Canada's largest annual dining celebration launches its 13th year with a staggering 263 restaurants on board. Produced by Tourism Vancouver and presented by American Express, for two weeks between January 17 and February 2 you can dive into excellent value set menus at across the city - but with so much choice, where to even start? Forget sifting through the hundreds of menus Amy Watkins has already done that to bring you her pick of Dine Out's various value offerings. May we present, in no particular order, the best of the $28 group. [Photo via Bambudda]
Mid-level $28 Dine Out menus are a chance for some restaurants to puff their prices but they're also a golden opportunity to try out those elusive places on your 'one day I'll go' lists. Here's our map of the middleweights that prove that average can be anything but.
‘Plant-based’ is the mantra for most New Year’s resolutions this year - vegetarian Graze makes it easy with yam and parsnip ‘noodles’ with farro cake or tea smoked tofu with portobello mushroom steak on its $28 menu.
Vancouver’s aboriginal bistro represents with some rustic mouthwatering dishes like stewed bison tart and elk winter pie, swished down with Chef Shawna's Jiits Saskatoon berry cake and a side of bannock bread.
If you need an excuse to get a group of friends together Chef Angus An’s to-die-for dishes are made for sharing and the Dine Out menu is designed for a group to dine Thai style. Split into salads, stir fries and curries, the $28 menu covers the gamut from panaeng curry of beef chuck, to clam and squid salad with lemongrass.
Dine Out date night anyone? Abigail’s Party has pretty much wrapped up the feeling of a warm hug and made it into their $28 menu - from wine-poached pears and toasted hazelnuts in the salad to truffled parsley oil in the creamy celeriac soup, the appies will get you ready for a choice of buttermilk fried chicken, steak frites, pan-seared steelhead or eggplant parmedsan. Chili spices up the chocolate mousse and the other options of goat gouda and spiced honey or wintercrisp crumble will warm you up even if your date leaves you cold.
Edible Canada is Granville Island’s biggest champion of local produce and with Yarrow Meadows duck, BC scallops and Lois Lake steelhead on the menu you can’t dispute their local leanings.
Got guests? The Sandbar ticks all the boxes for superlative views and seafood and the $28 menu offers up Boston clam chowder, Cioppino fish stew and two dessert options.
How does Asian-influenced satay plus a seafood brochette or beef cheeks main and a dessert trio sound for almost the same price as an everyday entree? Ker-ching. Glowball Grill has some serious savings going on for Dine Out.
Twisted Fork has the brunch bunch enamoured but with Dine Out you can have a $28 dollar dinner. Throwback appie choices of beet salad, potato soup and gruyere and onion tart are followed by pan seared sable fish with couscous and cauliflower coulis, herb and brie stuffed chicken breast or veggie lasagna options.
Go for the roasted pork belly with crackling or earthy goodness of the roasted wild and cultivated mushrooms; stay for your chance to taste Chef Chris Whittaker’s creamy chowdown-winning seafood chowder with smoked chicharon and soft quail egg.
Gluten-free? The granddaddy of the locavore movement might have the menu for you - with all appies, two entrees and a dessert ringing in as coeliac-friendly. With locally-sourced goods like North Arm Farms Jerusalem Artichokes with aggasiz walnuts, gala apple and cranberry emulsion on the list we can all take a gluten getaway.
For $28 you’ll get some of Fishworks favourite menu choices like the mac’n’cheese with butter-poached Dungeness crab and orzo pasta or a variation on their lingcod dish with chorizo and chickpeas. There’s a coq au vin with truffled mashed potatoes and broccoli but the clue’s in the name - come here for the seafood and make the most of the $28 menu -the mac ‘n’ cheese usually features lobster but will set you back $24 on its own.
Bigger groups will be better off coming here for the fixed price family style option but if you’re in a twosome or going solo the $28 menu is a solid choice for a walk-in dinner in the East Village. Start with a cleansing misticanza salad then load up with the carnaroli risotto or margherita pizza and finish off with a chocolate bundino.
Reservations are recommended for this old-school Italian in Burnaby; they’ve been going for two decades and they’re damned if they’ll change their baked chicken or veal Bocconcini just because it’s Dine Out.
Campagnolo fans rejoice; the crispy ceci chickpeas are on the $28 menu, alongside entree choices of margherita pizza, risotto with eggplant agro dolce and slow cooked beef shank followed by dark chocolate torte or angelfood cake. No resos unless you’re in a group of eight or more, so head here early on to get a seat.
Vegans! Get thee to The Parker, the vegetarian restaurant that has a vegan-friendly menu of the esoteric winter’s weave (cauliflower, mizuna, pea shoots, vadouvan granola and harissa-cashew cream) and butternut squash cannelloni.
Twenty eight dollars will get you a taste of Chef Keev Mah’s modern take on dim sum such as law bak go with radish cakes and beef brisket; crispy pork belly maple hoisin; albacore tuna with smoky broth, eggplant and apple; or la mein mushrooms, with pea tips and poached egg, finished off with persimmon pudding with oolong anglaise or banana custard. These plates are meant for sharing, so take some friends and do some strategic ordering.
If small rooms and seafood float your boat, head to Gastown’s Cork & Fin for a three-course savoury Dine Out menu. Stick to the oysters, tuna with haricot vert, tomato jam, olives and soft egg and local lingcod if you want to be a Dine Out demon and avoid any added extras... or fork out for the steak tartare for an additional $4.
Tasting plates usually ring in at $16 and the $28 menu includes an entree option of a butcher, cheesemonger or best of BC plate; so add on the kale caesar and dessert and you have a deal. Salt usually has a three course option for $29 but Dine Out pips it by a dollar, which you can put towards a BC VQA wine pairing.
Sunshine Coast seafood and West Coast crab cakes are on the $28 menu for Water St Cafe; spinach and ricotta ravioli, smoked salmon risotto and classic duck confit round out this long-standing Gastown favourite’s Dine Out menu.
There are more than cream buns here - come in for a Dine Out dinner and find another side to the Fairmont Pacific Rim’s Giovane. Dishes such as caprese bruschetta make the most of the carefully sourced authentic Italian deli ingredients.
‘Plant-based’ is the mantra for most New Year’s resolutions this year - vegetarian Graze makes it easy with yam and parsnip ‘noodles’ with farro cake or tea smoked tofu with portobello mushroom steak on its $28 menu.
Vancouver’s aboriginal bistro represents with some rustic mouthwatering dishes like stewed bison tart and elk winter pie, swished down with Chef Shawna's Jiits Saskatoon berry cake and a side of bannock bread.
If you need an excuse to get a group of friends together Chef Angus An’s to-die-for dishes are made for sharing and the Dine Out menu is designed for a group to dine Thai style. Split into salads, stir fries and curries, the $28 menu covers the gamut from panaeng curry of beef chuck, to clam and squid salad with lemongrass.
Dine Out date night anyone? Abigail’s Party has pretty much wrapped up the feeling of a warm hug and made it into their $28 menu - from wine-poached pears and toasted hazelnuts in the salad to truffled parsley oil in the creamy celeriac soup, the appies will get you ready for a choice of buttermilk fried chicken, steak frites, pan-seared steelhead or eggplant parmedsan. Chili spices up the chocolate mousse and the other options of goat gouda and spiced honey or wintercrisp crumble will warm you up even if your date leaves you cold.
Edible Canada is Granville Island’s biggest champion of local produce and with Yarrow Meadows duck, BC scallops and Lois Lake steelhead on the menu you can’t dispute their local leanings.
Got guests? The Sandbar ticks all the boxes for superlative views and seafood and the $28 menu offers up Boston clam chowder, Cioppino fish stew and two dessert options.
How does Asian-influenced satay plus a seafood brochette or beef cheeks main and a dessert trio sound for almost the same price as an everyday entree? Ker-ching. Glowball Grill has some serious savings going on for Dine Out.
Twisted Fork has the brunch bunch enamoured but with Dine Out you can have a $28 dollar dinner. Throwback appie choices of beet salad, potato soup and gruyere and onion tart are followed by pan seared sable fish with couscous and cauliflower coulis, herb and brie stuffed chicken breast or veggie lasagna options.
Go for the roasted pork belly with crackling or earthy goodness of the roasted wild and cultivated mushrooms; stay for your chance to taste Chef Chris Whittaker’s creamy chowdown-winning seafood chowder with smoked chicharon and soft quail egg.
Gluten-free? The granddaddy of the locavore movement might have the menu for you - with all appies, two entrees and a dessert ringing in as coeliac-friendly. With locally-sourced goods like North Arm Farms Jerusalem Artichokes with aggasiz walnuts, gala apple and cranberry emulsion on the list we can all take a gluten getaway.
For $28 you’ll get some of Fishworks favourite menu choices like the mac’n’cheese with butter-poached Dungeness crab and orzo pasta or a variation on their lingcod dish with chorizo and chickpeas. There’s a coq au vin with truffled mashed potatoes and broccoli but the clue’s in the name - come here for the seafood and make the most of the $28 menu -the mac ‘n’ cheese usually features lobster but will set you back $24 on its own.
Bigger groups will be better off coming here for the fixed price family style option but if you’re in a twosome or going solo the $28 menu is a solid choice for a walk-in dinner in the East Village. Start with a cleansing misticanza salad then load up with the carnaroli risotto or margherita pizza and finish off with a chocolate bundino.
Reservations are recommended for this old-school Italian in Burnaby; they’ve been going for two decades and they’re damned if they’ll change their baked chicken or veal Bocconcini just because it’s Dine Out.
Campagnolo fans rejoice; the crispy ceci chickpeas are on the $28 menu, alongside entree choices of margherita pizza, risotto with eggplant agro dolce and slow cooked beef shank followed by dark chocolate torte or angelfood cake. No resos unless you’re in a group of eight or more, so head here early on to get a seat.
Vegans! Get thee to The Parker, the vegetarian restaurant that has a vegan-friendly menu of the esoteric winter’s weave (cauliflower, mizuna, pea shoots, vadouvan granola and harissa-cashew cream) and butternut squash cannelloni.
Twenty eight dollars will get you a taste of Chef Keev Mah’s modern take on dim sum such as law bak go with radish cakes and beef brisket; crispy pork belly maple hoisin; albacore tuna with smoky broth, eggplant and apple; or la mein mushrooms, with pea tips and poached egg, finished off with persimmon pudding with oolong anglaise or banana custard. These plates are meant for sharing, so take some friends and do some strategic ordering.
If small rooms and seafood float your boat, head to Gastown’s Cork & Fin for a three-course savoury Dine Out menu. Stick to the oysters, tuna with haricot vert, tomato jam, olives and soft egg and local lingcod if you want to be a Dine Out demon and avoid any added extras... or fork out for the steak tartare for an additional $4.
Tasting plates usually ring in at $16 and the $28 menu includes an entree option of a butcher, cheesemonger or best of BC plate; so add on the kale caesar and dessert and you have a deal. Salt usually has a three course option for $29 but Dine Out pips it by a dollar, which you can put towards a BC VQA wine pairing.
Sunshine Coast seafood and West Coast crab cakes are on the $28 menu for Water St Cafe; spinach and ricotta ravioli, smoked salmon risotto and classic duck confit round out this long-standing Gastown favourite’s Dine Out menu.
There are more than cream buns here - come in for a Dine Out dinner and find another side to the Fairmont Pacific Rim’s Giovane. Dishes such as caprese bruschetta make the most of the carefully sourced authentic Italian deli ingredients.
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