WineFest: Spit Bucket Barricades & Fashionistas

Sid Cross & Philippe Rivet, export director of Champagne Deutz

Sid Cross is doing a little guest-blogging for us this week as we cover the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival. Widely considered one of the finest palates in the world, Sid’s list of honours and accomplishments are staggering. He is Wines Committee Chair for The International Wine & Food Society (www.iwfs.org) headquartered in London England; an Officer in France’s prestigious Ordre du Merite Agricole; a Membre d’Honneur of the L’Academie du vin de Bordeaux (and the only Canadian to receive that honour); and he has been named The Gourmet of the Year by The Society of Bacchus America. He’s also co-founder and an advisor to The Chef’s Table Society of BC, and an all around gent, first class.

Leave it to this man to lead you through a night and day you didn’t have. Sid Cross, live from the Wine Fest… Read more

2 Wines And 20 Vintages With Sid Cross

Sid Cross has been kindly contributing to Scout this week as we cover the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival. Widely considered one of the finest palates in the world, Sid’s list of honours and accomplishments are staggering. He is Wines Committee Chair for The International Wine & Food Society (www.iwfs.org) headquartered in London England; an Officer in France’s prestigious Ordre du Merite Agricole; a Membre d’Honneur of the L’Academie du vin de Bordeaux (and the only Canadian to receive that honour); and he has been named The Gourmet of the Year by The Society of Bacchus America. He’s also co-founder and an advisor to The Chef’s Table Society of BC, and an all around gent, first class… Read more

Sid Cross Shares His CinCin Tasting Notes

Sid Cross is doing a little guest-blogging for us this week as we cover the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival. Widely considered one of the finest palates in the world, Sid’s list of honours and accomplishments are staggering. He is Wines Committee Chair for The International Wine & Food Society (www.iwfs.org) headquartered in London England; an Officer in France’s prestigious Ordre du Merite Agricole; a Membre d’Honneur of the L’Academie du vin de Bordeaux (and the only Canadian to receive that honour); and he has been named The Gourmet of the Year by The Society of Bacchus America. He’s also co-founder and an advisor to The Chef’s Table Society of BC, and an all around gent, first class… Read more

The 1st Day In The Big Shoes Of Sid Cross

Sid Cross is doing a little guest-blogging for us this week as we cover the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival. Widely considered one of the finest palates in the world, Sid’s list of honours and accomplishments are staggering. He is Wines Committee Chair for The International Wine & Food Society (www.iwfs.org) headquartered in London England; an Officer in France’s prestigious Ordre du Merite Agricole; a Membre d’Honneur of the L’Academie du vin de Bordeaux (and the only Canadian to receive that honour); and he has been named The Gourmet of the Year by The Society of Bacchus America. He’s also co-founder and an advisor to The Chef’s Table Society of BC, and an all around gent, first class… Read more

Live Blog: Judging The Best Canuck Food

Sunday, 6:46am (local)

Photos from the Black Box…en route to waking up and the airport now…

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Saturday, 10:35pm (local)

The winner was Hayato Okamitsu of Calgary’s “Catch”. Frank Pabst of Vancouver’s Blue Water Cafe won the silver, and Deff Haupt of Montreal’s Renoir landed the bronze. We’re all off to a pub in town, and I mean at least a hundred of us, to drink plenty and make the merriest. It’s been a good weekend. Photos and video to follow. Home in the morning. Thanks for reading.

Saturday, 4:04pm (local)

I’ve just awoken from a wee and desperately needed nap. Headed downstairs now for a pre-seriousness beer with some friends and then the beginning of the end regrettably begins to end. The next time I check in you’ll know who the new Canadian Culinary Champion is…

Saturday, 1:58pm (local)

That was incredibly intense! I thought coming in that the Black Box would be exhausting and stressful, but in actual fact it was brutally insane and exceptionally cruel! Indeed, I took no pleasure at all in unveiling for each chef the following:

1. Fresh rainbow trout.

2. Pork loin (with a little cap fat).

3. Local carrots.

4. Local oats.

5. Saskatoon berry syrup.

6. Local gouda (thanks for the reminder, Sid!)

The gasps from the crowd were audible and sincere. These Black Box reveals were staged at 15 minute intervals, and each chef went straight at it in front of the crowds. Needless to say, there were lots of oat encrusted trout fillets and pork sliced and sauced with berry-infused reductions (one chef did a oat schnitzel, which was very cool). I’m going to take a break for a few hours before the final competition starts at 6pm. Stay tuned. I’ll announce the winning chef via Twitter as soon as the numbers have been crunched and James Chatto tells the many hundreds packing the hall.

Saturday, 7:40am

Arg. Yawn. Stretch. Coffee. And so it begins. In a little over an hour from now I will make my way down to the kitchens where the chefs will be told of the randomly determined order in which they will compete. We will steer them to a private room where they will hand over their cells phones and Blackberries during which time the media and assorted guests will be told of the six Black Box ingredients. At 9:30am, the first chef will open their Box, and will then have just 10 minutes to come up with two dishes that incorporate all of the Black Box ingredients in one or other (or both) plates. Once the 10 minutes are up, they will tell me what they’re going to cook, and then they’re off to the races. No sweat. They each have just 50 minutes to plate 9 servings of each dish. I will call out a five minute warning, a one minute warning, and then from five seconds down in a remarkably dramatic fashion (naturally). If a chef goes “over time”, he will be docked 1 point for every 30 seconds. These things tend to be remarkably close, especially with so many competitors vying, so going “over time” can be lethal to one’s chances. Oh boy, what fun.

Friday, 11:57pm (local)

The mystery wine-pairing competition is now behind us. It was a stellar night. The wine turned out to be a 2005 Inniskillin Malbec, a bold one that led many chefs to think it was a Syrah or a Cabernet. Lots of pork and lamb accordingly, though one chef did plate some snapper dusted with cinnamon for his match (and it worked remarkably well). Vancouver chef Frank Pabst of the Blue Water Cafe did braised elk cabbage rolls with celeriac and apple puree, black rice, and a reduction of the wine and the braising liquids. Like I said, strong stuff all round. Very impressive. Once the event folded I headed to one of the bars in the hotel to tell and listen to the rudest, most vile jokes imaginable, and now I’m back in my room, wondering where this little belly came from. Tomorrow is going to be a very long day. The Black Box starts in 9 hours, which means I need to be up in 7. I think I’ve been tasked with the big ingredient “reveal”.

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Friday, 4:17pm (local)

Going to inspect the kitchens now to make sure everyone is playing by the rules…

Friday, 4:03pm (local)

In case you missed it, this is the home video I made of my experience at last year’s Canadian Culinary Championships. I apologise for the quality. My camera back then was made of balsa wood and bubble gum, and I was training to be a professional hyperbolist…

Friday, 2:40pm (local)

It’s probably a good time to lay out exactly what it is that’s going on here. The Canadian Culinary Championships are made up of three competitions. Tonight we have the mystery wine-pairing competition. Tomorrow at 9am we have the Black Box competition, wherein each chef is presented with five mystery ingredients with which they must plate for over a hundred people. I will be refereeing this one, and won’t be spending too much time with the judges. Then, at 6pm, we have the Grande Finale, which will see each chef doing as they wish, going all out, full stop. Each event is scored equally, so the chef with the top marks at the end becomes the Canadian Culinary Champion (sort of big deal). To see the list of competing chefs, scroll all the way down to the bottom of the live blog.

Friday, 12:04pm (local)

The judges meet for lunch. Quite the view from our table. That’s John Gilchrist from the Calgary Herald and the CBC, James Chatto of Toronto Life, and Sid Cross from Western Living up top and the whole crew down below.

Friday, 10:33am (local)

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A massive breakfast is followed by computer angst. Photos aren’t uploading to Scout through the hotel’s firewall or something. Using Flickr and iPhone instead.

Friday, 8:19am (local)

Stunning morning. Well rested. Suspect bed is made of marshmallow and opium.

Thursday, 10:21pm (local)

So bagged. I just wrapped an interview with the documentary crew, and I wasn’t at all at my best (that’s my stand-in in the photo above). The final question – “Are you nervous about making a mistake as a judge and a referee?” – was answered thusly: “No. I’m happy in the knowledge that all of the chefs except Frank Pabst live hundreds of kilometers from me, and I’m pretty sure I could take Frank.” Off to bed I go…

Thursday, 9:15pm (local)

The mystery wine for the wine-pairing competition tomorrow night was just distributed to the chefs. They each received a single, beautiful wooden box with their name engraved in silver on top. The label-less bottle lay within. It’s a red. The more eager among them opened these straight away for a whiff and a sample. I had a swish…everyone thinks it’s a Cab Franc from BC. We’ll find out tomorrow…

Thursday, 8:21pm (local)

The chefs have arrived in the presidential suite with the documentary crew plus the bigwigs from title sponsors Epcor and General Electric. We’re getting into the wine…

Thursday, 6:45pm (local)

We’re in the presidential suite (amazing), hammering out all the final details and rules before the competitions begin. I have a dual role this year. I will be judging and acting as the referee. My job is to ensure that all the chefs don’t bend the rules by trick or accident, so I will be spending a lot of time in the kitchens during tomorrow’s first competition, the most dreaded and difficult of them all, the Black Box.

Thursday, 5:52pm (local)

Fellow judge and Calgarian John Gilchrist just took us on a cool nickel tour of the hotel. This place is huge, with so many restaurants and dining rooms. One can get lost in here very easily. Judges meeting soon.

Thursday, 3:37pm (local)

Arrival at the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel. Lots of media out front and flag waving chefs there to welcome us. Very cool. Check it:

Thursday, 2:04am (local)

Riding to Banff with all the judges and chefs plus the Lively Media camera crew on a pimped out bus. In the photo that’s Andre and Melissa from Bearfoot Bistro and James Chatto from Toronto Life.

Thursday, 11:20am (local)

Touch down in Calgary. Fellow judge Sid Cross a few rows back. BC competitor, chef Frank Pabst of the Blue Water Cafe, a few rows ahead.

Thursday, 7:07am

Ah, I knew I was forgetting something! I don’t need a coat in Banff during February do I?

Thursday, 5:51am

On my way to the airport and absolutely positive that I am forgetting something that is vital, like a charger or a USB cord. I’ll post a full run down on how the weekend will go when I arrive at the hotel…

Wednesday, 10:58pm

I have to get up in six hours for the flight to Banff so this will have to wait until tomorrow. What? I know. Totally anti-climatic. I was just setting this post up now so I can spend a few extra minutes waking up in the shower at 5:00am and pulling deep on my coffee. There are three competitions over the next three days and lots of sideshow amusements to relate, so bookmark this particular page and check back often. I’ll be plugging away where and when I can via iPhone and laptop, and if you’re not yet following this site on twitter, we’re @scoutmagazine.

PS. I am not playing Donkey Kong on my blackberry in that photo at the very very top…

Wednesday, 10:00pm

I’m off to Banff to judge the Canadian Culinary Championships with colleagues Sid Cross, James Chatto, and other food and wine penning friends and neighbours from around the country. The competing chefs, each chosen through trial at battle royales held in their native regions (called the Gold Medal Plates), are as follows:

Edmonton – Chef David Cruz, Sage Restaurant
Calgary – Hayato Okamitsu, Catch Restaurant
Toronto – Chef Patrick Lin, Senses Restaurant
Montreal – Deff Haupt, Le Renoir
Ottawa – Chef Charles Part, Les Fougères
Vancouver – Chef Frank Pabst, Blue Water Café.

The video below is from the Vancouver competition, and it’s worth a watch, if only in the enjoyment of seeing Frank Pabst get positively goosy at winning.

A Night At Raincity Grill

Nothing gives me greater pleasure at the dinner table than to appreciate local bounty with the very people responsible for its harvest. It was therefore my privilege to dine alongside Anna Helmer of Helmers Organic farm with a small group of food lovers, gathered to discuss eating and growing local and to sample the new, Pemberton-focused “100 mile” tasting menu at Raincity Grill.

Helmers Organic is a family-run, 76-acre property, which Anna Helmer described as “small by Pemberton standards”. They use biodynamic methods and yearly crop rotations to grow the 16 varieties of potato for which the farm is renowned. In Raincity’s 100 mile lineup, Helmers potatoes graced our plates in 2 of 5 courses: as a bed of Chieftains and Russian Blues with Coho salmon and as a pavé of Chieftains served with braised beef.

Other Pemberton players were profiled on the new 100 mile menu. Pemberton Meadows Beef was wrapped tenderly in verdant savoy cabbage. The produce of North Arm Farm was featured in nearly every course, including a delicate dessert of carrot sorbet, yogurt snow, and fireweed honey meringue.

The efforts of Chef Peter Robertson to showcase these local producers were commendable: every plate was visually stunning, causing conversation to tangent into an inspection of the unique presentations as each course arrived. Shallots encased in a salt crust were of particular interest, triggering one diner to play with her food.

Sensory delights continued as each course hit. The grilled pork belly from Sloping Hills melted on the tongue in a caramel dissolve, and the accompanying Baynes Sound scallop was perfect in its doneness.

For me, the highlight of the menu was the North Arm Farm beetroot snow. Hills of crimson crystals were set out in front of us as waitstaff poured on a stream of zingy horseradish cream. The candy cane contrast set a festive tone for the rest of the evening, and the ephemeral taste of the dish paired well with the accompanying Bianco di Collina from Duncan vintner Venturi-Schulze.

Other guests seemed to have clear favourites. Anna Helmer was speechless in her enjoyment of the Sloping Hills pork. Chef’s Table Society head Sid Cross surreptitiously drained every drop of the broth that encircled the Coho salmon.

Throughout the tasting menu, general manager and sommelier Brent Hayman introduced the table to a breadth of 100 mile wine, most from Vancouver Island regions in or around Duncan.

Dinner drew to a close with a special tasting of walnut wine from Langley wine newcomer Vista D’oro. It was presented with another unexpected treat: an experimental tarte tatin from Chef Robertson that was nearly a 100 mile diet achievement. Although the table was nearing its saturation point in good food and drink, little was left of this delicious tarte after the slices were portioned out.

After this delightful dinner preview, Raincity Grill passed on their finalized tasting menu (listed below) that will run from now until the end of Dine Out Vancouver 2009. Don’t miss this chance to partake in the bounty of the year’s Pemberton harvest.

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100 MILE TASTING MENU

PEMBERTON FALL HARVEST

“NORTH ARM FARM” BEETROOT SNOW

horseradish cream

Wine accompaniment:

Garry Oaks, Pinot Gris

~~
GRILLED “SLOPING HILLS” PORK

bayne sound scallop, wild mushroom, celery root, chervil beurre blanc

Wine accompaniment:

Venturi-Schulze, Bianco di Collina

~~
SEARED “ORGANIC OCEANS” SALMON

braised “north arm farm” artichoke, grilled salt spring island mussel, garlic

“helmers” seig linde potato

Wine accompaniment:

Averill Creek, Pinot Noir

~~
BRAISED “PEMBERTON MEADOWS” BEEF

“helmers” potato pave, grilled shallot

“north arm farm” parsley root, marrow jus

Wine accompaniment:

Alderlea, Clarinete

~~
A selection of local cheese (add$8.50 per cheese)

~~
CARAMELISED SQUASH

“north arm farm” beetroot jelly, honey caramel, merridale cider sorbet

Wine accompaniment:

Merridale winter apple cider

$65.00

With wine accompaniment $89.00

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Karen Hamilton is a writer, photographer, and maker of websites. Her exploration of all things edible in the Lower Mainland is diarized at tinybites.ca.

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