Press Kit

Fast Facts

Location

4121 Village Green, Whistler, BC VON 1B4
www.bearfootbistro.com
info@bearfootbistro.com
tel: (604) 932-3433
fax: (604) 932-8383

Contact

Andre Saint-Jacques, owner
Erin Kincaid, manager

Reservations

Recommended. Call (604) 932-3433

Hours

Summer: April 15 – Dec 15
Bar open from 5pm
Dining Room open 6pm-10.30pm Fri & Sat
(9.30pm Sun–Thurs)

Winter: Dec 15 – April 15
Bar open from 3pm
Dining Room open from 6pm – 10.30pm daily

Culinary style

Modern Canadian cuisine

Seats

150 People

Wine Cellar

Open for private dinners for 20 guests. The cellar stocks over 2,100 different labels, and 20,000 bottles of wine and champagne, including some of the most impressive verticals in the world.

The Team

Executive Chef: Melissa Craig, Gold Award winner of Gold Medal Plates Canadian Culinary Championships for 2008
Sous-chef: Gaetan Charest
Pastry Chef: Dominic Fortin
Sommelier: Eric Blouin
Mixologist: JS Dupuis
Live Music: Live music by virtuoso pianist, Cameron Chu

Cooking Classes

Three-hour class with Executive Chef, Melissa Craig, takes guests through the process of creating a gourmet meal, ending with a celebratory meal as the guests enjoy the fruits of their labour. (Min 8 guests)

Group bookings

The Restaurant can seat 150 people for full-service dining, or 600 for a reception / mix and mingle event. Sample menus available.

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Story Ideas

Gold Medal Plates Canadian Culinary Champion

Melissa Craig, gold award winner of the Gold Medal Plates Canadian Culinary Championships for 2008, achieved this prestigious award at the youthful age of 28, over competitors with impressive credentials from round Canada. What does this dynamo of a young chef have that drives her to oversee a kitchen of 20, to travel the world in search of inspiration, and to keep Bearfoot Bistro on an award-winning streak?

European Tour of Michelin-starred restaurants

Executive Chef, Melissa Craig takes time each summer to explore the cuisine of another part of the world. In 2008 she will work her creative juices as she takes a trip through France, Spain and the UK. Meeting with chefs in London, Paris, Monaco and Barcelona, she gathers ideas to take back to her kitchen crew, as they prepare menus for the new season.

The Oyster Guy

Where else do you find an oyster shucker so deft, so practiced, that he regularly goes through 1500 oysters a night? At the Bearfoot Bistro, the hunger for these bi-valves is so great that the Oyster Bar can keep the Oyster Guy, aka Chris Field, in business from 3pm to 10pm on a daily basis. Aficionados of this succulent aphrodisiac can sample oysters from both Canadian coasts, and as far afield as France. And it’s worth spending some time with the Oyster Guy for his encyclopedic knowledge of oysters. Chris has grown them, can tell you the age of an oyster and where it came from, and most definitely recommends eating them naked (the oysters, that is)!

Wine Cellar Par Excellence

With 20,000 bottles on show, and 2,100 different labels, including some show-stopping vintages of champagne and wine, the Wine Cellar at Bearfoot Bistro is an attraction all of its own. Here you can learn the ancient ritual of sabering your bottle of champagne and celebrate with friends over a glass of ‘bubble’, or reserve the whole Wine Cellar for a special occasion dinner, surrounded by trophies of Bordeaux, Burgundy and Madeira.

Tickling your Taste Buds

Mixologist JS has become a legend in Whistler. Not only for his masterful cocktail creations made with fresh ingredients, fruits, spices and herbs, (‘designer cocktails’ are de rigueur at the Bearfoot Bistro) but also for his skilful pairing of cocktails, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, with the menu, as an alternative to a wine pairing. His inspired creations include fresh fruits, berries and herbs, fruit teas, infused syrups, quince juice, mushroom infusion, and black truffle jus.

Live music by virtuoso pianist Cameron Chu
Inspired by the likes of Oscar Petersen, Ramsey Lewis and Herbie Hancock, Cameron Chu’s swinging improvisations generate a party ambiance at the Bearfoot Bistro that projects an upbeat and yet sophisticated mood. From his early days as an eight-year old playing at the Royal Conservatory of Toronto, through his track record of scholarships and awards, Cameron has performed internationally and has been featured on television and radio stations across Canada. Bearfoot Bistro is proud to have Cameron at the keys every night of the week.

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Backgrounder

The Bearfoot Bistro has earned a reputation as one of Whistler’s culinary hot spots and entertaining dining experiences. From the centre of the dining room a staircase drops to the wine cellar, stocked with one of North America’s most impressive collections of champagne and wine. The whimsical Champagne Bar, custom-made in pewter, features a rail of ice that cradles, cools, and illuminates your champagne flute from below. In the stylish dining room with its high-backed leather chairs, Venetian masks, hand-painted Bopla plates, and Riedel crystal stemware, diners watch the evident passion and dedication with which Executive Chef, Melissa Craig stewards her team of 20 in the open show-kitchen. In February 2008, Craig was awarded the Gold medal in the Canadian Culinary Championships, drawing well-deserved accolades to an already reputable name in the Whistler dining scene.

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Bios

EXECUTIVE CHEF, MELISSA CRAIG, BEARFOOT BISTRO, WHISTLER, BC

In a profession traditionally dominated by men, Melissa Craig, the award winning Executive Chef of the Bearfoot Bistro, is a rarity. Passionate, driven, and undeniably talented Craig began her career in the world-renowned Culinary Arts Program of Malaspina University College, British Columbia. Upon graduation she went on to win the National Apprentice Competition. This outstanding achievement was made all the more impressive by the fact that she was the first Canadian female to win this prestigious event and she was only twenty years old at the time.

Most recently, Craig was awarded the coveted gold award at the 2008 Gold Medal Plates Canadian Culinary Championships for 2008 – arguably the most prestigious culinary event in Canada. This grueling three-day contest included a black box competition, a mystery wine pairing, and a grand finale wine-pairing event.

After training at Malaspina, Craig moved to the southern tip of Vancouver Island and finished her apprenticeship at Sooke Harbour House – an establishment regarded by many as one of the finest restaurants in the world. There she deepened her understanding of West Coast Canadian Cuisine and further refined a style of cooking inspired by the foods of indigenous peoples, the ocean, and the rich soil of the Pacific Northwest.

Craig traded Vancouver Island for Princess Royal Island in 2003 when she was appointed Sous Chef at King Pacific Lodge, A Rosewood Resort. At this luxury floating wilderness lodge she integrated a First Nation’s twist on fresh local seafood, salmon and berries, to complement her West Coast style.

Today Craig commands a team of twenty in the open and electrifying show kitchen of the Bearfoot Bistro. Her menu is best described as Modern Canadian Cuisine and boasts a unique blend of West Coast and international ingredients, immaculate presentation and simple yet passionate artistry. Her talents define the experience of dining at the Bearfoot Bistro and she invites you to join her next time you visit Whistler.

PIANIST, CAMERON CHU, BEARFOOT BISTRO, WHISTLER, BC

Cameron Chu is a Vancouver born virtuoso pianist. He has won many scholarships and awards in competition including the prestigious Royal Conservatory of Toronto’s Silver Medals. He studied with world-renowned concert pianist and master teacher Lee Kum-Sing at the Vancouver Academy of Music who is a current jury member of the Chopin International piano competition in Warsaw, and of the Queen Elisabeth Piano competition in Belgium. Cameron has performed extensively both locally and internationally and has been seen and heard nationwide on CHQM radio, CBC radio and television, CTV television, CKVU television and VTV television from the age of twelve.

His extraordinary technical ability combined with his deeply passionate approach has made him a performer in great demand in a variety of situations ranging from solo classical and jazz performances, to playing in or leading bands that included such luminaries as the late Linton Garner, Motown artist Bobby Taylor, Lee Aaron, and Ray Carroll’s Platters. These varied activities have not taken precedence over his love for jazz and blues, which can be heard whenever he has a chance to project his colourful imagery through his swinging improvisations inspired by the likes of Oscar Petersen, Ramsey Lewis, Herbie Hancock, the late Erroll Garner, and the incomparable Art Tatum. His mastery of interpretation has been evident from an early age. When described by Canadian composer Patricia Holt, who upon hearing eight-year-old Cameron play one of her compositions at the Royal Conservatory of Toronto during an examination, which she was adjudicating, wrote as her only remark, "Thank You."

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Awards

Western Living Magazine October 2008, 40 Foodies Under 40, Chef of the Year, Chef Melissa Craig

Gold Medal Plates Canadian Culinary Championships 2008, Gold, Chef Melissa Craig

Wine Spectator, 1997-200, Award of Excellence

Urban Diner, Best Restaurant in Whistler, Gold 2008

Urban Diner, Best Wine List in BC, Gold 2008

Media contact:
Jayne Lloyd-Jones
Spectacular Ink
604.925.8187
jayne@spectacularink.com

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