You’ve Gotta Try This in June

Your guide to the latest mouth-watering food and drinks in Vancouver this month

As I write this, my fingers are metaphorically crossed that the traditional downpour and return to grey skies that is ‘Juneuary’ doesn’t happen again this year. But if it does, at least there are some highly delicious things to distract us from the downpour, such as the welcome return of Negroni Week, the start of the season’s super sweet strawberries and a whole host of cool new openings to check out in VanCity’s restaurant world.

As ever, grab a napkin (or two) ’cause it’s definitely gonna get messy…

Munch duck fat popcorn at TAPshack

So here’s something different: a brand new restaurant concept with everything behind the bar in rotation. That’s the new, ever-so-slightly-crazy plan from the Tap & Barrel team for TAPshack Burrard Bridge and Coal Harbour (ex Pirate Pub and The Mill, respectively). Building from the T&B menu of exclusive winery and brewery collaborations, this takes things to a whole new level.

“People kept coming to us with so many amazing one-offs, we thought, ‘What if we are consistently different? What if we just have a whole list like that?'” grins CEO Daniel Frankel. “TAPshack will be geekier and edgier, so we’ll have a barrel of a wine made just for us and when it’s gone, it’s gone. Same with brewery kegs… you’ll never know what’s there, just that you won’t be able to get it anywhere else.”

All proteins on the menu will be sous-vide (I saw photos of a hella delish looking steak sandwich), and there’ll be plenty of all-day brekkie items available, such as avocado toast and eggs, plus pub grub such as deviled eggs and what looks likely to become a fan favourite: duck fat popcorn with fried rosemary, sea salt and cracked pepper.

Check Frankel’s Twitter for news of the exact opening dates, but it looks like it’ll be early June.

Support your local Vancouver Farmers Market

Certain subtle signs herald seasonal change in the city and as every Vancouverite knows, June means that Vancouver Farmers Market season is now in full swing. We need to support our local farmers now more than ever, after certain merchants in Yaletown filed a court petition against the Yaletown BIA for hosting a weekly farmer’s market in the downtown neighbourhood.

This has forced the community’s much-loved weekly Yaletown Farmers Market to move to the Queen Elizabeth Theatre Plaza (649 Cambie Street at Georgia). They’ll be in their new spot starting Thursday, June 2 from 2 p.m.to 6 p.m., so go down to show them your support, and pick up plenty of farm-fresh goodies along the way. 

According to the Vancouver Metro, Yaletown Distillery and Earls were amongst those who filed the suit, so I asked them to comment. No word from the former, but Earls said: “Although they did not initialize the complaint, Earls was asked to support their fellow business owners in a request to have the City of Vancouver owned market kept in Yaletown, but moved to a nearby location that did not require closing down a busy street and preventing access to businesses for guests and deliveries. It is our understanding that a number of suitable nearby locations were suggested—some of which were Park Board property and land—who did not wish to allow the City of Vancouver to have a farmer’s market on their property. If the object of the Farmers Market was to bring visitors to Yaletown, then a number of these suggested locations would have accomplished that without impacting local businesses in a negative way.”

Check out something new

Is it possible to be too excited about the raft of new openings coming to VanCity this month? Er, no. Not when it includes these goodies.

Brand new to Yaletown, Tacofino is opening at 1025 Mainland Street, with a 40-seat dining room and 16-seat patio, and their usual ‘Dizzying World of Everything Awesome’ on the menu.

I’m stoked to hear that the Fanny Bay Oyster Co, Canada’s largest shellfish producers, will be opening a shellfish market/restaurant space round the corner from BC Place at 762 Cambie Street, serving Ocean Wise lunch, dinner and weekend brunch with happy hour specials.

The new incarnation of Notturno (280 Carrall Street), is set to open mid-June as Kozakura, a Japanese-inspired restaurant. Owner Bill Robitaille says: “Kozakura translates to little cherry tree, the cuisine is kappo style, which falls somewhere between the traditional Kaiseki cuisine [a traditional multi-course Japanese dinner] and the casual Izakaya-style cuisine [Japanese pub fare].

“My chef du cuisine is Keith Allison, and we’ll be offering a seasonal course menu of elaborately prepared dishes, which are served in an environment that is serene. Izakaya, on the other hand, offers an à la carte menu that consist mostly of small plates. Drinking is the focal point of Izakaya style of dining. With Kappo, it’s completely up to the chef. This can range from formal to casual, classic to modern Japanese. Fusion can come into play.”

Not new, but the Red Wagon has reopened after its reno with a raft of new features, including black-and-white checkered floors, a bar where the old lunch counter used to be, and exposed original cedar beams (bye-bye old drop ceiling). New on the menu: eggs Bennies with salmon gravlax, chicken noodle with spaetzle, and a buttermilk-fried chicken Cobb salad. Plus, a daily fresh sheet and new cocktails, Prosecco and wine will be on tap, and it’s also now open till midnight from Wednesday to Sunday.

Enjoy the new season tomatoes

Taste the flavours of endless summer on the patio at Joe Fortes with their new salad, a joyful blend of punchy tangy golden pickled beets with fat red heirloom tomatoes and tiny sweet cherry tomatoes on a bed of arugula with chunks of fresh mozzarella. Delish. 

Chef Roger Ma’s crowd-pleasing heirloom tomato and burrata salad is back again in June at Boulevard, featuring a saffron tomato vinaigrette, basil seed, olive oil crouton and black olive soil using tomatoes from Sapo Bravo Organics just north of Lytton, B.C.

Secret Location has a very funky sounding tomato number on their cocktail list. ‘I Came, I Saw, I Conquered’ features Pisco, green Chartreuse, red pepper, cherry tomatoes, ginger, celery bitters and salt. Not a Caesar, but definitely a must-try. 

Grotto on Davie has a brand new heirloom tomato passatta dish served with a herb and ricotta-stuffed ravioli.

Head to West Van to eat at Terroir Kitchen

I’m a huge fan of chef Faizal Kassam, and loved his take on Italian food when he was at Cibo. But he’s left to open a new spot in West Van in the old La Regalade spot at 2232 Marine Drive, where, rather wonderfully, he got his first job in the industry as a dishwasher.

Faizal’s new place is called Terroir Kitchen and it’s finally open this month. The menu aims to embrace southern Europe with tapas-style plates from France, Spain, Italy and North Africa, such as crispy pork belly served with a smoked cauliflower puree, grilled skirt steak in a spicy pepperoncino salsa. All dishes are priced below $30, and the wine list includes both local and European vintages. Best of luck, Fazial and team! 

Order New Zealand Hamachi at Beach Bay Cafe

I went to check out the Beach Bay Cafe recently to see what their new exec chef Felix Zhou was up to. I’m a fully signed-up Felix fan—he was last seen whipping up gorgeous things at The Parker—and his new menu at Beach Bay has given back the ex-Raincity Grill spot food deserving of the incredible view over English Bay. The chef’s tasting menu is a great value at $49 per person, and in June, Felix’s menu is all about hamachi. Try four fantastic courses (raw, seared and cooked) of New Zealand’s finest. I tried some sashimi-style and man, it was heaven on a plate. Get a reso today.

Drink anything this man makes you

Hop on over to The Diamond this month to welcome Rod Redford, their new bartender, who’s joining us from Calgary. Brand new to the city, Mr Redford made me some especially fancy drinks over at Proof in Calgary (before that could be found mixing things up at Milk Tiger Lounge).

“Working with a new team is going to be great,” Rod told me by email, “I love my community in Calgary, but it will be great to learn and grow with new people and I’m excited to get behind the bar and start creating again. I’ve been travelling, so it’s been a few months since I’ve had a bar to call home and being able to work with my good friend Giancarlo is going to be great.”

I asked Rob what we should order and he suggests the Icelandic Claw, made from Tanqueray Ten, Cynar, Aquavit and wakame seaweed spirit, which he promises is “an umami trip to the coast of Iceland.”

Drink Negronis

June 6th to 12th is absolutely my favourite week in the year because it’s Negroni Week. Hooray! This annual charity fundraiser sees local bars and restaurants creating their own twist on the classic gin, Campari, sweet Red Vermouth cocktail with a  portion of the profits from each drink going to a local charity of their choice. Here’s Imbibe’s list of all participating bars in Vancouver, and here are a few of my picks too.

Prohibition will be raising funds for the BC Children’s Hospital with their fantastic Inception Negroni, which is essential two drinks: a classic ‘red’ negroni captured in an ice sphere with a white negroni poured over the top. 

Smart cookie Aimee Corno has created the Big Pink Negroni at Acorn, which features Bombay Sapphire Gin, Acorn Peppermint Rose Vermouth, Campari, Sour Cherry Cacao and Rose Bitters which will be served table side over ice in a coupe, and garnished with a rose petal textured ice cube and funds raised go to the Women’s Shelter. 

Sabrine Dhaliwal and team are raising funds for the British Columbia Hospitality Foundation at UVA with their Mystery Solved, a Negroni-inspired drink “with a softer, rounder French touch” featuring Suze, Ramazzotti and Lillet Blanc.

Eat rice bowls on Vij’s patio

I first saw the glorious mountain view from the patio at Vij’s Cambie street restaurant last spring. It was a crying shame that the treacle-footed progress of the city’s permit department didn’t see the doors opening to the restaurant till December—months past patio season, so please make the most of it now that it’s actually open.

Drinks whizz Jay Jones has a new cocktail menu just right for sipping in the sun, and you can try Vij’s own brand beer there too.

I tasted two of Meeru Dhalwala’s new rice bowl creations which will be available exclusively on the patio throughout the summer. Five different bowls will be available each day, packed with sustainable, Ocean Wise ingredients, and always with a vegan/vegetarian option. I tried a creamy coconut vegan curry, made crunchy w