FOOD / BEER
Prime patio picks for dining during the pandemic
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by Craig Takeuchi
and gratuities) of between $150 to $300 (depending on the time and day of the scheduled visit) is required for each dome. Reservations can be made online. The Secret Garden continues until May 2. Meanwhile, the establishment has also temporarily expanded its outdoor patio to offer more seats with views of Coal Harbour and the North Shore. These are available on a drop-in basis and depend upon weather conditions.
cross British Columbia, food and drink establishments have been busy shifting gears over the past few days to adapt to the new provincial health orders announced on March 29, which mandate the closure of all indoor dining services. With outdoor patio service still permitted (in addition to takeout, pickup, or delivery), numerous establishments were already prepared. Others have quickly adapted. If you’re considering dining out on a patio in the coming weeks, here are some fresh-air options to consider that you may have not been aware of.
EARLS POP-UP PATIOS
THE ROOF AT BLACK+BLUE
Black + Blue’s third-floor outdoor dining room and lounge The Roof (1032 Alberni Street) first opened in 2013. But on March 18, it reopened after a West Coast–inspired makeover that transformed the rooftop dining space and lounge into a gardenlike setting. With a palette of natural earth tones, the new design features warm millwork, wood-plank flooring, curved cedar booth seating, and integrated lighting. There are also greenery and floral accents, custom planter boxes, a grand garden pergola showpiece for both shade and style, suspended foliage, and a wooden feature
Earls has been busy transforming outdoor spaces into dining areas, such as the parking lot at its Fir Street location, which is now Tanqueray Terrace, complete with greenery, picnic tables, and a tent.
wall mounted with floating candles. The menu has also undergone a refresh, with grilled items such as beef, chicken, fish, and seafood, fresh oyster platters; a seafood tower; and salads. H TASTING LOUNGE’S SECRET GARDEN
We’ve been asked to stay in figurative social bubbles. But why not be in literal physical bubbles? That option is available at the H Tasting Lounge (1601 Bayshore Drive) at the
Westin Bayshore, Vancouver hotel, which launched the Secret Garden this month. Guests can dine in one of five translucent garden domes from noon until 10 p.m. every day for lunch and dinner service. Each dome, accented with floral touches and greenery, seats up to six people. Diners can order from a menu that spans octopus salad ($19), vegan burgers ($18), mushroom linguine ($29), and miso ling cod ($31). A minimum spending (before taxes
Three Earls locations are adapting to the current health orders by creating new outdoor patio spaces. At the Fir Street location (1601 West Broadway), the restaurant has transformed the parking lot into Tanqueray Terrace, with greenery and picnic tables. A tent will be added for rainy weather. And as an added bonus, it will have its own Tanqueray cocktail menu. In South Surrey, the newest Earls location, at 16071 24th Avenue, opened a new patio called Cornerside Patio. Meanwhile, Earls Bridge Park in Burnaby (3850 Lougheed Highway) already has a sizeable patio. But it’s also expanding its outdoor seating capacity by launching a new Backyard Patio next week, which will be located on grass facing Lougheed Highway. g
Astilleros Hibiscus Gose an unexpected favourite
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by Mike Usinger
Expect soft f loral notes and you won’t be disappointed, as La Cerveceria Astilleros’ Mexico-indebted Agua de Jamaica is delicate without being cloying or perfume-y. As an added bonus, it looks great, pouring a vibrant ruby red that will remind you of that time you spent a night drinking Blood of Christ cocktails at the fabulous El Garlochi bar in Seville. Interestingly, that establishment doesn’t serve beer. One might wonder if that’s only because the staff has never heard of La Cerveceria Astilleros Hibiscus Gose.
s a valuable public service, we taste the latest in Lower Mainland beers and then give you a highly opinionated, pocketsized review. ON TAP
La Cerveceria Astilleros Hibiscus Gose THEIR WORDS
“A bright and lively gose, with a gorgeous colour and aromatics of hibiscus leaves. ‘Agua de Jamaica’, which translates to ‘Water of Jamaica’, is a fresh, sweet, rosecoloured, hibiscus infused drink that is as common to Mexicans as Root Beer to Canadians. This beer will hopefully give you a taste of that culinary tradition.”
DEEP THOUGHTS
TASTE TEST
Well, one truly does learn something new every day. Past trips to Mexico have led to discovering the magic of chilaquiles, Tajin, and “Mal Hombre” by Lydia Mendoza. Not once did anyone ever hip us to the fact that hibiscus is good for something other than tea time at your neighbourhood retirement home. Like, for example,
Hibiscus Gose is great enough that it’s worth dealing with the hell of North Shore traffic.
making beer. In addition to Saaz hops, a good amount of hisbiscus flowers go into this refreshingly bright and lemony—but not overpoweringly so—gose.
Sometimes you discover a new favourite thing entirely by accident. Confession time: when it was time to leave East Van for the first time in four months, Hibiscus Gose wasn’t on the shopping list. Instead, it was La Cerveceria Astilleros’s yummy-sounding Acan “Chufa” Horchata Porter that made braving the bridge seem worth it. And, after stepping into the North Van brewery— where, as God is our witness, someone who looked like Bryan Adams was laying into a house-made taco at a table—the Salted Lime Lager became an instant must-have.
Anything horchata-related is a nobrainer, but why the Salted Lime Lager? Easy—in Mexico, you can’t swing a piñata pole without hitting limón-f lavoured potatos chips, limón-infused salt, and, most delicious of all, Sol Chelada Limón y Sal beer. In Canada, however, none of that is available no matter how much you’ve begged the staff at Los Guerreros Latin food products on Kingsway to help a hermano out. Anyhow, thanks to the endless traffice snarls on the North Shore, it took so long (as in a good half-hour) to get from the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge to La Cerveceria Astilleros that something extra had to be done to make the endless journey worth it. So a four-pack of Hibiscus Gose joined the stack of Salted Lime Lager and Acan “Chufa” Horchata Porter. The gose instantly became the favourite and remains so today. How good is it? Sometimes when you’re crawling along a North Van arterial route, managing a quarter-block every three traffic-light changes, you need the promise of something special to help keep your eyes on the prize. Hibiscus Gose is that prize. g
APRIL 8 – 15 / 2021
THE GEORGIA STR AIGHT
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