Think Kitsilano and you’re likely to think yoga pants and granola, luxe hippies and sandy beaches, vegetarian cafés and cosy pubs. Cocktails? Not so much, right?
Well, yes – and no.
Kits has long been the sort of place where you belly up to the bar and order, say, a wheatgrass and kale smoothie with a shot of spirulina. But more and more it’s also the sort of place where you can enjoy a beautifully crafted, classically inspired cocktail with an innovative twist.
Over its history, this neighbourhood between the beach and 16th Avenue, Burrard and Alma streets has been a forest, an industrial site and a beach getaway. Most famously, though, in the 1960s, this was where Vancouver’s counterculture made its home.
Back then, the aromas of patchouli and exotic spices hung heavy over the ’hood. The city’s first vegetarian restaurant, The Naam, opened here. Greenpeace began here. Some of the province’s first pubs opened here.
That groovy zeitgeist still lingers, albeit in somewhat pricier environs. It’s still a progressive, health-conscious and social neighbourhood – the epitome of the Vancouver lifestyle. And it’s just the kind of place Kevin Brownlee likes to work.
“They’re a really fun crowd. Exceptionally laid back, but with high expectations and really well educated,” says the bar manager at AnnaLena, the multiple-award-winning restaurant helmed by chef Michael Robbins on West 1st Avenue.
AnnaLena, which opened in 2015, is just one of several chef-driven restaurants with stellar cocktail programs that have sprung up in Kits over the last few years.
“I’d say Kitsilano, especially the strip where we are, there was not a lot going on then,” Brownlee says. “We just came in at the right time.”
The first was Maenam, Angus An’s exceptional Thai restaurant on West 4th, which replaced his modernist experiment Gastropod in 2009. It features a sleek cocktail bar where guests can enjoy elegant cocktails with flavours inspired by Southeast Asia – fragrant, delicate, bursting with freshness.
It was joined in 2015 by AnnaLena and Mission, where chef Curtis Luk creates innovative Pacific Northwest fare from local ingredients, and the bar does much the same, leaning towards the woodsy and herbal, complex and delicious.
In 2016, a Mexican concept restaurant from James Iranzad and Josh Pape (who also own Wildebeest and Bufala) replaced Supermarine on Yew Street. Lucky Taco is a destination for juicy margaritas and mezcal-based drinks. No surprise the cocktails are this good when barman extraordinaire Pape is on the job.
That same year saw one of the city’s most adventurous chefs, Jefferson Alvarez, find his sweet spot at Cacao, across the street from AnnaLena. His progressive Latin cuisine is exceptional, but so are the cocktails from the highly talented bar manager Sergio Gandolfo. Sneak upstairs to find one of the funkiest little not-quite-secret bars in town.
What all of these cocktail programs have in common is an adventurous spirit, global inspiration and a passion for top quality, local, sustainable and seasonal ingredients.
No doubt more great establishments will open as Kits discovers the treasures already in its midst.
“We still get a lot of new guests in from the neighbourhood,” Brownlee says. “It’s fun when you get someone in for the first time and blow them away.”
Five places for cocktails in Kits
AnnaLena, 1809 W 1st Ave., annalena.ca
To sip: Seaforth Swizzle (see recipe) or La Libertad (mezcal, dry curacao, chilli liqueur, hopped grapefruit bitters).
Cacao, 1898 W 1st Ave, cacaovancouver.com
To sip: Guarapita (aromatic wine, rosemary-infused gin, guanábana molecular foam).
Lucky Taco, 1685 Yew St., luckytaco.ca
To sip: Electric Flamingo Margarita (blanco tequila, strawberry, basil).
Maenam, 1938 W 4th Ave, maenam.ca
To sip: Thai and Ginger (rye, cassia bark, passion fruit, galangal, ginger beer, Angostura bitters).
Mission, 2042 W 4th Ave., missionkits.ca
To sip: Velveteen Rabbit (apricot-infused Sid’s vodka, cherry wood spray, sage, citrus, orange blossom soda).
Recipe: Seaforth Swizzle
Named for the park located across from the armoury on the edge of Kitsilano, the Seaforth Swizzle is “a super bright and refreshing drink,” says its creator, Kevin Brownlee, bar manager at AnnaLena. You can purchase velvet falernum at The Modern Bartender or Gourmet Warehouse, or make your own with the recipe below. To find Bucha Brew, visit buchabrew.ca for a list of retailers.
2 oz (60 mL) Havana Club 7 rum
3/4 oz (22 mL) velvet falernum (see below)
1 oz (30 mL) fresh lime juice
2 oz (60 mL) Bucha Brew grapefruit kombucha
3 dashes Bittered Sling Grapefruit & Hops bitters
Combine all ingredients in a Collins glass. Add crushed ice until the glass is three-quarters full. Swizzle with a swizzle stick or anything that will allow for swizzle motion. Top up with crushed ice and garnish with fresh mint leaves and a slice of grapefruit. Serves 1.
Recipe: Velvet Falernum
Recipe by Kevin Brownlee, bar manager at AnnaLena restaurant.
1 bottle (750 mL) Havana Club 3 rum
Zest of 15 limes
12 cloves
6 allspice berries
2 inch (5 cm) chunk of fresh ginger, peeled and cut into quarter-size pieces
1 tbsp (15 mL) almond extract
3 quarts (3 L) simple syrup
Pour rum into a clean jar that is large enough to hold a gallon (4 litres) of liquid.
Zest the limes over the rum to catch the essential oils. Add cloves, allspice berries, ginger and almond extract. Cover, place in a cool, dark place and allow to infuse for three days.
Strain solids from liquids using cheesecloth or a coffee filter. Add simple syrup and stir. Pour into sterilized bottles and refrigerate; this should keep, chilled, for several months. Makes about 1 gallon (4 litres).
