For many visitors of Glacier Creek Lodge on Blackcomb Mountain, the options for diverse meals were few and far between in the last few years.
Sure, you could rely on the standard fare of burgers and hot dogs, soups and breakfast, or perhaps a noodle bowl, but those craving an elevated meal would be better met elsewhere. It’s a reality Wolfgang Sterr, senior director of mountain dining for Whistler Blackcomb (WB)*, went on the hunt to change. Based on guest feedback and the culinary team’s passion projects, guests can now sit down and enjoy Italian, Mexican and coastal fish and chips as their fingers warm and growling stomachs are satiated.
“What I hear from the public when I'm out on the mountain is that it's all the same. It was the burger, the fries, the chicken tender and the hot dog,” Sterr said. “Now, when you go to Glacier Creek, we have chicken tenders and yes, we have burgers because people want that, but you have diversified food—tacos, grains and greens, which is healthy, the fish, the pasta and the ramen. That's what you would find in Vancouver.”
Changing menus on the mountain required finding the right distributor. With thousands of guests coming through, Sterr said they needed producers who could accommodate high-volume customers and provide ingredients that would exceed their current expectations.
WB partnered with Vancouver Soup Company, which takes recipes from WB, cooks them to its standards and then ships them back to Whistler. For Mexican offerings, WB works with Epsilon Integra Trade, a company specializing in importing products from Mexico. The fish is portioned and packaged fresh from Intercity Packers, based in Vancouver, using fish caught in the Lower Mainland and from Alaska, according to Sterr.
Whistler Blackcomb invited members of the tourism industry to taste-test newly released items on Dec. 13. Sterr and Belinda Trembath, chief operating officer for WB, introduced the menu. The updated food stations also incorporate cultural elements, with thoughtfully placed decorations around each station.
For inspiration, Sterr, a frequent traveller, took stock of what excited him from other restaurants he visited and came back with his own vision for re-inventing food with authenticity at the heart of service. Three contenders came to life after discussing his inspiration and analyzing how new food options could fit within the existing infrastructure and customer feedback.
“We distilled it down to passion," he said. "The pasta station is one of our staff’s passion projects, and we wanted to make sure that he can share that with the public. The taco station and the central team helped us with it because they have a lot of Mexican food in the States, so they helped us bring that to life. And then the fish and chips were my brainchild when I went down and saw Gordon Ramsay’s fish-and-chip shop in Las Vegas."
Fish & Fry Co. serves hand-battered cod using Stanley Park Brewing’s Trailhopper IPA, and guests can quickly grab a can to go along with their fish and chips. The fish’s batter wasn’t too heavy, and the tartar sauce was mouthwatering.
The taqueria provides street tacos in double-wrapped soft-shell tacos. The reason for two soft shells versus one is so diners can push one taco back and catch morsels that inevitably wiggle out. On offer is beef barbacoa, chipotle chicken and green Chile pork. Guests can finish their meal with a churro, and there are grab-and-go beer and margaritas.
Trattoria Alpina has a large selection of pastas which meet adult and kids’ needs. The spicy gnocchi arrabiata chicken parmesan, pasta cremosa with pancetta and pasta puttanesca with prawns are best suited for adult palettes, and the pasta simplece works well for kids. Add a Caesar salad and garlic bread, and guests will have enough carbs to keep going until the last lift.
Sterr said the resort is seeking feedback on the change.
“We want our guests from Vancouver, Squamish, and Whistler to kind of reacquaint themselves with Glacier Creek and come in and be curious about what we've done here," he said. "Come in and give us constructive feedback, because that’s what helped us put this into place."
*An earlier version of this article stated Sterr is also executive chef. In fact, that title belongs to Larry Johnson. Pique regrets the error.
