MAP 1: 602 Seymour St., 604/313-1333, www.peacefulrestaurant.com; 11am-9:30pm Sun.-Thurs., 11am-10pm Fri.-Sat.
JAPANESE
S Guu Garden $$
Part of a local minichain of izakayas, lively Guu Garden serves Japanese tapas designed to share, like grilled black cod cheeks, crispy cauliflower karaage, and sashimi-style tuna tataki, to pair with sake, shochu, or Japanese beer. Guu is on the top floor of a downtown complex with a similarly named eatery on the main level, so be sure to go upstairs.
sushi at Guu Garden
MAP 1: 888 Nelson St., 604/899-0855, www.guu-izakaya.com/garden; 11:30am-2:30pm and 5:30pm-midnight Mon.-Thurs., 11:30am-2:30pm and 5:30pm-12:30am Fri., noon-3pm and 5:30pm-12:30am Sat., noon-3pm and 5:30pm-midnight Sun.
Hokkaido Ramen Santouka $
In the West End, there are ramen shops on seemingly every corner. At Hokkaido Ramen Santouka, the local outpost of a Japan-based noodle shop chain, the signature dish is tokusen toroniku ramen, a rich, almost creamy soup made from pork cheek meat. This ramen revelation is worth the inevitable queue, but lingering in this cramped space is discouraged, so diners slurp and move on. There’s another location on Broadway near Cambie Street.
MAP 1: 1690 Robson St., 604/681-8121, www.santouka.co.jp; 11am-11pm daily
Miku $$$
For sushi with a water view, visit Miku, an upscale Japanese dining room opposite Canada Place downtown. They’re known for aburi sushi, fresh fish seared with a blowtorch, but any of their raw fish options should please nigiri and maki lovers. The waterside location and the solicitous service make a meal here feel like a classy night out.
MAP 1: 200 Granville St., 604/568-3900, www.mikurestaurant.com; 11:30am-3pm and 5pm-10:30pm daily
Japadog $
A unique-to-Vancouver mash-up of hot dogs and Japanese flavors, fast-casual Japadog concocts their signature sausages, like the kurobuta pork terimayo, sauced with teriyaki, mayonnaise, and seaweed, at a diminutive downtown counter-service restaurant and at two downtown food trucks.
VANCOUVER’S FOOD TRUCKS
Vancouver’s growing fleet of food trucks park downtown, purveying a global gamut of meals to go. A cluster of trucks sets up shop around the Vancouver Art Gallery along Howe and Hornby Streets, some park near the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on Cambie and Georgia Streets, while others locate closer to the waterfront along Burrard and Thurlow Streets. Most operate 11am or 11:30am to 2:30pm or 3pm.
The Kaboom Box, one of downtown Vancouver’s food trucks
The best way to find what trucks are where is with the Vancouver Street Food app (http://streetfoodapp.com/vancouver), which also lists truck locations online. Some favorites include:
• Mom’s Grilled Cheese (Howe St. at Robson St. and W. Cordova St. at Hornby St., http://momsgrilledcheesetruck.com) for, as you’d expect, grilled cheese sandwiches
• Le Tigre Cuisine (check their Twitter feed @LeTigreTruck for locations, www.letigrecuisine.ca) for Asian-fusion fare, including kick-ass fried rice
• The Kaboom Box (Granville St. at W. Georgia St., www.thekaboombox.com) for hot smoked salmon sandwiches
• Yolk’s Breakfast Street Meet Truck (Burrard St. at W. Pender St., http://yolks.ca; generally 8am-2pm Mon.-Fri.) for free-range egg sandwiches and fresh beignets
• Aussie Pie Guy (check website for locations, www.aussiepieguy.com) for handheld Australian-style meat or vegetable pies
MAP 1: 530 Robson St., 604/569-1158, www.japadog.com; 10am-10pm Mon.-Thurs., 10am-midnight Fri.-Sat., 10am-9pm Sun.
FRENCH
Le Crocodile $$$
Classic French cuisine never goes out of style at Le Crocodile, a long-standing downtown favorite, where standards from la belle France are updated with west coast ingredients. Grilled salmon sauced with a saffron velouté, locally raised duck breast served with foie gras in an apple cider reduction, and rack of lamb with a mustard sabayon are just some of the menu offerings. Expect white tablecloths and polished service, appropriate for a business lunch or a special night out.
MAP 1: 909 Burrard St., Ste. 100, 604/669-4298, http://lecrocodilerestaurant.com; 11:30am-2:30pm and 5:30pm-10pm Mon.-Thurs., 11:30am-2:30pm and 5:30pm-10:30pm Fri., 5:30pm-10:30pm Sat.
SPANISH
España Restaurant $$
At España Restaurant, a narrow storefront tapas bar in the West End, you could almost be in Spain, though here, some of the Spanish classics, like sautéed padron peppers, fried anchovies, or paella, might be made with Pacific Northwest ingredients. To drink, try a sherry flight or choose from the list of Spanish wines by the glass. The restaurant is tiny, and they don’t take reservations, so don’t be in a rush to sit down—just relax, you’re (almost) in Spain!
MAP 1: 1118 Denman St., 604/558-4040, www.espanarestaurant.ca; 5pm-late daily
BREAKFAST AND BRUNCH
Medina Café $
Expect a queue at cheerful window-lined Medina Café, which is known for its sugar-studded Liège waffles (check out the waffle case on the dark wood counter) and for its North African-influenced brunch fare downtown. Try the tagine, a flavorful vegetable stew topped with poached eggs, merguez sausage, and preserved lemon.
MAP 1: 780 Richards St., 604/879-3114, www.medinacafe.com; 8am-3pm Mon.-Fri., 9am-3pm Sat.-Sun.
GASTROPUBS
Timber $$
From the deep-fried cheese curds, ketchup chips, bison burgers, and mushroom poutine to the BeaverTail-like fried dough or the gooey butter tart, Timber, the all-Canadian gastropub at the West End’s Listel Hotel, serves fun updates on classic Canuck comfort food. The beer list trends toward local craft labels, or you can choose from several types of Caesars, Canada’s version of a Bloody Mary, made with Clamato juice. The TVs are tuned to hockey, of course.
smoked meat sandwich and fries at Timber
MAP 1: 300 Robson St., 604/661-2166, http://timbervancouver.com; noon-midnight Mon.-Wed., noon-1am Thurs.-Fri., 11am-1am Sat., 11am-midnight Sun.
DINERS
The Templeton $
Retro diner The Templeton, complete with tabletop jukeboxes and soda-fountain stools, has morphed into a cool purveyor of comfort foods among the downtown bars on the Granville strip. Dig into hearty plates of pancakes, creative omelets, or burgers, which you can pair with coffee or “big people drinks” (craft beer, local wines, and cocktails). Save room for an ice cream sundae or old-fashioned banana split.
MAP 1: 1087 Granville St., 604/685-4612, http://thetempleton.ca; 9am-11pm Mon.-Wed., 9am-1am Thurs.-Sun.
QUICK BITES
Meat and Bread $
Pull up a stool at the communal table in this downtown sandwich shop catering to the weekday lunch crowd. The signature sandwich at Meat and Bread is the hearty porchetta topped with salsa verde and crackling, but the simple menu typically includes several other varieties, perhaps roast chicken with pickled daikon and lemongrass-ginger sauce or an Indian-seasoned veggie sandwich packed with roast cauliflower, yams, and crispy chickpeas. A soup and a salad, which change daily, are the only accompaniments. There’s a branch in Gastown, too.
MAP 1: 1033 W. Pender St., http://meatandbread.ca; 11am-4pm Mon.-Fri.
Tractor Foods $
For a light and quick lunch of salads, soups, and sandwiches near Canada Place downtown, plow a path to cafeteria-style Tractor Foods. Salads come in small portions, so you can build your own salad plate; you can choose half or whole sandwiches, with options like grilled chicken, arugula, and pear or albacore tuna with pesto aioli. They have additional outlets in Kitsilano and the Olympic Village.
MAP 1: 335 Burrard St., 604/979-0500, www.tractorfoods.com; 7am-10:30am Mon.-Fri. and 11am-9pm daily
DESSERT
Bella Gelateria $
When a gelato maker is obsessive about fresh ingredients and traditional Italian techniques, naturally he and his team make Vancouver’s best gelato. Find it downtown at tiny Bella Gelateria, near the Fairmont Pacific Rim hotel. Expect a line, particularly on warm summer nights.
; MAP 1: 1001 W. Cordova St., 604/569-1010, http://bellagelateria.com; 11am-10pm Sun.-Thurs., 11am-11pm Fri.-Sat.
Snowy Village Dessert Café $
This West End dessert shop, a branch of an Asia-based chain, specializes in a creamy Korean shaved ice dessert called bingsoo. Order at the counter, where you top a melt-in-your-mouth mound of shaved ice with injeolmi (chewy sweet mochi-like rice cakes, piled with red beans and dusted with nutty soybean powder), green tea, Oreos, or fruit. Pull up a stool at one of the green tables to enjoy your treat; overflowing with toppings, they’re too large to eat on the go. Snowy Village also makes taiyaki, fish-shaped waffles filled with red beans, sweet potatoes, custard, or nutella. There’s another location in Richmond.
MAP 1: 1696 Robson St., 778/379-3884, http://snowyvillages.ca; 3pm-10pm Mon.-Thurs., 1pm-11:30pm Fri.-Sat., 1pm-10:30pm Sun.
FARMERS MARKETS
West End Farmers Market $
The West End Farmers Market purveys produce, baked goods, and prepared foods on Saturday from late May through late October. There’s always a line for the sweets at Purebread, and local cheesemaker Little Qualicum Cheeseworks frequently offers samples. Eli’s Serious Sausage, Yolk’s Breakfast, and Feastro-The Rolling Bistro (which specializes in local seafood) are among the several food trucks that regularly park here, and there’s usually a musician or two performing during market hours. Local distillers or craft breweries, like 33 Acres, offer tastings and sell their brews as well.
MAP 1: Comox St. at Thurlow St., www.eatlocal.org; 9am-2pm Sat. late May-late Oct.
COFFEE AND TEA
Caffé Artigiano $
Local Italian-style coffee chain Caffé Artigiano has several downtown branches, including this convenient location just off Robson Street, opposite the Vancouver Art Gallery. Come for the carefully prepared coffee, which they source from small producers around the world. The baristas here frequently win local competitions for their latte art. To pair with your drinks, they offer a small selection of pastries and sandwiches. There are three other center-city locations, as well as a branch in Yaletown.
MAP 1: 763 Hornby St., 604/694-7737, www.caffeartigiano.com; 5:30am-9pm Mon.-Fri., 6am-9pm Sat., 6am-8pm Sun.
Gastown and Chinatown Map 2
MODERN CANADIAN
S Chambar $$$
Combining tastes of North Africa and Belgium with local ingredients, Chambar pleases patrons all day in a window-lined rehabbed warehouse. Kick off your morning with a waffle studded with pearl sugar or breakfast paella topped with spicy sausage and a fried egg. Later, you might sup on Haida Gwaii halibut with sea asparagus or venison with fresh pasta and blue cheese. Moules frites (mussels with french fries) are a specialty.
MAP 2: 568 Beatty St., 604/879-7119, www.chambar.com; 8am-3pm and 5pm-late daily
S L’Abbatoir $$$
On the site of Vancouver’s first jail, transformed into a multilevel space with exposed brick and polished woods, Gastown’s L’Abbatoir detains diners with creative cocktails (how about an avocado gimlet with herb-infused gin, schnapps, avocado, and lime?) and a changing menu of west coast plates. Meat eaters might bite into pan-fried sweetbreads or roast lamb with marinated eggplant, while fish fans might favor baked oysters or charcoal-grilled rockfish with peas, potatoes, and clams. At brunch, order the oversize scone mounded with house-made jam and clotted cream.
MAP 2: 217 Carrall St., 604/568-1701, www.labattoir.ca; 5:30pm-10pm Mon.-Thurs., 5:30pm-10:30pm Fri., 10am-2pm and 5:30pm-10:30pm Sat., 10am-2pm and 5:30pm-10pm Sun.
Juniper Kitchen & Bar $$
From the sleek back-lit gray bar to the distillery-inspired copper light fixtures, this high-ceilinged Chinatown room emphasizes cocktails along with its modern Canadian fare. As the “juniper” name suggests, there’s a long list of gin and tonics, although local breweries and cideries are also well-represented. Share one of the charcuterie boards—they offer a changing selection of house-made seafood and meat options—or sample lamb and nettle pierogi, cider-braised mussels, or grilled arctic char with purple potatoes.
MAP 2: 185 Keefer St., 604/681-1695, www.junipervancouver.com; 4pm-late daily
ASIAN
Bao Bei Chinese Brasserie $$
At Bao Bei Chinese Brasserie, many of the menu items, from mantou (steamed buns) to fried rice, would be at home in a traditional Chinatown kitchen, but this modern lounge and eatery isn’t your grandmother’s Chinese restaurant. The buns are stuffed with pork belly and sweet peanuts, the fried rice is amped up with clams and salted halibut, and other dishes, like wok-charred octopus with mustard-root gnocchi, start in Asia but wander the world. To drink? Clever cocktails, like Cheung Po the Kid, which blends rum, Dubonnet, pomegranate molasses, and house-made Chinese plum bitters.
MAP 2: 163 Keefer St., 604/688-0876, www.bao-bei.ca; 5:30pm-midnight Mon.-Sat., 5:30pm-11pm Sun.
Pidgin $$
Dan dan “noodles” (made with kohlrabi instead of pasta), octopus glazed with miso and tamarind, or steak with wakame caponata are just a few of the Asian-inspired dishes that might grace your light wood table at this Gastown dining and drinking spot. Order a few plates to share and pair with drinks like the Tiki Tiki Tom Tom, a blend of cognac, carrot orange curaçao, maraschino, lemon, and bitters.
MAP 2: 350 Carrall St., 604/620-9400, www.pidginvancouver.com; 5pm-midnight Mon.-Sat., 6pm-midnight Sun.
JAPANESE
Taishoken Ramen $
The owners of Tsuki Sushi Bar run a busy Japanese noodle shop next door, Taishoken Ramen, where the specialty, in addition to bowls of hot noodle soup, is tsukemen, noodles served with a separate dipping broth.
MAP 2: 515 Abbott St., 778/737-3805; 11:30am-4pm and 5pm-9:30pm daily
Tsuki Sushi Bar $
Located opposite the International Village mall, casual Tsuki Sushi Bar does one thing and does it well: preparing fresh sushi and sashimi. See what’s on special, or try their chirashi bowl, an assortment of raw fish on rice.
MAP 2: 509 Abbott St., 604/558-3805, http://tsukisushibar.ca; 11:30am-2:30pm and 5pm-9:30pm Mon.-Fri., noon-3pm and 4:30pm-9pm Sat.
JAPANESE-ITALIAN
S Kissa Tanto $$
This intriguing mash-up of Japanese and Italian flavors, run by the same team that operates nearby Bao Bei Chinese Brasserie, is set in a classy second-floor Chinatown space that draws its design style from 1960s Tokyo jazz cafés. What’s Italian-Japanese food, you ask? The fun, adventurous menu might include pasta with pork and sake kasu ragu or albacore crudo with shiso vinaigrette, olives, and mustard greens. They serve plenty of eclectic cocktails, too.
MAP 2: 263 E. Pender St., 778/379-8078, www.kissatanto.com; 5:30pm-midnight Tues.-Sat.
ITALIAN
Ask for Luigi $$
Why should you Ask for Luigi? Because this highly regarded trattoria serves first-rate handmade pastas along with modern Italian small plates that might include crispy polenta with escargot and watercress or baccala (salt cod) fritters. They’ll open any bottle of wine on their list if you order two glasses. This small spot doesn’t take reservations, so expect a line. To find the restaurant, follow Alexander Street east from Gastown; Luigi is at the corner of Gore Avenue, one block east of Main.
MAP 2: 305 Alexander St., 604/428-2544, www.askforluigi.com; 11:30am-2:30pm and 5:30pm-10:30pm Tues.-Thurs., 11:30am-2:30pm and 5:30pm-11pm Fri., 9:30am-2:30pm and 5:30pm-11pm Sat., 9:30am-2:30pm and 5:30pm-9:30pm Sun.
FRIED CHICKEN
Juke $
This smart-casual Chinatown eatery has a single specialty: crisp and juicy fried chicken that will have you licking your fingers. The kitchen starts with locally raised birds, coats the pieces in a gluten-free batter, and fries them till the skin crackles and the meat is meltingly tender. Add a side or two, like fried brussels sprouts or nutty pork and peanut slaw. The joint is laid-back enough to bring the kids (during the day, you order at the counter), but with local microbrews and a full bar, it’s cool enough for the grown-ups.
fried chicken at Juke in Chi
natown
MAP 2: 182 Keefer St., 604/336-5853, www.jukefriedchicken.com; 11am-11pm daily
BREAKFAST AND BRUNCH
Jam Café $
Lines are common at Jam Café, a relaxed no-reservations import from Victoria, as hungry diners queue for overflowing plates of hearty breakfast and brunch fare. The red velvet pancakes are as big as a cake, while savory options include the Charlie Bowl (hash brown potatoes, crumbled biscuit, ham, and cheddar cheese topped with gravy and sunny-side eggs) and the Gravy Coupe (a biscuit piled with fried chicken and eggs slathered with sausage gravy).
MAP 2: 556 Beatty St., 778/379-1992, http://jamcafes.com; 8am-3pm daily
BAKERIES AND CAFÉS
Nelson the Seagull $
A popular destination for Gastown’s coffee drinkers, Nelson the Seagull, with classic schoolhouse-style wooden chairs on a historic tile floor, serves light breakfasts (poached eggs, avocado toasts), sandwiches, and salads to pair with your caffeine. They’re known for their bread as much as for their coffee.
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