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Food and Drink

Best ten in 2010 When it comes to fine dining, there's no place like home

 

To cap off the old year and herald in the new, the New York Times restaurant critic, Sam Sifton, rounded up the best 15 dishes he enjoyed in New York City eateries during 2010 in a year-end issue.

"Dishes that earned their stars" they're dubbed, and include arroz con pato at Nuela - a duck-based paella "served on a plate the size of a manhole-cover" and meant to be stirred up into one big mess and wolfed down with dinner mates - along with "simply cooked" scallops presented like a gift at the Mark Restaurant, burgundy snails at Má Pêche and a dozen other star performers.

Sifton also remarks on a number of dishes he had outside of New York City that deserve equal acclaim in his 2010 hall of fame, including one that impressed him while scoping out the pre-Winter Olympics scene - black vinegar spare ribs with pine nuts served at the Shanghai River in, and I quote, Vancouver, British Columbia.

Really, the Shanghai River is located in Richmond, on Westminster Highway, between No. 3 Road and Minoru Boulevard, a perfect place to celebrate Chinese New Year when you need a break from the snow. This slight error in geography aside, one's innate chauvinistic bell can't help but ring in recognition of the massive amount of good dining someone of Sifton's stature enjoyed in the Lower Mainland (sure, we knew it all along, but pride rings evermore louder when a respected critic tells you as much) and, it conjures up, once again, the magic of the Games themselves - were they really less than a year ago?

All this recollection of medal-winning, all-star, gold-plated dishes made me pause and wonder what were the best culinary moments I enjoyed during the past year. And I have to confess, I was as startled as you might be to learn that most of them were had right here at home.

So without further ado, here is my list of the best of 2010 from the home scene, not the social scene, and how they made the grade.

 

MY BEST 10 OF 2010

1. My No. 1 culinary treat last year has to be the fresh B.C. wild sockeye salmon we bought from the boat tied up to the Steveston dock then grilled buff naked over a low flame. What a pleasure, and one more reason to push for sustainable, land-based finfish aquaculture on our B.C. coast.

2. Homemade blueberry pancakes served with Luc Bergeron's Canada No. 3 dark organic maple syrup - best in the land. Top up with more (organic) blueberries, fresh from the valley, and if you're lucky, a wee little glass of Bremner's 100 percent pure blueberry juice, more nectar than juice. I can almost pretend it's summer again.

3. My mom's homemade chili sauce, sent via Greyhound express from the Okanagan, alongside roasted pork loin from a pig raised on a farm near Quesnel.

4. A mess of organic salad greens from Across the Creek Organics topped with tiny baby beets from North Arm Farm, roasted, chilled and sliced. Sprinkle some toasted pumpkin seeds all round with crumbled feta, creamy Bulgarian cheese made with sheep's milk is my choice. Whip up a simple oil/vinegar dressing, and Bob's your uncle, or at least was mine with this salad.

5. While they don't qualify as dishes per se, some of the tastiest, most fragrant, easy-to-use culinary high notes of the past year were my own herbs from our kitchen garden. Fresh rosemary rubbed into lamb roasts or sprinkled over potatoes; pot marjoram, which, unlike most living things, actually thrives on being confined and zips up eggs and salads like the above with equal aplomb; freshly snipped chives; and, best of all, homegrown Russian garlic, with its beautiful purply paper skins and enough pungency to start a dining revolution. If I can grow things like this, anyone can, and share the pleasure of these little gifts.

6. A bowl of cranberry hazelnut granola made from the rebar modern food cookbook recipe, page 87, (check out rebar restaurant next time you're in Victoria).

7. A big chunk of Lindt's sea salt chocolate bar.

8. Homemade hummus made from the organic garbanzo beans (chick peas) from In the Raw on Cleveland Avenue in Squamish.

9. and 10. Two of my all-star gastronomic delights this year happened over the holidays, courtesy of our pals Katie and David. One, a frothy cup filled with hot chocolate made with Avalon milk and Thomas Haas fine hot chocolate from beautiful downtown Kitsilano. Oh my. And the No. 10 dish was the roasted potatoes they served for Christmas dinner, a version of a Jamie Oliver recipe you really can make these in 30 minutes: Wash and chunk potatoes; boil in salted water. Drain them when they come to a boil and let dry. Preheat your oven to 425. Use a heavy metal roasting pan and add a big glob of turkey or other animal fat. Muddle some garlic and rosemary and add it to the fat. Toss the pan in the oven to melt the fat. Swirl it around, add your potato chunks so they're not stacked on each other, salt and pepper, and roast about half an hour.

 

AND ONE FOR THE ROAD

If I can expand my list to include one "best of" take-away in 2010, I'll pick the Okonomi Japa Dog I had at the stand on Burrard and Smithe in Vancouver. The juicy kurobuta pork sausage topped with fried cabbage; dried, smoked bonito fish flakes that fly up and blow away with a puff of breeze; and Japanese mayonnaise, all wrapped up in a perfect white bun with a hint of sweetness, make this the best hot dog of all time. Okay, so this wasn't my first Japa Dog, in fact it was far from the only Japa Dog I wolfed down in 2010, but it's the one I pick to immortalize mainly because I finally figured out that I like it better than the Oroshi and the Terimayos.

Mercifully, after years at the original location which can get busier than a Tokyo subway station, owner Noroki Tamura has finally opened his little Japa Dog storefront at 530 Robson, and two more stands, one on Burrard and Pender and another at Waterfront Station. He's also promising America a Japa Dog stand in 2011, and just maybe, if Sam Sifton is lucky, it will be in New York City.

 

Glenda Bartosh is an award-winning freelance writer who can't wait for the next year of fine dining at home and away.