TAKE THE JOY ROAD
Cameron Smith and Dana Ewart of Joy Road Catering met back East while competing for jobs in several esteemed kitchens, including Toronto's defunct Avalon Restaurant and Montreal's Toqué! and Le Passe-Partout.
A shared passion for cuisine du terroir (food with a sense of place) eventually brought them together. And now the newly transplanted couple is firing up some of the best country cooking in Penticton.
Their Sunday night dinners at God's Mountain Estate (4898 Lakeside/Eastside Rd., Penticton, B.C.; 250-493-8657) have cultivated a cult following.
Envision one long communal table, laid out under the stars, on a secluded bluff overlooking Skaha Lake. In the background, a rambling, whitewashed bed and breakfast full of nooks, crannies, roofless rooms and stuffed armadillos looks like a miniature Santorini built by an eccentric German (which it was).
On the table, homestyle platters groan with the edible bounty of the region: peppery salumi from the Oyama Sausage Co., ash-ripened goat cheese from Carmelis Goat Cheese Artisan, early pea soup with organic smoked trotters from the mash-fed pigs at Crannog Ales, risotto with freshly foraged nettles and morels, and candied lemon pound cake drizzled with rhubarb compote from Zebroff Family Farm.
Beginning June 26, Joy Road and God's Mountain are adding a Thursday night winemaker series to their al fresco repertoire with local libations poured by the likes of Poplar Grove, Laughing Stock, Joie and Marichel. The latter is the new kid on the Naramata Bench, now producing a rock star viognier that is sure to become a cult classic in itself.
Reservations are highly recommended: joyroadcatering.com; 250-493-8657.
