This spring, Whistlerites will get a chance to experience a sweet and savoury tradition steeped in centuries of Quebec culture when the world-renowned Bearfoot Bistro tries its hand at a new down-season offering.
The Magic of Maple: A Sugar Shack Dining Experience takes over the Bearfoot from April 10 to 30, celebrating the maple tree sap harvest in Quebec (or sugaring season), where maple trees are tapped to collect the prized sap (sometimes referred to as liquid gold).
A partnership with Maple from Canada, the concept came about when the Bearfoot team was considering options for a new slow-season experience, explained Bearfoot’s culinary director Dominic Fortin.
“There is quite a few of us in the Bearfoot Bistro team, especially in the management team, that are from Quebec,” he said.
“So for us, at this time of the year, when I was a kid we used to go to the sugar shack all the time … so we had the idea to bring that to the public here, to the population of Whistler.”
A traditional “sugar shack” is a rustic cabin where sap collected from maple trees is boiled and reduced to create maple water, maple syrup, and various other products. Gathering at the sugar shack for family fun, music and laughter is a spring tradition in la belle province.
“You would go there, to the sugar shack, and you would have many activities with the family outside, and then you would go inside and have a big brunch/lunch, everything from cooking eggs in maple syrup, all the way to cooking ham, bacon, beans,” Fortin said. “It’s a big celebration.”
Now, Whistler locals are invited to join in the tradition themselves.
When they come to the Bearfoot Bistro this spring, guests will be treated to a tantalizing line-up of family-style dining options starting at $49 per person.
Main dishes include a Miso Maple Black Cod with pickled shitake mushrooms, maple dashi, and goma-ae; Braised Beef Tourtière with caribou jus; Onion Tarte Tatin with maple whisky glaze and hazelnuts; and Québec Veal Tenderloin with confit sweetbreads, parsnip, maple whisky jus, and apple (to name just a few of the new offerings).
“And of course we’re going to have multiple desserts made with maple syrup, maple sugar and maple butter,” Fortin said. “So we have the traditional maple cone, but we’re doing it in a way with marshmallow and maple syrup; Liquid nitrogen ice cream with maple butter and maple syrup—oh my gosh, the list goes on.”
Near the top of that tantalizing dessert list, for Fortin at least, is the tableside maple taffy offerings Bearfoot is planning this month.
“When I was a kid, I would eat so much of it. It would be why I would go to the sugar shack, for the end of the meal they would use the maple syrup,” he said. “They cook the maple syrup to I think it’s about 110 degrees, so it gets thick, and then you put it on snow, and then you just go at it with a stick and then you roll it around… for me, it brings so many memories.”
The limited-edition menu offers something for everyone in town, Fortin said, but it’s not just about the food.
“It’s much more relaxed, it’s an easygoing atmosphere,” he said.
“It’s a celebration, so we’re going to have lots of music going on, and also all family-style in terms of food, so everything is going to be shareable at the table.”
Creating the brand-new dining experience was a tall task for the Bearfoot team, but the hope is the Sugar Shack Dining Experience becomes a new annual tradition at the restaurant itself.
“That’s what we’re trying to do. Of course, the first year will always be the hardest one, but we’re going all-out with different multi-course menus,” Fortin said. “Usually a sugar shack is not necessarily vegetarian friendly, so we worked hard to have offerings for vegetarians as well.”
Read more and find the full menu at bearfootbistro.com/the-magic-of-maple.
