The American hosts this sandwich, a special and very personal Movember version of its beer

William Johnson

Six Vancouver chefs and six breweries join forces this Saturday for an epic meatball and beer slowdown at The American.

Co-hosted by Chefs Mike McClintock and Doug Stephen, the Movember special edition of This Sandwich, That Beer (TSTB) event sees local culinary leaders compete to pair the best meatball sandwiches with local beer appears. Sample sandwiches and beer pairings and vote for your favourites.

This initiative is a Movember fundraiser aimed at raising awareness and funding to support men’s mental health and testicular and prostate cancer research. Tickets provide each guest with six 2-ounce sandwiches, at least six 4-ounce beers, and raffle tickets to win prizes.

Meet the Throwdown Tag Team

The breweries paired with the participating chefs are as follows.

• Vish Mayekar, Executive Chef, Pepino’s, Caffe La Tana (Twin Sails Brewing)
• Justin Cheung, chef and co-owner of Potluck Hawkers Eatery (Superflux Beer Company)
• Lina Cachet, Chef, Say Hey Cafe and Deli (33 Acres)
• Johnny Bridge, UBC Campus, Mind the Bar (Strange Fellows Brewing)
• Bryan Satterford and Clay Yen, Juke Fried Chicken and Ribs (Bridge Brewing Co.)
• Boris McKay of Vennie’s Sub Shop (Powell Brewery)

This Sandwich, That Beer was created by Kevin Wood, who loves sandwiches and great craft beer. Before the pandemic, Wood regularly hosted slowdown events with local chefs and raised funds for various charities in Metro Vancouver.

“What matters to me”

McClintock and Stephen are known for their Sammys, but their motives for holding the event extend beyond their interest in hogies and hops. Both are influenced in different ways by Movember’s focus areas of mental health, testicular cancer and prostate cancer.

McClintock, whom we recently caught up with, said he had beaten testicular cancer.

“Obviously, that’s what resonates with me with this charity,” he said.

Stephen, known for Downlow Chicken and The Drive Canteen, believes that conversations about men’s health and mental health are biased. This is especially true of the hospitality industry, which he calls “‘stop it’ and toxic behavior of all kinds is rampant.”

Stephen knows someone who has been affected by both testicular cancer and prostate cancer, and has lost someone to mental health issues.

As such, he explained: Since I first heard of his Movember, he’s probably been in on various fronts 8-9 years ago. But it’s been important to me over the last few years to do a bigger and better fundraiser every year. ”

“Extraordinarily good chef”

With 150 guests expected, the weekend’s event is, as McClintock puts it, an opportunity to “eat some meatballs” and “raise money at the same time.”

Beyond the charity portion of the festival, McClintock is thrilled to showcase the city’s gastronomic wonders

“I’m totally in love with what our city represents from a culinary point of view,” he said. Instead, I think we’ll have the opportunity to talk about how great the rest of the city is and how great the participating chefs are.”

Participants are restaurants McClintock is the most frequent visitor.

“They are all insanely good chefs,” he pointed out. If I can eat and drink for charity and show you the great things about our city, I’ll be here whenever I get the chance. ”

When asked which one would win, McClintock did not hesitate. So they’re all going to take W home. ”

And honestly, how can you argue with that?

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