We’re well into the New Year and Dine Out Vancouver is in full swing. If there’s anything that residents of this city know, is how expensive it is to live – and eat – here. So, it’s no surprise that a festival that makes it slightly easier on the pocketbook will prove popular. Dine Out Vancouver is in its 24th year and has grown into Canada’s largest food and drink festival. Vancouverites are passionate about supporting an F&B industry that’s certainly seen better times. This event is very much a win-win to get people out to try new restaurants they wouldn’t otherwise be able to do, while supporting the city’s finest in hospitality.

Here’s where I went recently, my experience and in no particular order:

Pax Romana

1670 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, BC. V5L 3Y4
(236) 863-1505
paxromana.ca

Lovers of Mediterranean tapas and cocktails will appreciate this warm and cozy spot on Commercial Drive. For their $40 pp Dine Out menu, they offer an assortment of regional appetizers including Gildas – the iconic Basque pintxos (small, skewered snacks featuring olives, pickled peppers and anchovies), Bagna Càuda (an Italian-style dip from the lower Piedmont region made from garlic, anchovies, Calabrian chili, mint), and Chorizo slices on toasted bread and intosso olive oil paired with slices of Tête de Moines cheese. For entrées – Almejas con Iberico, which is a lovely Spanish dish of clams, Iberico jamon soffritto, white wine and chili, or Patatas Bravas – a comforting Spanish dish of fried potatoes in a spicy brava sauce. There was only one dessert choice, but it didn’t disappoint, a bright and refreshing Sorbetto al Limon(lemon sorbet). Lastly, if you’re into cocktails, make sure to order the Martini & Tonic – made with dry vermouth, fino sherry, Tanqueray 10 gin, olive brine and Mediterranean tonic, it’s a playful, bubbly riff on a lighter dirty martini.

Copperpenny Distilling

288 Esplanade East Unit 103, North Vancouver, BC V7L 1A3
(778) 802-3500
copperpennydistilling.com

Copperpenny Distilling has only been producing grain-to-glass spirits (gin, vodka, akvavit, and seasonal liqueurs) for a few years (since 2021) but within just a few months of opening, they won a Global Gin Masters award in the UK. They recently collaborated with Vancouver Rise FC on the Night Blossom Gin – Moonlight Edition to celebrate our professional womens soccer team, that has since sold out. This is a place that I’ve heard a lot about, and am constantly driving past every time I’m in North Vancouver – but had never stopped in. Boy, was I missing a lot. From the cozy outdoor patio to its stunning interior bar and wall mural of Vancouver Island that Jennifer Kom-Tong, one half of Copperpenny’s husband-and-wife ownership team designed. Pointing out with all the enthusiasm that only months and years of sweat equity can bring, Kom-Tong points out the tiles on the parquet floors that are positioned in the precise molecular formula for juniper: the berry most used in flavouring gin. Kom-Tong and her husband Jan Stenc have debuted their first Dine Out offering, thanks to Chef Michael Tiefenboeck – a $39 pp 3-course meal (with optional $51 cocktail pairing). The starter was a lovely smoked burrata salad, followed by a sublime duck breast sous vide in prosciutto bone broth, and finished in the best way possible – a Figgy de Bourgognon – a triple cream brie with their Honey Figgy Puddin’ liqueur. As I prefer to end the evening with savoury vs. sweet, this was the perfect cap to a most lovely experience; and perhaps one of the best valued Dine Out menus this year.

PiDGiN

350 Carrall St, Vancouver, BC V6B 2J3
(604) 620-9400
pidginvancouver.com

Of the three restaurants you’re reading about today, two are new to me and one is quite possibly one of my favourite OG spots in the city since it opened over 12 years ago in Gastown. Owner Brandon Grossutti has been to hell and back throughout the years, navigating a host of challenges from gentrification protests in the neighbourhood to Covid. The fact that PiDGiN is still standing and pushing out beautiful service night after night is a testament to his and his team’s resilience. Maybe it’s his training as a boxer, his passion for the arts and compassion for human beings both in and outside of hospitality that’s lit that fire in him to keep going despite the odds. It’s one thing to push yourself when there’s financial backing, but when you’re facing constant uphill battles at every turn, it becomes your life’s work. So, when I had the opportunity to sample their Dine Out menu, the only stipulation I had was to sit at the chef’s table (which of course is the most requested spot in the entire restaurant – and my favourite table) to witness culinary ballet. For their $70 pp prix fixe, my dining partner and I feasted on a variety of snacks including tsukune chicken skewers, nori roll, and tuna tartare; followed by a savoury mushroom duxelle croquette; a beautiful Japanese sweet potato ricotta agnolotti; a ling cod with shio koji and squash; and beef striploin with bulgogi marinade that was perfection. We ended the evening with an unusual hojicha posset dressed with sake yuzu gelée – that was elegant and spoke to my deep fondness for hojicha. Side note: I’ll take hojicha over matcha any day. If you’re in the mood, the $65 wine, cocktail and sake pairing is well worth it (just for that Fontanafredda Barolo alone to pair with the steak).