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Posts Tagged ‘Local’

Juicing it Up with The Juice Box

April 1st, 2013 admin

The Juice Box company is the most recent newcomer to the Juice scene in Vancouver, they don’t have a truck or a storefront, instead they produce their juice in a local commissary and deliver to customers all over the city as well sell their juices through a growing list of Yoga studios who embody similar philosophies as the owners.

I had the opportunity to try a selection of their juices, first of all I loved the packaging, each of the juices comes in a nifty glass bottle, secondly the juices are all 100% organic cold-pressed raw juices which they say lasts 4-5 days. My favourite juices out of the four that I tried were the Orange Cucumber and the Carrot Orange Ginger.

The Juice Box juices are available to order and can be delivered to your doorstep daily, you can follow them on twitter @thejuicebox

By: Richard Wolak

Posted in Latest, Snacking Tags: , , , No Comments »

Eating a Local Dinner

February 18th, 2013 admin

Happy Planet Soups & Vancouver Pie Hole

Eating great locally made products is something that is important for our local economy. We have so many food producers in the Vancouver area, here are a couple of companies who have sent me some of their products which made for the perfect lunch and dinner.

I have never been too fond of savoury pies, that was until I tried the Chicken Carbonara Pie made by Vancouver Pie Hole. This pie was a meal unto itself full of chicken breast, onion, bacon and peas in a creamy alfredo sauce inside a delicious pie crust. This local company makes many savoury pies as well as dessert pies, since they don’t have a storefront you can find some of their pies at The Mighty Oak, Norton Commons and Nourish Market, or tweet them @pieholevan

Happy Planet which started out making juices ventured in to soups awhile back, I tried some of the different kinds over the few months, and my favourites are the Somerset Garden Pea and the Tuscan Tomato Soup.

Their Somerset Garden Pea is made with fresh peas and cream, with a hint of fragrant mint, evoking the taste of springtime in an English garden. Happy Planet’s soups are available in the refrigerated sections of grocery stores all over Vancouver. All Happy Planet soups contain natural ingredients and are gluten free. You can follow them on twitter @TeamHappyPlanet

Vancouver is fortunate to have many local producers of great food products to make a delicious lunch or dinner!

By: Richard Wolak

Posted in Eating Local, Latest Tags: , , , , No Comments »

Forage Opening

December 4th, 2012 admin

Serving Duck Confit Flatbread

Last night December 3rd, I attended the opening party of Forage the new restaurant in the Listel Hotel on Robson.

Chef Chris Whittaker

Chef Chris Whittaker talked paying homage to past tradition, finding exceptional local fare through farmer and fisher folk, preserving seasonal flavours, pairing dishes with local drink…all in a casual urban eatery.

Duck Confit Flatbread

Cheeses and more

Served spread of local cheeses from Golden Ears and Qualicum cheese, honey roasted walnuts, kale chips, duck fat popcorn, duck confit flatbread, crab cakes and beets on a stick. Guests were treated to selection of red and white wine on tap as well as champagne, beer and cocktails.

Jim Mockford, General Manager at The Listel Vancouver,

Jim Mockford, General Manager at The Listel Vancouver spoke about the project and how the restaurant has now become a leader in sustainability.

Forage is a leader in sustainability and green tourism practices. As a Tourism Ambassador for Conservation and a Corporate Climate Leader for the City of Vancouver, The Listel Hotel has a zero waste policy, solar panels and a state of the art heat capture program – is a passionate proponent of sustainability.

Project partners and sponsors will be at the forage table, including BC Hydro PowerSmart; Garland Canada; LiveSmartBC; Halton Indoor Climate Systems; Master-Bilt; the Green Table Network and a special appearance by Don Fisher of the Food Service Technology Center.

Forage is located at 1300 Robson Street in downtown Vancouver.

You can find them on the web at http://www.foragevancouver.com/ by phone at 604-661-1400 and on twitter @ForageVancouver

By: Richard Wolak

Posted in Latest, Openings Tags: , , , , No Comments »

Crock Pot Beer Chicken

December 4th, 2012 admin

More and more I am now returning to my roots for some home cooking, this article series features a recipe for a dish that I made at home and features a local product from BC, such as beer from a local brewery, wine from a local winery, spirits from a local distillery, tea from a local tea blender, coffee from a local roaster and such.

Crock Pot Beer Chicken      

Prep time: 15 mins Cook time: 5 hours Total time: 5 hours 15 mins Serves: 3-4 servings

Beer chicken cooked in the crock pot with potatoes and onions.

Ingredients

2 breasts and 4 thighs of skinless chicken, cleaned and patted dry

3 tablespoons + 1 tablespoon olive oil, divided

6-8 small or nugget potatoes, halved

1/2 a large onion, roughly chopped

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon mustard powder

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 12-ounce beer (Stanley Park Brewery Amber Ale or another ale)

Instructions

  1. Clean and halve your potatoes, chop your onion, and add both to your crock pot.
  2. Combine your salt, paprika, oregano, mustard powder and black pepper in a small bowl.
  3. Drizzle 3 tablespoons of olive oil over the potatoes and onion, then sprinkle in half of your spice mixture. Toss to coat.
  4. Clean your chicken and pat it dry, rub the chicken with the remaining spice mixture and 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
  5. Place the chicken on top of all of the vegetables, then pour the beer around the chicken (not directly on top of it). Turn your crock pot on “high” for 5 hours, until the chicken is cooked through.

Now, you can definitely go ahead and serve your chicken straight out of the pot.

The Local Product

I used beer from a local brewery in this dish, the Stanley Park Brewery Amber Ale.

STANLEY PARK 1897 AMBER

1897 Amber is a naturally crafted, unpasteurized, Belgian style amber. Our hand selected Belgian Amber, French and Canadian malts are brewed with the finest English and European characteristic hops to produce a beer of nuance. The mellow toasted malt and even body is perfectly balanced with a soft bitterness and mild hop aroma.The resulting light bodied beer has a subtle flavour complexity and an exceptionally clean finish.

CATEGORY Belgian style amber, handcrafted sustainably

APPEARANCE Medium amber brown

TASTE Subtle toasted malt, lightly hopped, exceptionally clean finish

MOUTH FEEL Light bodied

You can find them on the web at http://stanleyparkbrewery.ca/

You can follow them on twitter @StanleyParkBrew

Stay tuned for my next cooking adventure with a local BC product.

By: Richard Wolak

Posted in Eating Local, Latest Tags: , , , No Comments »

Vancouver Foodster Pancake Challenge

October 18th, 2012 admin

Welcome to the 1st ever Vancouver Foodster #Local Pancake Challenge. I have invited restaurants from all over the city to create a Savoury or Sweet Pancake Dish to enter into this challenge. Each creation must have a minimum of 3 Local ingredients in the dish, such as using locally grown apples, peaches or thyme; locally produced bacon or other local ingredients. Most of the restaurants have created a special pancake dish just for this challenge. Each of these restaurants will be featuring their pancake dish from October 18-November 18th, if you don’t see it on the menu just ask the Manager or Chef and they will make it for you!

Voting criteria -  some things to help you judge your favourite pancake dishes – keep these things in mind: originality, creativity, uniqueness, traditional, non-traditional, price, value and most importantly taste.

Visit the participating restaurants for lunch, dinner or weekend brunch and try the Savoury and Sweet creations, then visit us at http://vancouverfoodster.com/pancake-challenge/ to VOTE for your favourites between November 15-21st.

Here are the 9 Pancake dishes in this challenge, listed in no particular order other than when they were received by us.

Establishment Local Prawn Pancake

Establishment Local Prawn Pancake

Created by: Executive Chef Victor Bongo

Price: $12

Offered:  Dinner, nightly

Description:  Chickpea flour pancakes topped with B.C. Spot Prawns and a Fraser Valley Quail Egg, with spinach puree, goat cheese & orange creme fraiche, drizzled with Canadian Maple Whisky Syrup and finished with merlot micro-greens and smoked sea-salt flakes.

Local Ingredients:  Local B.C. Spot Prawns, Locally Grown Spinach, Fraser Valley Quail Eggs, Local Okanagan Goat Cheese, Canadian Maple Whisky Syrup

Savoury or Sweet: Savoury

Location: 3162 West Broadway, Vancouver

Twitter: @EstLounge

Web:  http://www.estlounge.com/

 

Fable Kitchen

Pulled Pork Johnny Cakes

Pulled Pork Johnny Cakes

Created by: Trevor Bird

Price: $12

Offered: Saturday and Sunday Brunch 10:30am -2:00pm

Description: Cornmeal pancakes, made with Walter’s eggs, Two Rivers durrock pulled pork, Urban Diggs Julliet tomato jam and pickled jalapeno.

Local Ingredients:  Walter’s eggs, Two Rivers durrock pulled pork, Urban Diggs Julliet tomato jam

Savoury or Sweet: Savoury

Location: 1944 West 4th Avenue, Vancouver

Twitter: @FableKitchen

Web:  http://fablekitchen.ca/

 

Catch 122

Flap Jacques

Flap Jacques

Created by:  Rachel Whiting and Chris Hogan

Price:  $12

Offered:  Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and weekend Brunch (Note: Not available Noon to 2:00 pm Monday to Friday).

Description: Carrot cake pancake with red wine poached local plum, pumpkin cream cheese, toasted walnuts and orange vanilla cream

Local Ingredients:

1. Milk and Whipping Cream and Yogurt – Birchwood Dairy (Abbotsford)

2. Eggs – Green as Grass Farm (Chiliwack)

3. Pumpkin – Richmond Country Farm (Stevenston)

4. Plum – Local Farmer’s Market (Vancouver)

5. Carrot – Local Farmer’s Market (Vancouver)

Savoury or Sweet:  Sweet

Location:122 West Hastings Street, Vancouver

Twitter: @catch122

Web:  http://catch122.com/

 

Herons West Coast Kitchen at The Fairmont Waterfront

Fraser Valley Hazelnut and Tiger Blue Buttermilk Pancakes with Apple Beet Preserve & Warm Waterfront Rooftop Honey

Fraser Valley Hazelnut and Tiger Blue Buttermilk Pancakes with Apple Beet Preserve & Warm Waterfront Rooftop Honey

Created by: Chef Ross Johnston

Cost: $16

Offered: Breakfast and Brunch meal periods, 7 days a week.

Breakfast:

Sunday-Friday (buffet) – 6:30 am to 10:30 am

Sunday-Friday (à la carte) – 6:30 am to 11:30 am

Saturdays (buffet and à la carte) – 6:30 am to 11:30 am

Local Ingredients: Fraser Valley Hazelnuts, Tiger Blue Cheese, Okanagan Apples, Fairmont Waterfront’s Rooftop Honey

Description: Fraser Valley Hazelnut and Tiger Blue Buttermilk Pancakes with Apple Beet Preserve & Warm Waterfront Rooftop Honey

Savoury or Sweet: Sweet

Location:  900 Canada Place Way, Vancouver

Twitter: @FairmontWF

Web:  fairmont.com/waterfront-vancouver/

 

Bob Likes Thai Food

Bob’s Pan Cake

Bob’s Pan Cake

Created by: Tai Keattivanichvily

Price: $10.00

Offered:  Lunch and Dinner daily.

Description:  Ground chicken with coriander root, Thai Basil, Rice wrap, Cucumber, red onion, Mayo with home-made plum sauce and ground BC cranberry

Local Ingredients: Cranberry, Cucumber, Local Chicken, Local made rice wrap.

Savoury or Sweet: Savoury

Location: 3755 Main Street & 1521 West Broadway, Vancouver

Twitter: @boblikethaifood

Web: http://www.boblikesthaifood.com/

 

Zachary’s on Robson

Dancing Salmon Pancake

Dancing Salmon Pancake

Created by: Chef Alejandro Vasquez Arias

Price: $7.00 for one pancake

Offered: All day, every day.

Description: BC smoked salmon & candy salmon  BC Eggs, flour, fresh BC dill, BC mushrooms, , crispy rice, bonito flakes with the sauce and ginger on the side.

Local Ingredients:  Salmon, Mushrooms, Dill and eggs.

Savoury or Sweet: Savory

Location: 121 Robson Street, Vancouver

Twitter: @ZacharysRobson

Web: http://www.zacharysonrobson.com/

 

Fishworks

Pancake aux Fruits de mer

Pancake aux Fruits de mer

Created by: Chef Shallaw Kadir

Price: $14

Offered: Lunch & dinner

Description: Pancake with seafood

Local Ingredients: Baynes Sound Manila clams, B.C. Honey Mussels, Squid, Qualicum Beach Scallops

Savoury or Sweet: Savoury

Location: 91 Lonsdale Avenue, North Vancouver

Twitter: @FishworksLOLO

Web: http://www.fishworks.ca/

 

Cove Fine Foods

Autumn Spiced Crepe

Autumn Spiced Crepe

Created by: Chef Kyle Wainwright

Price:  $9

Offered:  Every night as dessert

Description: Autumn Spiced crepe w scented pumpkin mousse, and milk chocolate Callebaut dipped ReUp BBQ Bacon

Local Ingredients: Vanderpol’s Cage free eggs, local pumpkin, ReUp BBQ Bacon

Savoury or Sweet:  Sweet (w savory bacon)

Location: 437 N Dollarton Hwy, North Vancouver

Twitter: @CoveFineFoods

Web: http://www.covefinefoods.com

 

Yolks Breakfast

BC Hazelnut Pancakes with local apple-aged white cheddar fritters

BC Hazelnut Pancakes with local apple-aged white cheddar fritters

Created by: Chef Steven Ewing

Price: $8.95

Offered: Tuesday – Friday: 7:30am -1pm, Saturday: 10am – 3pm

Description: BC Hazelnut Pancakes with local apple-aged white cheddar fritters

Local ingredients:  Eggs, Apples, Hazelnuts, Honey, Cheddar, Milk

Savoury or Sweet:  Sweet

Location: Food Truck at Dunsmuir & Beatty Street, Vancouver

Twitter:@YolksBreakfast

Web: http://www.yolks.ca/

 

Tweeting: Include our twitter address and hashtag whenever possible in your tweets.

@VanFoodster #PancakeChallenge

Make sure you pick up one of the Pancake Challenge postcards available at each of the participating restaurants and keep a record of your favourite pancake dishes. Remember to Vote for your favourites from November 15-21st at http://vancouverfoodster.com/pancake-challenge/

Have fun, eat local, enjoy the sweet and savoury pancake dishes, tweet your dishes and include the restaurants twitter address too!

By: Richard Wolak

Posted in Challenges, Latest Tags: , , No Comments »

From Farms to Forks 3 on October 21

October 7th, 2012 admin

A Growing Chefs! Harvest Kitchen Party

 

Can you imagine being in the kitchen of one of Vancouver best chefs’ while they are preparing gourmet creations? Wander through the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts’ classroom kitchens and watch some of Vancouver’s best chefs in action. At From Farms to Forks 3 you could be sampling food and drinks from the chefs from The Pear Tree, Provence Restaurants, La Quercia and the newly opened Acorn, as well as other spectacular Vancouver restaurants. We are bringing together some of the city’s most prominent chefs and mixologists and the region’s best growers and producers for a fun night of  canapés, B.C. wine and beer pairings, cocktails, and tasting stations!

From Farms to Forks 3

Sunday, October 21st

Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts (PICA)

Hosts: CBC’s Margaret Gallagher and Fred Lee
Tickets $150

From Farms to Forks 2 is a fundraiser for Growing Chefs! Chefs for Children’s Urban Agriculture. Growing Chefs! is based in Vancouver, B.C. and the two primary goals of the non-profit are to: to support and encourage the development and growth of urban agriculture and to provide an avenue for chefs and growers to engage in the community and to support food sustainability.

Here’s a sneak preview of just a few of the participating restaurants!

Wine pairings provided by Vincor Canada. Beer by R & B Brewing Co.

Growing Chefs! creates a forum for chefs, educators, growers, community groups, and families to work together to further awareness of food sustainability. Most importantly, we inspire children with the idea that they can grow their own food, even in the city by sending teams of chef volunteers into elementary schools—where they grow vegetables, cook with kids, and get the kids excited about eating healthy food.

To purchase tickets to From Farm to Folks either email [email protected], call 778-885-1308 or purchase them online at http://fromfarmstoforks3.eventbrite.com/.

Posted in Culinary News, Latest Tags: , , , , , No Comments »

Eating a Local Breakfast

October 1st, 2012 admin

Bare Butter

Eating a balanced breakfast is the most important thing to do, and eating local is something that I believe in as much as possible. There are many locally produced food products that can fit into your daily routine. These are some new locally produced foods that these companies have sent me recently which I have tasted, of course my flavour preferences may be the opposite of yours.

Choco Haze by Bare Butter

One newcomer to the all-natural nut butters world, is Bare Butter, a company that produces a variety of nut butters and delivers them by bike. I thought this was pretty cool, it’s a great product and its sustainable as well. I tasted several of their flavours and my absolute favourite was the Choco Haze. You can order their products off their website here and then receive you products delivered to you at home or at the office by bike. For now we do online orders delivered to your house by bike! You can find them on Twitter @Bare_Butter

Love Crunch Carrot Cake Granola

Another new product, is the Love Crunch Carrot Cake from Nature’s Path Foods, it was like eating carrot cake with a crunch except in this case it is granola not an actual slice of carrot cake, it is best eaten sprinkled on vanilla or plain yogurt or in a bowl with Avalon milk.

Cloud 9 Gluten-Free All-Purpose Baking Mix

If you eat Gluten Free, then you will want to try the Cloud 9 Gluten-Free All-Purpose Baking Mix and bake your favourite breakfast cookies and other baked goods at home! You can find them on Twitter @Cloud9NewWest

Vancouver is fortunate to have many local producers of great food products to start your morning!

By: Richard Wolak

Posted in Eating Local, Latest Tags: , , , , , No Comments »

Cartems Donuts and the Story

February 21st, 2012 admin

Earl Grey Donut

The other day I heard about a new donut shop that popped up at the corner of Carrall and Hastings. I was curious, and I had to check it out.  Within an hour of them opening just as I got in the door they were sold out. Curious then became furious, how could they sell out of 100 donuts so fast. Cartems Donuterie is owned by 3 partners,  Jordan Cash the guy who dreamt up the concept, along with his partners Mark Tagulao and Rajesh Narine, they opened up last week renting space in Sean Heather’s Penn Bake Shop for a 6 month pop-up donut shop. This is really a social media driven donut shop, even though they have specific hours listed on their facebook page, you have to follow them on twitter @Cartemsdonuts to be kept in the loop on if and when they are going to be open, the donut flavours on hand or that they are all gone. I see a trend @pizzeriafarina does this all so well, when they are running low on dough for the pizzas they tweet it out and within minutes they are sold out, they inform their customers on twitter, first pizza now donuts, what’s going to be next in this social media food game!

Triple Chocolate Donut

The Flavours

I tried the Earl Grey and the Triple Chocolate, I wanted to try the Maple Bourbon Bacon but there were none by the time I got there. They also make up to 40 different flavours for now including sweet snow, gluten free, cinnamon sugar, carrot cake, and sweet heat.

Sourcing Locally

Their ingredients are sourced from as close to Vancouver as possible, the flour comes from Anita’s Organic Mill (Chilliwack), their eggs are from Rabbit River Farms (Richmond), butter comes from Golden Ears Farms (Maple Ridge), the milk is from Avalon Dairy (Burnaby), and their spices come from Gathering Place Trading Company on Cortes Island.

Local ingredients – ethically sourced and sustainable – mean a higher quality donut, could this be the driving force behind this already booming donut company.

Making the Donuts

Now this is where things get really interesting, how do you fry donuts in a pop-up shop that’s located in a bake shop without a fryer. Enter the Woodland Smokehouse & Commissary another newly opened business located at 485 Commercial Drive which is owned by Tyson Reimer and Ryan Murfitt of Gastown’s Peckinpah. Tyson and Ryan opened the Woodland Smokehouse as they ran out of space to expand their product offerings, they needed to expand their meat smoker. One thing lead to another a new commissary was born, the guys from Cartems needed a place to make and fry up their donuts and voila this is just the beginning!

By: Richard Wolak

Posted in Baked Goods, Great Ideas, Latest Tags: , , , , , , , , No Comments »
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