Kann’s Gregory Gourdet (left) of Portland is scheduled to collaborate with Chanthy Yen at Vancouver’s Touk on November 9. (Surge Entertainment graphic)
When I tasted Gregory Gourdet’s cuisine at Kann earlier this year, I wanted more of it. I inquired with the Portland-based chef if he would be open to coming to British Columbia to cook with one of the many talented culinary leaders in Canada. Gourdet, it turns out, has a great affinity for the country (he was recently a guest judge on the current season of “Top Chef Canada”) and was supportive of the idea.
Work began on finding event partners, sponsors, and venues. The result is a two-day celebration of the Pacific Northwest scheduled to take place on November 8 with a dinner at Victoria’s acclaimed Ugly Duckling Provisions and on November 9 at Touk, headed by 2024 “Top Chef Canada” winner Chanthy Yen.
Portland’s Gregory Gourdet is a best-selling cookbook author and highly respected celebrity chef who will cook in British Columbia in November. (Adrian Brijbassi photo for Vacay.ca)
Both restaurants will have two seatings each and all spots quickly sold out. The enthusiasm for Gourdet’s visit is evident on social media where Vancouverites, in particular, have expressed great enthusiasm for his dinners. Gourdet has been recognized three times by the James Beard Awards, considered the leading culinary competition in the United States. His best-selling cookbook, Everyone’s Table: Global Recipes for Modern Health, was named the Best General Cookbook at the 2022 Beard Awards. He’s also an “Iron Chef” and two-time “Top Chef” finalist.
It’s the taste of his food, though, that is most endearing. As I wrote in June, Gourdet “achieves a rare and much-desired feat: fine dining with the pleasures of comfort food.” Derived from recipes of his homeland in Haiti, Gourdet’s cooking is Caribbean deliciousness with the precision and art of fine dining. He sources meticulously, supporting local farmers and producers while elevating the stature of the Pacific Northwest ingredients.
In that sense, Gourdet is a collaborative fit for Corbin Mathany at Ugly Duckling and Yen’s Touk. Both British Columbia chefs are devoted to local ingredients, even though their cuisines are diverse. Mathany, whose restaurant is in Victoria’s Chinatown, adds Asian components to his French-style cooking and Yen’s menu is deeply rooted in his Cambodian heritage, with rich flavours, subtle spices, and elegant textures. [Read More About Ugly Duckling Provisions]
Ugly Duckling Provisions specializes in elegant and creative presentations of west-coast ingredients, including this smoked sablefish from Haida Gwaii. (Adrian Brijbassi photo for Vacay.ca)
The Ugly Duckling dinner is part of the Victoria International Wine Festival program and is suppored by Travel Portland, Destination Greater Victoria, local food providers The Root Cellar and Finest at Sea, and Harbour Air, which will provide Gourdet with round-trip travel via seaplane between the two cities. Wine partners include Mark Anthony Group, the parent company of Iconic Wineries of British Columbia, and Phantom Creek. At Touk, the beverage program sponsors will include San Pellegrino and Flor de Caña rum, along with Fresh St. Market (which is kindly supplying much of the produce) and Destination Vancouver. The wines that the Mark Anthony Group plans to pour at Touk include the Martin’s Lane Oregon Project Pinot Noir, which came about as a collaboration with that state’s winemakers after the devasting Okanagan Valley frost of 2024. [Read More About Touk]
Harbour Air is among the sponsors for Gregory Gourdet’s visit to British Columbia and will supply flights for the chef between Vancouver and Victoria. (Adrian Brijbassi photo for Vacay.ca)
The Magnolia Hotel and Spa in Victoria and Sutton Place Hotel in downtown Vancouver are slated to be the host accommodations for the celebrity chef while he is in the province.
A reciprocal dinner between Yen and Gourdet at Kann is scheduled for December 1. Vacay.ca is proud to help make these events happen.
More West Coast Restaurant News
Botanist’s new brunch menu features perfectly seared Pacific salmon, served with gentle smoked buttermilk, roe, and peas. (Adrian Brijbassi photo for Vacay.ca)
New Botanist Chef Launches Brunch: Amanda Healey is a star in her own right. Recently arrived from Australia, Healey is at the helm of arguably the most prestigious room in Vancouver, Botanist. The flagship restaurant of the five-star Fairmont Pacific Rim has been updating its menu with Healey’s refined recipes. Her poached asparagus with elderflower pickled pear, a silky hollandaise sauce and a lovely tuile cracker that looks like lace, is among the highlights of a dinner tasting menu. The same kind of familiar flavours with a boost of sophistication can be enjoyed on the Botanist brunch menu, which debuted on October 18. It includes a marvellous beet salad with the root vegetable sliced to the width of a fingernail and served with a delicate touch of buttermilk and pickled cherries. The bison tartare comes with smoked egg yolk, chanterelles, and sumac lavash — best of all, it’s a sensible portion size so you can have room for another dish. An option for that main course is the seared salmon, which arrives with dots of roe and tasty peas.
For travellers, Botanist delivers a fine-dining experience that’s a fit for its much-lauded bar (No. 38 on North America’s 50 Best Bars list).
The Moon Martini Bar and Restaurant Debuts: On October 23, the newest establishment in Gastown premiered. The Moon, featuring chef/co-owner Felix Maristany of Michelin-starred Kissa Tanto, lures you in with an intimate cocktail bar off of the Powell Street entrance and a 26-seat dining room in the back. The flavours are eclectic and international, with the highlights including an aged Peking duck served with a creative whipped arepa.
Vancouver’s newest hot spot serves ice-cold martinis done right. Bar manager Zoe Bates tops the cocktail with a grapefruit star and presents it with a small bottle that contains a top up for the drink. (Adrian Brijbassi photo for Vacay.ca)
The cocktails are winners, with the Moon Martini presented thoughtfully with a top-up inside of a mini bottle that’s kept on ice — an inspiration from the famed Salmon Guru in Madrid, which does a similar practice with its Negroni. For those who like ice-cold martinis, that extra touch will be appreciated.
The Victor Debuts 2026’s Festive Brunch: The flagship restaurant of the JW Marriott Parq Vancouver is best known for its steak and sushi program — and the high-rollers from the hotel’s casino who patron it — and it’s adding to those standout dining options with a Festive Sunday Brunch that starts on November 29. It includes delicious cedar-plank salmon, prime rib, honey-flavoured ham, an opulent seafood section, and a shakshuka station. Plus, there’s The Victor Candy Bar, which includes donuts, mini apple pies, a sundae station, and much more.
The Victor Candy Bar features the restaurant’s signature donuts, along with apple pies, holiday cookies, and other treats for its Festive Brunch. (Adrian Brijbassi photo for Vacay.ca)
The holiday brunch festivities kick off early on November 1 with a Halloween theme. Guests are encouraged to arrive in costume and enjoy treats prepared with some outstanding culinary tricks.
Unapologetic Foods a Hit at Vij’s: On October 15, Vij’s hosted New York City’s Unapologetic Foods in a Visa Infinite Dining Series event that sold out fast. Vikram Vij cooked with Mumbai-born Chintan Pandya, co-founder of Unapologetic Foods, owners of Semma, which was named No. 1 restaurant in the Big Apple by the New York Times in 2025. The group’s other restaurants include Dhamaka and Adda, both highly acclaimed by critics and patrons. They’re expanding to Philadelphia and have a project in Jaipur that’s scheduled to debut in 2027. With all of that happening, getting them to Vancouver was a coup!
Vikram Vij (left) hosted Unapologetic Foods’ founder Chintan Pandya (second from left) and sous chef Gurmehr Sahni (right), along with Vacay.ca Publisher Adrian Brijbassi, for a dinner that preceded the notable collaboration in Vancouver. (Gabriel Brijbassi photo for Vacay.ca)
After meeting Pandya in 2025, I felt he and Vij needed to connect, because of their shared passion for taking the cuisine of their homeland to new heights. The pair cooked together at Adda in Manhattan in January and Vij’s reciprocated by bringing Unapologetic Foods into Vancouver with Visa Canada’s support.
The dinner’s most impressive moment was Vij flambeeing gunpowder prawns tableside.
Pandya wants to come back in 2027 and we’re working on ways to make that happen and in collaboration with Vancovuer’s other standout Indian chefs. While in Vancouver, Pandya and Adda sous chef Gurmehr Sahni also dined at Kavita, which recently earned a Michelin Bib Gourmand. At the Vij’s dinner, attended by Kavita chef Tushar Tondvalkar, Pandya rejoiced that he was delighted to get to know “the legend himself [Vij] and the legend in the making [Tondvalkar].”
Wickaninnish Inn Hosts Fogo Island Inn
Two of Canada’s most celebrated properties are teaming up for a coast-to-coast collaboration dinner that is a highlight on the November calendar. The magnificent Pointe Restaurant at the Wickaninnish Inn invites chef Timothy Charles of the highly acclaimed Fogo Island Inn of Newfoundland & Labrador for a lavish evening in Tofino on November 15. I’ll be attending and foraging with Charles and the Pointe’s chef Clayton Fontaine. Both Charles and Fontaine have recently been featured in Vacay.ca’s Chefs Profile series. Find those articles here:
Wickaninnish Inn Chef Clayton Fontaine Finds Serenity on the Coast
At Fogo Island Inn, Chef Timothy Charles Stays Local
