Click here to Listen to Foodie Friday January 27, 2012
Gold Medal Plates
Gold Medal Plates Canadian Culinary Championships will take place in Kelowna on February 10th and 11th. This is the finale of a series of regional competitions held in Winnipeg, Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Toronto, Saskatchewan and Ottawa, with the winners from these cities now competing in this weekend of culinary battles. The net proceeds from the Gold Medal Plates go to the Canadian Olympic Foundation, supporting athletes in their training.
Our Vancouver candidate is Rob Feenie representing the Cactus Club. He had taken gold with a dish of rabbit leg confit topped with a ragout of veal tongue, porcini mushrooms and chestnuts and served with Brussels sprouts buttered and tossed with applewood-smoked bacon, a squash and brown butter puree served with the Haywire Pinot Gris.
When he heads to Kelowna he may repeat the dish, but is more likely to come up with another arrangement, the choice is his. The competition involves Friday night mystery wine pairing. On Thursday evening they are given a bottle of wine and a minimal budget and must search the town for ingredients for a dish that is then presented to the judges and the crowd on Friday night at a grazing dinner at the Hotel Eldorado. On Saturday the chefs battle it out with a black box competition at the Culinary Department of the local College, and the finale is that evening at the Delta where they present their final dish.
The chefs are as follows:
Winnipeg
Michael Dacquisto – WOW Hospitality. Paired with Gray Monk Estate Winery Gray Monk Riesling
Montreal
Jean-Philippe St-Denis – Kitchen Galerie Poisson. Paired with McAuslan Brewery St. Ambroise Cream Ale
Calgary
Michael Dekker – Rouge. Paired with Stratus Vineyards 2008 Cabernet Icewine
Edmonton
Jan Trittenbach – Packrat Louie. Paired with Peller Estates Winery, 2007 Private Reserve Syrah
Vancouver
Rob Feenie – Cactus Club Restaurants. Paired with Haywire Winery 2010 Pinot Gris
Saskatchewan
Anthony McCarthy – Saskatoon Club, Saskatoon. Paired with Nichol Vineyard’s 2007 Cabernet Franc Syrah
Toronto
Jonathan Gushue – Langdon Hall Country House Hotel & Spa. Paired with The Organized Crime Winery 2009 Fumé Blanc
Ottawa
Marc Lepine – Atelier. Paired with Hidden Bench Vineyards & Winery 2009 Chardonnay
St. John’s
Mike Barsky – Bacalao. Paired with Pelee Island Winery Pinot Noir Reserve
BC Chinese Chef of the Year Competition
If you can’t make it up to Kelowna, you can catch some Chef Competitions this weekend at the BC Chinese Chef of the Year competition. On January 29th and 30th, 11 local chefs will compete for the title at the BC Foodservice Expo
Over the two-day event, the chef teams will be engaged in multiple rounds of competitions with the quarter-final, semi-final and final rounds of competition carried out in the black box format.
“This competition offers chefs a brilliant opportunity for both professional and personal development,” said Chief Judge Alex Chen, Canada’s representative to the Bocuse d’Or and one of Canada’s top chefs. After getting his own competition start at the BC Foodservice Expo over 10 years ago, Chef Chen is delighted to come full circle and to be judging here for 2012.
Register online at www.bcfoodexpo.ca to take advantage of the special advance discount – $20 off the on-site registration fee.
William Tse Sandbar
Gordon Ping Wah Chan of Always Seafood Restaurant
Sam Ka Bo Leung of Dynasty Seafood Restaurant
Wing Ho of Fortune Seafood Restaurant
Anthony Shy Wing Leung of Grand Dynasty Seafood Restaurant
Joseph Jiang of The Jade Seafood Restaurant
Kent Wong of Red Sun Seafood Restaurant
Chun Lum Ma of Shiang Garden Seafood Restaurant
Keng Wai Ng of Vivacity Restaurant
Todd Bright of Wild Rice Modern Chinese Restaurant
Feast Van
Alongside Dine Out Vancouver Feast Van provides you with dining specials at a dozen or so restaurants with $1 from each dinner going towards the Vancouver Inner City Back Pack Food Program which sends food insecure children home with food when they’re not in school.
Founders Lounge (@ the Cultch)
