More than 400 restaurants in Metro Vancouver are on board, offering discounted meals.
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Just when you’re recovering from holiday excesses and signing off on your New Year’s resolutions, Dine Out restaurant deals come a-tempting. This year, more than 400 restaurants are on board, offering discounted meals and you tell yourself, it’s about saving money and having much-deserved fun. Right?
Last year, 630,000 local and out-of-town diners thought so. And it generated an economic happy place of $39.5 million for restaurants, hotels and event producers.
“We know that about 28 per cent of hotel stays booked through Dine Out came from outside of Metro Vancouver from markets like Washington State, Alberta and other parts of B.C.,” says Royce Chwin, president and CEO of Destination Vancouver, the event founder. And if that’s not impressing you much, the event won Best in North America at the 2023 World Culinary Awards, beating out other nominees like the New York Food and Wine Festival and L.A. Food Fest.
This year, the 23rd annual Dine Out Vancouver, running from Jan. 22 to Feb. 9, offers good-value, three-course menus costing $20 to $35, $35 to $50, $50 to $65, and $100. (Restaurants run their regular menus as well as the Dine Out menu during the festival.) And don’t be fooled by the name, the event includes the suburbs as well.
Lots of exciting events round out the festival, including international chef and bartender exchanges (Prophecy, L’Abattoir, Suyo Modern Peruvian, and Anh and Chi restaurants), a pop-up dinner at the Vancouver Aquarium, mescal tasting, Asian eats and other gastronomic tours, food truck festival, cocktail shakedown, sea foraging adventure, a drag whodunit brunch/dinner and an Indigenous dinner.
For restaurant operator Rahul Negi, joining is a no-brainer. “I’ve worked as a chef for 10 years and I’ve seen the effect,” says Negi, chef-owner of Loam, a new brunch spot in North Vancouver.
“I see how important it is for traffic during the slow months of January and February. I’m keeping the menu price low and just want to break even. It’s about exposure. I’m not thinking about profit.”
Loam’s $28 three-course brunch menu has offerings such as a winter salad with beets, orange, feta, and greens to start; a second course of beet-shoot hummus, two poached eggs, and whipped feta on sourdough toast; and for dessert, a peanut butter and jam french toast made with house-made Japanese milk bread. Careful, though. If eyes wander to the regular menu, you might go off Dine Out piste, lured by the stracciatella omelette, oeuf cocotte, or lobster mac and cheese.
Over at the Glowbal Group of restaurants, Emad Yacoub, a veteran restaurateur with seven restaurants, haute and casual, has been a joiner from the beginning. The higher-ends, like Five Sails, Black and Blue, Coast, and Michelin-recommended Riley’s see the most impact, says Yacoub. But, he adds, “it’s not the same (as earlier years). Now that there are so many restaurants. We also do our own deals throughout the year.” One example’s the $189 three-course dinner for two people at Black and Blue, discounted from the regular $425. “There’s always a deal somewhere in our company,” he says.
At Glowbal’s venues, the deals are real. At the flagship Glowbal restaurant, you can pack away tuna tataki with romesco, olives, fennel, and chorizo vinaigrette, a New York prime striploin with pomme purée, crispy Brussels sprouts and black pepper sauce and a brulée cheesecake with berry compote, yogurt creme chantilly and meringue for $49. Upon leaving, you might be like the woman in the Ikea commercial: “Start the car! Start the car!” making a getaway before they catch the mistake in the bill.
SIDE DISHES
Lunar New Year
The Year of The Snake is welcomed on Jan. 29. But don’t be me, terrorized by the slithery creatures. Embrace them — they symbolize wisdom, transformation and chances for growth and change. To celebrate, here are a couple of Lunar New Year events around Metro Vancouver.