FOOD

FOOD / BEER Prime patio picks for dining during the pandemic

by Craig Takeuchi

Across 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.

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.

Hibiscus Gose is great enough that it’s worth dealing with the hell of North Shore traffic.

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 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.

EARLS POP-UP PATIOS 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

by Mike Usinger

As 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.”

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, 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.

Expect soft floral 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.

DEEP THOUGHTS 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-flavoured 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

ARTS Mozaico’s fancy footwork makes virtual transition

by Charlie Smith

Flamenco is hot and unpredictable. According to the artistic director of Vancouver-based Mozaico Flamenco, Kasandra “La China”, that’s because it’s a live art form that thrives on the interaction of a guitarist, singers, hand clappers, and the dancer.

“A lot of it is improvised in the moment,” she told the Straight by phone. “The audience is a huge part of what we do.”

But when there’s a ban on live events and audiences are forbidden from attending venues due to the pandemic, this entails improvisation of a different form. And “La China” is hoping that her solution—a prerecorded production of three celebratory solos offered through the Dance Centre—will still bring her fans to their feet, albeit from the comfort of their own homes.

“La China” stressed that she stayed away from the deeply profound numbers that flamenco is famous for.

“I thought it would be too depressing,” she said.

Instead, she will open with “Tangos del Titi”. For this cheeky performance, she will don a bright yellow dress and an equally bright red hat. “Titi” has many meanings in Spanish, “La China” said, but in this instance it refers to a person’s aunt.

Next, she’ll perform an allegria from the beach town of Cadiz, which is often the first port of call in Europe for cruise ships.

“Allegria means joy and happiness,” she noted.

Both of these performances will feature Peter Mole on guitar and Maria Avila as the singer.

Her final number will be an original composition by Cuban-born musical artist Josué Tacoronte, who has been playing for “La China” for years. She said that this will be a “Colombianas”, which is inspired by Colombia and tells the story of Spaniards who travelled to and from that part of the world.

“We usually don’t do it in Vancouver because it requires expertise from Latin American countries,” she explained. “I have a piece from him that’s four minutes.”

“La China” revealed that this one will feature her rapid footwork along with percussion and a big Chinese fan belt. So it will be up to videographer Chris Randle to pull all of “La China’s” moves together in the editing bay.

“This is going to be more of a technological feat, because I cut multiple versions of myself dancing,” she said.

“La China” is grateful that the Dance Centre, the Shadbolt Centre, and Small Stage have continued supporting flamenco performances despite the pandemic. She contrasted this with the situation in Spain, where COVID-19 has delivered a devastating blow to this art form.

“I actually think the industry is quite decimated because they’re in the third wave there,” she said. “And the government ceases to support it in any way.”

That has resulted in the closure of famous Spanish flamenco venues, which means some of the world’s best musicians and dancers are now unemployed.

“So we’re seeing a lot of them turn to carpentry and trades now, which is quite depressing,” she said. “Here in Vancouver, I feel like the dance scene is trying to maintain a sense of vibrancy as much as it possibly can.” g

Kasandra “La China” normally dances in front of live crowds, but nowadays her performances are virtual. Photo by Sanka Dee.

The Dance Centre will stream Mozaico Flamenco on demand from April 15 to 28 as part of its Discover Dance! series.

Five gallery picks for Capture photography fest

by Steve Newton and Charlie Smith

B.C.’s art galleries and museums are among the few public spaces currently open under the latest provincial health guidelines.

Here’s a roundup of five exhibitions currently showing or opening soon as part of the Capture Photography Festival.

FEAST FOR THE EYES To May 30 at the Polygon Gallery (101 Carrie Cates Court, North Vancouver) This visual feast features photographs of food like you’ve never seen before. Curated by Susan Bright and Denise Wolff, it includes the work of Cindy Sherman, Andy Warhol, Nobuyoshi Araki, and more than 50 other lens-based artists. No wonder it’s one of the featured exhibitions at this year’s Capture festival.

STILL VANCOUVER April 15 to 29 at Kurbatoff Gallery (2435 Granville Street) Photographic artist Gregory Geipel sees fixtures in Vancouver’s urban landscape that are often overlooked by the rest of us. As we’re caught up in the hustle and bustle of a growing city, his images are a reminder that some things remain timeless.

Check out art that’s good enought to eat, including Sharon Core’s Early American—Still Life With Oranges, at the Polygon Gallery. C-print courtesy artist and Yancey Richardson Gallery. SOON April 22 to May 29 at Monte Clark Gallery (53 Dunlevy Avenue) Artist Vilhelm Sundin’s work relies on sound, computer-generated graphics, and lens-based media to explore how photography intersects with cinema. Some of the images also convey the feeling of living in the midst of dizzying technological change.

THINGS MY DAD TAUGHT ME To May 15 at Gallery Gachet (9 West Hastings Street) This exhibition features 12 images created by photographer Jackie Dives in response to her father’s death from an accidental overdose. “Since his death, I have been visiting places that remind me of him,” she says on the Capture Photography Festival website. “I go to the housing co-op where I grew up, to the swimming pool we used to go, to his old apartments, and the last place I saw him alive. Along the way I stop to take photographs of things that resonate with me as I reflect on our relationship, my childhood, and the things he taught me.”

EXCLUSION ACTS To May 29 at Centre A (268 Keefer Street, #205) Hong Kong–born, Toronto-raised artist Will Kwan examines some bizarre and systemic ways in which beliefs and social relations are shaped by economic ideology. This includes works exploring how neoliberal rhetoric reinforces the racialization of low wages. Curated by Henry Heng Lu, it’s timely, given how the pandemic has exacerbated the divide between rich and poor. g