Vancouver Archives - Page 7 of 7

Street Food August 26, 2015

Metro Vancouver Food Trucks

By Nikki Bayley Vancouver’s street food scene is known as being one of the best in North America, with more than 100 trucks dotted around the city serving up a dizzying selection of cuisines from around the world. On any given day you could dine on Mexican tortilla stuffed with cactus, a Thai papaya salad, Polish homemade pierogi or even just a hot dog – Japanese-style –dressed with Teriyaki sauce and seaweed. The delicious twist with many of the trucks you’ll find around town is that they use seasonal ingredients right from the lower mainland, so you can taste something new and local each month as the fresh harvest comes in. You’ll also see Ocean Wise stickers on many of the trucks, which means that the seafood they serve is 100% sustainable so you can chow down guilt free. Find your new favourite truck with the handy StreetFood app. Start your…

Cocktails, Wines & Spirits around Metro Vancouver August 21, 2015

The Backyard Ingredients of Buckstop Cocktails and Bitters

By Nikki Bayley Vancouver is known as Canada’s cocktail capital, a hotbed of innovative alcoholic creations, shaken and stirred by award-winning bartenders who are making a name for themselves on the international circuit. Tucked away in the city’s West End by Stanley Park on Denman Street, you’ll find Buckstop, owned by Fiona Grieve whose local-first approach to cocktails is making her late night barbecue joint a must-visit for locavore drinkers. “I’m local,” grins Fiona, “I was raised in the Tri-Cities area and have friends there who still who grow things and are always eager to get them into the restaurant. I love to use produce from Coquitlam to make my cocktail bitters. Bitters help to add layers of complexity to a drink, say you have just a plain tomato, if I add salt and pepper to that it changes it and makes it better. Then say I add balsamic vinegar…

Metro Vancouver Chef Stories August 21, 2015

Vancouver’s World-Winning Bartenders

By Nikki Bayley Vancouver’s cocktail scene is currently going from strength to strength, with innovative bartenders shaking up delicious drinks in bars and restaurants across the city. Vancouver bartenders love to push their creativity by entering –and often winning –tough cocktail contests, vying to be the best with a unique creations. Although several bartenders across the city have locked down nationwide titles (for instance Grant Sceney at the Fairmont Pacific Rim, Lauren Mote at Uva, and Kevin Brownlee at AnnaLena), two bartenders in the city can make you drinks that are officially world beaters: West Restaurant’s Sabrine Dhaliwal and Cin Cin’s David Wolowidnyk have both placed first at international cocktail competitions, showing up all other competitors from around the world. All you need to do to taste a world class drink is take a seat at their bar. Sabrine Dhaliwal won the 2015 Belvedere Challenge to Create the Next Legendary…

Metro Vancouver Chef Stories August 13, 2015

Vancouver’s Fish Counter Chef Rob Clark Talks Seasonal Seafood

By Nikki Bayley Many visitors to the west coast are drawn by its zingingly fresh seafood, famous the world over for being some of the very best that the ocean has to offer. However, overfishing is the greatest threat to all our oceans today and according to Ocean Wise, the Vancouver Aquarium conservation program which launched a decade ago to help consumers make environmentally friendly choices, “…an estimated 90% of all large, predatory fish are already gone from the world’s oceans. A recent scientific study predicted a world-wide fisheries collapse by 2048. The only solution is to turn back from the brink, and to begin consuming seafood in a sustainable manner.” Robert Clark and Mike McDermid are two men on a mission to change the way that we think about buying and eating seafood. After helping create and launch the Ocean Wise programme, they’ve taken the next step and have…

Metro Vancouver Chef Stories August 13, 2015

Chef Ned Bell Talks Super-Sustainable Rock-Star Seafood

Last year chef Ned Bell launched the Chefs for Oceans Foundation and rode his bike 8,700 km across Canada in a bid to raise awareness of sustainable seafood and healthy lakes, rivers and oceans. Executive chef at The Vancouver Aquarium, Ned Bell believes passionately in educating diners on seafood sustainability and introducing them to delicious Ocean Wise alternatives. “People come to BC and they are looking for the west coast experience,” says Ned. “ I’d love them to start looking beyond wild salmon and enjoy some more of our rock-star sustainable seafoods!” Vancouver is leading the wave of change to a more sustainable diet when it comes to seafood. Explains Bell, “I think it’s because we have that connection to the coast and the extraordinary seafood that we get to pull from our ocean. We’re recognized for our passion for the environment and a healthy lifestyle too.” Visitors to the…

Festivals & Events August 7, 2015

Unsung Heroes Seafood Festival

By Carolyn Ali Ever tried jellyfish, sturgeon liver, or smelt? What about gooseneck barnacles, sea cucumber, or whelks? (Perhaps you’re wrinkling your nose right about now and wondering,”What the heck is a whelk? Blue Water Cafe features these and other under-appreciated sea creatures throughout February during the restaurant’s Unsung Heroes festival. The month-long event promotes sustainable seafood by urging diners to try something a little (or a lot) different from what they’re accustomed to eating. The idea is to bring awareness to local and unique seafood and to avoid species that are over-fished or harvested in ways that can damage ocean beds. It’s a goal also promoted by the Vancouver Aquarium’s Ocean Wise conservation program, of which Blue Water Cafe is a founding member. Don’t worry: you don’t have to finish your plate or forgo the salmon you know you’ll love. Octopus is an easy place to start. If you’ve tried it before and…

Farms August 5, 2015

A Honeybee Hotel in Downtown Vancouver

By Alexis Baran There’s a buzz in the air at Vancouver’s downtown harbour, and it’s coming from the rooftops. Environmentally-conscious Vancouverites are well aware of the global honeybee decline, and the Fairmont Hotel Waterfront has taken initiative to help them thrive by including a “bee hotel” on the roof of the (human) hotel. The top of the Fairmont Waterfront is a hidden garden you can visit, with 2,400 sq ft of greenspace, which is the perfect neighborhood for approximately 250,000 honeybees. The bees do have to pull their weight for rent in the prestigious waterfront neighborhood; in exchange for their home in the skyline, the bees produce 600-800lbs of honey per year, which is a vital ingredient on the menu items downstairs in cocktails, chocolate, desserts, salad dressing and even their signature Fairmont ‘Stinger’ Lager. Yes, you can drink the beer that the bees helped make. The bee hotel was…