This was my second visit to Seaside Provisions, the first was for a special menu featuring olives, I was so impressed by the showcase that I was excited to see what a normal service would be like. However, this was far from normal as we were wined and dined with the best that Seaside Provisions has to offer, and I quickly forgot that they were a hotel lobby restaurant. Meaning that most of the food that comes out of it needs to be on the neutral side to satisfy hotel guests from all walks of life. Apparently there is a lot more hoops to jump through if you are a part of a hotel chain like Seaside. Therefore, all this made the visit all the more remarkable.
Throughout the night the chef and management shared their story, as they showcased their offerings in their beautiful new private dining room, designed for connection and conversation. The restaurant focuses on global cuisine and wines, but tonight we would indulge in the local with Similkameen Valley wines and Two Rivers meats.
We began with Blue Grouse’s sparkling wine made with grapes from Vancouver Island. Prepared in the traditional way you make champagne with Bacchus, Ortega, and siegerrebe grapes. It is aged for 36 months and comes out with plenty of tart tannis to literally whet the appetite. There is plenty of peach and lychee on the palate.
Our long table dinner was pre-set with a curated charcuterie experience featuring an artisanal selection of island cheeses and meat from Two Rivers Meats. This included truffle monterey jack, pacific rock cheese sourced locally, wagyu salami, a spicy genoa salami from Spain, Marcona almonds, and local goats cheese tossed with cranberry for a festive feel. This was a great grazing board with crackers, French bread, grapes, mustard, and in house made raspberry jam. A nice welcoming start.
This was accompanied by a Spreads Platter with classic hummus topped with toasted sesame and paprika; whipped feta with locally sourced pickled mushrooms, and labneh, a strained yogurt dip. All this alongside assorted vegetables and pita for the dipping. No specific stand outs here, just quality ingredients and flavours for a healthy offering.
Punctuating our dinner were special presentations on a few key ingredients. We got to witness a fresh round of PDO wheel of Parmigiano Reggiano being split before getting a first taste from their in-house cheese monger. The Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) guarantees that the cheese is produced according to the rules contained in the Production Regulation. Only these cheeses are entitled to bear the Parmigiano Reggiano mark, and the wheel must display all the marks required for identifying and distinguishing it as such.
Upon first crack, the cheese that flakes off at the centre is known to be the best, and we each got a generous chunk to enjoy it as is. This is not the overly salty parmesan that is often grated over pasta or from off of grocery store shelves. This was sumptuous, it fully coated your mouth with its luxury rich flavour. Truly, PDO and fresh chunks make a difference.
Our next wine pairing was the Clos du Soleil, an aromatic Bordeaux blend with grassy citrus notes and crisp pear at the end. This would pair well with our seafood course. The rest of the meal was served family-style featuring the Chef’s favourite menu items.
Normally two separate dishes combined to a two tiered mini tower for us today. The Prawn Cocktail were large juicy prawns dressed in lemon and accompanied by horseradish and cocktail sauce.
The Raw Oysters were a dozen oysters on the half shell pre-dressed with mignonette, horseradish, and lemon for easy slurping. Served attached on shell you have to remove one from the other.
This was followed with a caviar bump, a trendy way to enjoy caviar from off on the back of your hand. Today it was a generous smear of Caviar Giaveri, Osietra Classic, sturgeon caviar and the quality was evident. Served with the traditional Pearl spoon it was fun to take it so casually with a long lick.
Next came our warm entree course and two reds to pair it all with. The Blue grouse Pinot noir was lighter and juicy with red raspberry and green apple. Thinner on the lips, I was left grasping for more. This was I deal with the fries, chicken, and vegetable to come.
The next wine was for the red meat. The Clos du Soleil‘s Signature red, a flagship red Bordeaux. It had a lot of legs, oaky and heavy with structures of cocoa, leather, and tobacco.
The Truffle Fries were double fried and extra crispy, seasoned with parmesan and topped decadently with whole truffle shavings. Served with ketchup and truffle aioli for dipping into. A fun side we used as a break in between the heavier dishes below.
This one was heavy, two sumptuous dishes in one: steak and bone marrow with bread for the latter; and a side salad with glazed cipollini onion, for some much needed freshness. The Ribeye is 20oz topped with salsa verde and accompanied by a brandy peppercorn sauce to self serve and pour over. This was delicious, but it felt like it was missing a starch to make it a fulsome plate, definitely for sharing.
Here the bone marrow, felt out of place, outside of a decadent presentation. The bone was gristly as expected, but there was not enough bread to have with it and harder to share.
The table loved the Moroccan Caulflower. Roasted cauliflower, harissa hummus, marcona almonds, and dates. Zesty with pops of spice, full of flavour and given more substance with the accompaniment of the hummus. I would have like some starch with this as well, more pita would have been nice.
The feature was the Whole Chicken, an original recipe from our chef’s mother. She was so proud to tell the story and even more to tell her mother that it made it on to the menu. A whole roasted chicken and crispy skin sitting on top a mound of roasted potatoes, green beans, and cherry tomato; plus a palate cleansing sumac olive salad. A little plain as is, it all could use a good salting. Although perfectly tender, the chicken needed all the gravy boat worth of sauce. A thin jus, I wished it was a thick gravy to really latch on to the meat. The sauce was a Persian inspired saffron citrus sauce, I found it still could have still used some seasoning. The highlight was the perfect crisp of the chicken skin shards and the wonderful herbed vegetables soaking up the excess meat juices.
And for dessert it was an assortment of the Chef’s Pastry. The restaurant’s popular bread pudding, lemon meringue tart, chocolate caramel tart, pistachio cream filled chocolate cup, and a chocolate tulip with white chocolate mousse. The table’s favourite was the pistachio. I prefer a tart dessert over a sweet one so looked to the lemon tart as a palate refresher to end on.
For our dessert wine we had something just as sweet with the Clos du Soleil Satura, made with 100% sugar apple grape from Bordeaux. Although on the sweeter side it did still keep a lot of its acidity.
Overall this was such an amazing show for their skill. It is not easy being a hotel restaurant, you have to be a destination that people want to travel to, yet cannot go too out of the box to feed more conservative hotel guests. It is a thin tightrope that Seaside Provisions has done well to walk with their charcuterie program leading the way. Worth a visit the next time you are in North Vancouver.
Seaside Provisions: Wine, Spirits & Gourmet
125 Victory Ship Way, North Vancouver, BC V7L OB2
(604) 973-1477
seasideprovisions.com
