Tonight, was the climax of FEAST! Vancouver’s inaugural year and its weeklong, local food and drink celebrations with tastings, seminars, and formal dinners.
The grand finale was the FEAST! Tasting Gala, (as taken from the event’s website), this was a “signature savoury event featuring a lineup of rockstar chefs who offered bites and canapés that embody their cuisine. The result is an unparalleled event highlighting some of the best chefs in one room”. A portion of each ticket sold was donated to the BC Cancer Foundation.
Guests were invited to circle the open space of Granville Island’s Performance Works, (where the gala was being held), exploring 16 food stations with 8 drink tables and 17 drink samples to try. As a VIP ticket holder, we were given an hour earlier access to be able to have more time to explore all the food and drink options, and more time to take it all in and go back for seconds. The best part of the whole experience is being able to watch each dish get assembled or plated and to engage in the chefs who have created them.
I would travel the room clockwise, starting from the door, tackling savoury bites first then hitting drinks and desserts on my second round. What I tried and a few points on how they taste are below, keeping in mind that the majority of the celebrity chefs were cooking in real time with a makeshift kitchen, so the quality can be inconsistent.
At the Maxine’s Cafe & Bar table they had a bite of pickled Pacific herring with smoked bull kelp and butter on Mary Ann’s brown bread. Located right at the entrance, this was the first food station and the dish that served as the perfect aperitif for the evening. A tangy and savoury bite, with the telltale fishy flavour of herring, ideal for opening up your appetite for the 15 to follow.
At Banff Hospitality Co. they were playful with their “a bowl of cereal”. What looked to be a sweet and creamy dessert was actually a savoury chilled soup with agria flakes, buttermilk vichyssoise, and comte bavarois. Seeing then tasting blew your mind. The soup itself was very thick and creamy, it didn’t pour, it pooled. You really needed the toppings that stood on the surface as filler. Although equally flavourful were the potatoes and flakes that I was still left longing for bread to better soak up and neutralize all the extra garlicky “milk”.
Hatch Hospitality had a canapé of Smoked Road 17 Arctic char with onion cream, double smoked bacon, garlic scape and apple cider dressing. It came with an origin story, grown in the middle of an apple orchard in the Okanagan, where the Chef is also from. The fish was mild in comparison to the chunky vinaigrette, that served more like a salsa to the hard crostini base.
The Vancouver Fish Company had mini tacos with Northern Divine sturgeon “taco al pastor”, charred pineapple, and salsa verde. A lovely presentation seated in a pan of dried lentils, but it lacked depth of flavour and I missed the fish in this completely.
The Vancouver Fish Company also had a cocktail offering. A half pre-made, half shaken to order Negroni Sour that was berry forward and refreshing with an egg white foamer. This was the only cocktail option for the entire showcase.
At the Hawksworth table was one of the handful of vegan/plant-based options. A simple a clean Pemberton beetroot salad with whipped goat cheese and pistachio. Not necessarily what you would expect from the prestigious Michelin restaurant, but still one of the bites I would go back for. A palate refreshing and cleansing plate that helped to balance all the dishes before and after.
One of the most memorable bites was from Published on Main. They brought Christmas to April with their Chicken liver Christmas cookies. I was entranced by the presentation of another savoury disguised as a sweet. How creative. This was an easy and fun to eat canapé that was peppery and gingery. I would have liked the pate to be creamier and more pronounced and the cookie to have more warm baking spices to pair best with it.
At Deer + Almond they had a beautiful dish that called out for spring. Smoked Manitoba Goldeye inari with spring flowers and wild rice. This was another fresh bite I would go back for. I loved the look of the wildflowers that crowned this sweet tofu pocket but found their bitter notes too pungent and they ended up battling it out with the inari pocket, distracting from its juicy texture and savoury sweetness.
At the GIA restaurant booth, they were serving up plant-based meatballs that were panko crusted and sitting in a pool marinara sauce with chilli and mozzarella. The texture was spot on for a “meat ball” but the morsel ate lean with the plant proteins. It would have been nice to have a saucy plant based ragu or some more herbs and spices to help offer more substance and chew to such a light bite.
Bon Moment had a butter-scone with black pepper pork pate and a ginger scallion sauce. Everything about this dish was heavy. The scone was dense, and the pate was solid, whereas I would have liked both softer and more in line with the slices of cucumber at the centre. I was left wanting a cream or some slaw to help add moisture and reduce the amount of time you needed to chew through it.
At the 7 Seas Fish Market tables they had savoury and sweet Crab cakes with a raspberry coulis. This was a great seafood option in tonight’s roaming menu. A buttery puck of sweet crab meat served with a sweet fruit sauce that gave it new life and a memorable taste. Here the sweetness in the crab meat and the raspberry puree ran parallel to one another.
Wildly successful vegan restaurant The Acorn had a stunning plant-based dish. The striking colours added to its already eye-catching presentation. Witloof chicory, porcini mousse, huckleberry, lacto porcini pickles, grand fur dusted lentil, and a “chicken skin crumb”. This was such a well-conceived vegan dish. It tasted good and wasn’t trying to mimic something it can never be. It had everything. It was fresh and bright, yet creamy and rich, while also being light and crispy.
Then moving on to desserts I bee-lined it to popular gourmet bakery Beaucoup, well-known for their creative collaborations and clever takes on classic desserts. Much like tonight’s offering of their Mini strawberry cheesecake crepe croissant. This was a unique way to repurpose a croissant, using it as a base and having it replace a regular sponge cake. There were so many elements to this dish, that helped to make every bite different and continuously interesting. And I really appreciated the show of pouring the berry jus over it, as the finishing touch.
Cadeaux Bakery had their Mini raspberry chocoholic croissant pre-made and only needed to plate and present their perfectly rolled and baked red striped mini pastries. Each was stuffed full at its bulky centre. A must for the chocolate lover who likes a lush and dense malty cream filling. I myself was happy just with the flaky shell of the pastry as is.
Douce Diner was on site representing Les Dames d’Escoffier BC and their legion of women in the food and hospitality industry. Today they were serving up Lemon curd tartlets that were a wonderful classic. Each two biter was nostalgic with tart lemon gel, a dense buttery crust, and fresh fruit.
Mon Paris Patisserie had a Mini key lime cheesecake that was very well done. A perfectly composed cheesecake with lime that refreshes your palate and has you coming back for more.
As mentioned earlier, for beverages, guests had the opportunity to pursue 8 tables and try an accumulative 17 different drinks from wines, ciders, to beers. The following was what was made available to guess in sample pours, with the ability to try them all and to go back for more.
Moraine Winery was on location showcasing their 2021 Cliffhanger Red, 2022 Gewurztraminer, 2022 Shipuchka Frizzante, and 2021 Pinot Noir.
Jabber Wines were showing off their new Chilean Sauvignon Blanc alongside La Crema Monterey’s Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Rose.
Peroni was the lone beer option pouring their lighter Peroni Nastro Azzurro.
Lakeside Cellars had on table their Sauvignon Blend, Orange Muscat Rose, and Cabernet Sauvignon.
Mark Anthony Group came with a few bottles from their portfolio including Mission Hill’s Reserve Rose, CedarCreek Pinot Noir, and CedarCreek Pinot Noir Rose.
At the AmoVino Wine + Spirits table they were sampling Covert Farms Amicitia Red Blend, 2020 Covert Farms Rose, and 2022 Covert Farms Sauvignon Blanc Semillion.
And from Creek & Gully we had the Flora dry blend cider: Goldie 2019, an aged traditional method cider; and Hodgepodge a cider wine conferment.
In short this was a great taste (excuse then pun), of FEAST! The Gala was well organized, and guests enjoyed themselves. We will definitely see this event and them returning with a lot more gusto the following year. So, stay updated on future events with the link below. You don’t want to miss this one, as one of the premier Vancouver food and drink events local to Vancouver, in support of a noble cause.
