There are plenty of places to get your seasonal food fix
Mark Laba
Province
It’s beginning to cost a lot like Christmas. So, as you deck the halls with boughs of holly and wreaths of shmaltz herring, put out your manger scene and hook up your electronic reindeer that double as a home-defense alarm system (“Back away from the baby Jesus or you will be incinerated”), it’s probably a good time to think about getting your turkey fix with all the fixings. Or ham. Or artfully moulded tofu posing as gobbler meat.
Not to mention tripping out on tryptophan and wandering the streets in your stretch pants, mistletoe stuck to the soles of your shoes.
A few more glasses of rum-spiked eggnog under your loosened belt and you’ll be kissing the neighbour’s dog.
So, maybe getting out to one of these spots is an ounce of prevention worth a pound of cure or, in the case of turkey, a pound of prevention and just forget the whole ounce thing altogether.
PAN PACIFIC
When you’ve got a place with five pointy things on the roof, you’re bound to do things big. Although it makes for a dangerous landing spot for Santa and his hoofed team. He’d be better off taking the Hummer and using the valet parking.
Nonetheless, the various Pan Pacific dining venues are offering everything from buffets to Christmas brunches and dinners.
There’s the Santa’s Brunch on Sunday, Dec. 17th and Christmas Eve and there’s also a Twelve Days of Christmas Buffet weekdays.
Christmas Eve has the Five Sails Restaurant putting on a fancypants shindig adding a little foie gras to the traditional roast turkey and fixings. The Cascades Lounge and Cafe Pacifica, as well, have a Christmas Eve buffet with turkey, roast duck, lamb loin and more.
Then there’s a Christmas Night dinner at the Five Sails that runs the gamut from pan-seared quail to beef tenderloin along with more traditional fare.
Honestly, the number of events and options is mind-boggling and, in my case, utterly confusing.
Check out the website www.dinepanpacific.com and click on the Special Event listing or call 604-891-2555 for more info or reservations.
HART HOUSE
If any place visually embodies the classic Christmas ambience with a Charles Dickens bent, this Tudor-style mansion on the shores of Deer Lake is the fulfillment of all of Tiny Tim’s dreams. And at such reasonable prices even Bob Cratchit could afford the buffet or dinner here.
So, it makes sense that until Dec. 22nd there’s the famed Dickens Lunch Buffet at $32 per person. Look for the roasted winter-veggie salad with pumpkin-seed dressing, chilled tiger prawns with horseradish cocktail sauce, baked ham with maple syrup and cinnamon glaze, butternut-squash cannelloni and roast turkey and apple bread stuffing.
Christmas Day offers four seatings at $55 per person or $30 for kids 12 and under, with starters like duck rillette, a choice from three entrees featuring roast turkey with chorizo bread stuffing and fixings, grilled beef tenderloin or ling cod with herb risotto. For dessert, New York cheesecake or chocolate Guinness cake will satiate the ghosts of Christmas past and present.
6664 Deer Lake Ave., Burnaby, 604-298-4278, website, www.harthouserestaurant.com
FLEURI RESTAURANT AT SUTTON PLACE
Essentially, it’s hotels that stay open on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and you can’t go wrong with the offerings from Fleuri.
The Yuletide Luncheon Buffet runs to the 22nd and has some pretty tasty offerings.
Think roast turkey with apple-sage stuffing, slow-roasted ham or an antipasto platter. $30.50 per person, kids 12 and under, $15.50, and there’s also a Christmas Eve Dinner and Christmas Day brunch and dinner along with a Sunday Festive brunch on the 17th, 24th and the 31st.
An amazing array of items on display to tempt all your senses and trigger your inner glutton.
The Christmas Eve and Christmas Day shindigs sport everything from gobbler and all the trimmings to beef tenderloin and butter-poached prawns to lamb chops or sea bass in a creamy leek sauce.
At $71 per person for a five course Christmas Eve dinner; $76 per person for a five-course Christmas Day dinner extravaganza; and a $57 buffet that’ll fatten you up like a Christmas goose.
845 Burrard St., Vancouver, 604-642-2900 or check the website, www.vancouver.suttonplace.com/Holiday_Festivities.htm
GOBBLER ON THE GO
The above-mentioned Pan Pacific and Fleuri Restaurant both offer take-away turkey dinners with all the fixings.
The Fleuri version throws in an 18-lb. bird with apple-sage stuffing, veggies, cranberry sauce, mashed ‘taters and cranberry cheesecake for $300. Feeds 8-13 people. Call 604-682-5511 ext. 5475 to reserve.
The Pan Pacific turkey take-out also involves a big bird, about 18-20 lbs. Comes complete with Okanagan peach and bread stuffing and all the other stuff plus a choice of dessert from Yule logs to eggnog cheesecake. Must be ordered by Dec. 20th as there are limited quantities, so call 604-891-2555 if interested.
If you’re after a down-south-style Christmas wingding like something Elvis would’ve chowed down on, check out the Memphis Blues Barbecue House’s 15-lb. smoked free- range turkey at $60.
Locations are 1342 Commercial Dr., Vancouver, 604-215-2599; 1465 West Broadway, Vancouver, 604-738-6806; 1629 Lonsdale Ave., North Vancouver, 604-929-3699; 289 Bernard St., Kelowna, 250-868-3699. Throw in some baked beans and marshmallow salad and it’s Christmas at Graceland.
Max’s Deli at 3105 Oak St., Vancouver, 604-733-4838 is dishing up a $150 feast that’ll feed 10-12 people. There’s a 20-lb. turkey with all the right stuff from mashed ‘taters to stuffing to cranberry sauce. Nothing fancy but very tasty.
Hon’s adds a little Chinese influence to your festive season with a $198 special with roast turkey and six side dishes to choose from. It’s like Christmas in Beijing. Check local listings for a Hon’s near you.
Finally, if you’re like me and the whole notion of Yule logs and Jell-O salad moulds, glazed ham rolls and eggnog bowls leaves you out in the cold, rejoice in Kaplan’s Star Deli Hannukah offerings.
Delicious chopped liver, chicken soup with matzoh balls, kreplach, roast turkey and potato latkes. Gives me the strength of Judah and the Maccabees and the energy to spin the dreidel into the wee hours of the morning. Located at 5775 Oak St., 604-263-2625
© The Vancouver Province 2006