DINE AND DASH
LENGTHEN YOUR PRIVATES AND MAKE MORE FRIENDS: Blue Water Expands Private Dining Room


Business is busy as usual at the Top Table Group, last night they hosted the “Bright Lights� Red Carpet Event for the Vancouver Film Festival at CinCin , and over at the Blue Water Cafe and Raw Bar they are getting closer to opening their new, expanded private dining room.

The expansion will move into the space next door that was formerly inhabited by a cigar store. Hence they’ve managed to kill two birds with one sledgehammer. 1) The elimination of the stinky cigar fumes that would sometimes leak into Blue Water’s side of the drywall, and 2) They have nearly tripled the private dining space from a limiting sit down capacity of 24, up to 60+ (seated), or in the case of a cocktail party, 100+ standing.

The big advantage is that the room will now have its own entrance, so guests won’t have to parade through the dining room of the main restaurant in order to reach it (a big draw for the celebrity crowd). Plus it can be divided into two rooms or more for multiple private parties to take place simultaneously. And how handy will that be come the Olympics?

However, it’s not going to be just a matter of tossing in a few more chairs. Top Table owner Jack Everensel also sees it as an opportunity to play up the design. The chairs, a European design (“Beatrice� from Polprona Frau) will be architecture museum quality. As well, there will be a glass enclosed, walk-in cellar to house the white wines and bubblies; a state of the art electronic audio and multi-media capability (handy for business meetings); plus something unusual about the chandelier. Apparently it won’t hang down vertically from the ceiling as most chandeliers do, but instead, it will project across the room horizontally.

We can’t wait to see that, but it could be November 1 before the unveiling.

Meanwhile, over at West, the search to replace star chef David Hawksworth is in progress. As Hawksworth won’t be leaving until early 2008 to take his new spot at the Georgia Hotel, Everensel is taking his time to give the available market a thorough come through. Local hopefuls already have some formidable competition. Some impressive candidates from New York, London and Europe are already in the running. And in many cases, it’s the chefs who are approaching Jack. Should be interesting.

P.S. Coming up ... watch for an all truffle menu coming to CinCin in November, plus a kick ass wine dinner at Araxi featuring some exclusive cellar selections from Kendall Jackson during the Cornucopia weekend in Whistler.