Holidays 2022: Host/hostess gifts for food, wine, and cocktail lovers
Creative, delicious ideas range from cool bartending books to a paella cooking class
A Bartender’s Guide to the World.
The Artful Pie Project. Photo by Deb Garlick.
FLOWERS ARE FINE to give a host when you’ve been invited over to their home for a special dinner, festive gathering, or holiday open house, but gifts involving food, wine, or cocktails are other options in great taste. Here are a few ideas.
Creative cocktails
Either of the two titles below would be perfect for the friend who fancies themselves a bit of a hotshot in their home bar—or who at least has the curiosity and patience to try their hand at drinks more ambitious than a G&T.
With Dressed to Swill: Runway Ready Cocktails Inspired by Fashion Icons (Prestel Publishing), Vancouver-based writer and cocktail creator Jen Croll is back with another volume of original recipes, this time turning to the world of high style as inspiration. The author of Art Boozel: Cocktails Inspired by Modern and Contemporary Artists (Chronicle Books and Free the Tipple: Kickass Cocktails Inspired by Iconic Women, among other books, has come up with 60 original drinks celebrating standouts in fashion from the 20th century to the present day. Each entry features a short bio and some insight into Croll’s thinking behind each recipe, with the characters and their namesake concoctions illustrated by Argentinian-born, Berlin-based artist Daiana Ruiz. The David Bowie, for instance—a potent sipper with Aperol, bourbon, Bianco vermouth, and fresh lemon juice—has a lightning-bolt shaped lemon peel as garnish and is a vivid orange-red, a nod to Ziggy Starudust’s scarlet mane. Ruiz chose the artist’s black and white outfit from his 1973 Aladdin Sane tour inspired by Japanese Kabuki theatre for his portrait. Elsewhere, Croll pulls in flavours commonly found in Middle Eastern desserts—pistachios and rosewater—for the gin-based Bella & Gigi Hadid, the sisters-models drawn with lacy black fascinators. Some of the recipes are for zero-proof drinks, a fast-growing category in the cocktail world; we like the RuPaul, a brash beverage with lychees, orange blossom syrup, fresh lime juice, and unsweetened coconut cream. A fun read.
Cocktail lovers can travel the globe without leaving their liquor cabinet with A Bartender's Guide to the World: Cocktails and Stories from 75 Places (Penguin Random House) by Lauren Mote and James O. Fraioli. Mote is well-known to Vancouverites, having gotten her start in the drinks industry here. A champion of women and other underrepresented groups in the male-dominated sector, she has gone on to earn all sorts of accolades and to travel the globe through her many successful business ventures, including Bittered Sling, a line of bitters she developed with her business and life partner, chef Jonathan Chovancek. (You can read her foreword to learn all about her many accomplishments.) Not only does Mote have a distinct knack for flavour combinations; she’s also especially skilled at creating cocktails that have a sense of place. These kinds of drinks are exactly what you’ll find in her first book. (Fraioli, her co-writer, is a cocktail developer and author with numerous books to his name.)
Recipes are organized by their featured ingredients (gin, rum, whiskey, et cetera) and each libation is labelled as standard, mid, low, or zero proof; each cocktail also includes information on the area that inspired it (which could be anywhere from the Isle of Skye to Bangkok) and the classic cocktail it’s based on. Take It’s Jammy, for example. Inspired by New Orleans and the Delmonico, the mid-proof drink (made with Rioja red wine, Spanish brandy, verjus, and blood-orange grenadine, among other ingredients) honours Lynnette Marrero. The founder of Speed Rack (a competition for female bartenders) has become a mentor and friend of Mote’s since the two first met in 2013 in Louisiana at a luncheon for the Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails. Locals will love the references to Vancouver and B.C. throughout the book.
Bel Café.
Caffe La Tana.
Food gift boxes
If time is no issue, you could create your own box of delicious edible goodies for a friend. Otherwise, plenty of places around town have them ready to go.
‘Tis the Season at Bel Café features Hawksworth The Cookbook (Bel Café is one of chef David Hawksworth’s ventures), a selection of house-made holiday cookies, artisanal Rishi Tea, locally roasted Caffe Umbria coffee, Hawk’s Hot Honey (excellent on pizza), and Mumgry Chocolate Peanut Butter.
Over at Caffe La Tana, options include The Risotto Rations Box, with rice, a bottle of ultra-premium Italian olive oil, and a tin of Spanish saffron; and The Uno Spuntino! Basket, a selection of sweet and salty European snacks, from Mas Vell Marcona Almonds to Scyavuru Pistachio Spread.
Alimentaria Mexicana on Granville Island has all sorts of gift boxes at its Mercado. The Fiesta Sac has a choice of salsa roja or jalapeño, Zing! (hot tangy seasoning), chocolate coffee bark, corn tostadas, and a small Mexican clay handmade bowl or cup; while the Magia del Hormo comes with the restaurant’s dry rub, salsa habanero, a hand-woven kitchen textile from artisans in Oaxaca, and one-of-a-kind clay pot made by an artisan named Pitao Copycha and his family.
Cookbooks
We recently shared 14 fantastic cookbooks for the culinary artist or culture vulture in your world; another beaut to add to that list is The Artful Pie Project: A Sweet and Savoury Book of Recipes (Whitecap Books) by Denise Marchessault and Deb Garlick. Marchessault is a Victoria-based chef with a Grand Diplôme from Le Cordon Bleu who offers in-person and virtual cooking classes. She wrote 2016’s British Columbia From Scratch: Recipes for Every Season with Caroline West; now Marchessaut is back with her penchant for pastry with The Artful Pie Project, featuring Garlick’s photos and whimsical graphics. (We especially love Garlick’s images of everyday kitchen objects like rolling pins or metal pie plates, beautiful in their simplicity.) It’s a gorgeous book to flip through, but it’s also highly practical and helpful for home bakers who haven’t quite nailed the perfect crust. (Consider the section called Soggy Bottoms and other Pie Pitfalls.) While some desserts, like the quilt berry pie, with its dainty decorations, might not turn out the way Marchessault makes them at home, galettes are far more forgiving and are just as pretty to look at.
Carlino.
Cactus Club Cafe.
Restaurant experiences
A gift card to a local restaurant is a fantastic present, IOO. If there’s a place that’s special to you, introduce it to your host, or treat them to a spot you know they love. Some other ideas:
Among the local dining spots that are adding a little extra to the offer for a limited time are Cactus Club Café (buy a $75 gift card and get a $15 bonus) and Kitchen Table Restaurants (Pourhouse, Pizzeria Farina, Di Beppe, the MICHELIN-Recommended Ask for Luigi, Farina a Legna, Giovane Caffe, Giovane Bacaro, MICHELIN-Recommended Carlino, Super Veloce, Motorette; for every $100 gift card purchased, get a $20 promotional card).
Pick up a gift card from recently renovated and MICHELIN-Recommended Cioppino’s Mediterranean Grill & Enoteca and you get a genuine certificate printed on cardstock, the details written in pen and signed by legendary chef Pino himself, complete with an envelope marked with Pino’s name and the restaurant’s address—a class act.
A GC to any of Vancouver’s MICHELIN restaurants would be a treat; remember, not all of the restaurants on the list are super pricey. Check out the Bib Gourmands, which are recognized for their excellent food and good value, coming in at $60 and under for a main course, starter or dessert, and drink. There are 12 in Vancouver, including Fable Kitchen, Oca Pastificio, and Phnom Penh.
To make it more than a meal, see if any of your favourite spots have any special events going on. MICHELIN-starred St. Lawrence, for instance, has its most popular dinner series of the year coming up, with Cabane à Sucre running January to the end of March. Bar Gobo, another MICHELIN Recommended spot, has a cool new series on Sunday evenings called Joyride that would be a great fit for the female or female-identifying music-loving soul in your world.
The ARC at Fairmont Waterfront.
The ARC at Fairmont Waterfront has an all-inclusive weekend brunch that’s rightfully gained a huge local fanbase. With made-to-order plates for sharing, you can choose everything from big, fluffy buttermilk biscuits with honey butter and Liege waffles with poached pear to jerk fried chicken, salmon Benedict, beef short-rib poutine, and more. That honey butter is made with honey from the hotel’s own apiary near its 2,100 square-foot herb garden. Each summer, some 250,000 honeybees make up to 600 pounds of honey, which the culinary team uses across its menus. Not included (but worth the splurge) is “Let's Get Fizzical” Mimosa Tasting Flight (peach, star anise, and cinnamon; grapefruit and elderflower; pineapple and hibiscus), which can also be done in mocktail form.
Bacchus.
Bacchus Restaurant at Wedgewood Hotel & Spa is especially hot this season: Rob Feenie is chef-in-residence for winter 2023. In a sense he’s returning to his roots, with the Wedgewood being Vancouver’s only Relais & Châteaux property; in 1995, Feenie opened Lumière, at the time Canada’s only freestanding restaurant to receive Relais Gourmand status. A two-time Iron Chef winner, Feenie graduated from the Dubrulle Culinary Institute in Vancouver and worked at Le Crocodile and Whistler’s Rim Rock Café before staging at Michelin three-star restaurants in Europe. He went on to work with luminaries such as Charlie Trotter, Daniel Boulud, and Jean-Georges Vongerichten before returning to the West Coast, leading the Cactus Club Cafe for 15 years. He has plans to open up a new restaurant; in the meantime, you know where to find him. Some of Feenie’s dishes can already be found on the dining room’s menu. There’s live piano nightly, too.
Dining in a dome describes Winterlust at H Tasting Lounge, situated in (or rather just outside) the Westin Bayshore Hotel. With sliding glass doors and a crescent-shaped sitting area for up to six people, each orb has panoramic glass panelling bound by a wooden framework, heaters, fresh air circulation, and independent sound systems. B.C. oysters, charcuterie and cheese, a seafood tower, salmon tartare, seafood linguine, and certified Angus beef striploin are among the menu items; a special menu is being offered for Winterlust’s Dome Dining Experience on New Year’s Eve.
Spirited gestures
If you want to go in on a group gift, make it a theme by combining one of the cocktail books above with a bottle of spirits or liqueur (or maybe even all of the ingredients for any given drink).
Shelter Point Distillery’s Single Malt Whisky is a solid bet; the classic single malt from Vancouver Island won Double Gold at the 2022 San Francisco World Spirits Competition. We’re also fond of anything from Odd Society Spirits.
A standout newcomer to local shelves is Hendrick’s Neptunia. An ode to the Scottish coastline, this limited release comes from master distiller Lesley Gracie. More than two decades ago, she revolutionized the gin world by creating Hendrick’s signature rose- and cucumber-based spirit. There are 11 botanicals that make up theHendrick’s base; for Neptunia, with its smooth, citrusy finish, Gracie has added a blend of coastal botanicals sourced near the distillery’s curious headquarters in Girvan on the Ayrshire coast, just south of Glasgow. The gin is made in small batches in two drastically different stills: one, an antique Bennett copper pot still dating back to 1860; the other, a rare Carterhead from 1948.
What’s more, Hendrick’s Gin supports Project Seagrass, which works to research, restore, and protect seagrass globally. Seagrasses are crucial marine ecosystems that can capture and store carbon at an incredible rate; at least one-third of seagrass meadows around the world have disappeared over the last 40 years. Hendrick’s donation to Project Seagrass will help it sustainably scale operations to restore and protect seagrass meadows and marine biodiversity across the planet.
Also new to B.C. is the vegan-certified plant-based Amarula, a game-changer in the cream-based liqueur category. Just like the brand’s original cream drink introduced in 1989, this one features the distinct flavours of marula; the plumlike fruit comes from a tree native to Southern Africa and, when ripe, it tastes sweet and nutty with a bit of tartness. That’s enhanced with hints of caramel, citrus, and vanilla, the liqueur aged in French oak barrels. Unlike the dairy-based original, the vegan version is made with coconut milk. Amarula is best sipped on its own over ice and added to coffee, but it can also be used in plant-based cocktails.
So far, B.C. is one of the few places in the world where you can find the beverage, due to its large and growing vegan and vegetarian demographic. The product is part of Amarula’s larger sustainability and conservation efforts in addition to its support of food ecosystems; the company has donated to Food Banks BC, Second Harvest, and Tree Canada, with its edible tree program. Amarula also has a partnership with South Africa’s Handwork Hub, which supports the employment and success of Black entrepreneurs and their families; all women, the artisans make the tassels on the neck of the Amaralu bottles by hand.
The Paella Guys.
Paella party
Spanish-born chef Javier Blanc had his own restaurant in his Madrid before moving to the West Coast in 2017; once here, he teamed up with local chef Shay Kelly to form The Paella Guys. Offering cooking classes and catering services, the two make many different kinds of the beloved bomba-rice dish, including marisco (with slow-cooked jumbo prawns, squid, shrimp, and mussels) and mixta (a combination of meat and seafood) and Valenciana (with slow-cooked chicken, green beans, oven-roasted artichokes, mushrooms, and fresh tomatoes).
The guys’s “paella experience” is a hands-on, interactive cooking class for small groups and culminates in a shared feast. Add a little sangria, and people become friends for life, the two claim—chalking it up to the “paella effect”.
Nk’Mip Cellars
It never gets old
You can’t go wrong with wine, and B.C. continues to produce so many outstanding bottles. Here are a few to seek out this season.
As the first Indigenous-owned winery in North America, Nk’Mip Cellars pours culture into every part of the winemaking process, from grapes to glass. Linda Anderson, a member of Osoyoos Indian Band (which first launched the winery), is the talent behind all of Nk’mip’s labels. She draws inspiration from bears, quails, bumblebees, and horses, and depicts the natural world on canvas and feathers. Nk'Mip Cellars 2020 White Mer'r'iym (pronounced Mur’-eem) takes its name from the nsyilxcən word for “marriage”—referring to this perfect union of varietals This blend comprises 67 percent Sauvignon Blanc and 33 percent Sémillon and flavours of gooseberry, melon, tropical fruit, and grapefruit, finishing clean and dry; pair it with prawns and scallops or double cream Brie with a crusty baguette.
Gray Monk Estate Winery.
Gray Monk Estate Winery’s Odyssey Sparkling Rosé Brut VQA 2019 won Platinum Medal in Seattle-based SIP Magazine’s Best of the Northwest 2022. The limited- production méthode classique sparkling rosé is a blend of 36 percent Gamay Noir (Lake Country), 33 percent Pinot Noir (South Kelowna), and 31 percent Pinot Meunier (South Kelowna). Light-bodied, lively, coppery-pink, refreshing, and dry.
Phantom Creek Estates.
Phantom Creek Estates has launched a new duo of Sparkling Bruts—2017 Sparkling Brut and 2017 Sparkling Brut Reserve—available as single bottles or together in holiday gift bundles. Leading the cellar team is director of winemaking Mark Beringer, great-great-grandson of Jacob Beringer, one of the founders of the Napa Valley’s Beringer Vineyards. Phantom Creek’s 2017 Sparkling Brut Reserve Méthode Traditionnelle (93 percent Chardonnay and seven percent Pinot Noir) is crisp and elegant, with flavours of lemon and green apple. The 2017 Sparkling Brut Méthode Traditionnelle, with 64 percent Chardonnay and 36 percent Pinot Noir, exudes balance and character.
Blue Mountain Vineyard and Cellars.
Blue Mountain Vineyard and Cellars’ is a family-run operation through and through, the two generations of the Mavety family keeping their focus on consistency. The winery’s Brut Rosé R.D. 2018 is 100-percent estate-grown and hand-harvested, a blend of 70 percent Pinot Noir and 30 percent Chardonnay made in the méthode traditionnelle. The flavour and fragrance of wild strawberries come through in this celebratory pour, when lands with a bright, crisp finish.
Having just wrapped up the longest and largest harvest ever on record at Hester Creek Estate Winery, the team headed by winemaker Mark Hopley has new releases now out, including Old Vine Cabernet Franc 2020. Made with hand-picked grapes from the rare half-century old vines in the winery’s historic Golden Mile Bench vineyard, the wine is concentrated, complex, and balanced, with flavours of blackberry and a hint of vanilla.
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