About May Globus
Vancouver City Editor May Globus is obsessed with the sartorial and all that surrounds it: art, design, culture, music and film. Oh, and she really likes writing about it, too. A left coast girl at heart, her Sweetspot finds just might show why the westside really is the best side.
Cornucopia 2011
the view from vancity: cornucopia food and wine fe canada, Vancouver
(Nov.16.11)
The folks of British Columbia are something of wine connoisseurs, probably because our province's interior is pretty much Napa Valley North, with its drier clime and California-like terrain.
While we love to support our local wine, there are labels from elsewhere in the world that are worth sampling: Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, France, Chile and more. That's why so many of us head to the Sea to Sky highway every November to the Cornucopia Food and Wine Festival, a three-day event of winemaker's dinner, raucous soirees and food smorgasbords celebrating all things eat and drink.
This year, I took my little Ford up Highway 99 to the Westin Whistler, my home for two nights — and conveniently close to the Village, where the Cornucopia action is concentrated between the conference centre and various restaurants are peppered throughout.
The Focus, clocking in trip kilometres.
If one really wants to make the most out of Cornucopia days and nights, I suggest the following:
CRUSH Grand Gala Tasting. This annual event happens over two days, with Saturday usually being the most packed. For 2011, I was pleasantly surprised to see the Whistler Conference Centre full of people on the Friday night. All were dressed to the nines and happily traipsing between tables with wine glasses in hand, ready to divide and conquer offerings from jackson Triggs, Road 13, Blasted Church and more. As always, there was cheese and Terra Breads to tide you over between tastings and an apple-in-a-box was a very cute parting gift for everyone.
CRUSH Gala crowd.
Bubbles + Ocean at Araxi. This after party starts at 10:30pm and rages on into the wee hours of the night. Chef James Walt prepares the best canapes, seafood platters west coasters have ever seen (hello, Tofino Dungeness crab!) and bubbles from 20 of the world's best champagne houses. And there's lots of it.
La Brasserie. Recover and recount the night before here, where one can watch others trolling the Village for a brunch place to recover and recount, too. The Snowboarder Breakfast helps soak up any excess alcohol circulating the blood and quiets any pounding headache. Make sure to snag a spot on the popular (and heated) patio, because people-watching is just as important as knowing how to open a wine bottle during Cornucopia.
Recount and recover.
Buffalo Bill's. This particular suggestion is a) for the very brave and b) for the ones who just want to dance. If you decide to enter through the doors to this establishment, you can't say I didn't warn you: the dance floor is a sweatbox, the crowd skews young, the drinks are cheap and the memories are both easy and hard to forget. If you've been to the Roxy on Granville Street, then the gist of what to expect at Bill's is fairly clear.
Uh oh.
Lift Coffee Company. Start your Saturday morning or your drive home with a cup of java from this cafe. The atmosphere is hip and young — similar to the feel as Revolver or Coffee Bar in Gastown. The breakfast sandwiches are delicious, and you would be amiss to not order a slice of the banana bread.
Swiil with you next year, Cornucopia!
The Jackson Trigg table.