BOOKMARK
	SPRING APRIL - MAY 2005  Edition 32.

Gael Arthur reports on

THE GREAT BEGININGS
APPETIZER CHALLENGE ©

Great Beginnings – Appetizers to Dine On

As an opening event (for those who aren’t at the black-tie dinner and mega-auction) for the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival, the Great Beginnings Appetizer Challenge is a great one.

With its focus on pairing wine with interesting food, it attracts a good crowd of wine and food lovers, many just off work and full of animation and excitement. After all, for many of them, this is the first of many events over five extravagant days of eating and drinking.

This particular wine festival has become one of the biggest wine events of North America.

Every year, several hundred wineries from all over the world compete to be chosen to participate – this year winemakers and marketing mavens from 174 of them arrive to show off their wines to an adoring public over three evenings (along with trade tastings two afternoons).

Many of the wineries offer more than the cases and cases of wine required to slake the curiosity and thirst of the sophisticated wine palates that use this event as an opportunity to taste all that is new and exciting.

The American producer, Fetzer, has been a loyal supporter of the festival; their special event has been such a success that they have rolled out the formula across Canada, to Toronto, Winnipeg and Calgary.


Great Beginnings Wine and Appetizer Challenge is in its eighth year – local restaurants are given a Fetzer wine and asked to create a dish to match it.

The marketing folks must have decided to take a chance this year – rather than going with one of their traditional wines, they chose their River Oaks Gewürztraminer, not a wine the average wine consumer would serve with dinner. It is sweet. Not off-dry, it is sweet, and full of flavours, thanks to a hefty 20% Muscat in its blend.

The good news is that the chefs of Vancouver were up for the challenge, with some thirty establishments vying for the final ten spots (plus a laudable student entry earned by Emily Chiong of one of the local culinary schools, Dubrulle).

The underlying theme is fresh and unusual. In the case of the eleven finalists, there is a healthy smattering of seafood along with a preponderance of pork belly.

And spice, lots of spice. This being Vancouver, chipotle peppers are equally at home in the recipes as the kaffir lime leaves, cardamom, turmeric, coriander, and red Thai curry paste.


The chefs handily prove that there is more than one perfect match for a single wine, with everything from soup (Thai Butternut Squash Cappuccino) to nuts (Seared Wild Sea Tiger Prawn, crusted with cashews and copa ham over masala foam) muting the sweet note of the California Gewürztraminer and playing in concert with the stone fruit flavours.

Hell’s Kitchen has to get the award for the best name.

Their “Crouching Tiger, Smoking Duck” pizza just makes you want to get in there and eat a big slice.

While it earns no points for presentation, the dish is a hit even as the spice shocks a few patrons, who rush back to the centre table for a refill on the wine.

Fetzer generously supplies many of their other wines as well, which gives people a chance to see how well a particular dish works with different wines.

Long before they have finished sampling the food, many people have switched to their preferred red wine.

The culinary magic may be missing, but they are by no means suffering – the crowd is happy, lively and friendly. There is a buzz in the room as people complete their ballots for the people’s choice award.

Chef Roger Leblanc of Le Gavroche sourced honey mussels from the only producer in the province (on Quadra Island) for his “Spicy Honey Mussels in a Cage”.

When paired with chorizo sausage, papaya and ginger, they make a terrific match for the wine and provide a fine example of a combination of foods that represent something unique and interesting.

By the time the winner is announced, the chefs and their assistants have packed up and are milling about, enjoying a well-earned glass of wine.

Although they all winners by virture of making it into this room, it is no surprise that Diva at the Met has won with its Panseared Desolation Sound Scallop, Aromatic Basmati Rice and Curry Froth.

The basmati rice is perfect, the scallop topped with jicima and pineapple play off the wine – it’s interesting enough that I do more than scan the list of more than 30 ingredients.


The recipe is not hard, just a lot of preparation work, blending the curry spices and prepping the garnishes. Would I make it? Maybe, but I think I would prefer to go to Diva and have it there.

The People’s Choice Award goes to the Dubrulle student for her Dill Cured Gravlax with honey mustard relish and crisp potato chive dumpling – a useful reminder that a dish doesn’t have to be complicated to be good.

The wine bar in the centre of the room is running out of wine, as the last of the patrons exchange business cards with new friends.

Could this wine do equally well in a dessert pairing competition? Undoubtedly, but Quady Elysium owns that event – it has been innovatively paired with desserts for seventeen years at the festival.

It’s a tribute to Andrew Quady’s generosity and marketing savvy that this long-running event continues to attract the city’s best pastry chefs.

This year, Fumiko Moreton of the Terminal City Club beat out more than a score of others with her dark chocolate mousse, crunchy biscuit base, hints of lemon and lavender.


For pictures of all the contenders, go to www.planitvancouver.com

Fetzer gathered the recipes of the Great Beginnings finalists from all across Canada in a nice little booklet. The recipes ranged from incredibly easy (suitable for a simple dinner at home) to so elaborate as to bordering on the ridiculous. But that is what food competition is all about. For the people attending, it is an ideal way to check out what the hot restaurants in town can do – forget the reviews and the media hype, this is the best way to choose a new restaurant to try.

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For the record, here are the Vancouver finalists:

Araxi Restaurant, Chris Wade (Whistler)
Braised Pork Belly with Dungeness Crab, cinnamon cauliflower puree and curry oil

The Cannery Seafood House, Eddye Szasz (www.canneryseafood.com)
Seared Wild Tiger Sea Prawn crusted with cashews and copa ham over South East Asian masala foam, crispy fennel pollen gaufrette

Culinary Capers Catering, Mandy Pearce (www.culinarycapers.com)
Glazed Pork Shoulder with mango curry cream, yam puree and a ginger coconut gremolata

Diva at the Met at Metropolitan Hotel, Hamid Salimian (www.metropolitan.com)
Pan-Seared Desolation Sound Scallop, aromatic basmati rice and curry froth

Fire & Water Fish and Chophouse at Victoria Marriott Inner Harbour, Jeff Keenliside (Victoria)
Braised Pork Belly ‘Sweet and Sour’ Style with mustard greens, braising jus sauce with cider vinegar, local organic honey and grain mustard

Le Gavroche, Roger LeBlanc (www.legavroche.com)
Spicy Honey Mussels in a Cage – mussels steamed in Fetzer Gewürztraminer with chorizo sausage, ginger papaya cream sauce and scallion purée

Hell’s Kitchen, Ben de Champlain (www.hells-kitchen.ca)
Crouching Tiger, Smoking Duck – smoked duck breast, shredded carrot and apple chipotle honey hoisin-lime drizzle pizza

Herons Restaurant at The Fairmont Waterfront, Curtis Webb
Moroccan Spiced Seared Scallop and Lobster "Sausage" with Israeli Couscous. Tomato citrus jam, coriander emulsion and apricot jelly

Vistas Restaurant, Renaissance Vancouver Hotel Harbourside, Roberto Arciaga
Thai Butternut Squash Cappuccino Soup with lobster poached lemongrass nage

The Wildflower at The Fairmont Chateau Whistler, Arwi Odense (Whistler)
Foie Gras Torchon with beet Bull’s Blood, Granny Smith apple and truffle sauce, fresh brioche

Culinaria Restaurant, The Art Institute of Vancouver – Dubrulle Culinary Arts, Emily Chiong (student entry winner) (www.aiv.aii.edu/culinary/index.asp)
Dill Cured Gravlax with honey mustard relish and crisp potato chive dumpling

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