These are the excellent restaurants in the middle of Vancouver’s class ’21. Bravo!
While 2021 proved to be another challenging year for restaurants in Vancouver, this year there were several incredible new places to enjoy a great meal that got started. In light of already tough considerations such as City Hall’s slow pace and permits and soaring rents, 2021 also meant more restrictions and concerns associated with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Looking back on the year that was, there are several new Vancouver restaurants (and a few in Richmond) that stood out. These are the ventures that represent several exciting additions to the local food scene for various reasons.
Ung Bacaro
What happens when an established local restaurant group takes over a café concept at one of the city’s best luxury hotels? Culinary magic, honestly. Kitchen Table already had Italian food when they moved into the Giovane area at the Fairmont Pacific Rim, but with the launch of their restaurant Giovane Bacaro edged de Vancouver into more diverse regional Italian cuisine. Bacaro is meant to evoke ducking into a restaurant or bar in Venice in both its styling and menu offerings. Here you will sip a refreshing spritz and find yourself saying “These are the most incredible and addictive potato chips” while sipping happily. From share plates of cicchetti to the more hearty – and astonishingly beautiful – pasta-centered entrees, Bacaro is a wonderful addition to Vancouver.
Linh Cafe – Vancouver House
Sure, this is not the first or only place for Linh Cafe, but it remains an important launch in 2021. This is because it represents a serious upward mobility for an established independent place that went from humble roots in Kits to a large modern home in the new Vancouver House development. And having this family-run French-Vietnamese place in Vancouver House further solidifies how amazing the food options that have gone from the polarizing public art chandelier actually are. (Will Momofuku join the ranks of Linh Cafe, Autostrada and Ca Marche Creperie? It has to show.)
Mexican food
There are several notable facets to Alimentaria Mexicana that came up to run this summer. First, location: Granville Island continues to create restaurants that push themselves and represent a culinary attraction for both locals and tourists (do you remember them?). Then there is the food. Vancouver is slowly on its toes out of its comfort zone when it comes to Mexican food. Maybe we’re all seen a lot of food travel shows over the last few years, but there’s a desire for Vancouver guests to feel up to dishes like a clay stew – saucepan of cactus and halloumi or sopes (a kind of cornmeal patty) topped with bone marrow.
Loulas Taverna
Commercial Drive has always been one of Vancouver’s liveliest corridors, but a series of new openings have given this floor strip a welcome new life. Loulas is a family affair, a Greek love letter to traditions as they are expressed through the next generation. The joy bubbles over inside Loula and is transferred to the food, which is fresh, simple and cramped.
Maxines Cafe & Bar
A French revolution has been underway in Vancouver and Maxines is at the forefront. The day-to-night bistro is a highlight from brunch to cocktail hour and to decadent multi-course dinners where you feel like throwing all the rules out the window and reveling in everything that is buttery and rich.
Oh Carolina
Did you ever think that the grocery store on the corner would end up being a culinary hot spot? That was what happened when the folks behind places like Bells and Whistles and Lucky’s Tacos turned their attention to more casual concepts (they closed for fine-dining gem Wildebeest earlier this year). The result: The humble corner of 12th and Carolina is now a go-to for carefully crafted small batch-wrapped foods and a breakfast and lunch menu with events and dinner offerings to keep things buzzing during recess.
Shameless buns
Shout out to the owners of the Vancouver-based food truck Shameless Buns to make it through a hell of a year. They faced a battle with Richmond City Hall over where to park, they continued to support local artisans in the Filipino community through their Magkasama market events, and they opened a brick-and-mortar location in southern Vancouver. Suddenly, Vancouverites talk more often about sinigang, spamfries and all things ube.
Drive-canteen
This is a game-changer. This is because The Drive Canteen is set to become the ultimate family-friendly hanging zone for people who love urban art, sneaker culture, snacks and old school video games. It is a hybrid snack shop that has also become a standard hub for booze-free drinks – not just shakes and screaming but non-alcoholic wine, beer and spirits. Plus you can pick your own nacho adventure (based on homemade spicy chips) and shop from snack selections that combine childhood nostalgia with either pure affordability or a chance to support a Vancouver-based little producer. Honestly, this place is just damn cool.
Nemesis – Great Northern Way
The third location of Vancouver’s Nemesis Café is a standout based on design alone: It’s the large red “petal” building that fronts the new Emily Carr campus on the Great Northern Way. Inside a light, light and airy place that slides between a dignified place for a cup of quality coffee and an incredible pastry from Nemesis’ “Dope Bakehouse” department and a place to sit down for a good meal.
Zarak
The team at Surrey’s Afghan Kitchen has just opened their first Vancouver project, called Zarak. Although Vancouver has been home to Afghan food for decades, Zarak represents a modern step forward and a fresh way to experience cuisine.
Pug
Once again, the story of regionalism in the kitchen is a strong Vancouver restaurant trope in 2021. But what is perhaps most admirable about Carlino is that it is a product of self-awareness and a case study of what to do when things go wrong. right. Carlino, which just opened in early December, is the second iteration of the Kitchen Tables tenure that runs the restaurant at the Shangri-La Hotel in Vancouver. When their daring Sino-Italian concept Miantiao did not work well for the surroundings, they regrouped and tried again without letting Miantiao languish any longer. Now you have Carlino offering food from the Friuli region of northern Italy through a British Colombian lens in the hands of local top chef Mark Perrier.
Nancy Go Yaya
The Vancouverites love to line up for restaurants, and that has been the case since day one at Nancy Go Yaya, the small place in Chinatown that specializes in Singaporean street food and other classics. This is where you can go to try elevated versions of things like Kaya Toast – complete with a liquid soy sauce egg for dipping – and familiar dishes like Nasi Lemak and Laksa.
Elephant
There was an instant murmur of joy after Elephant opened its doors in the former Trans Am room in East Vancouver. It’s thanks to the skilled restaurateurs behind Dachi who launch the modern wine bar with a bold, cross-border chef in the kitchen. This person is Justin Lee (sometimes known thanks to his social media handle as “Justin Ell”), and his opening menu on Elephant, the 18-seater that has quickly emerged as an absolute hot spot.
Chupito
Eating outdoors is a lifestyle in Mexico, but in “Raincouver” it was always limited to “patio season” pre-pandemic. Then we embraced “al fresco” and Chupito was born, a bar-centered spot in the backyard with a great menu that started the shop behind La Taqueria on the outskirts of Gastown. You enter from the alley and are welcomed with a “chupito”, a small sip of something to start you off before heading out into fresh, vibrant Mexican food that will take you away (mentally) to the ocean. Chupito has chosen to take a break during the coldest months, but will be back in March 2022 to welcome the Vancouverites who feel like a little getaway.
Delara
Enter another in the global food column with a modern bump up thanks to Delara, the Persian restaurant that moved into the square left by Burgoo in Kitsilano. Specifically, Delara is about Iranian brunch, lunch and dinner dishes made with seasonal ingredients with a traditional base, but an eye on what a modern Vancouver diner is looking for.
Bonus: Bruno & Baan Lao (Richmond)
Two restaurants south of the city limits stand out this year, not least thanks to the fact that they can be completely unexpected for what the community is known for. While high-end dining is not new to Richmond, diners now have Bruno, who has a distinct Pacific Northwest sensibility and focus with a healthy dose of showmanship thanks to some elaborate presentations and a very modern, luxurious space. You can have oysters served in the middle of a mist of dry ice, or you can indulge in a wicker picnic basket on a lavender bed at Bruno’s, and you’ll probably have a fun – albeit indulgent – time.
Up in Steveston you are also for dinner and a show, but in the royal Thai tradition at Baan Lao, which turns what you know about the popular take-out and mall kitchen all its way into the hands of a chef / owner. passionate about technology and ingredients. Here, a Thai meal is a fourteen-course affair with a couple of charming theaters, but never at the expense of food that is resoundingly clear in taste and artful in presentation.
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