Dinner at Bao Bei

The Stanley Park Seawall
2016 Vancouver, BC

Waking up on the final day of my Vancouver adventure, I was treated with my first sample of Pacific Northwest rain. In fact, it rained pretty much all morning and into the afternoon. This left me only two hours to take a stroll through Stanley Park, return back to the crib to wash up, and then head to my final dinner in Vancouver at Bao Bei Chinese Brasserie.

Bao Bei's neon sign
Photo Credit: Museum of Vancouver

Dinner at Blue Water Cafe

The day trip to Victoria, even with the aid of a point-to-point sea plane, was a lot to tackle in under 12 hours. By the time I arrived back at my room, I only had a few moments to wash up and head to dinner at the Blue Water Cafe.

The Blue Water Cafe - located in Vancouver's Yaletown neighborhood - has a reputation as one of Vancouver's greats for fresh seafood. This made its choice for my trip a no-brainer, as I was looking for restaurants that leveraged the local abundance in their cooking. Upon arriving, I was greeted by a vibrant restaurant with a lively outdoor cafe-like seating area. Entering the establishment, I was somewhat surprised to find a rather large open dining area with show kitchen, impressive aquarium-accented bar, and complete sushi and raw bar.

Day trip to Victoria

With the first two days used to discover some of Vancouver's choice neighborhoods, I decided to use day three to do a day trip to the capital of British Columbia, Victoria. There are two primary ways to get from Vancouver to Victoria. First, one can drive/bus to Tsawwassen ferry terminal, take a ferry to Schwartz Bay on Vancouver Island, and then drive/bus to Victoria. The other is a 30+ minute sea plane ride from harbor to harbor. Guess which choice I took?

de Havilland Twin Otter docked
2016 Vancouver, BC 

Dinner at Hawksworth

With day 2 of Bartcation 2016 in the books, I decided to turn up the culinary dial again by booking an early reservation at Chef David Hawksworth's restaurant that caries his namesake: Hawksworth. Located on the ground floor of the very chic Rosewood Hotel Georgia, upon walking in I was greeted with the very same ambiance: warm creams of the walls and furniture embraced by the dimly lit glow of a central chandelier, silky window treatments and candle light.

Inside Hawksworth
2016 Vancouver, BC

Vancouver Art Gallery & Granville Island

Day two in Vancouver got off to a pretty rocky start. The night before, after enjoying one of the better meals of the year, went off the hinges after I decided to do a mini bar crawl. Stops consisted of Guilt & Co., The Irish Heather, The Diamond, and The Alibi Room. I stuck to mostly beer, as I wanted to check out the local craft brew scene, as well as I wanted to survive after a dinner full of wine. Finally, I capped off the night with a delicious döner kebab... something I am surprised isn't as popular in the United States as it is elsewhere.

Needless to say, I woke up late and very hung over. I sucked it up, got in the shower to wash off last night's bar shenanigans, and headed out to get some coffee and get the day back on track. I picked up coffee and breakfast from JJ Bean, and then headed over to the Vancouver Art Gallery.

Vancouver Art Gallery
Vancouver, BC

Dinner at L'Abattoir

As many of my long-time friends know, a Bart-cation is not complete without a culinary odyssey (or two). This odyssey doesn't have to be at some multi-Michelin starred restaurant with a wine cellar stocked with twenty thousand dollar bottles of Romanée-Conti. I look for good food that highlights local ingredients and staples, and whose flavors tell a story. After doing a little research prior to my trip, I settled on a well-regarded restaurant in the Gastown neighborhood called L'Abattoir. As the name suggests, L'Abattoir highlights west coast fare through French technique and influence.

Upon entering L'Abattoir

Upstairs main dining area

Upon entering this bi-level restaurant, one is greeted to an airy bar area, and a staircase to the main dining area. I arrived a little after the restaurant opened for its dinner session, and the bar was starting to fill with people either looking for a casual atmosphere, or some hors d'ourves and a drink before another dining option. I was greeted by the lovely hostess, and brought upstairs to a two-top along the brick wall that overlooked the bar area. This perch offered some excellent people watching in between courses. The waiter soon followed the hostess, leaving the dinner menu and many decisions to be made.

Coal Harbour, Lunch at Gyoza Bar and Gastown

Day 1 in Vancouver was structured light on purpose, as the 6 AM flight from SFO necessitated a 4 AM pick-up, and a 3:15 AM wake-up. The fact that I stayed up past 11 PM without a recharging nap is really quite remarkable. What didn't help was upon exiting the Sky Train that took me from YVR to the city center, I was greeted with a delightful 8 block walk to where I was staying, luggage (for 2 weeks) and all!

The AirBnB I selected was located on W. Georgia Street, which happens to be the main east-west thoroughfare through the city center. It was located 4 blocks from the entrance of Stanley Park, and 2 blocks from the Coal Harbour waterfront. It was a clean, small room with a full sized IKEA bed and an attached bathroom. By far the best thing about it was the view.

A room with a view.
2016 Vancouver, BC.

Initial thoughts on Vancouver

It's day 4 of Bartcation 2016, and I find myself sitting at a neighborhood JJBean coffee shop in the heart of Coal Harbor. To my right, a delightfully attractive lady does the sudoku in the paper while taking a break from her office tedium. To my left sits my sublime decaf soy latte; the remnants of the leaf design in the foam having fully faded away.

It's cloudy, cool, and drizzling on and off. Today was supposed to be my day to check out Stanley Park, but that isn't going to be happen. As if by some sort of divine intervention, Vancouver is making me come back in the near future.... and leaving me something else to do in case experiencing it's treasures a second time wasn't enough.