B.C.’s next big culinary destination draws goodness from the land
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Chef Derek Gray still remembers the first time he tasted a peach plucked right from a tree in the Similkameen Valley.
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“It tasted of sunshine,” he says. “It changed me as a chef. I knew I had to be closer to the food. That night I wrote in my journal, ‘I need to have a restaurant on a farm.’ I just threw it out to the universe.”
The universe was listening. At the time, Gray was head chef at Vancouver’s Osteria Savio Volpe, considered one of Canada’s best restaurants. Just a short while later, he became chef and business partner at Row Fourteen Restaurant at Klippers Organics in Cawston, and part of a slow but steady stream of chefs, winemakers and food artisans transforming the Similkameen into B.C.’s next exciting culinary destination.
“This valley is about feeding people first and foremost,” Gray says. “Nurturing the land and feeding people.”
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The Similkameen Valley stretches west of Osoyoos to the town of Princeton, its steep, jagged slopes following the winding path of the Similkameen River to the Cascade Mountains. This has for millennia been the home of the Indigenous Sylix people known as the Similkameen, or “people of the river.”
Since the 19th century, it has also been home to miners — seeking gold, nickel, copper and coal — as well as farmers, ranchers and, since the 1980s, wine growers.
What it didn’t have? A tourism infrastructure.
“For a long time, people have come here and grabbed their wines and moved on to Osoyoos for lunch and to stay,” says Gray. He gestures at the orchards outside the restaurant, and the vine-striped hills beyond them. “Come and enjoy the wine and a meal, and stay. Enjoy the Similkameen for more than a couple of hours.”
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Until recently, the main reason many of us stopped here was to load up on produce at the fruit stands in Cawston or Keremeos as we made our way home from the Okanagan. Then a handful of farms and wineries including Orofino Vineyards, Crowsnest Winery and Klippers Organics opened guest suites. Now they’re being followed by cafes and restaurants, with more to come.
A couple of years ago, Harker’s Organics set up some picnic tables and opened its Barn Door Bistro. Even earlier, Crowsnest Winery introduced its cosy restaurant specializing in schnitzel and pizza. The Farm Store at Honest Food Farm launched a café and eatery. And then came Pippin Market & Bistro at Tree to Me Inn, which just opened on Canada Day.
“This is a secret gem. People don’t realize what’s here,” says the inn’s general manager, Leanne Pawluk. “It’s a special situation to be in and that’s what attracted me to come here.”
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Located on the Hwy 3A connector from Keremeos to Kaleden, the five-suite inn is owned by Vancouver-based, Keremeos-born businessman Joe Wurz, who bought the property in 2008.
“When he bought this, it was all hay field,” Pawluk says. “His vision was to have a farm, particularly tree fruits, where he could pick an apple and it would taste like it did when he was five years old.”
Since then, the 40-acre organic property has been planted with tree fruits, berries and ground crops, and features what was an industrial processing facility with rooms for farm workers. Pawluk, who comes from a hospitality background, and her husband John Schmidt, who has 30 years of grocery experience, have been tasked with transforming it into a country restaurant, market and inn.
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Already the market is packed with prepared foods made by the bistro’s chefs as well as local artisanal foods and produce fresh from the farm: sweet golden raspberries, plump tomatoes, fragrant Red Haven peaches. So far, the bistro serves only breakfast and lunch — all bursting with fresh flavours — but will expand their hours once they receive their liquor licence in September.
It’s the opportunity to work with farm-fresh food that appealed to chef Brock Windsor, who previously cooked at Sooke Harbour House and Bearfoot Bistro, and sous chef Nico Gerard, who hails from Northern France.
“It was a blank slate opportunity to create something new,” Pawluk says. “And being an organic farm, that was a reason for everyone to come.”
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That’s what appeals to Gray at Row Fourteen, too. He still remembers the flavour of the peach that changed his life, and sees the same reaction on his guests’ faces day after day.
“When people come in, they say, ‘This tastes different.’ It tastes fresh because it was picked only a couple of hours ago,” he says.
The restaurant is a partnership between Gray and Klippers Organics owners Kevin and Annamarie Klippenstein. It opened in August 2019, nearly missing the busy tourist season entirely. In December, they closed for the holidays. Two weeks later, all the accolades came rolling in, and Row Fourteen quickly booked up for spring 2020. Then the pandemic hit.
“We opened March 10 or 11. We were open three days, ordered everything, and then we shut down,” Gray says.
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Takeout wasn’t really an option in a town of 900 people who mostly grow their own food. They finally reopened in June 2020.
“The restrictions hit us hard. We’re dependant on travel.”
Still, all the recognition, unluckily timed though it was, has brought a steady stream of diners, many of them return guests. What brings them back is a prodigiously talented culinary team: Gray, who cooked at Vancouver’s España and Cibo Trattoria as well as Savio Volpe, is joined by a sous chef who worked at Wildebeest, and a junior sous chef with a background in Japanese cuisine.
Their approach to cooking is as simple as the Shaker-style dining room: “Something from the farm and something we’ve made, married together.”
“Something from the farm” can mean anything from apples to zucchini, including a perfectly ridiculous variety of tomatoes such as Big Zebra, Black Krim, Brandywine, Indigo Rose, Pink Tiger and Sun Gold.
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All of it is organic, of course, Cawston being the organic capital of Canada and all. It’s the valley’s unique terroir that makes it easy to grow things without chemical sprays: hot intense sunshine during the day, cool nights, an arid climate and constant winds that prevent disease and mould.
Those also happen to be perfect conditions for vitis vinifera, especially the big, bold, well-structured reds that do so well here. Although more than 650 acres are planted to grapes in the Similkameen, most of them are destined for wineries in the Okanagan Valley. Only 15 licensed wineries operate here, all relatively small, independent operations, many of which feature on the Row Fourteen wine list.
The wineries were already attracting visitors, and now they are joined by culinary creators like Gray, Pawluk, Windsor and all the rest.
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“The opportunities just abound here,” Pawluk says. “The beauty and the abundance. There’s a vibe in the Similkameen. It’s magical.”
Change is coming to the Similkameen, but it’s happing slowly and deliciously. Organically, you might say.
“It’s a long game. It’s going to be 10 years, 20 years for this to happen,” Gray says. But it is happening. “It’s contagious. People see our success and they’ll want their own success.”
• Row Fourteen at Klippers Organic Farm
klippersorganics.com/row-fourteen/restaurant
• Pippin Market & Bistro at Tree to Me Inn
• Barn Door Bistro at Harker’s Organics
harkersorganicsrusticroots.com
• The Restaurant at Crowsnest Vineyards
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• The Farm Store
This recipe comes from chef Derek Gray at Row Fourteen at Klippers Organics in Cawston. It makes the most of two of the Similkameen Valley’s most famous ingredients — tomatoes and peaches — or as he calls it, “Fruit salad at its best.”
2 cups (1 pint) cherry tomatoes, cut in half and green stems removed
1 clove garlic
Handful of fresh basil leaves
½ cup good quality olive oil (Gray likes the peppery oil from The Olive Farm on Salt Spring Island)
¼ cup sherry vinegar or stone fruit vinegar
Flaky sea salt (preferably from Vancouver Island) and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 tree-ripened freestone peach
½ cup whipped ricotta cheese or more if you like; note that you can substitute labneh, sour cream or crème fraîche
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Make the vinaigrette: Place a quarter of the cherry tomatoes (about ½ cup), garlic, a small handful of basil (saving some for garnish), olive oil and vinegar into a high-power blender and blitz for 20 seconds on high. The vinaigrette should be very smooth and a little creamy in texture. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.
Grill the peach: Heat a wood, charcoal or gas grill to high and oil the grate. Cut the peach in half and remove the stone, then place cut side down on the hot grill. Cook till a nice char has set in, flip over on the skin side for a minute and take the peach off the heat. Remove the skin as it becomes bitter upon charring.
To assemble: Divide the whipped ricotta between two small plates, spread it around to create a base and form a small well in the centre. Place the grilled peach, cut side up, into the well. Mix the cut cherry tomatoes with the vinaigrette. Cover the peach with the cherry tomatoes, place basil on top and finish off with a pinch of flaky sea salt and a drizzle of olive oil.
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Serves 2 as an appetizer
We wait all year for the sweet, juicy and delicious tomatoes of August. When they are this good, you hardly have to do anything to them, so here are five next-to-no-effort ideas for your tomato bounty.
Salad: Slice tomatoes however you like and serve with burrata or fresh mozzarella. Drizzle with good olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt and, if you feel fancy, garnish with shredded basil.
Pan con tomate: Spanish bruschetta, only easier. Cut ripe tomatoes in half, then grate the flesh over a bowl using the large holes of a box grater. Discard the skins. Mix the pulp with good quality olive oil and sea salt, then spoon onto slices of grilled bread. Shockingly good for something so simple.
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Pasta: While you bring a pot of pasta water to a boil, sweat chopped garlic and red pepper flakes in olive oil, then add a pint of cherry tomatoes and maybe a squeeze of tomato paste. If you like, add some chopped basil or fresh oregano from the garden. Put your dried pasta in the pot and by the time it’s cooked, the tomatoes will have cooked down to jammy perfection. Add some pasta water if it’s too thick. Toss with pasta and serve with a tangy, crumbly fresh cheese like chèvre or Macedonian feta.
Sandwiches: White bread, mayo, tomatoes and a little salt is all you really need for a perfect tomato sandwich. Elevate it by using toasted brioche and adding crisp bacon and a slice of sharp cheddar. You won’t want to eat anything else all summer.
Simply salted: Salt brings out the natural sweetness of the tomato. Sprinkle flaky sea salt on sliced tomatoes and eat them as you would any other fruit.
Please check with individual venues and restaurants prior to travel duetotheongoing wildfires in B.C.
Source: vancouversun.com
