10 Vancouver Aquarium. We tend to raise an eyebrow at restaurants that don’t serve Ocean Wise seafood (politely, of course—we’re still Vancouverites). We love our veggies as much as we love our bacon, and woe betide the chef who doesn’t know how to create vegan dishes that are every bit as deli-cious as their braised short ribs and roasted bone marrow. We expect our food to be organic and raised with compassion, though we really don’t want to pay more for it. Did we mention the real-estate prices?But mostly we want things to be local. It’s not just the fuel miles, though that matters. We want to know that a farmer in a nearby suburb is going to benefit from our food dollars, and not some faceless corporation. Besides, it just tastes better that way.Funnily enough, as obsessed as we are with all things local, Vancouver has become one of the world’s most global dining cities. We can thank our location here on the edge of the conti-nent, caught right smack between East and West. Waves of newcomers have brought their most delicious dishes to our tables. European immi-grants imported French techniques, Italian pasta, German smokehouses, and English chowders and fish ’n’ chips; meanwhile, from all over Asia VancouVer is a seriously foodie city. You don’t have to spend much time here before someone will ask you the questions that are on all our minds: Where should we eat? And what should we order once we get there? Sometimes it seems that food is all we talk about—at least when we’re not talking about real-estate prices—and dining is what we do when we’re not busy jogging around the Seawall or doing sup yoga in English Bay.We’re lucky to have incredible local bounty right on our doorstep—a wild ocean full of salmon, Dungeness crab and sweet, buttery spot prawns; dark forests that shelter savoury wild mushrooms; the Fraser Valley farms where it seems that just about everything grows, from berries to honey-bees to Berkshire pigs; and just over the moun-tains, the Okanagan Valley, one of the world’s great unsung wine regions. All those incredible ingredients inspire our chefs; farm to table is just how they roll in Vancouver. After all, why would you source food from anywhere else when it’s so good right here at home?It’s also more sustainable to cook that way, and ethical dining is always on the table here. This is the home of Greenpeace, Adbusters and David Suzuki, not to mention Ocean Wise, the sustainable seafood program that sprang from the IntroductionReview CopyThis electronic material is under copyright protection and is provided to a single recipient for review purposes only.introduction 11marrow bone, suck crabmeat from spindly legs, bite the heads off flash-fried prawns and lick the best gosh-darned barbecue sauce ever off your fingers.We like our libations, too. The city’s cocktail culture is among the most progressive in the world; Vancouver bartenders not only mix mean drinks, they also tend to kick butt at global competitions. The craft beer scene is fizzing, and more and more distilleries are coming on line all the time. Half the city, it seems, has sommelier training, which means you have to work pretty hard to get a bad glass of wine with your meal.People rave about Vancouver’s physical beauty, the mountains and beaches, the blue waters that surround us, the lush parks and blooming gardens, the glittering towers and gracious homes. But what’s really remarkable is the people who live here, and all the delicious things they’ve brought to the table. We’ve gathered up just a few of those things in the following pages, pages that we hope will become spattered and worn as you make your favourites again and again and again.In fact, we’ve assembled more than a hundred recipes from the city’s best restaurants. That way you can make your favourite dishes at home where no one will notice if you lick the plate. Go ahead. We won’t judge.arrived an almost infinite array of noodles, sushi, curries, soups, dumplings and all the bright, fragrant sweet-salty-sour-and-hot flavour combi-nations that make our mouths water so. Now we’re seeing a new influx of culinary traditions coming from the south, from Mexico and Peru, Venezuela and Argentina: chilies and cilantro, sweet corn and tangy ceviche, and behind it all, the savoury sizzle of the traditional barbecue known as asado.Sure, other cities have international tables, too. That’s not unique. What is special to Vancouver is that all of it is on the same table at the same time. Fusion is just what we do. It’s a whole new style of cooking, one so fresh that it hasn’t yet been fully defined. But we know it when we taste it. Oh, we think as we bite into a tortilla filled with local spot prawns and yuzu-flavoured crème fraîche, now that tastes like Vancouver.Some people might fuss about authenticity, but we’re a bit more relaxed about it. As chef after chef told us, the point is to make a tasty dish. If it tastes good, who cares where it came from? Good point, we think. Besides, it’s an attitude that fits with our casual approach, not just to food, but life itself. This is not a city of hushed dining rooms filled with white-tablecloth-covered tables. It’s one where you’re likely to slurp sherry from a Review CopyThis electronic material is under copyright protection and is provided to a single recipient for review purposes only.12 74 Chambar Nico Schuermans 80 Cibo Trattoria / uVa Wine & Cocktail Bar Josh Gonneau and Sabrine Dhaliwal 84 CinCin Ristorante Andrew Richardson 88 Cioppino’s Mediterranean Grill Pino Posteraro 92 The Dirty Apron Cooking School David Robertson 98 Fable Kitchen Trevor Bird 102 Farmer’s Apprentice David Gunawan 106 The Flying Pig John Crook and Erik Heck 112 Forage Chris Whittaker 116 Gotham Steakhouse & Bar Jean-Claude Douguet 120 Guu Takeshi HasegawaThe Restaurants 18 Ancora Waterfront Dining and Patio Ricardo Valverde 24 AnnaLena Michael Robbins 28 Araxi Quang Dang 32 Bearfoot Bistro Melissa Craig 38 Beaucoup Bakery Betty Hung 42 Blue Water Cafe + Raw Bar Frank Pabst 48 Botanist Hector Laguna and Grant Sceney 52 Boulevard Kitchen & Oyster Bar Alex Chen 58 Cacao Jefferson Alvarez and Marcela Ramirez 62 Café Medina Robbie Kane and Adam Perrier 66 Cartems Donuterie Rajesh “Rags” Narine 70 The Cascade Room Tim EvansReview CopyThis electronic material is under copyright protection and is provided to a single recipient for review purposes only.the restaur ants 13 176 Ocean Wise Ned Bell 180 Osteria Savio Volpe Mark Perrier 186 Pidgin Wesley Young 192 Royal Dinette Eva Chin and Kaitlyn Stewart 196 Tacofino Kaeli Robinsong 200 Thierry Café Thierry Busset 204 Thomas Haas Chocolates & Pâtisserie Thomas Haas 208 Torafuku Clement Chan 212 Two Rivers Specialty Meats Jason Pleym 216 The Union Lisa Henderson 220 Wildebeest Alessandro Vianello 224 The Wildflower Isabel Chung 124 Hawksworth Restaurant / Nightingale David Hawksworth 128 Heritage Asian Eatery Felix Zhou 134 Hook Seabar Kayla Dhaliwall 138 Hy’s Steakhouse & Cocktail Bar Whistler Bala Kumanan 142 Il Caminetto James Walt 148 Kissa Tanto Joël Watanabe 152 Le Crocodile Michel Jacob 156 Maenam Angus An 160 Miku / Minami Kazuhiro Hayashi and Alan Ferrer 166 My Shanti Vikram Vij 170 Notch 8 William LewReview CopyThis electronic material is under copyright protection and is provided to a single recipient for review purposes only.26 annalena | Michael Robbinsmakes 1 terrineStrain mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a terrine mould or ceramic baking dish. Place mould into a roasting pan, then pour hot water into the pan so it comes halfway up the outside of the terrine mould. Cover mould with foil and bake for 30 minutes, until it reaches an internal temperature between 150°f and 160°f. (Test it in a few different spots to be sure—if it’s not cooked through, bake it a little longer.)Remove from the oven and the roasting pan and set aside to rest at room temperature for 1 hour. Place it in the fridge for at least 8 hours.Pickled mustArd seeds In a small saucepan, combine mustard seeds and water and bring to a boil. Cook for 10 minutes, until water is reduced by half. Drain water. Add vinegar and sugar to the pan and cook for another 10 minutes, until liquid has reduced by half. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. (Store in the fridge for 2 to 3 months.)Assembly Toast sourdough, then spread pâté onto each slice. Arrange pear slices on top of the pâté, then spoon pickled mustard seeds overtop. Garnish with salad greens (if using).duck liver pâté Preheat oven to 375°f.Melt butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add onions, shallots and garlic and sauté for 5 minutes, until soft and translucent. (Do not allow them to brown; reduce heat if necessary.) Add salt and pepper and star anise.Increase heat to high. Pull the pan off the heat and add brandy (you don’t want it to ignite). Return to heat and cook for another 10 to 15 minutes, until reduced by half. Add port and vermouth and cook for another 15 to 20 minutes, until reduced to one-quarter of original amount. Stir in honey.Scrape mixture into a high-speed blender (such as a Vitamix) and process, starting at low speed and finishing on high, until fully blended.With the motor running on medium speed, add duck (or chicken) livers one by one until well incorporated. With the motor still running, add eggs one by one until well mixed. Slowly pour butter in a steady stream until emulsified. (Make sure to maintain a vortex the entire time you are adding the ingredients.) Gradually increase speed to high and blend until smooth.duck liVer pâté2 Tbsp unsalted butter1 cup chopped onions1/2 cup chopped shallots1/4 cup finely chopped garlic1 Tbsp kosher salt1 tsp freshly ground black pepper4 star anise, freshly grated or ground in a mortar or pestle1/4 cup brandypickled mustard seeds1/2 cup mustard seeds1 cup water1/2 cup apple cider vinegar1/4 cup granulated sugar1/4 cup port1/4 cup vermouth2 Tbsp honey1 lb raw duck or chicken livers4 large eggs3/4 cup clarified unsalted butterSourdough loaf, sliced1 to 2 pears, slicedSalad greens, for garnish (optional)Duck Liver Pâté, Sourdough, Pear and Pickled Mustard SeedsReview CopyThis electronic material is under copyright protection and is provided to a single recipient for review purposes only.AnnaLenaReview CopyThis electronic material is under copyright protection and is provided to a single recipient for review purposes only.ServeS 4Ned Bell | ocean Wise 179This pasta dish is rich, creamy and full of umami, thanks to the kelp in the bright-green cream sauce and garnish. Ask your fishmonger to source fresh curly kelp for you. You can find dehydrated bull or winged kelp at health food stores. Once added to the sauce, it rehydrates to a spinach-like texture in less than a minute.kelP creAm Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat, add shallots and garlic and sauté for 30 seconds, until fragrant. Add remaining ingre-dients except salt, bring to a simmer over medium heat and cook for 5 minutes. Remove pan from heat and cool lightly.Transfer mixture to a blender or food processor and process until smooth. Strain purée through a fine-mesh sieve. Thin out, if desired, with a little extra cream. Season to taste with salt. (Can be made ahead and refrigerated.)mussels And pappardelle Put mussels in a colander and rinse under cold running water. Discard any that are open and won’t close when tapped or that have broken shells. Scrub off any debris and pull off beard. Keep chilled until needed.Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil over high heat and add pasta. Cook until al dente, according to manufacturer’s instructions.Meanwhile, heat oil and butter in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add garlic and shallots and sauté for 5 minutes, until tender and translucent. Pour in wine and bring to a boil.Add mussels, cover and cook 2 minutes, just until the shells open up. Discard any that don’t open. Add kelp cream and cook for another 2 minutes, until warmed through. Stir in basil, dried kelp, lemon zest and juice and crushed red pepper (if using).Drain pasta and stir it into pan of mussels. Transfer to a large serving bowl and serve family style.kelp cream1/2 Tbsp canola oil1/2 shallot, finely chopped1 small clove garlic, finely chopped1 bird’s-eye chili, seeded and finely chopped11/2 cups whipping (33%) cream, plus extra if needed1 cup fresh kelp or 1/3 cup dried bull or winged kelp, rinsed (if dried, soak in warm water for 10 minutes)Grated zest of 1/2 lime1/2 tsp sesame oilSea salt, to tastemussels and pappardelle3 lbs live mussels1 lb dried pappardelle or fettuccine2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil2 Tbsp unsalted butter2 cloves garlic, finely chopped1 shallot, finely chopped1/4 cup white wine3 Tbsp sliced fresh basil3 Tbsp dried crushed bull or winged kelp (see headnote)Grated zest and juice of 1 to 2 lemons1 tsp crushed red pepper (optional)Mussels and Kelp PappardelleReview CopyThis electronic material is under copyright protection and is provided to a single recipient for review purposes only.Ocean WiseReview CopyThis electronic material is under copyright protection and is provided to a single recipient for review purposes only.Next >