hired belly’s best restaurants and dining

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, [...]

Fairview Cellars v2.: An Impressive Debut at Provence

By |2024-10-30T20:08:09-07:00October 30th, 2024|Dining, Latest Posts, Sustainable, Wine|

Winemaker’s dinners come in every iteration. But—no question—last night’s Fairview Cellars collab with Vancouver’s Provence Marinaside was one for the books—a sold-out soirée marked by myriad good tastes both in the glass and on the plate. What’s more, there was a real vibe in the room, one of genuine enjoyment [...]

Coast Turns 20: 5 Great Reasons to Go

By |2023-02-05T08:56:33-08:00February 4th, 2023|Dining, Latest Posts|

Coast Restaurant just clocked two decades. It’s hard to believe, as I remember vividly the opening. At the time, Coast was a spectacular addition to Alberni Street, which was still pretty low key in those days. A menu centrepiece was the seafood tower, which was all the rage at the time. [...]

Janice Lotzkar: BC Regional Cuisine Pioneer

By |2024-04-28T10:58:44-07:00January 27th, 2023|Dining, Latest Posts|

Janice Lotzkar was recently mentioned in a recent post on Aaron Chapman’s popular and widely read Vancouver Restaurant History Facebook group. My good friend Kurtis Kolt was asking for people’s memories of the pioneering Lotzkar. In 2020 I had written a brief piece about Lotzkar’s achievements and her contribution to the [...]

8 Great Ways to Enjoy Dine Out Vancouver

By |2023-05-09T09:11:27-07:00January 15th, 2023|Belly's Best Bites, Dining, Latest Posts, Wine|

Dine Out Vancouver (Jan 20-Feb 5) turns 21 this year. Hard to believe that it all started in 2003 with just 57 restaurants. Equally impressive is that some restos have been there every year—such as Bacchus at the Wedgewood. This year, says Dine Out manager Lucas Pavan, no less than 370 [...]

Zagat Survey: When Manhattan Met the Malahat

By |2022-08-07T08:32:58-07:00August 4th, 2022|Dining, Latest Posts, Restaurant Reviews|

A Zagat flashback … Heading ‘down Island’ the other day, a stop at the Malahat Chalet rewarded with its spectacular view of the Saanich Inlet, not to mention pretty tasty, well-executed Eggs Benny. We sat on the sunny deck just a few metres from the road, and marvelled at the endless ocean-mountain-islands panorama. It took [...]

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