Farewell to Forage: Vancouver’s Sustainable Trailblazer

By |2024-11-10T12:05:12-08:00November 10th, 2024|Belly's Best Bites, Dining, Latest Posts, Spirits, Sustainable, Wine|

Forage is closing. How sad! The hyper locally-focused destination room in the Listel Hotel will serve its final seating at brunch on November 17th. Its demise comes after just 12 years. During that time Forage has set the pace for sustainable dining in Vancouver. And it’s done so with singular focus and conviction that few, [...]

West Restaurant to Close after 20 years

By |2020-01-06T17:57:37-08:00October 9th, 2019|Dining, Latest Posts|

Toptable Group has announced that award-winning West Restaurant + Bar will close at year end. It will not be renewing its lease. It's by no means official. But I'll hazard a pretty good guess that the cost of the new lease didn't make sense to continue. The building is also possibly slated for development. The closing [...]

West Restaurant: a West Coast Tasting Tradition

By |2020-01-06T17:57:19-08:00August 31st, 2019|Dining, Latest Posts|

The Tasting Menu is back. Although, truth be told, at West Restaurant it never went away.  Earlier this summer I had the opportunity to witness the artistry of West Chef Bobby Milheron in two contrasting settings. The first was at the BC Seafood Festival in Comox. The second was at the South Granville restaurant itself. [...]

Curry Cup 2019 Crowns The Cascade Room

By |2019-03-14T08:23:17-07:00March 12th, 2019|Dining, Latest Posts, Sustainable|

Curry Cup 2019 is a wrap! I’ve judged at a few competitions over the years. But I’d have to say that the Curry Cup is one of the coolest. Maybe it has something to do with my U.K. upbringing. But I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for a good curry—which is still [...]

Chefs for Oceans: Here’s to ‘Yew,’ Ned Bell

By |2024-10-13T09:50:05-07:00May 30th, 2016|Dining|

Updated: Chef Ned Bell joins Vancouver Aquarium Ocean Wise Here's the full release: PASSIONATE SUPPORTER OF SUSTAINABLE SEAFOOD CHEF NED BELL JOINS VANCOUVER AQUARIUM’S OCEAN WISE CULINARY TEAM VANCOUVER, B.C. – Eleven years ago, Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre sharpened its focus on protecting the world’s oceans by tackling its biggest issue: overfishing. Now nationwide, [...]

Cactus Club Wine Matches: Try this at Home

By |2025-06-10T14:40:09-07:00December 2nd, 2014|Sustainable, Wine|

Cactus Club exec chef Rob Feenie and sommelier-service director Sebastien Le Goff Scratch the surface of a Cactus Club wine list and you’ll often find what constitutes an unlikely line-up of wines—for what we now refer to as “Casual Fine Dining” restaurants. Much of the reason for more interesting than usual selections (especially [...]

Goodbye Raincity Grill & C: Agents of Real Change

By |2021-11-15T23:39:07-08:00November 17th, 2014|Dining|

Raincity Grill owner Harry Kambolis, at Nu, 2005 Raincity closes Whatever the circumstances, I was saddened by last week’s shuttering of long-running Raincity Grill and, not that long before, of C Restaurant, owned by Harry Kambolis. In the fickle world of dining there are any number of reasons as to why restaurants come [...]

Barbara-Jo’s Books to Cooks: So Much More Than a Book Store

By |2018-01-21T15:05:33-08:00September 8th, 2012|Uncategorized|

Barbara-Jo McIntosh: a truly welcoming touch, Tim Pawsey photo It’s no secret that we’re big fans of Vancouver’s Books to Cooks  (1740 West 2nd. Ave., 604-688-6755). We’ve followed Barbara-Jo McIntosh’s progress since she pulled the wraps off the original Yaletown location on September 7, 15 years ago this past week. In 2005, Barbara-Jo upped [...]

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