In a culinary potpourri that made my head spin – metaphorically – like Linda Blair in “The Exorcist,” my mission for the past seven months has been to seek out and explore the best in fine dining and finesse cooking in British Columbia — the most underrated and underpublicized gastrononomic center in North America.

This forced march through kitchens and dining rooms has promoted a toad’s wild ride tour of the culinary axis of B.C.: beginning in Vancouver for excellent meals at Lumiere, Bin 941 and Bin 942 and Fleuri in the Sutton Place Hotel and the Five Sails in the Pan Pacific Hotel; then via motorcar — a navy blue and white Mini Cooper — to Whistler for the traditional Tuesday night seafood buffet in The Wildflower Restaurant in the Fairmont Chateau Whistler, over to Araxi for patio dining and to Bearfoor Bistro for French Champagne and oysters; via ferry to explore Salt Spring Island Goat Cheese, before finishing the tour on Vancouver Island with stops at the Fairmont Empress for dinner in the formal “Empress” dining room for Albertan elk cooked to perfection, and finally to the Sooke Harbour House for local seafood, organic produce and the best selection of Canadian wines, under the supervision Brian Storne, sommelier extraordinaire.

How good is the food and wine scene n B.C., compared with, say, a trip to Paris to search for the best pork paté and the ideal Chateau Petrus?

British Columbia is unique in so many respects that the only way to appreciate its brilliance is touring around the tri-cornered zone of Vancouver, Whistler and Vancouver Island with your humble writer. Take a close look at the Best of B.C. Awards and decide for yourself how to tailor the perfect food and wine vacation to suit your tastes and preferences.

VANCOUVER
Best Chef: Rob Feenie – Lumière/Feenie’s
Feenie, a native of Vancouver, is the most unpretentious French-trained chef on the face of the earth. Feenie takes umbrage at the notion that true French cooking must be defined by the traditional parameters of rich sauces and so-called “Western” ingredients.

“I really don’t agree with the notion that you have to follow a preset formula that rules out using Asian elements or atypical nuances that give a dish its texture and flavor,” said Feenie, the chef/owner of the renowned Lumière and the newly opened Feenie’s, specializing in traditional classics like prime rib and barbecued babyback ribs. “There’s a bias against taking chances and experimenting with new approaches to cooking French cuisine, but as long as the cooking methods are traditional, the dishes can be unique, creative and innovative.”

Menu options at Lumiere run the gamut from seafood to vegetarian to beef and fowl. Feenie’ preparation of the “pot-au-feu” (roasted pheasant and duck maigret with fall vegetables in a Peking duck broth) and beef tenderloin (pan-seared with fois gras and shaved black truffles) aptly demonstrate his symbiotic relationship with French cooking styles and eclectic ingredients.

Lumière
Restaurant—Lumiere@relaischateaux.com
2551 West Broadway, Vancouver, B.C. V6K 2E9
Tel.: 604-739-8185; Fax: 604-739-8139

Best Food/Social Experience: Bin 941/Bin 942
Gord Martin, the owner/chef of these two topnotch tapas parlours, has set the standard for refined, inexpensive dining in an electric, superhip atmosphere. Bin 941 is located in downtown Vancouver — within a short walk of the top hotels (Sutton Place, Four Seasons, Hotel Vancouver). Bin 942 is somewhat more gentrified, less bohemian and slightly larger. It’s just a short (and cheap) cab ride from central Vancouver. Both restaurants offer a splendid array of “Tapatisers” (all $11 Canadian), including Bangkok chili passion fruit glazed mahi-mahi with noodle wedge, fresh scallion emulsion, smoked scallop and granny smith salsa, and cinnamon chili rub Texas flank steak, maple chipotle glaze, and pomme frites au poivre.

As to the social scene, check out this description of Bin 942 from Andrea Borts, an awesome waitress-writer-and social observer of Vancouver nightlife: “Bin 942 is a bustling, creative and super sexy Pandora’s box. Not keeping up with the trends, but constantly creating the next several to come. People line up out the door, sometimes for up to an hour, knowing that it’s worth it to enter the vibe, taste the most flavorful food and feel the energy of the room. I honestly love working here just to be in the heat of the moment. The Bins will never go out of style and are here to stay for a long, long time.”

Both restaurants online: http://www.bin941.com
Bin 941—941 Davie St., Vancouver, BC; Tel.: 604-683-1246
Bin 942—1521 West Broadway, Vancouver, BC Tel.: 604-734-9421.

Best Hotel Food Service: The Sutton Place Hotel
This is the number-one hotel destination for the ever-expanding entertainment industry enclave that journeys to Vancouver for TV and motion picture projects. Arnold Schwarzenegger, for instance, lived here for months and absolutely raved about the quality of the cooking.

Kim Thai, the executive chef, lords over a first-rate food and beverage operation that includes Fleuri Restaurant — authentic French cooking and a sensational dessert and pastry selection, and the best room service menu outside of the legendary old-world hotels in Europe.

Fleuri Restaurant
The Sutton Place Hotel
http://www.suttonplace.com
845 Burrard Street
604-642-2900

Best Dining Room with a View: The Five Sails, Pan Pacific Hotel
Imagine drinking the best B.C. wines and eating the freshest halibut, salmon or lobster, while looking out of wall-to-wall windows right over the surrealistically beautiful Vancouver harbor, with glimpses of the mountains and undulating hills to the north of this magnificent city.

The Five Sails, located in the Pan Pacific Hotel, has been honored with the AAA Five Diamond Award for its food and wine and — trust me — it lives up to its prestigious rep.

The Five Sails
http://vancouver.panpacific.com
300-999 Canada Place
Vancouver, BC
Tel..: 604-662-8111

WHISTLER
Best Chef & Best Restaurant: Brock Windsor; Bearfoot Bistro
An avid golfer and one of the best chefs in Canada, Windsor — the former executive chef-cum-wizard at Sooke Harbour House in Victoria, has catapulted Bearfoot Bistro into a shrine of diverse textures and flavors.

The food draws its inspiration from the finest B.C. produce — organic field greens with hot cucumber vinaigrette; fresh game from western Canada — loin of wild Arctic caribou with a purple mustard and beetroot sauce, preserved morels, braised endive and russet potato terrine; and, of course, B.C. fish dishes — lightly smoked sockeye salmon, fine bean and potatoes, crème fraiche and Quebec caviar.

Andre Saint-Jacques, the owner and front man in the dining room, is one of the foremost experts on champagne in North America. He built a state-of-the-art champagne bar that allows the bubbly to stay cold at all times, while fiber-optic lighting (under the bar) illuminates the champagne flutes in red, green and blue.

At the end of the day, the main element that sets Bearfoot Bistro apart from most five-star quality restaurants is the laidback, entertaining ambience. “We are here to entertain and provide a relaxing atmosphere for our customers,” said Saint-Jacques.

Bearfoot Bistro
http://www.bearfootbistro.com
4121 Village Green
Whistler, BC
Tel.: 604-932-3433.

Best Patio Dining in Whistler: Araxi
This bistro right-smack-in-the-middle of Whistler village is the penultimate experience in summer alfresco dining. Though winter is the money season for restaurants in this ski-snowboard mecca, the mountain-biking craze has pushed a growing legion of outdoor types into Whistler in the warm summer months.

There’s nothing better (well, hardly anything better) than enjoying a gourmet meal under the stars on the patio. You can order anything off of the main menu, while dining in the great outdoors, with highlights including British Columbia seafood chowder spiked with fennel, vermouth and a dash of cream, and for dessert an Okinagan apple tart served with blackberry sauce and vanilla ice cream.

Araxi
http://www.araxi.com
4222 Village Square, Whistler, BC
Tel.: 604-932-4540.

VICTORIA
Best Hotel Food Service/Best Restaurant: The Fairmont Empress/The Empress Room

Okay, it’s time for a pop quiz: When is taking a trip to Canada like taking a trip to Europe? The Fairmont Empress in Victoria, looming over the Inner Harbour like a majestic queen presiding over Her court, replicates the sensibility of a European hotel for food and beverage to a tee.

The man behind the legend is Axel Binneboese, the food and beverage director, whose Austrian lineage bespeaks his brilliant understanding of how to make every restaurant in this hotel exceed expectations.

The two highlights of the gastronomic experience are The Empress Room, sort of a time portal into the 19th century, with its lush tapestries and intricately carved mahogany ceiling, and The Bengal Lounge, which serves the best curry outside of Bangalore.

The Empress Room is best enjoyed for its game — elk is a specialty and beef — grilled Alberta AAA beef tenderloin with portabella and fresh shaved parmesan, complemented by a wine list that snagged the Wine Spectator’s “Best of Award of Excellence.” For music lovers, harpist Elizabeth Ely — a long-time fixture in this classic dining room – plays anything Mozart to Iron Butterfly — I’m not kidding!

The Fairmont Empress
http://www.fairmont.com
721 Government St., Victoria, BC
Tel.: 250-389-2727

Best Small Hotel Restaurant/Best Sommelier: Sooke Harbour House
The closing bell sounds as we pay tribute to the mecca for Vancouver Island seafood, organically grown produce and the most picturesque dining room and hotel in the province. Where else can you find grilled rock sole with prune plum, ginger sauce and flowering fennel oil, a sweet corn and horseradish potato croquette, baby bok choy and scarlet turnip?

Sooke Harbour House dishes out fresh-out-of-the-bay local seafood, paired with the best B.C. wines — brought to you by wine authority Brian Storne, my favorite sommelier for his superb intuition and passion for Canadian bottles, in a magnificent setting on Whippen Spit Beach

Sooke Harbour House
http://sookeharbourhouse.com
Sooke Harbour House
1528 Whiffen Spit Road, Sooke, B.C.
Tel.: 250-642-3421

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