Louis Gervais is both a catering company and bistro, located in North Vancouver. I’d met both Louis Gervais (Executive Chef) and Heather Wright (Sales and Event Manager) at the Harmony of Arts Festival in West Vancouver over the summer, while Louis was preparing food for Best of the West, a fine dining and wine pairing event.
Last night, my husband and I attended a West coast inspired cooking class at the bistro. Class size is limited to 12, however they were able to accommodate two more at the group of cozy bistro tables by the kitchen.
We arrived a few minutes early, watching chef Bernie DesLauriers and his assistant Hanna Okawara prepare the cooking stations. Bernie began the evening by describing the dishes and what role we’d have in each one’s creation.
With the exception of dessert (a wonderful chocolate mousse), our group (broken down into pairs) prepared two courses that evening: Albacore tuna done three ways and rack of Saltspring Island lamb in potato lace with vert jus.
After a long day, it’s nice to arrive in a kitchen with all the ingredients prepped and ready to use! Hanna took our dishes to the oven (and in the case of the firecracker tuna wontons, the fryer). Once our dishes were ready, we brought them to our table to enjoy them while warm.
We learned a lot of great knife and cooking techniques, and chef Bernie was very patient answering all our questions!
I was fascinated with the Daikon swirler machine that can create thin strings of vegetables for either cooking or garnish and plan to hunt this little wonder down. While Chef Bernie was demonstrating it on a potato, I couldn’t help but brainstorm other uses for it. I had the chance to try it as well and can’t believe that something so simple to operate could create such thin pieces of vegetable so quickly.
Dessert was the only course that we didn’t prepare due to the time needed for the mousse to settle. Chef Bernie created the dish for us just to show how it would be prepared up until the setting stage. Delicious Callebaut chocolate was used, thus sparing no expense and quality in the final outcome of this tasty dessert. It was topped off with freshly whipped cream and local blackberries and strawberries.
In three hours, you may not become a star chef, but at least you’ll learn a few ways of economizing your time in the kitchen and where to purchase some amazing ingredients around town. Though the class is recommended for those who are looking to entertain guests, I’m sure that we’ll try a few dishes at home; recipes are sent to all participants via email.
Private group cooking classes as well as catered events are also available. Visit the website for details.
A three hour course costs $85 per person and can be reserved online. The bistro is open for both breakfast and lunch, serving frittatas, fruit smoothies, delicious sandwiches, soups, salads and other fine foods, from 8 am to 4 pm Monday through Friday, and 10 am to 4 pm on Saturday.
Louis Gervais Fine Foods and Catering is located at 107 – 850 Harbourside Drive in North Vancouver. The outdoor patio faces the Vancouver harbour with great views of the city.
