Glowbal Group Blog

Whether you have tickets to this Friday’s Olympic Opening Ceremonies or you don’t it doesn’t matter, because O Lounge at COAST Restaurant is kicking off the games in style with all the comforts of an Executive Suite… Vancouver, let’s welcome the world!

The festivities kick off at 3pm and go through to midnight. Opening Ceremonies will be broadcast live on our big screen TVs and DJ Callie Chevallier will be spinning the interludes, before, after, and into the night.  Chef Josh Wolfe will be keeping your appetite in check, serving up canapes between 3pm and 6pm.

If you have tickets come down early. If not, stay and enjoy the whole night in the O Lounge Executive Suite. Either way, the wait is over….. It’s time to celebrate Canada! Let’s do it in style!

The first episode of Glowbal Group TV is up and running with  Coast Restaurant’s Executive Chef Josh Wolfe and his show “Wolfe’s Way”.

In this premiere episode Chef Wolfe shows you how to make Nova Scotia Lobster and Black Trumpet Mushroom Terrine.  Ever the TV natural, Coast’s chef delivers up a dish you could easily make at home and can practically taste through your computer monitor.

Look for new episodes of “Wolfe’s Way” and many more Glowbal Group TV shows post the Olympic Games.

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If there was ever examples of why anyone should attend a Glowbal Collection food and wine pairing dinner, Sushi Chef Max’s 5 coarse dinner and Gekkeiken Sake pairing was it. Chef Max, Chef de Cuisine Mike Robbins and Beverage Manager Kye Melchart created a menu that left Coast’s main bar bustling with foodies and sake fans alike, all clamoring for their delicious treats.
If the last two years belonged to Malbec as the wine of choice, then this year it’s Sake and the wide variety represented at this tasting let us know why. Crisp premium sake, opaque nigori sake and plum wine were excellently paired with sablefish, hamachi tuna and red bean rice balls.
In attendance were Kasey Wilson and Coast’s very own Executive Chef Josh Wolfe. Beaming ear to ear, Chef Wolfe could not have been more proud of his crew. A good time was had by all. Myself included…

Want to know how to take those rainy day blues away on a dreary Vancouver day?

Read Remy Scalza article on the blog site insidevancouver.ca. It turns out all you need are lunch reservations at COAST…

Crab Cakes with a Club Vibe: Lunch at COAST

November 25, 2009 by Remy Scalza

Eating out on a Tuesday afternoon isn’t usually the most dynamic dining experience. In downtown Vancouver, midweek lunch tends to bring out the business types, texting with one hand and eating with the other. In the air, there’s none of the anticipation of the evening or the energy of the weekend. Throw in some dreary November weather, and it’s a recipe for eating at home.

All of which makes COAST, a new seafood place in the heart of the downtown business district, a little unusual. When I showed up at 12:30 Tuesday, the restaurant – all two floors – was full, with a line of people waiting inside for a table.

Read more

Coast’s Chef Josh Wolfe takes time to sit and talk with The Globe and Mail’s Lucy Waverman and introduce her to his already famous clam chowder. Chef Josh will be taking this same chowder to the “Ocean Wise Sefood Chowder Chowdown” today, Wednesday, November 25th at the Vancouver Aquarium. Keeping no secrets to himself, Chef Josh shares his recipe with Lucy and happily with all of us…

Whenever I visit Vancouver, I am always impressed by the mushrooming food scene: the quality of the food, the dedication to sustainable and local ingredients, the lengths that chefs will go to seek out just the right products for their menus.

At Coast, for instance, executive chef Josh Wolfe told me about his epic search for tasty organic shrimp. He eventually found a Thai supplier who raised organic shrimp and set up a plant to package them himself. They were out-of-this-world delicious.

To read more of Lucy Waverman’s Globe and Mail article follow the link below:
Chef Josh’s Own Words

Join Gekkeikan Sake for a Fresh Experience at COAST

Five inspired courses paired with Gekkeikan Premium Sake presented by Executive Sous Chef Mike Robbins and Sushi Chef Max (Masanori) Katsuno. Tasting notes and presentation by Gekkeikan Sake Expert Richard Ii.

Only twenty seats available for evening on November 22 and 29 at 6:30 pm. Tickets are $90 per person (excluding tax and gratuity).

For reservation information and tickets email Kye Melchert or phone 604-685-5010

Box Interior Design, the talented firm responsible for designing Coast, Trattoria, Society & the Italian Kitchen, has just announced that Coast has won the International Interior Design Association IIDA, Pacific Northwest Chapter’s Best of Hospitality Design award! These are called the InAwards, & include submissions from both design & architecture firms from Washington, Idaho, British Columbia & Alaska.

Coast has been open in its new location for a mere few months & is quickly accumulating attention for not only its quality in dining but also for its quality in design. We’re all very proud to be a part of such an aesthetically alluring environment.

Congratulations to everyone at Box Interior Design!

October 21, 2009

Interior design awards presented

By DAILY JOURNAL OF COMMERCE STAFF

Callison’s interior design of the Providence System Office in Renton won the People’s Choice Award at the INawards presented earlier this month in Seattle.

HOSPITALITY: Box Interior Design designed Coast, a seafood restaurant in Vancouver, B.C., and the adjoining O Lounge. The goal; create a modern space with a sense of tradition. It won in the hospitality category.

Photo by Larry Goldstein

The designers used turquoise tones, custom mosaic-tile floors and leather banquettes. The main level, which has a central bar and open kitchen, features harder surfaces, while the upper level is more calming with darker tones and carpets. The area at the top of the stairs is a VIP room with teak cladding and capiz shell drapery. A glass balustrade on the mezzanine connects the levels.

The lounge’s upper level is illuminated by abalone patterned drink tables and suspended glowing shades. The main level has coral toned velvet maze seating.

Principals H. Jay Brooks and Cynthia Penner worked on the project with Tara Lingle and Monica Jeffers. Action Projects was the general contractor.

V!, Tourism Vancouver’s publication, wrote an article about how Vancouver’s downtown core is being referred to as a “mini Rodeo Drive”, with Coast & The Italian Kitchen standing strong at the heart of it all.

Upscale Eating: Vancouver’s “Mini Rodeo Drive”

Finding a great restaurant in Vancouver has never been a problem. Looking for authentic Japanese and Chinese? Catch a taxi to Main Street. Intimate, neighborhood restaurants? Check out beachside Kitsilano. Wanna eat and admire the fashionistas? Grab your heels and head to Yaletown. Now, add a new neighborhood to the dining mix.

Clustered within a few blocks of the new Shangri-La Hotel, Vancouver, in the heart of downtown are some of the city’s best upscale restaurants. “It think it’s very quickly becoming a mecca,” says John-Paul Lamb of Glowbal restaurant group, the team behind two new eateries in the area, the Italian Kitchen and Coast. “You’ve got all the high-end boutiques and then you’ve got fantastic restaurants. It’s being referred to as the mini Rodeo Drive of Vancouver.”

One of the restaurants on the scene is The Italian Kitchen, specializing in family-style Italian. “What we do which is quite different is the art of sharing,” says Lamb. “We encourage platter service.” Nearly all dishes on the menu come in family-size portions, including the Kitchen’s signature spaghetti and Kobe-beef meatballs.

Just across the street from the Italian Kitchen is Coast, a new restaurant dedicated to serving Vancouver’s freshest fish in a high-energy, seafood-house atmosphere. “It’s very hearty, very rustic,” Lamb says. “We don’t take a scallop and dress it up with tons of garnish. We’d rather see a plate with several king-size scallops and a nice sauce.” Coast’s crabcake has won early praise from seafood buffs. “We’ve taken out all the other ingredients that people put in crabcake and beefed it up with fresh crab,” Lamb says.

Coast’s executive chef, Josh Wolfe, recently received a mention in The Georgia Straight about his “less is more” mentality when treating calamari with heat.

Josh Wolfe cooks squid the right way
By Carolyn Ali

People who think they don’t like squid have never eaten it properly cooked. As the late Jeff Smith (the controversial Frugal Gourmet) used to say, most seafoods shouldn’t be cooked but simply “threatened with heat”. A light touch makes calamari divine instead of rubbery, as executive chef Josh Wolfe at Coast Restaurant (1054 Alberni Street) proves. He marinates local Humboldt squid in buttermilk, garlic, and a touch of chili, then flours and briefly deep-fries it. Each morsel of the appetizer ($12) is crisply coated yet as tender as a mushroom cap, ready for dunking in creamy smoked-garlic aioli. This is what calamari should be.

Sunday October 18 at 6:30pm.

Shiraz, a beloved dark-skinned grape amongst many who love its typically dark chocolate, black pepper & blackberry characteristics. Very few other regions in the world know Shiraz from its inception like Barossa Valley, & Stuart Blackwell of St. Hallett Barossa Valley will be at Coast, hosting an exclusive event showcasing three expressions of their Shiraz, a long with their Semillion, Sauvignon Blanc & Riesling.

If you love your wine & food as intensely as we do, let Stuart break you out any seafood & wine pairing limitations, & join us in this rare dining experience at Vancouver’s most celebrated seafood restaurant.

Four courses, four wines. $95 per ticket with only 30 seats available.

Contact Natalia Samborski for more information at samborski@selectwines.ca