Right on Main Street in Mount Pleasant, Burdock & Co stands out as one of the best restaurants in Vancouver.
Born in Toronto and spending decades in Vancouver, Chef Andrea Carlson has spent her entire life learning about the magnificent ingredients of Canada. She has been a true pioneer in shaping the entire culinary landscape of the country, specifically trailblazing a farm-to-table mindset that focuses on working with local growers and embracing seasonal, organic ingredients.
Below, we spoke to Chef Carlson about her favorite restaurants in Vancouver, as well as her legacy.
Describe Vancouver in a few words.
A city that draws you back. It has such natural beauty and an easy pace.
What makes the Vancouver dining scene special?
Diversity. Vancouver has its annual restaurant awards but we also have the Chinese Restaurant Awards which highlight the incredibly rich offerings of Chinese cuisine in this city. We also have many excellent options for every different price point of food – something for every budget.
Where do you go for a big celebration?
Bar Tartare - everyone can come to their huge patio and they always have a new chef popping up.
For simple comfort food?
Gary’s, it’s a great neighbourhood place we can walk to. Always a good selection of the moment salads.
For dining alone?
Bacaro at the Fairmont Pacific Rim is excellent.
Favorite hotel?
In Vancouver, it’s the Fairmont Pacific Rim. The views of the harbour are stunning and the concierge team lead by Sue Yoon are so accommodating and thoughtful.
Unrelated to food, where would you go on a day off?
I like to go to the UBC beaches.
Burdock & Co in a few words?
My partner Kevin and I opened Burdock as a vehicle to further our core beliefs around protecting food security in our community by supporting small scale regional organic farmers.
I offer moon-cycle informed micro seasonal menus that take our guests on a journey of this place with my favourite botanical expressions. Each tasting menu is guided by the moon, changing six times a year to reflect micro-seasonal shifts, planting cycles, and ingredients available in the moment. The full moon has long marked transitions in the natural world, signalling when to sow, forage, and harvest. At Burdock, it marks the beginning of a new chapter.
What’s been your favorite memory at Burdock & Co?
Having two of the greatest female wine makers of all time in our space at the same time for a special wine dinner was an exceptional memory. Matea Gravner and Elizabetta Foradori - it was a time!
And getting our first Michelin star- totally thrilling!
Also, our Taste Sound Series with Modern Biology. It’s a dinner series where guests listen to the bio electric energies of their food as they are eating. Tarun Nayar (stage name Modern Biology) connects his synths to different foods and creates a soundscape that diners listen to while eating. This is another level to literally connect with food, to acknowledge in real time, that your food has energy, a life force that gives you life force. That’s a huge part of my motivation. I find the music coming off foods and their differences in expression is so dramatic. It smacks you in the face.
Favorite dishes you’ve served at Burdock & Co?
Rabbit Terrine with Porcini Mostarda and Sakura leaf. Dungeness crab with Charantais Melon and Nootka Rose. Pine Resin Glazed Morel Mushroom with fermented pine nut and crispy lichen.
Who would you invite to eat at your restaurant that hasn’t dined there yet?
Were they still with us, poet Leonard Cohen & film maker David Lynch. Activist Paul Watson, environmentalist David Suzuki, Actor Keanu Reeves, Fashion designers Hannah Rose Dalton and Steven Raj Bhaskaran - each of these individuals boldly carving their own paths.
Read More: Kelcie Jones of Burdock & Co. is the MICHELIN Guide Vancouver 2023 Sommelier Award Winner
What would you like your legacy to be?
Being a leader in sustainability in Vancouver. Before it became expected & part of the vernacular.
My support of organic farmers and local food security. During the pandemic, our CSA (community supported agriculture) program at Harvest Community Foods was able to move over 400 bags of local farm produce a week into the hands of Vancouverites. This was all farm produce that had no place to go as restaurants had closed. It was a huge win for the farmers and the community.
I’ve been a part of establishing some of the farm-to-table networks that are foundational in Vancouver and I continue to establish relationships with smaller, experimental farmers like Jane Squier of The Garden Saltspring who grows Canada’s highly sought after first citrus production.
Using local ingredients (the wild, foraged & weird) that had never been seen before in the city. Such as our Resin menu, an esoteric exploration into seasonal offerings from the natural world - think pine resin and cottonwood buds. I like to expand the local frontiers of flavour, seeking to express the fleeting essence of the ingredient, rather than over manipulating it.
Creating a model for respectful kitchens. Where young cooks are supported, shouting is not tolerated, women are encouraged and everyone is welcome.
Being the first restaurant in Vancouver to wholly embrace natural wine when we opened in 2013, the production of which being as relevant to the dining experience as the food.
Hero image: Hakan Burcuoglu / Burdock & Co - Andrea Carlson
