Best Okanagan 2015

Best Okanagan Restaurant winners of Vancouver Magazine’s 26th Annual Restaurant Awards

• Gold: Waterfront Wines
• Silver: Salted Brick
• Bronze: Bouchons
• Honourable Mentions: Theo’s, Bacaro

 Kelowna reigns supreme. The judges love Waterfront Wines (Gold) for many reasons, all born of chef Mark Filatow, one of Canada’s top competing talents and the originator of dishes that sing of their Okanagan birthplace. His menus run deep in both modern and classic directions. From spending time in Italy mastering salumi-making (sample his coppa, salsiccia, and headcheese) to three weeks in India gleaning a deeper understanding of spices, he thinks globally and cooks locally, with exceptionally sourced regional ingredients, including the wild-foraged. Extra marks for drawing local wines and spirits into the menu. In a slip of a deli downtown, chef Jason Leizert is following his dream with new arrival Salted Brick (Silver). A charcuterie and cheese board served with smoked-cherry syrup and house-pickled pattypan squash; a chef’s salad of blue cheese and hard-boiled eggs served with house maple bacon—all is handcrafted, stunning, and affordable. Top marks also to his deli counter, with pickles, bacons, and other meaty treats for the road. Bouchons (Bronze) turned 11 this year, a decade of delivering consistent Gallic service and food in the Valley; nothing exemplifies this duality better than its well-chosen cellar of wines from both the motherland and the benches of its adopted home. Honourable Mentions: Theo’s, Bacaro