On Sunday night August 29th I attended the 1st Anniversary party at Mis Trucos with my friend and photographer Noam.

The patio was filled with people mingling and drinking and inside the dining room guests were eating tasty menu favourites and drinking white wine sangria.

Michael (L) & Tristan (R) in the kitchen

Crispy Bread Wrapped Wild Gulf Prawns

My favourites were the Crispy Bread Wrapped Wild Gulf Prawns, and the Polenta Fries with cheese dip.

Mis Trucos Restaurant has a great patio out back, they are located at 1141 Davie Street and online at http://mistrucos.ca

By: Richard Wolak

Photo Credit: Noam Dehan

On Friday night September 3^rd I attended the 3yr Anniversary Bash at Canvas Lounge in Gastown. Proprietors, Vance Campbell and Simon Pearson-Roach were on hand to greet guests as was David K Wong, Ivan Chew and others. This was quite the fun party and I had a great time mingling and people watching; tasting and drinking. On Weekends this venue is a high energy dance club and this was no ordinary weekend, clearly this was the place to be on this Friday night as the packed house of guests enjoyed themselves.

Chef Doby created a menu of canape’s that circulated throughout the evening giving everyone a chance to taste some of the delicious bites along with their drinks.

My favourites were the Minced Lemongrass Fresh Water Prawn with Lemon Aioli and Whole Wheat Navajo Bread;  Snow Goat Cheese with Ground Hazelnut, Cognac Pate and Fig Preserve Tartlet; Baked Non Skin Potato with Guinness Cheddar and Oven Dried Prosciutto; and most of all I loved the outstanding Chocolate Espresso and Raspberry Cake with Chocolate Ganache and Marzipan.

Canvas Lounge is a large, full service special events venue located in Gastown at 99 Powell Street and online at http://www.canvaslounge.ca

By: Richard Wolak

I enjoyed celebrating this wonderful occasion on September 1st with proprietor, Harry Kambolis along with his family and media friends.

The drinks were flowing and delicious bites were being passed around and eaten almost as fast as the kitchen was serving them up. My favourites were the Chicken Souvlaki skewers, Greek Flatbread with Hummus, Grilled Eggplant, Greek Meatballs, and the Spankopita.

NU Restaurant has a spectacular patio and view, they are located at 1661 Granville Street and online at http://www.whatisnu.com/

By: Richard Wolak

On Friday night August 27^th,  I attended the opening party for 100 Days at the Opus Hotel in Yaletown.

Cocktails

Kobe Beef on potato crisp

Guests were treated to tasty cocktails, wine and tantalizing appetizers and dessert bites throughout the night.

This is Vancouver’s newest pop-up restaurant that will serve diners for 100 days. The talented chefs at One Hundred Days will dish up a tantalizing menu of urban diner meets Mediterranean cuisine, all inspired by the art surrounding them.

Graffiti Artist Vince Dumoulin

Graffiti artist Vince Dumoulin has transformed the room both inside and outside into a fun and colourful restaurant that exudes high energy and creativity. I caught him on camera as he was putting the finishing Graffiti touches on the outside of the restaurant as the party was underway.

I loved the menu on the large blackboards throughout the restaurant, the Graffiti bar, the DJ spinning and most of all the room on the corner of Hamilton & Davie with the large windows. One Hundred Days promises to be high energy and the most unexpected and thrilling dining experience to be found in Vancouver. After 100 days the restaurant will again be transformed into a new and exciting concept restaurant to open in early 2011.

Go for breakfast, lunch, dinner or late night, the restaurant is located inside the Opus Hotel at 322 Davie Street in Yaletown.

http://onehundreddays.ca

By: Richard Wolak

Chef David Hawksworth

I attended the Mystery Kitchen Tour Encore last night, held at the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts on Granville Island. Featured were some of the top chefs from around Vancouver and BC who created some amazing dishes for everyone to taste. Each dish was paired to a wine and guests mingled about going from kitchen to kitchen tasting and sipping. There were 8 kitchens and 8 mystery chefs who created these wonderful dishes for tasting.

Chef Jennifer Peters of Raincity Grill

Chef Andrew Springett - Black Rock Resort

Pica Chef Aaron assisting Chef Springett

Chef Andrew Springett: Coriander Cracker Fenugreek Spiced Lamb Tenderloin, Okanagan Peach Chutney, Amber Lamb Curry

This was the third in a series of fundraisers to raise money for the Canadian Chefs Congress September 11-12  where 500 chefs from across Canada will gather on Vancouver Island to talk sustainable seafood together. Here are some of my the dishes sampled during the evening along with the talented chefs.

Chef Brian Fowke - Kitsilano Daily Kitchen

Chef Quang Dang from Diva at the Met

Chef Quang Dang's Seared albacore tuna elephant heart plums cucumbers and salted plum vinigrette

Chef Chris Irving of Pourhouse

Chef Chris Irving's Smoked fanny bay oyster wellington, Colorado porcini duxelle, okanagan peach marmalade, watercress purée

My favourite dishes of the night were #1 Chef Vikram Vij’s: Braised Goat Meat in Fenugreek Curry with Date Chutney & Mint Chutney; #2 Chef Chris Irving’s Smoked Fanny Bay Oyster Wellington, Colorado Porcini Duxelle, Okanagan peach Marmalade, Watercress Purée and #3 all the Chocolate desserts prepared by the Pacific Institute of Culinary Art’s pastry team.

Chef Vikram Vij of Vij's

Chef Vikram Vij’s: Braised Goat Meat in Fenugreek Curry with Date Chutney & Mint Chutney

Patrick Murphy (l) & Chef Julian Bond (r)

Patrick & Lee Murphy of Vista d'oro

Pica's Coffee Truffles

Pica's Dessert Selection

Pica's Chocolate Truffles

All the wines were generously donated by the participating wineries for the event.

By: Richard Wolak

Last night I attended Farm to Table at The Network Hub where a few local Farm to Table companies provided samples of their food and drink to a passionate crowd of business/social media/entrepenurs!

Chef Anthony Nicalo

The speaker was: Chef Anthony Nicalo, CEO of Foodtree and founder of Farmstead Wines.

Pedro & Akiko of Dao Tea

Yesterday I attended a tasting of Painted Rock Wines alongside with tasty bites from Monk McQueens.

Tasty bites Sliders, Prawns and Spring Rolls

Painted Rock Estate Winery is located in Penticton, BC and it was great to have them participate in this tasting in the city.

John Skinner - Proprietor of Painted Rock Estate Winery

It was a pleasure to hear John Skinner speak about his wines and the progress they have made to date.

Painted Rock Wines

On July 30th I attended the Gatsby Social Club’s Mele Kai Ho: a Musical Ocean! This summertime party was hoppin’ to the tunes of DJ Kamm. Hundreds of people dressed for the occasion with their Hawaiian shirts, dresses and lei’s.

People were mingling, drinking, dancing, eating and having a great time.

Chicken, Fish & Beef Skewers on the grill and a pig roasting on the open fire.

Chef Abhishek Roy - Atithi, Chef Josh Wolfe - Coast, Richard Wolak, Chef Ben Berwick

The Vancouver Foodster 1st Anniversary party was a huge success, held on July 28th at Canvas Lounge in Gastown.

Nimby Burger cooking burgers

Thank you to all those who came out to celebrate, and to taste the fabulous food and drinks from Coast, Sanafir, Atithi, Hapa Izakaya, Maple Grill, Nimby Burger, Rocky Mountain Flatbread Co, Wild Rice, Canvas Lounge, Benton Brothers Cheese, Bonchaz, Cake Tease, Vancouver Brownies, Xoxolat, Kafkas Coffee & Tea, Dao Tea, Vista D’oro Farms, Chandra Winery, Nichol Vineyard, Rollingdale Winery, Desert Hills Winery, and Neck of the Woods Wines.

Lineup outside Canvas Lounge

Guests Mingling inside Canvas Lounge

DJ Pat Lock

Loungy beats were happening thanks to DJ Pat Lock and DJ Jeremy Lim and our MC’s Meena Mann and Charles Zuckermann kept the evening flowing with speeches by Fareeday Rasoul Kim from the Vancouver Food Bank and Richard Wolak, founder of Vancouver Foodster.

Cheese and more Cheese

Shahab & Chef Themis of Vancouver Brownies

Gustavo, Ari & Chef Chris Sanderson of Maple Grill

Chef Theresa of Cake Tease

Blueberry, Basil Chocolates from Xoxolat

Pouring Wine

With close to 600 people in attendance we raised over $1800 in donations for the Vancouver Food Bank Community Angel Food Runners Program.

Alexei Schwartzman,Alisha Mann, Minna Van, Sophia Cheng, Richard Wolak, Ariane Colebrander, Charles Zuckermann, Alejandro Escobell, Lisa Green - the Event Organizing Committee