From neighbourhood tours to DIY cooking classes, Dine Out Vancouver offers more than sit-down meals

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      The Dine Out Vancouver Festival may be best known for its prix fixe meals, but there’s a whole lot more to the annual extravaganza than sit-down dinners.

      To augment your enjoyment, consider signing up for one of the many culinary tours, one-off events, and pop-ups on the program, immersive experiences that will have you discovering more than just the food on your plate.

      Tickets and additional details are at dineoutvancouver.com/events.

      Eat East Van

      Learn about the city’s Japanese history (and Oppenheimer Park’s place in it), see some of the oldest homes in Vancouver, and hear the story of how the term growler came to be during the Discover Railtown Culinary Tour (January 25 to 27 and February 1 to 3; $78, including taxes).

      Presented by Off the Eaten Track, the urban adventure includes stops at the Railway Street location of the Railtown Café, which recently launched one of three new spots set to open this year, and the Uncommon Café, a darling coffee shop, commissary, and cooking school run by a husband-and-wife team. There, you’ll get to don an apron and make your own mini pizza.

      The tour also hits the Settlement Building, for craft beer and wine samples from Postmark Brewing and Vancouver Urban Winery, and pastry chef Eleanor Chow Waterfall’s Cadeaux Bakery. Five percent of ticket sales goes toward the HAVE Café, a neighbourhood culinary training society that provides job training to people who face barriers to employment.

      Off the Eaten Track is offering other foodie treks throughout Dine Out. There’s Sip, Savour, and Shop on Main (January 21, 22, and 27 to 29 and February 3 to 5; $78, including taxes), a three-hour East Van jaunt with stops at the Honey ShoppeJuicery Co., and Balance Botanicals, among other places in Riley Park.

      Meanwhile, the two-hour Discover the East Village Culinary Tour (January 21, 22, 28, and 29 and February 4 and 5; $68, including taxes) hits five places in the Hastings Sunrise neighbourhood, including Jackalope’s Neighbourhood DiveBlack Rook Bakeshop, and Steam, Vancouver’s smallest tea shop.

      “We typically visit small, family-run businesses that are under the radar or off the tourist grid but that are making wonderful food,” says Off the Eaten Track co-owner Bonnie Todd. “The tours are a unique way to not only sample delicious food and drinks but to hear stories, learn more about the local history, meet the business owners, and discover interesting architecture or landmarks.”

       

      iStock/pixelliebe

      Java journey

      A first for the city, the Vancouver Coffee Tour (January 21 and 29 and February 5; $75, including taxes and tip) will take caffeine fiends to three establishments for an in-depth look at how different types of joe are brewed: filter coffee, cold-brew, and espresso.

      Canadian Craft Tours provides transportation for this three-hour excursion presented in partnership with the Vancouver Coffee Snob.

       

      Artsy appetites

      Granville Island is where it’s at for Art, Eat, and Sip (January 25; $63), a self-guided tour that features stops at artists’ studios, restaurants, and more.

       

      Rocky Mountain Flatbread

      Pie pointers

      Put an end to disappointing deliveries for good by learning how to make your own flatbread pizza from scratch at the Perfect Pizza Cooking Class (January 26 at the Rocky Mountain Flatbread Company [1876 West 1st Avenue]; $42.50, including taxes and tip).

      Headed by Rocky Mountain Flatbread corporate chef Oliver Zulauf, the evening also features a tasting of Gehringer Brothers Estate wines.

      Get Crafty—Kits, meanwhile, is another Rocky Mountain Flatbread pizza-making class, hopped up with beer tastings from Persephone Brewing (February 1; $42.50, including taxes).

       

      Tapas that rock

      Pairings of craft beer and small plates only get better when served with live music. Take it all in during the Belmont Bar’s Tasters, Tapas, and Talent (January 26 at the Belmont Bar [1006 Granville Street]; $47.50, including taxes and tip).

       

      Mamie Taylor's

      The whole hog

      Mamie’s Low Country Pig Roast (at Mamie Taylor’s [251 East Georgia Street] on January 30 and 31; $63.35, including taxes and tip) brings southern-style comfort food to the heart of Chinatown.

      The three-course long-table dinner at Mamie Taylor’s features traditional country biscuits, devilled eggs, house-made pickles, and more before a whole roasted suckling pig is served, family-style, with Mamie’s hot sauce, Augusta-style barbecue-pit beans, and Mississippi braised greens.

      There’s dessert, too: apple pie served with Kentucky-whiskey pudding, and chocolate-fudge brownies.

       

      Vancouver Aquarium

      Deep-sea dining

      The Vancouver Aquarium’s café will be transformed into a bistro during its Ocean Wise Pop-up With Chef Ned Bell (January 20 to February 5 at the Vancouver Aquarium [845 Avison Way]; $58, including tax and gratuity).

      Guests will dine on dishes such as side-stripe shrimp roll and seafood mixed grill with scallops, sablefish, and Kuterra salmon (raised on First Nation land); they’ll also be able to roll up their sleeves and check out the Discover Rays touch pool, home to cownose rays and southern stingrays.

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