Last weekend in Vancouver, typically the quietest time of year for restaurants, the city was alive with the sounds of clattering forks and clinking glasses as the 17th rendition of Tourism Vancouver's Dine Out Vancouver Festival was launched.
At Maenam on Sunday, David Thompson, the Australian-born Thai chef visiting from his Michelin-starred Nahm Restaurant in Bangkok, was regaling patrons of a sold-out dinner with his bawdy humour and a buzzing-hot smoked-beef salad.
Over at the Vancouver Aquarium on Friday, diners attending Ned Bell's Ocean Wise pop-up café were discovering just how seamlessly mineral-rich kelp powder blends in a chocolate brownie – and that the skin on a southern stingray feels like the plush, feathery underside of a Portobello mushroom (access to the exhibit's petting pool is included with the $62, three-course ticket).
Chef David Thompson, visiting from his Michelin-starred Nahm Restaurant in Bangkok, cooks at Maenam.
Meanwhile, in Chinatown, I breezed into Juke Fried Chicken early Saturday night without a reservation (they're not taking any, as per normal) and ordered a massive spread replete with two buttermilk biscuits and whipped schmaltz, three pieces of juicy drumsticks and thigh, crunchy peanut slaw, spicy green beans and a slice of light-as-air peanut-butter mousse decadently topped with dark chocolate.
Juke's $20 Dine Out menu (regularly $30) is genuinely great value. And, to my surprise, there weren't any lineups, screaming babies, squeezed tables, surly attitude from servers or general pandemonium that one tends to associate with the festival. There was, however, a huge backlog of orders at the takeout-and-delivery counter.
"It's been going crazy," co-owner Justin Tisdall said of Juke's first Dine Out experience. "After being open a year and a half, we thought 'Why not bring some new people through the door?' What we didn't expect is that there are so many people who really, really don't want to go out during Dine Out."
I can relate. For years, I've avoided the festival with a berth as wide as I would normally give to a glass of milk that's been sitting out in the sun. But here's the good news: There is no need to be afraid of Dine Out any more; after 17 years, the festival has vastly improved.
Chiang mai chilli relish with a quail’s egg and pork crackling at Maenam.
For one, the event has grown to 17 days (from seven) and now includes more than 300 restaurants, making it much easier to confirm a table. Also, the participating restaurants appear to be taking it more seriously by offering a true taste of their regular offerings with prix-fixe menus at $20, $30 or $40 (although you do have to shop around for the best bargains and the Tourism Vancouver website is still tough to navigate).
Even more enticing are the ancillary events, even though they haven't been advertised as well as they could be. Take the Vancouver World Chef Exchange, for instance. These were the dinners that made me stand up and take notice this year.
David Thompson? He's an international icon and his dinners at Maenam (owners Angus An and Kate Auewattanakorn were protégés at his Nahm restaurant in London) were revelatory explorations of complex flavours that we would never normally taste (he brought a lot of sauces, sugars and spices with him).
Just as interesting was a dinner at Burdock & Co. with chef Fumihiro Matsumoto and sommelier Kenji Kawamura from Kantera restaurant in Tokyo. This isn't a well-known restaurant on the celebrity-chef-exchange circuit. It's a dark hole-in-the-wall that Vancouver chef Andrea Carlson accidentally discovered on a trip last spring and fell in love with because the cooking had so many natural affinities with her own. Beyond a fried dumpling made with sesame "tofu" (the savoury likes of which I have never tasted before), it was difficult to distinguish which courses were hers and which were his. It was fascinating – and the type of organic collaboration that the festival facilitates by asking selected restaurants to reach out to their dream chef of choice.
After Juke, I went on a crawl which took me to Nicli Antica Pizzeria and PiDGiN. My experience with the regular dinners – the true heart of the festival – were mixed.
Chef Angus An speaks to guests at Maenam.
Nicli is a restaurant I generally love and adore. But it doesn't usually open the private back room, as it is doing during Dine Out for both dinner and lunch (the latter is new for the festival). Service suffered from the extra capacity. Our reservation was never confirmed, the bar ran out of wine glasses, a green salad was barely dressed and the house-made gelato arrived in a melted puddle. The wood-fired pizza, however, was as good as ever and our waitress was genuinely warm and accommodating, despite being slightly frazzled.
The main takeaway: restaurants that overbook are the ones to avoid.
PiDGiN, on the other hand, was an absolute pleasure from start to finish. As with a growing number of Dine Out participants, it isn't conforming to the standard three-course prix fixe. For $40, you are treated to a typical six-course tasting menu (regular $55). There have been some minor adjustments to accommodate the lower price (beef cheeks instead of striploin). And one could easily rack up a much higher bill with all the optional add-ons (a5 wagyu, foie gras, caviar, black truffle, sea urchin) and stellar wine pairings. But as someone who has long wanted to try chef Wesley Young's cooking, his dashi risotto alone – thick and creamy with nori butter, served with crispy-skinned steelhead trout – makes me want to rush back as soon as Dine Out is over.
Lesson learned: Restaurants that generously serve outside the box will earn new loyal customers. Dine Out, far from being a festival to avoid, has become (for the most part) a win-win for everyone.
Tourism Vancouver's Dine Out Vancouver Festival continues until Feb. 4: dineoutvancouver.com