Modern diner
Of course, when you put an adorable baby in a chef’s hat, it’s going to elicit ohhs and ahhs. Such was the scene this week when four-and-a-half-month-old Troy Ashley donned a custom-made toque blanche and hung out at the Garden Bistro booth at the Thompson Okanagan Dine Around launch.
He was in an outward-facing baby carrier worn by his mom, Josie, while his dad, chef Travis, served up wonton crackers stuffed with duck confit and apple-pear chutney.
The paired wine was The Chase 2016 Pinot Gris ($19), which boasts its own aromas and flavours of apple and pear.
Garden Bistro is the restaurant at The Chase Winery in Lake Country that’s offering a threecourse Dine Around dinner for $45 through Feb. 4.
For the special menu, the Pinot Gris will accompany a starter of pear bruschetta, the duck confit main course will be done a l’orange and paired with the 2015 Pinot Noir and dessert is triple-citrus creme brulee with 2016 Riesling.
This week’s Dine Around launch in the atrium of the Kelowna campus of Okanagan College was a teaser for the main event of 42 restaurants in the region fashioning three-course menus for $15, $25, $35 and $45.
The promotion runs through Feb. 4 and is designed to entice people to eat out during the traditionally quiet stretch between New Year’s and Valentine’s Day.
“It works,” said Heith Martin, co-owner of FSH in Kelowna.
“January and February are notoriously slow in the restaurant industry. But Dine Around does create a buzz.”
At the launch, FSH chef Kevin Negoro dished up mini Mongolian tacos to celebrate his Asian heritage. He’s Hawaiian-Japanese. At the restaurant, the mini Mongolians can be an appetizer before a main of ginger beef rice bowl or red thai curry and followed by lemon-lavender cheesecake or gluten-free chocolate torte.
The starter and main can be paired with either of FSH’s house wines – the Unoaked Chardonnay from West Kelowna’s Mount Boucherie or Squeezed Red from Oliver. Chef Rod Butters is opening a fourth restaurant in the Okanagan: Sunny’s Modern Diner in Kelowna.
Sage Hills Vineyard from Summerland was at the launch sampling its 2015 Pinot Gris ($25) and 2016 Merlot ($30).
The wines are being paired with choices on the Dine Around menu at Ricardo’s restaurant in Lake Country.
Sage Hills bills itself as ‘beyond organic’ because it uses no pesticides nor herbicides and it won’t even treat wood fence posts with any chemicals.
These are the restaurants offering Dine Around deals and menus: Kelowna – The Keg – Moxie’s – Red Robin – Joey – The Sandwich Co. – Xchange – Old Spaghetti Factory – The Table at Codfather’s – Olympia Greek Taverna – FSH – Infusions at Okanagan College – Organic Bistro at Summerhill Pyramid Winery – Hotel Eldorado – Basil & Mint – Salted Brick – West Coast Oyster Bar at Prestige Hotel – Earls – Oak+Cru at Delta Grand hotel – Social – Bouchon Bistro – Central Kitchen – The Train Station Pub – Yamas Greek Taverna Lake Country – Ricardo’s – Turtle Bay Pub – Garden Bistro at The Chase Winery West Kelowna – Sammy J’s – Red Fox Club at Indigenous Winery
– Blu Saffron at Volcanic Hills Winery – 19 Okanagan Bar & Grill – Old Vines at Quails’ Gate Winery B.C.Tree Fruits Cider Co.’s Broken Ladder apples and hops won a gold medal at the North American Cidercraft Awards. Penticton – Villa Rosa – Theo’s – Bogner’s Vernon – Browns Socialhouse – Robin Kamloops – Red Robin – Browns Socialhouse Peachland – Gasthaus Summerland – Zias Stonehouse Big White – The Blarney Stone
Half Corked
This isn’t your typical half marathon.
First of all, the 21-kilometre jog through Oliver and Osoyoos wine country goes by the cheeky name Half Corked.
The 1,000 participants are encouraged to run in their best wine-themed or Canadiana costumes and there are stations every kilometre handing out wine refreshment.
The quasi-race, which will celebrate its 10th anniversary on May 26 this year, is so popular the 1,000 slots for runners have already been allocated.
All this caught the attention of the Canadian Tourism Awards, which named Half Corked event of the year at its recent Tourism Industry Association of Canada annual conference in Gatineau, Quebec.
Half Corked it put on by the 39 wineries in the Oliver Osoyoos Winery Association, which includes bigger names such as Jackson-Triggs, Inniskillin and Hester Creek and smaller properties such as Adega, Hidden Chapel and VinAmite.
Don’t worry if you didn’t get into the half marathon, or don’t want to run.
There are plenty more events built into the weekend, such as a long-table vineyard dinner on May 25, a party at the finish line with more winery stations, food trucks and live music and special events at wineries.
If you want to run in the 2019 half, go to OliverOsoyoos.com/halfcorked for information on how to get in
There will be exposed brick wall, 20-foot timber ceilings and dishes such as two cows and cluck and grunt.
Sunny’s will be a modern diner by RauDZ Creative Concepts, the company owned by chef Rod Butters and Audrey Surrao that also includes RauDZ Regional Table and Micro Bar & Bites in downtown Kelowna and Terrafina at Hester Creek Winery in Oliver.
Sunny’s will be around the corner from RauDz and Micro at 235 Bernard Ave. and will feature just 30 seats (44 in patio weather), with 16 of them at the stainlesssteel counter facing the open diner kitchen.
By the way, two cows is a double-stack hamburger with onions and cluck and grunt is an order of eggs and bacon.
Renovations are underway and the new eatery will open in the spring.
The restaurant gets its name from Butters and Surrao’s golden retriever Sunny and the sun of the Okanagan.
“I’ve always wanted to do a diner concept and when this space on the revitalized Bernard Avneu so close to the lake became available, it was perfect timing,” said Butters.
Butters also released his first cookbook in the summer.
The Okanagan Table: The Art of Everyday Home Cooking recently won best local cookbook in Canada at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards.
It will compete against other national winners for the international title with the winner to be announced in the spring.
Winning cider
The cider and beer worlds have an award-winning collision in the apples and hops cider from Kelowna’s B.C. Tree Fruits Cider Co.
The Broken Ladder Apples & Hops won a gold medal at the North American Cidercraft Awards, a competition where over 300 ciders were judged.
True to cider’s roots, Broken Ladder is a dry, six-per-centalcohol drink made from six varieties of Okanagan apples.
It adds the twist of B.C.-grown hops, one of beer’s main ingredients, to increase dryness and amp up the flavour.
The cider is sold at most government and private liquor stores in B.C. and Alberta, at restaurants and at the tasting room at 880 Vaughan Ave.
Regular retail price is $11.29 for a pack of four 473 ml cans.
You can also buy growlers and refills at the tasting room.
Steve MacNaull is The Okanagan Weekend’s business and wine reporter and