A senior living facility has added another culinary award to its ever-growing trove, taking home the Harmony Arts Festival’s Best of the West award for the fifth time.
PARC Retirement Living, led by its West Vancouver iteration Westerleigh, took part in the cook off competition facet of the West Vancouver festival August 7. Restaurants and kitchens from across the municipality craft dishes to pair with wines, before festival guests vote on the winning combination.
Led by Chef Ben, the culinary team at Westerleigh had whipped up a smoked and braised boneless beef short rib, served up with white corn polenta, ancho chilli prawn, mango, fennel chip and micro arugula.
To pair with the dish the team selected The Judge from Hester Creek Estate Winery in the south Okanagan.
The facility pipped Japanese haunt Zen Sushi to the post, who had delivered a prawn lollipop dish with smoked salmon salad alongside a signature rose, and Italian restaurant Mangia E Bevi, whose crispy pork belly on cauliflower puree with pistachio-pomegranate relish and Morain Estate pinot noir secured them third place.
“Congratulations to Yvan and Chef Ben who led the team, and a special thank you to all of the chefs who came out to support and for creating the award-winning meal,” said PARC’s Viviane Mueller.
“We were, again, the only retirement living restaurant in the competition and we are very proud to showcase the innovative and exceptional meals that our culinary team provide on an everyday basis for our residents and guests,”
Nestled on 22nd St in West Vancouver, the Westerleigh facility is one of several PARC facilities across Vancouver to offer independent living.
Other North Shore locations include North Vancouver’s Cedar Springs PARC on Mt Seymour Parkway, who nabbed a win in the same competition during last year’s iteration. The North Vancouver team, led by executive chef Robert Fortin, had stolen the show with a sous vide lamb loin dish, paired with wine from Burrowing Owl Estate Winery.
Mina Kerr-Lazenby is the North Shore News’ Indigenous and civic affairs reporter. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.
