Wine Recommendation – Heirloom Tomato and Nectarine Salad with Grilled Prawns and Basil Oil

When I read Chef Jean-Francis Quaglia’s recipe for Heirloom Tomato and Nectarine Salad with Grilled Prawns and Basil Oil, my mouth watered. Sounds delicious doesn’t it? Drop into Provence Marinaside, at 1177 Marinaside Crescent (at the foot of Davie Street) and give it a try.

For a salad, I’d opt for a light white fruity wine that’s not too dry. A wine that has stone fruit flavours will compliment the nectarines and the prawns. As any who have read some of my other wine recommendations, I find it hard to limit myself to just a couple of wines.

I like to give you many options, so chose one of the following:

Blends – Gehringer Brothers Desert Sun, Stone Boat Chorus, Joie’s Noble Blend, Black Widow’s Oasis or Le Vieux Pin’s Petit Blanc
Bacchus – Chaberton
Chardonnay – Fort Berens, Nk’Mip or Joie Reserve
Gewürztraminer – Desert Hills, Cassini, Volcanic Hills, Intrigue or 50th Parallel
Optima – Recline Ridge
Pinot Gris – Gray Monk Odyssey, Chamberton, Poplar Grove or Haywire
Riesling – Mount Boucherie
Siegerrebe – Gray Monk
Vermentino – Colli De Luni (Italy) or Berton Metal Label (Australia)
A not too dry sparkling wine would also pair well, as would a lighter rosé, whether from Provence or BC.
Sparkling – Bella Rosé , 8th Generation or Stellar Jay
Rosé – Quails’ Gate, Joie, La Stella or Le Vieux Pin Vaila
If you prefer reds, then go with a lighter one with low tannins and lots of flavour.
Gamay – Desert Hills, Haywire or Mount Boucherie
Pinot Noir – 50th Parallel, Eau Vivre, Meyer Family or Stone Boat
Pinotage – The View or Stone Boat
PTG – Joie (Gamay and Pinot Noir Blend)
Red Blend – The View Fossil Fuel

Jean-Francis Quaglia Chef/Owner

A native of Marseille, France, Jean-Francis comes naturally to the culinary world as his mother is acclaimed Chef Suzanne Quaglia of Marseille’s famed Le Patalain and one of the very first female chefs in France. At age eight, he made his first ‘Tarte au Citron’ from his mother’s recipe. This same tarte is now featured on Provence’s menu. When Jean-Francis was 16, Chef Suzanne opened her first restaurant and Jean-Francis decided that he too wanted to become a chef, enrolling at the École Hôteliere de Marseilles.

Hôtel Sorbitel in Marseille was the location of his first apprenticeship following graduation. From there he had a brief stint in his mother’s restaurant before heading off to the Côte d’Azure and Monte Carlo where he started as Commis de Cuisine under the direction of Chef Bruno Caironi (formerly Sous Chef to Alain Ducasse). Jean-Francis then went on to work with Chef Elie Mazot at Relais et Chateau’s Le Chateau de la Chevre D’Or in Eze.

As Chef de Partie Tournant, Jean-Francis mastered every station in the kitchen while working under the direction of Chef Dominique LeStanc at Hôtel Negresco in Nice (2 Michelin stars). Hôtel Negresco was to be a turning point in his life as it was there, in 1990, that he met a young Canadian, Alessandra Mossa, who later became his wife. In 1991 Jean-Francis (with Alessandra) returned to Marseille to work as Sous Chef in his mother’s Le Patalain. The next year he and Alessandra moved to Canada and were married.

Jean-Francis’ Canadian career began as Sous Chef under Bruno Born at Le Coq D’Or in Vancouver’s Kitsilano neighbourhood. During Jean-Francis tenure there, the restaurant won the coveted award of Best French Restaurant at the annual Vancouver Magazine Restaurant Awards. In 1994, Born closed Le Coq D’Or to head up food and beverage for the soon-to-be-opened Sheraton Wall Centre Hotel. He took Jean-Francis with him to be Chef de Cuisine at one of the hotel’s two restaurants – Azure Seafood Restaurant. When the hotel’s owner later decided to consolidate food services in one restaurant and closed Azure, Jean-Francis was picked to become Chef of the hotel’s remaining restaurant – Indigo Bistro Moderne.

Pursuing a life-long dream, Jean-Francis left the Sheraton Wall Centre to open a place of his own. The result – Provence Mediterranean Grill – opened its doors in the Point Grey neighbourhood of Vancouver on December 17, 1997. In 2002 he and Alessandra took the plunge, opening a second location – Provence Marinaside, on the sea wall in Yaletown. Marinaside, as locals affectionately call it, focuses its menu on seafood featuring a fresh seafood bar, catch of the day as well as a wide selection of fish and shellfish. When the sun shines, and with the view of the adjacent marina, you’d swear you were on the Côte d’Azure. In 2007, to mark Provence Mediterranean Grill’s 10th anniversary, Jean-Francis and Alessandra co-authored the book New World Provence – Modern French Cooking for Friends and Family.

Early in 2012, there was another celebration as Provence Marinaside celebrated its 10th Anniversary on February 23rd, 2012. Later in the same year (mid-December 2012) the Provence ‘family’ expanded once more when Jean-Francis developed and opened TWB-The Wine Bar adjacent to Provence Marinaside. The casually elegant Wine Bar serves 50 wines by the glass and serves light tapas-style plates called ‘Bites.’ It has rapidly become a neighbourhood favourite for its value-priced great food, good wine and fabulous people-watching.

Provence Mediterranean Grill (Point Grey): 4473 West 10th Ave., 604.222.1980

Provence Marinaside (Yaletown): 1177 Marinaside Crescent at the foot of Davie St., 604.681.4144

TWB-The Wine Bar (Yaletown): 1167 Marinaside Crescent next door to Marinaside., 604.681.4144

www.provencevancouver.com