Suggestions for Vancouver-themed Food?
 

This post might be a bit tangential, but anyway here goes: I am having friends over to watch the opening ceremonies on 2/12 and want to serve snacks with a "Vancouver theme". Does anyone have suggestions for food that would be typical of the area?
Thank you!

See the Richmond Dim Sum thread as a start. The NY Times article is a good overview of the Vancouver food scene.

http://www.fodors.com/community/cana...n-richmond.cfm

Vancouver's a strange place, food-wise.

It's at the forefront of trndy -- if you want sauteed goat's eyeballs drizzled with squid ink and saffron, that's the town.

And the Vancouver "food scene."

But for real Vancouver food, look to the ocean, and look to the Okanagon and the Fraser valley.

All kinds of salmon; fillets, smoked tidbits, steaks -- that's real vancouver.

Same goes for shrimps and for crab.

On several visits, I just went to The Cannery and told the waiter I wanted "lots of crab and shrimps." Worked well.

And Vancouver is a fruit heaven. At the Granville Island market, I'd see the fruit carefully arranged. STrawberries in pyramids, for instance, instead of just dumped into the box.

No lobster -- wrong coast.

BAK

If you can get them - spot prawns are a local shellfish and
delicious. Indian candy - salmon strips smoked with a sweet
sour marinade are perfect for appetizers. Smoked scallops
are another treat.

Vancouver is sushi central - the perfect finger food and, of
course, anything dim sum is totally in keeping.

We also do a lot with goat's cheese in all its form.

Desserts? Nanaimo bars, natch!

Think Japanese and Chinese-inspired cuisine with an emphasis on lightness, freshness and local seafood.

When I think of Vancouver food, I think salmon and sushi right off the bat. That epitomizes the local Vancouver culinary culture = fresh local seafood and our love of Asian cuisine. Sushi here is cheap, fresh, and everywhere.

What I'd do:

Have a platter of smoked samon lox with cream cheese, fresh dill, lemon slices, cracked pepper, capers, and red onion slices. Serve it on slices of fresh baugette or bagels. Emphasis on the salmon, less so on the bread.

Have a big bowl of fresh homemade sunomono salad (glass noodles in Japanese rice wine vinegar dressing with fresh cucumber slices, sesame seeds, lemon, and fresh hand-peeled shrimp)

Then buy an assorted sushi platter.

For dessert, have a bowl of strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries with homemade whipped cream and fresh mint leaves.

Voila!

You now have a Vancouver-themed dinner.

If you were even more ambitious, you could find yourself some BC spot prawns, Dungeness crab, or roast yourself some halibut steaks. Or you could start off with some gyozas/potstickers and some dim sum (shrimp or pork dumplings)

Hope that gives you some ideas!

Oh, Salt Spring Island goat's cheese on Raincoast crisps (served with a side of ginger fig jam). :D

Another idea - if you have access to a BBQ, BBQ a salmon (with or without a soy sauce/ginger marinade) and serve it with fresh squeezed lemon and fresh dill. Maybe with a side of homemade potato salad (using local BC new potatos) and local Chilliwack corn on the cob. Okay, maybe save that for the summer months! ;)

Hope that helps!

(Now I'm hungry!)

Actually blueberries are a more local berry - used to pick them on Mt Seymour every year. I make a pate of smoked salmon with cream cheese, lemon zest etc and capers. It may be harder to serve but I also make smoked salmon chowder and my friends always expect that when they visit. We also have a large East Indian population so curries are always good too.

That's true - good call. I grew up in Richmond where there are blueberry farms galore. U-pick blueberries, U-pick strawberries, U-pick raspberries and of course, endless blackberries along the dyke. :)

This is great; thank you all so much! I love all the ideas and will see what I can come up with here in land-locked Pittsburgh, very far away from Vancouver!

I also sent an email to food editor of our newspaper to see if they were thinking of doing a piece on Olympics as they are this week for the Super Bowl. Ed. wrote back with some sources and said he'd be interested in talking to me if I have this party. Yeek--this is taking on a life of its own; just planning to have two couples over and now it could be in Pgh. Post-Gazette--I think I will decline the offer. :-)

The smoked salmon chowder idea sounds like an especially good idea as well as ordering in some sushi. I had thought of doing smoked salmon with dill, capers, cream cheese, etc., but the chowder would be super on a cold night.

The food ed. mentioned nanaimo bars, too; never heard of them so must Google and find out!

And if I am interviewed by P-G and it's printed, I will come back with link. And I will give credit to Fodor's folks!

Thanks, again.

grandmere - glad we could help. When I make my smoked salmon chowder I actually puree the smoked salmon. I then just make chowder with some regular salmon and stir the pate into it. It gives it a really good flavour and is a little "smokier" than just using the pieces. I am sure you have it there as well but you can buy the sourdough or french bread in rounds (cobbs) and carve them out and serve the chowder in that. Nanaimo bar recipes are easily found by googling it on the internet but they are very very sweet so a little goes a long way. Sounds like you will put Vancouver on the map in Pittsburg (food wise anyway) Enjoy your party!!!

Traveller 69, in looking on epicurious.com I could only find one recipe for smoked salmon chowder, and it wasn't highly reviewed so thought I would just use a recipe for a regular salmon chowder and substitute, but your idea sounds good, too: question--let's say the recipe called for a pound of salmon-- so how much smoked salmon would I add in addition to that, using your method?

Yes, I looked up Nanaimo bars and see that they are very rich indeed, but sound very good, also!

Thank you.

HI again. I have never used a recipe just thought it would be a good idea to try making it (many years ago). So perhaps if you puree about a 1/4 lb or so of smoked salmon and add it gradually to suit your taste. Then you could make a pate out of any that was left. It all depends on the salmon as well. We are very fortunate to get some quality salmon but I have seen it where the chunks are quite oily so you would use less in that case. Of course I am very bad and use half and half as well. I also use lemon pepper as a seasoning. I hope that helps. I will think of you while we watch the ceremonies as well.

Grandmere--if you're interested in salmon chowder...

It's not in Vancouver, but the Fresh Tracks Café at the Whitewater Ski Resort near Nelson BC makes a Whiskey Smoked Salmon Chowder as one of their signature dishes. It's quite delicious.

You can find the recipe in their first recipe book, "Whitewater Cooks",which is available through Amazon. It's a fantastic cookbook.

http://www.amazon.com/Whitewater-Coo...6&sr=8-1-spell


Out of curiosity, I looked up the whiskey smoked salmon chowder recipe on epicurious.com. It's virtually the same as the Fresh Tracks one, with no credit given, of course. The only difference appears to be that the original uses fish stock while the epicurious copy uses clam juice. Otherwise, they're identical.

I've made it a number of times (as lately as 2 weeks ago) and it's outstanding. Bear in mind that the soup uses the chunky smoked salmon that is readily available in BC and much of the rest of Canada, not the more common thinly sliced cold-smoked lox (although it would do in a pinch).

Thanks again, Traveller 69 and Laverendrye! I will check out that recipe. And, no, have never seen chunky smoked salmon here; wonder if Whole Foods or Trader Joe's would have it? The thin slices that we get here are nice and not oily, though. I have a week to do some hunting around town for the right kind of salmon.

Everyone has been a great help!

Wow, this thread is not painting an authentic picture.


First of all, nobody ever says: "where can I find a good Canadian restaurant?"

Has anybody ever even heard of "Canadian food"??

If you want "Northwest food", then yeah, go for the salmon, emphasize apples and potatoes maybe, but know in advance that you're stretching.

But Canada is known for Maple Syrup, French Fries and Gravy (and that cheesy stuff to make it "Poutine"), and it is the only place where I've ever seen a "fried Mars bar" advertised on the menu at an eatery (Commercial Drive).


PS - somebody should make an ice cream delight and call it the "Nanaimo Bar"

The best, albeit richest, salmon chowder can be found at Sobu
in Tofino. I'm heading over on Monday and the resto opens that day after its winter hibernation. I'm going to try to
wheedle the recipe out of them. Perfect for a cold wet
Winter's day after a biathlon competition.

NWM - there's more than a few thousand kilometers between
Quebec and BC! Poutine and maple syrup are definately NOT
Vancouver specialties and fried Mars bars are an abomination
from Gt. Britain IIRC.

Apples and potatoes? More like PEI.

Vancouver means Sushi-although that might be a bit hard to come by in Pittsburgh PA.

Come on NorthwestMale, you should know better than that. ;) Coming to Vancouver to seek poutine and maple syrup is like heading to Seattle to seek out that Texas BBQ and New York pastrami sandwiches. Cuisines that are parts of other regions within that country, but not a part of the local tradition.

S_S, we do have very nice sushi here in Pgh.! You probably think we are still a smoky steel town, also. :-)

And regarding NWM's post: I thought the dishes he mentioned were from eastern Canada, also, and am glad for the clarification.