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Canwest News Service
Vancouver chef Rob Feenie began directing the food at the Cactus Club, a chain of casual fine-dining restaurants, early last year. He improved the food and he's mentoring many young chefs. He's also proven he's still in the game when it comes to haute cuisine.
Feenie will be representing B.C. in the 2009 Gold Medal Plates, squaring off against six chefs from across Canada on Friday and Saturday. The event is a fundraiser for the Olympic Foundation, benefiting Olympic and Paralympic athletes.
Feenie and a team of 13 Cactus Club chefs took first place at the regional competition on Oct. 23. He went against 10 of Vancouver's top-tier chefs for the chance to compete at the national level. While Feenie won the gold, Dale MacKay, who inherited Feenie's job at Lumiere, took silver. Pino Posteraro, of Cioppino's, claimed the bronze.
Feenie said his team cooked a duo of Polderside Farm duck and chicken. He began his dish with a parsnip, pear and pineapple sorbet and followed with a pressed duck confit cooked by sous vide and a boudin noir (sausage) of pressed chicken enriched with foie gras and served with caramelized onion foam.
Tina Oliver, general manager of the Gold Medal Plates for Vancouver, says that this year, it's all all about 2010. "It's the pre-eminent, pre-2010 gala."
On the first day of the national competition, chefs will be presented with a mystery wine and they'll prepare a dish to match with a limited budget, using local ingredients, she said. The next day, they'll compete in a "black box" competition with mystery ingredients. "There's an unlimited budget and no restrictions on the final dish and matching wine," says Oliver.
Feenie says he was more nervous about the Gold Medal Plates competition than he was on the Iron Chef America challenge. "We're up against some of the best chefs in this city. I'm always nervous about these things," he says.
"I'm not sure where people thought we were going to finish. Cactus Club is known for casual fine dining, but the chefs in the company can cook at all levels. We pulled out all the stops. These guys know how to cook well and we're starting to see that in all our restaurants."
mstainsby@vancouversun.com
