New Winter Hours
Salt Spring Island, December 11, 2012

Lunch: 11:30 to 4, Tuesday to Saturday
Dinner: Closed.
Closed Sunday and Monday

We are suspending our dinner service for the few winter months ahead. Catering and private functions are available. Taster menus will still also be available during the winter months. Please join our email list to be notified of special events.

Big Bang
Salt Spring Island, Sept 20, 2012

Market Place Cafe is pleased to present new works by Vancouver artist Katja Zubkova.

“Painting is expression, a painter should paint not what they see but what should be seen.” The possibilities are endless. I create through the exploration of surface, texture and depth. Inspired by organic simplicity and astral phenomenon, my approach borders on scientific analysis. I employ unique variations of mixed media, reflective mylar and UV resistant resin to compose a seamless event. Diversity of fading techniques and layering transform producing a world captured in a moment of time.

Katja Zubkova is a self-taught abstract painter currently based in Vancouver. Katja paints with an energy of emerging colors, textures and multimedia. She grew up in Moscow, Russia until the age of 14. As a child, she was deeply impacted by her creative family along with the changing landscape of the world around her. Before relocation to Vancouver in 2003, she spent her early childhood competing in high levels of X-country skiing, which after her arrival turned into training at a national level for biathlon. As an athlete she has lived in both the freezing winter cities of Canmore and Prince George to Oberhof and St Moritz. During this time, she was heavily influenced by the organic nature of the seasons. In Vancouver, she continues her self-funded passion, networking her art through independent sources and exhibitions.

Forest Decoded
Salt Spring Island, December 1, 2011

Forest Decoded, painter Barbara Edward’s current work, narrows the focus and moves into the forest interior enabling her to “capture the scent, texture and feel of actually being there.” Elements draw her in further. It might be a leaf, wild flower or simply the energy of being inside a woodland. While still representational, Edward’s colour and abstractions prevail: turquoise blue, violet and Naples yellow enliven the quiet browns and greens. Ultimately, the paintings themselves draw one to the actual centre of this natural world.

Forest Decoded runs from December 1 to March 30, 2012. Curated by Helen Mears. Presented by DCD Art Consultants.

The Six-Course Taster Menu Goes Monthly Starting October 14th
Salt Spring Island, October 4, 2011

Chef Max Del Vecchio and Steven Overholt are pleased to announce that they will be doing their celebrated six-course taster menu every month through fall and winter starting Friday, October 14th at 7:00 pm. The six-course taster menu is $45 per person. Call 250.537.9911 for reservations.

MENU:

antipasto

roasted pepper and du puy lentil soup with crème fraiche

ravioli di anatra e lepre salsa di mandarino
(ravioli of duck and rabbit with mandarin orange sauce)

free range pork belly on sweet potato purée with house-made apple butter and pickled mustard

vitello tonnato

pumpkin spice crème brûlée

Google Earth
Salt Spring Island, August 1, 2011

The Market Place Café is pleased to present recent works by Vancouver artist Philip Martin.

Philip was born in Quebec, and raised in Montreal, and Corner Brook, Newfoundland. He studied fine art and theatre at Acadia University in Nova Scotia. Since 1991 he has lived in Vancouver, British Columbia, where he began painting and exhibiting his work.

Martin learned to draw early in life, and his childhood aspiration was to be a cartoonist. Animation has always influenced his style, even as this has moved into less figurative, more abstract territory. For several of his first exhibitions, works were large, exaggerated faces and figures of people, and were shown in nightclubs in Vancouver. The subjects were the characters and protagonists of this scene, the musicians, bartenders, and club kids.

Following this period, Martin became interested in presenting colour, texture, and form without being as representational. Although themes and subjects can sometimes carry a body of work over many paintings, for Martin, most important is not what he paints, but how he paints it. “I have objectives, but nothing is as paramount as the enjoyment of it. The energy from this shows in the painting, and transfers to the viewer.”

Recently, Martin has been abstracting geographical images, in places where civilizations have grown. They are about our relationship with the natural world, what remains, what is altered, and what is removed. Also hinted at in these works is nature’s ultimate reclaiming of itself from civilization.

Beginning with fairly traditional viewpoints, Martin is now using pictures from planes, satellites, and Google Earth to form compositions from above. “Several years ago, when exploring ideas for abstract subjects, I painted a few works from photos taken from a plane window. I liked the way they looked like maps. Later on, when Google released ‘Earth,’ I decided to revisit the idea, because of the incredible flexibility this program allows you. It is easy to manipulate the perspective until it is barely recognizable. Although I use only places of personal significance to paint, what you are seeing is not always supposed to be obvious, and I’m embellishing, too. I’m trying to present a feeling rather than any kind of geographical exactness. So far, this series has presented a few surprises; portions of the work seem to manifest from beyond conscious choices.”

Google Earth runs from July 1 to November 1, 2011.

New Summer Hours
Salt Spring Island, May 18, 2011

Starting May 22, the Market Place Café will be open Sundays for dinner from 5:00 p.m. to close. Lunch is served Tuesday to Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Dinner Tuesday to Sunday from 5:00 pm to close. For reservations call 250.537.9911.

The MPC Six-Course Tasting Menu Returns
Salt Spring Island, May 16, 2011

Join us Friday, May 27, 2011 for another special evening featuring Chef Max Del Vecchio and Chef Steven Overholt. The six-course tasting menu is $45 per person. Call 250.537.9911 for reservations.

TASTER MENU:

minestrone alla milanese con uova di quaglia
milanese vegetable soup with quail egg

salish sea mussels with tomato and moonstruck feta
local mussels baked with a tomato and mint vinaigrette and moonstruck farmstead feta

risotto con pere e gorgonzola
risotto with pear and gorgonzola cheese

quail with matchstick potatoes and fig gastrique
roasted quail on crispy potatoes with a fig and shallot gastrique

crostini di polenta con funghi
grilled polenta with local mushrooms and crispy sage

panna cotta
buttermilk panna cotta with lemon gelee and black pepper tuile

Chaos On Canvas
Salt Spring Island, March 23, 2011

Out of chaos comes…well…beauty. And, artist Hilario Gutierrez knows there is more. The accomplished painter and sculptor from Arizona reveals to us how much he truly understands his muse in an exhibition at the Market Place Café.

Hilario’s exhibit, named by the artist from the title of his recently published book, “Chaos On Canvas,” whispers loudly and mystically in the heart of Mr. Gutierrez and upon his deeply imagined canvases. “My creativity is sparked by my ethereal chaos,” he says, “it ignites my heart.”

The works offer us a sense of gravity and aura of atmosphere all of its own and “thus chaos translates into a kaleidoscope of simplicity.” If there is a simplicity in this multi-dimensional work, it may be a feeling of déjà vu; some far away place we are almost seeing or maybe a distant chorus we might have heard.

Depth is constructed layer by layer in front of our eyes, with a wholeness of purpose. We travel through rare harmonies of colour and complex elements of texture. Earthy and hot or liquid cool, each layer feels like some dreamy scene that can hardly wait for a moment and then, just as the artist creates it, he puts down another shade and paints for us another dream; another painting living underneath another beautiful painting.

The perfect truthfulness of atmosphere,” suggests Hilario, “is a simpatico relationship of heart and soul that strengthens the relationship between artist and beholder.” Surrounded by the artwork itself—the desert, the earth, sky and water are all so deeply present for the viewer they need to be breathed in and absorbed slowly—as the panorama of a still lake or a hot wind and desert mirage. Each of these works makes its own heartfelt connectedness. “Atmosphere invites the beholder to immerse in my art,” Hilario says in his book, “then possibly will the beholder send his soul in.”

Hilario’s work is found in galleries and private collections throughout Canada, the United States and Europe. Chaos On Canvas runs from March 18 to June 30, 2011. To see more of Hilario’s recent works visit dcdart.ca. Curated by Helen Mears.

Imaginary Landscapes Become Reality
Gulf Islands Driftwood, December 1, 2010

Market Place Café in Ganges hosts an exhibit of work by Vancouver artist Andrew Gibbs, beginning
with an opening reception on Friday, December 3.

Imaginary Landscapes features paintings of “idyllic settings in nature with a suggestion of the apocalyptic,” explains a press release. “Bucolic pathways, streams and brooks encompass the mysteries of nature, but hint at something disorienting. Clear blues, golds and browns are applied over rough surfaces, used to create evocative landscapes: liminal spaces between the known and imagined.”

Gibbs, a graduate of Emily Carr University of Art, explains, “I am drawn to certain qualities in light and darkness that serve as places of departure in my work.” In Gibbs’ newest work he continues to paint conceptual places in nature: a single tree on the hill stands tall but is bloodied, trunks of trees seem solid even though they are impaired.

“Through the act of painting entities, energies and forms arrive to enact dramas — forms of expression which seem to carry a powerful psychic and emotional impact,” he said. Various settings in nature continue to influence and serve as the terrain that allows Gibbs “to explore this alchemy and magic.”

Friday’s reception at Market Place Café runs from 5 to 8 p.m. Imaginary Landscapes runs through February 28, 2011. To see some of Andrew’s recent works visit dcdart.ca.

The Market Place Café Launches Fully-Featured Mobile Website
Salt Spring Island, November 3, 2010

As they have in so many other aspects of life, mobile devices have had a huge impact on our dinning and travelling habits: GPS makes maps almost redundant, a full search of city information is available with a quick web inquiry and, increasingly, online booking for dining is moving to mobile devices like iPhones, Blackberrys and Google Android phones.

Over twenty-five percent of North Americans are already using smartphones and that number is expected to grow to over fifty percent sometime in 2011. Mobile websites are growing in use and importance daily. The Market Place Café has recently jumped ahead of the curve with a fully-featured mobile version of its website (marketplacecafe.ca) that provides diners with up-to-date menus, contact details, direct calling for reservations, map and directions. Smartphone users are automatically directed to this streamlined, fast-loading version of the site by entering the standard Market Place Café URL.

“Surveys and our own tracking indicate that an increasing number of visitors to our website are navigating there from mobile devices,” said Market Place Café owner, Steven Overholt. “Our new mobile site is an important tool for us and it’s only going to become more so in the future.”

Fine Dining is Affordable on Salt Spring Island
The Islands Marketplace Review, June 25, 2010

When we entered the Marketplace Café, it was clean and quiet as the staff readied themselves for the dinner service. We noticed the pressed white table linens, fresh flowers, lit candles and warm ambience with elegant decor, eye-catching photography and art. Leala, our server, brought us our menus and allowed us time to choose from the amazing selection of starters and from the entrées. We had a very difficult time deciding until she told us about the evening dinner specials.

Leala explained to us about the vacuum sealed process of cooking called “Sous Vide,” which is French for “under vacuum.” It is a method of cooking it maintains the integrity of ingredients by heating them for an extended period at relatively low and even temperatures. It is a newer process that is very popular in Europe, and used in the preparation of the evening’s Sockeye salmon special.

Teresa and I were treated to a variety of tasty olives and warm French bread, which was very nice. I sipped on a glass of Pinot Rose from Salt Spring’s Mistaken Identity vineyard, while our orders of chicken breast with spiced tandoori yogurt and homemade pear mango and apricot chutney and wild Sockeye salmon with strawberry balsamic salsa were being prepared.

The staff at the Marketplace Café were great as the restaurant began to fill with patrons, it was obvious that our server was starting to get busy but she was very patient and did not make us feel rushed at all. When our food arrived it was an artful masterpiece of colours, textures and flavours. Each bite was a pleasure to savor the perfectly complemented sauces with the entrée. The seasonal vegetables were crisp and cooked to perfection. I tasted Teresa’s chicken and chutney and it was amazing, it melted in my mouth.

Owner and Chef Steven Overholt and his wife Amanda are proud supporters of local food suppliers, including: Salt Spring Farm Food Link and Foxglove Farm, local vineyards: Garry Oaks and Mistaken Identity, and Salt Spring Island and Moonstruck Cheese and the Fishery, local wild fish and seafood suppliers.

Our fresh wild Sockeye salmon was caught in Barclay Sound the day before by local fisherman, Arne Hengstler. The portions were just the right amount to make us feel comfortably full, but left room to try a decadent dessert. Although Steven mentioned the flourless chocolate cake, I did try piece of Amanda’s cheesecake and it really was one of the best I’ve ever tasted. Not too sweet or overpowering. Teresa had the lavender infused crème brulé and she admitted that it was something she would be back for more of.

We were very impressed with the quality of service and food—it was high-end dining without the high-end prices—moderate in the $20 – $30 range per entrée and well worth every bite. Leala admitted she didn’t often return any plates that weren’t empty. Reservations are recommended for larger groups and there is a licensed outdoor patio for outdoor dining.

The Marketplace Café offers healthy enjoyable food, created by a very experienced and talented chef, whose high standards allow him to succeed in his restaurant business. Their support for local growers is setting a standard for healthy eating. With Steve’s training in Vancouver, Whistler, Barcelona and New Orleans, he knows what people want and he delivers.