Dig into Dine Out
Vancouver’s 14th annual culinary festival returns, bigger, better and more delicious
Hope you’re feeling hungry — the 14th annual Dine Out Vancouver Festival kicks off on Friday, and it promises to be a feast to feed all the senses.
From Jan. 15 to 31, the city will offer a banquet of more than 100 culinary events, including grazing tours, master classes, foodie films and lively parties. That’s in addition to the three-course prix fixe dinners being offered for $20, $30 and $40 at 288 restaurants around the city — the biggest number of participating restaurants in the festival’s 14-year history.
“For 14 years we’ve had successively greater numbers each year,” says Lucas Pavan, Dine Out Vancouver Festival co-ordinator. “I think there are 30 new restaurants this year that were not involved last year.”
When Dine Out was first held in 2003, the goal was simply to drive restaurant business during the doldrums of January. That year, 57 restaurants were involved; just a year later, the number had doubled.
Since then, the event has grown into Canada’s biggest culinary festival, attracting more than 100,000 attendees and boasting the largest number of participating restaurants of any event in the country.
And each year, Dine Out features new events designed to tempt even the most jaded of diners.
“We like to innovate and we like to keep things fresh,” Pavan says. “Change is good, and it’s good to bring in new elements.”
This year, the festival offers two exciting new features in addition to already-popular events such as Street Food City and Secret
“In the last 14years, Tourism Vancouver has driven Vancouver as a12-month travel destination, and Dine Out helps us do that. It allows us to build January as a solid key month.
Supper Soiree. For the first time, Dine Out has brewed its own signature festival beer, in collaboration with Big Rock Urban Brewery. The English-style brown ale will be poured at the Winter Beer Hall on Jan. 16 and the Brewmasters Breakfast on Jan. 17.
The festival is also introducing the Vancouver World Chef Exchange, which features five “amazing, one-off collaborations” between some of the city’s top chefs and equally illustrious visiting chefs from Los Angeles, Puerto Vallarta, Copenhagen, Brooklyn and Sydney, Australia.
“The chefs are basically doing this because they’re proud to showcase their talent and showcase their love of food,” Pavan says, adding that events like this encourage tourism from the visiting chefs’ destinations. “It’s really allowing us to build bridges with other destinations.”
Increasing tourism, of course, is one of the aims of an event like Dine Out, which is why 21 city hotels are offering “Dine and Stay” packages during Dine Out, and Air Canada is offering 15 per cent discounts on flights from Canadian and select U.S. cities to Vancouver between Jan. 14 and Feb. 1.
“In the last 14 years, Tourism Vancouver has driven Vancouver as a 12-month travel destination, and Dine Out helps us do that. It allows us to build January as a solid key month,” Pavan says.
Dine Out allows locals and visitors the chance to sample the best of the city’s culinary front.
“That’s really what it’s all about,” Pavan says. “It allows everyone who has an interest in food to be engaged.”
For schedules and lists of participating restaurants and hotels, visit dineoutvancouver.com.
Follow the Dine Out action on Twitter at @DineOutVanFest or #DOVF.
LUCAS PAVAN
DINE OUT VANCOUVER CO-ORDINATOR