this month, Chef Montri has some new recipes up his sleave... email us to reserve a spot at his next 5 course dinner on July 29th at the secret supper club.
Only 4 seats left

BYOB as usual, beer lovers, this is the perfect menu for you!

Symphony for the Senses - Sat. July 16th

La Stella Winery & Swallow Tail present...
Join us for a summer evening of sensory delights. A six course wine pairing secret supper with Robin Braun of the VSO.
Dine surrounded by spring flowers in one of our private Vancouver hideaways.

Sight, sound, scent & taste will be explored.

Details
Six wine pairings from the fabulous La Stella Winery
Six creative courses from the Swallow Tail chef team
1 lovely violinist playing a piece for each course
1 secret location in Vancouver... spring flowers are your clue
- location to be revealed when you book

Tickets
8pm SOLD OUT, 5PM (a few seats available)
Vegetarians welcome - Just give the chefs a heads up

Regular rate $129
Swallow Tail discount without wine $79
Swallow Tail discount with Wine $99

Email theswallowdive@gmail.com to reserve

BBQ Spot Prawns with cilantro salt and green papaya salad at the supper club.

Tip: Buy them at T&T Market live if you want to save a buck $8.99/lb right now.

It's spot prawn season in Vancouver and they are bloody tasty. Last year, I made a video (link below) on how to properly prep live spot prawns. This year, I've been shelling hundreds for various catering jobs and, by God, they are so lively. I've never experienced the jumping craziness before. What is in the Ocean this year, ephedrine? I had 10 of them actually jump out of the sink. It usually doesn't freak me out, but I had to put gloves on to steel my nerves and behead them all. If you are experiencing a similar squeamishness, I just want to tell you, "You are NOT alone!"

Here's how to clean and prep them... Video

Midnight Garden - Crab Consomme

Yes, it's blurry, damn it. Chef Chashma and I worked like dogs on the Midnight Garden 5 course secret supper, but all our pictures turned out blurry. Ah well, the food was good, so whateve's.

I just wanted to pass on this recipe for crab consomme, cause it's so bloody tasty and looks like liquid gold. Enjoy!

Crab Consomme
1. Go to the store and buy the liveliest crab you can find. Pinch the legs to make sure they aren't squishy, if they are the meat hasn't filled into the shell yet.

2. Bake my garlic crab recipe first with whole crabs. Always ask to keep the carapace when you buy crab at the fish store, that's where the flavour is. The important thing to do with the whole crabs is bake them, don't boil them, all the flavour is gone in the water if you do that.

2a. Garlic Crab is easy, throw 2 whole crabs with heads into a baking dish, put 1/4 cup butter in and 1/2 of a whole head of garlic (diced), 1/5 c white wine(chardonnay if you want to be picky). Cover with tin foil and bake at 425F for 20 min till the meat turns white.

2. Eat the Crab, it'll be the best you've ever had, I swear.

3. Take the shells and head carapace, cover in cold water and bring to an easy boil. As soon as it boils, turn it down to simmer on low... as low as it goes. Cook for 30 min, then remove bones and discard.

6. This is the part that will need practice so don't get discouraged if it doesn't work perfectly the first time, regardless you will have a really tasty stock even if it isn't perfectly clear.

Making the Raft float - Ratio: 1.5 c stock to 1 egg white (1 oz)

a. Eyeball measure your stock and figure out how much egg white to put in from that measurement, you can buy egg whites at the store in the milk section.

b. Put in a rough chopped mirepoix of 3 celery stalks, 2 bay leaf, 1 tsp peppercorns, 1/2 med fennel bulb with greens, 1 whole onion, a little dill, a small handful of parsley stalks.

c. Pour in your egg whites all at once with 1/4 cup lemon juice, bring up to heat scraping the bottom slowly with a flat spatula to make sure the eggs don't burn on the bottom. Reduce heat as soon as the liquid reaches a simmer and the raft(a float of egg white and mirepoix at the top of the pot)has formed. Simmer gently for 1 hour. Ladle the consomme carefully out of the pot, try not to disurb the raft. Add salt to taste.

Ps. Then steam up some mussels, throw in a raw spot prawn, some lightly steamed fiddleheads or sea asparagus and enoki mushrooms to finish the soup.

Dinner in a Midnight Garden - Vancouver, May 7

May 7th, 7:30pm

Let us take you to dine way down underground, again, into a mystery artists studio somewhere in Vancouver. An evening of beauty awaits you, surrounded by landscape paintings, you'll feel like you are in a Midnight Garden. Your chefs will paint you a culinary masterpiece to complete the experience. Dine on a five-course meal inspired by the works on the wall. $69 (min donation) includes one cocktail, a five-course meal and a small painting of your very own to take home. Space is limited. Email us for reservations.

Don't forget Mothers Day, bring her out to dinner!

Location is secret until the day before the dinner, BYOB, suggested wine pairing list to be provided.



Pickled Beet, Goat cheese, Chive Shots

Lost and confused at the Vancouver Playhouse Wine Festival?

Recommendations from staff pourers are in...
Here are some highlights from the festival from the sommeliers and pourers that know best.

You have to try some sherry, please! Even if you think you don't like it, because your grandma used to drink it. Dry to sweet, savoury to figgy, it's the bomb. Go to the Sherry tasting station near the liquor store!

Fortified
Gonzalez Bylass - Palo Cortado - Aposteoles - Actually brought tears to my eyes, almonds, caramel, oranges and a truffled finish
Blandy's Alvada - Madeira!
Dow's 20 Year Port! - say no more

Spain
Telmo 'freaking' Rodriguez! -The king of the vineyard is here, go taste all his wines and have a chat.
Faustino - Portia Prima - great value Ribera del Duero - Tempranillo - cherry, vanilla & spice in a velvet glove
Torres - Celeste - Ribera del Duero - excellent value, candied bacon, roasted green pepper, violets, blackberry, big and gorgeous
Bodegas Chivite - Rioja - Salceda -
Aside: Where's the white Rioja is what I want to know?

Argentina
Go to the Argentina Tasting Station (next to Alsace's) to get a sampling of several malbecs from different producers.
Vina Cobos - Felino Malbec - One of the best Malbec's at the show, floral and feminine, fruity
Familia Zuccardi - Tempranillo - Unique, easy drinking
Tapiz - Torrontes - At the tasting station - Fresh, lychee, aromatic, punchy

New Zealand
Mud House - Pinot Gris - Gorgeous, fresh, fruity, big
Astrolabe - Awartere Valley - Sauvignon Blanc - you can't taste this anywhere else

France
The Alsace Tasting Station - best place to be startled by food and wine pairing
M.Chapoutier - Chateauneuf du Pape - classic Rhone Valley

Germany
Burgerspital Estate - (It sounds rotten, but it's the best you'll have) - Auslese - Riesling - like candy, but for adults. Try their full range and you'll be happy.

Canada
Tantalus - Riesling - One of BC's top rieslings - characteristic petrol, mineral, pear
Sperling - Old Vines Riesling - Off dry, mineral, tropical fruit, dripping with goodness

Isreal
Yarden - Try the Cabernet Sauvignon - Bordeaux leaning, spicy, ripe fruit, vanilla. For all you wine geeks out there.

Enjoy, and be nice to the pourers please:)

Supper on the Lake, anyone?

Hi Everyone,
Spring has sprung and I'm back from a long vacation. We've cooked up another unique escape from everyday dining for you on Saturday, April 16. Interested in eating somewhere with this kind of view?

Chef Owen Lightly of Butter on the Endive and Araxi, Elixir, West, the Shangri-La, Gastropod & Voya Restaurant fame has agreed to guest chef an evening with us.

Our location (secret as usual) is a doozy. Here's a clue, it's an Arthur Erickson creation in the forest overlooking the water. It will be a magical evening under the stars.

8PM Time is Sold Out, 5pm (4 seats left)
5 Courses for the unbelievable minimum donation of $69
1 cocktail included

Wine pairing list to be supplied (BYOB if you wish)
Ludzu will be manning the bar
2 seatings - 4pm & 7pm
Email theswallowdive@gmail.com to reserve your spot