<\/p>\n
\nBy Andrew Morrison\n<\/p>\n
\nThere has long existed a divide between the amazing Chinese
\nrestaurants of Richmond and the polyglot collection of restaurants often
\nreferred to in these pages as the “Vancouver restaurant community”.\n<\/p>\n
\nThe proof of this is often obvious enough to the \nCome in closer and the divide is more plainly witnessed at the \nAttendance has increased in recent years, with at \nWhich brings me to the CRA’s new initiative, \nThat’s all well and interesting, but the biggest \nIn contrast — and instead of presenting an \nMy point is that they aren’t “Plan B” plates \n \n<\/p>\n
\ncustomer. Some of Vancouver’s best known restaurants employ the unsubtle
\nart of ambiance, often (unfortunately) valuing decor above food and
\nservice to capture the attentions of easily pleased scenesters, while
\nmany of Richmond’s best known Chinese restaurants pair cheap furniture
\nunder bright, fluorescent lights with all manner of exquisite
\ndelicacies.
\n<\/span>\n<\/p>\n
\nannual Vancouver Magazine Restaurant Awards. It’s the one day out of the
\nyear when the cream of the local food and beverage trade gathers to
\ncelebrate one another in an orgy of drink-swilling, back-patting and
\nface-stuffing. It’s meant to be inclusive, but it’s long been a struggle
\nto get representatives from the restaurants shortlisted in the Best
\nCasual Chinese, Best Formal Chinese, and Best Dim Sum categories to even
\nshow up, let alone RSVP.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n
\nleast some Chinese chefs and restaurateurs taking the stage for their
\naccolades, but most other attempts to join one restaurant community to
\nthe other have come to naught. There’s even now the The Chinese
\nRestaurant Awards (CRA). Wildly popular and enjoying its fourth year, it
\nhas pretty much put an exclamation mark to this mutually acquiescent
\n(if wholly unofficial) state of culinary apartheid.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n
\naptly dubbed Signature Dish. It’s a brand new dining festival on the
\nimmediate horizon (November 1 to 18), and it has me all a-flutter for
\ngood reason. It’s similar to Tourism Vancouver’s annual “Dine Out”
\nfestival in that there are appealing price controls, but instead of
\nmenus for individuals (say, $25 for one person’s three courses), the
\nrestaurants charge by the group. To wit: four people for $100; six
\npeople for $150; or 10 for $300. <\/span>\n<\/p>\n
\ndifference is the one that I anticipate in quality. From the beginning,
\nDine Out was meant to put bums in seats during the slow season (January
\n20 to February 5). The racket has worked well for the past 10 years, but
\nthe natural consequence of its success has been that many of the
\nrestaurants along for the ride become madhouses. In my experience, not
\none of them has ever shown its best foot forward during Dine Out. The
\nservice is often demonstrably harried and the kitchens become nightly
\nconveyor belts of rushed repetition, making for evenings from which few
\nmemories can be made.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n
\neasy-to-execute menu designed to maximize profits — the novel point of
\nSignature Dish is to show off the best plates of the individual chefs.
\nPeriod. That means me and up to nine of my friends can sup on
\n “grandpa’s smoked chicken” at Richmond’s Jade Seafood (prepared by 2011
\nCRA Chef of the Year Tony Luk) or on the many other plates that each
\nparticipating restaurant is best known for. Feel like salivating? Find
\nall the participating restaurants and menus at ChineseDiningGuide.com.<\/span>\n<\/p>\n
\nprepared half-heartedly for the perceived “great unwashed masses”, but
\nrather the ultimate expressions of a handful of celebrated (if still
\nwidely undersung) chefs’ skills. Truly, if there was ever a net positive
\nto the long standing divide, this is it, and I want in. With only 18
\nrestaurants on board in Richmond, Vancouver and Burnaby for the
\ninaugural Signature Dish (as opposed to 215 during Dine Out), I’m
\nconfident that they’re all going to come out swinging. <\/span>\n<\/p>\n