World Traveller 73 
Restaurant Review: Wild Blue Restaurant and Bar, Whistler, Canada
The Wild Blue Restaurant and Bar represents one of the most anticipated restaurant openings in Whistler, Canada. Despite opening at the end of the pandemic, the restaurant has already accumulated a large number of accolades and awards by Conde Nast Traveller and Vancouver Magazine. On a summer evening in July, we would have the opportunity to test out Wild Blue Restaurant and Bar for a date night.
Restaurant Review: Wild Blue Restaurant and Bar, Whistler, Canada
About Wild Blue Restaurant and Bar:
The Wild Blue Restaurant and Bar represents one of the most anticipated restaurant openings in Whistler, Canada. The restaurant opened during the less than ideal “end of the pandemic” period in August 2022.
The restaurant was established by local past Araxi and Top Table Group restauranteur Neil Henderson, Chef Alex Chen, winner of Iron Chef and Chef of the Year by Vancouver Magazine and Jack Evrensel, Restaurant Hall of Fame inductee, Founder and former operator of Toptable Group. Executive Chef Derek Bendig brings his years of experience and classic French and European culinary sensibility to Wild Blue.
Wild Blue Restaurant and Bar has already been recognized by the prestigious ‘Canada’s 100 Best’ with #4 in the nations Best New Restaurants and honoured with a #66 ranking in Canada’s 100 Best List 2023. “The Most Important Whistler Restaurant Opening in a Decade” by Vancouver Magazine and “The Hot Table to Book in Whistler” by Condé Nast Traveler.
Wild Blue Restaurant + Bar is a Whistler fine-dining restaurant that focuses on elevated Pacific Northwest cuisine, sustainable seafood, and local ingredients.
Getting a Reservation:
I got a reservation at Wild Blue Restaurant and Bar through the Open Table Reservation system. It was an easy process and with several weeks advance notice, I was able to get a Saturday night reservation without any difficulty. The restaurant remained busy throughout the evening, with diners continuing to be seated until about 8:30 PM.
In addition to the convenience of booking through Open Table, I earned an easy 100 Open Table points for dining at the restaurant.
Locating Wild Blue Restaurant and Bar:
The Wild Blue Restaurant and Bar is located just outside of the pedestrian village walkway known as Whistler Village. The property isn’t too hard to find, although without locating it on a map, it may be a little challenging to locate on your first time.
The restaurant is located across the Whistler Way street that separates Whistler Village from the Aava Hotel. On our visit, there was a nondescript entrance marked by a Range Rover and a Canadian and British Columbian provincial flag marking the front door.
The property is easily walkable from. theWhistler Village centre. Assuming it is not raining, the property is within 5- 10 minutes walk from every Whistler Village hotel location.
The Wild Blue Restaurant and Bar is easy to reach and you shouldn’t have any problems locating it with a little planning.
Inside Wild Blue Restaurant and Bar:
Upon arriving to the restaurant, we were professionally and crisply checked in without any incident. Unlike some others within this category, there wasn’t an offer to coat check coats during our summer visit which had evening temperatures necessitating light jackets for the trip home.
We were led to our table which was located in the middle of the room. The room is decorated as a contemporary space featuring dark colours reminiscent of a modern steakhouse, but also with art elements of glassware similar of what you might find in a modern urban dining establishment. A wall of wine anchored one of the dining spaces; a testament to showcasing the region.
With an elegant and upscale feel to the room, the Wild Blue dining space was nicely decorated and inviting for diners.
Seating options at Wild Blue Restaurant include high top bar seating, two outdoor heated patios, a larger communal dining space and smaller corners featuring intimate tables set against a larger round group table space. With a variety of options, it’s one hundred and fifty person capacity offers a great combination of seating options for its guests.
The “L” shaped room also offered a glimpse into the open kitchen at the rear of the restaurant. Efforts made by the management team have included class leading staff amenities in the Wild Blue Restaurant and Bar building reported by Pique Magazine that include “spa-like” change rooms, staff showers, a “chillout lounge” equipped with a ping-pong table, yoga area, TV, culinary library and kitchenette, as well as ample storage for skis and bikes, and even a boot-dryer for the winter months.
On the Wild Blue Menu:
The Wild Blue Restaurant and Bar menu primary focus is fresh seafood, along with inspiration from old world European regions of France and Italy.
Our server explained that the menu was designed for a three course meal portion size, which was a great explanation for portion sizing. The menu was presented in small format Avant Garde font text that was fairly plain in appearance. Cold items were presented on the left, with hot items presented on the right.
My personal taste was that I found that the menu was a little plain looking and almost robotic in reading. The food offerings required a little bit of work and “study” in order to read; something that was not ideal on a romantic date. For example, House Made Linguine – geoduck and little neck clams, basil and chillies was missed as the obvious Linguine a la Vongole.
The dessert menu also doubled as the drink menu offering a wide variety of dessert items.
I think that some elements of the menu design may have allowed for a more engaging experience, instead of a monochromatic study experience, in my humble opinion.
The wine list was diverse and featured a large variety of British Columbian wines, along with your favourite selections from the old world regions of France and Italy. We settled on a familiar but special bottle of Burrowing Owl Pinot Gris; always a local British Columbia Okanagan favourite
The Meal: Nearly Perfect Seafood.
Our orders were professionally and personably taken. With the amount of volume of diners in Whistler, a location known for it’s relatively high turnover of tables, our service was exceptional personal and politely chatty.
Our dinner started off with House Sourdough for Two with cultured butter, extra virgin olive oil and olives. The bread was baked fresh in house, with a texture that was very dense. The bread was seasoned with fresh poppyseeds that added an upscale complexity in mouth feel to the bread.
Being that we were in the Pacific Northwest, I went for some fresh oysters as a starter. Wild Blue Restaurant and Bar offers a fresh selection of West Coast and East Coast Oysters. I went with the larger East Coast Oysters which were “Bar Stool” from Prince Edward Island. They were served on ice with an interesting green chilli granita along with a more conventional mignonette.
The oysters were well presented with fresh shaved horseradish on the side with an engaging kick from the green chilli granita.
For the main course, I went with the Sablefish – turnip, radish, maitake mushroom, sesame, roasted bone fish sauce. The Sablefish was presented and the bone fish sauce poured freshly at table side.
The Sablefish was perfectly cooked, soft and juicy in the centre and exactly what. might expect at a fine dining seafood restaurant. The combinations of flavours paired together very nicely, although the roasted bone fish sauce could have been a few degrees warmer. I was quite happy with the selection and would easily order it again.
We ordered a side of Truffled Kennebec Fries for the table. These were served with snipped chives and fresh parmesan which elevated the dish. The fries could have been a touch warmer, although they were well presented.
For the main course, MrsWT73 went with the Halibut – pork dashi, wild onion, asparagus, snap peas and porcini. The halibut dish was quite intimidating on the presentation. While the halibut was exceptionally cooked, MrsWT73 didn’t connect well with the soupy char of the flavour profile of the dish.
After some discussion, which was exceptionally well handled by the service team, MrsWT73 ended up with the House Made Linguine – geoduck and little neck clams, basil and chillies . The dish was well presented; very flavourful, although the pasta was a little al dente for MrsWT73’s tastes.
I would have been very happy with all three main dishes. Each represented an interesting take on seafood with exceptionally fresh ingredients. MrsWT73’s simpler and straight forward palette found the dishes to be be a little extravagant for her tastes. She gave high marks for the house made sourdough, the truffled Kennebec fries and the Linguini Vongole. Along with the service, which was well above what. was expected for the Whistler market, we had an an enjoyable evening.
The check came to around two hundred Canadian dollars, after wine, house bread, oysters and two entrees.
My Thoughts on Wild Blue Restaurant and Bar:
I was keen to have tested the Wild Blue Restaurant and Bar in Whistler, Canada. The service offered at Wild Blue was exceptional and likely among the best I have experienced in seasonal resort town of Whistler, Canada. The ambience in the restaurant was also comforting, with a great decor that was fresh and contemporary.
The seafood at Wild Blue was something that was presented in an elevated, but not always a completely approachable format. As a self processed foodie, I enjoyed every minute of it. However, my lovely dining partner found the elevation a little less approachable and unnecessarily complex in execution. Despite this observation, the seafood proteins were all exceptionally cooked. Whether your dining partner finds this an asset or a liability, is perhaps something only you can decide.
I would gladly return to Wild Blue Restaurant and Bar, and I’ll look forward to my next opportunity.
World Traveller 73 
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