Edible Vancouver Island May/June 2024

At Pilgrimme, he says, “we start with what's available from the farms,” building multi-course tasting menus around the produce that they source locally. “We preserve quite a few things–dried fruits, fermented vegetables. We have a lot of flavour building blocks in the works, like pumpkin or barley misos, and we do shoyus with different grains. Canada produces so much great grain.” Once he’s settled on a dish’s ingredients and flavours, McCleery says, “We'll play with different ways of changing the textures–compressing it or marinating it or grilling it or charring it.” Only then does the chef focus on appearance. Pilgrimme works with several ceramicists from around the region who’ve crafted tableware for the restaurant. Visually, McCleery says, “the biggest thing that we think about is which ceramic to use.” If a dish is predominantly white with a bit of red, for example, McCleery might consider if the food would present better on black or gray ceramics or if it should be kept monochromatic. “Because it’s a tasting menu, we try not to put too many ingredients on each plate. We keep each dish to maybe three components tops, because you're eating 11-plus courses,” he explains. CREATING BALANCE At Pluvio restaurant + rooms in Ucluelet, chef/owner Warren Barr has a similar philosophy, starting with top quality ingredients and building the flavours he wants before considering what the plate should look like. Plating is about “the feeling of the dish you’re trying to capture,” he says. “I like the idea of very clean plates but with one tight cluster of busyness–like when you see a rock on the Wild Pacific Trail. It's this one little rock, but it has bits of moss and ferns and all these things growing out of [it].” Barr might leave the rest of the plate empty to show off that single grouping of ingredients, and explains that you can use negative space to craft an intriguing visual image. He might plate a piece of beef and something to accompany it, arranging the two components with three roughly equal spaces between them. “You only have two things on the plate, but you’re still getting ‘three’,” creating a feeling of balance. Like McCleery, Barr emphasizes the importance of attractive, well-made dishware, and Pluvio sources its ceramics from artists around the region. “In winter, plating tends to be more raw, more rugged, less finicky. In summer, when you have these more delicate things you’re working with, I’ll try to do things a bit more delicate, a bit more pretty.” Because of social media, “people are more concerned with how things look. Hopefully, the pendulum comes back the other way,” Barr suggests. “Let’s pay more attention to the ingredients and highlight where they’re coming from.”

Experience Local. Shop local. Taste local. Support local.

Reopening of the Filberg Summer Kitchen by END OF MAY 2024

61A Filberg Road, Comox, 250-339-2750 summerkitchen@filberg.com

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