It’s that time again — Nelson’s month-long spring culinary celebration is back. Indulge Nelson lets you sample fixed-price menus from 12 local eateries from April 11 until May 9.
Participating restaurants are creating two or three course menus at a fixed price ($20, $30 or $40) exclusively for Indulge. They will offer this menu every evening throughout the event.
According to BC Business magazine’s BC City Guide, Nelson has more restaurants per capita than Manhattan or San Francisco. For five years, the Star has been organizing Indulge to celebrate local cuisine.
The participating restaurants this year are: Busaba Thai Cafe, Finley’s Bar and Grill, Hume Hotel and Spa, Itza Ristorante and Pizzeria, Louie’s Steakhouse, Outer Clove Restaurant, Pitchfork Eatery, Rel-ish Bistro, Sage Tapas and Wine Bar, Tandoori Indian Grill and Lounge, Uptown Tavern, and Yum Son.
Chef Brad Buckingham of the Hume Hotel and Spa said diversity is a strength of Nelson’s restaurant community.
“You have a lot of different great chefs in town with a lot of different backgrounds. And the arts scene, the music scene … everything here is so diverse so you can get inspiration all over the place.”
Buckingham added creating Indulge menus allows chefs to change things up. “I like to challenge myself with the fresh stuff that’s coming out in the spring. We’re doing a halibut, some clams. It’s kinda nice to use those fresh ingredients and do something different.”
Remi Laliberte of Sage Tapas and Wine Bar and Finley’s Bar and Grill sees Indulge as an “opportunity to be creative and try out different dishes and tweak things.”
This is the first time Finley’s is participating in Indulge Nelson, as it doesn’t usually have multi-course menus. “When most people go to the bar they want fries and poutine. I’d like to show them that we can do a lot more than that,” said Laliberte.
Laliberte is partnering with Silver King Tofu to bring in more vegetarian options during the event. Both Sage and Finley’s are featuring homemade desserts on their Indulge menus.
Louie’s Steakhouse and Lounge and The Uptown Sports Bar in the Adventure Hotel participate in Indulge every year. “It’s that time of year when skiing stops and we’re all waiting for summer,” chef Kent Rode said. “It’s nice for people to get out. It’s nice to see the town busy.
“With the quality, and the food that you get to choose from, people will be quite surprised at the price. We want to show off what we do well. I think [Indulge] is a great way to do it.”
