24 ~ Friday, May 7, 1999 -— North Shore News Chef prepares for Taste Deana Lancaster News Reporter deana@nsnews.com DAVID Foot is looking forward to dishing up thousands of savoury samples of Ambleside Tuna and Butternut Squash Cappeletti next Thursday night. The Ambleside Bistro chef knows that it will all be fora good cause: he'll be serving the restaurant's signature dishes at Taste of the Nation, the largest culinary benefit ro fight hunger and poverty in North America. But Foor also recognizes the opportunity to introduce hundreds of diners to the mouth-watering menu that is such a key to the Ambleside Bistro dining experience. And these days, with a crop of a dozen or so new restau- rants just opened or about to on the other side of the inlet, promotion is key to a North Shore restaurant's success. “You can make the very best food in the city, but if people don’t Know you're there you're not going to survive,” Foot said. But despite some of their customers vacating, bistro scats to test some of the 2,000 of so new ones i the city, the restaurant remains busier than many of its competitors. “Cltimately it will make us stronger. People come back and see we're consistently producing the same quality.” Foot is passionate about quality, about consistency, about food —~ “It’s my passion and my drive that’s got me all my good jobs.” Ambleside Bistro owners Joe Perri and Shawn Perger brought him to the bistro five months ago, from his chef d'partie position at 900 West ar the Hotel Vancouver, Prior to that, his career history is littered with stints at high- profile kitchens, from his apprenticeship at The Prow restau- rant —where the chef created a position for Foor just because he liked his enthusiasm — to the William Tell in Vancouver to Nelson’s rauch-awarded All Seasons Cafe. He started at the bistro in December, juse as the restaurant was kicking into high gear for the busy Christmas season. . “T didn’t touch a thing on the menu, | just started as an extra pair of hands,” he said. “I think if it works, don’t fix it.” NEWS photo Grad Ledwidge And it does work. On a busy late-week evening, amidst AMBLESIDE Bistro chef David Foot (right) and sous chef Dave Jorgensen make bread for another busy walls brushed with purple and yellow, hung with tramed evening in the restaurant. Foot is preparing to serve more than 1,200 people at Taste of the Nation next week. prints of jazz and boxing, greats, surrounded by heavy drap- ery, funky furniture, and accompanied by a soundtrack of The international recipient is Oxfam Canada. high-decibel tunes, it seems unlikely that the food would get Tickets for Taste of the Nation can be purchased through much notice. TicketMaster at 280-4444, through participating restaurants 4 . But it does. And to keep Ambleside customers returning, or at the door. op er i 65 few management just introduced a new menu, with only a For more information, call the Taste of the Nation hotline few changes, the biggest of which is a drop in prices. at 691-7764. ' . Now to wow those Taste of the Nation diners. THIS WEEK'S PICKS: ACTOR/ACTRESS h More than 1,200 people are expected to wander through 1. Elizabeth Cate Blanchett the Vancouver Trade and Convention Centre on May 13, : F \ transformed for the evening into historic Vancouver with gas- 2. Last Night Don McKellar, Sandra Oh lit lanterns, cobblestone lanes and fog imported from Burrard ; : 3. You've Got Mail .. Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan Inlet. i ae . A ; Fifty of Vancouver’s top chefs, vintners and brewers will be ; , 4. Babe Pig in the City. Various animals serving up their specialties — including a North Shore contin- 5. The Seige ...Denze} Washington, Bruce Willis — gent made up of Salmon House on the Hill and Zer, Japanese 6. Pleasantville Tobey MaGuire, Reese Witherspoon Restaurant as well as the Ambleside Bistro. Jazz musicians will 5 : . ; take Centre Srage, playing soulful sounds from the ’20s and f 7. Stepmom ..Susan Sarandon, Julla Roberts ~ "30s, big band tunes from the °49s and swing from the °50s. ER ap LTR =. figs. 8. Meet Joe Black. ...Brad Pitt, Anthony Hopkins This is the ninth annual Taste of the Nation, an event “EpGy”: LE OAV 1 oD 4 LGU n ; organized by Share Our Strength, and this year, presented by = ee ae 8. A Bug's Life ~-Various insects American Express. It runs every spring in more than 100 y e : 10. Apt Pupil Brad Renfro, lan McKellen cities across North America. In cach city, 80% of the money or _ . — perce raised from the $59.95 price of admission gues to local chari- — . : table organizations and 20% goes te international hunger telief efforts. 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