Chefs Across the Water at Hastings House – Various Dates
June 7, 2010 by cassandra
Filed under Gulf Island Events, Restaurant News+
Hastings House Country House Hotel and Dining Room on Salt Spring Island is excited to introduce our new guest chef program—Chefs Across the Water. Designed to build connections among British Columbia’s fine dining establishments and to highlight the incredible bounty of the region’s produce, Chefs Across the Water invites distinguished BC chefs to participate in a series of gastronomic island adventures. Salt Spring Island, the largest of BC’s Gulf Islands is a food-lover’s paradise, with a mild Mediterranean-like climate, and devoted food producers renowned for their organic fruits and vegetables, wines, meats, and cheeses. Fresh caught, wild seafood rounds out nature’s local pantry. Hastings House also has an extensive garden right on its own 22 acres that yields an abundance of herbs and produce.
Hastings House Executive Chef, Marcel Kauer uses this vast array of amazing foods to create his celebrated daily menus. With Chefs Across the Water, we are excited to see how our Guest Chefs put their own personal spin on Salt Spring Island’s flavours. The Chefs Across the Water program will consist of 5 events June through October. Each dinner will feature one Guest Chef (or team of chefs) preparing a 5 course dinner with wine pairing. For more info, visit www.hastingshouse.com.
Chefs Across the Water participants and dates:
VANCOUVER
June 29th–Pino Posteraro Cioppino’s
2007 Gold Medal Plates, Best Vancouver Chef 2008, Best Restaurant in Vancouver 200; www.cioppinos.wordpress.com
July 19th–John Bishop from Bishop’s
Renowned author of Bishop’s The Cookbook, Deconstructing Supper, Fresh, and Simply Bishop’s. www.bishopsonline.com
August 9th–Frank Pabst from Blue Water Café
Former positions–Chef de Cuisine Lumiere in Vancouver, Pastis (Best New Restaurant 2000 Vancouver Magazine), Aachen’s Le Becasse, Hotel Negresco in Cannes, Antibes Restaurant de Bacon
Sept. 13th–Alessandra Quaglia from Provence Mediterranean Grill and Jean-Francis Quaglia Provence from Marina Side
VICTORIA
October 4th–Sean Brennan from Brasserie L’Ecole
Gold–EAT magazine reader survey 2009.
SALT SPRING ISLAND
October 11–Marcel Kauer from Hastings House
As the finale to the series, Hastings House world renowned Chef will prepare an extra-special menu.
Dinner $100 and wine pairings $50 per person. A portion of the proceeds from each dinner will be donated to Island Natural Growers to benefit the Salt Spring Abbatoir project. Aspects of each event will be documented through photographs and video and posted on the website www.ChefsAcrossTheWater.com .
EAT Oceanwise and attend the best party in the city!
May 8, 2010 by cassandra
Filed under Restaurant News+
Dine at Ocean Wise restaurants for a chance to win two tickets to Vancouver Aquarium’s signature fundraising gala!
From May 7 to 25, dine at a participating Ocean Wise restaurant and enter to win two tickets to Vancouver Aquarium’s signature fundraising gala – Night at the Aquarium! Winners will arrive in style in a chauffeured Mercedes-Benz that picks you up and takes you home!
Starting now until May 25, BC residents who dine at participating Ocean Wise restaurants including Blue Water Café, C restaurant, Cin Cin, Le Gavroche, O’Doul’s Restaurant & Bar, Nu, Raincity Grill, and West, are eligible to enter the contest for a chance to win two tickets to Night at the Aquarium. The winners will be chauffeured to and from the gala on June 11 by Mercedes-Benz.
Executive Chef Robert Clark from C Restaurant is one of the keen Ocean Wise participants for the contest. Clark has trained with Canada’s top chefs such as Jamie Kennedy, Michael Bonaccini and Mark Thuet. Clark now heads the culinary operations for C Restaurant, Raincity Grill and NU Restaurant & Lounge. Clark’s belief in food is pure and simple: “As chefs, our job is not only about serving great tasting food, but encouraging our staff and our guests to learn how to get sustainably produced food to the table.” Only quality, sustainable products from earth and sea are used as the building blocks of his cuisine.
On June 11, the following Ocean Wise restaurants will be at Night at the Aquarium to serve guests their amazing fare: Bishop’s, Blue Water Café, C5 (Toronto), C restaurant, Cabana Bar and Grille, COAST, Hapa Izakaya, Le Gavroche, O’Doul’s Restaurant & Bar, Rocky Mountain Flatbread Co., Vancouver Aquarium Catering & Events, and Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts.
Night at the Aquarium is known as “the best party in the city.” The evening launches with a champagne entrance and features spectacular food from celebrity chefs representing 13 of Vancouver’s Ocean Wise restaurants, complimentary BC wines and great music. Live and silent auctions offer amazing packages and exclusive experiences for the discerning bidder.
Tickets to Night at the Aquarium are valued at $250 (with a partial tax receipt) and 100% of event revenues go to support the Vancouver Aquarium’s conservation, research and education programs.
Contest details and event updates can be found at www.nightattheaquarium.org
About Ocean Wise™
Ocean Wise is Canada’s leading sustainable seafood program. The Ocean Wise logo on a restaurant menu, deli-counter or seafood product is the trusted symbol of ocean-friendly seafood choices for discerning consumers. Launched in Vancouver, BC in January 2005 by the Vancouver Aquarium, the Ocean Wise program has grown from a small, local initiative to a national program now working with nearly 300 partners at over 2700 locations. Learn more at www.oceanwise.ca
About the Vancouver Aquarium
The Vancouver Aquarium is a global leader in connecting people to our natural world, and a self-supporting, non-profit association dedicated to effecting the conservation of aquatic life through display and interpretation, conservation practices, education, research, and direct action. Learn more at www.vanaqua.org
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Red Carpet Soiree
April 30, 2010 by cassandra
Filed under Lower Mainland Events
Following the success of thesecond annual Red Cross Red Carpet Soiree, we are excited to be partnering once again with Blue Water Cafe in 2010 to produce the 3rd annual event benefiting the Disaster Management Program.
This year we will be rolling out the red carpet for more than 300 guests who will be treated to an impressive selection of finely-crafted canapés and seductive seafood from two of Vancouver’s top chefs, Executive Chef Frank Pabst and Raw Bar Chef Yoshihiro Tabo.
Guests can look forward to another fun and fresh evening including some key highlights:
- Enjoy a selection of award-winning canapés from Blue Water Cafe + Raw Bar and fine wine donated by Vincor.
- Get your very own personal style consultation from professional stylists, Operation Style.
- Bid on fabulous silent auction items generously donated by some of the trendiest hotels, local artists, and high-end retailers throughout British Columbia. Check out our list of donors here.
- Pose in our fun photo booth fundraiser.
- And much more!
Follow us on Twitter.
For event updates, become a fan on facebook.
May 8 marks World Red Cross Day, which is celebrated internationally every year since 1948. This year, we commemorate World Red Cross Day by highlighting the local Red Cross Disaster Management Program and how it responds to community needs during times of crisis through direct services such as providing support, hygiene kits and blankets; family reunification service; critical information dissemination to the public through the TELUS Red Cross Call Centre; and coordination with all levels of government, local authorities, communities and other relief organizations to address outstanding client needs.
Join us to celebrate and promote awareness of the Red Cross Disaster Management Program and its foundation of preparedness, response and recovery!
Thursday, May 6, 2010 at 7:00pm
News from Top Table Group – Earth Hour – Cookbook
March 11, 2010 by cassandra
Filed under Restaurant News+
Like yours, our Olympic memories are rife with wonderful individual moments and the spirit that celebrated excellence at every turn. We enjoyed a great mix of our regulars and locals at each of our restaurants – Araxi in Whistler, and Blue Water Cafe, CinCin, and West in Vancouver – along with many visitors, royals and celebrities of an extraordinary diversity.
But in our eyes, the true stars of the Olympics were the athletes.
In concert with Champagne Nicholas Feuillatte, we offered complimentary bottles to every Olympic medalist to accompany the sparkling toasts of thanks they made to friends and family. It made for many intimate moments and we were delighted to share in so many of them in Whistler and Vancouver, including Canadian Gold Medalists Ashleigh McIvor, Maëlle Ricker, and Jon Montgomery, and Canadian Silver Medalists Mike Robertson, Jennifer Heil, Shelley-Ann Brown and Helen Upperton, to name a few.
Araxi and Blue Water Cafe win Cordon d’ Or Cookbook Awards
On the heels of our recent cookbook awards in the Gourmand ‘Best in the World’ competition, Araxi: Seasonal Recipes from the Celebrated Whistler Restaurant and Blue Water Cafe: Seafood have been awarded Cordon d’ Or – Gold Ribbon International Culinary Academy Awards. Two of four awarded in Canada and out of only 16 worldwide, Araxi won ‘Best Illustrated Cookbook’, while Blue Water Cafe took the ‘Best Fish and Seafood Cuisine Cookbook’ category. Congratulations to chefs James Walt and Frank Pabst, and the teams at Araxi and Blue Water Cafe, for these accomplishments.
Earth Hour
Why is Saturday, March 27th more romantic than Valentine’s Day? Because on that night, the world turns off the electricity in honour of Earth Hour. For the third consecutive year, our four restaurants will join hundreds of millions of people around the world and will go candlelight for one hour starting at 8:30 pm, in an effort to show it’s possible to take positive action on climate change. To reserve your table, visit: Araxi, Blue Water Cafe, CinCin and West.
Top Table Bars Fête Olympic Victors with Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte
February 6, 2010 by cassandra
Filed under Restaurant News+
Podium Athletes Invited to Celebrate at Araxi, Blue Water Cafe, CinCin + West
Winning an Olympic medal is no easy feat. The road is long, the sacrifices many, and the support structures that enable athletes to reach the podium are elaborate. But ask an Olympic athlete the key to their success, and the reply is almost always, “My family and friends.”
Araxi in Whistler, and Blue Water Cafe, CinCin, and West in Vancouver, will salute winning athletes during the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics by helping them toast family and friends at the restaurants’ bars with a complimentary bottle of Nicolas Feuillatte champagne.
“We want to congratulate the bronze, silver and gold medalists from all countries, and give them the opportunity to toast those closest to them, that took them to the pinnacle of their sport,” said Jack Evrensel, proprietor of Top Table. “Top Table is all about teamwork, and so are the endeavours of Olympic athletes – this is a simple way to show our appreciation.”
Medalists: Reserve in advance through Top Table’s restaurant directors, bring your medal, and the bubbles will begin to flow.
| RESTAURANT | LOCATION | CONTACT | |||
| Araxi Blue Water Cafe CinCin West |
4222 Whistler Village Square 1095 Hamilton Street, Yaletown 1154 Robson Street 2881 Granville Street @ 13th |
Steve Edwards, 604 932 4540 Stephan Cachard, 604 688 8078 Ricardo Ferreira, 604 688 7338 Brian Hopkins, 604 738 8938 |
About Top Table One of the most highly respected restaurant groups in Canada, Top Table encompasses four of the leading restaurants in Vancouver and Whistler: Araxi, CinCin, Blue Water Cafe and West. Continuing to evolve in the pursuit of excellence, each venue has received significant critical acclaim, both locally and internationally.
Due to demand, all Top Table restaurants will be open for lunch during the Olympics.
About Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte Nicolas Feuillatte is the best-selling Champagne brand in France, among the “top 5″ internationally and a fixture in the world’s great restaurants. Founded in 1976, this dynamic young house celebrates its unique identity by collaborating with outstanding creative professionals across many disciplines including chefs, designers and artists.
