Photo: Contributed
Oak + Cru executive chef David Foot gets the fire deck oven ready.
One of the three unique and delectable dining options you can enjoy at Oak + Cru this winter is the Fire Deck Experience.
Basically, you and your dining party show up at the restaurant located in the Delta Hotels by Marriott Grand Okanagan Resort, and the chef who is on duty that night will see which mouthwatering ingredients are in the building. They will then use their vast knowledge and experiences as a chef—while you sit at the counter around the fire deck and watch the magic happen in front of you—to create an evening of food and drink that will remain in the memory bank for quite some time.
And some of those experiences are unique, especially if you get Oak + Cru executive chef David Foot. He was 14 years old and living in California when his mom and younger brother—along with four other single mothers and their eight children—packed up and moved to Canada. They got to the end of the road in Lund, B.C., and then hopped in a boat for another 20 minutes, ending up in Galley Bay on Desolate Sound, the latter of which Foot said was aptly named.
It was in that remote area of the Sunshine Coast that Foot found his passion for cooking food. Some of the items that are made at Oak + Cru, like his mom’s chicken and dumplings, were also cooked on that beach.
“My mom and I found an old chimney, and we took the bricks, and mom and I built an oven next to a rock on the beach,” Foot says. “We found an old wood fire door where the thermometer still worked, and that’s where I learned how to bake bread. The chicken and dumplings were made in that oven. I learned how to make popovers in there.”
Photo: Contributed
Look at all of that wine.
When you partake in the Fire Deck Experience with Foot, it will almost be like pulling up to Galley Beach and seeing what ingredients he can find to throw in the makeshift oven—only at Oak + Cru it is actually a 6,000-pound fire deck oven.
“You come in and you leave your fate in our hands,” Foot says. “You just sit back, and you enjoy four to five courses paired with interesting cocktails and local wine. So it’s more interactive. It’s more the chef telling his story.”
The price is tasty as well, checking in at between $80 and $100 per person.
Another option for discerning diners is the Wine Paired Dinner in the Cellar, which is the baby of Oak + Cru sous chef Katrina Gall. She lived in Italy for years, so she knows the intimate relationship between food and wine that is not easily found in Canada.
Depending on what’s in season, Gall will create a three- or four-course meal and pair them with complementary wines. The experience starts with a wine tasting, which allows Gall to get to know her guests a little better.
“They usually have the room for about three to four hours,” Gall says. “It’s almost like they’re coming for dinner … in somebody else’s house.”
The cost for the Wine Paired Dinner in the Cellar is approximately $125, depending on which wines are uncorked.
The third and final experience to try at Oak + Cru this winter is Luminescence, which is dining in one of the six cozy, outdoor domes. The menu is called “Skillet Sessions,” because cooking on a skillet is the best way to keep the food hot while transporting it outside in the winter. There are two seatings daily, at 5:15 and 8:15 p.m., and you and five others can spend two hours in your heated dining globe.
There are 13 items on the menu, including the chicken and dumplings that were made on the beach at Galley Bay decades ago.
“I basically took my mom’s recipe that was hand written on a card and just made it more applicable to a professional environment,” Foot says. “And it’s delicious.”
More information about Oak + Cru can be found here.
Photo: Contributed
Is there a cooler place to eat than in a heated bubble in the winter?
This article is written by or on behalf of the sponsoring client and does not necessarily reflect the views of Okanagan Edge.
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