An annual food festival commencing this weekend is encouraging those inclined to stay in during the wintery months following the holiday season to dine out instead.
Twenty-four restaurants on the North Shore are participating in this year’s Dine Out Vancouver Festival taking place across Metro Vancouver from Jan. 18 to Feb. 3.
This year’s festival, produced by Tourism Vancouver, will feature more than 300 restaurants offering fixed-priced menus – at either $15, $25, $35 or $45 price points – that typically include a choice of appetizer, entrée and dessert.
“The priority of the event is really to get Vancouverites out and enjoying their own city because we have so much to offer. It really is a great way to bolster community,” said Carly Whetter, Tourism Vancouver spokeswoman.
The Dine Out festival was first pitched back in 2002 after a group of local food and wine enthusiasts and people in the restaurant industry connected with Tourism Vancouver with the idea of creating a fun, easy-to-navigate festival that, using set prices and special menu offerings, was intended to encourage people to check out restaurants during what’s normally considered the slow time of the year in the food and beverage industry.
Fifty-seven restaurants participated in Dine Out during its inaugural year and the festival has steadily increased in size and scope during the following 17 years, said Whetter.
“A lot of restaurants do report that their attendance increases significantly during Dine Out. It’s really good exposure and I think it’s also really great for the chefs to be able to experiment creatively with the menu,” said Whetter. “The customer gets to experience these restaurants in quite an elevated way that they probably wouldn’t have done just on a regular night and it’s a great way for them to get out and experience the city.”
Dine Out Vancouver Festival returns this weekend for a schedule of delicious experiences in restaurants across the North Shore! See menus and make your reservations: https://t.co/GixSr1sicH #explorevanns #DOVF pic.twitter.com/QQgVPUez1o
— VancouversNorthShore (@VanNSTourism) January 17, 2019
Arms Reach Bistro general manager Alanna Neumann has been working at the Deep Cove restaurant for 10 years. For as long as she can remember, they’ve participated in Dine Out.
“I find it gets a lot of people from different parts of Vancouver to visit us – we’ve noticed a lot of people from downtown Vancouver and people who live in Metro Vancouver but who normally don’t venture this way,” said Neumann.
Arms Reach’s Dine Out menu, set out $35, will feature a choice of appetizer, such as a baby spinach salad with roasted olives, smoked ricotta salata, pecan flax crouton, and cherry tomato, or a duck terrine with granola crumb, apple mustard seed jam, and port reduction.
For entrées, diners will be able to choose between a seared beef bavette with confit onions, fondant fingerling potatoes, and black garlic jus, or a beet Vesuvio pasta with charred garlic scape, ricotta, arugula, and toasted hazelnut. For dessert, the bistro’s offering a coffee bean and almond panna cotta with roasted white chocolate, pear and vanilla sorbet, and toasted meringue.
“It gets crazy busy when it starts,” said Neumann. “We definitely prepare ourselves for it every time. It’s definitely become very, very popular and I’ve noticed quite a few more restaurants are participating this year.”
Dine Out is also offering a number of special culinary events this year, including its World Chef Exchange program, where chefs are invited from all over the world – this year, they’re coming from Sydney, Sand Diego, Düsseldorf, London and Montreal – and they get to do a collaborative dinner for specific set amount of guests with another chef at a local host restaurant.
“I think bringing chefs from around the world to celebrate Dine Out with us has really mixed it up a little bit,” said Whetter, adding that Bauhaus Restaurant in Vancouver will also be featuring a special long-table dinner event, and Ocean Wise will be hosting its ever-popular pop-up event at Vancouver Aquarium starting Jan. 24.
On the North Shore, Taste of the Market at Lonsdale Quay is also slated for Jan. 24, but the “incredibly popular” event is already sold out, noted Whetter.
“There’s so much to do in what someone would call our ‘lower season’ because we have all sorts of culinary events, we have cultural events, and so it’s a really great way to promote the more winter, urban activities that the city provides outside of your traditionally sunny Vancouver summer,” said Whetter.
Visit dineoutvancouver.com for more information about this year's festival.
North Shore restaurants participating in this year’s Dine Out:
Arms Reach Bistro ($35), 107C-4390 Gallant Ave., North Vancouver, 604-929-7442
Bay Moorings ($35), 6330 Bay St., 2nd Floor, West Vancouver, 604-921-8184
Bravo Cucina Ristorante ($35), 1209 Lonsdale Ave., North Vancouver, 604-985-3006
Cactus Club Cafe ($35), 1598 Pemberton Ave., North Vancouver, 604-986-5776
Cactus Club Cafe ($35), 855 Main St., West Vancouver, 604-922-1707
The Cheshire Cheese ($25), 218- 23 Carrie Cates Court, North Vancouver, 604-987-3322
Deepwater Micro Eatery ($25), 4369 Gallant Ave., North Vancouver, 604-770-0280
Earls Kitchen & Bar ($35), 1375 Bellevue Ave., West Vancouver, 604-262-3632
Feast Neighborhood Table ($35), 2423 Marine Dr., West Vancouver, 604-922-1155
Fishworks ($35), 91 Lonsdale Ave., North Vancouver, 778-340-3449
The Keg Steakhouse + Bar ($45), Unit 110 - 731 Main Street, Park Royal South, West Vancouver, 604-922-1387
The Lobby Restaurant & Lounge ($35), 138 Victory Ship Way, North Vancouver, 604-986-7437
Maru Korean Bistro ($25), 125 East 2nd St., North Vancouver, 604-566-6292
The Observatory, Grouse Mountain Resorts ($45), 6400 Nancy Greene Way, North Vancouver, 604-998-5045
Olive & Anchor ($35), 6418 Bay St., West Vancouver, 604-921-8848
Pier 7 Restaurant ($35), 25 Wallace Mews Rd., North Vancouver, 604-929-7437
Rive Gauche ($45), 1860 Marine Dr., West Vancouver, 604-925-2503
Salmon House on the Hill ($45), 2229 Folkestone Way, West Vancouver, 604-926-3212
Smoke And Bones BBQ ($35), 999 Marine Dr., North Vancouver, 604-770-1394
Tap & Barrel ($25), 8 Lonsdale Ave., North Vancouver, 604-638-2339
Trattoria ($25), 757 Main St., Park Royal South, West Vancouver, 604-424-8777
Vaades The Indian Restaurant ($25), 149 West 3rd St., North Vancouver, 604-973-0123
Village Taphouse ($25), C1-900 Main St. Park Royal Village, West Vancouver, 604-922-8882
Zen Japanese Restaurant ($45), #101-2232 Marine Dr., West Vancouver, 604-925-0667
