You Have to Try This Michelin-Star Tasting Menu Before Winter’s End

Coming off the announcement by premier David Eby that British Columbia will no longer be observing daylight savings time—after this upcoming “spring forward” of course—we know we’re soon to emerge from the cold grip of winter. With spring surely on the horizon, Vancouver’s Michelin-starred Published on Main is serving up a thoughtful, intentional winter tasting menu to get us through the final days of the season. Trust me—this is the one and only time I’ll be wishing for a longer winter.

Any time of the year, our 2024 Restaurant Awards Best Upscale winner Published on Main boasts a nose-to-tail ethos—using every part of an animal where possible—to cut down on food waste, but this winter, the fine dining haunt also puts its vegetables to the test through the craft of preservation.

Thus, the restaurant’s preservation menu, using ingredients gathered by chef-partner Gus Stieffenhofer-Brandson (and Vanmag‘s 2022 Chef of the Year), gets diners through “a season defined not by abundance, but by care, foresight and craft.”

Intentionally, the tasting menu kicks off with a celebratory flute of riunhaut champagne brut—but to slip into the comfort of a winter meal, a forager’s tisane with roses and herbs is served, based off of a tea made by chef Gus’ own grandmother when he was feeling unwell. Using locally foraged ingredients, the sip sets the sense of warmth and place.

This is all complementing a nine-piece snack board of sorts—a selection of finely curated amuse bouches—an oyster with fermented pumpkin vinegar, chewy smoked clam slices with dilly beans, incredible on crunchy tart. At once savoury and juicy, a cured scallop wrapped in a white carrot kimchi and squash precede a creamy, rich and decadent silky omelette bite that is ever so slightly hit with the salty tang of caviar. Then, a slice of dense farmhouse heirloom rye with a slice of lox atop. Moving on, a pate-like preserved sungold tomato gel tart decorated by marigolds was peppery to the taste. Wrapped in a cannoli, a preserved walnut and horseradish bite awoke my senses, just to have my tastebuds lulled again into an emollient comfort: a rough-cut slice of pork pate that was chewy in texture. And finally, a creamy foie gras topped with a quince jelly capped the nine-part “snack.” 

According to chef Stieffenhofer-Brandson—who developed the menu alongside support from chef de cuisine Nolan Hennenfent and sous chefs Carmen Holtby and James Hutton, the Published pantry is “where winter cooking really begins” for the team.

“Preservation is about trusting time and respecting the work we’ve done earlier in the year. From the first blossoms of the year, like rose and elderflower, the wild burn morels, to our coveted tomatoes from Milan ‘the tomato man,’ each ingredient is harvested at its best,” he says. “We’ve allowed them to evolve naturally through different preserving techniques, and now, it’s time for them to shine on the plate.”

That’s made evident through the menu’s cured Hokkaido hamachi, stacked with jalapenos and spicy serrano peppers, drizzled with a fermented tomatillo. The peppers in the dish are washed in pork fat to give the bite (which has a major kick) extra emollience—resulting in a beautiful interplay of oils and fermented tastes, balanced by brine and salt.

Following in the spirit of tangy, ferment-forward fish dishes is the fermented miso Manitoba pickerel, sitting in a bath of tomato bouilibase; whereas heartier winter fare is found in a squash dish that boasts foie gras, sunflower sprouts and fermented black currants; or in the aged Fraser Valley duck, crusted with spice and complemented by fermented apricot—and those are just a few of the dishes on the 10-part special menu.

Each of the above, also, comes with beverage pairings curated by wine director Hayley Macleod and beverage director Joe Casson; a Pamplemousse Jus foch-marchel deepens light dishes with its dark fruit forward sips, while a ferment-forward mezcal martini served in Oaxacan-style clay amphorae runs with the kick that the earlier hamachi gave off. A sidre brut tendre brightens up a geoduck dish that’s complemented by honeydew melon and preserved habanero peppers. 

“We use all elements of all the ingredients,” our server tells me as we wrap up the night—psst, be prepared to spend a few hours languishing over this gorgeously curated meal—and now I’m wondering (with awe) how a peach pit was used in the peach dessert, which is decorated by a halo of lemon verbena biscuits, or how in the world this preserved plum melts so delectably into the wild rice miso and butterscotch pudding. 

I think: If this is what Published on Main can do when ingredients are scarce, I wonder what’s about to happen in the kitchen during spring’s abundance.

Published on Main’s Preservation Menu is on until April 12.

Published on Main
3593 Main St.
publishedonmain.com
Reservations here.