It's been a dark week for Rob Feenie. The combustible owner and executive chef of Vancouver's internationally lauded Lumière restaurant saw it lose its crown to West Restaurant (formerly Ouest) at this week's Vancouver Magazine Restaurant Awards.
"We're out," said Feenie, who still maintains his first-place standing in the French restaurant category.
"I have huge respect for David Hawksworth," he added, referring to West's top toque. "But this whole thing is a crock of bullshit. It's all about politics and it goes back to last summer."
Feenie was referring to an article that appeared in The Globe and Mail last June (written by myself) in which he criticized one of his chief rivals, C Restaurant.
Chef wars are routine in any cosmopolitan city. And everyone in Vancouver's tightly knit restaurant scene knows that Feenie has strong opinions and isn't shy about voicing them.
Nevertheless, his remarks created a controversy and were repeated in the local papers and on radio talk shows all over the city, so at Monday's awards ceremony the continuing feud was the source of much speculation about who would come out on top.
The Vancouver Magazine awards do not rely on the publication's own critics; instead it polls a panel of nearly 30 food and wine writers, editors and connoisseurs -- who have come to be known as the "food mob" -- to pick the winners.
It is one of the most closely watched and hotly contested restaurant races in North America.
In a city such as Vancouver, where diners spend more money eating out in restaurants than any other city in the country (according to Statistics Canada), but the market is still so small that most fine-dining establishments can't afford to open for lunch, the results of these awards can make or break a restaurant. Everyone here reads the magazine's annual restaurant issue. And the awards ceremony itself, held this year in the ballroom at the Wall Centre hotel, is a full-day affair that attracts upward of 700 people. Last year, one publicist for a losing restaurant shed tears.
When the day arrived, everyone, including Feenie, knew he was up for a fall. "His nose is too high in the air these days," one esteemed and well-known food personality told me off record. "He's got to be pulled down."
"Our reign is over," Feenie told his crew from the restaurant, as they urged him to stay far away from the microphone.
"I'll be fine," he said. "Just keep me away from Harry." As in Harry Kambolis, the owner of C.
Feenie assumed the restaurant of the year award would go to C, not just as payback, but also because the race between the two restaurants has been so tight the past few years.
But the award went to West, with Lumière coming in second and C placing third. Feenie acted like a perfect gentleman, kept his remarks brief and offered his award for French restaurant to his friend and mentor Michel Jacob of Le Crocodile.
While no one could deny that West is a superb establishment with excellent service and cuisine, it struck some as a slightly odd winner, considering that the restaurant went through a dramatic identity crisis this year, serious enough to prompt owner Jack Evrensel to change the name, retool the interior and revamp the entire menu just a few short months ago.
"You never know how quickly a new brand and concept is going to gain traction," said Jamie Maw, Vancouver Magazine's food editor and MC of the award show.
"There's a very interesting story behind it all," he added with a wink, as we were whisked in a Cadillac limousine to deliver congratulatory bottles of gewurztraminer and best wishes to a succession of award-winning restaurants. "Perhaps I'll tell you one day."
Alexandra Gill