Anyone interested in the serious arts of eating and drinking can get the inside scoop from the Web site www.planitvancouvcr.com. This is the creation of an enterprising woman who gave up marketing wine to keep the mutually enamored food and wine industries apprised of the latest events in town and beyond (Whistler is another indulgers’ paradise). At plariitvancouver.com, Wendy Taylor lists upcoming wine and spirit fairs, paired dinners (such as a “rosé wine and crab” event), and eve-flings planned around, say, food and jazz. She provides the venue and the phone number for tickets or reservations.
She also lists wine clubs, which are a great way to meet people (I was once a member of one, but took the varietal tastings so seriously I could barely stagger to work in the morning).
The Vancouver American Wine Society (604-469-6520) brings in fabulous wines and vintners from California, Oregon, and Washington. It offers great opportunities to compare coastal wines with our own exceptional BC fare (to which I remain tirelessly devoted). People who want to carefully consider wines from south of the equator — Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Argentina, and South Africa — might consider the South World Wine Society (e-mail:
southworldwine@hotmail.com). Through this group, you’ll find information about upcoming tastings and links to yet more wine sites that will swirl you, Alice-like, into a southern hemisphere of all things grape.
Wendy Taylor of planitvancouver.com also reports on all the latest awards — for example, those restaurants honored for their wine lists. Every one of the following is, I guarantee, also a fine purveyor of food (and none, let it be known, is inexpensive).
C Restaurant (i6oo Howe Street, Downtown South, 604-681-1164) is beautifully sited on the north side of False Creek, with views of Granville Island and the Art Deco Burrard Street Bridge. Here, you will find unabashed luxury — exceptional seafood accompanied by truly relaxed yet informative wine service. A Los Angeles Times travel editor I knew was so charmed by this restaurant — and its evocation of the best of the Pacific Northwest — that she quit her job and moved to Seattle (as close to Canada, one assumes, as she could get).
CinCin Ristorante & Bar (1154 Robson Street, Downtown, 604-688-7338, www.cincin.net) is beloved ofthe legions ofdiners drawn to Mediterranean cuisine, with a menu that includes alder-grilled steak, but also pizza with prosciutto. A cellar holds hundreds of wines at reasonable prices. La Terrazza (io88 Cambie Street, Yaletown, 604-899-4449) iS an oh-so-European setting of terrace dining and modern Italian food and wines.
Piccolo Mondo Ristorante, just off Robson Street (850 Thurlow Street, Downtown, 604-688-1633), is an elegant and slightly more formal Italian restaurant that serves excellent food but is particularly celebrated for its wine list (here’s your opportunity to splurge big time on a special vintage). At 1035 Robson Street, brothers Steve and Dean Punzo serve classic northern Italian foods, in a stylish manner, at Caffè de Medici (Downtown, 604-669-9322). Its ever-evolving and oft-awarded wine list runs to more than 500 offerings.
Finally, Raincity Grill overlooking English Bay (1193 Denman Street, West End, 604-685-7337) brings you back to British Columbia with dishes employing local seasonal fare paired with exceptional Pacific Northwest wines (many by the glass). I love this place, but I can’t forget the whole raw red onion with something stuck in it, like a cockeyed hairpin. Heck, all these guys get carried away from time to time.
For those who want to get yet further into Vancouver’s wine and food culture, Wendy’s site carries articles by those deeply in the know. Or pick up a free copy of the excellent quarterly CityFood (www.cityfood.com) at numerous outlets.
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