Dine Out Vancouver 2013 Part 1: Joe Fortes

The Dine Out Vancouver Festival is an event held by Tourism Vancouver every year over the course of a few weeks (17 days this year). The wide variety of restaurants participating in DOV offer prix-fix (fixed price) meals for $18, $28, or $38 per person. I've actually only participated in DOV once a few years ago and the prices were quite a bit cheaper then. There were also less $28 menus this year, which is definitely unfortunate if you plan on trying more fine-dining restaurants.

For our first DOV experience this year, my bf and I went to Joe Fortes in downtown Vancouver. Joe Fortes offers a $38 menu.



For my appetizer, I chose the jumbo prawn cocktail and my bf got the New England clam chowder. The prawns were definitely jumbo and were quite juicy. I tried a bit of my bf's clam chowder and I liked how it wasn't extremely creamy and heavy (we didn't take a solo picture of it, since it looked pretty boring lol). I do think the chowder may be too big of a portion for an appy for most people.

For the main, I chose the sauteed prawns and scallop. I was really surprised when the dish came, because when I think of "saute", I don't picture a creamy looking dish. I enjoyed this dish as well and it was very filling. However, I do wish there was less sauce in it, because it somewhat overpowered the taste of the prawns and scallop. My bf thought this tasted like those microwave dinners....

My bf chose the New York steak as his main. I tried a bit of this as well and it only tasted ok. The ends of the steak were a little too well done and the vegetables were very slightly undercooked. My bf still prefers the steak he had at West.

Now for the best part of any meal... For dessert I had the chocolate lava cake and my bf had the tiramisu (which we forgot to take a picture of). The lava cake was delicious and it totally made it worth it to go to this restaurant. Although, I am quite the chocolate fiend so my opinion is pretty biased.

Overall, Joe Fortes was somewhat of a dissapointment in my opinion. The food was good, but it wasn't something that was exceptionally unique. However, my hopes were probably too high since I'd heard so many rave reviews about the restaurant. While I don't think I'll return for the regular menu, I would book them again for next years DOV if the menu is different.