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Chef's Choice: Edward Dangerfield

Green Lake is seeing a lot of Edward Dangerfield these days. The co-owner of Whistler's Alta Bistro opened Solfeggio three weeks ago in Pemberton with his wife Gosia and two partners — and he has been pulling long hours.
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Edward and gosia dangerfield have just opened Solfeggio in Pemberton. Photo by Cathryn Atkinson

Green Lake is seeing a lot of Edward Dangerfield these days.

The co-owner of Whistler's Alta Bistro opened Solfeggio three weeks ago in Pemberton with his wife Gosia and two partners — and he has been pulling long hours. Dangerfield starts the day as a chef at Solfeggio from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. then drives to Whistler, where he works front-of-house at the bistro from 3:30 p.m. to midnight.

Between the two shifts, as he boots it down the Sea to Sky Highway, Dangerfield has been stopping off at Green Lake and "jumping in" to freshen himself up.

"I jump in for a swim and it's, like, icy water and then I'm at Alta from 3:30 until midnight, sleep and then repeat," he said.

Dangerfield has shaped Solfeggio's with a menu that is "fundamentally produce driven and a balance between flavour, texture and also nutrition."  

The menu includes Pemberton vegetable linguini with an alfredo sauce that is made from a blend of macadamia nuts, a quinoa and black bean bowl, a Middle Eastern plate, a veggie sandwich and a Malaysian chicken curry. There are a dozen or so smoothies, including an intriguing spiced chai smoothie.

"If you were to label us, I'd say we are a wholefood restaurant. We're not just vegan, not just vegetarian... we're serving to all tastes. We serve what we like to eat, " Dangerfield said. "What we're trying to do is be totally inclusive."

What immediately stands out is that there is no wheat or commercial diary.

"I always try to make things that you can't eat at home... and I think the price point is competitive. Everything is organic, everything in the building... down to the olive oil and spices. It's a commitment we made in terms of supporting sustainable, local farmers."

He texts six local organic farmers to see what they have. One came in with a bucket of ripe yellow plums and now jars of plum and peach chutney are lining the counter.

Solfeggio is currently open for lunch only from Monday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., though Dangerfield said they would evolve into a lunch and dinner spot in September. They will move to opening at dinnertime only from October 1 until the spring.

"This is totally produce driven. In summer we have amazing produce and the vision is to eventually have one menu and run it from 11:30 a.m. until 9 p.m. in the summer and in the winter it would just be dinner only based on the fact that everyone is skiing and we want to as well. If it's a powder day Pemberton is closed, you could go bowling down the main street," Dangerfield said. "But that's a work in progress. We'll see what happens."

Generally closed on Sundays, they opened up for the Slow Food Cycle and had their biggest day so far, selling out of 250 servings of cold vegetable lasagna, this week's recipe.

 "We've been so much busier than I thought we'd be. I thought we'd open and then we'd have to be driving business but it hasn't happened," he said. "People are driving up from Whistler to check us out. Gluten free and dairy free and raw as well is a huge, growing food movement. If you are a raw foodist and want to go out for a meal there's not a lot out there."

And this rarity meant that when the famously vegan musician Moby was playing at Wanderlust earlier this summer he ordered food from Solfeggio, just after it opened.

Before they became involved, Dangerfield drove up to Pemberton two months ago to check out the property.

"Our business partners (professional extreme skier) Mark Abma and (Olympic mogul skier) Kristi Richards were already doing the project. They're interested in food and nutrition from a sports and wellness perspective," he said. "They came to me at Alta with a few questions....

 "As the project started evolving, I started to realize that their values and our values were identical and we have share the same visions of global sustainable food systems and nutrition. The more we talked about it, the more it made sense for us to come in with them. Gosia and I talked about it and she loved this place," he said, adding Solfaggio is his first project with her.

"We literally built everything," Dangerfield said, pointing to tabletops made from repurposed shipping pallets and old tractor seats have been converted to stools.

Chilled Vegetable Lasagne

4 large zucchini

1 bunch of kale

Ingredients for sauces below

First make the three sauces

Tomato sauce

Food process together:

1/4 cup sundried tomatoes

3/4 cup cherry tomatoes

1 shallot

1 clove garlic

2 tablespoons fresh oregano

'Bechemel' sauce

Food process together:

1 cup soaked and drained sunflower seeds

1 cup water

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup of yeast flakes

1 tsp sea salt

Chive oil

Blend together:

1 cup of extra virgin olive oil

Half a bunch of chives

Pinch of salt to taste

Build the lasagne in a greaseproof paper lined loaf tin.

Start with a layer of thinly sliced zucchini, then tomato sauce then bechemel.

In the second layer add a layer of kale, and dress with chive oil

Complete four layers in total

Press then tin for at least four hours, then turn out. Slice the lasagne into servings and serve with a kale salad.