AWESOME THING WE ATE #893: New Night Market Gets Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

Winner Winner debuted at the soft start of the new Chinatown Night Market over the weekend. The new street food vendor serves up just one dish, a pile of delicious Singaporean-style chicken over rice with a ginger chili dipping sauce for just $6 a box. The fun operation was launched by Stanley Yung and Bao Bei’s Chen-Wei Lee (center and right in top photo). Once you get close enough to it, you’ll hear Jonathan Grand Pierre (bottom photo) calling out things like “The sauce is the boss!”, “Winner winner chicken dinner!”, “The rice is the main event!”, among other things (he’s a funny guy). The “official” opening of the Night Market isn’t until June 1st, but Winner Winner will be rolling “soft” again this weekend, so check them out!

Every Fri, Sat, Sun until September 8th | 6pm-11pm | Keefer St. between Main & Columbia.

MORE AWESOME THINGS WE ATE

FED BY HAND: Short Film On Coal Harbour’s Awesome, Award-Winning “Bella Gelateria”

By John Gattey | Our second episode in the Fed By Hand series profiles James Coleridge and his exceptional gelato at Bella Gelateria. When you step into James’ Coal Harbour shop, the first thing that strikes you is his incredible enthusiasm. If he’s not happily encouraging you to taste through his menu (with an army of tiny plastic spoons at-the-ready), then he’s likely extolling the virtues of the old-world processes employed in crafting all of his beautiful flavours. It’s a passion that comes through in his products.

Bella is the real deal. Last year they won both the technical jury prize and the people’s choice award at the Florence Gelato Festival in Italy. It’s not hard to see why. There is a clarity of flavour here that I’ve never experienced in gelato before. You can’t go wrong with classics like lemon, bright in citrus balancing tart and sweet delicately, or with their incredibly creamy hazelnut, the toasted notes of which making it (and this is strange to say for an iced dessert) almost warming. And if you’re one to experiment, try either the black sesame and salted chocolate.

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Fed by Hand is a web series produced in Vancouver by the Gattey brothers (John, a professional cook and aspiring vagabond, and David, a fully-dedicated film geek). The series is dedicated to honest eating – the sort of simple, wholesome fare that satisfies stomach and soul – and the shining of spotlights on the people that make it possible.

OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS: Beta5 Currently Staffing Up At Their East Van Headquarters

Beta5 is located at 413 Industrial Avenue in Vancouver, BC (in the purple-peach building) | 604.669.3336 | www.beta-5.com

The GOODS from Beta5

Vancouver, BC | We’re looking for outgoing and charming individuals to deliver genuine, knowledgeable, and personalized customer service at our chocolate and pastry shop in East Vancouver. We have a growing reputation as Vancouver’s tastiest destination for all things dessert, and our customers come from far and wide for delicious treats and memorable service. Our team is made up of young and innovative chocolatiers and pastry professionals, as well as dedicated, fun-loving counter staff. We’re looking for additional quirky, smart, and food-knowledgeable retail staff, who can effortlessly connect with our broad clientele and teach them about our diverse line-up of products. Get all the details after the jump… Read more

The View From Your Window #154: A Rainy Start On The Rue De Temple In The Marais

A.M. | Rue de Temple (peekaboo Pompidou Centre) | Paris, France | 9:00am | SHARE YOUR VIEW

This one’s from me, Andrew (Scout’s editor). I’m travelling around France/Italy for the next month and though I won’t be posting about it on Scout all that much you can follow along as the trip develops on Instagram. The Vancouver office is open as usual (it’s just me here now), so don’t be surprised if you see more images of Strathcona and Kits than Trastevere and the Latin Quarter!

We love posting the photographs that reveal the views from our reader’s windows. Whether it’s a back alley in the fall or a sandy beach in high summer, we’re always stoked to see what you see from home, work or while on the road. Some of our all-time favourite reader submissions below… Read more

GOODS: Jim Cuddy & Sam Roberts To Play CedarCreek’s Outdoor “Vineyard Pavilion”

CedarCreek Estate Winery is located at 5445 Lakeshore Road in Kelowna, BC | 250-764-8866 | www.cedarcreek.bc.ca

The GOODS from CedarCreek Estate Winery

Vancouver, BC | CedarCreek Estate Winery is pleased to announce that Jim Cuddy, Michael Burgess, and the Sam Roberts Band will perform this summer at their spectacular Vineyard Pavilion. Jim Cuddy of Blue Rodeo fame returns to CedarCreek on Sunday, July 21st and Musical All-Star, Michael Burgess also returns to CedarCreek on Wednesday, July 31st. This year’s Sunset Concerts will also include Juno Award-winning Canadian rock singer-songwriter Sam Roberts Band who will take the stage at CedarCreek on Sunday, August 25th. Proceeds from the TELUS Sunset Concert Series, presented by 101.5 EZ ROCK, will benefit Kelowna’s Rotary Centre for the Arts. Read more

COOL THING WE WANT #387: A Calendar That Brews A Unique Cup Of Tea Every Day

(via) Dig this Tea Calendar from German tea company Hälssen & Lyon. It contains a unique wafer (makes 1 cup) for every day of the year. Sadly, it’s not yet on the market, and as of yet there is no price (ballpark or otherwise) that is being projected. Regardless…we want it. 

EVERY COOL THING WE WANT

HEADS UP: Revamped Chinatown Night Market Announces Line Up Of Food Trucks

More tasty Chinatown Night Market news:

The much anticipated, revamped Vancouver Chinatown Night Market is ready to launch its 2013 season officially on June 1st.* After 17 years at the helm, the VCMA have welcomed a new group of volunteers to the project in order to “help give the Night Market a fresh look and feel,” says Henry Tom, VP of the VCMA and Chair of the Night Market Committee. After a long winter of hard work, the new team is eager to introduce its revitalized summer schedule revealing some of the best outdoor entertainment and shopping in the city as well as a weekly on-site food truck gathering organized by the Vancouver Street Food Society and will include favourites like Vij’s Railway, Roaming Dragon, Le Tigre, Tacofino, and Mogu. Read more

GOODS: Lazy Gourmet Moves Into Summer With Dessert Jars, Guacamole Bar, & More

The Lazy Gourmet is located at 1605 West 5th Ave in Vancouver, BC | 604-734-2507 | www.lazygourmet.ca

The GOODS from Lazy Gourmet

Vancouver, BC | Made-to-order dishes, cocktails, and dessert jars are just a few highlights in The Lazy Gourmet’s new 2013 spring and summer catering menu. “This year, what we really wanted to highlight was how fresh catering can be,” explains Kevin Mazzone, General Manager of The Lazy Gourmet. “Our chefs are working hard in the background to create every canapé and dish, but our guests often don’t see this. Therefore, for example, instead of just having chips and salsa sitting on a table, why not do something different like a made-to-order guacamole bar? People enjoy customizing, and it’s very interactive.” In addition to the guacamole bar, The Lazy Gourmet is introducing a taco bar, where guests can make their own tacos with barbeque-marinated pork or chicken. Other new items include one-bite appetizers such as the Greek cucumber cups with black olive dust, sweet Thai chili fish cakes with lemongrass shallot relish, tuna poke on toasted nori crackers with radish matchstick and sprout, beef sausage with sourkraut and mustard on crispy herb spaetzle, and crispy cauliflower sliders. Food in jars continues to be a popular trend with guests. Three new desserts include coconut cream, lemon meringue, and apple pear mason jar pies. Read more

DINER: Inside Cooper & Irving’s “Cuchillo” At Main & Powell (On Track For Late May)

by Andrew Morrison | It might not look like it from the photos above, but Stu Irving and John Cooper’s Latin American-themed Cuchillo restaurant is getting close. Despite a few hiccups here and there, construction appears to be coming along nicely. Here’s some of the skinny that we first reported back in January…

Restaurant wonks and food lovers will be happy to learn that the main floor of the old building at 261 Powell St. (next to Bean Around The World and Big Lou’s Butcher Shop) has been picked up by a pair of industry veterans who are aiming to turn the raw shell of the place into a 93 seat restaurant by the end of Spring 2013.

Those same folks will remember chef Stu Irving (above right) from his days at Cobre, Wild Rice, Bin 941 and, most recently, The Diamond, but they’ll have to go way back to recall his business partner, John Cooper (left above). Cooper used to work with Irving at Raintree in its 1990′s Gastown heyday, back when the now long defunct restaurant was nurturing the early careers of Michael Dinn (JoieFarm), Tyson Reimer (Peckinpah), Andy Crimp (ex-Chambar), Karen Barnaby (Fish House), and many more (it shuttered in 2002). He only just returned to the front of house this year.

Their new project is called Cuchillo (Spanish for “Knife”). The food concept sounds like a slightly more health-conscious evolution of Irving’s work at Cobre, which closed last year after its lease came to an end (it is now another location of Rodney’s Oyster House). From what I understand, the plates will be modern interpretations and presentations of dishes that would be recognized by the peoples and cuisines of Latin America, so if I were to give it a name, I’d call it Modern Pan-Latin. Though there will be plenty of meat on the menu, expect to see some vegan/vegetarian stuff on it as well, albeit without any lifestyle harpery (Cooper is a vegetarian, but he’s not the least bit evangelical about it).

It’s an old space that hasn’t seen a business in 30 years, so it’s been something of a challenge. I recently toured the space again and dug what I saw, especially the mosaic work fronting Irving’s open kitchen. It should be gorgeous when it’s finished. I’m also really looking forward to seeing what Erin Sinclair (of This Is East Van book fame) will do with the feature wall next to the entrance (a layered mural, from what I’m told). Cuchillo is still on track for a late Spring opening. I’d be surprised if it wasn’t open before the end of May.

ALL ANTICIPATED OPENINGS

DINER: A Look Inside Chinatown’s Highly Anticipated Beer & Sausage Joint “Bestie”

by Andrew Morrison | It’s high time we provided an update on the highly anticipated Bestie at 105 East Pender St. in Chinatown. We first reported on its coming a year ago this week, and we’re happy to say that the 25 seat German-themed sausage and beer joint from Clinton McDougall and Dane Brown is well on its way. They’ve hammered down a menu of Thuringian sausages (pork) that will include brats and currywurst, plus a rotating poultry sausage and a special or two. The good folks at Oyama are making them, but execution is in the hands of chef Colin Johnson, who worked in Andrey Durbach’s kitchens for upwards of a decade. The fries will be hand-cut BC potatoes, double fried and served with a little metal pommesgabel (literally “French Fry Fork”), and the beers will be German-inspired but locally brewed (4 on tap with several others in bottle format). As you can see in one of the images above, the tapped beers can be had in 8oz, 12oz, or monstrous 24oz pours, the latter to be enjoyed from proper ceramic steins! David Stansfield, who you might know from Vancouver Urban Winery, is in charge of the tiny wine program. He has one red and one white cheap and cheerful planned for taps and tumblers, with a few supplemental bottles, all containing German varietals. The only spirit sold at Bestie will be schnapps. Because jawohl!

As far as the aesthetic goes, it’s worth remembering that Dane and Clinton come to the food trade from the design world, so they’ve considered the look as much as they have the sausages. It’s going to be on the bright side, with wooded paneling lit by high gloss white floors and white walls. Much of the seating will be convertible. A series of “booths” along the long wall facing the kitchen bar can readily be modified so that they become one large table, and above these booths will be an ever-changing canvas of wooden pegs. There are 116 holes in the wall to accommodate them, so expect to see hanging lights, magazines, and probably a jacket or two suspended above the modular booths. There’s also a sweet corner table at the front window that folds up so that sausages can be sold through the window deep into the night (hello Fortune revellers!). The rear wall will see rotating works from local artists (overseen by an obligatory cuckoo clock), and I suspect that we might hear some 1980′s Grauzone leading what I hope will be a chiefly German soundtrack. Dane and Clinton are doing nearly all the construction work themselves, with guidance from David Scott of local architecture firm Scott & Scott (recent recipients of some Cool Hunting love).

Because of its close proximity to the Scout office, I see a lot of currywurst in my future. Opening day, which can’t come soon enough, is on track for the early June.

ALL ANTICIPATED OPENINGS

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Andrew Morrison is the editor-in-chief of Scout and BC’s Senior Judge at the Canadian Culinary Championships. He contributes regularly to a wide range of publications, radio programs, and TV shows on local food, culture and travel. He live and works in the vibrant Strathcona neighbourhood, where he also collects inexpensive things and enjoys birds, skateboards, whisky, shoes, many songs, and the smell of wood fires.

SMOKE BREAK #1034: Modern Motorcycle Diary Of A Long Trans-American Road Trip

(via) In November, 2010, avid motorcyclist Alex Chacón of Texas traveled for south to the tip of South America and then back up again, all the way north to Alaska, documenting the journey with a video camera. The trip took 500 days.

TAKE ANOTHER BREAK

GOODS: Aloe Designs’ DIY Garden Station At The Farmers Market Lets Kids Grow Wild

Aloe Designs is located at 1443 East Pender Street in Vancouver, BC | 604.568.7324 | www.aloedesigns.com

The GOODS from Aloe Designs

Vancouver, BC | If fresh, local edibles and a stroll around Trout Lake in the sunshine aren’t enough to tempt you to the Vancouver Farmers Market this spring, local landscape-design group Aloe Designs is offering free mini workshops geared to families. Aloe Designs is hosting a DIY station at the May 11, May 25, and June 1 Trout Lake markets to teach parents and kids how to grow food at home, support our native bee population, and improve biodiversity. Kids–and adults!–are invited to get their hands dirty and learn about gardening while creating something special to take home.

Designers will be on hand to chat about sustainable gardening methods and offer advice on incorporating kid- and eco-friendly garden activities at home. They are, of course, also happy to take inquiries about landscape design services. Details after the jump… Read more

OUTFIT OF THE DAY: The Special “Summer Reading While Wearing Sunglasses” Edition

by Robyn Yager | Striped shirt from Joe Fresh, sunglass tote bag from TheOutnet.com, tortoise shell Ray-Bans, thrifted gold belt, leopard print flats by Sperry from Nordstrom Rack, thrifted denim cut offs, and a Salvation Army-sourced copy of A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole.

EVERY OUTFIT OF THE DAY

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