Shop with a Chef: Robert Clark, C Restaurant

For amateurs and gourmets alike, Granville Island Market (Granvilleisland.com) stocks the tastiest ingredients in town. Shop like Robert Clark—executive chef at the award-winning triptych: C Restaurant, Nu, and Raincity Grill—and you’ll feel like a pro. Edible British Columbia (Edible-britishcolumbia.com) caters to Clark’s taste for locally farmed ingredients like birch syrup from Quesnel, Venturi Schulze balsamic vinegar from Vancouver Island (the only true balsamic produced outside Italy), Salt Spring Savouries flatbreads, and Oculus cherries from Mission Hill—“delicious with foie gras.” For Raincity Grill’s meaty dishes, like roasted beef rib eye with stuffed oxtail, Clark uses all-natural Pemberton Meadows beef from Two Rivers Specialty Meats (833 W.Third St., North Van, 604-990-5288) and charcuterie from Oyama Sausage (604-327-7407, Oyamasausage.ca), where he talks shop with manager Jérôme Dudicourt. Finest at Sea—FAS in the trade (604-684-4114, Finestatsea.com)—provides the freshest local seafood (essential in C’s popular scallops-with-octopus-bacon dish). When cold weather limits Clark’s 100-mile options, he looks to Helmers Organic (Helmersorganic.ca) for hearty Pemberton-grown Russet, Banana Fingerling, and Yukon Gold potatoes. The spuds are sold at Meinhardt Fine Foods (3002 Granville St., 604-732-4405; 3151 Arbutus St., 604-732-7900. Meinhardt.com) and the East Vancouver Winter Market (1882 Adanac St., Eatlocal.org). Whatever the season, Clark’s priority is quality. “And the best way to ensure quality,” says the award-winning chef, “is to buy local.”

Shopping with Robert Clark, Part 1

Shopping with Robert Clark, Part 2