Vancouver magazine, November2016 by NextHome

Astronaut Wives: Chinese Spouses Living a World Apart THE HOTTEST RESTAURANTS IN VICTORIA W HO CONTROLS THE LIONS GATE BRIDGE? // THE CANUCKS BR AV E A POST PL AYOFF BACKL ASH // & MORE

Gift Guide SHOP CITY NEIGHBOURHOOD BY NEIGHBOURHOOD, SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE ON YOUR LIST

the

The Holiday Haul Get all the goods in an afternoon with our block-by-block shopping picks.

the essence of seaside living AVENUEONE.CA 1, 2 & 3 BEDROOMS AVAILABLE COMING SOON | REGISTER NOW

All illustrations reflect the artist's interpretation of the project and do not take into account the neighboring buildings, physical structures, streets and landscape. The developer reserves the right to make modifications, substitutions, change brands, sizes, colours, layouts, materials, ceiling heights, features & finishes and other specifications without prior notification. This is not an offering for sale. Any such offer may only be made with the applicable disclosure statement and agreement of purchase and sale. Concord Avenue One Limited Partnership. E & O.E.

CANADAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S LARGEST COMMUNITY BUILDER

KITSMAS ON WEST 4TH AVE

Meet me under the mistletoe November 24th - December 24th

SPOT THE MISTLETOE SANTA LETTER MAILBOXES FREE GIFTS WHILE YOU SHOP DONATIONS IN SUPPORT OF CANUCK PLACE COMPLIMENTARY VALET PARKING (THURS/FRI/SAT) FOR EVENT DETAILS

WEST 4th SHOPWEST4TH.COM #KITSMASSHOPWEST4TH.COM

“As far as I’m concerned, there are only two really important decisions in a cook’s life: choosing a mate and buying a chef’s knife. If that seems like an overstatement, you just haven’t found the right knife.” — Russ Parsons, former L.A. Times food writer

High Performance Japanese Kitchen Knives 4215 Main Street • 604-215-1033 • knifewear.com • @knifewearYVR

UNIQUE STYLE. YOUR WAY. T H E PA N D O R A S T O R E AT

WILLOWBROOK SHOPPING CENTRE • RICHMOND CENTRE METROPOLIS AT METROTOWN • PACIFIC CENTRE • PARK ROYAL

VA N M AG . C O M

N OV E M B E R 2 0 1 6 // VO LU M E 4 9 // N U M B E R 9

FE ATURES

Gift Guide

Shop your favourite neighbourhood and check off everyone on your list with our annual guide to the best giftables in Vancouver.

Astronaut Wives For many Chinese spouses who have made a home here in Vancouver, living a world away from their partners has become the new reality. What life is like— and how they get by.

COVER PHOTO: E YDÍS EINARSDÓT TIR , ST YLING BY: NICOLE SJÖSTEDT

City

Taste

Play

19 At Issue The real cost of missing the playoff s.

27 The Dish This $100 steak dish is worth the splurge.

55 Travel Brave Victoria on the off-season and be rewarded with foodiefriendly delights.

22 City Informer You asked, we answered: who controls the counterflow lane?

28 Reviews Swanky seafood, roadhouse BBQ and giant pastrami sandwiches.

24 Show and Tell Vancouver welcomes the world’s tallest timber tower.

30 Sips The best whisky, beer and wine for some holiday cheer(s).

32 Taste Test We asked British expats to find the city's top scones.

58 Personal Space A Fraserhood church gets a second life as a private art studio.

60 Hot Take Our fave festive looks for holiday party season.

34 Moveable Feast Eat your way down Yew Street. VA N M A G . C O M N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 6

ed-1 1

Editorial Director Anicka Quin Art Director Paul Roelofs Executive Editor Stacey McLachlan Senior Editor Trevor Melanson Food Editor Neal McLennan Associate Art Director Natalie Gagnon Associate Editor Julia Dilworth Online Coordinator Kaitlyn Gendemann Videographer Mark Philps Contributing Editor Amanda Ross Editorial Interns Daniela Rodriguez Chevalier, Julianna Sonntag Art Intern Marina Bender Editorial Email edit1@vanmag.com

Vancouver Office Suite 560, 2608 Granville St. Vancouver, B.C., V6H 3V3 604-877-7732

East India Carpets D I S T I N C T I V E D E S I G N S S I N C E 19 4 8

1606 West 2nd at Fir Armoury District Vancouver Mon-Sat 10-5:30 604 736 5681 eastindiacarpets.com CARPET CLEANING AND RESTORATION SERVICES AVAILABLE

VANCOUVER MAGAZINE is published 10 times a year by Yellow Pages Homes Ltd. Copyright 2016. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be reproduced without the publisherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s written permission. Not responsible for unsolicited editorial material. Privacy Policy: On occasion, we make our subscriber list available to carefully screened organizations whose product or service might interest you. If you prefer that we not share your name and address (postal and/or email), you can easily remove your name from our mailing lists by reaching us at any of the listed contact points. You can review our complete Privacy Policy at Vanmag.com. Indexed in the Canadian Magazine Index by Micromedia Ltd. and also in the Canadian Periodical Index. International standard serial no. ISSN 0380-9552. Canadian publications mail product sales agreement #40068973. Printed in Canada by Transcontinental Printing G.P. (LGM Graphics), 737 Moray St., Winnipeg, MB, R3J 3S9. All reproduction requests must be made to: COPIBEC (paper reproductions) 800-717-2022, or CEDROM-SNi (electronic reproductions) 800-563-5665. Distributed by Coast to Coast Ltd.

VA N M A G . C O M N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 6 2016-09-20 3:55 PM

NOLL ARCLINEA ARPER BOCCI DADA E15 FLOS FOSCARINI FLOU HERMAN MILLER KARTELL KNOLL LIGNE ROSET MINOTTI MOLTENI&C POLTRONA FRAU PAOL LLER MOOOI POLTRONA FRAU PAOLA LENTI PORRO RODA TECHNOGYM LIVING DIVANI MDF ITALIA DADA E15 FLOS FOSCARINI FLOU HERMAN MILLER KARTE

1706 WEST 1ST AVE ARMOURY DISTRICT VANCOUVER 604 683 1116 LIVINGSPACE.COM

Client: C|Prime / Size: 4.6” X 4.9” / CMYK / Vancouver Magazine

General Manager Dee Dhaliwal Senior Sales Manager, Western Canada Edwin Rizarri Account Managers Deanna Bartolomeu, Judy Johnson

A NEW YORK ITALIAN STEAKHOUSE IN THE HEART OF DOWNTOWN VANCOUVER Reflected in its carefully crafted menu, C|Prime puts a premium on locally sourced and curated ingredients. Using the finest cuts of BC-raised meats, fresh seafood, vegetables and cheeses paired with innovative, rich sauces and salts, the restaurant offers incomparable dishes that showcase both Italian and New York inspired flavours.

Sales Coordinators Karina Platon, Theresa Tran Production Manager Lee Tidsbury Advertising Designer Swin Nung Chai Marketing & Events Manager Dale McCarthy Event Coordinator Laura Lilley Marketing Assistant Kaitlyn Lush Administrative Assistant Kaitlyn Gendemann Sales Email karina.platon@ypnexthome.ca

Located in the Century Plaza Hotel

1015 Burrard Street Vancouver, BC V6Z 1Y5 T (604) 684 3474 F (604) 682 5790

W W W. C P R I M E . C A

tled-3 1

Vancouver Office Suite 560, 2608 Granville St. Vancouver, B.C., V6H 3V3 604-877-7732

2016-06-08 4:15 PM

ypnexthome.ca President Jacky Hill Director, National Sales & Channel Management, Lifestyle Nadine Starr National Sales Manager, Channel Management, Lifestyle Ian Lederer National Sales Director Moe Lalani

ondion w

Capella 2014

points

ondion w

Visit our tasting room: 2568 Upper Bench Rd, Keremeos, BC Open 7 days a week | 250-499-2831 @Closdusoleil VA N M A G . C O M N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 6

Signature 2013

Look for our wines at your favourite wine shop or restaurant. Buy from our OnLine store: closdusoleil.ca

om •

e. c

om •

e. c

points

i nd

ny Gismo tho

. • www

• www

ny Gismo tho

i nd

OLD WORLD ELEGANCE...NEW WORLD EDGE!

Director of Content Susan Legge Yellow Pages NextHome Head Office 500–401 The West Mall Etobicoke, Ontario, M9C 5J5 855-626-4200 Fax: 416-789-9705 U.S. Sales Representation, Media-Corps 1-866-744-9890 info@media-corps.com subscriptions inquiries 800-363-3272

Yellow Pages Digital and Media Solutions Ltd. Vice-President & Chief Publishing Officer Caroline Andrews

Bespoke Interiors Bring Luxury to Life Steps from Coal Harbourâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s legendary seawall, moments from Stanley Park, Carderoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s meticulously curated interiors stand among the finest in the world. Imported Italian kitchens are crafted by master artisans, and innovation is integrated throughout for enhanced form and function.

Only 12 ownership opportunities remain. From $2,243,900 to $2,994,900, by appointment only.

604.568.5888 bosaproperties.com Cardero is developed by Bosa Properties (Cardero) Inc. Renderings, sketches, layouts and finishes are representational only. E. & O. E.

We’re All Seeking Human Connection Searching for a way beyond words to find personal happiness.

when my grandparents emigrated from Slovakia to a small farm in northern Ontario back in 1933, life for them was a hard scrabble. For my grandfather, Canada was a place to find work; for my grandmother, a home where her daughters and granddaughters would have a chance at an education. (Back home, vet school hadn’t been an option for Slovak girls, so as a teenager my grandmother would hide in the long grass to watch her father perform surgeries on the animals—a stolen skill she brought over with her to her new farm home in Canada.) But that promise of opportunity turned into loneliness in their isolated community. My grandfather would leave the farm for long stretches to work in the mines; my grandmother, meanwhile, worked the farm alone, with little opportunity to meet people or learn English. Her kids did grow up to get the education she’d hoped for, but her grandchildren—my cousins and me—spoke a language she didn’t know, and she was never able to sit and talk with us the way she would have liked to. Her social isolation was more clear to me as an adult, when I had the opportunity to return to her village after she’d passed away. Houses—some which had been in the family for centuries—were clustered together, and family was central. Hard as life was when they left, neither of my grandparents was prepared for the social challenges of their new country, which at times can feel even harder than what you’ve left behind. I was thinking of my grandmother while reading Frances Bula’s story for this issue,

VA N M A G . C O M N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 6

“Astronaut Wives” (page 44), and I was struck by how universal the immigrant experience can be. Bula earned rare access to private lives for this piece, speaking with women who moved to Vancouver with their families looking for a better life, only to see that family fractured as their husbands were forced to move back to cities across China to support them from afar. It’s a revealing look at the emotional struggles many immigrant women still face today— and a beautiful read. For my own grandmother, life did get better. She moved into town, the farm was downscaled to a garden in the backyard, and she grew to know neighbours that were a few steps away, not miles. I think back on how she often broke into a song or kicked up a dance with us at late-night family parties, and how, like the women in Bula’s story who take dance classes together at their local community centre, that singing and dancing became her way of communicating with us. For her then, as for the women today that we feature in this issue, it was about finding a way beyond words to find that human connection that we all rely on.

Coming Up Next Issue Power 50 Our annual investigation into who holds real influence in this city, from real estate moguls to social justice advocates.

Inside Insite As fentanyl continues to ravage the Downtown Eastside, what it’s like on the front lines.

Anicka Quin editorial director

anick a . quin @vanmag . com

PORTRAIT: EVA AN KHERA J; ST YLING BY LUISA RINO, MAKEUP BY MEL ANIE NEUFELD; DRESS COURTESY NORDSTROM; WATCH COURTESY TIFFANY & CO. PHOTOGRAPHED AT THE AVIARY, THEAVIARY.CA . CHURCH: CARLO RICCI.

ED NOTE

MOST TECHNOLOGICALLY ADVANCED MINIVAN EVER*

AVAILABLE 8-PASSENGER SEATING

YOU’LL WONDER HOW WE EVER MADE ROOM FOR 8.

NEW STOW 'N GO® ASSIST

The Chrysler Pacifica is full of nice surprises. You can choose between Best-in-Class power and highway fuel economy * in the award-winning 3.6L Pentastar V6 engine or the first-ever hybrid electric minivan with up to 97 MPGe†^, coming soon. It seems we found room to accommodate everything. Except compromise.

THE ALL-NEW

2017

NEW EASY-TILT SEATS

CHRYSLER PACIFIC A

TRI-PANE PANORAMIC SUNROOF^

ALL-NEW UCONNECT® THEATRE^

HANDS-FREE POWER SLIDING DOORS AND LIFTGATE^

STOW 'N VAC^

F I N D O U T W H Y W E ’ R E

CANADA’S #1 SELLING AUTOMAKER§ CHRYSLER.CA

*Based on the latest available competitive information for minivans in the WardsAuto Small Van segment (Honda Odyssey, Toyota Sienna, Kia Sedona). Excludes other vehicles designed and manufactured by FCA US LLC. Best-in-Class highway fuel economy – as efficient as 8.4 L/100 km (34 mpg) highway based on EnerGuide fuel consumption ratings. †Estimated figures based on latest available manufacturer testing data of pre-production models and Government of Canada approved test methods. Le/100 km is an equivalent measure of gasoline fuel consumption for electric energy consumed by Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV) operating in electric mode during city driving. Miles per gallon equivalent (MPGe) estimated ratings based on imperial gallon. Actual results may vary. Use for comparison purposes only. §Based on Canadian 2015 calendar year sales. ^Available

Letters

@VA N M AG _ C O M

AROUND TOWN

Letters, etc.

Tweet, message, ’gram or email us at edit1@vanmag.com —we love to hear from our readers!

Options Aplenty Our food lover’s guide to Hastings-Sunrise—a roundup of culinary destinations in Vancouver’s northeast—was a hit with foodies online, though some felt there were glaring omissions.

Laneway Living See for yourself how bright pops of colour and industrial details came together in this cool Vancouver live/work laneway house, part of this year’s Modern Architecture and Design Society Home Tour.

Lyn: A couple of serious omissions in this article! This neighbourhood wouldn’t be what it is without Laughing Bean Coffee, the Slocan Restaurant, Bau Chao and What’s Up? Hot Dog! Greg: And you also forgot to add Scandilicious on Victoria Drive, which has been in this ‘hood for over 18 years. What’s Up? Hot Dog!: Take a list class, VanMag. (Editor's note: ouch.)

@noshandnibble: Sweet pad! @dawnrobirtis: Love the warm wood mixed with the sleek look. @haramleehrl: Love the rug!

Find these web exclusives at vanmag.com CIT Y

How VIFF Is Reinventing Itself for a New Audience While cinema remains at the heart of the Vancouver International Film Festival, organizers are trying to woo TV fans and gamers.

Building Up In September, we hosted architect Michael Green (pictured left) as part of our regular speaker series at Brian Jessel BMW. Green believes tall wood towers, like the new student residence at UBC, are on the verge of taking off globally—and that the designing and production of them could grow into a major export for B.C.

CULTURE

PL AY

Craft Beer and Pizza? R&B Brewing’s Ale and Pizza House Is Here East Van legends R&B Brewing have unveiled the fruits of their recent labour. And the result? Visit us online to find out.

VA N M A G . C O M N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 6

HASTINGS-SUNRISE: PAGE AND PAPER

Condo of the Week Each week, we feature a new condo for sale in the city. In September, we showed off a Cambie condo that, while not huge on the inside, was definitely sizable on the outside.

Flawless Designs by Palladio

Official dealer of: Rolex

•

Vacheron Constantin

Parmigiani Fleurier

•

Officine Panerai

Carl F. Bucherer

•

Backes & Strauss

H. Moser & Cie

•

Raymond Weil

Franck Muller

SPEAKER

POWER

EVENT

SERIES

The Brian Jessel M Power Series features a new format in 2016: an indepth, one-on-one conversation with the inﬂuencers that shape our city.

ONE–ON–ONE WITH WENDY LISOGAR-COCCHIA NOVEMBER 15, 2016 Entrepreneurial Spirit

Join editorial director Anicka Quin in conversation with Wendy Lisogar-Cocchia, as she shares how she’s brought an entrepreneurial spirit to all aspects of her life, whether in business, philanthropy or her trailblazing efforts to launch the $28-million dollar Pacific Autism Family Centre. Wendy Lisogar-Cocchia is an entrepreneur and philanthropist fueled by the desire to make her community a better place to live, work and raise a family. Wendy is the CEO of Century Plaza Hotel & Spa, Soluzione Spa Products and Absolute Spa Group, and most recently, she co-founded the Pacific Autism Family Centre Foundation.

TICKETS: $25

SCHEDULED DATE:

TIME:

LOCATION:

Partial proceeds donated towards the speaker’s charity of choice.

November 15, 2016

6 P.M. to 8 P.M.

Brian Jessel BMW 2311 Boundary Rd., Vancouver

Thank you to our event partners.

LO CA L C U LT U R E / TA M I N G L I O N S G AT E / WO O D, R E I M AG I N E D

VA N M AG .C O M/C I T Y

City

AT ISSUE

Offside

JASON SNYDER

For the Vancouver Canucks, missing the playoffs is particularly costly—in the most literal sense.

FROM HIS PAIR of lower-bowl seats in Rogers Arena, Glen Mund had a particularly good view of the ice. But for the first time since 2001, he won’t be there this fall, and for the Vancouver Canucks that’s a problem. A record number of season ticket holders, the team’s most dedicated fans, are expected to break their relationship this year—at a loss of $10,000 in Mund’s case alone— adding to a series of financial headaches for what was once one of the most lucrative franchises in the National Hockey League. It’s a brouhaha the team has not faced in over a decade. Season ticket sales are down 30 percent from last season, TV viewership has declined from 500,000 in 2011 to 275,000 today, and a low j

VA N M A G . C O M N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 6

City

LOCAL C U LT U R E

AT I S S U E

The fans are not sold, and so they've walked away from the game.” BA I L E Y, VA NC OU V E R T IC K E T A N D T OU R S E RV IC E

Canadian dollar is eating into the Canucks’ bottom line. Meanwhile, the team’s solutions (fluctuating ticket pricing, for example) aren’t satisfying the bread and butter of the team’s base: season ticket holders like Mund. It’s a far cry from the Luongo era that reached its peak in 2011, when the Canucks came cringingly close to winning their first Stanley Cup. While the company owned and operated by the Aquilini family does not disclose financials, a November 2015 analysis by Forbes pegged the franchise’s total valuation at $745 million (U.S.), down seven percent from the year before. Moreover, the team’s pre-tax profit dropped to $36 million from $47 million. “The expectations of fans have been so high for so long that even just missing the playoffs makes it feel like the team is at the bottom of the standings,” says Tom Mayenknecht, a sports business commentator and host on TSN 1040. Consequently, fans aren’t willing to pay what they once were to watch a game. Leading up to the 2011 playoffs, tickets sometimes sold for five or six times their stated value. Contrast that with the end of last season, when tickets were selling for as low as $10, according to Kingsley Bailey, general manager of Vancouver Ticket and Tour Service. And then there are season ticket holders, who once filled 17,000 of the arena’s 18,000 seats. Between 2014 and 2015, renewal rates fell from 95 percent to 90 percent. This year, they may have fallen as low as 75 percent, according to Bailey, who bases his calculation off current ticket availabilities. “The fans are not sold, and so they’ve walked away from the game,” he says. Foremost among their

VA N M A G . C O M N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 6

grievances is the drop in the price of single-game tickets while the team has kept season ticket prices flat. “The lack of respect that we get is a little bit dismaying,” Mund says. But waning popularity isn’t the only financial hardship facing the Canucks. While the team’s revenues are earned in Canadian dollars, its expenses, notably its roster, are denominated in USD. When the Canadian dollar is weak, as it is now, the cost of paying for that roster increases significantly. For every one-cent drop in the loonie, the team is out roughly $700,000. On other measures, however, the Canucks are performing just fine. Their $6-million-a-year contract with Rogers for naming rights of the stadium is the highest among Canadian teams, and Mayenknecht estimates they still rake in around $40 million a year in TV rights fees. He also points out that the team is embarking on a rebuild and has never fallen outside of the top seven or eight in the league in terms of revenue. “On the box-office side of things, they’re still the envy of other teams,” he says. But Mayenknecht recognizes that the drop in fan interest is a concern. Edmonton, which hasn’t made the playoffs in a decade, still sells out its season tickets. Perhaps the Canucks really do have fair-weather fans. The solution will inevitably come on the ice. Mund, who chose not to renew tickets under his own name, plans to divvy up a pair of seats with his mother-in-law, another long-time season ticket holder. And he is open to buying season tickets again. “It’s a major financial decision,” he says. “But if they can win, it’s worth it.” —Jacob Parry

RE AD

Moonglow Pulitzer-winning author Michael Chabon drew from the final conversations he had with his dying grandfather in the late 1980s to create this semi-fictional, first-person account (Chabon describes it as a “speculative biography”) of a beloved patriarch’s life recalled in its final moments. Available Nov. 22 LISTEN

Pink Floyd The Early Years 1965–1972

The British art-rock trailblazers’ most subversive period (some of it under the direction of founding member Syd Barrett) is collected in a 27-disc box set that includes CDs, DVDs, Blu-rays and vinyl. Those who don’t have $700 to spare may opt for a more concise two-CD edition. Available Nov. 11

WATCH

All Hell Is Breaking Loose, Honey Montreal-based choreographer Frédérick Gravel and his collective, Grouped’ArtGravelArtGroup, present the Vancouver debut of this acclaimed performance, in which the conventions of the North American male are explored through dance and live music. The Cultch, Nov. 8 to 12

ALL HELL IS BREAKING LOOSE, HONE Y: GROUPED’ARTGRAVEL ARTGROUP

— K I NG S L E Y

ITâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S BEAUTIFUL I NS I DE

B A K E R . M C G U I R E . L E E . V E R E L L E N . D E L L A R O B B I A . S A N G I A C O M O . S A B A . G A M M A . K E L LY WE A R S T L E R

Indoor & Outdoor Furniture Showrooms: 1855/1880 Fir Street Armoury District Vancouver 604.736.8822 Mon - Sat 10 -5:30 pm broughaminteriors.com

City

INFORMER

How Is the Counterflow Lane on the Lions Gate Bridge Controlled? by

Stacey McLachlan Byron Eggenschwiler

illustration by

The Guinness family built the bridge in 1938 (looks like drinking and driving do mix sometimes!) and sold it to the province in 1955 with just two lanes: one that went north and one that went south. Practical for getting from one side of the bridge to the other, yes, but severely lacking in the thrill department. Without a counterflow lane, how was Joe Commuter supposed to get that sweet, sweet adrenaline rush and wash of terror that accompanies a directional light change? Thankfully, a few years later, they introduced a third, undirected centre lane for passing (allegedly nicknamed the “suicide lane”) and then (presumably after hearing said nickname) upgraded to a system designed, interestingly enough, to avoid head-on collisions. The reality is that you aren’t at the mercy of a heartless computer pro-

You could keep driving in that centre lane for as long as you like—the controller isn’t ever going to change direction of the lane if someone's still in there.” gram. An operator (likely with a degree in public safety communication) is on shift 24-7, watching from a control room in Coquitlam with the help of 20-plus cameras, and they’re in charge of making sure we all make it off that bridge alive. With no complications, switching

VA N M A G . C O M N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 6

from a north to southbound lane can happen in five minutes (a flashing yellow for 30 seconds, solid yellow for another minute and a half and then red for three more), but if your merging game is poor, you’ll get some grace. In fact, if you’re a very special breed of monster, you could keep

driving in that centre lane for as long as you like—the controller isn’t ever going to change the lane's direction if someone’s still in there. Sorry for the buzzkill, adrenaline junkies. Got a question for City Informer? stacey.mclachlan@vanmag.com Twitter: @vanmag_com

DESIGNED for a new

WORLD

INTRODUCING THE 2017 VOLVO S90 LUXURY SEDAN

An experience as intuitive as it is breathtaking. The new Volvo S90 seamlessly blends award winning Scandinavian design with advanced technology to deliver the most modern and luxurious sedan in existence. To learn more, visit your local Volvo retailer or go to volvocars.ca • Standard Semi-Autonomous Driving • An Intuitive 9-inch HMI Touchscreen • Pedestrian and Cyclist Detection

City

SHOW & TELL

TIMBER!

Vancouver welcomes the world’s tallest timber tower. Is it a sign of development to come? by

Dominika Lirette Acton Ostry Architects

PHoto by

NEXT SUMMER, UBC will become home to the tallest mass wood structure on planet Earth, and it’s no log cabin. Standing 53 metres high, the 18-storey Brock Commons student residence, designed by Vancouver-based Acton Ostry Architects, is a hybrid of wood, concrete and steel, and it passes all the same building codes that a concrete building must. According to lead architect Russell Acton, the process was “fast, straightforward—and we’ve demonstrated a way that it could be repeated legitimately and easily.”

Building Blocks Many of the building’s components were pre-made off-site, while the outside structure was assembled in just 66 days. (Think Ikea furniture.) “Prefabricated panels are craned into place,” Acton says. “They’re about three metres high by eight metres wide, and they have windows installed in them beforehand.”

VA N M A G . C O M N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 6

What Is Mass Wood? Dense panels and columns are created by gluing layers of softwood lumber together under heavy pressure.

Going Green Mass wood is a renewable resource that stores carbon dioxide and whose production emits less greenhouse gas than pouring concrete. According to Acton, using wood instead of just concrete or steel has the equivalent environmental impact of taking 490 cars off the road for a year.

Fire Fighter Mass wood doesn’t burn like a 2x4, Acton says. “When it’s in a fire, it’ll burn about an inch and a half of the wood, and then it can’t keep going because of a property called char. That’s why after a forest fire you see all of these trees standing.” Its thickness also means you’re far less likely to hear rowdy neighbours—important in a student residence.

KOHLER.CA

TRANSFORM YOUR LAIR WITH THE CLASSIC SOPHISTICATION OF THE ARTIFACTS ® GENTLEMAN’S ™ BAR FAUCET.

featuring

PERFECT STORM kraken rum, ginger beer, fresh squeezed lime and falernum.

U N B I A S E D R E V I E WS / W H I S K Y / Y E W S T R E E T

VA N M AG .C O M/ TA S T E

Taste THE DISH

LUIS VALDIZON

HARD NOT TO HANDLE

OF THE MANY reasons to salute the return of Umberto Menghi's Giardino, our favourite is that he brought bistecca all fiorentina back with him. The dish—a two-pound porterhouse, sliced off the bone and served atop arugula with Parmigiano shavings and a drizzle of olive oil—is Tuscany’s entry into the culinary pantheon. And while the price (an oddly precise $99.85) seems steep, remember that it feeds two to three, and if you were to buy the exact same from Cioffi’s (where Umberto gets his), it would set you back almost $50, so it’s actually sort of a deal. 1328 Hornby St., umberto.com/giardino

VA N M A G . C O M N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 6

Taste

REVIEWS

THE NEW KID ON THE BLOCK

Peninsula Seafood brings a swanky dynamic to the corridors of Oakridge Centre. by

Alexandra Gill Andrew Querner

PHotoGraPHs by

MOVE OVER, Kirin. See ya later, Sun Sui Wah. There's a new upscale dim sum restaurant in town. Peninsula Seafood Restaurant specializes in elevated Cantonese classics— with nutritious twists—and has quickly become the power-lunch hot spot for Vancouver’s new wave of nouveau riche immigrants from mainland China. Part of Peninsula’s appeal is its desirable location, in Oakridge Centre—close enough for wheelers and dealers to saunter over from their Shaughnessy mansions, but also offering ample space to park the Bentley. Small and intimate, relative to most banquet-style Chinese restaurants, the marbleand-mahogany-clad dining room features four private rooms (where the big deals are signed), a wall-length wine case filled with rare cognacs, and its own sushi bar. Sushi? “I like to eat sushi,” shrugs owner Alex Wang, a 27-year-old SFU grad who is now building a second restaurant in the Marine Gateway complex

VA N M A G . C O M N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 6

Peninsula’s signature dim sum dishes include vitamin B-rich wild rice.

Chef Yao Wei Quang

Vitamin B-rich wild rice

Peninsula buns

AMUSE-BOUCHE

Dixie’s BBQ 337 E Hastings St. 778-379-4770 meatatdixies.com

that will boast 11 private rooms. Only in smog-clogged China, or perhaps Gwyneth Paltrow’s test kitchen, would nutrition be equated with luxury. Peninsula’s signature dim sum dishes include vitamin B-rich wild rice (suspended in cubes of clear gelatin pudding or stirred into creamy pumpkin congee), delicate tangles of double-boiled bird’s nest soup infused with ginger extract (beneficial for the complexion) and vibrant redyeast rice rolls filled with red dates (which apparently help blood circulation). Seal the deal with a half-dozen Peninsula buns. Soft and airy with a sweet, crunchy topping (somewhat like pineapple bolo bao buns but filled with creamy taro), they are probably not overly nutritious but have garnered a cult following for good reason. Fans have been known to drive up from Seattle just to take home a few dozen. THE DEETS

Peninsula Seafood Restaurant

140–650 W 41st Ave. (Oakridge Centre) 604-428-9999 bandao.ca

Hours: Lunch 10-3, Dinner 5-10 7 days a week

Barbecue nerds argue endlessly about what denotes authentic and proper barbecue, but the key question should be whether the cooking is simply true and good. And here, Dixie’s delivers. Adhering to the central Texas style of barbecue, which means little to no sauces or rubs, the startling pure taste of slow-cooked meat is both lush and clean. Cords of alder, birch and maple firewood (not pellets) are used to imbue a gentle smokiness that never overwhelms. The signature brisket has a gloriously tender texture that only improves as the evening wears on. (Pro tip: dining at 8 p.m. or later ensures a full 12-plus hours of smoking and resting.) Boneless buttermilk fried chicken is the perfect amalgam of crisp cornmeal crust, skin and juicy flesh. For dessert, smoked pecans give the namesake pie depth and sophistication. Though the room’s pitchperfect evocation of a Texas roadhouse borders on Disneyesque, the restaurant is located on one of the grittiest stretches of East Hastings. The contrast will be jarring for some, but Dixie’s has opened its doors wide open for all. —Lee Man

Mensch.

666 E Broadway 604-375-6655 One of the curses of being a new city is our habit of glorifying the food staples of older cities when they finally arrive on our shores. Like the time a simple red-sauce joint was named Restaurant of the Year. I fear Mensch may be the latest victim of our over-elevation. It’s not that it’s not good: owner Nitzan Cohen lovingly labours over his pastrami, brining it, then smoking it, then slicing it nice and thick for sandwiches that come either with just mustard for $16 (plus tax) or in a Reuben for $18. It’s the best pastrami sandwich in town, but at those prices it should be. Would it pass muster in Montreal? I doubt it at that price point, but for right here, right now, it’s worth a visit for those with big hunger and deep pockets. —Neal McLennan

Sablefish

VA N M A G . C O M N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 6

Taste

SIPS

Neal McLennan

TA S T I N G N O T E S SPIRITS

O HOLY DRAM

BEER

A Light Christmas

Dageraad Anno, $11

The Macallan Edition No. 2, $175 SADLY, buying unique releases by this legend of whisky making is no longer about happening upon something fun— they sell out so quickly and the prices escalate so fast among collectors that sourcing a bottle requires military precision. So you’re warned: swoop in and grab this collaboration with legendary Spanish restaurateurs the Roca brothers (owners of El Celler de Can Roca, frequently called the best restaurant in the world). And do us a favour: enjoy its citrus, vanilla and toffee flavours in a glass with friends, and don’t treat this as an appreciating asset (even if it is).

Liquid Gold Edition No. 1 never made it to Canada before selling out, so act fast if you want this version.

VA N M A G . C O M N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 6

Most holiday beers are either the colour of molasses or they′re really dark, which makes this offering from Burnaby’s-answer-toFlandres so appealing. It’s a golden ale, but it’s brewed with Indian coriander and pears so it’s still plenty festive. And at 8.5 percent it’s a good candidate for some cellar time as well.

WINE

New Old World

Bellingham Old Vine Chenin Blanc, $23.50 Burgundy from South Africa? I can’t pass this wine on the shelf without tucking a few bottles into my basket. It’s a ravishing white wine from magnificently gnarled and weather-beaten dry-farmed bush vines grown in the scrubby wilds of South Africa’s coastal Cape Winelands. Noble chenin travelled there long ago, likely in the very first shipment of vines in 1655, where it became the most planted. Perfumed with white flowers, honey and spice, the Meursault-like palate layers succulent fruit, sizzling acidity and artfully managed oak. The brandnew 2015 release is still tightly wound and will relax over the next five years. It’s a thoroughly modern wine, born of venerable vines, made with a reverence for the old ways. And the steal of the century. —DJ Kearney

It was a toss-up between this and the apricot ginger as the chain’s “signature” scone, but in the end the blueberry won out. This scone has a breakfast muff in-like quality to it, with a similar texture and taste to that of carrot cake, and slight flavour tones of pepper. Multiple locations, terrabreads.com

Blueberry Lemon Oat Scone

Terra Breads

The lightest of all the finalists, the mixed berry scone from this little coffee house on South Granville has good texture and sweetness from the dried fruit, though our judges did think it could use a pinch of salt. 3010 Granville St., 916 Commercial Dr., bumpngrindcafe.com

Mixed Berry Scone

Bump n Grind

BRONZE

Won top marks for most scone-like presentation. However, the flavour was extremely disappointing and even though the raisins, which were large and juicy, were appealing, the soda bread-like consistency was not. Multiple locations, cobbsbread.com

Classic Fruit Scone

Cobbs

This zesty scone from a highly decorated VanMag award-winning chef is of the warm, doughy, sticks-tothe-top-of-your-mouth variety. The cranberries are more Craisins than ripe fruit, but the sugar dusting on top creates a sweet, crunchy outer layer for the cake-like goodness inside. 2539 W Broadway, thomashaas.com

Orange Cranberry Scone

Thomas Haas

Eydís Einarsdóttir

Eitan Pinsky is a mortgage broker and avid VanMag reader (and our Instagram winner!) who played his non-scone expert (read: average Joe) role very well. Being Canadian, Eitan rated all the submitted scones highly due largely in part to the fact that he received a free breakfast.

Neil Taylor is the chef and owner of Fat Badger and Espana. He says he's extremely qualified to taste scones because he’s British.

Fiona Morrow is a freelance writer and editor who spends a great deal of time thinking about food and drink. She believes scones are properly pronounced with a short “o” and preferably involve clotted cream and jam.

Meet the Judges

PHoto by

Warning: Content includes severe British judgment (is there any other kind?). There’s some confusion here on the West Coast as to what exactly constitutes a scone. According to our British judges—yes, we recruited based on nationality—Vancouver’s scone offerings actually fall under the rock-cake family rather than the classic raisin scone, but they managed to overcome this unforgivable confusion in order to see who reigned supreme.

T H E TA S T E T E S T

VANCOUVER’S BEST SCONES

Taste

This much-loved West End spot is known mostly for its breakfast menu, but pick up a blueberry scone to go next time you’re strolling by to see what all the fuss is about. Though the texture of this scone was on the powdery side, the large chunks of juicy blueberry gave just enough hydration to secure a place in the finals. 1244 Davie St.

Blueberry Scone

Melriches Coffeehouse

You can get a non-buckwheat version of this scone, but we would suggest trying both varieties. Large and exceedingly crumbly, this scone has a gritty texture before you’re overpowered with flavours of walnuts, spice and sharp pangs of sour cherry. 159 W Hastings St., purebread.ca

Buckwheat Sour Cherry Scone

Purebread

There’s so much fruit in the tropical scone that it’s hard to figure out exactly what you’re eating. Pineapple? Apricot? Was that a macadamia nut? All we know is the toasted coconut on top and the crumbly texture of this tropical delight gave the Best in Show a solid run for its money. 2150 Fir St., beaucoupbakery.com

Tropical Scone

Beaucoup Bakery and Café

SILVER

“Mmm, who doesn’t like cheese?” mumbles our one Canadian judge as he chowed down on this slightly doughy offering. Pieces of rich melted cheddar contrast nicely with the sharpness of the scallions to provide a classic cheese-and-onion combo. Aside from being delicious on its own or with a little butter, in a rare departure from traditional values, the judges fancied trying this scone with sandwich filling in the middle. 9080 Main St., lastcrumb.ca

Cheddar Scallion

The Last Crumb Bakery and Cafe

BEST IN SHOW

Taste

M OV E A B L E F E A S T

WHAT’S A MATTER, YEW? by

Michael White Page and Paper

photographs by

Viva Fine Foods and Bakery

The Two blocks of Yew Street between Cornwall and West 1st avenues should, theoretically, be among the most foolproof in Kitsilano—if not the city—for dining and drinking establishments. Nestled amid hundreds of houses and rental apartments, and a stone’s throw from the beach, its eateries stand to profit handsomely year-round from local residents and, in the summer months, thousands of fairweather sunbathers. Yet the charming little enclave has proven surprisingly volatile: otherwise successful restaurateurs have faltered here, especially of late. But every failure begets a new opportunity, and so Yew is again in a state of significant transition. What will still be standing in another year’s time is anyone’s guess.

CORNWALL AVENUE

TRY, TRY AGAIN

5 3

6 YORK AVENUE

YEW STREET

9 2 8

WEST 1ST AVENUE

Lucky Taco

VA N M A G . C O M N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 6

Gooseneck Hospitality principals James Iranzad and Josh Pape have reaped critical accolades and customer loyalty in Kerrisdale and Gastown with, respectively, Bufala and Wildebeest. But following mixed reviews and too many underpopulated nights, their seafood venture, Supermarine, shuttered in July after little more than a year. Acknowledging that the concept, not the location, was to blame—after all, Abigail’s Party (another Iranzad brainchild) had flourished there for more than a decade—the duo recently transformed the space into 1 Lucky Taco (1685 Yew St., 604‑739‑4677, luckytaco.ca). Now throbbing daily

to a classic-rock soundtrack, the kitchen frantically turns out a tight card of seven tacos and an equal number of “snackos,” while the bar respects the concept with a variety of margaritas and other tequila-based cocktails. Two doors north, where Thai Star burned out after an ignoble kick at the can, Pidgin alumni Amanda Cheng and Makoto Ono hope their outsized talents will have room to manoeuvre inside the cramped quarters of what is now 2 Mak N Ming (1629 Yew St.). It had yet to open as we were going to press, but the duo’s aim is to combine

Local Public Eatery

Nook

Blue Martini Jazz Cafe

Chewies

Kibune Sushi

Japanese and French influences while remaining casual enough to become both a destination and a local go-to. Likewise, 3 Blue Martini Jazz Cafe (1516 Yew St., 604-428-2691, bluemartinijazzcafe.com) hopes to persevere where Hapa Izakaya couldn’t, albeit with a very different concept. A sibling of downtown’s long-running Francesco’s Ristorante Italia, its sprawling menu—pastas, small plates, Cajun-inspired mains, and 10 (count ’em!) varieties of stuffed baked potatoes— complements live music and a date-night ambiance. Those with kids in tow and/

or a tighter budget can cross the street to the perennially bustling 4 Nook (1525 Yew St., 604-734-3381, nookrestaurant .ca), where pastas and pizzas (none over $20) fly out by the dozen to grateful families. Evidently, its owners could not have chosen a better location. Speaking of which…

BULL’S EYE Among those whose adherence to the “Location! Location! Location!” mantra has served them well here, we tip our communal hat to 5 Kibune Sushi (1508 Yew St.,

The Kitchen Table

604-731-4482, kibune.com), open since 1982, and 6 Viva Fine Foods and Bakery (1555 Yew St., 604-738-8482, vivafinefoods.com), open since 2002—the latter’s claim to offering the “best banana bread in the city” is hard to refute. But especially impressive is 7 Local Public Eatery (2210 Cornwall Ave., 604734-3589, localpubliceatery. com), a surrogate for those who consider Cactus Club too highfalutin. Out of this original location has sprung a nationwide chainlet of eight (plus a ninth in Seattle). The menu pushes every crowd-

pleasing button (burgers, wings, nachos, so much beer), and when its garage-door storefront opens onto a view of the beach, there are few rooms in the city that seem more in their element. Just up the hill, the proprietors of 8 Chewies Steam and Oyster Bar (2201 W 1st Ave., 604-558-4448, chewies.ca) and new arrival 9 The Kitchen Table (1618 Yew St., 604-738-6966, thekitchentablekits.com)— which took over from the Kings Head Inn after its 30-year run— are no doubt praying for similar success. As always, the masses will decide.

VA N M A G . C O M N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 6

VANCOUVER NOVEMBER 21ST - 27TH

SCOTCH CRAFT BEER

WHISKEY

TEQUILA RUM VODKA

COCKTAILS LIVE MUSIC

CATERED FOOD

...YES PLEASE.

TICKETS ALMOST SOLD OUT WWW.HOPSCOTCHFESTIVAL.COM

M A I N S T R E E T / D OW N TOW N / W E S T S I D E / G A S TOW N

Shop the City Gift Guide 2016

Your neighbourhood-by-neighbourhood guide to getting all your holiday shopping done in one fell swoop. Stacey McLachlan Eydís Einarsdóttir styLINg by Nicole Sjöstedt by

photographs by

VA N M A G . C O M N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 6

Shop the City

GIF T GUIDE

Main Street

The best thing about shopping Main? Making brewery pit stops along the way.

2016

8 BROADWAY

Gift Guide

4 12

12TH AVENUE

16TH AVENUE

The Accessorizer Fashion trend alert: lapel pins—like these quirky, colourful enamel icons from the Good Twin Co. ($19)—are the hottest accessory for 2017. 2 The Pleasant Shop, thepleasantshop.com

6 11

9 MAIN STREET

The Day Tripper The Beach People Adventure tote ($139) features removable inserts to make room for all their road trip necessities. 1 Nineteen Ten, nineteenten.ca

20TH AVENUE

5 10 KING EDWARD AVENUE

1 7

The Shoe-Obsessed Put some spring in his step with a pastel trio of waxed cotton Mavericks laces ($30) in chalk blue, mint green and salmon pink. 3 Eugene Choo, eugenechoo.com

The Design Lover The gold geometric detailing on the G Ceramics and Co. bud vase ($38) makes this piece a beauty whether it’s holding flowers or just sitting pretty. 4 Bird on a Wire Creations, birdonawirecreations.com.

VA N M A G . C O M N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 6

The Beauty Buff Swan by Kwan’s Everything Wonder Balm (from $10) works triple duty to keep your face, body and lips super-soft, but let’s be real: the vintage-Chinese-style packaging is what really caught our eye. 5 The Soap Dispensary, thesoapdispensary.com

The Animal Lover Give a shout-out to your finned friends with this illustrated orca unisex crewneck sweatshirt ($59). 6 Neighbourhood Quality Goods, neighbourhood qualitygoods.com

For the Chef

Find plenty of picks for the culinary whiz on your list.

Lay of the Land Never get lost again with this vintage-map-print tea towel ($14). 10 Regional Assembly of Text, assemblyoftext.com

Have Knives, Will Travel Transport precious chef's tools with a Horace and Jasper seven-piece knife bag ($300), made from leather and lined with vintage kimono silk. 11 Knifewear, knifewear.com The Little Picasso Colourful, grippable Crayon Rocks (from $8) develop motor skills and budding artistic talent. 7 Giving Gifts, givinggifts.ca

The Classic Beauty The buttery-soft Eleven Thirty Lauri wallet ($45) in cognac-coloured Italian leather is the sort of classic piece that sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll still be using next Christmas and beyond. 8 Still Life Boutique, stilllifeboutique.com

The Collector These tiny glass Vitriini boxes ($75) from Iittala are designed to showcase treasures in style. 9 Vancouver Special, vanspecial.com

Cook Off Mini-cookbooks ($16) from Short Stack Editions tackle single ingredients (like eggplant) with reverence and â&#x20AC;&#x2122;70s-inspired graphic design. 12 Much and Little, muchandlittle.com

Shop the City

GIF T GUIDE

Downtown Hit the Granville strip, then pop over to Yaletown and get your list checked off in an afternoon.

Gift Guide 2016

W ES T N G S

G IA

N ST

ET RE ST

R ST

ST E

N LL

SO R

EL G

R ST

N H

R ST

O RL

E RE

The Sentimentalist The classic charm necklace embraces an edgier side with Pyrrha’s handcrafted collection of mix-and-match talisman layering pieces like golden acorns and roughhewn letters (charms from $44). 3 Blue Ruby, blueruby.com

I AV

E ST RE ET

The Splurge The chunky Cabochon ring (from $1,100) showcases pearlescent moonstone or dreamy amethyst in silver or yellow gold with bold ’80s-inspired cool. 4 Stittgen, stittgen.com

The Oenophile The Noè wine rack ($105), designed by Giulio Iacchetti, is a sleek spot to store those bottles from Okanagan trips past and future. 5 Designhouse, designhouse.ca

The Sweet Freak Customize a candy jar (from $10) with a mix-and-match assortment from 100-plus Swedish treats: think strawberry vanilla drops, fizzy rolls and citrus gummies. 2 Karameller, karameller.com

VA N M A G . C O M N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 6

The Communicator Speak your piece with the vintage-cool My Cinema lightbox ($60), a three-line ProductSubhead backlit box with 100 Cum voluptatat. Tem. interchangeable Quo estiis ipid ex et letters and numbers. explatiatum repudia 6 Indigo, indigo.ca dipsamus velecestibus eos as alitatumque pration. Company Name, website.com

IMAGE CREDIT

The Fashion Blogger The Painted Lady widebrimmed fedora ($180) is a vintage-inspired piece that’s a true fashionista’s of-themoment essential. 1 Goorin Bros. Hat Shop, goorin.com

The Baker The vibrant botanical print on this Marimekko oven mitt ($25) brings the heat to the kitchen. 1 EQ3, eq3.com

The Late-Night Bookworm The Studio Cheha LED table lamp (from $200) looks 3D, but itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an optical illusion produced by a laser-engraved flat surface. 2 Goodge Place, goodgeplace.com

Westside Gift

The Nationalist Though itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hand-embroidered in California, the Catstudio Canada pillow ($370) is an intricate representation of Canadian classics. 2 Goodge Place, goodgeplace.com

Source little luxuries and statement-piece splurges on this side of town.

Guide 2016

4 3

The Fashionista The black-and-white Dizzy jacket ($375) in wool jersey from Canadian label Judith and Charles might just be her new wardrobe staple. 3 Judith and Charles, judithandcharles.com

The Games Night Guru Kit and Ace gives the classic game a sleek design update with the copper and blue inlaid 66 Boneyard dominoes set ($48). 4 Kit and Ace, kitandace.com

GRANVILLE STREET

FIR STREET

BROADWAY

BURRARD STREET

WEST 6TH AVENUE ARBUTUS STREET

VINE STREET

YEW STREET

WEST 4TH AVENUE

The Meditator These locally made soy and coconut oil Anchor candles ($16) are made in weathered tins, but the almond-and-fig scent is fresh and inviting. 5 Heather Ross Natural Eclectic, heatherross.ca

VA N M A G . C O M N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 6

Shop the City

GIF T GUIDE The Modern Woodsman Spritz on Apoteker Tepeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Holy Mountain fragrance ($160) to be instantly transported back to camp (a chic camp, but camp nonetheless) with notes of pine, balsam fir and incense. 3 Litchfield, litchfieldtheshop.com

The Watchman The Horse D-series watch collection (from $269) proves that simplicity can be luxurious: the sleek, minimalist timepiece and handsome leather band come in timeless combos like rose gold and navy or gold and tan. 1 Nouvelle Nouvelle, nouvellenouvelle.com

The Trendsetter Add a pop of colour (and personality) with this Rouge du Rhin Bergame cushion ($110). 2 Espace d., espacedonline.com

Gastown

Your go-to â&#x20AC;&#x2122;hood for vintage-inspired pieces designed to please the modern Vancouverite.

The Coffee Snob We like the rustic-modern Stelton Theo stoneware slow-brew coffee maker ($128) like we like our coffee: black. 4 Inform Interiors, informinteriors.com

Gift Guide

2W ATE R ST

ET ST R E ABB

WE S IA

CORDOVA STREE T

T PE

NDE

R ST

8 REE

VA N M A G . C O M N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 6

EAST HASTINGS STREE T

MAIN STREE T

4 3 9

OT T

BI E S CA M EO

TREE

C RI G

REE

CARRALL STREET

2016

The Mixologist The latest edition of the Bittered Sling gift pack ($58) gives the cocktail enthusiast in your life a whole new set of flavours, from Malagasy chocolate to orange and juniper. 5 The Modern Bartender, themodernbartender.com

The Decorator These Core pendant lamps (from $452) resemble the shape of molten glass fresh from the furnace, and they come in smoky colours that also nod to glassblowing’s fiery tradition. 8 Lightform, lightform.ca

The Hipster Chef This fine-grain sea salt ($19) is aldersmoked using traditional Coast Salish methods and pairs perfectly with salmon, poultry and veggie dishes alike. 6 Old Faithful, oldfaithfulshop.com

The Formalist Capped with a burnished toe, these Spitfire shoes ($399) transform the humble oxford into a fashionforward statement piece. 7 Fluevog, fluevog.com

The Modernist Smoker These sleek Japanese-made Tsubota Pearl lighters ($45) are hand-pressed from acrylic into slick minimalist forms (goodbye, Bic). 9 Neighbour, shopneighbour.com

Online Bling

Shop local without leaving the house. by Carlo Javier

Weekend Warrior Tackle the long weekend in style with the laidback-luxe Horween leather duffel bag ($685) wilhelmandfriends.com

Au Naturel Fable Naturals’ skin care set ($84) features rosehip oil, olive oil, shea butter and chamomile to smell as good as it looks. fablenaturals.com

Hip to Be Square The little details make the outfit; Vancity Square’s pocket square set ($45) can provide either solid uniformity or funky, playful patterns. etsy.com /shop/vancitysquares

Finishing Touch The Rose Gold leather ponytail cuff ($19) from Surond Studio epitomizes understated glamour. surond.com

VA N M A G . C O M N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 6

For many Chinese spouses who have made a home here in Vancouver, living a world away from their partners has become the new reality. What life is likeâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and how they get by.

Astronaut Wives by Frances Bula

illustration by Byron Eggenschwiler

VA N M A G . C O M N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 6

Chinese Community Enrichment Services Society (SUCCESS). Here, she and more than a dozen other mothers spent a couple of hours talking with each other and to family counsellor Jason Chan, trading stories about rebellious or anxiety-prone children, about trying to manage family crises together with husbands far away. Occasionally, the group erupts in laughter after a run of them. A box of Kleenex sits on the table for those who cry as they talk about their frustrations. Chak had fretted aloud that day about her daughter’s insistence on wearing an eyebrow ring. She’d tried to stop her, argued that she’d have a hard time getting a job. The daughter, now studying design at Langara College, had retorted, “My manager at work has one.” Chak’s lonely battle to raise a family and keep her marriage intact across the Pacific Ocean is far from a unique one here. Vancouver is one of the key cities of the global Chinese diaspora, a region where a fifth of our 2.5 million residents are Chinese—many of them nita Chak didn’t expect arrivals from just the last 30 years. And like with other to find herself marooned alone in Vancouver, a space diaspora cities, that has meant the arrival of a new kind traveller whose ship took her to a distant planet and of immigrant family: one where one spouse, usually the then broke down, stranding her. But that is where she wife (though not always), stays in Vancouver bringing is now, 20 years after she and her husband decided to up the children while the other remains in Asia to make the jump that many did from Hong Kong at that time, worried about the coming takeover by Communist support the family financially. It’s a phenomenon that emerged in the early 1990s, as Hong Kong citizens fled to China, looking for a safe place for their children. various parts of the globe in anticipation of the takeover “I want to go back to Hong Kong. All my family and by mainland China in 1997. Taiwanese families went friends are there,” says Chak, a petite woman with through a similar migration at the same time. And then, feathery, shoulder-length hair, dressed in jeans and a starting around 2000, families from mainland China lacy beige sweater. Her voice quavers as she assesses joined the wave. They’ve been dubbed, around the world, her life and future. She and her husband, Ka, didn’t astronaut families. expect that his efforts to support the family by running As a result, Metro Vancouver, which has long been a convenience store here would fail, taking part of their one of the more popular destinations for those waves— savings with it. They didn’t expect that he would have given its already significant Chinese community, so much trouble finding a job in Vancouver. They didn’t expect that, after five years of trying to make it, he would positive reputation abroad and Canada’s favourable immigration system—now has a noticeable subreluctantly go back to Hong Kong, where he knew he population of astronaut families trying to figure out could find work. And they didn’t expect that they would have to keep their marriage and family together through how to hold themselves together in the 21st century. phone calls and FaceTime and short vacation visits for 15 (The same is true of Auckland, Sydney, Toronto, Melbourne, Singapore and several other cities.) It has years and counting. meant heart-wrenching pain in many cases, but also It’s Chak’s children who tie her to Vancouver. Now 20 a sense of liberation for some. For people like Chak, and 25, they refuse to move back to Hong Kong and, she it has especially meant finding strategies to survive admits, their Chinese isn’t good enough to enable them to function there. Her son, the oldest, had severe learning emotionally—strategies that are sometimes surprising in their simplicity. problems in school, and even now she spends a lot of her time trying to get help for him, hoping he can someday get a full-time job and be a little more independent. Since he current astronaut-family trend is an eerie 2001, she has raised them alone, although her husband, mirror image of the Chinese experience 100 who runs a business installing security in elevator years ago in Vancouver. Then, as a result systems in commercial buildings, tries to stay connected of the anti-Chinese head tax that was imposed by as much as possible. “He does call almost every day. He a government anxious to slow the flow of Chinese also worries about them,” Chak says. immigrants to B.C., the city was populated by men On this particular Tuesday, she’s feeling a little better working here while their wives and children were after having spent the morning at Vancouver’s United forced to remain behind in China. The men sent

VA N M A G . C O M N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 6

money back to China, saved up to bring their families over someday and lived solitary lives in Vancouver. That kind of separation disappeared among Canadian immigrant families for decades after the head tax was repealed. But it has since reappeared, as a result of what UBC geographer David Ley has identified as a new kind of immigrant: people who live a transnational life that often involves working on one continent, where the money is good, while maintaining citizenship and their families in a country that appears to be safer and healthier. Families living apart is not a new phenomenon or one restricted to the Chinese. Newfoundland men who work the oil fields in Alberta have left many wives and kids back east. Filipina women are renowned for their extraordinary efforts to support their families at home by going abroad—to Canada, Dubai, Hong Kong— working as nannies and caregivers. Nonetheless, there is something especially Chinese about the arrangement. Jason Chan, who spends much of his family-counselling time with women in Vancouver coping on their own— with difficult teenagers and worries over their longdistance marriages—says there are two factors that contribute to Chinese families’ propensity for living this fractured life. One is the way that Communist China brutalized and broke up families for decades, often sending husbands and wives to work assignments in different locations or to places that those parents were unwilling to take

says Shirley Chau, a UBC Okanagan professor who researched teenagers in Toronto’s astronaut families back in the 1990s. “We do have a system where we believe in the good of the family, the unit as a whole.” She’s heard from some of those teenagers years later, who told her, “Watching my parents’ relationship falling apart, that was a very difficult thing.” But the families have continued to court those dangers for the sake of what they believe will be a better life. That’s as true now, for the new set of Chinese immigrants arriving, as it was for Anita Chak and her husband 20 years ago.

lice Zhang is at first composed and matter-offact as she recounts the story of her arrival in Canada. A slight woman who looks younger than her 48 years, wearing a stylishly updated version of a 1950s full-skirted housedress, she moved here in 2013. She bought a condo in Burnaby near Metrotown and then, a little later, a farm in Chilliwack, because she wanted a business to keep herself occupied. She’d like to grow Chinese peonies (the ones we see here in Vancouver are mostly Japanese, a different thing), but it has proven difficult to import them, so for now she is using the farm as an Airbnb business. And then her eyes fill with tears. They trickle down her face, and she wipes them away quietly as she continues. In her hometown of Luoyang, a city of six million in Henan province, she lived in a building where her brother and his family were just below her on the sixth floor and her in-laws were above her on the 11th. Her father lived nearby, and she had work she enjoyed and friends everywhere. Now she is alone with a daughter who has become used to Canadian freedoms for teenagers and isn’t at all inclined to think her mother has any authority to tell her what to do—especially a mother who can’t speak English or function easily in her new home. “When she was in China, she really behaved herself, she followed the standard,” Zhang says through an interpreter. “Here, we almost fight each other.” Back home, her 74-year-old father is talking about moving into a seniors’ home—something most elderly Chinese resist to the utmost. But he thinks he might as well because “his daughter is not coming back to China.” Zhang’s husband is the one who is more adamant about having to have an escape route. Or more than one. A senior executive at a shipping firm in Luoyang, a business where Zhang worked as an accountant when she lived in China, he has obtained immigration status for the family not only in Canada but also in Cyprus, as a backup. They sent their daughter, now 19 and studying

When she was in China, she really behaved herself, she followed the standard. Here, we almost fight each other."

their children. Instead, the families would leave their children with grandparents. “The family as an integral unit was being compromised,” says Chan, who has been doing family work since shortly after he arrived from Hong Kong in 1988. That pattern continues here in Vancouver, with families going through a revolving set of arrangements: sometimes the mother on her own with the children, sometimes the grandparents shuttled over from China as assistant caregivers, sometimes teenagers left on their own in big suburban houses while both parents go back to China to work. The other factor is the long-standing tradition in China of doing whatever it takes to improve the family’s chances of success overall, even if it means individual members have to suffer. “It’s for the sake of the family,”

VA N M A G . C O M N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 6

ASTRONAUT WIVES

Centre. “Six years ago, that would have been the case,” Habacon says. But there have been changes in the types of single parents arriving and in the ability of all of them to form networks. The new wave of single parents from mainland China is financially better off. Many have had successful careers as managers, professors or independent business owners. They’re finding ways to connect, sometimes using 100-yearold strategies, sometimes very 21st-century ones. For Ivy Chen, it’s been WeChat, the Chinese socialmedia platform that is like Facebook, Twitter, PayPal, LinkedIn and Google Calendar combined. Chen, who has fully adopted the Dunbar dress code on this particular afternoon, wearing a pink quilted ski jacket, black leggings and laceless grey leather runners, has come by UBC’s Old Barn community centre (a favourite hangout that is near her campus townhouse) to talk. Life was not easy when she first arrived in 2009 with her three children from Guangzhou, moving to get away separations. Those patterns are something that Alden from a government that had prohibited her husband Habacon has noticed in his job at UBC as the director from renewing the licence for his cellphone business—a of intercultural understanding. The role involves punishment for having more than one child. Her connecting with the many Chinese families who have husband has stayed behind, continuing to run the moved into university condo developments. Like Jason business after having nominally transferred it to a Chan, he sees the pressures that family separation friend, to support the family financially. produces. One such pressure is the awkwardness that A few weeks after she arrived, her five-year-old results when everyone is back together. Spouses try daughter burned herself with tea after grabbing a cup at to warm up their relationships from companionate a restaurant and dumping hot water on herself. She was to intimate overnight. And the power dynamics have so severely injured that she had to spend three weeks in shifted. Wives have become more independent than bed, with Chen nursing her. During that same period, they were, living on their own, and less likely to defer. Chen also discovered that her older daughter, then in The adjustment is particularly hard on the fathers, who often have executive or high-powered jobs back in China, Grade 8 at Kitsilano Secondary, was simply disappearing from school after being dropped off. The older daughter says Habacon. “When the dad comes to visit, the first blamed herself in part for the accident, Chen says, and week, it’s wonderful. The second week, the dad feels out of place. He’s not the authority figure. By the third week, she was isolated at school, one of the new kids in the ESL class. “What she needed was a companion,” says Chen, they’re butting heads.” crossing her hands across her chest. And hanging unspoken over everyone’s head is the In those early months, she thought often about possibility that one partner, usually the husband, will packing up and going back to China. She didn’t know of look for other companionship while living most of the any support services she could turn to. (All immigrant year alone. Chan’s counselling files are studded with services here are set up for lower-income immigrants cases of women whose husbands have found “another who need help with jobs, housing or trauma, not people lady.” One client who has been here only two years went into a severe depression after making that discovery and like Chen.) Like many people from mainland China, she wasn’t interested in going to SUCCESS, which she saw as ended up in two car accidents in a short period. Divorce is not uncommon and often depends on how attached the a Hong Kong organization whose staff and clientele are a bunch of people who “blame China for everything.” father is to his children, Chan says. “If the father chose But there was WeChat. She connected with a small not to have a close relationship, it’s easier to divorce.” group of other single mothers from China. They started meeting in person, going to each others’ houses, playing n spite of all those negatives, these new transcards. There, they can talk about their worst fears national parents are not living lonely, desperate with each other, the ever-present possibility that “the lives, filling their years by shopping at Oakridge criminology at Simon Fraser University, to Calgary when she was 15 as an international student. The plan is that he will move to Canada in two years to ensure that he spends the mandatory time required in the country in the initial five-year period in order to obtain citizenship. Those two years seem endless to Zhang. And sometimes she thinks he could stay in Canada and she could go back to work in China, a place where she got to do interesting things and be involved in major events with big-time companies. “I feel a lack of a sense of achievement now,” she says. She, and others, also go through a roller coaster of changed family dynamics because of the long

When the dad comes to visit, the first week, it’s wonderful. The second week, the dad feels out of place.”

I 48

VA N M A G . C O M N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 6