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Posts Tagged ‘Seafood Chowder Chowdown’

2011 Ocean Wise Chowder Chowdown

November 24th, 2011 admin

Local Lounge Chefs team WINNERS

The 4th Annual Ocean Wise Seafood Chowder Chowdown was a huge success at a great event hosted by the Vancouver Aquarium on November 23rd. This event saw a packed house sampling many or all of the twelve chowders from BC’s top twelve Ocean Wise restaurants from around the Vancouver, and the Okanagan, all of the chowders were paired with BC brews and the suggested beers were listed along each of the restaurants chowders.

Local Lounge- 1st place Winner - “Smoked Outlandish Oyster Chowder”

Judges voted: 2011 Chowder Chowdown Champion Local lounge Chef Paul Cecconi for his “Smoked Outlandish Oyster Chowder”

Best Oceanwise Chowder and Beer Pairing was awarded to Chef Ned Bell of Four Seasons Hotel Vancouver

Chef Ned Bell of Four Seasons Hotel Vancouver "Smoked Black Cod and Gala Apple Chowder"

Driftwood Beer pouring their Farmhand Ale

Best Oceanwise Chowder and Beer Pairing was awarded to Chef Ned Bell of Four Seasons Hotel Vancouver & Driftwood Beer Farmhand Ale!

Since I have been to this event in 2009 and 2010, I noticed that the 2011 event had a much better layout than in previous years for easier mingling, however, the serving bowls were wider and better last year. I sampled my way through all the 12 chowders and these are MY favourite chowders.

My Vancouver Foodster Top Picks

My 1st Place: Chef Paul Cecconi of Local lounge for his “Smoked Outlandish Oyster Chowder”

My 2nd Place: Chef Chris Whittaker of O’Douls’s Restaurant for his “McLoughlin & Steele Whiskey Cured Bacon & Dungenous Crab Chowder”

My 3rd Place: Chef Ned Bell of Four Seasons Hotel Vancouver “Smoked Black Cod and Gala Apple Chowder”

Participating restaurants: COAST Restaurant, Codfather’s Market, Edible Canada, Four Seasons Hotel Vancouver,  Hapa Izakaya, Local Lounge, Noodle Box, O’Doul’s Restaurant & Bar, Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts (PICA), Sunset Bay Yacht Group, Westward Ho! Public House, and the Vancouver Aquarium.

O’Douls's Restaurant "McLoughlin & Steele Whiskey Cured Bacon & Dungenous Crab Chowder"

Red Truck Beer

Chef Jenn Dodd (L) of Edible at the Market

Lighthouse Beer

Ocean Wise is a program that was launched by the Vancouver Aquarium in 2005 to educate consumers on ocean-friendly seafood choices, this local initiative has become a national program, learn more at www.oceanwise.ca

By: Richard Wolak

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

2010 Ocean Wise Seafood Chowder Chowdown

November 25th, 2010 admin

Dr John Nightingale (l) presenting Chef Ben Akira Berwick & team of Hapa Izakaya with their Trophy

The 3rd Annual Ocean Wise Seafood Chowder Chowdown was a huge success at a great event hosted by the Vancouver Aquarium on November 24th. This event saw hundreds of people sampling many or all of the twelve chowders from BC’s top twelve Ocean Wise restaurants from around the Vancouver, Victoria, Abbotsford and Kelowna, all of the chowders were paired with BC brews and the suggested beers were listed along each of the restaurants chowders.

Chef Ben Akira Berwick dishing “Halibut Dashi Chowder” - Hapa Izakaya

Hapa Izakaya - 1st place Winner - “Halibut Dashi Chowder”

Hapa Izakaya won 1st place with their “Halibut Dashi Chowder”, Chef Ben and Daiji, Oku & Junji  had cooked up a delicious, outstanding chowder and it was my favourite as well! Not only did they win the top prize by the judges, they also won the Peoples Choice Award as well!

Chef Chris Whittaker - O'Doul's - Winner Best Chowder & Beer Pairing

O`Douls - “Cortes Island Mussel and house-cured Bacon Chowder“

Storm Brewing - Scottish Cream Ale

The winner for Best Chowder and Beer Pairing went to O`douls with their “Cortes Island Mussel and house-cured bacon chowder“ paired with the Storm Brewing “Scottish Cream Ale“.

Savoury Chef -- Spot Prawn and Bacon Chowder with Smoked Scallop

Savoury Chef -- Spot Prawn and Bacon Chowder with Smoked Scallop

My Vancouver Foodster Top Picks

1)    Hapa Izakaya — Halibut Dashi Chowder

2)    Savoury Chef — Spot Prawn and Bacon Chowder with Smoked Scallop

3)    O`Douls — Cortes Island Mussel and house-cured Bacon Chowder

The Ramada Plaza (Abbotsford) - Healthy Oceans Chowder

Chef Todd Bright - Wild Rice Restaurant

I attended this event last year, see my post, it seems they dropped the Silver & Bronze awards this year and added the Chowder & Beer Pairing award. The restaurants represented were somewhat different in this years event and the seafood chowders were much more creative than the previous event. Last year I ate my way thru 8 chowders, missing out on 2 of them, this year I am happy to say that I ate my way through all 12 chowders!

Chef Dennis Peckham - Coast Restaurant

The Judging panel included: Chef David Hawksworth, Chester Carey, Rebecca Bollwitt (miss604), Chef Robert Clark and  Vancouver Deputy Mayor Kerry Jang . Each of the judges were served a fairly good size portion of each of the chowders to taste along with each of the beers and make their marks and notes.

Redfish Bluefish (Victoria) - Indo-Pacific Spot Prawn Chowder

Participating restaurants: Aqua Riva, COAST Restaurant, Codfather’s Market, Hapa Izakaya, O’Doul’s Restaurant & Bar, Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts (PICA), Redfish Bluefish, The Ramada Plaza, Rocky Mountain Flatbread, Savoury Chef, Vancouver Aquarium, and Wild Rice Restaurant.

Codfather’s Market (Kelowna) - Modern Crustocean Chowder

Ocean Wise is a program that was launched by the Vancouver Aquarium in 2005 to educate consumers on ocean-friendly seafood choices, this local initiative has become a national program, learn more at www.oceanwise.ca

I hope Hapa Izakaya will be adding their 1st place Winning Halibut Dashi Chowder to their menu at each of the 3 restaurants, I can’t wait to have another bowl!

By: Richard Wolak

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

Ocean Wise Seafood Chowder Chowdown

November 26th, 2009 admin
Andrew Christie (left & Matt Christie (right) of Go Fish

Andrew Christie (left & Matt Christie (right) of Go Fish

The 2nd Annual Ocean Wise Seafood Chowder Chowdown was a huge success at a great event hosted by the Vancouver Aquarium on November 25th. This sold out event saw hundreds of people sampling many or all of the ten chowders from BC’s top ten Ocean Wise restaurants from around the city and area, many of the chowders were paired with BC brews and the suggested beers were listed along each of the restaurants chowders.

Go Fish - Gold Winner - Smoked Corn & Scallop Chowder

Go Fish - Gold Winner - Smoked Corn & Scallop Chowder

Go Fish won Gold with their “Smoked Corn and Scallop Chowder”, Matt and his brother Andrew had cooked up a storm that night with a constant line-up of people who eagerly awaited the fresh seared scallops to top the chowder, this was a sight to be seen and it was worth the wait which I can attest too. The Refinery won Silver with their “Smoked Cod and Crab Chowder” by Chef Mike Carter and his team and Coast Restaurant won Bronze with their “BC Sea Urchin and Smoked Pacific Oyster Chowder” by Executive Chef Josh Wolfe and his team.

Chef Johnny Bridge of The Refinery

Chef Johnny Bridge of The Refinery, 2nd place win

Chefs from Coast Restaurant who won 3rd place

Chefs from Coast Restaurant who won 3rd place

The Judging panel included: Jamie Maw, Chef David Hawksworth, Chester Carey, Guy Dean, Kim Stockburn and Vancouver Canucks Willie Mitchell. Each of the judges were served a fairly good size portion of each of the chowders to taste and make their marks and notes.

Chef Matt (left) & his brother Andrew Christie (right) - Go Fish - cooking

Chef Matt (left) & his brother Andrew Christie (right) - Go Fish - cooking

Chef from the Vancouver Aquarium with their chowder

Chef from the Vancouver Aquarium with their chowder

Kurtis Lysholm - Phillips Brewery - pouring beer

Kurtis Lysholm - Phillips Brewery - pouring beer

Longboat Chocolate Porter poured for the Judges

Longboat Chocolate Porter poured for the Judges

Everyone who attended was able to cast their vote for their favourite chowder for the People’s Choice Award and the winner was O’Douls.

Chef Chris Whittaker - O'Doul's - People's Choice Award Winner

Chef Chris Whittaker - O'Doul's - People's Choice Award Winner

Ocean Wise is a program that was launched by the Vancouver Aquarium in 2005 to educate consumers on ocean-friendly seafood choices, this local initiative has become a national program, learn more at www.oceanwise.ca

Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts with their Calypso Chowder

Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts with their Calypso Chowder

The winning chowder from Go Fish was well paired with the Tree Brewing Cutthroat Pale Ale. In my opinion other beers that went over well included the Phillips Longboat Chocolate Porter and the Phillips Blue Buck.

I hope Go Fish will be adding Matt and Andrew’s Gold Winning Chowder to their menu, I can see another long line-up!

By: Richard Wolak

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