Stir Wine Pairing: Community is at the core of North Shore Art Crawl, PiDGiN, and Township 7
Visiting artists’ studios online, ordering in from indie restaurants, and picking B.C. wine are ways to support local this long weekend
Roman Rozumnyj’s STRIPES #23 (acrylic on canvas; 14 inches by 36 inches by 1.5 inches) is among the scores of artworks on virtual view at the 2021 North Shore Art Crawl.
Township 7’s Sauvignon Blanc 2019 has notes of lime and passionfruit, making a perfect pairing for PiDGiN’s seven-course French-Asian tasting menu.
Every week, Stir Wine Pairing suggests BC wine and food to go with a local arts event.
The event
North Shore Art Crawl, online to April 12
The wine
Township 7 Vineyards & Winery Provenance Series 2019 Sauvignon Blanc
The food
PiDGiN’s takeout tasting menu
The lowdown
North Van Arts’ North Shore Art Crawl, a free, annual community celebration, is, like everything else, happening virtually this year. Check out visual artists from North and West Vancouver working in a range of media, including oil paint, watercolour, photography, ceramics, glass, woodworking, fibre art, jewellery, and more.
Roman Rozumnyj is an artist, interior designer, and set decorator based in West Van who favours heavy textures and strong chroma. He has had his modern, evocative work shown at Rendezvous Art Gallery, Art Vancouver! International Art Fair, Artworks Gallery, Torres Gallery, Toronto’s Kumf Gallery, and Winnipeg’s Forks Gallery, among several other spots.
With the pandemic weighing heavily on everyone, we’re craving colour. We love the bold hues and energy of Rozumnyj’s STRIPES #23 (which made an appearance in Hallmark Crossword Mystery series and is available through the North Van Arts Council’s Art Rental Program).
The pairing
Township 7 Vineyards & Winery has just launched its second annual Support, Ship & Sip campaign. The initiative supports the BC Hospitality Foundation (BCHF), which helps hospitality workers in financial distress, and the new British Columbia Wine Industry Scholarship & Education (BC WISE) fund (for students in winemaking, viticulture, and wine-business administration).
Throughout April, for every online order, Township 7 will donate $10 toward the BCHF with the goal of reaching $5,000. Shipping is free across most of Canada with a minimum four-bottle order.
Township 7’s 2019 Sauvignon Blanc has crisp, citrusy notes that make it perfect for spring sipping. It’s available online for $20.97 as of April 2. You can also find at select BC VQA and grocery stores and BC Liquor Stores.
The menu
Restaurants are pivoting anew in light of Dr. Bonnie Henry’s March 29 order that indoor dining be banned till April 19. Patio service, takeout, and delivery are still happening—and local ventures need all the orders they can get.
The culinary creativity at PiDGiN is fierce and fresh, with French and Asian influences coming together in next-level combinations. Examples from its ever-changing takeout tasting menu include tea-smoked magret duck breast with fermented-honey glaze, seared wedge of cabbage with ume daikon, raisins, and madeira jus; and halibut with sake-bacon dashi cream sauce, enoki mushrooms, lotus root, and gailan. The seven-course menu is meant to be shared, with a two- person minimum ($85 per person), and optional cocktail, sake, and wine pairings.
Adding to PiDGiN’s appeal—and an illustration of owner Brandon Grossutti’s pluck and industriousness—is FromTo, the delivery service he launched last year in response to the abhorrent fees charged by so many third-party delivery companies, many of which are headquartered in other cities or countries.
FromTo takes no commissions from restaurants or drivers.
Witih more than 200 restaurants coming onboard in the next few weeks, FromTo’s roster, in addition to PiDGiN, includes Maenam, the Acorn, Tocador, Old Bird, Homer Street Café and Bar, Bodega on Main, Davie Dosa Company, Sprezzatura Restaurant, Little Bird Dim Sum, Bread x Butter Café, and many more.
It’s a service by the community, for the community. These days, community is everything.
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