LOOKCITY: “Eugene Choo” On Main Street Expands With New “Annex” Shop Next Door

Great news for Vancouver fashion lovers! Eugene Choo has opened a new store – dubbed Eugene Choo Annex – right next to the original shop at 3697 Main. From our inbox:

The annex will feature a wider selection of shoes, bags and accessories than the original store, allowing [owner Kildare] Curtis to bring in smaller, harder to find shoe labels to compliment Eugene Choo’s growing stable of great quality shoes.

Look for new labels such as: A detacher, The Office of Angela Scott, Le Botte Gardiane and Armando Cabral alongside Belle by Sigerson Morrison, New Balance and Florsheim.

Even though he has more space to play with, Curtis wants to keep the selection tightly curated. “I really wanted to focus only on the shoes I know my customer will love. I don’t want them to have to wade through hundreds of shoe styles to find the one pair worth having. We wanted to take the guesswork out. Every pair of shoes are shoes that I, or a member of the staff, picked and would wear ourselves.”

Eugene Choo Annex carries shoes, bags and accessories for both men and women and is located at 3697 Main Street.

It’s not yet two days old, so go take a look, try on some shoes, and tell Kildare (interview) that we say hi.

Smoke Break #952: New Yorkers Remind Us To Say “Thank You Mom” This Mother’s Day

(via) As if we needed a reminder, but still…thank you, Mom, for “getting me out of trouble when I burned down that forest.” Pass it on…

GOODS: East Van’s “Campagnolo Roma” Completes Transition To Zero Waste Eatery

Campagnolo Roma is located at 2297 East Hastings Street in Vancouver, BC | 604-569-0456 | www.campagnoloroma.com

The GOODS from Campagnolo Roma

Vancouver, BC | Restauranteurs Tom Doughty and Robert Belcham and Executive Chef Ted Anderson have been working to transform their entire restaurant family (Campagnolo Restaurant, Fat Dragon Bar-B-Q and Campagnolo ROMA) into environmentally friendly, zero waste businesses (the goal of a zero waste business is to eliminate landfill garbage which creates harmful greenhouse gases). Campagnolo ROMA is the first of the three restaurants to complete the transition and has been enrolled in the Recycle – Now! Total Solution program since opening day. Recycle-Now! is assisting Campagnolo ROMA to create zero waste. All waste products created by the restaurant are recycled for reuse. All paper, cardboard, soft and hard plastics, glass and plastic containers are recycled; even food is recycled through composting and local soil production. Learn more about the restaurant after the jump… Read more

HEADS UP: Sons & Lovers “Summer Reading Pop-Up Shop” At Revolver Coffee On May 20

Dig books? Of course you do, and the folks at Sons & Lovers Books are doing a pop-up sale at Revolver Coffee on Cambie next Sunday, May 20th from 1pm to 4pm (cash only). They’ll be decorating the coffee shop with a curated selection of 200+ titles, all of them used classics dripping with character and charisma. Expect plenty of Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Salinger, Wilde, Lawrence, Austen, Bronte, Eliot, Plath, Steinbeck and such. George and Robyn have great taste. See you there!

DINER: First Look At The Highly Anticipated Minami In Yaletown’s Old Goldfish Location

by Andrew Morrison | I snuck a peek inside Minami yesterday (the old Goldfish location at 1118 Mainland Street in Yaletown). The anticipated Japanese restaurant – a relative of popular Miku (owned by Seigo Nakamura) – still has three weeks left before it’s scheduled to open, but already it’s looking pretty swell. The deep brown stain from the original wood floors has been sanded away to leave a nice raw glow, and many of the rear dining room walls and both private rooms are in the midst of a decorative once-over by Hideki Kimura, the acclaimed mural painter from Japan (he’s leading a team of artists from neighbouring Raw Canvas). The firm behind the look is Vancouver’s own OMB (the same folks responsible for the clean lines of Obakki, and Oru), so the end result will likely be modern looker worthy of a good gawk.

As far as the food is concerned, I’m told that we can expect more aburi sushi and plenty of dishes that Miku fans will recognize, as well as a noticeable shift towards more “hot” items. The bar program has been designed by former Bartender of the Year Shaun Layton of L’Abattoir, with the sake element being looked after by Miki Ellis of Hapa Izakaya fame (a certified sake expert). Service will be led by former Sandbar GM Mike Deas-Dawlish and Miku veteran Patrick Rider. Mark your calendars. D-day is May 30th.

ALL ANTICIPATED RESTAURANTS

YOU SHOULD KNOW: About The History Of Vancouver’s Long Love Affair With Bowling

by Stevie Wilson | Long before Vancouver was synonymous with hockey riots, we were civilized, happy people who enjoyed life’s finest sport: bowling. Remnants of the city’s love affair with this sport are still visible and, more importantly, accessible. The Commodore Lanes at 838 Granville is currently the oldest surviving bowling center in Canada, and its history reveals much about Vancouver’s affections for The Big Lebowski’s sport of choice.

Opening its doors on September 7th, 1930, The Commodore Lanes was originally named “Commodore Recreations”. Inspired by the success and excitement surrounding Toronto-based Tommy F. Ryan’s 1909 move from ten-pin to five-pin bowling (Canada’s first), owner Frank Pavin introduced five-pin to Vancouver, and it was an instant hit. With Pavin came Mitz Nozaki, a young Japanese-Canadian who had been in the bowling trade since he was 13, working for Pavin as a pinboy (hand-setting the pins!) at Gastown’s Abbott Lanes, a ten-pin joint. Inspired to create new five-pin lanes to suit the sport’s sensibilities of weak-wristed Canadian players (we didn’t like how heavy the other balls were), Pavin was also one of the first to allow women to play the gentlemen’s sport, with a special promotion that let ladies play for free in the mornings.

The Commodore Lanes quickly became a popular spot among locals, and soon grew to attract the likes of celebrities such as Roy Rogers, Clark Gable, and Buster Crabb, to name just a few. The Commodore was also the first to rent out bowling shoes; a well-liked alternative to the ‘blackies’ typically worn over street shoes. Pavin and Nozaki are remembered by those who knew them as hard-working, dedicated bowlers who transformed the sport into one of Vancouver’s favourite pastimes. In fact, Nozaki is said to have been absent from the lanes for just one occasion: his forced internment in the Japanese camp at Sushwap’s Blind Bay for the course of the Second World War.

When Frank Pavin passed away in 1962, Nozaki purchased the Commodore Lanes and went on to become one of the most influential names in Vancouver’s five-pin bowling scene. With the rise of monthly newsletters and annuals such as Strikes ‘n’ Spares, Vancouver Bowling News, and PNE Bowling, tournaments became increasingly popular, including several held at the Commodore Lanes well into the 1980s. Until 1983, the lanes were home to numerous games and tournaments played by the Vancouver All-Star League, a 3-player, 4-game scratch pinfall league (home to the best of the best of the city’s bowlers). In 2004 at the age of 91, Mitz Nozaki passed away, a legend among Vancouver’s bowling community and the Commodore Lanes.

So the next time you’re feeling wound up about the Canucks losing (again), try your hand at some five-pin over at the Commodore Lanes. It’s cheap, it’s fun, and best of all, it’s historical! And if none of that tickles you, they also serve beer.

——————————————————————————————-

Stevie Wilson is an historian masquerading as a writer. After serving as an editor for the UBC History Journal, she’s decided to branch out with a cryptic agenda: encouraging the people of Vancouver to take notice of their local history and heritage with You Should Know, a Scout column that aims to show you the things that you already see. Just nod your head and pretend you’re paying attention.

——————————————————————————————-

Seen In Vancouver #366: Owen Lightly’s Chef In Residence Supper At Le Marche St. George

Owen Lightly, the chef behind Butter on the Endive (and Scout’s Pound of Butter food column), recently ran a series of Chef in Residence dinners in one of the apartments above Le Marche St George. There were two seatings per evening for three evenings in a row with a different ‘theme song/playlist” and chef/collaborator for each (Jane Cornborough, Alvaro Musso, Adam Chandler). We attended the first seating on Thursday May 3rd, and as you can see, it was pretty outstanding. The night had a Neil Young I Wanna Live With A Cinnamon Girl vibe and Chef Owen Lightly and his collaborator Adam Chandler (former-chef-now-chocolatier of Beta5 fame) served a fabulous spring meal of albacore tuna with charred ramp, rhubarb risotto with white chocolate (daring, but spot on), Yarrow Meadows duck breast, taleggio sponge cake with shiro plum, and buckwheat crumble smothered in birch caramel. Matching the cuisine was – wow – the setting. What a stunning place to dine! To keep abreast of future BOTE suppers, be sure to follow them on Twitter.

EVERYTHING SEEN IN VANCOUVER

GOODS: “Edible Canada” On Granville Island Is Now Hiring For Several FOH/BOH Positions

Edible Canada is located at 1595 Johnston St. in Vancouver, BC | 604.682.6681 | ediblecanada.com

The GOODS from Edible Canada

Vancouver, BC | Passionate about local food and drink? Want to work for the country’s ambassador for New Canadian Cuisine? Interested in people, sustainability, service and quality? Then we’re interested in meeting you! We’re now hiring for both the front and back of house to help out during our very busy summer season in the heart of Granville Island. Learn more after the jump… Read more

AWESOME THING WE DRANK #671: Summer “Junmai Sour” At Fat Dragon On The DTES

We’re in the office currently fantasizing about the “Junmai Sour”, an original sipper from barman Matt Martin at Powell St.’s new Fat Dragon Bar-B-Q. Think fruit tea-steeped sake and gin frothed with egg white and given licks of lemon, sugar, orange blossom and mint on ice. That’s a pretty exotic (not to mention ideal) amalgam to compliment weather like this, and so we fixate, trapped and longing…

Zulu Report: Everything That You Should Listen To This Week

Nic Bragg over at Kitsilano’s Zulu Records once again present his weekly Scout feature, the Zulu Report. Within, staff from the West 4th music store provide The Track, the song that is on heavy rotation that week; The Playlist, which is pretty self-explanatory; The Gig, the must see show of the week; and The Glance, which details the best gigs on the immediate horizon. From their ears to yours, enjoy…

THE TRACK

AESOP ROCK Zero Dark Thirty

Sonically this latest Aesop offering is really, really interesting. Ian Mattihas Bavitz (a.k.a. Aesop Rock) has always kept the lyrical side of his game super fresh but we at Zulu are absolutely blown away by the potent combo of beats, samples and overall production verve that accompanies his lyrical fury! Check this “Roving packs of elusive young, become choke-lore writers over boosted drums, in the terrifying face of a future tongue”… major throw down to those at his heels. Vancouver’s hip hop scene is super tight and has deep ties to the Rhymesayers crew, so we can only hope that when Rock takes to the road in support of July’s Skelethon from Fifth Element that he hooks it up at Fortune! Tight sounds. Read more

Next Page »