HEADS UP | Klee Larsen Of Le Marché St. George Showing New Work At “The Shack”

The Larsen family are a talented bunch. Sisters Janaki and Klee do plenty more that just make Le Marché St. George this city’s most one-of-a-kind corner market. Janaki makes stunning ceramics and Klee take beautiful photographs. Lately Klee has been playing around with printing photos on vellum and adding layers of gold foil and resin (the results literally glow). Clear some space on your schedule to attend the opening reception for her first solo show – Oro (Spanish and Italian for gold) – at The Shack Art Collective in East Van this Saturday night. The majority of pieces are small and – in keeping with the mandate of The Shack – priced well within reach (in the $80-$110 range). Bring a little cash in your pocket for art (and a drink) and enter through the alley to check out this cool little gallery and the amazing artist exhibiting within!

Sat, April 20 | 7pm | The Shack Art Collective | 4364 Prince Albert (enter through alley) | DETAILS

HEADS UP: Le Marché St. George Set To Celebrate 2nd Birthday With Pop-Up Shop

Le Marché St George turns two years old this weekend. The cool-as-hell corner store and the good folks behind it are celebrating by sharing treats, offering 20% off of all their stock and launching a winter pop-up shop. Head around back to check out all the gorgeous Mexican textiles and ceramics by Janaki Larsen, photographs by Klee Larsen, shoes and leather goods from Hunter Mayer of Apartment 5 and jewellery by House of Hudson. The 20% off sale is this Saturday only, but the pop-up continues through December.

Saturday, November 24 | 9am-6pm | Le Marché St. George (4393 Saint George St.) | Details

Seen In Vancouver #396: Lunch With Joy Road & JoieFarm At Le Marche St. George

by Michelle Sproule | When three of your favourite things all come together at once it’s like a rare planetary alignment. You just sit there and enjoy the moment, knowing that it probably won’t happen again in your lifetime. One of these especially uncommon occurrences took place this week when Heidi Noble and Michael Dinn of JoieFarm arranged a media luncheon to introduce their outstanding 2010 Vintage Reserve Series (love that Pinot Noir). Chefs Dana Ewart and Cameron Smith of the Okanagan’s Joy Road Catering were on hand to pair their always marvellous “cuisine de terroir” with the wines, and it all went down in the charming suite above Le Marche St. George. Have a look and a taste…

EVERYTHING SEEN IN VANCOUVER

AWESOME THING WE ATE #866: “Bengal” Beef Jerky From Our Very Own Jerky Baron

Local company The Jerky Baron is kicking ass. We recently got our hands on some of their “Bengal” jerky, and it was delicious stuff with good chew and nuanced spice (nothing too crazy). It’s $17 a bag, which is admittedly rather pricy, but it’s not the kind of stuff you find in gas stations and supermarket checkout lanes. The beef is free range, grass fed, grain finished Black Angus, and it’s finished with soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, molasses, ginger, garlic, cayenne pepper, cumin, and cardamom. Plus it tastes so much better! We scored ours from Le Marché St George, but you can also find it at Crome Yellow, Lucy’s Eastside Diner and Pleasant Beans. Lots of flavours, all of them unique. | Details

MORE AWESOME THINGS WE ATE

Seen In Vancouver #366: Owen Lightly’s Chef In Residence Supper At Le Marche St. George

Owen Lightly, the chef behind Butter on the Endive (and Scout’s Pound of Butter food column), recently ran a series of Chef in Residence dinners in one of the apartments above Le Marche St George. There were two seatings per evening for three evenings in a row with a different ‘theme song/playlist” and chef/collaborator for each (Jane Cornborough, Alvaro Musso, Adam Chandler). We attended the first seating on Thursday May 3rd, and as you can see, it was pretty outstanding. The night had a Neil Young I Wanna Live With A Cinnamon Girl vibe and Chef Owen Lightly and his collaborator Adam Chandler (former-chef-now-chocolatier of Beta5 fame) served a fabulous spring meal of albacore tuna with charred ramp, rhubarb risotto with white chocolate (daring, but spot on), Yarrow Meadows duck breast, taleggio sponge cake with shiro plum, and buckwheat crumble smothered in birch caramel. Matching the cuisine was – wow – the setting. What a stunning place to dine! To keep abreast of future BOTE suppers, be sure to follow them on Twitter.

EVERYTHING SEEN IN VANCOUVER

Seen In Vancouver #363: The Puglian Supper In The Back Garden Of Le Marche St. George

Scout and Le Marche St. George hosted a pretty amazing supper the other night (tickets were $25 and it sold out in less than half an hour). Renaissance man Tonio Creanza of Italy’s Messors led us through a tasting of his family’s delicious olive oil in the shop before leading us outside to a table of 20 set in the idyllic green coddled and candle-lit backyard. The weather was a close run thing; envious to start and jealous to close. We got in the burrata, caprese, pastas, and sausage in sugo courses before the rain protested, but it was altogether as beautiful an evening of good wine, good food, and good people as one can ever hope to have on a Spring night in Vancouver, and finishing with olive oil-dressed basil ice cream on almond, fig and apple crostada back indoors was perfect punctuation. Thanks to Tonio for the food, enlightenment, and songs; and to Jennifer, Luis, Kari, the Larsens, and everyone who broke bread with us. If you’ve ever wanted to travel to Italy to learn about the land, the food, and the connection between the two, Tonio’s your man. He’s running two in-residence workshops in Puglia this summer that would turn any food-lover on. More of Michelle’s photos below…

EVERYTHING SEEN IN VANCOUVER

AWESOME THING WE ATE #864: Crostada Of Apple & Almond, Basil Ice Cream & Olive Oil

Apple Fig and Almond Crostada with Basil Ice Cream and Olive Oil made by Kari Chellouf to close out the Famiglia Creanza olive oil tasting and Puglian supper last Sunday at  Le Marche St. George (more shots from that amazing supper soon).

MORE AWESOME THINGS WE ATE

Le Marche St. George & Scout To Present An Intimate Italian Supper On Sunday (Sold Out)

We are partnering with Le Marche St. George to host an intimate, exploratory evening of Mediterranean cuisine this Sunday, April 29th. Polymath Tonio Creanza of Puglia’s Messors will be doing the cooking (that’s a link you want to click) and the amazing Larsen family will be handling the service/orchestration. That’s the good news.

The bad news is that there are only 8 seats available on the backyard table of 20 (the other 12 were snatched up by the few people who got wind of this dinner this afternoon). The cost is only $25, which is to say it’s not a money-making exercise. To give you an idea as to what to expect, our friends Luis Valdizon and Klee Larsen took the above shots of the evening that went down last Sunday in Le Marche’s garden, and Luis wrote the following:

Let me start by saying that this was undoubtedly one of the most magical occasions that I’ve ever been a part of. It’s hard to even describe. The Larsen women (Patricia, Janaki, and Klee) really know how to make dreams come to life. Our dear friend Tonio Creanza, his wife, and his family, who we have been supportive of since we opened (there are two detailed interviews on our blog about Tonio, his olive oil, and his wonderful company, Messors, which you can read about here and here) brought their own flavour that was perfectly in sync with the aura that Le Marché St. George is known for. 

The evening started with an educational olive oil tasting where guests were invited to sample Tonio’s olive oil and enjoyed an intimate musical performance from Mr. Creaza himself. This was my first time seeing him perform and it was something completely honest. Tonio was in his element. The lush sound of his voice and guitar filled the room with warmth and charm. Meanwhile, the backyard of Le Marché was being transformed into a dining area that was a work of art in itself, to be enjoyed by its company, who transcended beyond its own beauty, as it was the people, from babies to grandmothers, who gave the setting its heart.

After a short intermission to prepare dinner, guests started pouring in and filling up empty seats. They chatted away with their friends and strangers while sampling various appetizers set at their table and sipping wine from freshly opened bottles. In what seemed like moments, the pasta was served. The orchestra of oohs and aahs was short-lived as people enjoyed their first bites. Two pasta dishes were joined by an abundance of Parmigiano-Reggiano, fresh basil, salads of fennel, fruit, and roasted bell peppers, olive oil, and bread.

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It’s definitely going to be a night to remember, rain or shine (if it rains, we’ll have a set up inside), and we’d love a few Scout readers to join us. Should you be interested in breaking bread with us, here’s what you need to know…

Date & Time: 6:30pm sharp, Sunday, April 29th, 2012.
Cost: $25 per person (cash on arrival)
Location: Le Marche St. George | 4393 St. George at the corner of 28th.
To reserve: email your name (max 2 people) and your cell phone number to luis [at] marchestgeorge.com with a CC to andrew [at] scoutmagazine.ca.
Alcohol: BYOW.
Special note: as this is a shared alla famiglia supper, substitutions and special requests based on dietary restrictions will be politely declined. Sorry!

We trust that this special supper will sell out before the ink is dry on this post [it certainly did] , but we hope to be partnering up with Le Marche St. George for future events, so don’t fret too hard if you don’t put your name down in time. And for those looking for a Tonio Creanza experience a little further afield, check out his summer culinary workshop in Italy called Harvesting Food Through History. It looks like it would be an unforgettable experience!

UPDATE: The dinner has sold out. Email your name/number if you’d like to be on the waiting list.

GOODS: Butter On The Endive & Le Marche St. George Prep “Chef In Residence” Pop Up

Vancouver | Squamish | Whistler | 778-989-9349 | info@butterontheendive.ca | www.butterontheendive.ca

The GOODS from Butter On The Endive

Vancouver, BC | Butter on the Endive is gearing up for another great event. This time we will be taking over the beautiful space above Le Marché St. George from May 3-6 to hold 3 consecutive 5-course dinners, with a casual Sunday brunch to cap it all off. Each of the dinners will be created collaboratively with other local chefs/friends and will celebrate the transition from grey to green. Details after the jump… Read more

Cool Thing We Want #319: Hand Made Bowls By Janaki Larsen At Le Marché St. George

So in love with the simplicity of these shallow bowls by Janaki Larsen | Le Marché St. George | $15 each

EVERY COOL THING WE WANT

Monocle Magazine Features The East Side’s “Le Marché St. George” In Summer Issue

The new issue of Monocle has landed at our door. I penned a few words in the big spread on some of the world’s best and most interesting cafés; singling out Le Marché St. George to represent Vancouver. While I wouldn’t doubt that proper coffee wonks would point to a few other shops in town and say they do it better (I wouldn’t disagree, and much prefer my Stumptown over Oughtred), I don’t think many come even remotely close to besting Le Marché when it comes to charm. I reckon the shots above, including the rather stunning one of barista Klee Larsen, testify as much (taken by local photographer and cool fellow Grant Harder). Granted, their coffee is certainly no slouch and their pain au chocolate is the bee’s bum, but it’s the space and the folks within that keep me happy. I may be in the minority of caffeine addicts on this score, but I appreciate atmosphere in a café over the fetishisation of the bean. If you’ve never been before, it really is as gorgeous and cozy as it looks.

PS. The article’s accompanying video details several cafes from around the world, and was produced by Aleksander Solum and narrated by Jonathan Openshaw and Gillian Dobias.