Top Chef Canada contender promises fun & affordable dining just-off-Robson
During the final week before opening his first restaurant as Executive Chef and Proprietor, Dale MacKay is wishing for more hours in the day. Mackay’s ensemble restaurant and bar begins dinner service on Tuesday May 10, 2011, offering reservations from 5pm-11pm Tuesday through Sunday, with plans for weekend brunch service commencing June 11th. “I’ve opened restaurants for Gordon Ramsay and Daniel Boulud, but this is the first for me, so the excitement level is super high.” says MacKay. “I’m not so much nervous as I am excited about my team and what we are offering the city – something new and different”
For Dale, new and different translates into ‘fun and approachable’. “I’ve spent my career working on my skill and technique and trying to prove myself capable of holding my own with the great chefs of the world. I feel ready now to shake things up a bit with my team in the ensemble kitchen, to apply those techniques to a more casual, fun and affordable restaurant concept.” Dale believes that Vancouverites are sophisticated, savvy restaurant consumers and that they recognize and appreciate top-shelf cuisine, but they don’t always want the stuffiness and price point that so often accompanies it. “I don’t want to be known primarily as a special occasion chef, I want ensemble to be a go-to place for our customers and I want to see them often – after a Robson Street shop, after work, before games, for family birthdays, for no reason at all – and I want them to feel super welcome here.”
The ensemble dinner menu combines classic French techniques with influences and flavour profiles from around the world, offering generous-sized tasting dishes priced from $8-$24. Feature items range from a sophisticated Beef Shin and Fritz with Celery Root Puree and Watercress for $12, to Dale’s comfort food favourite Pulled Pork Sandwich with Apple-Horseradish Slaw and Watermelon for $8.50, to a gorgeously simple Fresh Cheese and Roasted Beet Salad with Basil, Orange and Radish for $9. The ensemble opening coincides with the commercial opening of Sustainable BC Spot Prawn season and the six-week BC Spot Prawn Festival, so Dale’s Warm Spot Prawn Cocktail with Romaine, Lemon and Avocado ($11), and other Spot Prawn delights will remain on the menu for the duration. “We’re going to keep doing what we’ve always done in the kitchen, but we’re way more adventurous, casual and modern.”
About ensemble Restaurant & Bar
ensemble’s interior design mirrors Chef MacKay’s fresh, clean and modern culinary vision. An open concept space features a cocktail bar/lounge with 30 comfortable seats and plenty of standing room for busy times like game nights and live music weekends. The 85 seat dining room, separate from but flowing seamlessly into the lounge area, is at once intimate and social – what Dale describes as a reflection of Vancouver’s contemporary dining scene. Signature plexi lamps over the sleek black glass-fronted bar, a glacial glass wall sculpture conceived by interior designer Rob Blaney, and ethereal organic art by local artist Mandy Tsung, highlight the space. The 850 Thurlow Street address – at the northeast corner of Smithe/Haro and a stone’s throw from busy Robson Street, sits at the epicenter of one of the city’s highest concentration of shops, restaurants, theatres and hotels. Executive Chef/Proprietor Dale MacKay, General Manager Kevin Van Hullebush, Sous Chef Bradley Hendrickson, Bar Manager Chris Cho.
About Chef Dale MacKay
Chef MacKay’s resume, like his culinary style, is condensed and flavourful. Highlights include time spent as a private chef in Italy; as Executive Chef at an exclusive BC resort; protégé to Chef Gordon Ramsay at his restaurants in Tokyo, New York, and London; then most recently, as Executive Chef of Lumière, Vancouver’s Five Diamond, Four Star, Relais Gourmand establishment managed by New York Chef Daniel Boulud’s Dinex Group. Dale is a contender on Top Chef Canada, airing Monday nights at 6pm (Pacific) on Food Network Canada.
The ensemblerestaurant.com website will go live soon after opening, but in the interim guests can book reservations online at Open Table, on the ensemble restaurant and bar profile page, or by calling the restaurant at 604.569.1770
Follow ‘Chef Dale MacKay’ on Facebook. Visit the ensemble Twitter page
