FINE DINING: Après Indulgences

from Whistler Magazine Winter/Spring 2022

by Pacific Coastal Publications LP

WHISTLER HOMES: Harmony on Green Lake

APRÈS INDULGENCES

FOR THE POST-ALPINE CROWD, DECADENCE IS ONLY A FEW SKI-BOOTED STEPS AWAY

EXECUTIVE CHEF JUSTIN STARR OF JOE FORTES WHISTLER

STORY BY BRANDON BARRETT

PHOTOS BY DAVID BUZZARD

JUSTIN STARR PREPARES JOE FORTES' FAMOUS CHILLED SEAFOOD PLATTER.

Just because you’re in ski boots doesn’t mean you can’t indulge your decadent side. In fact, Whistler has a long history of catering to the appetites of the post-ski crowd, and with the fine dining scene here rivalling any resort destination the world over, après is no longer solely the domain of wings and nachos.

Balancing a need to nourish after a busy day on the mountain with a taste for the kind of high-end fare Whistler has long been known for, we’ve picked a trio of restaurants—ranging from two well-loved Whistler classics to the new kid on the block—that do après in style.

So grab yourself a cocktail and get ready to après the Whistler way. >>

TIGELLE WITH CULATELLO AND LARDO FROM IL CAMINETTO

IL CAMINETTO TIGELLE WITH CULATELLO AND LARDO

you could say james walt is a bit of an Italophile. The executive chef at Il Caminetto has long had an obsession with the back-to-basics, ingredientforward cuisine of the Bel Paese (the “beautiful country,” as Italy is known). An acclaimed cookbook author, farm-to-table pioneer, and the only Whistler chef to cook at New York’s prestigious James Beard House, Walt also spent a stint as executive chef for the Canadian embassy in Rome, a formative time that helped shape his culinary ethos.

So when he got the call to jump from the kitchen at Araxi to fellow TopTable restaurant Il Caminetto, the chance to work again in a cuisine that sits so near and dear to him was too hard to pass up.

“Our approach with Il Caminetto has been to use local and curated Italian products with a modern twist based on classical Italian cookery,” he says. “We make all of the pastas, gelato and breads in-house every day and approach every dish with an Italian sensibility. Our goal is to preserve the Italian flavour for our community in Whistler.”

The après dish Walt selected speaks directly to this sensibility: tigelle with culatello and lardo, which should feel familiar to charcuterie lovers, with a distinctly Italian flavour profile that should wow the uninitiated.

Tigelle is a warm, crisp bun akin to an English muffin that is brushed with olive oil and fresh herbs. Tear open the soft bun, spread a healthy dollop of fresh herb butter inside, and add generous slices of culatello (literal Italian translation: “little ass”) and lardo, a cured pork fat. A beloved salumi among Italians, over on this side of the pond, culatello—which, for the unfamiliar, is probably closest to prosciutto—is not quite as well known, and what Saveur magazine called “the unsung queen of Italian cured meats.”

We can see why.

“This is extremely tasty and perfect for after ski with some warm olives and a Negroni,” Walt says.

IL CAMINETTO EXECUTIVE CHEF JAMES WALT

“This is extremely tasty and perfect for after ski with some warm olives and a Negroni.”

– JAMES WALT

THE BEARFOOT BISTRO'S LIQUID NITROGEN-COOLED TAHITIAN VANILLA BOURBON ICE CREAM. THE SPECTACLE OF BEARFOOT'S NITRO ICE CREAM USUALLY ELICITS ENVY FROM NEARBY DINERS.

BEARFOOT BISTRO NITRO ICE CREAM

one thing the team behind Bearfoot Bistro has always understood is that dining is so much more than just the food on your plate, whether it’s an after-ski bite to eat or an exquisite meal. Dining, at its core, is a performance, and at the Bearfoot at least, that performance is a full-on spectacle.

“This is what makes it fun for us as well. We love to entertain our guests and we love to have fun doing it,” says wine director Luc Trottier. “We see dinner as an experience, not just to feed yourself.”

This isn’t hyperbole, either. Bearfoot offers a number of ways to put a memorable stamp on your night, whether it’s a round of vodka shots in the world’s coldest ice room, to sabering a bottle of your favourite bubbly in the restaurant’s gargantuan wine cellar with an honest-to-goodness sword. And because any show worth its salt should end with a bang, not a fizzle, one of the most popular ways to cap a days’ skiing with après at the Bearfoot is with its beloved nitro ice cream.

The dessert is made from bourbon-infused Tahitian vanilla cream that is chilled instantly with a healthy pour of liquid nitrogen, with a regularly rotating selection of gourmet sundae toppings like candied pecans, fruit compote, and a rich caramel sauce. Prepared tableside, it usually elicits envious oohs and aahs from nearby diners.

“It’s a super fun process. You get the smoke, you get the visuals, you get the interaction with your server doing it,” Trottier says. “It definitely has that Caesar effect. As soon as you see something made tableside with the liquid nitrogen and all the steam and smoke that goes around, it brings a lot of attention.”

But, like everything the Bearfoot does, the spectacle is only part of the recipe. As it turns out, the liquid nitrogen comes with more than just the obvious aesthetic benefits.

“The reason why it’s so delicious is because when ice cream is made in this process, it doesn’t have the time to get the same sort of deep freeze you’d get in the freezer,” explains Trottier. “When ice cream is stored in a freezer, the worstcase scenario is if you have freezer burn, and all the water content and all the cream becomes crystalized and the texture is not pleasant. With nitro ice cream, it doesn’t crystallize so it’s just creamy, pillowy soft deliciousness.

“It’s probably the best ice cream I’ve ever had.”

And to truly make the most of your après, try Bearfoot's famous chilled vesper martini, also infused with liquid nitrogen, the perfect curtain call to an unforgettable après or dinner!

“With nitro ice cream, it doesn’t crystallize so it’s just creamy, pillowy soft deliciousness.”

– LUC TROTTIER

a vancouver institution going on 40 years, iconic seafood and chophouse Joe Fortes recently made the move to Whistler, opening its second location in the heart of Whistler Village. The new mountain locale puts a Whistler spin on an urban classic. Take its après menu, which caters to famished skiers and riders by offering even larger plates than its original city location, a restaurant not exactly known for skimping on portion size.

“With the cost of ingredients, we could scale back our portion size … but our philosophy is, yes, we’ll charge accordingly, but this is the Joe’s experience and we’re not going to veer from that,” says Wayne Sych, culinary director for Joe’s parent company, The CFW Group.

A prime example of this penchant for enormity is the chilled seafood platter, a sampling of favourite menu items that is the perfect way to get your meal started off on the right foot. It features Joyce Point oysters, steamed manila clams, steamed Salt Spring Island mussels, jumbo black tiger prawns, local albacore tuna tartare and tuna crudo, all served on a bed of crushed ice, along with lemon wedges and a trio of house-made sauces.

“I like it because it’s got such a variety to it,” Sych says.

In keeping with the Joe Fortes style, the share platter is a throwback to the chophouse of old, a philosophy that has sat at the core of its Vancouver location since it first opened its doors in 1985.

“We are definitely a classic seafood and chophouse. That’s our DNA, so every approach to our menu items, our food philosophy, is just that,” adds Sych. “It’s a formula that’s worked for us. Thirty-six years in Vancouver and it seems to be working really well in Whistler as well.” W