Metro Vancouver Restaurant News thread

[WarrenC12]

The Kits location is great. I found the prices to be decent, not too expensive. They have great deals on Tuesday as well.

[connect2source]

Originally Posted by red-paladin

Tratorria is now open in The Sovereign in Metrotown.
I walked by and found out that it opened 2 days ago.
Looks nice, on the expensive side but I'll certainly go to check it out.
Going to be great to have a place to get a drink near my house after work finally.

Has anyone been to either of the existing locations?

Been to the 4th Ave location many, many times and the Park Royal location 3x. Fairly good value especially on nights they offer 1/2 bottles of wine. Wish they offered more fish on the menu. Service can be a little rushed and they up-sell you quite a bit and want to turn tables over fast, typical of Glowbal establishments.

But with prices on par with Cactus and Earl's it's feels more like an independent restaurant, and a notch closer to fine-dining.

[whatnext]

I went by the JJ Bean on Cambie, it looks about ready to open. Looks like they kept a shadow of the old Cambie General Store sign for whatever reason:

[IMG][/IMG]
[IMG][/IMG]

[csbvan]

JJ Bean will be open tomorrow.

Also I see that Tractor from Kitsilano has opened a second location in the Marine Building:
http://scoutmagazine.ca/2015/02/27/d...rine-building/

[officedweller]

Good list of opening soon:

http://scoutmagazine.ca/anticipated-openings/

including Angus An opening on in the skinny yellow shuttered Chinatown building:

http://scoutmagazine.ca/2015/02/18/d...n-this-spring/

[djh]

Originally Posted by whatnext

I went by the JJ Bean on Cambie, it looks about ready to open. Looks like they kept a shadow of the old Cambie General Store sign for whatever reason:

Yep, they're opening tomorrow. Have been putting in the finishing touches and doing some testing for the last few days.

The reason behind the (IMO terrible) signage from the old Cambie General shop , was because they wanted to preserve something from the original shop, which was a classic "corner shop" and a mainstay of the neighbourhood, for decades.
There also used to be a lovely mural on that wall, with faces of all of the locals painted on it (you could just walk up to the artist and she would add you to the mural when she was making it). Anyway, they wanted to do something to respect that mural...but clearly that didn't work out

This was all told to me by the construction team, who are JJ Bean's in-house guys.

[Klazu]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Looks like they kept a shadow of the old Cambie General Store sign for whatever reason.

Yikes. You wouldn't think that a can of white paint is that much...

[officedweller]

Smaller incarnation of the Toys R Us / BOWMAC situation on Broadway (?)

[osirisboy]

Originally Posted by Klazu

Yikes. You wouldn't think that a can of white paint is that much...

It was likely intentional. Trying to be hipstery

[Vin]

And end up disastery

[VanK]

New Izakaya open on Cambie/Robson at the base of Hotel Blue called Black Rice. found it randomly after walkn by the Whitecaps game..not bad.

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by VanK

New Izakaya open on Cambie/Robson at the base of Hotel Blue called Black Rice. found it randomly after walkn by the Whitecaps game..not bad.

Thanks!

[LeftCoaster]

Went there when I was in town last week. Food was good and the owners were very friendly. Only weird thing is they were playing loud trance music the whole time. I have no problem with electro etc... but it was not the right venue/vibe at all.

All in all worth the visit though, especially if they work out their playlist!

[red-paladin]

The minibar at the Element at the Sovereign was so jam packed for a small bar it was like a commercial.

[Conrad Yablonski]

Originally Posted by red-paladin

The minibar at the Element at the Sovereign was so jam packed for a small bar it was like a commercial.

Where else is there for people to go in Burnaby?

Plus it's brand new.

[djh]

Originally Posted by osirisboy

It was likely intentional. Trying to be hipstery

Yeah, it is intentional.
When the construction manager was telling me the plan back in ?October? I visibly cringed. Now every time I see it, I just think it looks unfinished.

[memememe76]

A new Caffe Artigianno in the FortisBC Building on Georgia and Thurlow. Looks like more businesses along that section of street.

[mcminsen]

The new downtown Vancouver location of Prado Cafe (corner of Abbott and W. Hastings) looks just about ready to open. I took these pics today.

Here's what it used to look like on Google street view.

https://www.google.ca/maps/@49.28203...qA!2e0!6m1!1e1


March 17 '15, my pics

[csbvan]

Originally Posted by mcminsen

The new downtown Vancouver location of Prado Cafe (corner of Abbott and W. Hastings) looks just about ready to open. I took these pics today.

Here's what it used to look like on Google street view.

https://www.google.ca/maps/@49.28203...qA!2e0!6m1!1e1


March 17 '15, my pics

I saw some pics of the inside earlier today. It looks great.

[mcminsen]

And Tacomio is now open on Abbott Street at the other end of the building from Prado Cafe. Amazing transformation from when this used to be one of the seediest spots in the neighbourhood. I remember years ago always seeing that alley (beside Tacomio) full of addicts and dealers. Here's what it used to look like on Google street view:

https://www.google.ca/maps/@49.28154...rrW2RuKuOw!2e0


March 17 '15, my pics




^^^ Looks like Fhernando Llanas (the proprietor) sitting in the window.