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We were invited to the ChefmeetsBCGrape event back in June. Co-produced with the Wines of British Columbia, it’s a wine and food fundraiser for the Arts Club Theatre, celebrating the finest offerings of wine and food from across BC. I had a backlog of photos and posts to go through, and finally here I am to show you some mouth-watering photos from the event. Better late than never, right?

It was a sold out event with more than 500 wine lovers. Each of us went from station to station to taste dishes put on by 15 local restaurants, and sample wines from close to 100 BC wineries. You know there would be no shortage of good food and good wines.

A sold out event featuring close to 100 BC wineries

Each of us was given an event guide, with a slot for the wine glass. What a great idea to free up our hands from juggling plates and glasses!

Event guide with wine glass holder

Participating restaurants included:

The Flying Pig, which served our favourite plate of the evening!

The Flying Pig – House smoked trout with caviar creme fraiche

Culinary team from the Flying Pig

Tableau Bar Bistro, Seasons in the Park, and ORU.

Tableau Bar Bistro – Mushroom & oxtail croquette with oxtail consomme

Seasons in the Park – BC halibut carpaccio with corn, lime, jicama & cilantro

ORU – Smoked sablefish & Village Farms tomato

Provence Restaurants, with live flambee action by chef and owner Jean-Francis Quaglia.

Flambee in action at Provence Restaurants station

Provence Restaurants – Fresh local spot prawns sauteed with butter, garlic, parsley & lemon, flambeed & finished with brandy

Sol Sun Belt Cookery

Food prep at Sol Sun Belt Cookery Station

Sol Sun Belt Cookery – Harissa Prawns, Local Baby Arugula Salad with Citrus & Shallot Vinaigrette

Forage, Miradoro at Tinhorn Creek, and Le Gavroche

Forage – Thiessen Farms pheasant ballotine with morel mushrooms, cauliflower onion puree, bacon powder, foraged greens

Miradoro at Tinhorn Creek – braised octopus, chorizo & potato with mojo verde

Le Gavroche – Fresh local Pacific salmon tartare with prawn crisp

NK’MIP Cellars Patio Restaurant

NK’MIP Cellars Patio Restaurant – Troy Farm Quadra Island Mussel, Roma, Fennel Butter, House Cured Pancetta, Pickled Organic Garlic Scape

p2b Bistro & Bar

p2b bistro station

p2b bistro – Candied sockeye salmon, bannock & Saskatoon berry compote

The Sonora Room Restaurant at Burrowing Owl

The Sonora Room – Scallop Ceviche, Roasted Heirloom Tomato Jam, Ham Roasted Carrot Bilini, Micro Greens

Chefs from the Sonora Room Restaurant

Edible Canada and Cibo Trattoria

Edible Canada – Sweet & sour duck meatballs with crispy skin & puffed quinoa

Cibo Trattoria – Pate Campagnolo

Canadian cheeses served with Gone Crackers, local products that come with a number of interesting flavours. I liked the Original Undressed, Parmesan & Rosemary, and Canadian Cheddar & Chives.

Canadian Cheeses

Gone Crackers

And lastly, desserts/sweets from Beta 5 Chocolates and Daniel le Chocolat Belge

Beta 5 Chocolates – Strawberry shortcake – fresh berries, olive oil sponge cake, vanilla Chantilly basil

Chocolates from Daniel le Chocolat Belge

In addition to the wine pairing with the tasting plates, we also stopped by a few stations and tried some more wine. Two wines stood out for us:

• Gold Hill Winery 2009 Cabernet Franc
• Burrowing Owl 2010 Athene

I wish there was more time for us to really enjoy and savour the wines. Three hours may seem long but it just flew by when you’re having a great time.

Wine tasting

Given the amount of alcohol that was served that evening, and given my work background, I was really glad to see that they had the Get Home Safe program in place for guests. Kudos for responsible beverage service!

Glad to see a “Get Home Safe” program in place

It was definitely an eye-opener for us to learn about the wineries in BC and the variety of wines that each of them carries. I quite look forward to my trip to the Okanagan later this summer so I get to try some more wines!

Pointing towards various BC wine regions