Warming up to winter culinary adventures

Dining on area ski hills

Allison Markin - Feb 19, 2025 / 11:00 am | Story: 534043

Photo: Facebook/Gunbarrel Saloon

The Gunbarrel Saloon Ar Apex Ski Resort near Penticton.

If messages from my circle of friends are an indication that visits to the Okanagan may climb this spring and summer due to unexpected changes to this year’s travel plans for a myriad of reasons, the last weeks of winter may be an ideal time for locals to take advantage of a slower pace.

The recent snowscapes have been stunning and even if you’re skipping the outdoors and your focus is apres-ski, local hills have plenty of tasty options.

Apex Mountain Resort, mere minutes from downtown Penticton, is home to the Gunbarrel Saloon, voted 10 times in a row as the number one apres-ski bar in Canada, Longshots Steakhouse, which boasts a creative cocktail menu and the Edge Bistro, Steezy Slices and the Artisan’s Den, all for quick bites.

Save the date. On March 1, Brewski, Apex Mountain’s craft beverage festival will return, featuring 24 breweries, cideries, and distilleries showcasing their best creations. Tickets are now on sale.

From bistros to coffee spots to pubs to the Beavertails food truck, Big White Ski Resort near Kelowna has a plenty of culinary options, as well as horse-drawn sleigh dining tours on select days (advance booking required).

A little further north, Silver Star Mountain Resort near Vernon has its Paradise Camp dinner tour. First, you’ll take a gondola ride to the top of the mountain, then you’ll climb aboard the Paradise Express snow cat go to Paradise Camp for a three-course, lantern-lit dinner with a chef-prepared menu and an extensive drinks selection.

Skipping the ski hill? The Okanagan Wine Festival Society has two signature events coming up very soon. This coming Saturday (Feb. 22), the festival’s TASTE series heads to the Scenic Sip trail in Lake Country with a handful of wine and food pairings to explore, and on March 1, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay aficionados will enjoy Winter SIPS North at Kelowna’s Hotel Eldorado.

Speaking of hotels, the well-known Hooded Merganser restaurant at Penticton’s Lakeside Resort & Conference Centre has undergone a refresh. If it’s been a while since you’ve dined there, I hear it’s worth a return trip.

And two final suggestions for a staycation before summer guests arrive. Niche Wine Co., nestled above West Kelowna, is set to open its Outside the Inn cabins soon. They are described as “a taste of farm living with a modern twist.”

Noble Ridge Vineyard & Winery now has Stoneridge, which could be a home away from home in Okanagan Falls, if only for a few days.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.

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About the Author

A creative thinker with more than two decades of experience in communications, Allison is an early adopter of social and digital media, bringing years of work in traditional media to the new frontier of digital engagement marketing through her company, All She Wrote.

She is the winner of the Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association's 2011 and 2012 awards for Social Media Initiative, an International LERN award for marketing, and the 2014 Penticton Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence Award for Hospitality/Tourism.

Allison has amassed a following on multiple social networks of more than 30,000, frequently writes and about social media, food and libations as well as travel and events, and through her networks, she led a successful bid to bring the Wine Bloggers Conference to Penticton in June 2013, one of the largest social media wine events in the world, generating 31 million social media impressions, $1 million in earned media, and an estimated ongoing economic impact of $2 million.

In 2014, she held the first Canadian Wine Tourism Summit to spark conversation about the potential for wine tourism in Canada as a year-round economic driver.

Allison contributes epicurean content to several publications, has been a judge for several wine and food competitions, and has earned her advanced certificate from the Wine and Spirit Education Trust.

In her spare time, she has deep, meaningful conversations with her cats.

She can be reached at [email protected]

The views expressed are strictly those of the author and not necessarily those of Castanet. Castanet does not warrant the contents.

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