Our Food Philosophy

“We like to define our style of food as ‘thoughtful food.’ Our creative process begins primarily by looking at our farmers. Thinking about what is in season, what is at its peak and what will work harmoniously together on the plate. To complement our farmers, we like to add touches of what we can forage with our own hands. Our belief of ‘what grows together, goes together’ pushes us to work within the seasons of the Okanagan. Inspired by these ingredients we consider how best to prepare them to keep true to the flavor and place. Being respectful of the work that brought the ingredients to our kitchen, we strive to use every piece and look at our food holistically.

Over the last few years, our industry has been forced to look critically at our fragile supply chain. We believe the way to strengthen this chain is to be mindful of where we are purchasing our food. Buying the amazing produce, meats and goods from our local producers puts money back into our own economy. We recognize how lucky we are to be working in such a fruitful place and prefer to mirror this through our plates. This same philosophy extends to our lakes, rivers and oceans and only serving seafood when in season and sustainably caught. A proud member of Ocean Wise, we strive to highlight the amazing bounty and variety of both wild caught and responsibly farmed seafood.

We feel like our philosophy and food journey has brought us to Poplar Grove. The Hollers are also farmers and seeing the care, attention, and passion in which they farm their grapes inspires us to do the same with our menu. We strive to find the intersection of flavours that makes a food and wine pairing genuinely great. The reputation the Hollers have cultivated over their years with Poplar Grove inspires us to honour their wine with our food and put comforting and deliciously paired wine in front of our guests. We want our food to excite our guests, ourselves and our cooks and reflect the place and space we are cooking in. The conversations Minette and I enjoy the most are those we have over a plate of incredible food, and we can only hope that we can inspire conversations like those for all our guests at Poplar Grove.”

– Executive Chef Stacy Johnston & Chef de Cuisine Minette Lotz