Vancouver's best-kept restaurant secrets

Directly from the BC Shellfish Festival Press Release:

The BC Shellfish Festival is geared up and ready to go! Festival events begin today with the premiere screening of Shellshocked: Saving the Oceans to Save Ourselves. This fundraiser for the Vancouver Aquarium’s Ocean Wise conservation program screens at the Stan Hagen Theatre with a raw and BC wine bar reception.

On Thursday, June 14, the festival is pleased to host the Comox Valley’s first ever Mott’s Best Caesar in Town Contest. Local bartenders will mix up their best version of the Canadian classic at the Flying Canoe West Coast Pub. Caesars will be on special all night, an oyster raw bar will be set up just for the event and local music icon Luke Blu Guthrie will play the night away. Judges Mott’s Caesar judge, local food/beverage writer and media artist Hans Peter Meyer and Nanaimo food and travel writer Colleen Coplick aka Miss Manifesto.

The highlight event, the Chefs’ Dinner, follows on Friday, June 15 at the historic Filberg Lodge & Park where 6 top chefs from across BC prepare a six-course sit down meal expertly paired with a BC wine. This event is sold out.

The festival continues on Saturday, June 16 at Comox Marina Park at 12pm with a variety of things to see, do and taste.  Cooking demonstrations take place under the seaside gazebo and the $2 entrance fee includes a sampler and recipe card at the end of each presentation. Later local restaurants compete for the title of the Comox Valley’s Best Chowder followed by the BC Oyster Shucking Championships. There will also be an interactive kid’s zone with a marine touch tank, face painting and craft booth. A beer garden and lots of food vendors featuring halibut burgers, raw oysters, steamed clams and mussels and more offering something for everyone while local musicians fill the air with the sweet sounds of summer.

Notable guests this year include CBC’s Man About Town Fred Lee, Times Colonist columnist Eric Akis, radio and TV personality Terry David Mulligan as well as some of the hottest chefs in BC.

More information about the festival and all the events taking place can be found on our website at www.bcshellfishfestival.ca,