IBERICO PORK IN WINE COUNTRY
‘Nothing else compares,’ chef says
I felt symptoms of a swoon upon eyeing the dish — excitement, a temperature rise, fluttering heart — then upon tasting it, I had to calm my inner beast.
It was platter of succulent, juicy, flavour-packed, Iberico bellota pate negra pork. Usually it’s made into the finest of Spanish hams, but at Kelowna’s Home Block, chef Neil Taylor buys it fresh.
“It’s pure acorn-fed pig, 100 per cent bellota (acorn),” he says. “It’s one of my top food revelations in 20 years. Nothing else compares.” (He mentioned his first taste of white truffles and the first time he made hand-rolled egg-based pasta at London’s River Cafe as other astonishing moments.)
He imports the secreto cut (secret), a tender and prized densely marbled cut from the shoulder for this dish and cooked it on the steampunky Grillworks woodfired grill, similar to the ones at CinCin and the Elisa Steakhouse.
It burns timber from local orchards and barrel staves. Spanish mojo-rojo sauce with dates made the pork flavours sing even louder. He sliced it and served it over grilled cauliflower and leeks.
Home Block, the restaurant at CedarCreek Estate Winery, opened last May; the winery is one of Anthony von Mandl’s Iconic Wineries of B.C. along with Mission Hill, the Checkmate Artisanal Winery, Martin’s Lane Winery, and Road 13. The winery, bought in 2014 from the founding family, is in the process of converting its 30-year-old vineyards to certified organic.
“Since I have never used the phrase ‘world-class’ and I travel the world, I’m going to use it to describe what has gone on at CedarCreek,” Vancouver Sun wine writer Anthony Gismondi said in a September column.
While most winery restaurants don’t stay open through the quiet winter months, Home Block will. Shortly after opening, it was nominated as one of enRoute Canada’s Best New Restaurants for 2019. The room melds modern and country — the country in the 100-year-old reclaimed barn wood and the modern in the airy space with uncluttered lines. There are 60 seats indoors and a 60-seat patio overlooking the vineyard.
Taylor earned cred in the tough Vancouver market. He was the opening chef at Cibo and Uva before moving on to open his own Espana tapas bar and Fat Badger gastropub. Lessons he’d learned about fresh seasonal ingredients from his time at the famous River Cafe stuck with him.
“I was always taught to buy great ingredients and not do too much to it and let them speak for themselves. Overdoing and overcomplicating isn’t my way of cooking. ‘Simple’ doesn’t mean it’s easy. You can’t hide behind much when there are four things on a plate,” he says.
And that’s pretty much his MO at Home Block with Mediterranean tugs from Italy and Spain.
He changes a few dishes two or three times a week prompted by available ingredients. He serves fresh, never frozen, fish and relies on his local supplier, Codfathers, “who champions bringing different things in.”
When I interviewed him by phone, he was cooking with fresh hake and East Coast and Mediterranean fish.
“I’ve had more interesting fish from them than in my 10 years in Vancouver. I see it as our job to use them and introduce them to the public,” Taylor said.
And he’s loving being a half-hour away from awesome farms like Stoney Paradise and There and Back Again Farms.
When I visited for lunch, he had a luscious foraged mushroom soup made with white chanterelles and pine mushrooms, and topped with chestnuts and more mushrooms.
“A little guy, maybe 12 or 13, came in for lunch and came to the pass to speak to me. He said he owned a three-acre farm with chestnut
trees and wanted to drop off some samples,” Taylor says. “He was very professional and had this costing sheet.”
A burrata salad with golden beets, shishito peppers and grilled housemade focaccia and prosciutto was lovely. Burrata’s always on the menu, he says.
At Cibo, I loved Taylor’s pasta. At Home Block, he makes all pastas from scratch and has a good pasta extruder with 22 die shapes. A fusilli with venison bolognese with horseradish gremolata and shavings of Parmesan wasn’t his best work, although the sauce clung evenly in crevices and the gremolata brightened and lifted flavours.
Other mains include local 63 Acres premium Angus cross-beef steaks (grilled hanger and 45-day, dry aged steaks), wood-grilled ling cod and steelhead trout a la plancha.
For dessert, a dark chocolate budino with malted whipped cream and caramel sauce was straight-ahead Italian with a Taylor twist. But sticky toffee pudding with butterscotch sauce is the diner favourite, Taylor says.