When imagining restaurants of the future, my parents generation saw robot servers and tableside microwaves that would turn little pellets into meat and potatoes after just 10 seconds. Theyd drink their food like the astronauts and bake bread using special eyeglasses. Science and efficiency would rule.
Save for a some lame novelty restaurants in Asia, very little of that has come to pass. Just as my folks were deprived of their promised jet packs and flying cars, they still havent been served by robots or compelled to use a microwave for much aside from shitty popcorn on movie nights.
For my generation, the restaurants of the future are very real and fast approaching. A pretty fair exemplar will be opening at 1300 Robson at the foot of the Listel Hotel before Christmas. The space used to house ODouls, a sprawling restaurant and bar that for more than 40 years functioned as one of the more exceptional live jazz venues in town. Half of the original square footage is being given over to retail, but the other half is being reserved for a new locavore restaurant called Forage. It will be unlike any eatery ever attempted in Vancouver.
Of course we already have many restaurants wearing the local, sustainable, and organic mantle, and some of these wear it very well (think Bishops, West, LAbattoir, Wildebeest, etc). As a director of the Chefs Table Society of BC and chief organiser of the annual Spot Prawn Festival, Forage chef Chris Whittaker (who was also the chef at ODouls) has a passion for doing things right, and since ODouls closed in June, hes been bouncing around the province getting all his supplier ducks in a row. (You can follow his exploits at TheNextCourse.ca.)
Ive seen the West Coast-themed menu that he has put together for Forage, and it all reads like a great representation of BCs backyard. Some standouts: Chilliwack corn bread with spicy honey and cheddar from Golden Ears Cheesecrafters; Pacific Provider salmon bellies grilled with Pemberton potatoes and pickled sea asparagus; Peace Country buffalo burger with house cured bacon and roma tomato chutney; Pinot Noir-glazed albacore tuna with chanterelles and brown butter gnocchi; double fried pork cutlet with bull kelp, arugula and kasu cipollini onions; and so on.
Clearly, the fellow has his imagination going full tilt. Is the seafood ready for the Oceanwise stamp of approval? Check. Are there Glorious Organics greens? Yup. Is there a zero-waste program in place? Totally. Will condiments and such be made in house? Naturally. Will Whittaker be able to draw on a massive rooftop garden for many of his ingredients? Absolutely. Will it all be carbon neutral? Sure thing. Will the water be solar heated? I saw the massive photovoltaic solar arrays on the roof for myself. He isnt kidding around.
There are already some Vancouver restaurants hitting at least some of these same marks, so whats the big deal? What makes Forage a restaurant of the future?
The whole thing is a joint endeavour between the hotel, BC Hydro and a retinue of partners including the Green Table Network, the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Natural Gas, the Food Service Technology Center, and various kitchen appliance vendors. The purpose of the restaurant (aside, of course, from satisfying bellies) is to employ new energy-saving practices and green technologies that might compel other restaurants in BC to follow suit. In other words, its one big guinea pig, a test project attempting to pre-ordain a particular future by showing new and existing restaurateurs how that future is here, right now, if they choose it.
The provinces thousands of eateries consume some 2,700 gigawatt hours of electricity every year. According to BC Hydro estimates, if Forage inspires the industry to get smart about energy, theyd not only save enough power to juice 81,000 households, theyd also shave a not inconsiderable amount of money off their annual operating budgets.
Whittaker and the brains behind the concept, Green Table Network founder André LaRivière, gave me the nickel tour. The kitchen was in the process of being retro-fitted with upgraded appliances, the rooftop garden was still in the planning stages, and Forage itself was just an empty shell save for the skeleton of the central bar.
My tour guides could see the finished project in their minds. It wasnt until they told me who the designers were that I started to see their vision. I know every one of David Nicolay and Rob Edmonds restaurant projects very well. Their firm, Evoke ID, gave us the looks of the new Irish Heather, Habit Lounge, The Cascade Room, The Union Bar, and countless other local joints, even the original Glowbal in Yaletown (theyre now busily putting the finishing touches on South Granvilles anticipated Heirloom, the massive vegetarian restaurant that should be opening very soon).
With that knowledge I could see 80 seats filled. I could see the kitchen, functioning like any other, but in a much more efficient way, with line cooks running up the stairs to the garden in the middle of service to score more basil for the bruschetta.
I could see the future, and to be perfectly honest, it looked delicious.
