GOOD EATS
NEW PLACES TO ENJOY IN VERNON
If you’re going to get high on all that champagne powder, it’s best to have something good in your stomach. Fortunately, there’s a food revolution going on in this laid-back Okanagan city 25 minutes from the snowy slopes of Silver Star Mountain Resort — so your movable feast for the senses will go down easily here, writes Gord Scott. THE RESORT
The mountain’s consistent snow supply has attracted powder hounds since the 1930s, and you can’t spend a day here without running into a local ready to tell you all about hiking in, overnighting in a hut, clambering to the top and getting one run in before trudging back out again.
That kind of effort is, of course, not necessary today. The well-maintained road from Vernon has you at the colourful “Victorianstyle” Silver Star mid-mountain village in less than half an hour.
Once there, you’ll choose from four distinct alpine areas with 1,328 hectares of skiable terrain and 132 marked trails; more than 100 kilometres of Nordic ski trails that seamlessly blend with the village and nearby Sovereign Lake network; 16 kilometres of snowshoeing trails; a magical skating pond bordering a tube park; 15 kilometres of fat-bike trails; and 50 kilometres of maintained snowmobile trails in Silver Star Provincial Park (rentals available).
Sharing the Okanagan’s famed dry “champagne powder,” there’s a bit of a family rivalry between Silver Star and its somewhat more boisterous sibling, Big White near Kelowna.
The Victorian funkiness and high profile of the Nordic scene here make for a more relaxed winter vacation feel.
Accommodations range from the stylish and spacious Snowbird Lodge all the way to rooms in private chalets; there is a grocery/ liquor store, ski shop and a selection of pubs and restaurants on a colourful “main street.”
The aromatic Bugaboos Bakery Cafe has been buttering up the faithful for years with its heavenly cinnamon buns, croissants and other baked treats.
THE CITY
Downtown Vernon is compact and laid out in a welcoming grid.
You’ll find stalwarts like a toy store and travel agent on the main drag, but there are a host of hip new enterprises sprouting on the pleasant streets and roosting in historic structures.
The following newcomers bring a fresh-and-local emphasis to the dining scene without pretension, are steps away from each other, and should help with the enticement:
Eatology offers sublime comfort food in a space at the Vernon bus station. Breakfast here is an experience, and you might find yourself jawing with locals at the social table, because the place is busy.
Ratio Coffee & Pastry has made a similar landing in the old railway station nearby. Andrew McWilliam started it as a food-cart operation in a city park and has grown it to cult status in warm surroundings that include a loft in the back. More heavenly baking.
The art is bright and welcoming, and so are the folks who have chosen to make the Midtown Bistro their mission. A second-generation local server and her bartending mate have teamed up with local producers to result in the kind of food and drink they can be proud to bring to your table.
The Martin Brewpub ups the urban ante in a huge space on the main drag. No vacation is complete without visiting a brewpub — this one combines scale (and adjacent Naked Pig barbecue joint) while maintaining the Vernon warmth.
MORE
Okanagan Spirits Craft Distillery occupies an impressive facility in an otherwise ordinary industrial park in the northeast corner of Vernon. Provincial regulations mean they’ve got to keep things local, so the ingredients of their whiskeys, vodka, gin and liqueurs are sourced in B.C. Tastings and tours leave a good taste in your mouth, and visions of sugarplums (well, fruit) in your head.
Planet Bee is on the unassuming outskirts of the other side of town. For almost 20 years, these folks have been explaining and extolling the benefits of the hardworking honeybee, while selling the host of products they provide. There’s a bee observatory, honey-tasting station and mead-sampling bar. It’s a sweet education.
If you can snare a ticket (no easy feat), it’s worth a half-hour drive north and bundling up for the Caravan Farm Theatre. Since 1978, this professional theatre company has staged musicals and plays outdoors on its 80-acre farm 11 kilometres northwest of Armstrong.
Winter playgoers are transported to the action, scene by scene, in a sleigh drawn by two magnificent draught horses. Steam streams from the nostrils of these silent giants as they perform their own ballet with a half-dozen sleighs in the darkened meadow. Enchanting and exotic, the productions draw up to 16,000 attendees year round.