CityFood Art and Food Issue 2008

Pg 1 Cover with additions

6/10/08

2:36 PM

Page 1

SPECIAL ISSUE 2008

restaurants as galleries . top chefs as canvas . your dinner as art

Pg 2-Inside Front Cover

6/10/08

2:43 PM

Page 2

PG 3-Contents Page- REVISED

6/10/08

3:07 PM

Page 3

MAGA. ZINE

A SPECIAL ART ISSUE

8

17

26 18

.

Spring 2008

32

3 CITYFOOD

.

15

CR IME A

36

GA

INS WHAT THEY DTIDAFROR 24 - NEW RESTAURANTS 10 TDO CALE NO NDAR TC OF E RO VENT SS S6A R T I S THIS T S G LI ONNEE W- ILD DO 2 5 NO T

16

The PEOPLE, STORIES & WINES TH AT M A K E the BA ROSSA FA MOUS

2003 & 2006 International Winemaker of the Year International Wine and Spirit Competition www.peterlehmannwines.com 2847_CF

Pg 4-Masthead- Revised

6/10/08

3:48 PM

Page 2

WELCOMING Executive Chef, Buddy Wolfe.

Hailing from the kitchens of New York and Honolulu, and locally from Coco Pazzo, Buddy is shaking it up a t

SEASONS. Featuring signature dishes with Pacific Rim influences .....simply unbelievable.

Fresh, adventurous and seasonal cuisine ~

Affordable wines with a focus on BC

Queen Elizabeth Park

~

Cambie and 33rd Ave.

(604) 874-8008 www.vancouverdine.com

PARTIES.......WEDDINGS.......MEETINGS.......FUNCTIONS

CITYFOOD A PUBLICATION OF MAYFARE PRESS LTD.

Award-winning desserts by sister pâtisserie, Sweet Obsession Cakes & Pastries

EDITOR/PUBLISHER

Zagat-rated for Top Eclectic Cuisine

Rhonda May

Proud member of OCEAN WISE, a Vancouver Aquarium conservation program

2603 West 16th Avenue, Vancouver, BC | Tel 604 739 0555 ext. 1 www.opentable.com | www.trafalgars.com

CONTRIBUTING Writers (THIS ISSUE) Rhonda May Timothy Taylor Sherry Tyler

CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS & PHOTOGRAPHERS

% KMJX JSV ER] SGGEWMSR ;I´ZI KSX MX EPP [VETTIH YT

Hamid Attie Jackie Connelly Byron Dauncey Quinton Gordon Andrew Owen John Sherlock

FOR ADVERTISING INFORMATION CALL: TEL: (604) 737-7845

.

CITYFOOD

4

Spring 2008.

[[[ QEHEFSYXJSSH RIX

contact@cityfood.com ;LIXLIV ]SYV KMJX MW TIVWSREP MR REXYVI JSV E GSVTSVEXI GPMIRX SV NYWX FIGEYWI [I´PP LIPT ]SY QEOI MX WTIGMEP =SY GER TPEGI ]SYV SVHIV XLVSYKL SYV [IFWMXI EX [[[ QEHEFSYXJSSH RIX SZIV XLI TLSRI SV MR TIVWSR EX SYV VIXEMP KMJX FEWOIX WXSVI

;IWX VH %ZIRYI :ERGSYZIV &' : . /

8IPITLSRI 8SPP *VII

MRJS$QEHEFSYXJSSH RIX [[[ QEHEFSYXJSSH RIX

Stay | SEASIDE

Discover Sidney’s secret vacation residence by the sea Miraloma on the Cove is a luxury waterfront rental vacation residence, nestled on a beautiful heritage property with 1.5 acres of private gardens, located in Sidney on Vancouver Island.

Dine & Unwind Package from

$206*

Includes: 1 night’s escape $100 dining credit for the Latch Restaurant next door

Based on double occupancy, subject to availability at the time of booking.

Valid Jan 2 – April 30, 2008.

Under new management by Bellstar Hotels & Resorts

www.bellstar.ca

1.877.956.6622

www.miraloma.ca

A SUBSCRIPTION OF 10 ISSUES MAY BE OBTAINED BY MAILING YOUR ADDRESS AND CHEQUE FOR $36 TO THE ADDRESS BELOW. (IN THE USA: $36 US)

CityFood Magazine 857 Beatty St., Suite 503 Vancouver, B.C. V6B2M6 Office Hours vary: appointments appreciated

COVER DESIGN: “Art Thowdown at Boneta�

by Byron Dauncey and Andrew Owen

www.cityfood.com Copyright 2008

by Mayfare Press Ltd. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use without permission is strictly prohibited.

For information regarding permissions, write to the above address. Although every effort is made to ensure accuracy, Mayfare Press Ltd. cannot be held responsible for any errors or omissions that may occur. All opinions expressed in the articles are those of the writers and not necessarily that of the publisher.

The publisher retains the right to refuse any advertisement due to inappropriate content.

Pg 5- Intro

6/10/08

2:24 PM

Page 3

In this issue ...

CITYFOOD

.

In the next issue of CityFood we look at BC agriculture from a new and slightly offbeat perspective ... film at 11.

5

-- Rhonda May, Editor

Spring 2008

should be so damn interesting... not to mention inspiring.

.

In this issue we’ve attempted something a little different -- to take a look at how our region’s food culture intersects with that of its fine arts communities.

The challenge: could we find a few of those zones where food’s tangible presence overlaps with art’s intangible interpretation of it? Or even the point where ultimately, the two become indistinguishable from each other?

Well, no one said it would be an easy task, or even a justifiable one.

After all, magazines concerned with food are expected to uphold certain conceptions about food - mostly to enhance foods desirability, and hence its sale-ability, by focusing on its allure. However, even if art is truth, and truth is beautiful, it still doesn’t always hold that art is beautiful. In fact, it can be quite the opposite. So, is it advisable to take that less scene route with food?

Looking at food artistically means gazing at its hidden, and sometimes less sanitized aspects. Not to mention putting it firmly in association with some tough thoughts and images that food publications usually cut away like so much gristle. In the book Helen’s Cookbook (see page 14), a statement reads: “[Food] begins and ends as dirt, refuse, leftovers, manure and so on. But somewhere between taste and the toilet, nourishment tracks through mounds of physical, emotional, psychological, social, cultural and capital concerns ...”

Gritty stuff that. In one sentence it confronts an squeamish editor with at least three words that must NEVER, gasp, be printed in a “food magazine.”

Yet engaging with art is all about challenging one’s comfort zones and confronting traditional notions about what “should” be. And that’s pretty much what happened during the production of this issue.

One example was when the artist who designed our cover insisted on altering our magazine’s logo because the logo design was a incompatible force with the rest of the cover image. For a publication, for any kind of business, tampering with the logo is a form of heresy. But could we not go with the flow for just this one issue? Well, ... why not? And could we also write about how the same artist was using as his canvas, one of food’s unmentionable (if ever present) end products, the industrial garbage container? Uh .. well, let’s try it and see what happens.

Some of our readers will not understand or approve of this straying from the predictable path, and we know that. On the other hand, others may totally appreciate the adventurous nature of it. But just as it is with food choices, it’s all a matter of personal tastes.

One thing is for sure, doing so was not a commercially exploitative idea. The safe and more bankable option would have been to jump on the green bandwagon like nearly everyone else in the publishing field these days. But then, we took a seat on that wagon when we first published CityFood in 1992, and as you will see in our next issue, we are still driving it.

This issue however, is about trying on a new idea, no matter how much of a stretch. We even predict, it may not even seem that new for long.

If history is any example, it is that art is what civilized societies turn to when their more physical needs are met. Right now, in larger and more worldly centres, small, hip art galleries have become the new bars, and the knowledge and acquisition of art has surpassed the status that an enviable wine cellar used to fill. Even here at home there is a new awareness and appreciation of art that is coming from indirectly related communities, such as the restaurant industry. Take a look at Boneta, a restaurant that is a prominent backdrop in this issue. Yes, it has great food and wine and cocktails, and the savvy service that goes with all that. But it’s also very much into its commitment to art -- young, up and coming art, and it pays more than lip service to it.

Just in Vancouver alone, a new enthusiasm for public art space, plans for a new Vancouver Art Gallery, and Vancouver’s cultural quota expanding into new exhibitions, installations and arts festivals, is a signal that art in this city is approaching a new stage of critical mass. If 2007 saw a boom in restaurants and large wine tasting events, the next couple of years should see a new explosion in artistic circles. One that spills out of its own categories and into neighbouring areas like so much water in a boiling pot.

We intend to be here when it does. Because ready for it or not, the crossover

Assembly Required.

After work, enjoy a well-deserved cocktail with friends. Open 4p daily.

www.georgelounge.com 1137 Hamilton Street | 604.628.5555

Pg 6,7-Calendar

6/10/08

1:54 PM

Page 2

EVENTS CALENDAR Tradex Exhibition Centre Abbotsford, BC September 12, 13 & 14, 2008 Celebrating 150 years of bountiful Fraser Valley harvests and food processing!

In response to overwhelming consumer demand in the Valley, the very successful six year old EAT! Vancouver is recreating the magic of food and cooking at the Tradex Exhibition Centre in Abbotsford, BC.The festival will draw on a consumer base of over 1.5 million persons in the fastest growing community in Canada.

JUNE 10, 2008: Peller Estates Wine Dinner.

Hamilton Street Grill is celebrating its 11th anniversary in Yaletown. To mark the occasion, a 7 course dinner by Hamilton Street Grill's Executive Chef Neil Wyles and Sous Chef Aaron Chan will be served with six wines from BC's Peller Estates Winery. Winemaker Stephanie Leinemann will introduce each wine. Seating is limited; hence you should book in advance. $62.50 per person (all inclusive). 6:30 p.m.

Hamilton Street Grill, 009 Hamilton Street, Vancouver. 604-331-1511

EAT! Fraser Valley is the largest consumer food, beverage and cooking festival in suburban Vancouver. The food show features food, beverage and kitchen goods exhibitors along with wineries, breweries, restaurants, cooking demonstrations, wine and cheese seminars, cookbook authors, chef competitions and barbecue and chili cook-offs.

Friday 5:00 pm to 9:00 pm Saturday 11:00 am to 9:00 pm Sunday 11:00 am to 5:00 pm

.

CITYFOOD

6

Spring 2008

.

JUNE 12, 2008: Project Empty Bowl.

Guests will be given a hand-crafted souvenir bowl, created by artist Rachelle Chinnery, to be filled at chef attended stations placed throughout the event. Highlights include an auction of $40K worth of original art and collectibles. $70. Tickets available at Little Sisters Book and Art Emporium, 1238 Davie Street (604-669-1753) and at A Loving Spoonful, 1300 Richards Street, (604682-6325). 6:30 p.m Mezzanine Level, Pacific Pallisades Hotel. 1277 Robson St., Vancouver.

www.eat-fraservalley.com Produced by: Executive Event Production Inc. www.eat-bc.com

JUNE 13, 14, 2008: The Grill’s on for Father’s Day at Trafalgar’s Bistro.

Trafalgar Bistro's three course Father’s Day Menu includes prawn and baby romaine wedge salad with warm cherry tomato vinaigrette and crispy pancetta, plus a main course of grilled venison rack chop with lemon-thyme and fig mashed potatoes, sautéed beans and grainy mustard jus. All followed by a choice of Sweet Obsession desserts. $42 (plus tax and gratuity), 5 p.m. onwards. Trafalgar’s Bistro, 2603 West 16th Ave Vancouver, 604-739-0555 JUNE 14, 2008 Free Wine Tasting at Marquis.

Marquis wine is hosting a free wine tasting session for patrons to sample their new wine arrivals. While you

PentictonBarrelsAdrev.indd 1

sample, you can also have look at their one day only Riedel Glassware offer (15% discount on select glassware).

Entry: free, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Marquis Wine Cellars. 1034 Davie Street, Vancouver, BC. 604-684-0445.

JUNE 14, 15, 2008: Secret Gardens Tour.

Nine homes will open their gardens to ticket holders in a unique fundraiser for the VanDusen Botanical Gardens called “Secret Gardens”. This year’s collection of gardens presents a broad range of styles and plantings, from formal to romantic to aquatic to culinary in theme. Tickets are $30 per person and must be purchased in advance from Vandusen.

JUNE 14, 15, & 22, 2008 Three Day Wine & Spirits Education Trust - Intermediate Course.

The Wine & Spirits Education Trust courses (Intermediate Level) takes place today in Kelowna. Courses will be taught by James Cluer of Fine Vintage Ltd. Prices: $800 (includes instruction, wine & study materials) plus optional $105 (for Exam & WSET Certificate). 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Register at www.finevintageltd.com or call 1-866-379-4915.

JUNE 21, 2008: Projected Opening Day for the UBC Farm Market.

Mark your calendars. UBC farm market has scheduled their first Saturday market of the season on this date, between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. (weather permitting.)

The first market will have a variety of early season produce, as well as seedlings and other plants. At UBC Farms. 6182 South Campus Road, UBC. JUNE 22, 2008: Master Class Series: Grilling 101 Morton Steakhouse presents Grilling 101, the first in the Morton’s Master Class Series. This class teaches the secrets of grilling, marinades and rubs.

Morton’s Executive Chef Lee Milton

will be teaching the fine nuances of grilling. The class includes a steak and seafood lunch with wine or beer.

Students will also be presented with a gift bag which includes Morton’s secret grilling sauce, grilling cheat sheet and Morton’s CD. $99 (all-inclusive). 1 p.m. 750 West Cordova Street, Vancouver. 604-915-5105.

JUNE 24, 2008: Training Your Staff for the FrontLine.

The Wine Plus+ Front-Line Training is a half-day course intended to provide both new and existing front-line staff with the wine knowledge they need to do their job well. This program is focused for those involved in or looking to work in the wine industry. $99 per person. 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Taking place in Kelowna. To register or receive more information contact Rhys Pender of Wine Plus+ at 250-317-8796. Or email rhys@wineplus.ca JUNE 25, 2008: Lobster Dinner at Hart House.

The evening begins in the open air of Hart House’s Burnaby estate with an hour of wine sampling followed by a buffet-style dinner featuring fresh Nova Scotia lobster. Hart House’s is famous for its unparalleled view of Deer Lake.

Entertainment will be live, toe-tapping Maritime music.Reservations by phone only. 6664 Deer Lake Ave., Burnaby.

604-298-4278 JULY 5, 6, 2008: 4th Annual Organic Islands Festival & Sustainability Expo.

Canada’s largest outdoor green festival, provides a look at who's who in the green community. Featuring over 100 exhibits, interactive displays, presentations, natural food demos, children's activities and entertainment. Taking place at Glendale Gardens & Woodland at the Horticultural Centre of the Pacific. 505 Quayle Road, Victoria.

250-658-8148.

11/30/07 2:03:15 PM

Pg 6,7-Calendar

6/10/08

1:55 PM

Page 3

JULY 13, 2008 The Seattle Luxury Chocolate Salon.

A collection of world famous chocolates will be on sale/exhibition to win the Luxury Chocolate Salon Awards. The chocolates will be made by chocolatiers and confectioners such as Amano Artisan Chocolate, Kekau Chocolatier, Cocoa Chai Chocolates, Petit Noirs, Guittard Chocolate, Poco Dolce and many more. $20 entry fee ($17.50 if purchased in advance), Bell Harbor International Conference Center, 2211 Alaskan Way, Seattle. .

JULY 19, 2008: Cookbook Swap at the Farmers Market.

Bring one, buy one. Your used cookbooks, that is.

The annual swap takes place at the East Vancouver Farmers Market at Trout Lake (15th and Victoria Drive). Vancouver.

JULY 27, 2008: A Matter of Taste: Ceramics and Culinary Connections Suitable for groups of 8-30, this program links the history of European food, nutrition, and the etiquette of eating with the European ceramics in the Koerner Ceramics Gallery. $10 per person. 1 p.m. To book, contact 604-822-4643 or bookings@moa.ubc.ca.

Sponsors are Firefly Fine Wines and Ales and Langford Foods. Exhibition takes place at the UBC Musuem of Anthropogy. 6393 N.W. Marine Drive, Vancouver. 604-822-5087.

.

SEPTEMBER 13: Naramata Bench Wineries Tailgate Party: Twenty-two Naramata Bench wineries are coming together to drop their tailgates, pour wine, and have a party! Ticket price includes a buffet of local cuisine provided by the chefs from Naramata Heritage Inn & Spa, Hillside Estate Barrel Room Bistro, Okanagan Herb Co. and The Bench Artisan Food Market.

Tickets $75 + tax.This year the event will be hosted

by Township 7 Vineyards & Winery (1450 McMillan Avenue just before Naramata Road) For info,visit www. naramatabenchlands.com. Or call Ok Reservations Direct 1-800-663-1900.

Best Seasonal Menus Be on the lookout for these special menus and bargain deals this summer: * Chef James Walt will repeat his 100-mile Chef’s Tasting menu at Araxi restaurant, where every ingredient will be sourced, raised, produced or grown from within a 100 mile (160 kilometre) radius of the Whistler/Pemberton area. 4222 Whistler Village Square. 604-932-4540. * At Provence Marinaside, Chef Jean-Francis Quaglia is cooking up a Duo of Crevettes Tachees de BC, in other words, two jumbo BC spot prawns with potato and spinach salad with grainy mustard and bacon vinaigrette. It’s part of the $42,. 3-course prix fixe menu, along with the antipasti selection or Qualicum Bay scallops, plus a choice from the dessert menu. 1177 Marinaside Crescent. 604-681-4144.

* While the season lasts, Raincity Grill will be making a splash with BC spot prawns on a 100 mile tasting menu that will feature the prawn on four out of the six courses. $62. Or try out the take out window. Ten dollars gets you beer-battered halibut and chips, accompanied by tartar and slaw all served in eco-friendly containers. 1193 Denman Street. 604-685-7337. * Over at West, Chef Warren Geraghty is offering the latest seafood ingredient, sableenes, on his seasonal prix fixe menu. 2881 Granville St.604-738-8938. * At CinCin, Chef Thierry Busset will offer his all-fruit dessert menu. 1154 Robson St 604-688-7338 * August at Horizons brings back the Best of BC – $30 for a 3 course dinner prepared by Executive Chef John Garrett, using only the best ingredients from bountiful British Columbia! Or dine at Horizons in June and receive any of their seafood entrees for $20 with a coupon available from the website at www.horizonsrestaurant.com (see Promotions under the Guest Room tab) 100 Centennial Way, Burnaby. 604-299-1155.

CITYFOOD

SEPTEMBER 12, 13, 14: EAT! Fraser Valley: Food + Cooking Show In response to consumer demand in the Valley, EAT! Vancouver has launched a second show in the Fraser Valley to draw on its consumer base of 1.5 million persons. As in Vancouver, the show will feature food, beverage and kitchen goods exhibitors along with wineries, breweries, restaurants, cooking demonstrations, wine and cheese seminars, cookbook authors, chef competitions and barbecue and chili cook-offs.

Taking place at the Tradex Exhibition Centre in Abbotsford. See www.eat-fraservalley.com for ticket and time information.

7

AUGUST 16, 23,24,27, 2008: Tomato Festival at the Farmers Market: A day of events planned around everyone’s favourite season at the Farmers Markets - Tomato time! West End (16th), East Vancouver (23rd), Kitsilano (24th), Riley Park (27th). Check our website at www.cityfood.com for updates.

SEPTEMBER 7: Lower Mainland Feast of Fields: FarmFolk/CityFolk once again holds its popular annual fundraiser at UBC Farms. 1-5 p.m. Over 40 participants (restaurants, wineries, breweries and food producers) have signed up and many more are expected. Tickets go on sale to the public on July 1, 2008. As we have every year since the festival began, CityFood Magazine is proud to be a media sponsor for this event.

Spring 2008

AUGUST 7-9, 2008: Okanagan Summer Wine Festival 2008.

The Okanagan Summer Wine Festival is held every second weekend in August at Silver Star Mountain Resort in Vernon. Come and treat yourself to an intimate weekend of wine education, arts, music and mile high outdoor recreation.The summer wine festival offers unique wine seminars, great evening entertainment, a foot stomping musical outdoor wine tasting and presentations by local artists.Check the website for more information. www.owfs.com

SEPTEMBER 6, 7, 13, 14, 27, 28, 2008 Six Day Wine & Spirits Education Trust Advanced Course.

The Wine & Spirits Education Trust courses (Advanced Level) takes place today in Vancouver.

Courses will be taught by James Cluer of Fine Vintage Ltd. Prices: $1,595 (includes instruction, wine & study materials) plus optional $130 (for Exam & WSET Certificate). 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Register Now at www.finevintageltd.com or call 1-866-379-4915.

.

AUGUST 2, 2008 Wine & Spirits Education Trust - Foundation Course.

The Wine & Spirits Education Trust courses (Foundation Level) takes place today in Penticton.

Courses will be taught by James Cluer of Fine Vintage Ltd. Prices: $299 (includes instruction, wine & study materials) plus optional $70 (for Exam & WSET Certificate). 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Register at www.finevintageltd.com or call 1-866-379-4915.

AUGUST 30, 2008: Sea to Sky Feast of Fields: The third annual Feast of Fields event for the Whistler/Pemberton area takes place this year at Rebagliati Park in Whistler. Enjoy farm fresh fare and the best of the local restaurants, wineries and breweries. Bid on items donated by the local business community at the silent auction. 1 to 5 p.m.

4540 Blackcomb Way, Whistler.CityFood Magazine will be a media sponsor for this event.

Pg 8,9,10,11-tasting

6/13/08

9:22 AM

Page 2

A MIGHTY SHRIMP ”If I eat another spot prawn I think I will gag,” said the man across the dinner table. Graphic to be sure, but also an indirect compliment to the successful promotion of a local BC seafood ingredient that only a few short years ago, most locals consumers were not even aware of.

This year you can’t miss the tasty little beasts. They are a featured item on nearly every restaurant menu in town, and expected to still be swimming strong until sometime around the end of June.

Thank these three: 1) Environment organizations such as the David Suzuki Foundation and the Vancouver Public Aquarium, whose Oceanwise program raised awareness for local seafood sustainablity in partnership with BC restaurants and other food business. 2) Early supporters such as Chef Robert Clark of C restaurant, who made an initial commitment to the product; and 3) the Chefs’ Table Society, who with their Spot Prawn Festival, alerted home cooks to the fact that they could buy prawns direct from the fisherman.

This spring, the Festival launch party attracted 800 people to the False Creek Fishermens’ Wharf, and the fish boats will continue to sell their catch to the public from 1:30 p.m., daily, until end of season. One might say the scene is hopping like a pot of shrimp on the boil. 1505 West 1st.

on the

Tasting menu A small sample of the news and features posted fresh every day on www.cityfood.com

CITYFOOD

8

Spring 2008

Photo of Spot Prawns by Jackie Connelly

.

T True to our region Tr T ue to the seasons

NEW PUBLIC ART GALLERY

.

While speculation buzzes over the future of the new restaurant at the Shangri-la Hotel, what’s known for certain, and to some people may be more exciting, is the hotel’s agreement with the Vancouver Art Gallery to host a free-admission, public art space on the ground floor of the common area.

This will be the VAG’s first outdoor exhibit space, and they plan to use it for changing installations of cutting edge contemporary art. Yes, this means exposure to the city’s mercurial and often soggy weather, but not all of the works will be traditional sculpture. There is one large wall that could be utilized for large scale image screening … think giant slide projector.

VICTORIA S TIPPLE IN A TEA CUP IN A TEA CUP If 2007 was the year of the 100 mile menu, then perhaps 2008 will be known for 100 mile drinking.

In honour of their 100th birthday, Victoria’s Fairmont Empress Hotel has just debuted their own in-house gin.

Local winemaker, Ken Winchester of Winchester Cellars, used the winery’s wood-fired, copper pot still to blend ten locally grown, organic botanicals, including juniper berries and rose petals, plus one secret ingredient known only to the distillery.

Look for it in signature Empress cocktails, including the “Queen’s Jubilee”, created in honour of her Majesty’s visit to the hotel in 2002. Or purchase the flint shaped bottle at Straith Spirit Merchants. $49 CDN.

NESPRESSO PERKS THINGS UP AT THE BAY All of Nespresso’s machines, accessories, and coffee pods, plus an assortment of designer coffee cups and spoons, are now on view at their spacious new showcase which opened in the basement level of the downtown Bay store this spring.

A subsidiary of parent company Nestle (headquartered in Switzerland), it’s only the second retail shop that the company has opened in Canada. (They have one store in Toronto, a few in major US cities, and many café/stores sprinkled throughout the capitals of Europe.) One item that’s difficult to resist, is the "Tasting Box" of 3 dozen coffee capsules, complete with its “map” under the lid, making it look like an old-fashioned box of chocolates. Purchase one of the machines, and the Tasting Box comes packaged along with it.

Pg 8,9,10,11-tasting

6/13/08

2:06 PM

Page 3

Indie movies have always been hip, but suddenly they are more prolific than ever, with indie film festivals popping up everywhere - some of them even devoted exclusively to food-themed issues. Apparently, if you have the will, a camera, and so much as a non GMO peanut butter sandwich budget to work with, there are no lack of agro-business industries to star in your Michael Moore-style exposé.

Two of the most interesting films in circulation this summer are King Corn and The Real Dirt on Farmer John. In King Corn (www.kingcorn.net), two filmmakers grow an acre of corn and then follow it through the food distribution system to track what becomes of their crop. In Farmer John (http://www.farmerjohnmovie.com/FJhome.html), a thirdgeneration Illinois farmer, who is also an activist and performance artist, shakes up the system and otherwise does his best to stick a pitchfork in the pants of the agro-industry powers.

.

Spring 2008

9 CITYFOOD

.

Coming soon to Barbara-Jos Books to Cooks for a cooking demo and book launch on June 22 and 23rd, is Diana Kennedy. The famous cookbook author and one of the world’s foremost experts on regional Mexican cuisine, Ms Kennedy has been awarded the Order of the Aztec Eagle - one of the highest honors in the country - for her service in promoting the arts and culture of Mexico.

Following on her heels will be Mark Kurlansky (June 27 and 28), who with his newest book “The Last Fish Tale, documents his firsthand experience of coastal culture and commercial fisheries. He warns that such a way of life may not be much longer sustained. Kurlansky will preside at one of the bookstore’s 6 o’ clock salons as well as a dinner at Vancouver’s C Restaurant. See www.bookstocooks.

While big name chefs from New York were moving in, local chefs were quietly moving up.

Joseph Sartor, the former sous chef of C restaurant, recently took the helm at NU Restaurant & Lounge as Chef de Cuisine, and launched his new menu for the season. Look for Red Ace Beet Root and Goat Cheese Salad; Braised Short Rib and Foie Gras Pot Pie; and Pan Roasted Lamb Sirloin among other items that westcoast people like.

Pg 8,9,10,11-tasting

6/13/08

9:23 AM

Page 4

BEST OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST

new restaurants...

Revel Room Restaurant & Lounge 238 Abbott Street, Vancouver 604-687-4088

Better late than never? When we first wrote about Revel (back in July 2007), the projected opening date was six weeks later. Well, it took a little longer, but hopefully the wait will be worth it.

Sometimes it takes a little faith. The place looked so nondistinctive from the outside that we almost missed it in daylight, but come nightfall, the classic Gastown vintage look of high ceilings, exposed brick and beam and flickering candlelight shining from behind the neon signage, welcomes one into a casual, neighbourhood club-like space. That’s the way the four industry savvy partners intended it to be. With Chef Michael Pacey producing an eclectic but not a concept-forced collection of world-inspired tapas, and bar manager Sean Hamilton armed with a coveted 2. a.m. closing time license, now that they’ve built it, the legendary “they” will surely come.

Uva Wine Bar

whistler village 1 604 932 4540 toptable.ca

A downtown city block that has never boasted an attraction before, (unless one is in need of something from the Staples store), has sprouted the jaunty little Uva Wine Bar, on the ground floor of the newly refurbished Moda Hotel. Frankly, the contrasting black, white and red decor of the place leaves us a little chilly. One shouldn’t be so ballsy as to go with white chairs in a wine bar, only to chicken out with wipe-down, go-go boot fabric. And the red light they shine inside at night has you looking for the disco ball.

Nevermind, the wine is the thing, and well respected sommelier/ consultant Sebastien Le Goff knows his stuff. The charcuterie of locally cured meat and aged cheeses has enough eye and taste appeal to make up for everything, and if you weight watching, you might not even mind that it is sliced paper thin.

The Greedy Pig 307 Cordova St., Vancouver, BC 604-669-4991

CITYFOOD

10

Spring 2008

.

900 Seymour St, Vancouver, BC 604-632-9560

After reading a local reviewer’s complaints about the restaurant’s WC, we entered with trepidation. However, we figure she must have had the bad luck to have followed a bean-eating customer, because we found them to be well ventilated. Our disappointment was on the menu.The pulled pork sandwich (even though made from an in-house recipe), wasn’t quite the juicy satisfaction we were hoping for. And the uninspired terra chips on the side did nothing to help. But in other ways, the little spot is a friendly charmer. The band set up in the back, and the surrounding cozy corners, gives it away that the Pig is at its best as a night hangout that comes alive when the music and crowds are present. A real gem is the menu of old-fashioned bourbon drinks fashioned by hip barman, Nick Devine.

.

D O L U N C H AT L E G AV R O C H E Leisurely or working business, Le Gavroche offers lunch with style.

Close to downtown offices and shopping there is no better place to do lunch.

Jordan’s Crossing 2131 Lake Placid Rd., Whistler, BC 604-966-5705

This new restaurant located in Creekside’s beautiful Nita Lake Lodge Hotel, was in transition when we got our first look.. Chef Andrew Springett had already left to set up the menus for the owner’s other new property in Ucluelet, Black Rock Resort. Even so, three things stood out as winning features. 1) The drop jaw gorgeous view of Nita Lake from the restaurant’s wall length picture windows. 2) A very competent, old-fashioned Caesar Salad prepared tableside in a carved tree trunk bowl (such rustic sophistication); and 3) An amazingly talented pastry chef who turned out to be such a well kept secret, even the staff didn’t know her name. The picture to the right is the lounge, not the restaurant, but both are worth a stop if you have just chugged in on the Whistler train, whose station terminus is just next door.

The Restaurant at Painted Boat 1289 Lagoon Road, Madiera Park, BC no phone number yet

T

he art of dining is nowhere more apparent than at Le Gavroche.

1 6 1 6 A L B E R N I S T R E E T | 6 0 4 - 6 8 5 - 3 9 2 4 | W W W. L E G AV R O C H E . C O M

The restaurant at the new Painted Boat Resort Spa and Marina is due to open mid-June, and from all accounts it is shaping up to be an impressive addition to the Sechelt dining scene. Located in the heart of Pender Harbour (on the site of the former Lowe’s Resort), the development is the newest project of Canadian Rocky Mrn Resorts, the people behind several well known lodges located within the National Parks of BC and Alberta. Architect Peter Treuheit designed the entire complex to evoke the look of westcoast exposed timber lofts and the restaurant will sit on the end of an actual one, looking directly over the water views. Calgary-born Chef David Cox may be better known to Albertans (he is exalumni of Muse as well as Divino’s Wine & Cheese Bistro). but he is already a convert to Westcoast seafood and local ingredients.

Pg 8,9,10,11-tasting

6/13/08

9:24 AM

Page 5

New product - Sableenes

.

In their efforts to more fully utilize food animals, chefs have been bravely experimenting, if not frightening their customers, with the introduction of novelties such as tongues, ears, feet, and other "less popular" cuts of meat onto their fine dining menus. The seafood department is getting no exemption from these trendy ideas about waste reform either.

The greater dining public may not be ready for fins and eyeballs, nevertheless, fish carcasses are being reexamined for overlooked tasty bits that hitherto may have been flung from the backs of fishboats as so much seagull buffet.

From this search has come the sableene (pronounced like Mabeline), and it's an item that's not turning out to be a hard sell at all. "Sableene" is the chosen marketing term for a thumb-sized piece of flesh attached to the collar behind a sablefish’s main dorsal fin -a part that usually gets thrown away when fishmongers discard the head. However, digging it out of its surrounding bone and cartilage is well worth the effort, because just like the filet on steak, this small morsel has a distinct flavour and texture all its own.

Warren Geraghty, executive chef of Vancouver’s West restaurant describes the sableene as having a sweeter taste than the rest of the sablefish, and without its flaky texture.

“Meat from the sablefish collar is denser and more fleshy, somewhat like a monkfish cheek,” Geraghty says. “And, it takes caramelization beautifully! That, and its compact size, makes it perfect for appetizer dishes.”

Sableenes are such a new item to the market that Chef Warren has only been working with the product for a few weeks – about the same time that Seaside Marketing first introduced the product to local Vancouver chefs for their feedback.

Beyond the fish itself, what the seafood wholesaler offers is the convenience factor.

You don’t get much of the item from a single fish. But while their fish boats are still at sea off the Queen Charlotte Islands, the company has the sableenes separated from the collars in bulk and then flash frozen directly after harvesting. Later they deliver these to the restaurants, sealed in Cryovac packages, approximately 20 pieces per packet.

As shown in the photo above, Chef Warren has been using the item in his Sablefish Noisettes, Artichokes and Saffron Barigoule. It’s one of the three courses in West’s $49 prix fixe menu for spring, and it’s available at the restaurant now. Apparently, the response from customers has been one of unanimous approval.

“Before I came to Canada, I never cooked with frozen fish”, says the formerly London-based Geraghty. "And I never thought I would, but this product is of such good quality, it's changing my mind.”

Spring 2008

11 CITYFOOD

.

Used cooking oil is not something one usually associates with health and the environment. Especially in fast food restaurants where the usual rotation for a pot of oil is French fries, then fried chicken, then fried seafood or onion rings, then out as landfill. However, there are two more environmentally friendly ways to deal with it. One is to clean the oil via the services of a company like ReNu Oil (www.renuoil.com), and therefore use less oil. The second is to sign up for Restaurant Green Zone (http://restaurantgreenzone.com), a program whereby ERM Biosource will buy used oil from restaurants, and then convert it into a source of biofuel, such as biodiesel.

(Restaurants may also choose to donate the payment to the Heart and Stroke Fund.)

So far, hundreds of restaurants and hotels in BC have signed up for the Green Zone program (see the complete list on the website), and when they do they get a sticker like the one above to display in restaurant windows or on cash registers.

The qualifier is that the program will only accept non-transfat vegetable oil. So for the public, the tag is also reassuring proof that the restaurant is actually cooking with the healthier, if much more expensive, cooking oil.

Photo of Revel, Uva and Sableenes by Jackie Connelly

new service - restaurant green zone

Pg 12, 13 -patrons of arts

6/11/08

12:21 PM

Page 2

robson street 604 688 7338 valet nightly toptable.ca

.

CITYFOOD

12

Spring 2008

.

italian inspired woodfired cucina

Cactus Club Culture ...casual dining or people’s art gallery?

If you happen to be eating in one of the restaurants belonging to the Cactus Club chain and you notice an Andy Warhol-esque piece of art on the wall, don’t assume it is a print, poster, or somebody’s riff on the master; most likely it’s the real thing. That’s because company founder Richard Jaffray, an art lover, has been building a collection of works by important 20th century artists and then sharing them with his Cactus Club customers by putting selected pieces on display in the dining rooms.

The photos above, for example, show “Kimiko”, “Sitting Bull” and “Howdie Doody”, all works by Andy Warhol. You will find the first two located at the new Byrne Road location in Burnaby, and Howdie is hanging at Surrey’s Southpoint. But look around other Cactus Club venues and you might run into paintings by Jean Michel Basquiat and Sol Lewitt, as well as architectural lighting designs from the likes of Ingo Mauer and Louis Poulson.

Expect to see even more in the future. When the Cactus Club opens this summer in the downtown Bentall 5 building, it will feature a number of original works from the collection including Warhol’s “After the Party”; Basquiat’s series “Cabeza”, “Jawbone of an Ass”, and “Charles the First”, as well as an original, untitled work by actor, Sir Anthony Hopkins. In addition, the new flagship room will also be home to a group of modern architectural lighting designs, including Louis Poulsen’s “Artichoke Light”, Flos’ “Zeppelin Suspension Lamp”, and sculptural pieces by local BC artist, Brent Comber.

For Richard Jaffray, investment is sometimes a consideration when purchasing for the collection, however, he claims not to be focused on any particular genre, and these days he just buys what he and his design team likes, without pre-supposing a location for it in advance.

Granted, there may be no better way to bring art to the people that to exhibit them in a public eating space, but is this good for the art? Or for that matter, considering their value, is it a safe practice for the owner?

“Not to worry”, says Cactus Club spokesperson, Meaghan Benmore, “the art is securely mounted and closely monitored”. It is also shielded from any sticky fingered admirer (pun intended) by clear, plexiglass casing.

No doubt, Andy Warhol himself would approve. The artist seldom felt comfortable eating outside the “casual dining” restaurant atmosphere, and he was often photographed eating one of his favourite foods, a hamburger. He even starred with a burger in one of his own films. (See page 18.)

Pg 12, 13 -patrons of arts

6/4/08

10:12 AM

Page 3

If music be the love of food, play on ... an interview with musician Phil Dwyer of the jazz trio “Food for Thought”.

Phil Dwyer, saxophone player, is a multiple JUNO winner for Jazz Recording of the Year. He is also the principal behind the Phil Dwyer Academy of Musical and Culinary Arts (PDMCA), a popular summer program that takes place on Vancouver Island.

CityFood: It sounds like when you are not thinking about music you are musing about food?

Phil : Well,we all have to eat and being as food is so essential to our well being, it stands to reason that the more thought you put into your diet and eating habits, the better off you will be. I make a point to eat a diet of mostly "one ingredient" foods, ie not processed, and as much as possible I avail myself of the rich and diverse supply of food produced in my local area of Qualicum Beach. I probably spend a couple of hours every day shopping for and preparing our main family meal, but the payoff in terms of health and time together with my wife and two kids is huge.

PD: You're a tough interviewer, are you sure you didn't used to work for the 5th Estate? If by catchy name you mean “not

CF: If the supermarket was a band, what foods would your band instruments be?

PD:: Saxophone: A rare, rib-eye steak; Bass: Pasta with a garlic/olive oil sauce (because it is filling and fundamental); Drums: Ben and Jerry's Cherry Garcia with a double espresso.

CF: Have you ever composed a piece of music and named it after food?

Q3: When I worked as a studio musician in Toronto my usual breakfast spot was the Senator Diner. I always had the same thing.....Senator breakfast #2, which was 3 eggs any style, challah toast, baked beans, tomato slice, home fries and coffee. I always ate it the same way, and one time I was looking for a tune title and came up with one to describe my breakfast order..."Scrambled & Crispy". Another time I named a tune after my favourite Toronto Indian restaurant at that time, Blues for Shan-e-Hind. I think that's about it.

CF: Do you have a favourite restaurant for listening to jazz?

PD:I have to give the nod to the Cellar, because I like the food there quite a bit, and their music policy is world class. But of course, anywhere that supports good, live music is ok with me.

Food For Thought will be playing at the Ironworks on June 24th as part of the Vancouver Jazz Festival.

More information on Phil Dwyer, Food for Thought, and the PDMCA is available at www.phildwyer.com

.

CF: Your bio mentions that your trio, Food for Thought, "advocates for the preservation of local agricultural lands and the consumption of locally grown, organic food". Can you tell us more about that? And by giving the trio that moniker, are you consciously trying to make the connection between your music and your culinary ideology, or was it just a catchy name?

PD: Red Beans and Rice, with sausage.

CITYFOOD

PD: Mick is lying....but I didn't mean to come off as some kind of raw food wacko, I lived on scotch and beer for years.

Don't put that in the article! Although, some of my best friends are raw food wackos......in fact, I hired a raw food chef at my Musical/Culinary Arts school last summer) As for myself, I would classify myself as an enthusiastic amateur cook, and a wannabe gardener. Right now I have been really enjoying the spot prawn season. I also have the good fortune to live about 2 miles from Sloping Hills pig farm, which is supplying many of the top Vancouver restaurants. We always run out of bacon so I go over to their farm gate store all the time. This is a great time of year as the produce starts to hit the market, the tides as good for digging clams, and the fresh spring salmon is starting to show up. We are in the process of developing an organic vegetable garden on our 2.5 acre property. We have a pretty big space for it, but it is a lot of work especially when you don't really know what you are doing.

CF:What sort of food goes best with Jazz? And don’t say “brunch”

13

CF: Mick Jagger once said that all the sex, drugs and rock and roll stuff was just image propaganda that the fans wanted to believe. That in actual fact, the band ate health food, jogged and went to bed early, or they could never hop around the stage like they do. Maybe jazz musicians are different, but you are making it sound like you exist on trail mix ... when actually we’ve heard you are something of a cook, and an organic gardener ... true?

PD: After a day of music we take a long (2+ hours) lunch break and everybody pitches in on the preparation of the communal meal. This year I have a lot more students so I am still working out the details, but I have a couple of professional chefs who are helping me out. I have some developing partnerships with a local organic bakery, Sushi-Mon (a local sushi bar), Sloping Hills Farm, Rainbarrel Organic produce, Little Qualicum Cheeseworks, and other farms and culinary consultants. We also have a big pot luck dinner/bbq for students, friends and family at the end. Last year we had around 70 people for that, probably more this year.

Spring 2008

A: That's funny! Eating well when you are on tour can be tough. Catering at concerts can be pretty uninspired, so you have to make it a priority to eat well. I find that if you engage people in conversation about their favourite local restaurants, you can get some good tips. For example, the bassist in that I work with in Edmonton loves to eat well, and on his recommendation I ate at a fabulous Cajun place that I probably wouldn't have found otherwise. I will also go to the health food places and buy bags of nuts and dried fruit. More and more people are getting turned on to the 100 Mile Diet style of eating, so it's getting easier to find good meals everywhere.

CF:Where is your PDAMCA school located? And how do you integrate the appreciation of good food into the music part of the curriculum?

.

CF: But musicians have a reputation for certain excesses.

How do you manage to stay faithful to your monogamous lifestyle (we're talking ingredients here) when you are constantly on the road?

sincere”, then the answer is absolutely not. I live the premise, and think that everyone else should too, within the limits of their abilities to do so. But.....it is a catchy name .. a sort of gastro/musical double entendre, and there's nothing wrong with that..

As for politics, I am opposed to taking farmland out of the ALR. When all the land is turned into Winners stores, what are we going to eat, discounted t-shirts? I live on a piece of ALR land, and if I got it removed I could retire, but luckily I don't want to retire. At this point we haven't done anything specifically connected to any cause. I have been hoping that we might be approached by one or more of the Feast Of Fields type events (like the one in the Cowichan Valley) but so far it hasn't happened. The band itself is only pretty new, so I'm sure more opportunities will come up.

Pg 14,15 - cookbooks

6/13/08

1:59 PM

Page 2

cookbooks illustrated Celebrating Our Ocean’s Harvest

Helen’s Cookbook

yaletown 604 688 8078 valet nightly toptable.ca

.

CITYFOOD

14

Spring 2008

.

By the artists and writers of the Helen Pitt Gallery, 2007 The Helen Pitt Gallery is an artist-run exhibition centre at the far, grungiest end of Gastown. Or it’s trendiest up-and-coming corner, depending on how you want to look at it.

Last year, after members had produced a performance art piece entitled Helen’s Wedding, a wedding themed banquet and fundraiser, they started to dwell on how much food had served as a unifying force for the event -- in its planning, execution, and social conviviality.

Discussions led to a book project .... one that through the medium of art, would comment on society’s social and psychological connections to what we eat. The resulting Helen’s Cookbook is an ensemble effort, yet the contributions of recipes, photos, artworks, essays and other interpretive forms of expression are as unique, creative, ironic and individual as the contributing artists themselves.

There is a wine label drawn to look like a bottle of HP sauce, a poem that bleeds words like a well roasted haunch of beef; a log cabin made from asparagus. Not to mention recipes for such things as wiener water soup, I Ching Apple pie and a Iraq war-themed Jell-O salad. Many of the simpler recipes are tributes to grandmothers, but weirdness is in abundance too. Such as the “Head of Department” Cake, a cake decked out to resemble a UBC faculty member’s face.

For its $15 price there is a lot packed into this slim little volumne. Every time we look, we discover something delightfully (or revoltingly) new. Which of course, was the intent behind the book.

Helen’s Cookbook is for sale at the Gallery A Fly in the Microwave written and illustrated by Roy Mackey Self Published, 2007 "Fly” is Vancouver metal sculptor Roy Mackay’s "humorous collection of memories about growing up on a small farm in the Rocky Mountains".

To quote from the book's pages: "My sister and I both loved animals, though for slightly different reasons. I guess she saw their free spirited beauty that inspired contentment. I saw a moving target and a piping hot meal." ...You get the picture. Twisted yes, but also hilarious, and a hot selling item in the art circles. http://roymackeysblog.wordpress.com Au Pied de Cochon

by Martin Picard Douglas & McIntyre, 2007, $60

gift baskets now available monday to friday 10am - 6pm & saturday 10am - 5pm 450 west 2nd ave., vancouver, bc 604.708.0173 gourmetmarket.ca

If we could vote for art book of the year, we would give the honour to a cookbook. Montreal chef Martin Picard may be a celebrity for his macho-gastro style, but his book is an attention grabber all on its own. 600 photos. 50 original illos all put together in the sepia-toned collage/scrapbook style made popular by photographer Peter Beard. Anthony Bourdain writes a forward to the English version, but the French version has the comic strip. There are 55 recipes from the restaurant, (all of the foir gras ones), and oh yes...poutine.

Available at all general book stores and from the restaurant.

Pg 14,15 - cookbooks

6/13/08

9:35 AM

Page 3

Special Cookbook

By Mary Patterson Images by Shawn Shepherd Polychrome Fine Arts & Publishing, 2007

To reserve your suite at The Villa please call: 250 498 4435 To order your wine online visit www.hestercreek.com

.

13163 - 326th Avenue, Oliver, BC Road #8, Open daily at 10 AM

CITYFOOD

Hester Creek Estate Winery

15

Vancouver artist Monique Motut-Firth created In My Baba’s Garden as a children’s story book, illustrated via designs hand stitched into felt with embroidery thread.

The “plot”, to excuse the pun, depicts the annual growing cycle in the fruit and vegetable garden of her grandmother, Polly Vishloff (Baba), a proud Doukobour, textile artist and Pathfinder of Mission,BC. The two women originally intended the work just as a gift for Monique’s new daughter, Hazel, however it also became a part of a recent Emily Carr exhibition entitled The Art of Food. (See details on page 16).

You can find the book at Little Earth Children’s Store, 2643 East Hastings St., or the Vancouver Co-op bookstore on Commercial Drive. Or email to babagarden@hotmail.com

Spring 2008

In My Baba’s Garden

by Monique Motut-Firth 2007

.

Mary Patterson is a mosaicist, chef and baker with a resume that includes restaurants such as Bishop’s, Rebar Modern Foods, Brasserie L’Ecole and the Italian Baker.

Shawn Shepherd is successful multimedia artist, best known for his abstract paintings of tangled gardens, typographical lettering and colourful depictions of food subjects, such as the “Breakfast” Series.

Together, the Victoria-based couple created this Special Cookbook, as a two year labour of love.

The book is divided into 19 sections, each one devoted to a single seasonal produce item -- from apples to watermelons -- with each section introduced by a Shepherd painting from his “Special Still Life” series that nearly jumps from the page with its juicy vitality.

Patterson’s favourite recipes, from grape ice cream to octopus lasagna are intriguing, delicious, yet not intimidating for the home cook.

While the compact book fits snug in the hand, the type is large and easy to read. All making for a neat little present - for a friend or yourself.

Available at Barbara-Jo’s Books to Cooks in Vancouver, various locations in Victoria, or online at www.polychromefinearts.com. $18

NOW OPEN: THE VILLA

TRULY REMARKABLE GUEST SUITES

Pg. 16,17 - Emily Carr Show

6/13/08

9:41 AM

Page 2

...The Brief

.

CITYFOOD

16

Spring 2008

.

When people undertake the process of growing, harvesting, cooking and consuming food, they partake in the physical nourishment of body, and they are intricately involved in a social experience. Food is necessary to sustain life, connects us to other living beings, and it is an important part of our social fabric. Food can contribute to feelings of desire, celebration, pleasure, despair, anger and guilt, and it resides at the nucleus of discussion on topics such as the environment, health, politics, science and beauty. The Art of Food explores the intricate nature of the impact of food on our lives, though an art exhibition, panel discussion, lectures and films.

6

Last fall, guest curator Randy Lee Cutler, Associate Dean of Integrated Studies at Emily Carr Institute, and Sadira Rodrigues, independent curator and arts administrator, worked with student organizers to select diverse artworks in sculpture, photography, painting, ceramics, book arts, film, and industrial design to represent the significance of food as an integrated component of our social condition. These food-related artworks, created by ECI alumni, graduate, and undergraduate students were then displayed in the Concourse Gallery of Emily Carr Institute on Granville Island.

To celebrate Granville Island as a creative community and to demonstrate how students can be leaders in the development of creative environments, this event, conceived and organized by undergraduate students Debbie Westergaard Tuepah and Wendi Copeland, invited participation for ECI faculty, student alumni, and organizations outside the institute walls. The collaborative approach led to a number of new ventures and opportunities.

The Sandbar Seafood Restaurant sponsored all the components of the exhibition. ECI Ceramics Faculty member Justin Novak and his students created custom service platters and dinnerware to usefor the opening night event. And ECI student Monique Motut-Firth created a commemorative book, In my Baba’s Garden, to give to sponsors, participating artists and organizers of the Art of Food.

(See details of the book on Page 15).

Below, in no particular order, is a list of the art created by the students for this event. Each one is a story unto itself.

To see a larger image and read the background of each art piece log on to www.cityfood.com/en/media/art_&_design.

11

1) Slow Bones, by Diana Smith (porcelain) 2) Food is Art, by Anthony Zoansky (found objects) 3) Asparagus, by Jennifer Stamper-Steffan (brass) 4) Liquidation, by Cameron McDonald (mixed media) 5) Fruit Head, by David Mook (medium format photography) 6) Food Wars, Series #1-12, by Pierre Leichner (digital photographs) 7) Food Has Power, by Erica Pang (acrylic, canvas) 8) Wave, a Factory Group/Sandbar Collaboration (porcelain) 9) Garbage Day, a Sustainability Working Group Collaboration (documentary film) 10) Crab Apple Gown, by Nicole Dextras (crab apples, kale, thorns, hemp thread) 11) Toxic Loaf and Bun, by Nancy Strider (salt, yeast, flour, wire, metal spike) 12) Napkin Rings, by Diana Smith (porcelain) 13) Dancing Potatoes, by Marissa Olson (ceramics) 14) Snap Bowl, by Zoe Garred (aircraft plywood) 15) Out Daily Bread , by Elizabeth Harris-Nichols (ceramic potatoes, wood chair) 16) Bestowal by Carlos Vela-Martinez (dark chocolate) 17) Das Crab by Joy Chien (ink and watercolour) 18) Downed on the Farm by Gayle Koyanagi (cookies, metal baking racks, plastic tablecloth 19) Tonque Sucker by Zarah Ackerman (sugar, corn syrup, colour, saliva) (See page 3) 20) Eating-In Vancouver by Ross Milne (paper, digital photography) (See page 3) 21) In my Baba's Garden by Monique Motut-Firth (embroidery thread, felt) (See page 15)

16

Pg. 16,17 - Emily Carr Show

6/11/08

1:44 PM

Page 3

5

2

3

1

7

8

10

12

13

14

15

4

.

Spring 2008

17 CITYFOOD

.

17

18

Revised page 18

6/13/08

1:48 PM

Page 2

Progress important and exciting everything is very

in

except food -- Andy Warhol

S

I like: pears, coffee (though not cappuccino), tarte tatin, cocktails at l'Archiduc,, cinnamon-flavoured anything...

.

CITYFOOD

18

Spring 2008

.

tarting May 30th and continuing until August 24th, The Art Gallery of Greater Victoria will present a tribute to Andy Warhol in a collection of over 150 of his paintings, prints, drawings, sculptures and films.

For fans of '60s pop culture, Warhol: Larger Than Life will be a chance to look at the artist's work up close. What may occur to observers in 2008, is that Warhol's ideas were strangely ahead of their time, while paradoxically, to our modern sensibilities, his subject matter seems more retro than ever. As New York Times writer Holly Brubach, in her review of a new Warhol biography, recently pointed out: “There was a prophetic quality to many of Warhol's epigrams. His passivity and his voyeurism predated the dawn of reality television and YouTube by some 40 years.

One can't help wishing he had survived long enough to use the Internet.”

A Warhol in your kitchen?

Artist Chis Plummer designed the Campbell’s soup stove hood above

and the Warhol portrait dishwasher (left) as part of the “Warhol Collection” for Metallo Arts

My name is Andy Warhol and I have just finished eating a hamburger.

Even more parallels between Warhol's mediums of artistic expression and that of post millennial culture could be made. His party Polaroids had the same invasive “gotcha” quality of cell phone photos. The drop in, friends-bring-along-friends atmosphere of his factory studio was like a Facebook page in real time. In the same way that Warhol brought a kind of low-brow legitimacy to art in the sixties, modern technology has equally democratized media and the control of information in our own times.

Much of Warhol's most iconic work were simple graphic representations of common food products. The famous Campbell's soup cans are the most obvious example, but other themes of everyday junk food that repeat throughout his work include images of Coca-cola bottles, Lifesavers, hot dogs, bananas and cocktails. Even his grainy, 8millimeter films such as Andy Warhol Eats a Hamburger, Mario Banana (which will be screened during the Art Gallery show), and another 45 minute film of an artist eating a single mushroom, slowed down the public performance of eating to the point of fetishising or the pornification of food.

Similar to our obsessions of today, Warhol's artistic commentary about modern life focused on the cheap reproduction of food for consumption by the masses - the uniformity of processed food, its predictability, and most of all, its ubiquitous presence. He was facinated by how a product’s branding and its advertising aura was more real to the consumer than the product itself, and what it was composed of.

And yet, Warhol felt these elements to be wondrous rather than sinister. He himself, claimed to have eaten the same brand of soup every day for lunch for over twenty years. He found a certain comfort and security in the fact that in all that time, it had always tasted and looked exactly the same, and that there was no reason to believe that it would not always continue to do so.

PHOTOGRAPH OF COCKTAIL BY QUINTON GORDON

.

Spring 2008

19

Warhol the diarist of banal A-list cocktail chatter... ”I used to go to parties every night..one after another, most of the time going all the way around the room and right back out the door. I’d make an appearance.

Lots of them. That’s how I’d remind people I was still alive. Now I wish I’d thought of telegrams.”

CITYFOOD

.

The Fairmont Empress' Tribute to Andy Warhol: The Artistic Endeavour: 1 tulip glass ice 1.5.oz Belvedere Pomaraca cranberry juice topped with soda drizzle of blue curacau Garnished with an orange twist (It's red white and blue and a touch of orange)... not too sweet.

Pg. 20, 21, 22, 23,24,25,38

6/13/08

2:09 PM

Page 4

W

e first encountered the work of the “Cameraman” when someone alerted us to the fact that there was a dumpster on Blood Alley decked out to look like a Louis Vuitton train case.

We didn’t believe it. Yet sure enough, the proof arrived in our email box in the form of a photo straight from the iPhone of Scott Hawthorn, one of the owning partners of the nearby restaurant, Salt Tasting Room.

There it was alright, in all its ironic splendor, carefully worked so that even the stitching and handles were faithfully reproduced in photos that had been blown up to scale and painstakingly decoupaged onto the surface of the rubbish bin.

Who would do such a thing, only to abandon it in the worst possible setting?

It had to be the work of someone with either a bizarre sense of humour, or a serious canvas shortage.

We ran down to take a closer look, but by the time we got there, the project, if not completely destroyed, had become altered, morphed into something else -- its paper torn off, or where strips still existed, covered with graffiti, rotting garbage and other things that are best not mentioned. Which was possibly what its creator had intended to happen.

Who was the mystery artist? No one seemed to know. An Internet search turned up evidence of similarly decorated garbage bins, and led to an artist by the name of “Cameraman”. Eventually it was staff at Boneta restaurant, located just around the corner from the Vuitton piece, who provided the contact we needed. (Seems that after the artwork first appeared, they had wheeled it around to the front of the restaurant and held a cocktail party around it.) And it turned out that Cameraman (Byron Dauncey) and his collaborator in art, Andrew 01 (Andrew Owen), were very well known indeed, to their own underground artistic circle and to other art lovers such as the novelist Timothy Taylor, author of Stanley Park. On page 24, we pull Taylor away from his work on a new novel to be our interpreter for a style of artistic expression that the two artists term -->

Pg. 20, 21, 22, 23,24,25,38

6/13/08

2:09 PM

Page 4

W

e first encountered the work of the “Cameraman” when someone alerted us to the fact that there was a dumpster on Blood Alley decked out to look like a Louis Vuitton train case.

We didn’t believe it. Yet sure enough, the proof arrived in our email box in the form of a photo straight from the iPhone of Scott Hawthorn, one of the owning partners of the nearby restaurant, Salt Tasting Room.

There it was alright, in all its ironic splendor, carefully worked so that even the stitching and handles were faithfully reproduced in photos that had been blown up to scale and painstakingly decoupaged onto the surface of the rubbish bin.

Who would do such a thing, only to abandon it in the worst possible setting?

It had to be the work of someone with either a bizarre sense of humour, or a serious canvas shortage.

We ran down to take a closer look, but by the time we got there, the project, if not completely destroyed, had become altered, morphed into something else -- its paper torn off, or where strips still existed, covered with graffiti, rotting garbage and other things that are best not mentioned. Which was possibly what its creator had intended to happen.

Who was the mystery artist? No one seemed to know. An Internet search turned up evidence of similarly decorated garbage bins, and led to an artist by the name of “Cameraman”. Eventually it was staff at Boneta restaurant, located just around the corner from the Vuitton piece, who provided the contact we needed. (Seems that after the artwork first appeared, they had wheeled it around to the front of the restaurant and held a cocktail party around it.) And it turned out that Cameraman (Byron Dauncey) and his collaborator in art, Andrew 01 (Andrew Owen), were very well known indeed, to their own underground artistic circle and to other art lovers such as the novelist Timothy Taylor, author of Stanley Park. On page 24, we pull Taylor away from his work on a new novel to be our interpreter for a style of artistic expression that the two artists term -->

Pg. 20, 21, 22, 23,24,25,38

6/10/08

1:41 PM

Page 6

The Kinetic Re-Photo-Cubic Revolution Continues: A conversation with novelist Timothy Taylor CityFood: You are a novelist, presumably toiling over your craft in solitude. These guys are visual artists using the back alleys of Vancouver as their public "gallery" How did your paths happen to cross?

Timothy Taylor: The studio from where Andrew Owen [also known as Andrew 01] works is actually just down the hall from my office in the Dominion Building. It’s a friendly building, so we got to talking. He’s a raconteur of unparalleled skill and intensity, as it happens. But our interests were also weirdly overlapping at the time we met. He had returned from Asia not long before, and had done a lot of work I really admired that seemed to follow the theme of how identity survives in highly mobile environments. I was right in the middle of an essay series for enRoute Magazine at that time about human mobility and our changing relationship with it. So we had lots to talk about.

Byron Dauncey [alias Cameraman] I met later, after Andrew had begun to use the street in his Local Photo Poster series. He’d heard that Byron was tricking out a railway transformer box to look like an alarm clock, set to ring at 9AM on the first night of last year’s Eastside Culture Crawl. I knew I had to see it. So I went down. When Byron's clock went off, a light came on and this huge clock loomed out of the shadows. Byron’s partner on the project, an artist named Emma, had rigged about 100 battery powered alarm clocks in zip lock bags around the piece. So in addition to this kind of ghostly monolith, the air was full of this ethereal beeping, oddly urgent and tranquil at the same time. People up and down the street just froze, listening, which I think is the effect when intensely familiar experiences are displaced and reworked.

I had just started work on a novel that had a street artist character in it around this time, so the timing of the clock seemed strangely fated.

.

CITYFOOD

24

Spring 2008

.

CF: Andrew and Byron told us that before they met, each kept hearing about another artist who was “doing the same thing” and that they were even being mistaken for each other. In fact, we understand Byron contacted Andrew after reading about him in an article you wrote for a local newspaper, and thinking 'Aha, He must be the guy! Do you think their work is very similar? Or if not, how would you say it is different?

...for

GREAT food in a lively

atmosphere

atin L Quarter TAPA BAR

TT: Byron read my Globe column where I wrote about Local Photo Posters. Andrew had walked me around the Downtown Eastside showing me all these shots he had posted, 1:1 ratio photos [100% proportional] of distressed urban surfaces that he postered directly over the distressed surfaces they duplicated. The work was, at least on one level, a kind of object-subject confusion play. The photo and the wall are different, but how exactly? Andrew is into Zen Buddhism, in the pursuit of which questions of this nature are all-consuming. And I think that this kind of provocation, this business of making people think about the difference between reality and representation, is central to Andrew’s project.

Byron, at the same time this all was going on, was involved in a number of projects that I now see were stemming from a similar impulse. He was posting these stickers everywhere, these last-generation light switches and electrical sockets. They’d be posted in various sizes, sometimes life size (a plug socket showing up at the base of a wall covered in graffiti, for example), sometimes iconically enlarged (a huge light switch on the outside of the Interurban Gallery). The familiar in the wrong place. The invisible made very visible. But he was also doing a set of pieces that involved taking a photograph of a site, then posting that photograph near the site, and photographing the original photograph in the same spot. The resulting photograph-of-the-photograph would then be posted in the same place. So you had a woman’s feet walking down a sidewalk, posted to a hoarding directly above the spot where she had walked. And the photograph of the woman’s feet photographed again as a different woman walks past the poster, her feet describing the same arc.

You can probably see the affinity that might form here. Photos-of-photos. Site driven images displayed in-situ. I think these projects arise from an impulse to push a person and make them wobble briefly in place, seeing themselves where they stand, and forced to contemplate, in however oblique a manner, the gulf that may or may not yawn between perception and reality.

CF: So if we understand what you are saying, then to take a photo of an object is to recreate it in a different dimension and element, and by placing the replication in proximity to the original, it forces the viewer to look at both from perspectives that they have not been preconditioned to.

TT: I think that’s definitely part of how this kind of work affects the viewer, consciously or otherwise.

Simply the BEST Paella in town

LIVE MUSIC NIGHTLY • OPEN LATE • 1305 Commercial Drive • 604 251 1144

CF: But how much of a role does the choice of medium play? And does the artists’ choice of repellent, unattractive objects (back alleys, stained and crumbling walls), actually enhance their message, or so get in the onlooker’s way that it becomes a barrier to understanding it?

TT: I tend to think it enhances the message because the medium is also the subject of the work. Both Andrew’s and Byron’s work is, in at least some part, about the exact surfaces on which the work is inscribed: the back alley, the stained and crumbling walls.

CF: Let’s talk about the dumpster in that context, then. That was actually what tweaked our interest in the first place. After years of working to glamourize food, we stumble across ...continued on page 38

Page 7

™

Cheese Gra an

ls e

in d a ls / 5 F

a

W

o rl

d 4 th Pla

Expert judges report swooning, and you can luxuriate in this experience too.

* Photographer Vik Muniz recreates cultural icons such as the Mona Lisa from kitchen pantry items such as spaghetti, peanut butter and chocolate syrup, then photographs the results. He has exhibited at the Miami Art Museum.

Edgar Smith, President

Savour rare delicious terroir of local, pristine coastal valleys. Love our handmade artisan traditions, guided by Paul our Swiss Master Cheesemaker.

Buy or request Natural Pastures cheeses from fine grocery & specialty food stores.

* For the past 22 years participating artists at the Jell-O art show in Oregon’s Willamette Valley have created wiggly, jiggly sculptures from multicoloured gelatin. Life size models of derrieres and brains are a repeating theme.

Yours truly,

7

Savour Pure Winners!

CITYFOOD

.

* Rirkrit Tiravanija reproduced his apartment for a show at the Serpentine Gallery in London. A component of the art was an invitation to visitors to use the kitchen to cook lunch for each other. * An obsession with ‘50’s style coloured photos of luncheon meat platters led artist Julia Jacquette to reproduce the images in enamel on wood panels, to which she then gave longing titles such as “I can’t get the thought of you out of my head” or “I Can’t stop thinking about your beautiful face.”

The exhibit appeared at New York’s Holly Solomon Gallery.

Photo: WFP/Ricardo Gangale

* A Belgian company called Dinner in the sky has held performance art dinners by dangling guests seated at one long dinner table, 50 metres above ground from a construction crane. They have held the dinners in Lisbon, Dusseldorf, Cannes, London and Monaco.,

* For his solo show at the Adam Baumgold Gallery in New York, architectural artist Scott Teplin envisioned roofless houses carved out of blocks of butter or giant doughnuts.

25

www.naturalpastures.com

Spring 2008

National and World Award Winners Courtenay, BC, Canada 1-866-244-4422

.

Comox Camembert & Comox Brie

* With its SUG@ART PROJECT, Figli di Pinin Pero, an Italian sugar manufacturer, offered artists a sweet deal to turn their individual sugar packets into tiny art canvases. Now up and coming Italian artists are finding a whole new audience for their work

* Conceptual artist and chef Mary Ellen Carroll is in the process of creating a massive art project.

She is literally flipping a three-bedroom Texas home upside down. Structural engineers, following her instruction, will lift and spin the building around, before returning it to its foundation and reconnecting all the systems. Ms. Carroll is famous for a series of performance pieces she called “itinerant gastronomy” where she and collaborator, Donna Wingate, cook elaborate meals in inhospitable settings - such as perched on the Goethals Bridge, between Staten Island and New Jersey.

c

e

04 G old M

4

Me

2 00

/2 0

2

o 4G

ld

ix •

200

* Getting personal..Daniel Bozhkov used yogurt he had produced from live cultures reinforced with his own DNA for a 2002 art installation called Befriend the Bacteria at the Memorial SloanKettering Cancer Center in Manhattan.

Pr nd

* In 1992, The artist Janine Antoni chewed 600pound blocks of chocolate and lard to create heart shaped boxes and lipsticks for an exhibit entitled “Gnaw” at New York’s Sandra Gering Gallery. In Lick and Lather (1993) she licked similar blocks of chocolate into the form of her own head, used the busts to smear chocolate over her body and then washed herself with soaps, also shaped to resemble herself.

ts

#OMOX "RIE

It’s not always about oil and acrylic paint, charcoal, watercolours or clay. Sometimes the textures and colours of food tempt an artist to use it for works of art that despite a short exhibit life, may even turn out to be good enough to eat.

da

What they did for art ...

li s

1:42 PM

• Canad i

6/10/08

COMOX CAMEMBERT

Pg. 20, 21, 22, 23,24,25,38

CitySpace: Power, Art and Public Space.

In this fascinating documentary shot in Vancouver, Craig Noble, the filmmaker who brought us Tableland , examines the showdown between youthful graffiti bombers and city bureaucrats over the grey area where freedom of expression collides with social responsibility. Is it art, or is it vandalism?

Watching this film might change your mind. www.cityspacemovie.com

When you fill her cup, you don’t just fill her belly You fill her mind and feed her future

Be Part of the Solution: www.wfp.org/donate The United Nations World Food Programme

Pg 26,27,28,29,30

6/12/08

10:55 AM

Page 2

NOTHING BUT THE

.

CITYFOOD

26

Spring 2008

.

TERRY SOMERVILLE Sous Chef, formerly at Bishop’s, now at Senora Resort, a fly fishing lodge off the north coast of Vancouver Island.

How old were you when this tattoo was inked.

I’m 30. The tattoo was completed only one week before the photo shoot for this article.

How long did it take to complete and where did you get it done?

At Custom Tattoos in Vancouver by tattoo artist Adam Sky. It took five painful sessions, three hours each session. I went once a month for five months.

What were you thinking?

The tattoo pays homage to my Scottish heritage. My mother’s maiden name is McMillan, which is one of the oldest Scottish clans. This gaelic design is the McMillan cross, a 15th century stone cross. I chose to have a dragon wrap around the cross to represent wisdom, strength and longevity. At the bottom, the dragon is holding the McMillan family tartan in its claw.

Let’s hope you weren’t adopted ... sorry, bad joke ... actually, what did your Mother think about this idea?

I recently went to visit my family in Toronto right after my tattoo was finished. Everyone liked it, even Mom. Although she cringed and shook her head with disapproval when I said I was going to get my entire back done.

Why do you think chefs are prone to getting tattoos?

Chefs are very artistic and creative by nature, so it doesn’t surprise me that many chefs have tattoos. It allows them to express themselves through a different art form.

Pg 26,27,28,29,30

6/13/08

11:10 AM

Page 3

kitchen ink Chefs are not particularly known for wearing their hearts on their sleeves, but hidden under those white jackets, that may well be the case.

A few top chefs, known to be concealing a secret bit of body art or two, bared their tattoos for photographer Hamid Attie’s camera. And to our surprise, there were few designs of food items, or even chefs’ knives among them ... but instead, a lot of images that turned out to be so much closer to their heart’s true reflection.

Spring 2008

What does it say on your tat?

.

GORDON MARTIN Chef/Owner, Bin 941, Bin 942, Go Fish

“Cooler than Jesus”

27

What does that have to do with a sexy nurse?

CITYFOOD

Where did you get it done?

In Mexico. I don’t remember the circumstances.

How old were you when you got it done?

Old enough to know better.

Young enough not to care.

Why do you think chefs are so fond of their tattoos?

Why wouldn’t they be?

JUAN GONZALES Chef, Tequila Kitchen Where did you get it done?

In Sicatela, Oaxaca, Mexico. I heard that a good tattoo artist was going to be in town for two days, so I stood in line to see him. I asked for the hat with the steam, and he come up with the rest.

Why a steaming toque? Are you a hot head?

Well, in the beginning it was just because I am a chef, and because chefs’ kitchens are always hot, and you always have to move fast and never stop. But all this year it has also helped me to remember not to quit when things get tough, and that it’s important to stick to your plan.

Are tattoos as popular in Mexico as they are here?

People have them, but it means something different. In Mexico, it is considered lower class -- for gang members, or people who have been in prison. So sometimes people get them but don’t show them.

What is your dream tattoo that you would like to have some day?

I want my little Rosa Chicana. It’s a Mexican sweet - a little sugar skull drawn inside a rose.

.

No comment.

6/12/08

10:56 AM

Page 4

.

CITYFOOD

28

Spring 2008

.

Pg 26,27,28,29,30

ROBERT BELCHAM Chef / Proprietor, Fuel Restaurant How old were you when first got interested in body art?

I was 20.

You have two full sleeve tattoos and they are not hard to spot because you often wear your jacket sleeves pushed up.

I got those done in 2000, at a shop called Godspeed Tattoo.

It is in San Mateo California, just south of San Francisco.

The artist’s name is Kevin Marr. I was 28 years old at the time. It took 70 hours of work. Two 4-hour sessions a week, for about a year. With time in there for healing.

That was a huge commitment. These designs have a lot of pattern, but we can only see a couple of details in these photos, one of a demonic gargoyle like character, and another of what would appear to be a fetus inside of an egg.

What significance do these symbols have for you?

These pictures are on the inside of my left arm. I have a stained glass theme on both of my arms, and as with most stained glass, there is a narration line that connects the different images. This one is the story of the cycle of life: birth, life, death and rebirth.

What does your family think of them?

My five year old son, Eli, calls them “cool”.

What is the tattoo you dream about getting some day?

I would really like to get a whole back piece done. Maybe if I spend some time in Japan.

What is your theory on why so many chefs have tattoos?

Cooks are a certain breed of people who live on the periphery of society. The late nights, and abundance of alcohol mixed with a sports team mentality, plus bravado, make for a person who doesn’t really give a fuck about what regular people think.

Pg 26,27,28,29,30

6/13/08

10:05 AM

Page 5

MARK THOMAS BRAND (pictured left) Restaurant Owner, Barman, DJ, Boneta Restaurant

What’s the story of your first tattoo?

I was 14. It was 1990 and the person who did the job was an old sailor tattooist named Merchant Marie. All my friends got their first work done with her and we all still regret it. She chain-smoked the whole time and had the DTs. You now have a more recent, and very visible tattoo on your neck, tell us about that one.

What is the tattoo you dream about getting some day?

Like all people with a bunch of ink, I have a master plan. I’m working with Paul Tynes from The Fall Tattooing on our joint vision of what the final work will be. He’s incredibly talented, and incidentally, also from Dartmouth.

What is your theory on why so many chefs get inked?

I’ve never given it that much thought.

I think it is really a more personal decision combined with the fact that this line of work attracts such creative, crazy assholes.

You have a lot more ink now.

I actually never planned to have this many tattoos. It just sort of happened. If I’d known what I was going to end up spending on them, my Scottish blood would have prevented it.

Hey, what’s with this Scottish tattoo gene? You even have a tiny thistle next to your eye ...

Yeah, a small Scottish weed. I got it in Toronto one night at the end of a three day bender. I don’t really remember too much, but I must have been feeling very patriotic. I basically woke up the next morning and realized what I had done when I looked in the bathroom mirror.

Good times.

So, was that the last one, then?

No, I still plan to get a globe of the world tattooed on my head. ... Just kidding, Mom.

.

Every day, and I get to tell them the story of who Boneta is, and how my amazing partners chose the name to also be the name of the restaurant. It gives our customers a window into the ethos we live our lives by and our mantra of “Family” -- blood, or not.

I definitely got in trouble, but not right away because I managed to keep it out of my parents’ field of vision for a few years -- until I had a wardrobe malfunction while coming out of the shower, just as my Mom was passing in the hallway.

CITYFOOD

Do your customers at the restaurant ever comment on the tattoo?

Twelve? Yikes! Did you catch trouble for it?

29

Ha, ha. My mother was an etiquette teacher (I know), so you can imagine what her reaction was. That being said, it’s hard to get mad at a tribute, especially when it’s to you. My fiancée loves it; she gets it. It’s one of the many reasons we are getting married.

I was 12 years old. The shop was called Mystic Needle, and in those days, it was one of only about five shops in the city ... times have changed a little. It’s all covered up now, but it was a small cartoon bulldog, wearing a tam, and smoking a cigar ... I was certain it was going to make me tougher.

Spring 2008

What was your mother’s reaction, or for that matter, that of your fiancée?

How old were you when you got your first tattoo?

.

”Boneta” is my mother’s name. She’s been my mentor, level and inspiration.

I chose to put the tattoo on my neck because I wanted to see it first thing in the morning, to remind me why I do what I do, and to remain focused.

STUART IRVING Chef/Co-Owner, Cobre restaurant

Pg 26,27,28,29,30

6/12/08

11:02 AM

Page 6

JEFF VAN GEEST Chef / Owner, Aurora Bistro Where did you acquire the tattoo on your arm?

In 2005, at Inkbomb on Main St in Vancouver. I was 32 when I got this piece done.

What’s the significance of the dragon?

It is a 4-clawed, Chinese Dragon, which symbolizes power -- the common main, and power over rain in relation to agriculture. I like the mythical qualities and the individualistic power of dragons. This tattoo is also biomechanical (part robot). That doesn’t have any meaning; it’s just cool. I also have a tattoo of my son’s name and birth date on my left bicep What is the tattoo of your dreams?

Either a pirate ship or a buck rearing up on his hind legs and bursting out of a forest with its muscles rippling, teeth bared and steam coming out of his flared nostrils - a big, scary buck.

Why do you think so many chefs have tattoos?

I think there are three possible answers. 1) It’s because we are all hardcore lowlifes who are half a step out of the gutter. 2) We all wanted to be rock stars but none of us could play an instrument.

3) Tattoos are so main stream that a lot of people in “regular” jobs have them too. You just don’t see them as much. I actually don’t think chefs have a higher occurrence of tattoos.

LILA GRACE GAYLIE Owner/Operator of Lolita's South of the Border Cantina, Me & Julio’s Modern Mexican Kitchen & Cantina.

.

CITYFOOD

30

Spring 2008

.

Tell us about your tattoo art.

The tattoo on my arm of the fairies was done in 1996 by a tattoo artist who used to spend her coffee breaks at the Vietnamese restaurant where I was working in Toronto. She became a close friend and she hand drew this piece for me from my childhood memories of growing up in the forest on Vancouver Island. It depicts two fairies that are chasing the wind through a garden of lilies and blossoming cherry trees.

The tattoo on my chest was done more recently in 2006/2007 by the local artist Adam Skye. It is a cover up of the first butterfly tattoo that I got when I was 13. I’m sure Adam was shocked when I walked into his Gastown studio with a huge antique framed portrait of the Garden of Eden under my arm and asked him to recreate it. The painting used to hang above my parents bed. As a small child I would stand for hours and gaze at the beauty of this scene and wonder where the garden led to. The tattoo is actually a dedication to my mother, who is my best friend, and it will always remind me of family and love and eternity. In fact, I refer to all my tattoos as “my gardens” because they are colourful and flowing and playful.

How do your customers at the restaurant react to your tattoos?

One of my favorite memories was serving a family that had a six-year-old daughter. She was very creative and I gave her some paper and markers to play with while her parents were dining. She asked me lots of questions about my tattoos and seemed quite taken with the fairies and flowers. I popped by the table again later to find the girl had drawn flowers and fairies all the way down her arm with the markers. I almost cried at the sweetness and artistic talent of this child. Pretty cool parents too!

What is the tattoo you dream of getting some day?

I dream about getting my fairy wings finished. It is a piece of art that goes from my shoulders to my knees and wraps around my body. It's big but I'm excited about finding some time and money to finish it.

Why do you think so many people in this industry have tattoos?

Because they can. Not only are people in this business creative, but they also have the endurance to withstand sharp knives, hot stoves, endless heat, and all kinds of performance pressure on the job. Being tattooed is something we can do for ourselves and ourselves alone. We like to take the plain and the mundane and make it look beautiful. Whether it be spice to food or ink to arm.....everything looks better with a little color.

Do you think they will still be beautiful when you are old and grey?

By the time I get there I’m sure there is going to be more than one tattooed and wrinkled body in the old folks home. I say “Cheers.....save me a bridge game!”

Pg 31,32,33,34,35 -young artists

6/4/08

11:12 AM

Page 1

My name is Duncan McCallum. I’m 41 years old and I design and renovate award-winning restaurant interiors, including Aurora Bistro in 2004 and Boneta in 2007.

Parties interested in Duncan’s work may phone him at 604-728-8114 or email duncan@3dmc.ca.

His full bio is on the Boneta website at www.boneta.ca.

ENTER HERE ------> TO SEE MORE RESTAURANT ART THAT SPEAKS TO US. PHOTOS BY HAMID ATTIE

.

The shape of appetite is ideally elliptical.

The colour indigo tastes like BLACKBERRY PIE!!!

CITYFOOD

I'm inspired by Warhol, Damien Hirst, David Salle, Basquiat, Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, comics, animated film, contemporary pop culture, etc.

31

I was born in Sweden, but was brought up in West Vancouver. I am self-taught in my fine art. I've made art since birth, and have exhibited it for 25 years.

Spring 2008

It’s constructed from laminated, bending plywood, sheet aluminum, wood veneer, acrylic and industrial enamels.

.

‘500 Bottles of Beer on the Wall’ hangs over the bar at Boneta and it was driven by guilt over my alcoholfueled neglect of an ex-girlfriend.

Pg 31,32,33,34,35 -young artists

6/13/08

10:08 AM

Page 2

YOUNG ARTISTS IN A RESTAURANT LANDSCAPE Man cannot live by bread alone ... even in a restaurant. That’s a proverb we sometimes want to remind the waitstaff of when it feels like the first course is never coming to the table. And of course, we mean it here in the proverbial context too. However, is it not a coincidence that in those times when you are waiting for your dinner companion to arrive, or have finished perusing the menu -- when it’s just you alone with the bread basket -- that you have the time to sit and contemplate what’s on the wall in front of you? Hopefully, if you are in a room where the management is enlightened and understands about these moments, they have given you something nourishing for your eyes to ponder upon. After all, what makes for a better public art space than a place where the public goes to be fed?

For those of you who have ever taken a liking to a work of art at a favourite restaurant and wondered who made it, or why, here’s a few of our favourite pieces and the stories of the people behind them.

After all, you never know with art you see in restaurants. You might be looking at the work of someone who is about to become famous, or even the person who has come to your rescue with the appetizers.

Acrylic paint on glass On exhibit at Boneta Restaurant (right) Erin Evans paints professionally and is also employed within the restaurant industry as the head hostess for West Restaurant. See more information on Erin and her art work on page 38.

.

CITYFOOD

32

Spring 2008

.

Brietta

by Erin Evans

Pictured Above: Left to Right: Charles Forsberg, Duncan McCallum, Erin Evans

Pg 31,32,33,34,35 -young artists

6/4/08

11:13 AM

Page 3

.

Spring 2008

33 The piece at Chow was painted for the room. The title 'The View From Here' has a double meaning. On one hand, it literally represents the view from both Chow and my studio, looking north at the mountains. The other meaning is a metaphor on where I am at this point with my artwork and the unique path that is ahead of me.

“Regret” expresses the idea of regrets, but not in a negative way. It is about being at peace with the decisions we make and understanding the sacrifices all of us live with along the way.

Both of these works are painted on canvas. I use a high quality hand made oil paint out of New York, I paint with my hands (I wear gloves), and use no solvents or thinners in my process.

The works at both Chow and Bonita were hung there because of the relationship that I have with the owners of both restaurants. Mike Thompson (Chow) and Neil Ingram (Boneta) have been supporting my independent art shows since 1997. This has created a community of like minded people who are interested in showing the creative talents of each unique restaurant.

I am a self taught and independent painter. I have been doing art for as long as I can remember, it is just part of my day like eating and sleeping. I was a docent at the Vancouver Art Gallery for the last 12 years and have travelled extensively to the major art cities of the world, plus I like to keep a close eye on what is happening in Vancouver as well. We have some great talent in this city. I am influenced by Canadian artists Gordon Smith, Jack Shadbolt and Jean-Paul Riopelle. As well as Mark Rothko, Cy Twombly and Anselm Kiefer.

I work as the barman at Parkside restaurant. I really enjoy socializing with people after a long day or night at the studio. It keeps things in balance. (Plus, I make a pretty good bourbon sour.) Food,drink,service,design and artwork all come together to create this experience.

More of Charles Forsberg’s works may be viewed at www.charlesforsberg.com, There is also contact information if you would like to visit his studio.

.

Oil paint on canvas

CITYFOOD

The View From Here - on exhibit at Chow Restaurant (above) Regret - on exhibit at Boneta Restaurant (left)

by Charles Forsberg

6/13/08

10:20 AM

Page 4

.

CITYFOOD

34

Spring 2008

.

Pg 31,32,33,34,35 -young artists

Nodding Onion

by Emily Miles

Chicago

by Johnny Taylor

Acrylic paint on canvas on exhibit at Aurora Bistro (above)

Oil paint on canvas On exhibit at Boneta (right)

I’m an avid supporter of Aurora restaurant on Main Street because the food is fantastic and chef/owner Jeff Van Geest is a friend of mine. Jeff was interested in the painting series I am working on, and so I happily offered to create this piece, Nodding Onion, specifically for his restaurant.

This painting came to be hanging at Boneta through my association with Charles Forsberg, and then my invitation from the partners at Boneta who saw it last November at my one-man show on Clarke Drive. Chicago it is part of my 'signature theme' and is representative of the mainstream of my current work.

I chose this edible BC flower because I wanted to highlight Aurora's dedication to local, organic ingredients. However, the series of which it is a part (setting realistic flower forms beside imagined, cartoon-like figures), is also inspired by the strange beauty of children and flora, as well as the superstitions and faerie stories of Northern Ireland and Great Britain -- where beautiful creatures and gardens lure unsuspecting passers-by to their deaths.

For my own background, I was born in 1979 in Kelowna, BC, and grew up in a home where there were more paintings than walls. My father, an art teacher, taught me the difference between acrylic and watercolour before I could read, and encouraged my penchant for drawing and painting. Upon completion of my BFA at the University of Victoria, I followed my desire to seek out fresh subjects and travelled the world: Europe, Asia, and the Pacific.

I have also participated in illustration workshops at the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London, and the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in Vancouver. My work has been exhibited in Canada, Taiwan, and Australia.

I am inspired by visual artists, but also by illustrators and comic artists: Paul Klee, Maurice Sendak, Craig Thompson, James Jean, Geneviève Castrée -and all the preschool children I teach at Arts Umbrella. I like to read Sendak’s “Where The Wild Things Are” to my young students. I find it exhilarating every time!

Read more about Emily Miles on her blog at www.emilymiles.com. Or email her at emilybmiles@yahoo.ca.

I’m 35 years old and was born in Cobourg, Ontario. I have been seriously pursuing art for the last ten years, with a marked upswing in the last five. I am self-taught. (In 2003 I was selected as a scholarship candidate for the Art Institute of Chicago but did not proceed due to further financial considerations.)

My inspirations are several. One of them is my maternal grandfather, Istvan Imre of Hungary, recipient of both the Munkacsy and the Kossuth awards. Speaking generally I am inspired by the German Abstract Expressionists and Asian Traditionalists; and speaking more specifically, I am inspired by the work of Anselm Keefer, Jean-Paul Riopelle and Viera de Silva.

You may see more of Johnny Taylor’s work at the Elliot Louis Gallery, http://elliotlouis.com. He may be contacted through the gallery. (Please note: that 'Chicago' was on display at the time this article was written. It has now been exchanged with 'Connectivity’.)

Pg 31,32,33,34,35 -young artists

6/13/08

10:21 AM

Page 5

.

Spring 2008

35 This is a painting of the Granville Bridge and Granville Island, viewed from False Creek South. It is what I see from my studio window. The piece is part of a body of work capturing the changes of light, throughout the days, and seasons, in the manner of the Impressionists. The owner of Cru, Mark Taylor, is a friend and patron. I have had art on display at the restaurant since it opened. I have found that the people who appreciate art, and lovers of food and wine are one and the same!

I am 39 years old and from Quebec. I have been “seriously” painting since 1992; goofing around with art for much longer. I’ve studied with painter Angela Baker, Ph.D., in Newfoundland, and Fine Art at Acadia University, in Nova Scotia. Over the years, a lot of art from history has inspired me, however there is nothing more inspiring than to be in a culture that celebrates artists as valuable contributors to society. For that reason, I spend a fair amount of time in Italy, They truly nurture their artists. And that’s what’s truly inspiring: the enjoyment of others.

As an artist, I am an independent, which has pros and cons; most of my patrons buy directly from my studio, and I regularly host visits.

When I am not painting, I am a server at Tapastree Restaurant. As well, I have taught wine classes and seminars for several years. (To me, the taste of indigo is best personified by the wines of Michel Roland.)

See more of Phils work and contact him at www.philmartinart.com.

.

Acrylic paint on canvas On display at Cru Restaurant (above)

CITYFOOD

Granville

by Philip Martin

6/4/08

11:27 AM

Page 2

.

CITYFOOD

36

Spring 2008

.

Pg 36, 37 - Pastry Chef

AND AFTERWARDS WE ORDERED THE DESSERT PLATTER pastries by lisa perkins, executive pastry chef brix restaurant & wine bar photos by john sherlock

Pg 36, 37 - Pastry Chef

6/4/08

11:28 AM

Page 3

.

Spring 2008

37 CITYFOOD

.

Desserts from one o’clock, clockwise: * * * *

Mini Apple Turnover with Mascapone Cream, Orange Confit Raspberry, Lime and Jalapeno Sorbet Lemon Posset with Citrus Compote and Ginger Cookies Ice Cream Cookies (Peanut Butter with Banana Ice Cream; White Chocolate and Lemon with Blueberry Ice Cream) with Hot Fudge Dunking Sauce * Milk Chocolate Cheesecake with East India Spiced Shortbread and Poached Pears * Rhubarb Crumble, Honey Thyme Ice Cream

Lisa Perkins – Pastry Chef Brix Restaurant and Wine Bar After graduation from the Pastry Arts Program at the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts, Lisa joined the Opus hotel as Assistant Pastry Chef at Elixir. She later became Pastry Chef at Raincity Grill, working with Chef Sean Cousins. Next she joined Chocolate Arts as Chocolatier to owner and Master Chocolatier Greg Hook.Now at Brix Restaurant and Wine Bar, Lisa is their full time Pastry Chef, an in-house position that only a few restaurants in Vancouver can boast. At Brix she produces bread, pastries, desserts and fresh ice-creams and sorbets daily. Her style is elegantly rustic, simple and not overly sweet. She works with fresh seasonal ingredients and likes to incorporate savoury-sweet flavours such as lemon thyme, lavender and basil -- all of which add a familiar yet surprising element to her desserts.

Lisa’s Lemon Posset 4 lemons 250 grams of sugar 500 mL whipping cream Squeeze and strain lemon juice.

Place the lemon juice and the sugar into a small sauce pan and bring mixture to a boil over low heat, stirring continuously until the sugar has dissolved.

Keep warm on the side of the stove.

Meanwhile, in a second pan, bring the cream almost to the boiling point and then pour it over the warm lemon mixture.

Strain the mixture into a jug or measuring cup and pour the posset into individual serving dishes (ramekins, glasses...)

Place in the refrigerator until set, approximately 2 hours.

Serves four.

Pg. 20, 21, 22, 23,24,25,38

6/13/08

1:28 PM

Page 8

.../ continued from page 24

someone who had gone into the forbidden zone and was actually beautifying an end product of food production - the containers holding all the discarded and decaying waste of a restaurant’s kitchen. That’s something that people try very hard to hide from view, it’s the opposite of the image they have worked so carefully to create. So to us, it was a fascinating choice of medium.

TT: Well exactly, although the emblem created there might not be pointing back upstream just at food consumption. The dumpster is the destination for all manner of consumer goods. With the treatment Byron gave the dumpster, sure, he beautified this thing that governs the ugliest end of the consumer digestive track. But he also drew our attention to it in such a way that provokes us to think about our participation in the happier, shinier parts of the whole consumption drama. I don’t find this work particularly political or judgmental. It just seems very aware.

CF:The big risk that we see, is that many people will look at this art and immediately dismiss it as another form of graffiti -- or worse, the simple defacing of public property.

TT: Well graffiti is in the galleries now and Banksy is selling for whatever, a lot. Which may mean nothing to the artistic value or intellectual content of the work, but it’s highly relevant to the question of how people view the work. And in that regard, I have no difficulty imagining something similar happening in this realm to what happened already some time ago in socalled “outsider art”. A flocking of interest and the emergence of new connoisseurs. It has happened so often that I can’t believe that street art would be spared.

TT: Well, the public probably won’t understand the difference as long as the work is being put up in the street. There, no matter what the artists intention, I think a particular kind of intersection is formed between viewers and artists. The viewer sees something that the forces of nature cannot fully explain. Where did this come from? Why did the person do it?

Sometimes, as you point out above, the response is even more towards indignation, more along the lines of: How dare someone do this here? But no matter, the street provokes these types of questions. And as questions, rightly or wrongly, they tend to lose their perceived mystery when paintings are hung in a gallery. The street has a certain power that way.

.

CITYFOOD

38

Spring 2008

.

CF: But Byron and Andrew say they use the street as their canvas and their gallery only. They passionately declare that they are not street artists. Can the public be expected to understand the difference? Or do they need to?

Editors note: for example of how the process can have the same effect of heightening perception of objects, only via materials chosen from the opposite direction. Take a look at our cover art which was conceived and executed by Andrew Owen and Byron Dauncey. The location was Boneta restaurant in Gastown and all the food in the photos were styled by Boneta’s Chef Jeremie Bastien.

Our thanks to Timothy Taylor for this interview. Timothy is the author of the critically acclaimed and bestselling novels Stanley Park and Story House. He’s also a columnist for the Globe and Mail and a Contributing Editor at enRoute Magazine and Vancouver Magazine. He lives in Vancouver and is at work on a third novel.” .... continued from page 32/Young Artists In a Restaurant Landscape

Brietta

by Erin Evans Acrylic paint on glass On exhibit at Boneta Restaurant (see page 32) I graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in 2000. After graduation, I left Vancouver for Japan, and later Korea to explore the art and culture of those two countries. My current body of work strongly reflects this time I spent in Asia, as it explores the fragility of life's veneers through abstract colour and textures.

I returned home in July 2002 with an extensive portfolio and I have continued to explore my current themes on large-scale canvasses. While I continue to do my art, I am also employed as the reservations manager at West restaurant.

For several years now, I have been exploring a painting technique of composition and execution that is organic and about gestures . By painting on glass, a way of turning paintings “inside out,” viewers can see the underbelly of a painting. The result is a collection of images that shows us all that we are the sum of our parts, both by nature and nurture.

My artwork came to be at Boneta because my husband Andre, who is one of the restaurant’s partners, asked me to paint two pieces to frame Chef Jeremie Bastien’s projected menu over the kitchen. Later he selected a few other pieces he was drawn to out of my collection.

Erin Evans work occasionally appears at the Helen Pitt Gallery in Gastown.

She may be contacted through Boneta Restaurant.

Chambord Test Pages

6/11/08

2:09 PM

Page 1

Chambord French Martini Pour ½ oz. Chambord, 1½ oz. vodka and ½ oz. fresh pineapple juice into a cocktail shaker half-filled with ice cubes.

Shake well, strain into a martini glass and serve with a twist of lemon peel.

P L E A S E E N J O Y C H A M B O R D R E S P O N S I B L Y. Chambord Black Raspberry Liqueur, 16.5% - 23% alc., Brown-Forman Beverages, Louisville, KY ©2008

Pg. 40 Back Cover

6/11/08

2:14 PM

Page 1

WALDORF WINE group inc.

office@waldorfwine.com

.

604-277-1161

Terra Andina Cabernet/Merlot +626275 $9.50 “Good Value” - Anthony Gismondi