The SkyTrain seemed so space age back then.
I was going to miss it. My mother had broken the news that we were leaving Vancouver, moving to Montreal. I didn’t like the idea. Vancouver was home. My friends were here, I didn’t speak French; how was this going to be a good thing? In my memory, that summer thoroughly sucked. Except for Expo 86. That part was great. I had a three-day Passport, a fairgrounds access pass that exposed me to world cultures that seemed so exotic and mysterious to my young mind. I believe that’s what infected me with the travel bug, a lifelong affliction as it turns out.
The SkyTrain feels thoroughly pedestrian now and I can’t say I relish its heaving rush hour masses. But there are other legacies of Expo 86 that continue to reward and for which that world’s fair earns my gratitude. Lonsdale Quay is one of those legacies.
The market, with its consistently improving mix of vendors and amenities, is one of my favourite places on the North Shore. The Quay recently celebrated its 30th anniversary with a limited ticket, longtable dinner on April 30 hosted on the main floor near the south entrance, facing the Vancouver skyline, a vista that has changed dramatically over the last three decades.
I was fortunate to snag a ticket to the event, courtesy of the Quay’s marketing team. A big Private Event sign marked the secured entrance and gave a sense of exclusivity and occasion. Upon entering the event, guests were welcomed by soulful notes from acoustic guitarist and singer Colin Bullock. Bullock did a nice job throughout the evening, but deserves special acknowledgement for his poignant, melancholy rendition of Prince’s “Purple Rain,” a nice tribute to 2016’s latest fallen icon.
The dinner featured passed hors d’oeuvres and three sit-down courses, each supplied and prepared by food vendors within the Quay, along with beer from resident brewery Green Leaf and B.C. wines from The Artisan Wine Shop.
I had to take pause to consider how tough this meal must have been logistically. I mean, consider it: 60 multi-course dinners to be served simultaneously, prepared and plated within the confines of each vendor’s in-market space. I think everyone involved should be commended for how well the whole affair rolled out. I hope this dinner is the first of many to come.
I reached my foodie happy place pretty early on in the evening, to be honest, with the various salumi, cheeses and olives that were supplied by Bowen Island Pizza Co.
The charcuterie was nicely displayed on wooden boards carried by event service staff who meandered through the crowd. I have remarked on the excellent deli section of Bowen Island Pizza before, especially their great selection of cured meats, but a new item to me, thinly shaved, air-dried duck breast, with its bright red flesh and translucent, buttery fat trim, was a revelation. Paired with a pint of Green Leaf Burning Rock, a seasonal ale with a well-balanced character, the charcuterie achieved new heights.
Soup Meister created the first seated course, a yin-yang swirled bowl of tomato and wild mushroom bisques topped with a quenelle of coarse and fragrant almond pesto. I detected subtle notes of truffle in the mushroom soup, an unadvertised bonus, and the tomato component was tangy, tart and lively.
The Soup Meister is a North Shore treasure. I have sourced many an excellent meal from the shop; their seafood bisque, with its fennelly hint of Pernod on the back palate, is a consistent favourite, while their ready-made demi-glace, an onerous thing to prepare at home, has taken sauce in my house to otherwise unachievable levels of sophistication.
A simple but bright and fresh salad of mixed greens with toasted pecans, again supplied by Bowen Island Pizza Co., was, I suspect, simply a platform to showcase a creamy, heady goat’s cheese from the deli; the cheese studded the mesclun in weighty crumbles.
The main course, a surf and turf of prime rib and grilled prawns, was provided by Sharky’s Chophouse and The Salmon Shop. It was a meal of positively primeval indulgence: a giant slab of beef topped with prawns and secured in the centre of the plate by a perimeter of no fewer than 12 new potatoes, mountains of asparagus, carrots and green beans, with ample jus on the side.
There was simply no finishing the main, much like the massive meals furnished by Sharky’s on a regular basis through their meals to go, which often feature roast meats and traditional Sunday dinner trimmings. I still maintain that Sharky’s shines brightest in its pies, which emerged as this writer’s favourites in a blind tasting a couple of years back. Dessert, a chocolate-covered strawberry from Olde World Confections (whose caramel popcorn is a must-try) paired with a fresh fruit tart from El Dorado Pies, was the seam-stretching nail in the coffin, albeit a colourful and proficiently executed one.
Chris Dagenais served as a manager for several restaurants downtown and on the North Shore. A self-described wine fanatic, he earned his sommelier diploma in 2001. He can be reached via email at [email protected].
