Even seasoned foodies can learn something from Dine Out Vancouver
Dine Out Vancouver wrapped last weekend. For the first time in several years, I attended the 17-day food festival and actually enjoyed myself.
I used to joke with friends that Dine Out created the perfect excuse to stay home and dine in. The signature prix fixe, three-course menus (now offered at a record 277 eateries for $18, $28 and $38) may be extremely popular and perceived as great value. In my experience, they rarely represent a restaurant’s regular cuisine. And the chaos of packed rooms with high turnover is a headache-inducing drag.
But now that the 13-year-old festival has expanded to include some 30-odd special events, including master cocktail classes, brunch crawls, neighbourhood food tours and an international chef exchange, there are more – dare I say fun? – ways to participate. I learned quite a lot this year. For a foodie, some of the lessons were life-changing. Herewith, my five top lessons learned:
How to drink scotch and tequila without burning your throat
I attended two Bittered Sling Bistro pop-up dinners hosted by award-winning bartender/sommelier Lauren Mote and her partner, chef Jonathan Chovancek. One was a Robbie Burns whisky supper at Café Medina. The other a tequila fiesta at Cibo Trattoria. In addition to tasting some fantastic food and cocktails, I learned how to drink the two spirits properly. You’re supposed to sip scotch with the tip of your tongue stuck against the outside of the glass. This way, you bypass the tongue’s pain receptors and deliver the drink directly to the mid-palate to better appreciate its floral notes and complexities. With tequila, you have to exhale through the nose while swallowing to avoid burning the nasal cavity. The difference is astounding.
Get bossy with your iPhone camera
“Closer, closer!” freelance photographer Jimmy Jeong coaxed, as I zoomed in on octopus bruschetta. We were on a Food-Tography tour run by Off the Eaten Track. While traipsing around Gastown, the lovely Suzanne Rushton of Vancouverphotowalks.ca unravelled the mysteries of my iPhone camera. Did you know that the new operating system offers a cropping feature and allows you to take panoramic pictures? On top of learning about leading lines, the rule of thirds and how to bounce light, I realized that to take good food photographs, you have to really get up close. Don’t be afraid to get in people’s faces and rearrange tables.
Vancouver’s poet laureate is a foodie
Rachel Rose, Vancouver’s new poet laureate, has launched a collaboration that will connect established and emerging Vancouver poets with chefs, urban farmers, food bank workers, dumpling makers, beekeepers and other locals engaged in nourishing our citizens. The project will culminate in a book of poetry to be titled Eat: The Story of Food. I discovered this delicious tidbit while attending Feast on Film, a screening of the fantastic food movie Like Water for Chocolate presented by the Granville Island Cultural Society and Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts. The inaugural event was bit chaotic, with long lineups for the Mexican buffet and poor sight lines in the cabaret setup. Market by Jean-Georges at the Shangri-La Hotel offers a much more civilized film-and-dinner series (year-round). But it felt good to support the students. I’m sure the kinks will be worked out next year.
Chocolate is recession-proof
For the second year, food blogger Mijune Pak (followmefoodie.com) hosted Six-Course Discourse, a gathering of local chefs starting with a wine-and-canapé reception followed by a candid dishing of opinions and a Q&A session. The reception was well organized with plenty of room to mingle. But I honestly don’t think there was enough food and drink to justify the $79 ticket price. The chefs’ talk was lively and amusing. Pastry chef Thomas Haas impressed me most. No wonder the guy’s so perpetually happy. It sounds like his chocolate business has made him millions.
Long-table dinners can be posh
Instead of skimping on a $38 prix fixe dinner that couldn’t possibly reflect the real restaurant experience, Hawksworth featured five nights of long-table dinners for $75 ($123 with wine pairings). Each night offered a different three-course menu, showcasing the restaurant’s greatest hits. The portions were full-size and the wines were exquisite. With taxes, gratuity and ticketing charge included in the cost, diners saved about $15 to $20 a person. To me, that’s good value. Plus, these dinners offered a priceless opportunity to dine in the sumptuous private York Room. With tall candelabrum separating reserved place settings, the communal table still felt intimate.
Go ahead and reserve the $18 dinners next year if you choose. But now there are more (and in my mind, better) ways to experience Dine Out. Thirteen years later, it has grown into a truly interesting food festival with lots to devour.