A pictorial of the 2009 BC Restaurant Hall of Fame gala
8 Comments
Karen Hamilton
March 31, 2009
Usually, I don’t fuss with makeup and find glasses much more practical than sticking plastic on my eyeballs, but I glammed up last night to attend this year’s BC Restaurant Hall of Fame gala.
Celebration
There was much to commemorate. 12 individuals were honoured for their exceptional contributions to the BC restaurant industry. The evening also marked the soft opening of VCEC West: the Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre’s glittering expansion facility. It’s a jewel of glass, air, and timber, still rife with new car smell.
The lobby in front of the main ballroom was where the crowd milled for the first two hours, and good thing that the reception was that long. Valet service for 600+ guests at a new facility meant a car pile-up on the narrow bend outside that resembled Manhattan in rush hour.
Once inside, hors d’oeuvres and drinks were plentiful on the floor. The more astute avoided further line-ups for food by visiting the lonely table dedicated to the VIP room that surveyed the throng from above.
Minglers were treated to exhibition tables that showcased the accomplishments of each inductee. During the induction ceremony, we were regaled with video highlights of each inductee’s exemplary careers. For an industry outsider like myself, these touches made it easy to appreciate why these individuals deserved to be held in such esteem.
I don’t know about you, but watching award ceremonies can be a chore, and I was not exactly looking forward to dinner being peppered with long-winded orations. Thank goodness that this industry has a sense of humour! Addresses, while often outside the 3-minute allottment, were wildly entertaining. Most of the speeches had delivery akin to stand-up act than monologue. Best zingers of the night were from the mouths of Thomas Haas, Jamie Maw, and lifetime achievement honoree, Duncan Holmes.
Feast
Let’s focus on dinner from here on in. Serving over a hundred people at once is already a task, let alone getting plates out to over 600 with expedience. I found dinner service to be commendable: staff were ninjas in the dark of the room, away to serve the next guest before I had a chance to signal my thanks.
My favourite dish was the first – Weathervane scallop tartar with Hecate Sound Dungeness crab salad.
Some at our table didn’t like the cold preparation of the maple sake butterfish; others were presented with pork belly and chicken that was more than a few degrees cooler than intended.
I sympathized with their plight (my dishes being perfectly at temperature) but perceived the experience as a relative success; it was good for the first run of the kitchen and stellar compared to my recollections of a horrid CA dinner that we had had at the Hyatt one year ago.
The dessert reception was wonderful. Stations laden with cheese, sweets, and sippers; conversations with familiar faces met only as we were readying to leave.
Also had a few unusual encounters attendees and staff alike who approached me with compliments on my 50’s pin curls. I have Kristi of East Vanity Parlour to thank for that. The introduction that made me chuckle most was care of Arturo of The Cannery. He documented my fashion savvy with a couple of photos…making sure to include my husband, who wasn’t sure how he felt about his wife being waylaid by a total stranger.
Overall, the gala was a unique experience for this observer of the industry. I’ll let the photos below recount this soirée to you from this point on.
Categories: Events, Food, Restaurants
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Karen – you are amazing! thank you..
Bless you for your bites of sweet words and wealth of pix!
Karen – beautiful shots and thanks for describing the event so well!
Dear Karen: thought I might share some insight about the food. Chef Blair Rasmussen is amazing – he and his team prepared that complete event – without a kitchen.. yes, one of the fun challenges about a soft opening is the guessing game of “will everything be complete on time”… a few things did not meet the deadline – i.e – the kitchen. Blair and his team prepped our marvelous canapes, dinner and dessert – next door – at VCEC east; then delivered it all to VCEC west, and then plated from a yet to be completed kitchen. Our Executive Chef takes 5 star service on the road… offsite catering anyone?
A few other people to mention – Meridian Valet! with the street not yet approved for opening, a parking lot under VCEC west not open for use, Plan B swung into action. That team of valets dealt with over 300 vehicles in an amazingly short time. Big thanks to Meridian Valet, Impark and the Terminal City Club for their support and generosity. big thanks to the city of vancouver for helping sort out the turnaround!
Another amazing Dawn event! An evening to remember, the venue, the food, the wine and fabulous mix of guests.
A wonderful memory to store and look forward to adding to with next year’s Hall of Fame event
Congratulations to the many people who worked so hard to pull off a remarkable evening!
Karen : what a fantastic pictorial and summation of a great event . Thank you for the terrific pictures of our 12 deserving inductees.
[...] the first time that some of the general public had seen the inside, as friend and blogger Tiny Bites covered the 2009 BC Restaurant Hall of Fame gala at the same venue a few days [...]
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