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Posts Tagged ‘seasonal’

An Interview with Chris Whittaker, Executive Chef of Forage

Posted in Eat Local, Interviews, Joyce, Restaurants, Sustainable, Vancouver, tagged Chefs Table Society, Dishcrawl, Dishcrawl Vancouver, Forage Vancouver, Listel Hotel, local ingredient, O'Doul's Restaurant & Bar, Robson Street, seasonal, West End on June 14, 2013| 1 Comment »

Through the organizer of Dishcrawl‘s “A Taste of Vancouver’s West End” on June 19, I had a chance to meet and interview Chris Whittaker, the executive chef of Forage at the Listel Hotel.

Forage Vancouver

Originally from Thunder Bay, Ontario, Chef Chris Whittaker has been in the industry for 22 years. Starting as a dishwasher at 14, Chris worked his way up and really enjoyed his journey growing as a chef. His experience working at the largest convention hotel in northwest Ontario allowed him to learn making everything from scratch, building a great foundation for what he has become to be.

Chris moved to the west coast in 1999 and worked for several large hotels and restaurants. In 2007, he landed a job at the Listel Hotel, a boutique hotel on the West End which strives to be the greenest hotel. Chris has been there ever since.

“I hunt, I fish, I garden; we keep two honey bee hives at home. We compost all food waste and we recycle. That’s also how I operate my kitchen. The progression of my career and the shift to local cuisine 8 or 10 years ago just made this a natural fit,” says Chris. (more…)

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Edible Canada at the Market

Posted in Bistro, Dinner, Joyce, Restaurants, Seafood, Steak, Vancouver, West Coast, tagged Creme Brulee, eat local, Edible Canada, elk, Granville Island, Perogies, Seafood Pie, seasonal, Sous vide, Steak Frites on January 14, 2013| 6 Comments »

As part of the birthday festivities, my family and I went to Edible Canada at the Market. I have been wanting to eat there since Edible Canada moved out of the Granville Market to a stand-alone location.

Edible Canada at the Market Bistro

Food

The menu looked really interesting, with a good variety of dishes offering something for everyone. The four of us decided to share two appetizers and ordered an entree each.

The first appy that we shared was the Alberta Bison Meatballs. Interesting choice of using a rather lean type of meat to make meatballs! The meatballs needed a bit more fat, but the gravy made up for moisture. The gravy was rich and luscious, combining with the meatballs it would make a very good pasta sauce. The shoestring potatoes added another layer of texture with some crunch.

Alberta Bison Meatballs – cooked medium, crispy shoestring potatoes, lingonberry gravy, fresh herbs

We ordered Helmi’s Potato & Cheese Perogies simply because we saw it at our neighbour’s table and it looked amazing! It tasted really good too! I’m not really a huge perogy fans because I don’t eat very much carbs, but I quite enjoyed this one. I liked that it was pan-seared with a crispy exterior, and the Kielbasa sausage added some savouriness and meat to this dish. Eating this alone can actually make it an entree plate, but sharing among the 4 of us was perfect as an appy.