Provence Marinaside’s Dine Out Menu and Wines from Vancouver Island’s Unsworth Vineyards

For this year’s Vancouver Dine Out  Festival, Provence Marinaside is partnering with the Vancouver Island winery  Unsworth Vineyards to create a ‘Perfect Pairing’  three-course dinner featuring some of Provence’s classic French dishes paired with signature wines from Unsworth. The three-course dinner is available for $59 per person with the optional wine pairing available as either a regular pour for $40 for three wines or petit pour at $25 for three wines. Wines are also available individually by the glass or the bottle.

“Dine Out is a small slice of what we offer at Provence – a glimpse into our menu of classic French dishes with a West Coast twist. We’ve been a part of DOV since its inception.  It’s a great way for Vancouverites to test the dining scene by having a three-course meal at a reasonable price – kind of like speed dating for diners.  Each year new faces have become new friends. These new friends have become regulars and are now old friends,” says Provence’s Owner and Executive Chef Jean-Francis Quaglia.

“This past June, I along with Chef Quaglia, Asst. Wine Director Ryan Johnson and Manager Emrys Horton travelled to Mill Bay in the Cowichan Valley to taste Unsworth’s wines, tour the vineyards and meet with winemaker Dan Wright to select the pairings for this year’s menu.  Dan and his team currently farm 12 acres of grape varieties at Unsworth Vineyards. The oldest block is Marechal Foch, which was planted  in 2007—the grape behind their award-winning Ovation. It is paired with our Fondant au Chocolat on the Dine Out menu.  In 2011, several Blattner varieties were planted, which are integral to Unsworth’s Allegro and Symphony blends which we are also featuring on this year’s Dine Out menu. In 2013 they added Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir vines,” says Provence’s Wine Director Joshua Carlson.

Provence’s 2024 Dine Out Menu features three choices of appetizers along with three choices of entreés and two dessert choices. All of these dishes are favourites with Provence patrons, and some, like the Warm Goat Cheese Salad and the Bouillabaisse for instance, have been on Provence Marinaside’s menu since the restaurant opened 22 years ago. “We wouldn’t dare take them off,” says Chef Quaglia. “The Bouillabaisse is representative of my upbringing in Marseille but of course we give it a West Coast nuance by using OceanWise local seafood. The rouille is a classic accompaniment.”