Well we pulled it off! Chez D, part of the Powell Street Festival, was a hit. With a great bunch of fun luvin food luvin artists, we created, sang, cooked, danced and they ate, ate, ate their way through the night. It was a blast I must say!

“Local artists trade their instruments and paint brushes for chef hats in Chez D, where art and cuisine meet in a tantalizing feast for the senses.

For one night only, artists normally accustomed to wowing audiences in theatres and galleries will don their chef hats and coats at Gudrun Tasting Room in Steveston and create new works of edible art celebrating the theme of migration.

Commissioned by the Powell Street Festival, Chez D artists will plate delicacies in a five-course menu that pays homage to ethnic roots, migratory paths (the ‘D’ stands for ‘Diaspora’), new lands, family restaurants and neighbourhood survival foods. As event curator Michael Speier puts it, Chez D presents “a meal full of strong cross currents and pollinations here at the tastebud’s edge of the Pacific Ocean.”

Chez D artists include Open Sesame (Michael Speier), Komodo House (Margaret Gallagher and Angela Wan), Patrick Tubajon (Gudrun Tasting Room), Ari Tomita, and Cynthia Low & Leslie Komori. Each candlelit course will be accompanied by a design element representative of the artist’s discipline, as well as the “mallow dinner music” of local music innovators Guimauves.”

Michael Speier

Not sure why it was surprising to me that it was so fun. I suppose the mind forgets what live music sounds like, how performance and dance can be so fun, how food is better enjoyed at a long feast table with friends and strangers, how all these things combined is ridiculously rare. We just get bogged down in the every day and forget to look up and smell the flowers.

We definately need more of these events in Vancouver, actually we were in Steveston at Patrick Tubajon’s Gudrun Tasting Room. Steveston itself has a varied history of Japanese immigrants living and working, many in the cannery industry. So really, this is a very suitable setting to have the Powell Street Festival event.

The set up was really a well planed migratory guerilla kitchen set up with portable tables, stoves, tents(hey its Vancouver you never know), utensils and containers of food and water. While Margaret and I were plating inside at the bar, the rest of the gang were cooking, steaming and plating outside. It wasn’t all work back there though, I did get to tear away for a minute to have a sip of Mezcal.

In the back-lot kitchen, Ari was painting with mango dressing and plating her Enso Salmon Salad, Michael was chillin keeping one eye on his New World Longboat Tamale (and pouring Tequila and Mezcal for the cooks) but it was the smell of searing venison that got me intoxicated, I found myself standing in the smoky goodness (it tasted sublime!), taking it in. Laughing robustly Cynthia and her sister recall their father bringing home whole venison and hanging the animal from a tree in the city backyard, I hope they had a fence. Their Venison o-nigiri ‘hamburger’ with jicama/beets/daikon ‘fries’ was so fun. And last but not least was Patrick’s dessert course, Isdro’s Drift mango mouse, ever so delicately adorned with chocolate drizzle hat and candy ballet slippers.

Take a look…

[Show as slideshow]

12►

Here is the menu.

photos by: flying_designs

This little pasture fed piggy got roasted and devoured.

Our friend decided to bring on the next decade of his life with a full on pig roast party, what wonderful friends we have. This magical animal was a pretty young one judging by its size, it was stuffed with apples and potatoes(not sure why), sewn up then twirled around on the spit for 8 hours, periodically squirted with salt water to crisp up the skin and give flavour.

As guest arrived, their children excitedly ran to see the pig roasting, toddlers pointed at it in wonderment, nobody freaked out or cried, hey animals have heads right? One 3 year old who had never eaten mammal watched for hours then devoured three helpings with his greasy paws right from the carving table.

I can say that this was the freshest and tastiest pork that I have ever eaten!

home-made spit

Birthday guy carving

Overseer

Would have loved to have checked out local rock n roller Rich Hope(been a long time fan) at the Alibi Room which has an amazing selection of local craft beers ala Nigel(owner), but alas it is sold out. That’s what you get for being a dilly-dallier.

If I had to pick one fav it would be Driftwood Brewery’s Farmhand Ale, inspired by Belgium farm ale, a bit malty, citrus notes, um very drinkable, hints of banana. And I really like the branding, yes you can sell me a product on good branding, I’m a sucker.

BeerBrats - with Philips Brewing Company beer

Since we are on the subject of beery things to consume, I had bought three different packs of BeerBrats from the Trout Lake Farmers market that opened this last Weekend. Writing this, I couldn’t resist frying some up, mmm, the house smells like sausage! Made with local organic meats, and craft brews from Philips Beer(in pic), Red Truck Beer, R&B Brewing Co and Driftwood Brewery. They were less greasy, less salty and nice and beery, first thing that hits your palate is the beer. There are no preservatives in these sausages so we had to eat them all fast, well I gave away the chorizo for mother’s day.

What other beer wonders are to come this week…