Coal Harbour Liqour Store Annual Pelican Bay Fall 2013 Tasting is here. Try out over 60 different wines and tapas from the Dockside Restaurant. Tickets are $30 and you get a $10 voucher for Coal Harbour Liquor store. This event always sells out so get your tickets fast. I went last year and it was such a great event.
Event Details
When: Thursday November 7 – 5 – 8PM
Free transportation between liquor store and Dockside restaurant between 4:45PM to 8:30PM
The Prestons Taste of Canada event was an industry and media reunion for me. People I haven’t seen for months gathered to preview Prestons Chef Bruce Nollert’s newly launched Canadian inspired menu.This new menu features classic comfort dishes with a modern twist and locally inspired ingredients from each province. Each province’s menu was paired with selected beers from Molson Coors (Nope, not Coors light). Molson’s has a huge portfolio of beer brands, from Creemore, to Granville Island Brewery and Rickards.
Prestons bar
We were greeted by a lovely server, I fall in love with people who serve me a great cocktail with a smile.
greeted wtih caesars and a smile
The restaurant was littered with cool Canadian facts alongside, their bowl of popcorn and truffle chips. DAMN those truffle chips, I think I demolished a whole bag that night. So I will randomly incorporate some fun facts throughout this post.
Canadian players make up 56% of the NHL roster
The detailed beers write –up is by Simon Wong my partner in crime for that night. To sum him up, he is a beer evangelist / proselytizer and an all around food connoisseur. (In honesty, I finished up his summary with a zinger that made him sound like a food snob but, I figured he did such a great write-up and did nothing to deserve my witty zingers)
Thank You.
The Westcoast: Fresh Oysters paired with Wayne Gretzky endorsed wine from the Peller winery in Okanagan.
I can always be found at local Happy Hour’s buck a shuck, sipping on some wine with a dozen oysters in front of me, so it’s not a surprise I loitered for more than an hour around this table. Followed by house cured blueberry salmon on rosemary bannock and finished with Nanaimo bar with hazelnut Ganache.
house cured blueberry salmon on rosemary bannock
The Westcoast course menu was paired with Granville Island Honey Lager.
Nothing spells Westcoast like a honey lager on a nice sunny day! This GI honey lager does a good job of balancing its subtle sweetness with a light hop. It complemented the sweetness of the fresh oysters and cured blueberry salmon quite well.
Granville Island Honey Lager
The Prairies: Peace River Bison carpaccio with crisp bannock and pierogies with crème friache. I am still trying to figure out how pierogies associate with the Prairies.
Peace River Bison carpaccio with crisp bannock
Paired with Rickards dark English-style porter ale. This is a rich and creamy porter weighing in at just under 5% abv. Its medium body ale with dark malts of chocolate and caramel balanced out with a slight hop. The creaminess of this brew worked well with the bison carpaccio and pierogies.
Canadians consume 23.41lbs of cheddar cheese per person annually – WTF??
La Belle Province: Poutine with Granville Island maple cream gravy, my favourite the trio. Montreal smoked meat on bagle chips with Dijon aioli and house-made butter tats.
Poutine with Granville Island maple cream gravy
Menu paired with New Castle Brown Ale
Traditional brown ale that pours dark orange but has a light to medium body. You can taste hints of the caramel and dark malts which paired especially well with the richness of the butter tarts.
The Maritimes: Lobster Rolls, it seemed to be everyone’s favourite. Prestons kept on running out of it. We tend to be a greedy bunch if we like something.
lobster rolls
Traditional seafood chowder and blueberry grunts. Beer pairing was Creemore Springs Pilsner. A refreshing pils with a slight floral hop to it. It’s smooth on the palate with a dry and slightly bitter finish. You want something lighter and crisp with seafood and this pilsner was a big winner with the lobster roll!
Granville Island is one of my favourite neighborhoods in Vancouver. There is so much culture, travelers and of course fresh and local produce.
I can’t believe I haven’t written about Edible Canada, I’ve been there so many times! This may be slightly overdue but, I promise it will be good.
They have a little gourmet snack and spread section at the back of the store carrying an array of delicious candies, spreads and, more sweets. The layout reminds me of Manzo at Eately in New York
The patio wraps around from the front to the side. As much as I love patio’s be wary of sitting close to the flower beds during bug season. There was a huge clusters of flies, not so appetizing. I always ask for a table inside. I’ll tell you about the horrific bug experience at Minami’s patio another time. I must warn you, it was so disturbingly graphic that I downed two shots of vodka to make me forget and that is saying something, I’m not usually a shots kinda girl. No really, not lying, I can hear you skeptics.
Edible Canada features a mix of local seasonal produce and seafood.
I just love it when I snap pics and you catch people discreetly checking each other out. In her case she had bug eyes and a smirk, not so discreet. I wonder if she got the guy?
Started with Togarashi Rice cracker crusted wild albacore tuna, warm fingerling potatoes, peas, kale, wild mushrooms $15. This was refreshingly pleasant on the palette. The dish was simply flavored, which allowed the quality of the ingredients to come through. 4/5
Togarashi Rice cracker crusted wild albacore tuna
Sloping Hills Pork Duo, Slik spice crusted grilled 8oz pork chop, braised pork belly, hot & sour vinaigrette $24. A huge dish, the braised pork belly was so tender and flavourful. The grilled pork chop was a little over cooked making the meat a chewy. 3.5/5
Sloping Hills Pork Duo
PEACE COUNTRY BRAISED LAMB PASTA, rigatoni, wild mushrooms, peas, sorrel. $22 Lamb pasta was yummy, our favourite dish of our meal. 4.5/5
PEACE COUNTRY BRAISED LAMB PASTA
KASU & BIRCH SYRUP SABLEFISH, fava beans, asparagus, peas, northern beans, Swiss chard $26. Sable fish was silky smooth. I would definitely re-order this dish 4/5
KASU & BIRCH SYRUP SABLEFISH
LOIS LAKE STEELHEAD SALMON local Dungeness Crab croquette, wild salmon caviar, smoked tomato vinaigrette. We ordered this because they had crab croquettes. Apparently, it was very delicious I didn’t even get a chance to try it. I did try the salmon, which was very fresh 3.5/5
LOIS LAKE STEELHEAD SALMON
I’ve been back a few times already and the food has been fairly consistent. The service was a slow, it took 10 minutes to get our water refills.
What I love about Summer? Patio and beach hopping while sipping on my favourite summer drinks, mojito’s and sangria’s. To help you get into the swing of patio season, I’ve come up with a list of my favourite patio’s in Vancouver. They are my faves because of their fun vibe, view and of course the patio itself.
I love Kits in the Summer. Every time I am in Kits on a sunny day I wished I still live here. The vibe is so fun and vibrant.
Local Public Eatery patio, situated right across Kitsilano beach is a popular place for sun worshipers and locals. It’s fun and I believe they still have sangria’ specials.
amglifestyle.com
Another Ktisilano patio is right on the beach, The Boathouse.
vancourier.com
Speaking of beaches, Cactus Club English Bayis very popular for beach go-ers for a quick bite. Although, I would rather just sit in the sand.
aol
Patio’s in Granville Island will give you an undisturbed view of Vancouver’s harbor. A very popular tourist destination.
Dockside
thelifedeliciousblog.com
Bridges
insidevancouver.ca
Chill Winston, is still one of my go to patio’s. The vibe is fun and the patio is street level and, people watching is one of my favourite pastimes. The largest patio in Gastown
vancouver bars
The Keefer with a pool in the middle of the rooftop lounge
klondikecontracting.com
The Keg in Yaletown rooftop patio and lounge is chic and full of Yaletown yuppies.
vitamin daily
Another restaurant for good seafood and has a gorgeous rooftop garden patio is Joe Fortes
joe fortes
Hidden patio at Gotham’s Steakhouse
vancouverfoodster.com
Reflections rooftop lounge patio on the 4th floor of Hotel Georgia is one of the more swank patio’s downtown. Reminds me of Las Vegas, you can check out my review. Reflections has corporate atmosphere that turns into a meat market for brokers later in the evening. Quickly becoming a hotspot
Food Persuasion
Market Shangri-La rooftop patio is another swank patio although not as big as Reflections.
provokestudios.blogspot.com
Havana’s on Commercial drive has such a fun and vibrant atmosphere.
The Mill, situated on the Coal Harbour’s seawall is a very popular spot for tourists and locals. The only negative, I found was their limited drink menu . How can you not have mojito’s or sangria’s if you have a patio??? Although the vibe and view compensates their lack of drink selections.
Thierry not because it’s the nicest patio but because they serve dessert. As far as dessert places goes, Theirry has the nicest patio. Check out my review of Thierry
Beachside Forno, in North Vancouver. Overlooking the harbour.
scout.magazine
Finally, Art Gallery garden patio
thestar.com
I know there are many others, if you have any other patio’s you want to suggest add it in the comment section and I will include it in this post.