Are you as excited as I am about this?! Imagine yourself this Saturday, spending 4 hours of your afternoon feasting around at Vancouver’s top poutine spots, or having a full all-you-can-eat poutine dinner card while the live band churns out Francophonic tunes.

Having just returned from an epic, coffee-fuelled adventure in Montreal, you’d think I’d be sick of poutine…but I only had the chance to go once, despite 4am attempts to find late-night poutine near our home base. What I am sick of is the flu: it’s been with me off-and-on since Sunday, oblivious to my prior committment to being one of the judges for the Poutine Contest. Hopefully my ability to eat solid foods returns to me overnight, because I cannot. miss. this. event.

Free, poutine-filled family activities at the Hellenic Community Centre

The afternoon Poutine Crawl and evening Poutine Contest are both sold out, but families need not despair. Between noon and 5:30pm, Festival access to Hellenic Community Centre is free and family-friendly, with activities including a temp tattoo station, a battle of the bands, and a dedicated kids’ section. Sounds like a great plan to keep the little ones occupied while elders indulge in affordable bowls of poutine.

With backing from the Province of Quebec and the Festival in Drummondville and a sponsor like La Belle Patate, the nosh is sure to be authentic, ample, and delicious.

Stand by for a late-night poutine drop-in

Despite the sold-out status of the evening, the Festival still wants you to have a chance to hang out with them. So check in close to 11pm and see whether you can drop by as the dinner crowd retires. Live band action, Francophone karaoke, and hopefully some remaining poutine should ensure that late-night arrivals will be bien amusés.

Festival de la Poutine de Vancouver
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Hellenic Community Center, 4500 Arbutus Street, Vancouver
Family Fair: noon – 5:30pm, FREE
Poutine Crawl: noon – 4pm, $20 (sold out)
Poutine Contest: 6pm – late, $20 (sold out)
Late-night Access: 11pm – late

But I’m far from a coffee snob. Yes, I have a Hario hand-cracked burr grinder at home. And yes, I’ve been known to bring my own french press to the office. But I’ll order a small black from Timmy’s with the rest of my Canadian brethren, and I’ve voluntarily drunk instant coffee multiple times this year alone.

While I hardly have the most discerning taste in coffee, it’s a large part of my life. So when the Canadian Coffee & Tea Show came to town, there was no question where I was going to be.

My three highlights of that weekend involved coffee cupping, comparing brew methods, and a compelling round of the Canadian Cup Tasters Championship.

Coffee Cupping Basics Workshop

Karen and I cupped two flights of coffee to better understand two factors that affect the taste of your brew: processing method and terroir.

The first flight demonstrated processing method and consisted of three cups: an Ethiopian bean processed naturally, a semi-washed coffee from Indonesia, and a wet-processed coffee from El Salvador. One of the main distinctions is based on how much of the cherry is left on the coffee bean as it dries. The natural method leaves the cherry intact around the bean; wet processing removes most of the cherry pulp from the bean before drying; the semi-washed method falls somewhere in between.

The impact of the coffee fruit on the final brewed product was readily apparent on the tongue. The naturally processed cup contained citrus notes more akin to tea than to any coffee I’m used to. The semi-washed coffee gave off its characteristic earthy musk. We were able to pick up on these differences just from smelling the coffee grinds that formed a crust atop the coffee liquor.

The wet-processed El Salvador was the cleanest tasting and expressed the most brightness. One person at our table described its marked acidity as sour, but our seminar hosts from JJ Bean were quick to correct her, saying that sourness is a state used in the coffee world to specifically refer to flaws: “We never say a good coffee is sour.”

I understand that sour can be thought of as rancid, but having grown up on sour soup and pickled vegetables, I feel that there’s nothing wrong with calling something sour–as long as it’s done lovingly. And let’s face it: Acidic Patch Kids would never have taken off.

The second flight of coffees were all wet-processed, though each were grown in different parts of the world. The differences here were subtle, and I had a lot more difficulty picking out the individual nuances, which meant I had to keep sampling more and more coffee.

I was okay with this.

Coffee brewing showdown: Chemix vs V60 vs AeroPress vs French Press

The next seminar I attended covered open brew methods, with plenty of air time for the perfect 60 degree ‘v’ shaped cone of the Hario V60 pour-over dripper (oh, that’s where the name comes from). While I sincerely love a good infographic and number crunch session – especially when on a caffeine high - my head was brimming with industry stats and acronyms when I was simply seeking a taste comparison.

And I found it, making my way through the trade show floor, arriving at booth hosted by Cafe Gabana. They delivered samples of their coffee made in a Hario V60 drip cone, a Chemex coffeemaker, an AeroPress, and a French Press. Unfortunately, Karen was busy at the Tea Sommelier 101 course, so no visuals of this highly educational demo.

Everyone else was going gaga over the V60 and the over the laboratory-like elegance of the Chemex, but I found that I am still–and probably will always be–a greater fan of the oily, sediment-rich brew that the paperless French Press gives.

Canadian Cup Taster Championship

To finish off the day, we watched a round of the Canadian Cup Tasters Championship. It’s a test of palette. It’s a test of focus. And I also thought it would be a test of my patience. How wrong was I! While I’m still not entirely sure what I witnessed, by golly was it compelling!

Eight sets of three coffee cups. In each set, one coffee is subtly different from the other two. Competitors race against each other to pick the odd one out as quickly as possible.

It starts out as a cacophony of loud slurping and sniffing. All of a sudden, a hand is thrust in the air as one competitor is done. A minute and 20 seconds?! Surely all eight can’t be correct; the average time for the last two heats was nearly three minutes. Another hand is raised and the two remaining competitors in this heat start to feel the pressure. Suspense builds as results are tallied aloud one by one.

By the end of the two-day competition, Melody Lu of Phil & Sebastian Coffee Roasters had slurped her way to victory, with a final-round time of 2:57 and 6 of 8 cups correct. She’ll head to the Netherlands next June to represent Canada in the 2012 World Cup Tasters Championship. The rest will have wait for next year’s competition for another chance. And to that end, they will continue their daily training regimen, one coffee cup at a time.

It’s true – me and my friends want to buy you dinner – a swanky dinner for 8 via the Top Chefs for Mental Health fundraiser.

Tickets are $4,000 for the exclusive experience of having one of BC’s top chefs come to your home and cook an unforgettable meal for and 7 of your friends.

Since I don’t have that kind of money laying around, I’ve asked the BC Mental Health Foundation and the Chefs’ Table Society of BC, the cohosts of this fundraiser, to let me raise the money on Tiny Bites throughout the month of May, all the while profiling the participating chefs and raising awareness on the topic of mental health.

The goal? To give away all 8 dinner spots to those that helped us afford the ticket.

Happily, they gave me the green light last week – and sponsors have already stepped up to offer other cool prizes – so now it’s time to ask you to donate. But first…some background.

Mental health matters to me

Why am I raising funds for mental health awareness? It’s quite personal.

Last fall, I was diagnosed with 3 separate mood disorders. I had known about the major depression for about a decade – it runs in the family and I had briefly sought counselling for it in 2003. However, I was blindsided with the pronouncement that my levels of anxiety, panic, and OCD were also on a clinical scale. It got to the point where my mental health impacted every aspect of my life, isolating me from my loved ones and even manifesting as physical health issues.

The diagnosis came at a very rough point in my life. I was experiencing an identity crisis as my new role as a mother clashed with my lifelong assertion that I was a careerwoman. Being told that I had these disorders made me feel ashamed. I felt like a weakling: my mind and body wasn’t as strong as my spirit wanted them to be. Talking about it, even to my husband, was the last thing I wanted to do.

But talk is what I did. To my family, my closest friends, my therapists, my doctors…and I began to realize that I wasn’t alone. Many of the people I care about have either suffered, are suffering, or have lost their lives due to mental illness, and it is a private hell unlike any other.

There’s unfortunately a huge stigma attached to mental health issues. It makes it hard for people afflicted with mental illness to admit there’s a problem, seek professional help, and find solace and support from their friends and family.

This fundraiser is part of my personal journey to air my challenges so that I can fully come to terms with my illness. I hope it inspires others to find the courage to seek help or support if they need it.

Please let mental health matter to you

Between now and May 31, 2011, we ask you to join us in raising the necessary funds to afford a BC Top Chefs dinner for us to give back to you.

As part of this dinner drive, me and my friends will profile some of the chefs and restaurants that are participating in Top Chefs for Mental Health. I’ll also be opening up a thread on my Facebook Page for people to share their stories about mental health – questions, personal journeys, resources, tips, and anything else you can contribute.

It would mean the world to me and those that are quietly suffering from mental illness if you take part in any way that you can.

Option 1: Donate

Every $50 you donate earns you 1 entry to win one of the 4 dinner spots we are giving away by random draw. The top 4 donors overall will be guaranteed the other 4 dinner spots for being so awesomely generous.

Don’t worry if you give less than $50 – everyone will be entered to win one of the many fabulous prizes that our sponsors have kindly donated. We’ll let you know what they are as the month unfolds.

Our dinner drive counts as a lottery and is therefore not eligible for tax receipts. If you prefer to donate to get a tax receipt, I encourage you to donate directly to the BC Mental Health Foundation. It won’t count towards our $4,000 dinner drive target, and I won’t be able to tell that you contributed (unless you contact me), but your support will be much appreciated.

Option 2: Buy your own BC Top Chefs dinner

If you’ve got the time, interest, and funds, please consider buying your own BC Top Chefs table direct from the BC Mental Health Foundation’s website.

Option 3: Be a good Friend and spread the word

Please tell everyone you know about Top Chefs for Mental Health and this dinner drive on Tiny Bites. If you want to participate on an official basis, review this PDF and tell us how you want to take part.

Thank you for your support

I hope that you stick with us throughout the month of May while we run this dinner drive. I already have a very good reason to get better:

Hearing your stories and getting your support will make the road to recovery all the more sweet.

More info and the fine print

Visit the Tiny Bites dinner drive page for frequently asked questions and more info on the logistics of the fundraiser and giveaways.

T minus 24 hours till Super Bowl XLV! It totally sucks that my team didn’t make it this year, but I will still join fellow embittered football fans this Super Bowl Sunday to watch the remaining teams go head-to-head. At least they are two teams that I would be happy to cheer for: the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Green Bay Packers. My money’s on the Packers for fear of the repercussions (they’re the team of the best man at our wedding, whose wrath I do not wish to raise).

Our usual Super Bowl ritual involves preparing a feast fit for the game, which is more often than not tailored to the teams that are playing. Since I’ve already done my due diligence about generic plus pro-Steelers football fare when I wrote about the big game in 2009, I will simply recap those details for you here so to pay more attention on how you could represent the Packers at your Super Bowl party.

Go Packers! Cheesehead food and drink

Photo credit: Bjorn Hanson (Creative Commons)

What you can make to celebrate Green Bay will likely involve cheese. Cheese made in Wisconsin, to be precise. Ideally, cheese that looks like the wedge above. If you can fashion it into a hat on your head, give yourself bonus points. You could probably make a drinking game out of it: take a swig every time you spot a close-up of a Packers fan in this head gear.

Speaking of drinks…Wisconsin is home to many a good brewery but the best are difficult to get in Vancouver. If you are really dying to get a beer of appropriate origin, you could always default to MGD.

Solids

• Fried cheese curds (The Nibble)
• Green Bay Packers bratwurst and cheddar pizza (Examiner.com)
• Bratwurst: serve with perogies for a Packers-Steelers dish duo (The Bratwurst Pages)
• Resource: Wisconsin Cheese (Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board)

Liquids

• Any WI beer from the Miller group (Milwaukee), which includes the award-winning selections from Hamm’s Brewery.
• Resource: Wisconsin breweries (Wikipedia)
• Resource: Search Twitter for #superbowlbeer suggestions

Go Steelers! Pro-Pittsburgh food and drink

Last time Pittsburgh was in the running, we created Ben Roethlis-Burger sliders that appeased our guests and all the meat-loving deities that exist in our universe. We’ll probably repeat these again to represent the Steelers as cooking this is probably easier than finding Iron City in town!

Want something you can just heat and serve? Apparently the perogy is much heralded in Pennsylvania.

Solids

• The Ben Roethlis-Burger, with bacon weave upgrade (BBQ Addicts)
• BBQ Chipped Chop Ham Sandwiches (Accidental Hedonist)
• Perogies (serve with bratwurst for a Steelers-Packers mash-up)

Liquids

• Iron City (Pittsburgh)
• Resource: Beers of Pittsburgh (Beer Expedition)
• Resource: Pennsylvania breweries (Wikipedia)
• Resource: Search Twitter for #superbowlbeer suggestions

Other football-friendly eats

If you don’t care to pick sides or just want to have stuff to eat that washes down nicely with a cold brew, consider these options. Warning: not for the faint of stomach, and definitely not for vegetarians.

• Bacon bourbon popcorn – Sarah Sprague had me at ‘bacon’. She had my husband at ‘popcorn’. With over a kilo of Chilliwack organic popping corn in our pantry, it would be a travesty to not attempt this recipe as soon as freaking possible.
• Our rendition of Spicy Oven-Baked Chicken Wings (adapted from Fearless in the Kitchen: Innovative Recipes for the Uninhibited Cook by Christine Cushing)
• Memphis Blues Super Bowl Party Pak - Don’t have a grill or the time? Feed 8 people with a slew of barbecued meats, chili and wings. Order ahead for this $95 eat-in /take-out special.

Enjoy the game around town

If the bar scene is more your style, check out what some of  Vancouver’s pubs and restaurants are offering for sustenance on February 6, 2011.  Know of others showing the game in the city? Drop me a comment here.

• Red Card – Settle in as early as 1pm to get your fill of $5 Kronenbourgh lagers and sample the game specials: hot wings galore and Super Bowl chili with the requisite cornbread on the side.
• Library Square Public House – or choose the Donnelly Group pub nearest to you. Come in after 3:30pm.
• Kingston Taphouse – 11am marks the start of Kingston’s Super Bowl specials.  Buy a $10 ticket to assure you a seat, a Prime Rib Burger and some Granville Island Beer. You might even win a trip for 2 to Vegas.
• Memphis Blues’ Super Bowl All-You-Can-Eat Party – If you haven’t called them to book your table yet, get on the phone right now. $20 gets you unlimited mini-ribs and fries, and buckets of Rocky Mountain Pilsner will be going for $10.

Other Super Bowl XLV resources

These additional sites may help you with the planning of this year’s Super Bowl shenanigans. Of note is the article with Southern recipes – a nod to the fact that the game’s being played this year at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas.

• Southern style cookin’ for Super Bowl (Vancouver Sun)
• Great beer for the Super Bowl (Washington Times)
• Super Bowl 2011 Craft Beer Poll: Wisconsin vs. Pennsylvania (Drinkcraftbeer.com)
• Packers Super Bowl Menu: Cheese, Beer, and More Cheese (The Stir)
• Planning a Steelers Super Bowl Party (About.com Pittsburgh)
• Green Bay sausages vs. Pittsburgh pierogies: a Super Bowl debate (Pittsburgh Business Times)
• The Ultimate Football Foodie Super Bowl Recipe Guide for Steelers-Packers Party 2011 (SarahSprague.com)
• Super Bowl Challenge: My Local Beer Quest (the Epi-Log on Epicurious.com)

What will you eat and drink on Super Bowl Sunday? Send me your tips and/or your favourite Super Bowl recipes.

This therapy would not be complete without plopping in front of the TV, tissue box in hand, in front of a feel-good movie – and more often than not, my selection is animated. In the weeks of my convalescence, How to Train a Dragon, Finding Nemo, and Ratatouille have gotten me through some of the worst of the spells. By this Monday, hopefully in a state of full recovery, I will be watching Ratatouille again – with ratatouille and not soup in hand – at Vancity Theatre’s Cinema to Savour screening. All proceeds benefit the Chefs’ Table Society of British Columbia.

Cinema to Savour presents Ratatouille
Monday, November 22, 6-8pm
Vancity Theatre & Film Centre
1181 Seymour Street | Vancouver
Tickets: $55 general, $15 children
More info on chefstablesociety.com

I’ve been working directly and indirectly with the Chefs’ Table Society for the past few years. They’re the guys that run the awesome Spot Prawn Festival each May and the ones that produced the Vancouver Cooks 2 cookbook (which recently won Gold in its category at the Canadian Cookbook awards). On Monday, board member Chef Scott Jaeger of Pear Tree Restaurant and friends will be serving up yummy French-inspired finger food while the film of the same name is shown on the big screen. I thought it’d therefore be fun to share a ratatouille recipe and offer a Ratatouille prize pack in advance of this event.

Our Meatless Wednesdays ratatouille recipe

When I took up David Suzuki’s Nature Challenge a few years ago, we picked one day per week where we ate no meat. The photo above shows our first attempt cooking the ratatouille that we often ate on our Meatless Wednesdays, based on this recipe from our favourite Cook’s Illustrated cookbook. We adjusted the scale of the recipe to serve two, eaten alongside hunks of French bread and a bottle of pinot.

Ingredients

• 1-2 eggplants, cut into large cubes (we used 2 because I’m an eggplant fiend!)
• 1 large zucchini, cut into large cubes
• 1 small-medium onion , chopped
• 2 cloves garlic , minced
• 1 lb of your choice of very ripe tomatoes, peeled and sized like the eggplant and zucchini
• 1 tablespoon parsley, chopped
• 1 tablespoon basil, chopped
• 1/2 tablespoon thyme, minced
• Olive oil, salt and pepper

Directions

1. Salt eggplant pieces generously in a colander situated in your sink or over something to catch liquid. Leave for up to 3 hours, then rinse away the salt. Dry eggplant extremely thoroughly…you can’t overdo this step. They might shrink or shrivel some…that’s okay. We used clean dishcloths to extract the moisture instead of wasting paper towels. [Skip this salting process at your peril - you might need to if you're rushed, but the trade-off is a ton more mush in your dish.]
2. Preheat oven to 500F. Line 2 baking sheets with foil.
3. Toss eggplant and zucchini thoroughly in olive oil, then spread the pieces in a single layer across your baking sheets. Sprinkle with salt. Roast in oven for 30-40 minutes or until well-browned and tender. Every 10 minutes, open the oven and stir the veggies on the rack. Halfway through the roast, switch and rotate the position of your baking sheets. Turn off oven and leave them in there or set aside.
4. Heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a heavy-bottomed roasting pan or Dutch oven.
5. Cook and stir onion in pan over low heat until golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes.
6. Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds or till the pot exudes garlicky goodness.
7. Add tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes or until they start breaking apart.
8. Add eggplant and zucchini and combine until just heated through, about 5 minutes.
9. Stir in herbs and add salt and pepper to taste.

Share your “Ratatouille moment” and win some Ratatouille

I had a Ratatouille moment 2 years ago when I tucked into the crab fritter at Atlanta’s Bacchanalia Restaurant. It was such a transcendent experience for me – triggering a flood of fond childhood memories – that the taste of this dish will never be forgotten. If I could dine every night at Bacchanalia, I would.

Comment on this post describing your own Ratatouille moment and you could win:

• A copy of Disney PIXAR’s Ratatouille (your choice of DVD or Blu-Ray format)
• 2 passes for the Cinema to Savour screening of Ratatouille on Monday, November 22nd

This Ratatouille prize pack is worth $150. The winner will be randomly selected (Congratulations, Brad!).

That gives you 2 days to submit your Ratatouille moment. Looking forward to reading about the dishes that spoke to you!

We’ll be there again this year for the 3rd annual Ocean Wise Seafood Chowder Chowdown, featuring the chowder wares of 2010′s Ocean Wise member finalists.

This event is one of my favourite food outings of the season for many reasons:

• I am a sucker for a well-made chowder
• Craft beer + chowder = love love love
• Can’t miss an opportunity to sneak in an Aquarium visit
• All this fun while supporting the sustainable seafood movement and the Ocean Wise program!

One of the things we discussed as we headed home last year was how to improve our sampling experience. Whether it’s your first time out or your third, I’d like to share our 2009 post-mortem findings as tips for you this year.

Tiny Bites Tip Sheet to Optimize Chowder Happiness

Map out your game plan

Chowder and beer stations will be scattered throughout the vast upper floor of the Aquarium, which has two branches: the Treasures of the BC Coast (where the jellyfish live) and the Tropic Zone on the right. Last year, the BC wing was a traffic jam as the event kicked off, leaving the stations in the Tropic Zone relatively unencumbered till people tried all the BC ones. Take a few minutes at the start of your evening to identify the congested areas and consider visiting those spots at the end of your tour. Unless you get there 30 minutes before close, I doubt you run the risk of missing out on any chowder under this plan of attack.

You’ll likely see us starting with the stations in the back and working against the flow of traffic, ’cause this lady doesn’t like to wait.

Make your line-ups do double duty

If your date doesn’t mind, split up the task of queuing for your supper: one gets the chowder while the other gets the beer. You could halve your total wait time and might even experience a beer visitation on your way to pick up chowder (or vice versa).

Finish your faves; sample the rest

It was our experience that the individual chowder samplings measured a half-cup per person each last year. If you were to eat every last drop of your samples this year, that could mean 6 cups of chowder to digest – and we still haven’t factored in how many pints of craft beer you’ll accumulate!

If that sounds like a welcome challenge to you, disregard this tip. If, like me, the math is already giving you heartburn, go for the divide-and-conquer method: share the sample with a friend. If you really love a particular chowder, you can always go back for seconds!

Keep an eye out for the servers

Another way to reduce your waiting game is to scope out the servers that mingle amongst you. Some carry trays for dirty dishes; some carry trays of samples for the guest judges (Rebecca Bollwitt of Miss 604 is one this year); and the best kind carry trays of samples for general distribution. Mark these people. Befriend them. If you ask nicely, perhaps they’ll seek you out when their next tray goes out.

Know where the water is

Not everyone is into beer, and even those that are craft beer aficionados might still appreciate a palate cleanser. When you scope out the grounds at the beginning of your evening, make sure you find that watering hole, and fill up as is necessary to avoid an unintended drought in your glass.

…Or just load up on beer.

Sit with the fishies

I go to a lot of events where you eat your weight in food and drink. The nosh may be spectacular, but I tend not to notice my surroundings. It’s a rare night when the venue itself adds to the magic of the evening. So, don’t forget that you are at the Aquarium. Wander around while your belly begs you to pace yourself. Ponder the life aquatic as you stare into the depths of your favourite galleries. Get entranced by jellyfish. Make friends with the sea turtle.

Buy your tickets

This event sold out last year and no tickets are sold at the door. Get your tickets early!

The 3rd annual Ocean Wise Seafood Chowder ChowDown
At the Vancouver Aquarium
7 – 10pm
Tickets are $40 for non-members and $32 for members and their date

12 of BC’s top Ocean Wise chefs reveal their newest chowder competing for the Best Sustainable Seafood Chowder on the West Coast. 12 top BC craft brewers provide delicious pairings.

Celebrity Judges: Popular food reviewer Jamie Maw, celeb chef David Hawksworth and Robert Clark, famous blogger Miss604 join industry heavyweights to choose the winner on site!

2009 Ocean Wise Seafood Chowder Chowdown Photo Gallery

I interrupted my maternity leave by volunteering behind the scenes for the 2010 West Coast Chocolate Festival for the last few months. I helped out a little last year and was invited to participate as a  mentor this time around. They’ve been having chocolate-tastic events since October 15th, and the fun doesn’t stop till November 10th. If you love chocolate and haven’t been out to a festival event yet this year, you should.

And to sweeten the pot (har har), if you buy your tickets using the promo code TINYBITES, you might win a Weekend of Chocolate Romance to Rowena’s Inn on the River in Harrison Mills, valued at over $1000.

I don’t think I need to convince you that winning this holiday is worth eating your fill of chocolate and supporting the Festival’s mission of mentoring youth, but just in case, take a look at the contest details and the photos from my scouting trip in September. Personally, I cannot wait to go back for a post-dinner soak in their poolside hot tub!

Get your tickets

• Granville Island Craft Beer and Rogers Chocolates *tonight – see you there!*
• Fruit Wine and Chocolate pairings with Fort Wine Co. *tonight*
• Chocolate Reception, History of Chocolate, and So Much More
• Cheese, Chocolate, and Champagne
• Schokolade Chocolate High Tea
• Artisanal Chocolate Show & Tell

Don’t forget to apply the TINYBITES promo code before you pay for your tickets.

Photo gallery

Festival Opener: Panache

Single Malt Scotch & Chocolate Tasting

Italian Winemakers’ Dinner

Chocolate & Italian Prosecco Brunch

If you can’t wake up in France, the next best thing may be to start the day with a round of French champagne. Just the thing happened with France Ooh La La, a Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival (VPIWF) event at the Rowing Club. France has long been synonymous with wine culture so this was a popular event and it didn’t disappoint.

While there were many notable reds in attendance, it was the rosés and summery whites that seemed to most capture my attention. Favorites included both the Nicolas Feuillatte Champagne Brut Rosé and the Nicolas Feuillatte Champagne Brut Reserve Particulière that I had tried at the grand tasting and made a note of. The rosé in particular is perfect for summer with it’s delicate fizz and pale pink tinge and I’ll be picking up a couple of bottle for those languid brunches. At $59.99 and $69.99 respectively, however, they’ll not be brought out for just anyone, whereas the Château des Demoiselles Rosé does an excellent job of conjuring grassy summer meadows at a price point perhaps more suited to drop-in guests ($25.99).

The Cordon Blue Brut Select and Vin du Paradis Cuvée Dry both stood up well and rounded out my champagne picks. A couple of more interesting whites are the Dopff & Irion Riesling – redolent of green apple and one that could make for an interesting picnic; the Cremant de Bourgogne from Blason de Bourgogne, a lovely white blend and the Grand Ardèche Chardonnay that would be perfect in a park with some buttery foie gras.

“Wine is not a beverage, wine is pleasure,” Jose Alberto Zuccardi announced at some point in the evening. This encapsulated the feeling of the Tango for Your Tastebuds event that happened on the last day of the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival (VPIWF).

Tango is known as the dance of passion, distilling the fullness of life into a controlled environment – much like wine – and the combination of Argentine Familia Zuccardi wine with the latin fusion food of Cobre was passion for the soul and the palate.

Starting with a 2008 Santa Julia Organica Sparkling Chardonnay, guests mingled and got seated while Harry Hertscheg, Executive Director of the Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival, and Jose Alberto Zuccardi, representing Familia Zuccardi, introduced the event and the wine. The whole family is involved in the business peripherally, with some members handling the olive oil and sparkling wine lines, and Jose at the head of the operation like a South American partido (godfather).

There are three varieties of olive oil currently in production: the Frantoio, made with olives from Tuscany; the Manzanilla, from Spanish olives; and the Arauco, a 100% Argentinian olive varietal. Each has different flavour characteristics evident against the  apple-y crispness of the sparkling wine.

The Zuccardi Serie A Chardonnay Viognier and the Santa Julia Organica Torrontes were paired with a pan roasted BC sablefish, melon and serrano ham and a prawn ceviche respectively, but it wasn’t until the Santa Julia Magna and the Zuccardi Q Malbec that the wines really started to hit their stride. The ‘Serie A’ label indicates wine from the best regions of Argentina, whereas ‘Zuccardi Q’ stands for quality and ‘Z’ or ‘Zeta’ is the top of the line.

The Santa Julia Magna is the best blend each year and in 2008 brought out notes of chocolate, black fruit and dirt whereas the Q Malbec was sweeter and redolent of cherry and plum. Both brought out the richness of the Yarrow Meadows duck breast and chicaron – the skin removed and re-fried. This turned out to be my favourite dish of the evening.

The next wines were even better – a 2006 Zuccardi Q Tempranillo and a 2006 Zuccardi Zeta – positioning black fruit and spice in the first against more cherry in the latter but the pork tenderloin didn’t stand up the the flavour as well as it could have. Fortunately, there was goat milk panna cotta and a Malamado Viognier. Literally translated as “bad lover”, it’s a play on words meant to invoke the tango and its sad, romantic stories and finishing the evening with bittersweetness.

Dine Out Vancouver comes to us much further into the year this time around, most likely to avoid overlap with the craziness of the Olympics. Good to see that many participating restaurants are taking advantage of this late start with menus that trumpet springtime is here!. Also pleased that more cross-promotion is in place this year, with hotel packages catering to Dine Out enthusiasts and food tours, cooking classes, and wine seminars wanting to tag team with your dinner plans.

I’ve created my 2010 Dine Out Vancouver shortlist with quite specific criteria: restaurants I’ve never been to that are cooking trout on nights that we have a babysitter. Since I don’t expect you to share these conditions with me, below are my 2009 Dine Out Vancouver tips rejigged along with new advice to account for some of the changes to the program this year.

Try something new

The incredible Dine Out dinners I’ve had in the past always tempt me to revisit those restaurants responsible for such fond memories, but to date, I’ve committed to picking places I’ve never been to for each new round.

If you have downtown Vancouver tunnel vision like I often do, consider going to a restaurant in Burnaby or Richmond instead. You could even go further afield for the parallel (but not co-produced) Dine In Whistler event. I’d make a beeline for Araxi and Bearfoot Bistro if I had the means to drive out there for it!

If you see this event as an easier way to explore the restaurant scene, not as a sale for your tried-and-true places, you may wind up with a new favourite eatery as a result.

Do lunch

Dine Out Vancouver used to be a right steal when it started, with meals as low as $15 and menus capped at $25. Since its inception, we’ve seen the addition of a $35 tier — now $38 — and the use of the Special Notes field to denote add-ons like wine pairings and even fine print like automatic gratuities. These do add up…and now a couple out for a Dine Out evening could easily spend over $100, wondering where the so-called deal has gone.

If your wallet or your spending sensibilities can’t handle the burgeoning price of Dine Out Vancouver dinners, try a Dine Out Vancouver lunch instead! Nearly a third of participating restaurants are offering it.

There isn’t a way to search for this option on the Tourism Vancouver website so I’ve decided to do the grunt work for you. You’re welcome.

• Amarcord
• Ashiana Tandoori Restaurant
• Bistro 101 at the Pacific Institute for Culinary Arts (PICA)
• Blarney Stone
• C Restaurant
• Cardero’s
• cassis bistro
• Ciao Bella
• Cru
• Darby’s Pub
• db bistro moderne
• Diva at the Met
• Don Francesco
• Elixir
• Fogg n’ Sudds Robson
• Goldfish Pacific Kitchen
• Gramercy Grill
• Hamilton Street Grill
• Harold’s Bistro & Bar
• Hell’s Kitchen
• Hermitage
• Herons
• hidden
• Kerkis Greek Taverna
• Kirin
• Las Margaritas
• Le Gavroche
• Maurya
• Medley’s Restaurant
• Moustache Cafe
• nu
• O’Doul’s
• Plato Estiatorio
• Raincity Grill
• Reflect social dining + lounge
• Rocky Mountain Flatbread
• Salt Tasting Room
• Sanafir
• Seasons in the Park
• Seawall bar & grill
• Society Dining Lounge
• STONEGRILL Restaurant
• Chongqing
• Thai Spice
• The Fish House in Stanley Park
• The Point Restaurant & Tapas
• The Sandbar
• The Teahouse
• Westward Ho! at the University Golf Club
• Wild Rice
• Yokohama Teppanyaki

You do still have to call these restaurants if you’d like to know how much their Dine Out lunches cost as well as what’s on the menu for it, but I’m betting that it’ll be more affordable than its dinner counterpart.

Put your ear to the ground

Not sure where to go? Hold off on making a reservation and wait for initial feedback.  I typically seek out the opinion of food writers with similar palates, search for reviews of Dine Outs past, and listen to the rants or raves of loved ones returning from their experience.

Now that Twitter is the haunt of many a food lover, you could also lurk the feeds of your favourite restaurant addicts or check in on whatever event hashtag wins out (#dov2010 is probably your best bet).

One downside to this strategy is that the hottest restaurants will be fully booked by the time you decide to go there. If you were already thinking of dining at the likes of Chambar, West, Boneta, db bistro, and Market, don’t think: just book now. West is already sold out and tables at Boneta are going fast.

Compare against the regular menu

Don’t assume that all Dine Out participants are offering you a deal.  Some are cheaper than their set menus imply, especially those that offer $18 menus for normally communal fare. Unless you are really smitten by their Dine Out lineup, you would do better to sample these restaurants on a regular day rather than competing with the crowds during Dine Out. [I am also puzzled by the continued presence of certain restaurant chains that have been with Dine Out since the outset, but that's all I will say about that.]

Upon closer inspection, you might also discover that restaurants with top tier Dine Out Vancouver offerings have more affordable prix fixe specials during regular service. Some may also have lunch service: a good way to try a restaurant out of your budget free of the crowds that Dine Out brings. And if you had had your heart set on the now sold-out West, West’s lunch may very well be your only option during Dine Out this year!

Select by menu, not by reputation

If you’re like me, you’ve eagerly looked up the menu of a restaurant of high repute at the Tourism Vancouver site only to discover how truly ho-hum its Dine Out edition is.  The uninspired (re: cheap) offerings or plans that read like a workday set lunch turn me off from attempting an otherwise promising restaurant.

Make sure your palate is already salivating on what you’re going to eat or be prepared to have a less than stellar meal at a place that normally has a good reason to draw praise.

Share your Dine Out Vancouver experiences with others

Help your circle narrow down their dining choices by relating what you’ve enjoyed (or detested) in the past.  On my part, I’ll list places of note from our Dine Out Vancouver history.

Pleased by:

• Imperial Chinese Seafood Restaurant
• Hart House
• Fleuri
• West
• Brix
• Raincity Grill
• Aqua Riva
• Provence Marinaside
• Rex Rotisserie & Grill
• Chambar (I’d prefer to go on a regular day and pig out on mussels)

Disappointed by:

• Griffin’s
• Wild Rice
• Coast
• Horizons
• cassis bistro
• Parkside

Feel free to leave me a comment about your past, present, and future with Dine Out Vancouver.