Small Plates... BIG Flavours
By Nikki Bayley | Images by Joern Rohde
Whether you’re eating your way around the menu with friends, sharing dishes, or just like to eat a little lighter in the summer months, small plates are the answer, and they don’t skimp on flavour.
Check out some of our favourite Whistler chefs and their summer menu small plates which showcase the very best B.C. or cross-Canadian ingredients. Discover the seasonal summer flavours of Canada with every bite — and don’t forget to share!
LORETTE BRASSERIE | Shane Sluchinski
Endive and Fuji Apples
“I know some people like to eat in that old-school ‘everyone gets their own dish’” style, but I love that whole interactive sharing experience that you get with small plates,” enthuses Lorette’s chef, Shane Sluchinski. “When you come into our restaurant, you’re at our dinner table, and we just want to feed you family-style, so small plates work for everyone.”
After months of delays, Sluchinski is finally at the helm of Whistler’s newest — and most talked-about — restaurant, Lorette Brasserie, a love letter to family and French brasserie-style cuisine. “It’s a dream come true,” he beams. “I worked for 15 years in traditional rustic places in Montreal, and I am so excited to bring my French-Canadian heritage here to Whistler.”
Chef Sluchinski’s small plate certainly brings those big, zesty summer flavours to life. “I’m making one of our light summer salads, Belgian endive and chicory, a super-traditional take. I’ve just pickled onions and a great cheese that we have from Québec, Bleu d’Élizabeth, one of my personal favourites.”
You’ll love sharing these cute little salad “boats”! This classic French dish brings together the sweet bite of candied walnuts with crisp apples, crunchy endive, and the creamy twist of that divine Québec bleu cheese.
604-962-1808 | lorettebrasserie.com
BAR OSO | Jorge Muñoz-Santo
Roasted Beet Salad with Goat Cheese
If you think small plates, you immediately think tapas, and Bar Oso is undoubtedly the home of tapas right in the heart of Whistler Village. For Chef Jorge Muñoz-Santos, it’s the only way to eat: “You don’t need to get an appie and a main,” he declares. “With tapas, you can try a little bit of everything from the menu; you can have eight dishes between two or three people and enjoy that variety.”
On the menu for our small plate today: a stunning B.C. roasted beet salad. “Like everyone, right now, I’m trying to focus on local products to support farmers all along the Sea to Sky Corridor,” says Muñoz-Santos. “We use beets from Pemberton, which we roast; we make a crispy nut and seed granola here in-house, our goat cheese either comes from B.C. or Québec, and we do an apple dressing with local fruit.”
Funky, creamy goat cheese pairs perfectly with the earthy sweetness of the roasted beets and the nuttiness of the toasted granola discs. “We are a Spanish restaurant, so we will, of course, be using Spanish ingredients, but we are definitely leaning more into Canadian ingredients whenever we can,” Muñoz-Santos says. “Right now, I can’t wait for tomatoes to come in — fresh, beautiful tomatoes from our local farmers! It’s the best.”
604-962-4540 | baroso.ca
RED DOOR BISTRO | RD Stewart
Nova Scotia Scallops
Chef RD Stewart and I discuss the joys of small-plate dining: “I like sharing if the menu is diverse enough; I prefer it to hogging a dish to myself!” he says with a laugh. “Food is all about sharing, and when I go out, I like to order a bunch of different plates to see the presentation, flavour profiles and what the restaurant is trying to showcase.”
One of the Red Door Bistro’s most popular share plates began as an experiment, combining East and West Coast ingredients to create something deliciously Canadian: celery root purée from Pemberton’s Rootdown Organic Farm, Bay scallops from Nova Scotia, Nonna Pia’s balsamic glaze made in Whistler, and house-made pillowy choux mini lemon dumplings.
“It’s a different style, but everything works,” Stewart says. “It’s very popular to share, but I could honestly eat it all myself.” And I agree; it’s so good — bright and flavourful, with tiny puffs of lemony choux dough, buttery scallops, the unexpected crunch of pistachio, and the delicateness of scallops, all set against a silky purée.
“We’ve always bought local here at the Red Door Bistro, but now we’re even more focussed on showcasing B.C. and Canadian ingredients, and this dish does that perfectly.”
604-962-6262 | reddoorbistro.ca
IL CAMINETTO | Executive Chef Mark McLoughlin
Burrata Pugliese
“We always try to keep it local and Canadian — apart from our Italian specialty products, it just comes natural[ly] to us,” says Il Caminetto Executive Chef Mark McLoughlin. “We take the best quality Italian ingredients and then highlight them with as-local-as-you-can-possibly-get produce from B.C. I’m out visiting the farms every week. We can’t do Italian food without local produce. If we flew [in] Italian tomatoes, they wouldn’t be any good when they got here, so we use our beautiful local products to showcase something like this amazing Italian burrata.”
Chewy ciabatta made in-house with B.C.-milled flour by Jaylen Wickert, the head baker at sister restaurant Provisions Whistler, is grilled. It’s then rubbed with North Arm Farm garlic, loaded with fragrant ripe local tomatoes, dressed with a peppery Italian olive oil and finishing salt, and garnished with locally grown edible microgreens and flowers (“we use whatever grows around the tomatoes”).
A pool of fragrant emerald-green basil oil finishes this exquisite plate, which just cries out to be shared with loved ones. “It’s the Italian style of eating to share,” says McLoughlin. “Dinner isn’t just time to share food; it’s time to share stories and experiences too. We do serve individual dishes, but we love it if you can share everything.”
604-932-4442 | ilcaminetto.ca
BEARFOOT BISTRO | Culinary Director Dominic Fortin
Caviar Cannoli
“I like having a few small plates to [share, to] start the meal,” declares Culinary Director Dominic Fortin. “It’s great to break the ice and invites you to interact with everyone at the table.” Inspired by the classic Italian dessert, this two-bite cannoli delightfully turns away from sweet to savoury. “I was a pastry chef for almost 20 years, so despite my transition to savoury chef, I often go back to pastry techniques; I like the technicality of it,” Fortin says.
The inky-black pops of caviar, which elevate this dish from delicious to ethereal, are sourced from one of the few remaining Canadian-owned caviar companies, Acadian Sturgeon and Caviar Inc., based in New Brunswick. “It’s such a great product, and I’m so proud to promote it.”
Answering the question “do Crème fraîche and caviar pair well together?” with a resounding HECK YES!, this is a feathery-light whisper of velvety, tangy Crème fraîche-stuffed cannoli, generously garnished with pops of briny Acadian caviar, showcasing a decadent side of Canada. “Focussing on Canada is something we’ve always done at Bearfoot,” Fortin says. “We love to highlight Canadian ingredients to tourists; after all, they might not be able to visit other parts of Canada after they’ve been to Whistler, so it’s great to show them what we have from East Coast to West; I want to showcase the whole country as much as possible.”
604-932-3433 | bearfootbistro.com