DINE AND DASH - (
August 5, 2009 )
ACES WILD! Could the ultra hip
Ace Hotel chain be coming to Vancouver? We'd heard rumours of this before but company president
Alex Calderwood alludes to this himself in an interview given to
Blackbook.com . Apparently the company thinks both LA and Vancouver would make good settings for their quirky but soulful hospitality brand and are trying to decide between the two cities for their next project.
Close to home, Ace Hotels already have successful properties in Portland and Seattle, and their most recent venture into
New York and Palm Springs caught the attention of the design crowd with such innovative amenities as colourful SMEG refrigerators, vinyl turntables and vintage floor fans.
On the appointment of
Sam Sifton as the new restaurant reviewer for the
New York Times ... never thought we'd live to see the day when that
announcement would be accompanied by full close up head and shoulders photos. No doubt about it, the day of the anonymous critic is becoming a thing of the past (although
Mia Stainsby has pulled it off well for a long time at
the Sun ). The
NY Observer writes a sentimental
essay on the waning power of the big city newspaper restaurant critic.
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In the photo: (above) Vancouver Cafe, (below) The Edge Social Grille & Lounge under construction.
DINE & DASH - (
June 4, 2009 )
NEW RESTAURANTS WITH EDGE, NOOK, AND CRANKIES Local restaurant names are going geometric. The
Corner Suite Bistro Deluxe is waiting in the wings for its July debut; Chef
Edward Tucson recently revealed his “
the Edge ” restaurant on Vancouver Island; and there is even more edginess to come.
The latest to join the emerging restaurant row in the Granville Entertainment District will be called
The Edge Social Grille & Lounge -- a name that quite frankly sounds like an mosaic of so many other eating places around town. So too does the professed focus. In an Esperanto of restaurant concepts “[the Edge on Granville]... confidently references eastern gastronomy, finds inspiration from minimalist architecture and acknowledges French romanticism in its design.“ Uh... okay. “The point at which something great is likely to begin” is the restaurant’s slogan. Let’s hope that's so.
Working towards a mid-June opening The Edge (SG&L) will be located at 1100 Granville Street (@ Helmcken. It’s the project of
Amir Virani , a hotelier with properties across North America, although this particular restaurant is intended to be a stand alone, not a chain. GM is
James Drummond and Asst GM is
Dave Sarich . Chefs are
Glen Zoteck and
Travis Rea .
The photo above was taken a couple of weeks ago when construction was still heavily underway, however a good hint of what to come is provided via the unfinished
website where menus have been posted. The distinguishing hook would appear to be a selection of international stir-fry dishes entitled “Woks From Around the World”. And it looks like they may intend to take on
DB Bistro Moderne ’s signature burger with “THE Burger” -- a combo of organic chuck steak, applewood-smoked cheddar and pancetta. As well, there are nods to regionalism and sustainable ingredients with an emphasis on innovative cocktails. We’re looking forward to test driving the fresh fish tacos. You’d think that a simple item like that would be difficult to mess up, yet so many places in this town have. We’ll be looking for one with the edge.
When the doors open, the phone number will be: 604-681-EDGE (3343).
On another new restaurant with a spatially descriptive name, we’re getting good feedback about
Nook , the casual and cosy, yet elegant West End dining spot recently opened by
Nicole Welsh and
Mike Jeffs (of
Tapastree ). Apparently, the place attracted line ups in its first week.
Just in time for Vancouver’s current love affair with classic Mediterranean cooking, Nook is all about Italian -- mostly from the country’s southern-western regions with an emphasis on Naples and the Amalfi Coast. The menu features Neapolitan pizza, classic pastas, meatballs (yay!), and an antipasto bar. Look for artist
Phil Martin (he was featured in our Food & Art issue) pouring the wine and slicing the salumi.
Find one of Nook's 30 seats at 781 Denman, in the space formerly occupied by the short-lived Schnitzelz. Open everyday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
We stumbled upon the new
Vancouver Café about a month ago (it’s located right next door to
Villa del Lupo Restaurant at 883 block Hamilton Street), and were impressed with the café’s spaciousness, pretty robin’s egg blue walls, pours of
49 Parallel Coffees plus other organic brands, bright ceramic cups, and most of all, the daily selection of fresh housemade pastries. But then, owners
Naz and
Gedik Suleyman have a Turkish heritage, and if anyone knows how to make a good baklava and a sturdy espresso those folks do. What may even be more impressive is how the Suleymans managed to obtain the license to such a generic name for their establishment. (Something that might work against them as far as search engines go.) Beyond the excellent coffees and pastries, go to experience the homemade soups, panini sandwiches, free wifi, stacks of
Dwell magazines, purchasable art displays, and bouquets of fresh flowers. Open 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays, from 7 a.m. on weekends. 604-568-4446.
The
Glowbal Group 's fantastic new
Coast restaurant on Alberni Street is progressing smoothly with an opening date now forecast for July 9th. Aspiring trophy wives start pumping those air-lift bras -- there will be a PARTY.
News out of
Lumiere continues to be stormy with executive pastry chef
Bruno Feldeisen being the latest employee to evacuate a restaurant that has seen more of its share of staff turnover in the past year. Rumours rumble that owner
David Sidoo is not seeing eye-to-eye these days with his partner,
Chef Daniel Boulud . Which doesn’t surprise us. Boulud may be a celebrity chef and a bit of a showman, but he is also is a cool-headed, successful business man who understands the industry.
P.S. If you were looking for directions of menus for the new
Wally's Burgers in Cates Park, we've added it
here .
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In the Photo: (Left) Chef Dennis Peckham and (right) Chef Lee Humphries.
DINE & DASH - (
March 31, 2009 )
CHANGES AT FIGMINT Sounds like
Figmint is in a bit of turmoil, Chef
Lee Humphries gave notice two weeks ago, upon which his sous chef followed suit, as did the acting restaurant manager
Tim Scholfield .
So who will fill Humphries clogs at the Cambie Street location? Apparently it is Chef
Dennis Peckham who will leave
Hart House in Burnaby to go to FigMint. We understand he starts next week for a few days of duties handover from Chef Lee, and as of next Friday, will be at the helm.
This town is like a stack of straws. Can't pull out one without unsettling the others.
Other Changes: We heard yesterday that Chef
Angus An will be giving up on his westcoast inspired menu in favour of a high end Thai concept. He will close
Gastropod and reopen as
Maenam .
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Pictured left to right: Pinkys, Jillian Harris, Farmers Market Vendors at Trout Lake; Chris Stewart and Andrey Durbach at the first La Buca.
DINE AND DASH - (
March 18, 2009 )
Yes,
Pinkys in Yaletown is no more and this is what we were able to learn from a company spokesperson:
“
Pinkys Yaletown has unfortunately shut down, effective on Friday, March 13 [a day after the announced price slash sale on the most expensive bottles in their wine cellar]
. It was a difficult decision on our behalf, and a quick one at that. The good news is that It does not affect our other location on 4th Avenue in Kitsilano [Pinkys Steakhouse & Bar]
. Owned by a separate group, the Kitsilano location is thriving and will continue to test out the concept for us. The Yaletown location has several challenges that made it impossible to continue on and we are very sad to see it go … onwards and upwards, we have just opened our 9th Browns location in Point Grey and are in construction phase at our Port Moody location. I guess it’s true what they say, as one door closes, another one opens... "
True .. but in most cases the doors slam close on creditors too. The company states that with regards to this there is a protocol that needs to be followed. They are putting together a list of suppliers to hand over to the trustee who will handle the process from that point on. All suppliers with outstanding invoices will be contacted by the trustee, not Browns Head Office or managing partner
Scott Morison .
Well, so much for Mr. Morison’s stated aim to “create millionaires”.
In the meantime, employee email has been changed from @brownsrestaurantgroup.com to @brownsrestaurantbar.com.
Another dodged bullet for Brown’s in-house interior designer
Jillian Harris who is in Hollywood this week to commence the filming of the next
Bachelorette TV show. Presumably she will be making all her suitors eat hot dogs.
Our Farmer’s Market Society has been in talks with the city (who will be initiating a “Summer Spaces” project for pedestrianisation of urban areas) to create a Wednesday Farmers market for Gastown. If successful, the market will commence a trial 8 week run during August/September in the Carrall/Water street area. Anyone who would like to encourage this idea should contact the
Gastown Business Improvement Society to express their approval.
It’s been a little on the quiet side but
Andrey Durbach ’s former Parkside restaurant in the West End will be reemerging as
L’Altro Buca as early as this weekend. Not much in the way of décor change, but new menus will be effect to reflect the restaurant's scale down to more economically priced, neighbourhood, Italian-style dining. The big “official opening”, we mean parties, will not take place until later this spring.
Our sincere condolences to the family of
Osvaldo Fabro who was a long term manager at
Al Porto restaurant in Gastown (
Barbara-jo McIntosh of
Barbara-jo’s Books to Cooks was once his assistant when she first began working in the restaurant business.) This past Monday, Osvaldo suffered a stroke while playing tennis, immediately went into a coma and passed away while still on the operating table. He was 62.
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In the photo: Left to Right: green wall at Joe Fortes rooftop; outdoor fireplace at Joe Fortes; Boneta artwork; pulled pork sliders at Chow.
DINE AND DASH - (
March 11, 2009 )
Vikram Vij will be expanding his operation to Delta, but he is not opening a new restaurant. He needs larger facilities for producing the house made spice mixtures and frozen packaged meat/curry dishes that were originally produced from the
Vij’s restaurant kitchen and sold at the next door
Rangoli . Greater production capacity could mean that the Vij’s products will be available at a grocery near to you. But what is this talk that the building will have a goat on the roof?
Joe Fortes has completed another major reno to its top floor outdoor dining deck and will be ready to take the wraps off that project as soon as the weather warms up. New is a large horseshoe shaped bar with dramatic backlit liquor shelving display, an on-site raw bar (so the waiters will no longer have to run down two flights of stairs to
Oyster Bob ’s shucking station on the ground floor), expanding seating, more retractable roof coverage and an arty topiary wall (see photo above) for soundproofing and sightline improvements.
On the recession retreat radar: After a couple of years
Zocalo Contemporary Mexican restaurant on Main Street seems to be finding its salsa feet. We hear it’s a fun and lively place especially on weekends if you are indulging in the pork carnitas with chile morita peanut sauce, a “White Trash” margarita and the DJ is spinning Latin American rock.
We love the new artwork by
Duncan McCallum now posted behind the bar at
Boneta . So soothing. (For more on Duncan's work see page 31 of our Art Issue below.) Speaking of artists,
Philip Martin , who was also featured on page 33 of the same issue, has an exhibition of new paintings. His show, inspired by the experience of moving to Vancouver from another place and culture, will open this Thursday, March 12th, at the
Eastwood Onley Gallery , with a reception beginning at 6 p.m. and going late. (Food by
Tapas Tree and wine by
Blue Mountain .) Some of you may be dressed and out on the town Thursday evening in support of
Dining Out For Life , in which case we suggest this as a pre-, or post-dinner event. The art will be on display until March 22nd.
Chef
JC Poirier has launched a new spring lunch menu at
Chow . A customer favourite on the line up is a pulled pork slider with gruyere, caramelized onions and spaghetti fries. (See photo above.)
If you missed Chef
Michel Jacob' s annual choucroute party at
Le Crocodile last week ... here's another chance to go Alsace. A "Choucroute Royale" is coming to
db Bistro Moderne courtesy of Chef
Stephane Istel . According to the press release his contemporary version "starts with homemade sauerkraut – seasoned with Riesling, juniper, and bacon. He uses every part of a naturally-raised suckling pig – the braised and stuffed shoulder, the leg cooked to a crisp confit and the glazed belly with a mustard crust. Smoked bacon, three varieties of sausage, along with a handful of tender fingerling potatoes, crown the dish." Sounds delightfully burpcious. It starts this coming Sunday, March 15th. Sunday and Monday dinner only. $32. db Bistro Moderne is located at 2551 West Broadway Vancouver. 604-739-7115.
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DINE AND DASH - (
March 5, 2009 )
IS GILL THE NEXT TO GO?
Latest unfounded gossip shocker. Is
Alexandra Gill 's weekly restaurant review gig at the
Globe and Mail the latest victim of the recession?
News at 11.
"Nope", says Alex, "That one's not true." Unlike so many other newspapers that have been cutting loose their freelance contributors, the
G&M isn't taking any drastic measures yet. Side Dish has fallen victim to the budget cuts, but the main review column is still safe. In fact, the next restaurant going under the heat lamps could very well be
Market . Alex promises that it will be "interesting". Uh oh.
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DINE AND DASH - (
January 31, 2009 )
Opens a restaurant, makes a pot full of authentic Alsace choucroute and then goes skiing. Just a typical 24 hours in the life of the indefatigable
Jean-Georges Vongerichten . As we mentioned earlier, the global chef has noted his Vancouver experiences in his blog at
www.jeangeorges.blogspot.com . And yes, the source of ingredients for his choucroute was
Oyama Sausage at Granville Island, whose
products JGV praised for their high quality.
The interior or Vongerichten's restaurant,
MARKET by Jean-Georges, was designed by
Box Interiors . Here's what they have to say on their website about their next project, the new
Coast Restaurant , which will move this year from its current Yaletown location to a larger one downtown:
"
The evolution of this popular Yaletown restaurant will see it moved to Alberni Street, doubling its current size, and establishing itself as the downtown core’s new favourite gathering place for drinks, lunch, and dinner. A double level space, the high-energy ground floor will give way to the warm and intimate mezzanine, complete with private dining rooms and signature central ‘boardroom table’. Next door but connected, will be the new sexy O Lounge ."
On January 19th we wrote about the
Dirty Apron Cooking School which will open in Crosstown this summer.
James at
Fav.or.it has
more details on that development.
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DINE AND DASH - (
January 28, 2009 )
After working everyday to open
MARKET since his arrival in Vancouver, one might wonder what
Jean-Georges Vongerichten choose to do in our city on his one day off. Apparently, he went skiing at
Grouse Mountain , and enjoyed himself so much he stayed on for the night skiing. He says he is looking forward to trying the slopes at Whistler on his next trip. We guess that, and his soba noodle diet, answers the question of how he stays so slim around all that great food. Keep your eye on his blog at
www.jeangeorges.com . The next thing he plans to write about is his experience of opening a restaurant in Vancouver.
Chef
Neil Wyles of
Hamilton Street Grill has become a Dairy King. Yes, he just opened his first franchise of a
Dairy Queen last weekend at the corner of 43 and Fraser. "It was the easiest [business venture] I've ever done", says Wyles. "Construction, financing .... it practically built itself ... and", he added happily, "it makes MONEY!!" Sounds like he is on to something. Perhaps in these times we all need a Dairy Queen or a Mike's Hard Lemonade on the side to help keep alive the things we do for love, art and pride of profession.
This spring our Chefs are going Euro, both here at home and abroad.
Sean Heather (
Salt Tasting Room ,
Irish Heather ) is off to Spain in March, and come April, chefs
Adam Pegg and
Lucais Syme of
Le Quercia are closing shop and taking their families to Italy for a month. Let's hope they can sneak past the beagle at
VIA and tote home lots of good edibles in their suitcases.
If you think you are depressed by the economy right now, we have it on good authority that chefs in Seattle are feeling even worse ... and so are some of the people they used to do business with. The rumour is that the
Seattle P I newspaper may be going
down the tubes if
Hearst can't find a buyer within the next several weeks (not likely), which will put 170 people out of work. And the
Seattle Times is said to be not far behind. . .simply no "revenue streams" right now. :(
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DINE AND DASH - (January 19, 2009)
The next culinary addition to Vancouver's Crosstown area is likely to be a cooking school. The
Dirty Apron Cooking School , operated by
David Robertson (a sous chef at
Chambar ), is due to open this summer at 540 Beatty Street, close to Chambar and Medina Cafe. A website is in the works but it is not up and running yet. You can see a thumbnail of it
here . Perhaps someday Dirty Apron will get together with
Dirty Laundry winery and it will all come out in the wash.
Chef on the run ...
a little birdie told us that Chef
David Hawksworth (
Hotel Georgia ) has signed up to do the
Vancouver Marathon this year. The run takes place on May 3rd, 2009, and is 42 kilometers or about 26 miles long.
Chef
Jean-Georges Vongerichten will be in Vancouver from January 23 to the 29th. Which is understandable, considering that
Market , his new restaurant at the
Shangri-la Hotel, is due to open for business on the 24th. Unlike
Daniel Boulud , he has no plans for a splashy pre-opening party for press and special friends. That may come later after a soft opening period. (Where JGV spent his
Christmas vacation .)
And confirmed news from
West ... sometime this summer, chef
Richard Neat will be reunited with chef
Warren Geraghty as a guest chef at West. Currently running
Park Café in Costa Rica, chef Neat's
Pied à Terre in London was elevated to two
Michelin stars, while Geraghty was a part of the team. Later, with Geraghty as head chef, chef Neat's eponymous
Restaurant Neat in Cannes won a star after just seven months of opening. This granted chef Neat the honour of being the first British chef to win a
Michelin star in France. Stay tuned for further details of the chefs' co-production. It promises to relive the glory years of Pied à Terre and Restaurant Neat. (Some old gossip about Neat from the English press
here . )
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Lookalikes? Photo of Chef Oliver Beckert (left) from the Four Seasons website, photo of Chef Raphael Gonzalez (right) by Stuart Davis for the Vancouver Sun
.
DINE AND DASH - (
January 14, 2008 )
Check those Philly steaks, Executive Chef
Rapheal Gonzalez , the Miami-born chef who opened
Yew Restaurant + Bar for the
Four Seasons Vancouver Hotel has been transferred to Philadelphia.
Rotating executive chefs throughout the Four Seasons empire every three to five years is a standard policy for the international hotel chain, and in his tour of duty, Gonzalez has already clocked kitchen time at such company flagships as the
Pierre Hotel in New York. However, the local foodsters in Philadelphia seem a little miffed that the property in their city did not hire up through the kitchen ranks.
Read their comments here .
The question remains as to who will fill Gonzalez' clogs in Vancouver. Turns out he is one of the three Hawaiian-based chefs who are currently in town to present a Hawaiian themed menu at Yew this week.
Oliver Beckert is German-born and he was most recently based at the
Four Seasons Resort in Lana'i . Here's his
bio from the Lana'i hotel.
[Just from the look of their photos, one might wonder if the Four Seasons chain has a chef cloning station somewhere. We haven't seen such chef lookalikes since the two brothers who launched the original
Kolachy Shop .]
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DINE AND DASH - (
January 12, 2008 )
It seems that everyone is cutting back these days, and rumour says the latest to trim their sails is
CityTV . Apparently, after seven years of broadcasting, the Vancouver television station plans to axe its
CityCooks program, with the last show airing on January 25th. According to the rumbledrome, the featured restaurants were not terribly keen on the taping hours, nor the fact that they were required to provide all the cooking supplies. However, in a competitive era of local, celebrity chefs, the show was seen as good venue for exposure. Which it was. Over the years the show was sold to other areas (such as Calgary, Edmonton, and Barrie, Ontario, as well as in Asia), so it did succeed in alerting a geographically wider audience to the fact that we enjoy an excellent and varied dining scene here in Vancouver. But not all has gone into the garburator. Some airtime on "
Lunch Television " (which begins airing today) will still be devoted to cooking segments, as well as on the existing
Breakfast Television .
Rhys Pender , a regular
CityFood Magazine contributor and a guy who just might be able to claim the title of "youngest Master of Wine in Canada" as early as this fall, tells us he'll be in New York for a few days next week to tape a segment of
www.WinelibraryTV.com . He'll be on the abrasive but popular internet wine show to talk about BC wines.
As
Vancouver Dine Out begins, it is interesting to note that the city's restaurants have divided themselves into three camps. 1) Those who couldn't wait for the two week January program to begin and who offered their discount menus early (somewhat like the department stores who started hanging their Christmas decorations in September); 2) those who are treating it as business as usual; and 3) those who are giving the whole business the sign of the cross. In the third category this year is
Chambar who have opted out, siting a need to protect their regular clientele from the "limited menu choices, surly service staff and quick table turnarounds" that are some of the repeated complaints about the annual city restaurant promotion. With line ups every weekend for brunch at their
Medina Cafe next door, plus a regular full house in the main dining room, Chambar doesn't need to price down. The Belgian/Moroccan style restaurant also has news about a recent renovation that has seen a wall removed to accommodate a 10-foot-high Egyptian door leading to a 40-seat overflow dining area at the back of the restaurant. The new section features long banquettes and massive windows overlooking the Vancouver skyline ... (and T&T sidewalk specials.)
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