Posts tagged with “restaurant”

Vancouver is arguably the most beautiful city in the world to live in. For most, the goal is simply to live IN it. We all have to work, and work hard to keep up with Our Lady of VanCity, but there are a select few who know the score. Why not live in the world’s most liveable city and hold down one of the raddest jobs she has to offer? We all know somebody who goes to work smiling. What are these jobs and how do people get them? More importantly, are they as awesome as they sound… VOL.7 HIGHLIGHTS: Bomb Girls, French 75 and a genuine use of Jeepers!

Contributed

Actress Jodi Balfour found herself wandering Gastown one night with friends, out of roles and decent coffee. So, alongside fellow South African siblings Jonathan (23) and Lee Snelgar (29), she opened Nelson the Seagull. The café at 315 Carrall Street was their answer to ‘Where do you get a perfect cup of coffee in this city?’ and also turned a popular saying on its head. In Balfour’s case, when one door opens, so does another. In addition to satiating Vancouverites with  fresh breads, baked goods, and a homey spot to sit down and unwind in 2011, Balfour, 24, balanced life as the star of Bomb Girls in the Global TV Second World War drama.

photo: Kate Brown; Gastown Blog

I stopped by the café after hours, assuming it would be Balfour and I sitting with a cup of tea in a darkened corner, watching the cobblestone streets glow in the rain. Imagine my surprise when I came upon a long table dinner, complete with raucous laughter and delicious aromas.

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Nicholson Road is an ongoing photo project aimed at sharing and celebrating the different communities in Metro Vancouver. Each week Vancouver Is Awesome will be featuring an image from the previous week, shot in one of the many ‘hoods around town in order to draw your attention a little bit outside of the hyper-focus that we usually have on the City of Vancouver. Metro Vancouver Is Awesome, and you should get out and explore it!

If you know anything about Vancouver, you know the north shore has long been the place to go to escape the city, reconnect with the land, and find a little peace and quiet. That’s just what people were seeking when they began to build summer homes and cottages in present day North and West Vancouver around the turn of the 20th century. Of course as more and more people made the trip across Burrard Inlet and some began to build permanent residences, businesses soon set up shop and communities formed.

In 1912, following the City of North Vancouver’s inception in 1907, West Vancouver separated from the District of North Vancouver to become its own district municipality (and they’ve got a whole site dedicated to celebrating their centennial). Poor North Van District! It must have felt like one of those, “It’s not you, it’s me,” moments. Later that same year, The Clachan Hotel was built right on the water at the foot of 25th street in the quiet village of Dundarave (named after Dundarave Castle in Scotland).

With the addition of the Pacific Great Eastern passenger rail service a couple years later (connecting Pemberton Ave. in North Vancouver with Horseshoe Bay, and later continuing up to Prince George), as well as the new Dundarave Pier, the location proved extremely popular and the hotel expanded to meet the growing need.

What does all of this have to do with the photo? In addition to the expected hotel services, The Clachan Hotel served a number of other functions over the years including: beach concession, regular location for Sunday Mass, the notable Peppi’s restaurant, and since 1995, The Beach House restaurant (pictured above).

Today’s Dundarave Pier, marking the western end of the West Vancouver Centennial Seawalk (opened on Canada’s 100th birthday in 1968), is just one of the many amazing spots I visit to enjoy a sunset in Metro Van – and one of my absolute favourite places to turn off the world and be alone with my thoughts. If you’ve never managed to get out there, you can bet I recommend it!

Archives of the Nicholson Road project can be found HERE.

I’m working on a couple of Super, Neighbours posts regarding the trip that I took to Whistler last weekend but before I drop them I wanted to share two simple things:

1. 40 seconds looking out the window of our suite at the Westin, literally steps from the gondola up to the Whistler Peak. I was standing next to the fireplace when I shot this.

2. The proper form for throwing a giant snowball at your dad if you’re a three year old (yes, that’s our youngest blogger, Arlo, who joined me for the trip).

Stay tuned for the hospitality of the Westin Whistler and a trip up and down the mountain with myself and a three year old, both who neither ski nor ride!

A couple of years back we took home the Georgia Straight’s BEST OF award for “Best Navel Gazing Web Site“, and while our non-profit organization that supports our web site (Vancouver Is Awesome, Inc) is focused on celebrating all of the awesome things that make up our city one of those things is it’s proximity to other awesome places. In Super, Neighbours in British Columbia we take you on adventures to other B.C. locales that we think you should check out. ********** I was recently blessed with the good fortune of being invited to stay a night at Nita Lake Lodge, a luxury boutique hotel that was built in Whistler in 2008. HERE is a link to the first instalment of the story I wrote about the experience of staying there. Now, as you walk into the lobby of the hotel you have a few options. One is to simply keep going and walk right through to the lake, another is to walk around and enjoy the artwork, another is to hang a quick right into Cure Lounge & Bistro for a drink, but the best option is to head to your left and into Aura, the lodge’s restaurant.

Led by Executive Chef Tim Cuff and Restaurant Chef Owen Foster, Aura operates with three words front of mind: organic, sustainable, and European. They source from local farmers such as North Arm Farm, foragers, ranchers and fisheries to bring to you the best the west has to offer. They also source herbs and specialty vegetables from their very own rooftop garden. 100 Metre Diet? Not quite, but close.

Chef Tim treated me to his tasting menu for that night and, as usual, I’m going to let the dishes do the talking and let you know ahead of time that it was absolutely a fantastic eating experience. It will become obvious after the jump, here’s the view from my table to start…

Pre-feast house bread and butter – epi & flax seed boule with apple cider butter.

Then a little sour mustard jus and smoked celeriac.

Followed by rooftop mint roasted lamb loin, fiddle heads, artichoke barigoule and tempura artichoke.

Then lemon compressed honeydew …READ THE REST OF THIS ENTRY>>>

VANCOUVER DAZE showcases and highlights the social life and scene of our beautiful city, covering all the misadventures and shenanigans at various cultural events, mixers, parties, meetups, and local happenings. We fiercely promote all the fun times the city has to offer along with the interesting people behind them. Follow more of my work/coverage over at RICKCHUNG.COM and on Twitter at @RICKCHUNG. You can pitch me HERE.

Volume 18: Electric Owl Social Club grand opening on Main Street on May 26, 2011. More photos available on Flickr.

I was so pumped to hear a new (alternative) music and arts venue opening outside the downtown core and in East Vancouver across the street from The Cobalt. Hopefully anyone familiar with the whole anti-punk, No Fun City documentary saga of the city will be somewhat heartened by the opening of the Electric Owl Social Club. I know it’s not exactly a basement, underground skate park, garage, or illegal operation type thing, but it’s still something different.

There were a ton of hip, indie music lover types including the adorable and always fashionable Kelsey Dundon from The Anthology (profiled on V.I.A. here) looking splendid as always. I brought along my singer/songwriter pal Gio Levy to scope out the music venue.
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