Spot Prawn Season 2013

For the next few weeks, Spot Prawns are sure to pop up on the menus of every BC-loving restaurant in town, and for good reason. Chefs love the leggy little things for their vibrant hue and delicate, sea-sweet flesh that’s delicious both raw and cooked. So do we – but also because their limited seasonal existence makes a great excuse to party.

Shop

These morsels are no longer the fisherman’s secret they were a decade ago, as evidenced by the fact that tickets for the annual epic Chefs Table Society of BC Spot Prawn Festival (May 11) have long sold out. But don’t let that stop you from dropping by Fisherman’s Wharf (by Granville Island), picking up your own bag of the live, local crustaceans for $12 per lb – the the price of a single plate at the festival – and hosting your own buttery mess of a meal.

Learn how to cook and eat BC Spot Prawns in this video from the 2011 festival

Dine

For those who’d rather leave the beheading to the pros, YEW‘s Chef Ned Bell has fashioned a BC Spot Prawn Fans & Followers Menu that incorporates a daily catch of fresh prawns into dishes like ceviche with vanilla and pineapple, and prawn tacos with lemon and miso. The $67 tickets can be purchased in advance before May 10th, and are redeemable for dinner between May 11 and May 31. For tickets, visit: BCspotprawns-yew.eventbrite.com

Feast

The place to really dig in this season is Campagnolo. Each Wednesday night in May (8, 15, 22, 29), Vancouver’s ersatz Italian nonnas Robert Belcham and Ted Anderson will be boiling a healthy potful of prawns and serving them alongside Sawmill Bay clams and housemade chorizo in the restaurant’s upstairs supper club. The ticket – $59 – also includes a special cask-conditioned R&B brew. The real reason it’s going to get crazy? Guests are encouraged to BYO bottle of wine to the dinner with no corkage fee. For tickets, visit: BCspotprawnboil.eventbrite.com