5 great picks for Dine Out Vancouver 2017

If you're looking to check out new places to eat in Vancouver, On The Coast food columnist Gail Johnson says Dine Out is a great way to do it.

Entering its 15th edition, the annual food event will see 284 restaurants offering prix fixe meals at $20 to $40 per person as well as other culinary events.

"It's described not only as the city's biggest food festival but also the largest of its kind in the entire country and it just keeps getting bigger and better," Johnson told On The Coast host Stephen Quinn.

"We'll see spots that have been involved since Day One, such as Hart House, Cin Cin and Joe Forte's Seafood and Chop House, [and] this year there are close to 50 restaurants that are joining the fest for the first time."

There are plenty of options to check out during the festival, which runs Jan. 20 and Feb. 5, but here are some of Johnson's highlights.

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Bishop's

"It's a very exciting addition, giving more people the chance to experience some of the city's best restaurants at value prices. Owner John Bishop has created a menu that includes cornmeal crusted shrimp with spicy Japanese mayonnaise, steelhead trout and Salt Spring Island mussels and the restaurant's signature Death by Chocolate dessert."

PiDGiN

"For the festival, people will be able experience all of the dishes on its Dine Out menu, not just three of them. Those items include lingcod with smoked Berkshire lardo, roasted beef tenderloin with braised beef cheek and chawanmushi, which is a Japanese egg-custard dish, here served with monkfish liver, mushrooms and celtuce (a thick-stemmed version of lettuce). That's for $40 per person."

Vancouver Aquarium

"In a first for Dine Out, the aquarium is transforming its café into a bistro for an Ocean Wise pop-up that will run throughout the fest. All of the food on the menu is sustainable. Choices include a Haida Gwaii wild-razor clam soup, brown-butter-and-honey-glazed lingcod and a mixed seafood grill."

Chef Soup Experiment

"This takes place at 12:30 p.m. Friday at the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts on Granville Island. Several of the city's top chefs will each bring one ingredient to toss it into a boiling pot of water. Students chefs from the institute will cook the soup and then serve samples to the public. Admission is by donation, and proceeds support United Way's Stop the Growl initiative."

Other events

"Over the years, the festival has evolved, focusing more and more on unique experiences. There are pizza-making classes, cocktail seminars, a pig roast, several culinary walking tours, brunch crawls, and even a festival within the festival, featuring street food. There's the World Chef Exchange: five different dinners will see local chefs pair up with some top kitchen talent from around the world, including New York and Mexico City. And for the first time, there is a Lunar New Year celebration; that is taking place on Jan. 28 at Heritage Asian Eatery. It will feature a 10-course family-style feast."

With files from CBC Radio One's On The Coast