By Gail Johnson Chef Dawn Doucette has finally come home—home being the recently opened retro Douce Diner she runs with her husband, Nino Giangrande, at 1490 Pemberton Avenue in North Vancouver. With its chrome napkin holders, swivel bar stools, ’50s colours (think lotus yellow, vintage pink, and mint green), and Motown soundtrack, Douce Diner is a slick throwback to another era, albeit with a refreshed, modern-day menu. Doucette, a former Top Chef Canada competitor, is inspired by the likes of Berkeley, California chef Alice Waters, a pioneer of the slow-food, farm-to-plate movement. For her classic diner dishes, Doucette uses premium ingredients and a purist’s touch. The meat in the Double Douce Burger, for instance, is organic; the omelet is made with cage-free eggs; old-fashioned floats have vanilla gelato; and the banana split comes with freshly made strawberry compote. Hand-spun milkshakes can be spiked with liqueurs, the diner using North Van…