Photos: Donnelly Group previews Dine Out Vancouver menu

Each year, I try to sample a recently opened restaurant during the Dine Out Vancouver Festival (Juniper is at the top of my list), but, on the flip side, I also make an effort to check out some more established spots that I’ve somehow managed to ignore for however many years.

Such is the case for the city’s seemingly inescapable Donnelly Group venues. Like most Vancouverites, I’ve had my fair share of pints and cocktails at a number of Donnelly pubs around town, but I’ve never actually sat down for a complete meal at any of them.

So I was pleasantly surprised by the company’s Dine Out menu last night, when I was treated to a media tasting at the New Oxford, the Blackbird Public House and Oyster Bar, the Lamplighter Public House, and Clough Club.

Damon Holowchak, marketing director at the Donnelly Group, tells me that the company has been working on building its food and wine program in particular over the past few years and it definitely shows.

Scroll through the images below for a preview of Donnelly’s Dine Out menu.

If you like what you see, you can snag a reservation at one of the company’s 11 participating venues, all of which are offering a $20 prix fixe menu for the two-week festival.

Our first course at the New Oxford: a curried parsnip soup topped with roasted apples and honey yogurt. The parsnip is pureed, which gives the soup a nice, creamy consistency, and the curry has a warm kick that was more than welcome during an evening of downpour.

We balanced the dish with the menu’s suggested B.C. VQA wine pairing, a pinot gris from Volcanic Hills Winery, which has a sweetness that helps offset the soup’s spice.

The second appetizer option from Donnelly’s Dine Out menu is a romaine-based winter salad with red beets, pickled onion, and a buttermilk and sumac dressing. It’s topped with Moroccan-spiced pita crisps, which complements the tartness of the sumac.

We paired this dish with a Riesling from 50th Parallel Winery that tends more toward the sweet side and plays up similar flavours in the salad.

All participating Donnelly Group venues are offering three entrée options in its Dine Out menu: bangers and mash, mac and cheese, and a third dish that will differ by location.

At the Blackbird, we sampled the bangers and mash first, which has been a staple on Donnelly menus for quite some time. It’s served with blue cheese mash, bacon onion gravy, crispy onions, and arugula.

The comfort food continued with mac and cheese. Donnelly’s version is made from a combination of Parmesan, Quebec cheese curds, and roasted bell peppers.

Both dishes were paired with red wines from Tinhorn Creek Vineyards and Road 13 Vineyards.

Other entrées that will also be available during Dine Out: an octopus Bolognese at the Blackbird.

Battered salmon and yam chips, served with a caper lemon tartar sauce, at the New Oxford.

Chicken pot pie with root vegetables and kale salad at the Lamplighter.

Other options that we didn't taste include a slow-braised beef short rib at the Butcher and Bullock; spicy paella from the Bimini Public House; and chuck beef and stout stew at the Library Square Public House.

Our second-last stop of the night was the Lamplighter, where we dug into a s’more jar for dessert. In addition to the usual suspects—graham crackers, house-made marshmallow, and chocolate—it also comes drizzled in a whisky caramel sauce.

We paired this one with Glenlivet Founder’s Reserve, a no-age single malt whisky that helps tease out the flavours in the s’more jar’s caramel.

Our last tasting was the dessert option from Clough Club: an ice cream sandwich made from two double chocolate chip cookies and mint ice cream, served alongside a sampler of 33 Acres of Darkness black lager. Simple but effective.

Donnelly Group is also offering a cinnamon bun bread pudding as a dessert option for Dine Out at most of its venues.

The Dine Out Vancouver Festival runs from January 15 to 31. For more information about the event, including complete menus, click here.