Click here to listen – Foodie Fridays NEWS1130 March 9, 2012
This week on Foodie Fridays we feature Fraiche Restaurant in West Vancouver. In a room with some of the best dining views this city has to offer, Chef Jeffrey Alvarez creates globally influenced dishes using mainly local and always sustainable ingredients. Offering lunch, dinner and brunch, the restaurant recently won the diners choice award and best wine pairing partnered with La Stella and Le Vieux Pin Wines during dine out Vancouver and a gold at the Vancouver Playhouse Wine Awards.
Lunch could start with fresh oysters and follow with Arctic Char on top of Israeli Couscous, or be a simple as a beefy burger with bacon and cheddar. Dinner is more formal with the West Vancouver crowd and destination diners dressing up for smoked BC Sturgeon, Bison Carpaccio, Coffee Crusted Muskox with confit crosnes, elderberry jus, Open-Faced Lobster & Saffron Ravioli with fennel, white wine sauce and decadent desserts such as sticky toffee pudding and creme brulee with flavours changing weekly.
Chef Alvarez received a “Top 40 foodies under 40” acknowledgement from Western Living Magazine and is known for his tasting menus using unique ingredients such as Sturgeon, yak and Kangaroo. Currently featured:
- Aloe Vera Salad – sudashi ,lemon, Buddha’s hand chips, blood orange
- Arrowroot Cheese Infused Gnocchi, mushrooms
- Kangaroo Carpaccio, crystal porcini cracker, nitro foie grast
- Table Side Smoked Sturgeon, tomato relish
- King Crab Custard, apple, cucumber soda foam
- Yak Brisket, shaved truffle
- Coffee Crusted Muskox, olive oil confit crosnes, elderberry jus;
- Olive Oil Cake and smoked lemon ice cream
Next Wednesday, March 14, Chef Alvarez will create a menu to pair with the Naramata Bench’s Laughing Stock Vineyards wine, and April 4, Italy’s Masi is featured. Fraiche is also part of Dining Out For Life on March 29 – benefiting A Loving Spoonfool and Friends For Life, charities involved in assisting those living with Aids and HIV.
Over in Granville Island the advanced students of the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts prepare for An Evening in Old Montreal, a fundraiser for the talented Quebecois student Heloise Leclerc who is a finalist in a French Cooking show that requires her travel back and forth from Quebec.
The five-course creative culinary tour of our most romantic of Provinces.
Menu by Heloise Leclerc
Arrival: “1/4 Irish” Amuse Bouche St. Patrick’s rarebit, glass of sparkling wine
Hot Appetizer: Heloise’s Lobster Poutine French fries, oka cheese, chicoree frisee, jus vinaigrette
Cold Appetizer: Blueberry Gaspacho Pancetta, phyllo tuile
Entree: Quebec Duck Two Ways Wild mushroom ravioli, seasonal greens, peppery green alder sauce
Granita: Trou Normand, apple cider, rosemary granita
Dessert: Maple Trio Maple & fleur de sel pouding chomeur, Maple crunch ice cream, Maple toffee on ice shavings
One seating only. Cost is $50 + HST. No tipping necessary. Cash bar will be available with an option to purchase a flight of specially paired wines or other libations.
All funds from ticket sales are going towards Heloise’s travel expenses as she travels to and from Quebec to audition for a French cooking competition show!
A Note from Heloise:
“I designed a menu that represents me as a young aspiring chef. My inspirations for this event were rooted in the best of Quebec products and cooking. As we are holding the event on St-Patrick’s day, and that I do have Irish blood, there will also be some Irish notes in the flavour profile. It’s going to be a cheerful celebratory night!
Supporting my candidacy through this fundraiser is a way to support and recognize PICA’s educational mission through its intense but very sucessful culinary arts program. In the audition process, I’m facing off cooks that have been working in the industry for years.
Finally, it is one of the last meal prepared by our brigade. We are at the peak of our training and we are all hoping to offer a memorable dining experience”
http://dinnerinoldmontreal.eventbrite.ca/
Top Chef Canada Season 2 begins on the Food Network this coming Monday. Be sure to tune in to support our local competitors. I am particularly excited to watch Shelter’s Chef Joel Aubie compete as this is my fav place to hang out in Tofino.
Joel Aubie is an avid surfer who is truly passionate about cooking. He even has an herb tattoo on his arm that represents the flavours he puts into his risotto. Currently he is the head chef at Shelter Restaurant in Tofino, BC, but is originally from Bathurst, NB. Joel began to cook at a small French restaurant during high school. When the time came for Joel to decide on a career path, his dad offered to pay for either one year of university or culinary school. Joel chose culinary school without hesitation. After graduation, he made his way across Canada, working at restaurants in Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, and on the Niagara peninsula. Upon arriving in Tofino, he discovered his love for surfing while working at the Wickaninnish Inn. Food has allowed Joel to have great adventures, from vacations at food destinations to cooking on tall ships in the Caribbean. Joel is an eager participant in the growing food scene in Tofino and is encouraged by the recognition it is getting.
