Top Chef Canada winner Dale MacKay takes on ten talented BC chefs at The Westin Bayshore on November 4^th

After finishing second in 2009 (to Rob Feenie) and again in 2010 (to Robert Clark), Top Chef Canada winner Dale MacKay will go for the top prize at the 2011 Gold Medal Plates competition in Vancouver on November 4th in a battle against ten of B.C.’s most talented chefs.

Gold Medal Plates is the ultimate celebration of Canadian excellence in cuisine, wine, sport and entertainment. The Vancouver competition is one of nine that will be staged in Canadian cities this fall, with the winners from each city competing in the Canadian finals in Kelowna next February.

The 2011 competition in Vancouver features:

from Kelowna:

Rod Butters (RauDZ Regional Table) and

Mark Filatow (Waterfront Restaurant & Wine Bar);

from Whistler:

Tim Cuff (Aura); and

from Vancouver:

Ned Bell (Four Seasons Hotel),

Lee Cooper (L’Abattoir Restaurant),

Rob Feenie (Cactus Club Café),

Dale MacKay (ensemble Restaurant),

Alana Peckham (CRU),

Adam Pegg (La Quercia),

Neil Taylor (Cibo Trattoria) and

Joël Watanabe (Bao Bei Chinese Brasserie).

Each chef will prepare one appetizer-sized dish for approximately 500 to 800 guests. Chefs must select a Canadian wine or beverage to pair with his or her dish and, to ensure a level playing field, chefs must use plates provided by

The Westin Bayshore. Chefs will be allowed a maximum of 10 staff members, in addition to two wine pourers per station.

Judging the 2011 competition in Vancouver will be: Sid Cross, Andrew Morrison, Lesley Stowe, Barbara-Jo McIntosh, and last year’s Vancouver winner, Chef Robert Clark, who will also be cooking for the VIP reception that precedes the main event. Each dish will be judged out of 100 points, based on visual presentation (20%), texture (20%), taste (30%), wine compatibility (10%), originality (10%) and wow factor (10%).

Over the past six years, Gold Medal Plates competitions across Canada have raised more than $5 million for the Canadian Olympic Foundation, which supports athletes and high performance programs such as Own the Podium. Mingling with the guests and enjoying the culinary dishes will be more than 25 Olympians. The emcee for the evening will be Vancouver native Marnie McBean, a triple gold medallist in rowing.

Gold Medal Plates Vancouver will once again feature a silent auction as well as a live auction, featuring spectacular getaways with Olympians and Canadian entertainers to destinations such as Tuscany, Napa Valley, Chile, Provence, Burgundy and Kelowna for the Canadian Gold Medal Plates finals.

Music for the evening will be provided by Canadian legends Barney Bentall (Barney Bentall and the Legendary Hearts), Alan Doyle (Great Big Sea) and other musicians, who’ll treat guests to an evening of British classics.

For ticket information for the 2011 Gold Medal Plates competition in Vancouver, contact Kristina Wenner at Vancouver@goldmedalplates.com or 604-646-3580. For more information, visit the Gold Medal Plates website www.goldmedalplates.com.

Canadian Olympic Foundation – The Beneficiary of the events: The Canadian Olympic Foundation is a national charitable organization created by the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) supporting high performance athletes across all winter and summer sports. The Foundation’s Mission is to generate support to meet the technical, scientific, medical and coaching needs of Canada’s high performance sport system and assist Canada’s athletes in becoming ambassadors for sport, healthy living and the pursuit of excellence across the nation. Net proceeds from Gold Medal Plates are given to the Canadian Olympic Foundation to support high performance programs such as Own the Podium. To learn more about the Foundation and the programs it funds, please visit www.olympicfoundation.ca.

http://www.crestaurant.com/

#ccfcc2011 Wednesday, June 15 2011 Chef Robert Clark speaks at the CCFCC 2011 Sustainability Breakfast.

Enjoy fresh, local products.

Tickets Here

This West Coast-style breakfast features fresh, local products as Chef Robert Clark speaks about sustainability— not just for our oceans but also for all aspects of our food sources. Contemplate the future, what’s next.

Menu

BC Dairy Board Cheeses

Roadhouse Grille Local Breads and Crackers

Homemade Jams— Artisan Edibles

Hot Buffet

BC Fresh Roasted Local Potatoes

Intercity Packers Bacon, Sausages, Ham

Eggs Benedict— Smoked Salmon with International Herb Dill Hollandaise

Spinach with Oven Roasted Tomato Hollandaise

Local Cured Meats and Sausages

McColls Mustards and Pickled Vegetables

Baked Breads and Pastries

Artisan Edibles Rose Petal Scones, Muffins, Loafs, Local Honey,

Artisan Edibles Jellies

Island Farms Yogurt

Granola King Granola, Fresh Rhubarb Compote,

dried cranberries, Bremner Foods Blueberries, Dried Apple Chips, Agassi Hazelnuts

Farm Fresh Omelette Station X 2

Vegetables from Windset Farms

Eggs from Local Farms

Cheeses from BC Dairy Farmers

B.C Seafood Platter

Rain Coast Trading Smoked Salmon and Smoked Tuna, Assorted Salmon Candy, BBQ Tips,

Island Farms Sour Cream or Crème Fraiche, Caperberries and Capers

Waffle Station

House-made Compote, Maple syrup, Whipped cream

Whole Fruit Station from BCPMA

Fruits from Farms

Happy Planet Juice Bar

Canterbury Coffee and Silk Road Tea Station

CCFCC 2011 Presented by Sysco

The breakfast menu features BC Products. In attendance will be guest chefs from the Canadian Culinary Federation and the Chefs Table Society.

Meet Chef Robert Clark, Chef Ned Bell, Chef and President of the CCFCC, Judson Simpson, Chef Bruno Marti, Honour Society Chefs, and BC Restaurant Hall of Fame Chefs.

With harvest tours and the upcoming B.C. Shellfish Festival, the world is your oyster this summer on Vancouver Island.

Eating an oyster from the waters around Vancouver Island is a way to taste the mysteries of the Pacific Ocean in a single bite. Oysters owe much of their particular qualities – flavor, size, color, shell shape – to the salinity level and depth of the water in which they are raised. Interestingly, though each of the 12 varieties of oyster from Vancouver Island has its own very distinct qualities, they all originate from the same seed, further underlining the importance of water depth and salinity in their flavor profile.

Consider the Kusshi. Named after the Japanese word for “ultimate” or “precious,” this perfect bivalve is now one of the most sought-after oysters in the world. Raised by only one shellfish grower, Keith Reid of Stellar Bay Shellfish in Vancouver Island’s Comox Valley region, this small (just over five cm) oyster is raised in deep trays, and an aggressive tumbling process after harvest smooths any frills off the unusually deep cup of its midnight-purple shell, making it easy to shuck without any breakage. The taste? A perfect balance of ultra-clean brackishness and a fresh, almost floral flavor, with a meaty mouthfeel due to the slight stress tumbling.

Chef Robert Clark of Vancouver’s C Restaurant , a global reference point for shellfish cuisine, calls the Kusshi a “little package of joyous oyster meat.” Clark often includes the Kusshi and its larger version, the Stellar Bay Gold, on his restaurant’s prized tasting menus. But as co-founder of the Vancouver Aquarium’s Ocean Wise program, Clark loves Kusshi and other Vancouver Island oysters for their sustainability as well as their unbeatable flavor. “What I love about B.C. shellfish is that they’re a very well-monitored food source. Every oyster I serve is tagged, so I know where, when and how it was grown. Each Kusshi came from Keith, I can be sure of that.”

Oysters are fascinating as well as delicious; a visit to an oyster lease is a great way to understand the ocean as a living organism and better appreciate how these tasty bivalves spend their lives before we squirt them with lemon and down them with mignonette. The B.C. Shellfish Growers Association has mapped out a tour of Vancouver Island’s 12 oyster harvests, including five in close proximity to one another in gorgeous Comox Valley: The leases where Mac’s Beach, Fanny Bay, Kusshi, Komo Gway and Chef’s Creek oysters are harvested are within a few minutes’ drive from each other, and many, including Stellar Bay, offer tours for the public.

The B.C. Shellfish Festival in mid-June, which includes a chowder contest, an oyster-shucking contest and an open-air Chef’s Dinner, is also a great occasion to sample B.C. oysters and other shellfish, including clams, geoduck, sea cucumbers, mussels, urchins and other delicacies particular to Vancouver Island’s waters. Chef Clark of C is planning a dish consisting of one perfect, still-living Qualicum Bay scallop on the half-shell passed under the broiler and covered in piping-hot dashi seaweed broth.

“It’s a dish that fits the mood and fits the occasion,” he says. “We have access to the best shellfish in the world, so I want to take the product into account and showcase its delicateness and sweetness – I want to play with it as little as possible.”

Getting here

B.C. Shellfish Festival , June 17–18, 2011, Comox, 250-890-7561, bcshellfishfestival.ca
Stellar Bay Seafood , 7400 West Island Hwy., Bowser, 250-757-9304, stellarbay.ca
BC Ferries , 1-888-BC-FERRY (1-888-223-3779), bcferries.com
Comox Valley Tourism, 1-888-357-4471, discovercomoxvalley.com
Tourism British Columbia , 1-800-HELLO-BC (1-800-435-5622), hellobc.com

Entertainment: Jim Cuddy, Colin James and Barney Bentall with Keynote Address by Alexandre Bilodeau

Chair: Arthur Griffiths

Gold Medal Plates is the ultimate celebration of Canadian Excellence in cuisine, wine, the arts and athletic achievement.

Gold Medal Plates Vancouver
Friday, October 29, 2010 6:00 pm
Sheraton Wall Centre
1088 Burrard Street

Contact:

Tina Oliver
Power of T.W.O
3219 West King Edward Avenue
Vancouver, BC, V6L 1V6
604-803-8813 – phone
604-730-9592 – fax
E: tinaoliver@shaw.ca

2010 Competing Chefs

DARREN BROWN – Coast
ROBERT CLARKE – C Restaurant
QUANG DANG – Diva at the Met
STUART KLASSEN – Delta Grand, Kelowna
DALE MACKAY – Lumière
NICHOLAS NUTTING – The Wickaninnish Inn, Tofino
NICO SCHUERMANS – Chambar
ROGER SLEIMAN – Quails’ Gate Winery, Kelowna
CAM SMITH & DANA EWART – Joy Road, Penticton
NEIL TAYLOR- Cibo Trattoria 

Paired Wineries

LaStella Winery, B.C.
Black Hills Estate Winery, B.C.
Sandhill,B.C.
Aces Okanagan Estate, B.C.
Tantalus Vineyards, B.C.
Painted Rock Estate Winery, B.C.
8^th Generation Vineyard, B.C.
Quails’ Gate Estate Winery, B.C.
Laughing Stock Vineyards, B.C.
Foxtrot Vineyards, B.C.

2009
Gold: Chef Rob Feenie, Cactus Club
Silver: Chef Dale MacKay, Lumière
Bronze: Chef Pino Posteraro, Cioppino’s

2008
Gold: Chef Frank Pabst, Blue Water Café
Silver: Chef Hidekazu Tojo, Tojo’s
Bronze: Chef Andrey Durbach, Parkside

2007
Gold: Chef Pino Posteraro, Cioppino’s
Silver: Chef Melissa Craig, The Bearfoot Bistro
Bronze: Chef David Hawksworth, West      

2006
Gold: Chef Robert Clark, C Restaurant
Silver: Chef Pino Posteraro, Cioppino’s
Bronze: Chef Hidekazu Tojo, Tojo’s

C Restaurant, one of Canada’s most recognized seafood restaurants will be catering this multi-course sustainable seafood menu (designed by chef Robert Clark) while School of Fish Foundation’s founder, Shannon Ronalds, will be serving in true fine dining style. Unique wines have also been selected to pair with each course and are included in the price.

WHAT:  Fine Dining with The Social Order on the world’s only Floating Dining Room

WHEN: Wednesday, September 8th @ 7PM

WHERE: False Creek Yacht Club (MEET AT C Restaurant at 7PM)

WHO: The Social Order Members and Friends

COST:  $225/person (NOTE: THIS IS A DISCOUNTED PRICE FOR OUR GROUP!)

RESERVE: For more information, and to reserve your space, please contact us by email: concierge@thesocialorder.ca

** There are only 12 seats available, so please ensure you reserve your spot early!

CLARK vs. KAMBOLIS

Stop by Raincity Grill on Father’s Day – Sunday, June 20 during the West End Car-Free Festival as Executive Chef Robert Clark takes over the restaurant’s Denman Street sidewalk to serve up a street-friendly menu. Watch over Raincity’s grill as two recipes battle it out. First up are Chef Clark’s chili cheese dogs, second to bat is a secret souvlaki, Greek family recipe from owner Harry Kambolis. It’s the only day of the year you’ll be able to tuck into these playful meals, $6.50 each, at the famously fine-dining restaurant. “The winning dish will somehow factor into future plans,” hints Kambolis.

WHO: Raincity Grill

WHAT: Chili cheese dogs and Greek souvlaki at the West End Car-Free Festival

WHEN: Sunday, June 20, 2010 – 12-6 p.m.

WHERE: 1193 Denman Street, Vancouver, B.C.

Raincity Grill – located in the heart of English Bay at 1193 Denman Street – serves the best farm to table cuisine, capturing the essence of Vancouver in food, wine and atmosphere. For more information about the restaurant or to book a reservation, please visit www.raincitygrill.com or call 604-685-7337.

About the West End Car-Free Festival: The third annual West End Car-Free Festival takes place Sunday, June 20, 2010 from 12-6 p.m. on Denman Street between Robson and Davie. Community members are invited to take part in a day of car-free celebration promoting local businesses and artists within the neighbourhood. www.wecarfree.com

• Brad Boisvert (Amuse Bistro)
• Castro Boatang (House of Boatang)
• Robert Clark (C Restaurant)
• Rafael Flores and Berenice Balbuena (Rock Salt Cafe)
• Bill Jones (Deerholme Farm)
• David Lang (Saltspring Harbour House Hotel)
• Cory Pelan (La Piola Restuarant)
• Jonathan Pulker (freelance chef)
• Andrew Springett (Black Rock Resort)
• Brock Windsor (Stone Soup Inn)

Great food, sustainable seafood, local wine, and live music all in the name of building a new wood-burning oven for Providence Farm that would be dedicated to James Barber. The oven will be fired up at the Canadian Chefs’ Congress in September and will be our legacy gift, complementing the farm’s educational and food production activities for years to come.

May 16, 2010 – 1pm to 5pm
$125 per person
For tickets, call Providence Farm at (250) 746-4204

Today the Vancouver Aquarium revealed an enormous Inukshuk sculpture made entirely of cans of Ocean Wise recommended seafood in a display of Olympic spirit. Created by an Aquarium design team, the Ocean Wise Canstruction project will be available for viewing from now through the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. The seafood was generously donated by Raincoast Trading. Following the exhibit the canned fish will be donated to the Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society.

“You can tell our team and partners had a lot of fun creating this amazing spectacle to share with locals and visitors during the Games,” said Aquarium president, Dr. John Nightingale. “We are able to show our Olympic spirit and support the Food Bank, while showcasing the importance of choosing sustainable seafood. Overfishing is the number one problem facing the world’s oceans today. Ocean Wise makes it easy for Canadians to play an active role in conserving them now and for future generations.”

The canned seafood was supplied by Raincoast Trading, the first retail product to have the Ocean Wise recommended logo on their labels.  Mike Wick, owner, commented, “Raincoast is delighted to be part of this unique initiative.  If we can help a good cause while letting consumers know how easy it is now to make sustainable seafood choices when shopping, then we’ve accomplished two really important things with this terrific project.”
The Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society acknowledges that this contribution to their ongoing efforts to feed the hungry is not only fun, but needed.  “We haven’t stopped talking about this since we first heard about it!” says Doug Aason, Director of Community Investment. “To see these community leaders come together to support us is just amazing!  We thank the Vancouver Aquarium and Raincoast Trading for supporting us through this display of Olympic spirit.”

The Ocean Wise Canstruction Inukshuk will remain on public display during the Olympic Winter Games from today through February 28^th.  Vancouver Aquarium visitors will find it on the outdoor beluga habitat at the entrance to the Canada’s Arctic exhibit.

It took many hands and a lot of cans to build the Ocean Wise Canstruction Inukshuk. So many cans, in fact, that the Aquarium is giving the public the chance to guess the total number used in the “CAN You Guess?” contest open now through February 13. The winner will receive two tickets to an Olympic speed skating event at the Richmond Oval courtesy of BC Hydro. Anyone can enter the contest by dropping off the ballot in person at the Vancouver Aquarium or online at www.visitvanaqua.org.

About Inukshuk
Inukshuk is an Inuit word that means “that which acts in the capacity of a human.”  In the Arctic, people build Inuksuit (plural of Inukshuk) from rocks, stones, and other materials such as antlers or bone. Inuksuit are wayfinders, markers, message centres, and hunting assistants.  Today, the role of the Inukshuk has expanded even further.  It inspired the logo of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games. It is a symbol of the people of the Arctic, and a way for Inuit and non-Inuit to mark their presence across the country. Our Inukshuk is built entirely of cans of Ocean Wise recommended salmon and tuna. Like the wayfinders of the Arctic, it marks a path: one that leads to healthy oceans through sustainable fishing practices.

About Canstruction

Canstruction is a world-wide design competition and exhibit where teams build structures
from food cans to support the local food bank.

About Raincoast Trading

Raincoast Trading sells premium wild seafood products since 1978. Based in Vancouver, Canada the company is owned by a fourth generation fishing family proud to offer sustainably-harvested, gourmet canned seafood. Raincoast Trading adheres to the highest sustainability standards when catching, processing and packaging its seafood. Raincoast Trading is the first Canadian packaged retail seafood company recommended by the respected Ocean Wise™ conservation program as an environmentally-friendly seafood choice for retail grocers and consumers around the world. Learn more at www.rainscoasttrading.com

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

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

The honour also included an invitation for Clark to sit on a Canadian Advisory Committee for future Governor General Awards. These awards are given to outstanding contributions to arts, literature, sports, humanities and sciences. Clark will assist the committee going forward in selecting recipients for awards concerning the arts as they relate to culinary talent and products from around the country.

C Restaurant made a splash at the Vancouver Aquarium with the debut of its new cookbook, C Food.

Over 200 guests came out in support of C’s highly-anticipated book launch, celebrating with champagne and canapés as they admired cleverly displayed copies of C Food submerged in fish tanks. Keeping with the ocean-friendly theme, a scuba diver wowed guests by diving into the largest tank to retrieve the first-ever copy of C Food.

To celebrate the release of the book, C Chef de Cuisine, Quang Dang, has created a six –course tasting menu inspired by the recipes inside. For $128, guests will receive a copy of the book as well as a chance to savour items like Chilled Fennel Consommé (page 22) and Honey Glazed Sablefish, a combination of two recipes (page 32 and 60).

For reservations, please contact: C Restaurant at 604-681-1164

C Restaurant offers expert catering services with the innovative design and upscale contemporary cuisine that clients have come to expect. The perfect solution for any event, be it corporate, retail or a festive gathering amongst friends, C Restaurant is prepared to rise to any challenge. C works with their clients to custom design menus while offering exceptional service that includes assistance with wine selection and recommendations for event suppliers and potential venues.

To book C Restaurant for your next catering event, please email Curtis Wong, Director Sales and Marketing for C Restaurant at curtis@crestaurant.com.

Give the gift of ethical luxury – C Restaurant is pleased to announce a special offer beginning November 15, 2009. For every $100 gift certificate purchased, C will add a complimentary $25 on the house. Gift certificates are valid at C Restaurant, Raincity Grill and nu restaurant + lounge.