Salt Tasting Room has partnered with Bosa Foods to serve up San Sebastián-style dining by offering free tapas guests, beginning Sept. 8. Similar to pintxos (tapas) bars, which serve up free small plates with orders of wine or spirits, Salt will be serving small plates of mixed olives, white anchovies, six-month aged Manchego cheese, bone-in Serrano ham, salchichon iberico and chorizo sausages, and marinated calamari rings, along with guests’ orders of wine flights, beer or sherry, daily from 3pm-6pm until Oct. 11.
Joey Restaurants will be opening their first California location this fall, in the San Fernando Valley. The casual fine-dining chain already has 24 locations across Canada and Seattle, Washington.
The Uncommon Café has opened at 477 Powell Street, in Railtown, offering soups, sandwiches and baked goods that are all either made from scratch in-house or by local, artisan producers. The café will also eventually be renting out its commissary space once permits come in.
Hart House Restaurant has joined the Vancouver Aquarium’s Ocean Wise program, meaning its menu will now indicate sustainable seafood items.
Top Drop Vancouver, a unique two-day event that brings together international, terroir-focused wineries, craft breweries, cideries, food and more, will be back on Sept. 10 and 11, in both Vancouver and Whistler, with a main tasting event at the Roundhouse in Yaletown, wine dinners at various restaurants, including Cinara, Edible Canada, Wildebeest and Araxi.
On Sept. 12, Vista d’Oro Farms & Winery in Langley will be hosting a special evening of music and food. Internationally-renowned tenor David Curry, along with soprano Eden Tremayne and mezzo-soprano Francesca Corrado (both from Vancouver Opera’s Young Artist Program), will perform opera and musical theatre favourites in two sets. Between the two sets, guests will enjoy a three-course family-style dinner prepared by chef Chris Whittaker of Forage Restaurant. Tickets $300 per person and include return transportation from Vancouver, cocktail and canapé reception, concert and dinner.
Cin Cin Ristorante has announced a special menu in honour of its 25th anniversary this year. The four-course menu will be available Sept. 11 through Oct. 5, and costs $79 per person, plus tax and gratuity. Dishes include roasted tomato soup with stuzzichini, ravioli of goat milk ricotta and parmesan, wood-grilled beef tenderloin with potatoes, prosciutto and ash-roasted onions, and tiramisu. Optional wine pairings available.
Mamie Taylor’s is launching Taste of the States, a series of monthly, regional longtable dinners on the third Wednesday of each month. The first dinner will take place on Sept. 16 and will feature the flavours of New Orleans, followed by Charleston, South Carolina, on Oct. 21, and Kansas City, Missouri barbecue on Nov. 18. Each dinner includes a welcome cocktail and four courses for $45 per person.
Arts Club Theatre Company and Wines of British Columbia hosting the 11th annual ChefMeetsBCGrape signature tasting at Vancouver Convention Centre East on Sept. 16. Up to 90 BC wineries will pour more than 350 wines. In addition, chefs from top local restaurants will compete in a pairing challenge. Participating restaurants include Chicha, Fable, Graze, Oru, Torafuku and more. Tickets are $90 and include all wine and food samples.
Looking to get out of town? The Fall Okanagan Wine Festival is back Oct. 1-11 with over 120 events throughout the valley, including Canada’s largest wine tasting and farmer’s market on Oct. 9-10 in Penticton, the BC Wine Awards in Kelowna, and a farm-to-table sparkling brunch in Osoyoos.
