Vancouver’s Brian Fowke Marks Four Years at Kitsilano Daily Kitchen

by Tim Pawsey on April 3, 2014

Brian-Fowke-at-Kitsilano-Daily-Kitchen-Tim-Pawsey-photo

Brian Fowke: Happy to be back foraging, but not so rare this time, Tim Pawsey photo

Updated, April 3rd, 2014.

Kitsilano Daily Kitchen is celebrating its fourth birthday, so I decided to refurbish this post in its honour … and rerun the original piece, whose Courier links are now dead. You have to hand it to Brian Fowke, who jumped into the local, seasonal movement early. And persevered.

From today’s release—a great deal!

“A lot has changed over the years. We have grown and matured – but tonight we are going to Celebrate likes its 2010! By Reservation Only – join us for Dinner and we will start you off with a Celebratory Glass of Blue Mountain Bubble. And tonight only – we will be offering the $85 Six Course Culinary Adventure for only $40 to thank you for your loyalty and support.

Here’s to the Next Five Years!

(please quote: ‘Happy Anniversary ‘ in your reservation for a complimentary round of Blue Mountain Brut Champagne for your table to celebrate our Anniversary and receive the $40 Six Course Culinary Adventure Pricing!)”

Here’s what I said at the time. It still rings true.

“When I go to a restaurant, I never order a la carte. I always order off the fresh sheet—that’s the concept behind Daily,” says Fowke.

“I just want to be out there and doing it, finding the food every day and bringing it back to prepare. The concept is so clear and simple. It fits my notion of what it would take be be in a perfect world for a chef.”

Fowke has always has been keenly focused in ingredients. That was the main idea behind Rare. However, this time around, the produce and meats are more seasonal than hard-to-find and—especially given the times—the setting is a whole lot more informal than the white linen predecessors.

Settle in to Daily Kitchen and you’ll find a small but mouth watering selection based entirely on Fowke’s foraging, that might have taken him to Steveston to buy produce or to the original Bosa Foods on Commercial Drive, where he sometimes ‘gets lessons from older Italian ladies.’

“They’ll ask me what I’m going to do with the prosciutto—and then they’ll tell me what to do with it.” Says Fowke, while when he gets up in the morning his head is always full of recipes and ideas, talking with the producers often brings a whole new dimension.

Fowke is also proud of the way he uses every aspect of what he finds. With Muscovy duck from Abbotsford’s Thiessen’s Farm, he’ll serve the breast on the first day, make confit on the second and then the rest winds up in the stock pot.

“I do that with every dish. Even now the beets we get have the tops on so we can make a beet salad the first day and then use the roots the next,” he says.

He’s also the first to admit that he’s no longer putting out ten and $12 pastas (“It just doesn’t work.”)—and that there’s a cost to working with small lot, high quality ingredients such as a precisely seared filet of Copper River Salmon, with saffron fondant fingerling potatoes and hand picked, wild California baby arugula.

Fowke and his sommelier—German born, Swiss-trained Thomas Rethage (who came for the Olympics and stayed)—also work hard on their wines (mid-premium selections, with plenty by the glass).

So far the response to Fowke’s fresh daily approach has been good.

“Once people understand just what’s on the plate, they also understand the value,” he says.

“The best comment I get is: ‘We can taste the freshness… When people say that, it’s a great feeling!”

Kitsilano Daily Kitchen (1809 West 1st. Ave., 604-569-2741) is open for dinner nightly. Entrees range from mid $20s, with an $85 chef’s culinary adventure tasting menu Thurs – Sat. Reservations recommended.