Welcome back to the Okanagan Valley. Last week we toured the countryside. Today, we hit the towns.
Fresco Restaurant & Lounge in Kelowna seems the obvious place to start. As the only four-diamond restaurant in the region, Fresco is the benchmark against which everything else is compared. Chef/owner Rod Butters is a local legend.
We arrive early and it's a good thing we do. Even on a Wednesday night in late May, the restaurant is nearly full at 7 p.m. The sunken dining room, with exposed brick walls, white linens and a large open kitchen, looks simple. The food presentation is anything but. Spring asparagus soup ($12) is a thick purée, ceremoniously poured at the table - by no less than three servers - over a moulded pyramid of minced apple and walnut custard.
Gently grilled calamari ($12) is stuffed with a creamy mixture of preserved tomatoes and black olive tapenade. The swollen tubes are dramatically plated inside a spider web of balsamic dotted with blood-red drops of tomato sauce and tiny, deep-fried tentacles. Arachnophobes might find the optics disconcerting, but the first few bites are captivating. The bouncy skin and slippery centre have the same sinful texture as seared foie gras. Alas, the accompanying mash of roasted cauliflower and eggplant is too rich.
Pan roasted halibut ($28) is a perfectly cooked filet, rolled in an earthy cardamom-cumin crust, but the gnocchi are missing their pancetta and a cup of sweet corn nage seems oddly misplaced.
The waiter urges us to hurry if we want to order the veal strip loin ($30). But we don't act fast enough. For an extra $7, the waiter offers to substitute a 42-day-aged, 10-ounce New York strip loin that is "exclusive" to the restaurant. Perhaps nobody else wanted this tough, flavourless hunk of steak that the chef has drowned in a watery tarragon cream sauce, alongside a rock-hard slice of parmesan-potato pie.
When I explain to the waiter that I'm not happy with the meat, he simply turns and walks away.
Save for the steak and service, most of the meal is good - but not great. The side dishes don't complement the mains. Fuss trumps flavour. And the whole experience pales in comparison to our far superior lunch at Mission Hill. If this is the best of the best, I don't hold out much hope for the rest of the valley.
Bibo in Osoyoos, the latest project of Brad Lazarenko, the Edmonton chef who launched the widely acclaimed Passatempo Restaurant at the nearby Spirit Ridge Vineyard Resort & Spa, certainly doesn't inspire any confidence.
Outside, Main Street is bright and sunny. Inside this crypt of a wine and tapas bar, everything - the panelled walls, floors, ceilings, tables and chairs - is shrouded in dark brown and black. The spectre of a waitress eventually wafts over. I can barely see her, let alone read the menu she presents.
Temporary blindness, however, doesn't prevent me from seeing the food for what it is - slop. Soft, unripened goat cheese ($11) is a whipped cloud of blandness, enhanced only slightly by a slathering of jalapeno jelly. The dish is accompanied by lopsided slices of whole-wheat bread that look as though they've been attacked by a dull butter knife. Romaine salad ($10) is tossed with raw mushrooms, crumbled tortilla chips and rubbery strings of edam cheese. Roast lamb chops ($16) are grey on the outside, cold on the inside and dripping puddles of blood into a chunky bed of puttanesca that is served disgustingly chilled.
Just as I had given up all hope and was ready to fly home, I discovered Amante Bistro in Penticton, B.C. Now, this is a restaurant to get excited about. The chic little room with comfy sage banquettes divided by curtains of fringe was opened last year by Mexican-born chef Abul Adame (formerly a sous chef at Vancouver's Bis Moreno, Cin Cin and Circolo) and his wife, Rose Amante.
Service might be excruciatingly slow, but all is forgiven when a scrumptious mini-pizza ($9) arrives, the flaky crust topped with crimson slices of pear soaked in Blasted Church merlot and melted crumbles of Poplar Grove Tiger Blue cheese. Lightly grilled squid ($4.75), cut into tiny morsels and served with a trio of fresh pesto, balsamic and beet vinaigrette, is simply divine. Velvety black cod ($22) rises from the ordinary with a mild cinnamon infusion and chardonnay braise. Silky ravioli ($20) is robustly stuffed with porcini mushrooms and roasted-garlic ricotta.
We slurp it all up with a complimentary platter of rosemary-infused Cinzano jelly and tart lemon sorbet - digestive dessert perfected. The restaurant's dedication to local farmers and wineries is solid. The prices are incredibly reasonable. The service, though slow, is lovely and apologetic. The food rocks all around. Rod Butters might want to watch out. He finally has some serious competition in the south.
Fresco Restaurant & Lounge: 1560 Water St., Kelowna;
250-868-8805
Bibo Wine Bar: 8316 Main St., Osoyoos; 250-495-6686
Amante Bistro: 101-483 Main St., Penticton; 250-493-1961
Side dish
CABANA BAR AND GRILLE, the hottest new restaurant to hit Kelowna this summer, wasn't open when we visited but is now up and running. Chef Ned Bell of the Food Network's Cook Like a Chef is an Okanagan boy, born and raised.
He returns home after an illustrious career that spans some of the best restaurants in the country (Lumiere in Vancouver, Senses Restaurant and Bar in Toronto, The Restaurant at Peninsula Ridge in Beamsville, Ont., and Murrieta's in Calgary).
This superslick family-friendly restaurant plans to raise the bar on casual fine dining with such locally inspired dishes as oven-roasted Kurobuta Berkshire pork rack from nearby Salmon Arm and rotisserie chicken orecchiette tossed with a creamy aged parmesan sauce from Jersey Farm: 3799 Lakeshore Rd., Kelowna; 250-763-1955
YOU'RE IN PENTICTON, 400 kilometres away from Vancouver, when an insatiable craving for Vikram Vij's Kalonji chicken curry suddenly strikes. No need to fret. The fabulous Bench Artisan Food Market just happens to have a freezer fully stocked with takeout meals from Rangoli and shelves bursting with every other gourmet pantry item you forgot to pack. Join the locals in the morning for a stiff cup of organic coffee, house-made granola and fresh-baked scones. Or drop by the deli to pack a picnic lunch of Thai shrimp salad rolls, spinach pie and chocolate brownies all made from scratch: 368 Vancouver Ave., Penticton; 250-492-2222.
OLIVER'S BEST OF INDIA is an unassuming little hole-in-the-wall painted in cheery popsicle shades of lime, lemon and cherry. But according to many foodies in the know, including Edible BC's Eric Pateman, this family-owned restaurant catering to the area's strong Sikh community serves some of the best Indian dishes outside of Delhi: 36094 97th St., Oliver, B.C.; 250-498-0872.
Alexandra Gill
Alexandra Gill