2011 Restaurant Award winners reflect the shift to quality casual dining

Vancouver, B.C.; April 13, 2011 – In celebration of B.C.’s dynamic culinary scene, top chefs, restaurateurs, sommeliers, and food critics paid tribute to the winners of the 22nd Annual Vancouver magazine Restaurant Awards yesterday at the Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre Hotel.

“It’s clear that quality casual food is what diners were seeking this past year,” said Vancouver magazine Editor-in-chief, Gary Stephen Ross. “That’s the lesson to be drawn from our stellar group of Restaurant Award winners.”

Nowhere was the shift more evident than in the Restaurant of the Year category, where the winner of Best Informal Restaurant, La Quercia, took the top honour. La Quercia also won Gold in the Best Casual Italian category. Last year’s Restaurant of the Year, Blue Water Cafe + Raw Bar, was named Best Formal Restaurant and took Gold again in the Best Seafood category.

As further evidence of the casual dining trend, Bao Bei won multiple awards including Best New Restaurant, Best Small Plates, and Best New Design. Best Food Cart, a new category this year, saw Roaming Dragon take Gold for its Asian-infused street eats, while Southern food style Re-Up BBQ took Silver, and Japadog won Bronze.

Nico Schuermans was honoured as Chef of the Year for nurturing the burgeoning culinary scene on Beatty Street with Chambar, Café Medina, and Dirty Apron cooking school and delicatessen. Chambar won Gold in the Best Other European/Middle Eastern category and the magazine singled out Café Medina for having the city’s best breakfast.

Jack Evrensel, Proprietor of the Top Table Group (Araxi, Blue Water Cafe + Raw Bar, Cin Cin, and West), was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Thirty years after opening Araxi in Whistler, he has set the standard by which rooms in B.C. are judged. Evrensel was honoured for his unrelenting focus, demanding standards, and hard work. Several perennial favourites also received top honours, including: Vij’s for Best Indian; Le Crocodile for Best Formal French; and Tojo’s for Best Formal Japanese. The inaugural Pastry Chef of the Year award went to Thomas Haas.

From Marketing Magazine

By Eve Lazarus

Great Western Brewing Company of Saskatoon is expanding its product line with the launch of a new premium beer called Original 16 in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. The brewery, which has an annual marketing budget of just over $1 million, will roll out a radio, billboard and online campaign this week. Saint Bernadine Mission Communications of Vancouver designed the packaging, the collateral, trade materials and the advertising creative. It worked with Engine Digital on web marketing and Elettra Communications on public relations for the launch.

David Walker, partner at Saint Bernadine, said the beer is called Original 16 to honour the original 16 founders of the company who remortgaged their houses and put up their life savings in 1989 to buy the facility and keep their jobs.

Walker said extensive focus group research found that the story behind the company resonated with the target market of males 19 to 45. The theme is carried through the radio advertising and on the website which will debut a 16-part documentary about the company.

The creative for the billboard is a product shot and the tag line: “Some beers have a story. This one has a legend.”

Great Western Brewing produces four brand families of beer: Original 16, Great Western Brands, Brewhouse Brands and Value Brands.

Congrats to our friends at JOEY Restaurants and the Wine Room at JOEY Bentall on their gold medal at the Playhouse Wine Awards. See the list of winners in the Vancouver Sun.

The Calgary Herald reviewed Great Western's Original 16. Food stuff

BY JASON VAN RASSEL AND GWENDOLYN RICHARDS

Smooth beer honours owners

Review . These days, a brew doesn't impress the beer snobs unless it's aged in 300-year-old bourbon barrels or is bitter enough to shred your palate.

On that basis, Original 16 Canadian Pale Ale likely won't impress the elitists -but it's a smooth, refreshing beer for the rest of us.

Great Western Brewing Company in Saskatoon created and named the beer in honour of its original 16 employees, who worked in the city's Carling-O'Keefe brewery when the company merged with Molson. The new owners were going to shut down the plant, but the small group of employees bought it instead, and the Great Western Brewing Company was born in 1991.

The company says Original 16 is meant to appeal to western Canadian palates. It's an easy-drinking beer with mild hop bitterness and a crisp finish.

It's not unlike Molson Export -which isn't a backhanded compliment: Molson Ex won a gold medal in the North American Blonde/Golden Ale category at the 2010 Canadian Brewing Awards.

Original 16 is available in liquor stores and select pubs and restaurants in Western Canada.

Click here to read the Regina Leader Post's article about Original 16, Great Western Brewing Company's new premium Canadian Pale Ale.

Original 16 Canadian Pale Ale honours employees who saved the regional brewer from wrecking ball more than 20 years ago. This week, to celebrate the commitment, dedication, and determination of its original sixteen founders, Great Western Brewing Company will unveil its new premium beer brand, Original 16. The new brew, which will arrive on shelves on March 20, is a crisp, refreshing Canadian Pale Ale.

More than twenty years ago, the brewery’s previous owner (one of the big national  brewers) had slated the city-block-sized facility in downtown Saskatoon for closure. Sixteen employees decided they weren’t going to let that happen. With determination, commitment, passion, and the personal risk that came with taking on such a large-scale facility, they saved the brewery. It was renamed Great Western Brewing Company, and began producing high quality beer. Original 16’s March 20 launch date is timed to celebrate the anniversary of when the first bottle of Great Western beer came off the production line.

“In 1990, we were striving to keep a great Western Canadian brewing tradition alive. All sixteen of us embarked on a single-minded journey to make the highest quality beer available, right here in Western Canada,” said Don Ebelher, one of the original Great Western Brewing Company founders and current Director of Operations. “Original 16 Canadian Pale Ale celebrates that legacy and honours the spirit of the company’s founding.”

Original 16 is made with 100 per cent two-row prairie barley (widely considered to be the best in the world) and produced via a double-aging process through which the beer is matured for seven days, then chilled to minus 1.5 Celsius and held for a 24 day (minimum) cold-aging period. The beer then undergoes final filtration at this temperature to ensure maximum clarity.

“The result is a perfectly-balanced, exceptionally smooth-tasting Canadian Pale Ale with a delicate citrus hop flavour and fruity aroma,” said Viv Jones, Brewmaster, Great Western Brewing Company. “This pale ale is refreshing and highly drinkable and will leave a sparkle on your tongue.”

“Listening to our customers has always been a cornerstone of our success, and we heard loud and clear that there was a demand for premium beer that is truly Western Canadian,” said Michael Micovcin, CEO, Great Western Brewing Company. “Great Western Brewing Company is proud of the way Original 16 Canadian Pale Ale honours our brewery’s founders by staying true to our Western Canadian roots."

Original 16’s premium packaging is silver and white with gold accents. The beer is available in four-pack 473 ml cans, six-pack 341 ml bottles, twenty-four 341 ml bottles, and draught.

Original 16 Canadian Pale Ale will be available from March 20 at liquor stores, in select privately-owned cold beer and wine retailers, and in select re   restaurants, pubs, and lounges in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia. Original 16 Canadian Pale Ale will be priced in the domestic premium category.

Volunteer Opportunity – Event Coordination Event: Vancouver magazine Restaurant Awards

Date/Time: Tuesday, April 12th 10:30am – 6pm (required) Monday, April 11th 1pm – 4pm (if available)

Elettra Communications is looking for student volunteers to assist with Vancouver’s premier restaurant industry event. This opportunity will appeal to students who have an interest in public relations, publishing, marketing, or event management.

Now in its 22nd year, Vancouver magazine’s Restaurant Awards is the biggest event of its kind in North America. Twenty of the city’s top food critics form the judging panel and vote on the best dining experience in more than 30 categories. The event itself includes a reception and awards show. The annual extravaganza welcomes more than 700 restaurateurs, chefs, sommeliers, suppliers, and food and wine critics.

Elettra Communications is the producer of Vancouver magazine’s Restaurant Awards. Elettra is a public relations firm that specializes in event management, media relations, and marketing consulting. www.elettra.ca

Duties: Volunteers will assist with a range of activities including: • Event set up • Gift bag assembly and distribution • Guest check-in • Awards presenting/backstage coordination • Coat check

Benefit to you: • Event coordination experience. • Exposure to the behind-the-scenes workings of a large event. • Opportunity to build contacts in the PR, marketing, and publishing industries. • Lunch will be provided.

Dress code: All black. No jeans; no running shoes/sneakers.

How to apply: If you would like to volunteer for this opportunity, please contact gwen@elettra.ca. In your email please provide a brief introduction of yourself, and include a description of your current course of study and your contact information.

The search for BC’s Best Young Designer has concluded, and Morgan Crossing is pleased to announce that the winner is Daniel Meloche of Vancouver. The judges selected Meloche from a group of six finalists who competed for the prestigious title and grand prize by designing a suite at South Surrey’s Morgan Crossing village.

“The judges were looking for the designer that really captured their target market, while remaining true to their own design aesthetic,” says Kari Henshaw, Competition Judge and Principal at Insight Design Group.  “It’s a tough balance to achieve, and Daniel accomplished it with thoughtfulness, cleverness and a well executed design.”

Meloche, a graduate from the Art Institute of Vancouver, is currently an interior designer and project coordinator for Northland Properties. In his suite at Morgan Crossing, Meloche favoured a clean and contemporary design aesthetic with striking pops of colour and strong lighting elements. As his prize, Meloche will choose either an all expenses paid trip to New York City to attend the Architectural Digest Home Design Show, or the cash equivalent.

“I am overwhelmed and thankful for the honour of being named BC’s Best Young Designer,” says Meloche. “The competition was not only a great test of skill, but also a test of strategy in orchestrating my design vision on budget and on time. Every competition has its up and downs, but through all the hours of painting, ironing, shopping, and some more painting, there was nothing more rewarding than the final result, and the reaction of people who come through my suite.”

Public voting also determined a winner in the “Fan Favourite” category. Burnaby’s Joanna Kado won the category by designing a suite that featured warm colors, urban influences, and layers of textures. Kado will be awarded a prize of $2,000.

The furnished design suites are open for public viewing every Saturday and Sunday until March 20. BC’s Best Young Designer competition winner Daniel Meloche will be on site each weekend 12 pm - 3pm to offer general design advice to members of the public who tour the suites.

Each of the finalists’ suites are now available for sale. A 773 sq. ft. fully furnished one bedroom + den is priced at only $254,900 and a 828 sq. ft. fully furnished 2 bedroom sells for $313,900.  Until March 20, new purchasers of suites at Morgan Crossing are eligible for a complimentary two-hour design consultation with Daniel Meloche or Joanna Kado.

Morgan Crossing’s BC’s Best Young Designer competition was an opportunity for aspiring interior designers (both professional and non-professional) to apply their creative design skills and showcase their talents. Six competition semi-finalists were given access to a newly built suite at Morgan Crossing village in South Surrey, along with a $10,000-$12,000 budget and a month’s time to decorate and furnish the suite.

We just got our certificate of diversion from Urban Impact Recycling. This document outlines how much waste we diverted from the landfill by implementing our in-office recycling program. Since we moved to our new office last summer, we helped save:

• 3,010 L of water
• 7 trees
• 1,763 kw of electricity

Here's to continued waste reduction in 2011!

Yesterday at YVR, Vancouver Airport Authority launched a $100,000 partnership with Quest Food Exchange to reduce hunger and foster sustainability.

As part of the event, Airport Authority employees pushed fifty shopping carts full of food donations.

Food donations were loaded into the Quest truck. As the Official Transportation Sponsor of Quest, the Airport Authority will donate $100,000 to Quest over the next two years as part of its community investment program.

Vancouver Airport Authority's Larry Berg, presents the Airfield and Emergency Services Blue Team with the President's Award for Safety Excellence trophy.

Read a story about BC's Best Young Designer finalist, Karen Wong, in last week's Richmond Review.

There's a great story in today's Victoria Times Colonist about the importance of early literacy and reading to children in the very earliest stages of life. The story also mentions the amazing Books for BC Babies program which is struggling to survive after losing it's funding from the provincial government. The Books 4 BC Babies program puts literacy tools in the hands of every family with a newborn in British Columbia, and it's an important program to save.

Find out more about how your company can help save the program here.