March | April 2013 by EAT Magazine

EAT Magazine March-April 2013_Victoria_48_Layout 1 2/27/13 11:26 AM Page 45

familiar with our locally produced ingredients…. but there is something new on the market! Pacific Coast Wasabi has been busy establishing itself in BC, with a new farm in Nanaimo. A relative of watercress, wasabi is perfectly suited to our coastal climate. While it is most familiarly enjoyed with sushi there is no limit to its culinary uses when you can get it fresh at your doorstep. (www.wasabia.com) Most of us here on the island have at one time or another stopped at the Market in Coombs for some wonderful baked goods prepared by Baker Susan Pauli. Now you can get all of your favourites at her newly opened Trees Diner. Susan’s Mennonite background taught her the value of good food; she is passionate about providing wonderful home style offerings from breakfast to dinner. 1385 Alberni Hwy, Parksville Namul: a Korean word for ‘any edible greens or herbs’. Hyun Joo Lee is the Chef and owner behind the newly named restaurant, formerly called The Tea Room. Joo loves food, and she cooks what her mom cooked for her; authentic Korean food that’s healthy and made from scratch. Traditional Korean flavours are savoury and perfectly balanced with a wide range of choices. Hot and spicy soups for the brave or rice and noodle dishes that make your taste buds sing. Close the meal with Joo’s signature cinnamon bread pudding, the best I’ve ever had. 5291 Rutherford Rd. If you haven’t tasted it already, microbiologist Scott DiGuistini and wife Merissa Myles are producing small batch artisan yogurt in the Comox Valley at Tree Island Yogurt. Using the best local non homogenized milk, fruit, and honey available they are aiming to improve long term human and environmental health. The clean, fresh delicately flavoured taste is superior to anything else available. Visit their web site at www.cultured-dairy.com to find some for yourself at local grocers. —Kirsten Tyler OKANAGAN VALLEY: Kelowna’s award-winning team chef Rod Butters and Audrey Surrao, the co-owners of RauDZ Regional Table Restaurant, excitedly open their second restaurant Micro Bar • Bites in March just steps from their current location. At only 900 square feet, Micro Bar’s menu will revolve around the “perfect ten”. Local wines, cocktails, beers and bites will each be offered with only 10 selections. With RauDZ lined-up every night, Micro Bar is already slated to be a success. 1500 Water Street, Kelowna. Another much anticipated restaurant opening slated for mid-March is Kelowna’s Manteo Resort which closed Wild Apple Grill and completed a 1.5 million renovation to unveil their new restaurant, Smack Dab. BC and Pacific Northwest micro-breweries will take centre stage

as Smack Dab will offer Kelowna’s largest selection of craft beers. Wine-lovers will still enjoy the carefully chosen wine list. With Canada’s legendary chef Bernard Casavant at the helm this promises to be one of the Okanagan’s best options for casual lakeside dining as well as a pint or two. manteoresort.com

CALLING ALL CANADIAN WINERIES Which Canadian wines pair best with Oysters? Enter Canada’s 1st Oyster Wine Competition April 17-21. Details at www.oooysterfestival.com Looking for downtown charm and something good to eat- simply head to Front Street in downtown Penticton. The line-up includes Dream Café, Isshin Sushi Bar, Ginza Sushi, Wild Scallion Restaurant, The Cupcake Lady Café - home to sinfully addictive crepes and Burger 55 which is just around the corner. Joining the Front Street line-up, the delightful Cinnamon Café. Opened by Chef Vivian Lea Doubt, the Cinnamon café offers artisan sandwiches and hand-made pastries using the best of local ingredients. 136 Front Street, Penticton. Apex Mountain Resort together with the Naramata Bench Wineries celebrates their first wine festival, Vertical and Vintages, from March 8th -10th. On March 9th, join the Naramata Bench Wineries at the Gun Barrel Saloon for an evening of wine-tasting and small bites. Tix: $35.00+ apexresort.com On March 23rd, Big White Ski Resort celebrates the third annual Big Whites event. Sip, swirl and enjoy some of the Okanagan’s best white wines alongside food creations from the resort’s restaurants including Kettle Valley Steakhouse, 6 Degrees Bistro, Carver's Restaurant, The BullWheel, Globe Café & Tapas Bar, Santé Bar & Grill and The Black Diamond Bar and Grill. Tix. $60.00+ bigwhiteresort.com Celebrate Easter at one of the Okanagan’s winery restaurants. Wineries open for Easter include: Kelowna - Sunset Organic Bistro at Summerhill Pyramid Winery. West Kelowna - Old Vines Restaurant at Quails Gate Estate Winery. Naramata - The Vanilla Pod at Poplar Grove Winery and The Bistro at Hillside Winery. Oliver - Sonora Room Restaurant at Burrowing Owl Estate Winery, Miradoro Restaurant at Tinhorn Creek Winery and Terrafina Restaurant at Hester Creek Estate Winery. The Okanagan hotels and B&B’s offer enticing spring rates to make Easter a get away to wine country. Rhys Pender, Canada’s Master of Wine is offering the Wine Plus+ Boot Camp for the internationally certified Level 2 Award in Wine

and Spirits from the Wine and Spirit Education Trust from April 8th to 13th. $1500.00+ package includes six nights hotel accommodation, class instruction including winery excursions and exam. wineplus.ca Love Oysters? Join Vancouver Island’s local oyster farmers as they take a vacation in the South Okanagan with the 2nd annual Oliver Osoyoos Oyster Festival which runs from April 17th to April 21st. Various events including Canada’s First Oyster Wine Competition: oooysterfestival.com The Canadian National Slow Food conference will be held in Osoyoos from April 25th to 28th including dinners and Canada’s first Salone Del Gusto- a “slow-food” artisan market which the public is welcome to attend. slowfood.ca or www.facebook.com/SlowFoodThompsonOkanagan Get ready for spring planting. Seedy Saturday happens in Kelowna on Saturday, March 9th at Okanagan College from 10am to 3pm. For Seedy Saturday events across BC visit seeds.ca. Sunshine Farms organic and heirloom seeds can also be ordered directly on-line. sunshinefarm.net —Claire Sear

WordsThaw 2013 Canada's premier literary magazine, The Malahat Review, will hold its first-annual spring writing symposium, WordsThaw 2013, on Saturday, March 23. The symposium will consist of three panel discussions: "Zoom In, Zoom Out: Focus on Fiction" with John Gould, Yasuko Thanh, and Daniel Griffin speaking with moderator Amy Reiswig about relevance in fiction writing; "A Sustainable Feast: The New Food Writing" with Rhona McAdam (author of Digging the City: An Urban Agriculture Manifesto) and Peter Ladner (author of The Urban Food Revolution: Changing the Way we Feed Cities) moderated by CBC columnist Don Genova; and a panel on Writing from Childhood Poverty. The evening will consist of a literary reading by local poets and fiction writers Pamela Porter, Laura Kraemer, Katherin Edwards, Bill Gaston, Marilyn Bowering, Lorna Crozier, Lee Henderson, and C. P. Boyko. The symposium will take place at the University of Victoria's Human and Social Development Building, room A240 from 10 a.m. until 10 p.m. Tickets can be purchased from The Malahat Review's website. A full pass is $40 regular, $30 for students and Friends of The Malahat. All passes include a one-year subscription (or subscription extention) to The Malahat Review. www.malahatreview.ca/events/wordsthaw2013.html

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