Friday night in Vancouver! The Westin Bayshore hotel welcomed Gold Medal Plates in style and the fabulous weather that we have encountered around the country continued to hold. Stately boats floated motionless in the marina outside the hotel; seagulls drifted across a cerulean sky; the mountains (their peaks dusted with snow) posed with typical B.C. nonchalance. Inside the building, however, all was action. Indeed, as night closed in, the tempo and the excitement built to a pitch that can only be described as wild and crazy. Alan Doyle, Barnie Bentall and friends on mandolin and double bass had the room literally dancing in the aisles with some awesome blue-grass renderings of Rolling Stones songs. MC Marnie McBean was her usual brilliant, irreverend self, dialoguing with the host of Olympic and Paralympic athletes.
For most of the tight-knit crowd of 550, however, the real drama lay with the gastronomic events of the evening. The line-up of the chefs was formidable indeed – perhaps the strongest in the country. The line-up of judges was equally august, led by Senior Judges Sid Cross and Andrew Morrison, with revered chef and restaurateur John Bishop, chef, author and cracker queen Lesley Stowe, food guru and proprietor of the wonderful bookstore Barbara-Jo’s Books to Cooks, Barbara-Jo McIntosh, and last year’s Vancouver GMP champion, Chef Robert Clark of C. We needed all our experience and judgement last night!
I don’t usually mention a fourth place chef in these reports but the other judges were unanimous that I must acknowledge Rod Butters of RauDZ Regional Table in Kelowna. Every ingredient in his dish (except salt) came from within 94 kilometres of his restaurant, including the array of exotic spices he used to create a fascinating collation of goat meat – curried shoulder, a sausage spiked with apricot chutney, the loin rubbed with masala mix, the tissue-thin vegetables… I can’t remember having a dish of goat before at GMP: kudos to chef Butters for his staunch localism and all-round courage.
Our bronze medal was awarded to Joël Watanabe of Bao Bei Chinese Brasserie. He showed us how to bring pork belly to the ideal texture by cooking it sous vide for 12 hours then finishing it in the pan to give a crispy crust and finally the oven, just prior to serving, so the the layers of tasty fat were almost beginning to dissolve. He paired his pork with a fruit – Asian pear cut into flattened spheres and then poached under pressure with a little of his chosen wine, a process that literally forced the wine into the pear. There were tiny mounds of jellified superior stock for extra meatiness, a jaunty crisp of deep fried crackling on top and a broad stripe of very sticky buckwheat honey and soy sauce, in case any more umame was needed! Chef’s chosen wine, the 2007 sparkling Chenin Blanc from Road 13 Vineyards in Oliver, B.C., was a charming and refreshing counterbalance.
We have often had close marks determining the colour of medals at GMP – never as close as last night. First and second crossed the finish line together, in a blur of talent, and it was necessary to slow everything down and analyze the numbers and scores from each judge to determine the final winner. Both chefs are highly competitive individuals; either one would have been a worthy champion. In the end, it was an Olympic moment – with gold and silver separated by a mere 0.15 of a percentage point.
Our silver medal went to Chef Dale Mackay of Ensemble. He set a bowl in a pretty display of Thai herbs and spices and when we peered inside we saw a tangle of fresh herbs, several peeled local spot prawns (amazingly sweet and juicy), some miniature shimiji mushrooms, three or four tiny moments of bok choy, two slices of a Thai sausage made from coarsely chopped pork butt and spiced with kaffir lime, lemongrass, coriander, anise, turmeric and no doubt several other spices. Then chef poured on his spiced broth from a teapot – a rich, meaty, topaz-coloured pork broth with a profoundly layered flavour of all those Thai spices plus a touch of fish sauce for a funky fermented colour on the palate, and a drop of chili oil. Our tongues were left pleasantly tingling by such a subtle, perfectly integrated soup and despite the amount we had to eat last night, the judges were moaning for more. Chef Mackay’s wine was the 2010 Pinot Gris from Laughing Stock Vineyards in Penticton, B.C., aged sur lie so it had nuances of its own and was a pretty good match.
Taking the gold medal, as he has done before, was Chef Rob Feenie of Cactus Club Restaurants with a dish that was masterful in its balance and technique. Chef arrived at the judges’ table with instructions that we should begin by downing the shot of rich duck consommé he poured into a shot glass over a brunoise of black winter truffle. “As a palate-cleanser,” he explained. On the plate itself, the premier protein was a perfect slice of rabbit leg confit, the delicate but tasty meat lightly pressed together with duck fat, impeccably seasoned and so rich and soft it was beginning to venture into rillettes country. On top of this was a scrumptious ragout of sliced veal tongue, chopped porcini mushrooms and finely diced chestnuts. Brussels sprouts had been chopped and buttered and blessed by minute fragments of applewood-smoked bacon. A squash and brown butter purée pretended it was a vegetable when it was really more of a luxe sauce. Colour and extra texture came from orange-spiked carrots that had been turned into a crisp “paper” and into slippery, ethereal little beads. Chef Feenie’s wine was the 2010 Switchback Vineyard Pinot Gris from Haywire, in Summerland, B.C.
So we now have five champions to bring to Kelowna next February. The level of talent is jaw-droppingly high. Tonight we stage our event in Saskatoon – and may the best chef win.
And here is the Wine Report from David Lawrason, GMP’s National Wine Advisor:
Pinot Gris and Riesling in All Their Finery
The wine roster in Vancouver read like an Okanagan who’s who, but to my surprise there were far fewer hefty B.C. reds on display than I would have predicted. Instead, it was B.C. pinot gris, riesling and sparklers that dominated the show floor and the awards. And these very fine, elegant wines captured the tone of perhaps the most refined and accomplished food and wine pairings I have experienced so far in the 2011 campaign.
I was joined for the Best of Show judging by two Vancouver amigos. Anthony Gismondi of the Vancouver Sun, Gismondi On Wine.com, is also Editor in Chief of Wine Access, and my co-founder of the Canadian Wine Awards. Sid Cross is one of the most travelled and accomplished palates in Canada and wine judge for the Canadian Wine Awards. We tasted eleven wines paired with the chefs plus another two served at the VIP Reception and four wines donated to the Celebration portion of the evening.
We gave the nod to Best of Show to a spectacular, focused, complex Tantalus 2009 Old Vines Riesling that was impeccably matched to a riesling-inspired creation in by chef Mark Filatow of Kelowna. Our second place vote went to Road 13 2007 Old Vine Chenin Blanc Brut, an intriguingly complex, mature yet very lively sparkler. We couldn’t decide on third place so we tied the very rich, semi-tropical yet elegant Mission Hill 2010 Martin’s Lane Riesling, and Black Hill’s 2009 Syrah, a particularly tasty red and a promising debut from young vines. It was poured at the VIP Reception.
The Gold Medal For Best Paired wine went Haywire 2010 Pinot Gris, matched to the star dish from Rob Feenie’s Cactus Club. Haywire, from the Okanagan Crush Pad, is an instant modern classic pinot gris with subtle, layered fruit and a juicy yet refined palate. The silver medalist paired wine was Laughing Stock 2010 Pinot Gris, a completely different take with pinkish hue and a creamy, subtley oak influenced palate. The Bronze paired wine was Road 13’s aforementioned Sparkling Chenin Blanc – a white wine sweep!
Other paired wines included: BlackHills 2010 Viognier, Poplar Grove 2006 The Legacy, La Stella 2009 Nine Hundred, and Nichol Vineyard 2010 Pinot Gris; plus a fine apricot-infused beer from Cannery Brewing and a Schramm Gin Cold Herb Tea martini from Pemberton Distillery.
Other wines generously donated for the VIP and Celebration portions of the evening include L’Acadie 2008 Brut Prestige from Nova Scotia, Hillebrand Trius Brut from Niagara, Calliope Figure 8 Red by Burrowing Owl, Laughing Stock 2008 Portfolio and Le Vieux Pin 2008 Adieu Pinot Noir.