The ins and outs of Dine Out Vancouver

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The diva, the temptress of good deals, the antidote to winter blahs, is here to slap you out of post-holiday lethargy. Dine Out Vancouver, version 22, is upon us.

This year, more than 385 restaurants beckon with three- or four-course meals in three price ranges from $20 to $65 — from uncomplicated cafe meals to la-di-da soigné experiences. Fifty of the restaurants are newcomers, and 25 are Michelin-rated.

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The Dine Out warriors gorge themselves into a fugue state during the 19-day period from Jan. 17 to Feb. 4, wringing every bit of goodness out of the festival. Others strategize.

Food blogger Maggie Mei calls herself a “Super OG” Dine Out fan with a dual mission — first, to catch up with friends and then with restaurants offering better-than-usual prices. If her friends are okay with it, she opts for higher price-point restaurants for the value.

“I go with friends who want to share so we can try six dishes in total. They can’t be vegetarians because the meat options are the best value,” Mei says. “Typically, they are restaurants we haven’t visited before.”

Plotting out moves is easy with search functions by price, cuisine, neighbourhood, and restaurants. “I remember the days when we had to go through the whole list. It’s so interactive now,” she says.

If you’re like her, Mei says, check out the add-ons on the menu, be they truffles or lobster tail. “I feel it’s more affordable.” Ditto the drink pairings. “You’re usually saving money. They do a good job and it elevates the food.”

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She is piqued by the Dine Out extra bits too, like the hotel deal. “One day, I’d love to have a girls’ night out, pick out a nice restaurant or two, stay at a hotel, and have lunch the next day.” The hotel deal of which I speak is this — guests get a $75 Mastercard prepaid gift card each day at participating hotels to spend in any way, including on the hotel bill, for up to three nights. And for Dine Out wannabes in far-flung places, Air Canada offers a 15-per-cent discount to the first 1,000 people to apply, for a large selection of flights to Vancouver.

Lee Man, normally a four-restaurant-a-week man, slows it down during Dine Out. Instead, he focuses on the exclusive experiences like the World Chef Exchange dinners between local and international chefs.

“To be honest, I stay away from regular places because they get busy and I don’t want to stress them out. But Dine Out is important because, traditionally, it’s a really difficult time of the year for restaurants, and diners get to restaurants they don’t normally get to.”

This year, he is interested in attending the female chef exchange dinner, teaming Burdock restaurant’s Andrea Carlson with Angela Hartnett of London’s Michelin-starred Murano Restaurant.

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During Dine Out, there are three such collaborations. “They’re meant to fuse the creativity and styles of each city into one dinner,” says Destination Vancouver’s Lucas Pavan. “It’s become so popular, we now have chef teams approaching us to be included in the program.”

Since Vancouver World Chef Exchange began in 2016, some 30 chefs have participated from cities such as Beijing, Tokyo, Bangkok, Mexico City, Sydney, London and Copenhagen. As well, Dine Out includes special dinners, tours, courses, a food truck festival and other events.

I tend to avoid Dine Out because, as a critic, I’m interested in experiencing restaurants’ usual fare and atmosphere. But I’m attending, or will already have attended, two events. One is a World Chef Exchange at The Acorn where chef Matt Gostelow and owner Shira Blustein welcome Michelin Green Star restaurant chef Jan Ostie of Wilsons in London. They will collaborate on a farm-to-plate vegetable-forward dinner.

I’m also attending The Art, Eat and Sip event in Mount Pleasant, visiting 11 artist studios and a number of restaurants in the neighbourhood. The VIP option includes additional food and drink with the chef of the Tamaly Shop and two Latin American artists.

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The impresario behind the event is vancouverfoodster.com’s Richard Wolak, a Dine Out event producer since 2014. This year, he’s got four on the go — an East Van Dumpling Crawl, an East Van Brunch Crawl, an Asian Dumplings and Noodle Fest, and the art and food crawl that I’m attending.

“People from Abbotsford and the whole Greater Vancouver area and Bellingham are coming,” he says. “It’s not necessarily a younger generation. Times are changing and it’s hard to judge who’s buying tickets. It’s a mix of people.” His aim is to entertain and expose people to diverse culinary experiences, sometimes pushing comfort zones.

Wolak sleuths Dine Out menus with detective skills. “The menu tells a lot,” he says. “You can tell which chefs put real thought into it and want to attract new customers. Other chefs offer dishes from the regular menu and have given it zero thought, sometimes without much cost savings.”

There are little serendipities. He noticed Momo Hut, a Nepalese restaurant, offering a $20 three-course dinner with a choice of momo (Nepalese dumpling) a curry, and dessert. Whaaat? he thought, and inquired. It seems it’s the owner’s maiden run and he had under-priced his menu. It’s a very, very good deal. Maybe this shout-out triggers a stampede and the volume will make it profitable.

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Wolak pointed out another Himalayan restaurant, Addah, with a $55 dinner menu. But these are seven courses distinct from the regular menu, including adventurous dishes such as yak-meat momo, Nepalese style hay-smoked duck with fire-roasted tomato, charred chili, mustard oil, house pickles and flattened rice, and a Bhutanese-style pork. And churned butter tea. So yes, don’t just scroll through the restaurants. Dive deep and discover the serendipities.

On a media night, some journalists and influencers were invited to a taste of Dine Out, beginning with a reception at ARC restaurant at the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel where we nibbled on dishes and matched wines from their $55 Dine Out menu — a beautifully cured salmon, housemade cavatelli pasta with fennel sausage, rapini and pecorino, a flavour-filled flat iron steak with truffle butter and potato croquette and a bonet dessert (a Piedmontese chocolate custard with dried amaretti and rum).

Then we split into groups and fanned out to various Dine Out restaurants. My group’s first stop was Karma Indian Bistro, recently anointed with a Michelin Bib Gourmand. A discovery for me as I hadn’t yet tried it. From the $35 menu, we tried Chicken 65, a southern Indian fried-style chicken, jackfruit tikka, methi paneer, butter chicken, coconut rice pudding and chocolate lava cake.

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The third Dine Out restaurant, the Michelin-recommended Wildlight, had the challenge of feeding already satiated guests, yet, we managed to finish most of the nine options from the $65 menu. The chowder with smoked sablefish, surf clams, dungeness crab, scallops, and double-smoked bacon was so good that, against my better judgement, I cleaned the bowl. The menu included burrata with haskap berry compote and grilled focaccia, confit duck tart, mixed mushroom risotto, a combo of lamb short loin and housemade lamb sausage, and Farmcrest roasted chicken with lemon and thyme polenta.

Dine Out is a great event for restaurants, hotels, and you, the consumer. For a complete list of restaurants and events, visit dineoutvancouver.com

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