SEEN IN VANCOUVER #331: In Through The Out Door At Gastown’s Bitter Tasting Room

I checked out Bitter on Hastings with a few friends for the first time last night, just hours after awakening from my five day Christmas tryptophan stupor. The Canucks vs Sharks tilt ended well for the inaugural drop-down of the beer-focused restaurant’s new projector screen (and there was much rejoicing). For those who lament the widespread inclusion of televisions in our dining culture, I don’t think anyone not back with us knew that there was a game on, and this despite our occasional hollers, which could have heralded the arrival of new sausages for all they knew. The monster screen is tucked discreetly away in the back room and disappears as soon as the last whistle is blown, which is to say that it’s a rather civilised departure from the multi-flatscreen pub efforts now dotting the city and discolouring too many atmospheres with non-stop blue light. This was noticeably different. Along with the second floor at Lupo in Yaletown, I reckon Bitter is one of the coolest, most subtle venues for dedicating an evening to fork, glass, and the Canucks retaining their first place standing in their division (achieved last night) through to the end of the regular season. If you’re a fan of hockey and beer, book it. I reckon there’s room enough for a dozen or so.

Being too befuddled with the hockey and the many giant bottles of beer (not to mention the Scotch eggs and gooey Welsh rarebit), I neglected to take any shots of the night save for the one you see above using my phone’s King Camera app. Happily, there’s no substitute for checking it out yourselves. In the interim, explore the gallery below to witness the arc of Bitter’s construction. It was as fun to watch as the game.

EVERYTHING SEEN IN VANCOUVER

DINER: Heather & Hawthorn’s Finished “Bitter Tasting Room” Unveiled In Gastown

Sean Heather and Scott Hawthorn opened their long awaited Bitter Tasting Room at 18 West Hastings tonight for a brief “friends and family” soiree. We snuck in shortly beforehand and shot the place up. First, some context from a previous post…

The highly anticipated temple to beer at 18 West Hastings (across from Pigeon Park off Carrall) is coming along nicely. I’m particularly besotted by the 3/4 circular bar, which is much larger than I originally thought it would be. It juts out from a towering wall of beer fridges and totally dominates the space, which is lined with benches made of wood reclaimed from buildings in Gastown and Yaletown. Not only will it act as a wood and well for bar service, it will also do double time as the main kitchen. It comes as fully equipped as a ventless kitchen should (mise en place, lowboys, etc), and will likely prove interesting to see in action. The rear of Bitter – the semi-private room – is nearly complete as well, and will eventually sport a drop down projector screen for Canuck games. But the coolest thing by far? On one of the many pieces of paper floating around, I spied a design mock up that showed what appeared to be a blown up photo of Hastings & Carrall street scene from 1910 (or thereabouts) covering the restaurant’s street frontage (see one of the photos below). At first, I didn’t see any of the big motif started on the window, but I peeled a bit of the paper back and lo! There was a small test patch of the huge image already installed. That means, if I’m not totally mistaken, that we’ll be able to sit and drink and look at the street outside through an image of what it looked like 100 years ago. How awesome is that?

We’ve been following this project since well before Heather and Hawthorn took possession, so we invite you to take a look at the very… Read more

DINER: A Look Inside “Bitter Tasting Room” As Its November Opening Approaches

by Andrew Morrison | As promised, I checked out the progress at Sean Heather and Scott Hawthorn’s Bitter Tasting Room earlier today. The highly anticipated temple to beer at 18 West Hastings (across from Pigeon Park off Carrall) is coming along nicely. I’m particularly besotted by the 3/4 circular bar, which is much larger than I originally thought it would be. It juts out from a towering wall of beer fridges and totally dominates the space, which is lined with benches made of wood reclaimed from buildings in Gastown and Yaletown. Not only will it act as a wood and well for bar service, it will also do double time as the main kitchen. It comes as fully equipped as a ventless kitchen should (mise en place, lowboys, etc), and will likely prove interesting to see in action. The rear of Bitter – the semi-private room – is nearly complete as well, and will eventually sport a drop down projector screen for Canuck games. But the coolest thing by far? On one of the many pieces of paper floating around, I spied a design mock up that showed what appeared to be a blown up photo of Hastings & Carrall street scene from 1910 (or thereabouts) covering the restaurant’s street frontage (see one of the photos below). At first, I didn’t see any of the big motif started on the window, but I peeled a bit of the paper back and lo! There was a small test patch of the huge image already installed. That means, if I’m not totally mistaken, that we’ll be able to sit and drink and look at the street outside through an image of what it looked like 100 years ago. How awesome is that?

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DINER: Gastown’s Hotly Anticipated “Bitter Tasting Room” Issues Its First Call To Arms

West Hastings’ long (still) awaited Bitter is getting imminent by degrees, as they’re issuing their first ever call to arms tonight.

Bitter – a beer tasting room, is looking for servers to join its opening team. In addition to having 2 years of excellent serving experience, you must love everything about beer. We mean eat, drink and sleep beer. Ideally, you are the kind of person who plans their vacations around beer towns and breweries. Just like our brother, “Salt Tasting Room”, you will work with unique product, served with the respect that it deserves. Each beer will have a story to tell and you will be the storyteller. Proper glassware will be used for all stages from Growlers and Flights to Chalices and Steins. Beer will be paired with ‘beer food’ from all over the world, currywurst to pork pies and rabbit rillettes to fresh pretzels. There will also be a beer cocktail list and a selection of sipping whisky. Successful applicants will receive a training course supervised by Cicerone Chester Carey. Interested? Please email your resume to mike@irishheather.com

Check out some of our shots and video of the place after the jump… Read more

Sean Heather Secures Heritage Spot For New “Rainier” Concept

by Andrew Morrison | Just when you thought Gastown restaurateur Sean Heather would take a breath (his first in five years), he goes ahead and secures another location, arguably the best remaining/available address in the whole of the neighbourhood: the southwest corner of Cordova and Carrall, directly across from the original Boneta.

The space – formerly Prime Time Chicken – has been the source of wild rumours for a couple of years. If you’ve been privy to them, you dreaded it was going to be a chain of some kind; a Keg, an American Apparel, a Cactus Club, you name it. In recent months, it’s been a rotating set for period movies and television shows, doubling for old Paris and then quick-changing to New York. That has only served to make the truth of it murkier. I’ve been told of many discussions and some near signings. Lots of restaurateurs and retailers have eye-balled this space, but the fear in the neighbourhood was that it would go to a chain outlet of some kind, a Le Chateau or an Earls. It’s funny how Sean Heather can have eight establishments (Salty Tongue, The Shebeen, The Irish Heather, Judas Goat, Salt Tasting Room, The Everything Cafe, Fetch and the upcoming Bitter) and have them not be carbon copies of each other. It just makes chains look wicked lazy.

Heather’s new pickup was once pretty run down. It’s been fixed up by BC Housing to the clean state of a starched skeleton, though its mosaic floor has been reduced to 1/4 of the total voluminous space (a previous abomination). Its windows still drink up plenty of natural light, and air is thick with lore. Though this particular space doesn’t even have an official address any more, it was part of the The Rainer Hotel, built in 1907 for off-duty loggers and passers-through of every stripe. Once upon a time it was a bustling place, the outer navel of an earlier inner city.

But why another eatery, Sean Heather? “Business is good at my other places,” he says, “and yeah,  it was either do this or let it go to someone else.” I guess that makes better sense than just waiting around for another business (read: potential competitor) to come in to the neighbourhood that you’ve already invested so much in. I see it as a net positive for the area, like a move in the game Monopoly. I’d much prefer an Irish pub owner over an old man in a top hat with a grey moustache, you know what I mean? Read more

The First Look Inside Gastown’s Upcoming Beer-Themed “Bitter”

Operations manager Mike Mitchell and owner Sean Heather inside the construction site at 18 West Hastings

by Andrew Morrison | I was given a tour of the upcoming “Bitter” beer-themed restaurant the other day. The building that houses it on Hastings had been wrapped up in scaffolding for as long as I can remember, but it’s all been dismantled now and construction has begun in earnest. Scout broke the news of its coming back in January:

Sean Heather and Scott Hawthorn, partners at Salt Tasting Room and Judas Goat, are joining forces for a third time to open a new joint called Bitter. “It’s an extension of Salt, really” says Heather, “only its a beer format instead of wine”. Beers will be had in all guises and sizes, from tiny tasters to pitchers, while the food will see fresh pretzels, weisswurst, smoked sausage, house sauerkraut, currywurst, whole smoked ham hocks, pickled onions, scotch eggs, pork pies, and more. Bitter will land on the main floor of the oddly-shaped (flat-iron-ish) building at 18 West Hastings opposite Pigeon Park, and will sport some 140 seats, two entrances (one from the street and one from the back alley), a patio in Center A’s parking lot, a 20ft diameter circular bar and finishing kitchen around which diners will sit and be served, and my favourite thing of all..a neon sign flashing the word “BITTER”.

Much of the construction is being done off-site, so right now they’re in prep stage, making everything ready for plug and play installation which will probably go down in September. When it launches toward the end of October, we can expect some 50 beers available in an atmosphere reminiscent of Vancouver’s pre-Prohibition era when the ales, lagers and bitters flowed liberally from a multitude of local breweries.

A circular bar will dominate the strangely shaped space. It will be backed by what Heather calls a “tower of beer,” meaning a working, Wonka-esque display of kegs, pressure valves and lines.  Surrounding it will be wooden bench banquettes (think church pews) and walls of glass looking out onto the street and through to the white picket fence-enclosed patio (shaded by a pair of leafy trees).

True to the heritage of the building, there are mosaic floors that are in the process of being patched and restored, cool girder beams across the ancient wood-slatted ceilings and lots and lots of gnarly red brick. The back of the space, which funnels to a point like the prow of a ship (sailing toward the Pender gate to Chinatown), will see an 18 seat semi-private room with a flatscreen TV for Canucks games and, typical in Heather ventures, an alleyway entrance for take-out fare. Take a look inside below, and please forgive the shaky camera work as I just got off crutches…

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Seen In Vancouver #294: Fake Pool Appears In Pigeon Park At Carrall And Hastings

Reader S.H. just spied an art intervention going down in Pigeon Park and snapped this photo for us. Here’s what we could find out via organisers The Grunt Gallery…

THE PIGEON’S CLUB is an ALL-INCLUSIVE event complete with tourist iconography in the heart of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, an area where social exclusion and human suffering is among the most intense in Canada but also where there is the greatest concentration of mutual aid and frontline services. The GOs of THE PIGEON’S CLUB will greet its VIP guests between 2 and 10pm, giving voice to citizens by way of open mic, karaoke, free games and art performances promoting social interaction [...] The Pigeon’s Club is a satirical critique of the glossy, squeaky-clean view of the world championed by travel agency brochures, which extol happiness as an all-inclusive package deal. ATSA is providing its own outrageous take on the whole aesthetic of the ALL-INCLUSIVE to better pull people’s strings and stir up debate.

Because if you can’t eat cake, the least you can do is ironically pretend to swim. Oh, art.

ALSO SEEN IN VANCOUVER…

GOODS: “Salt Tasting Room” Hosting Phillips Brewery Monday, May 30th In The Salt Cellar

Salt Tasting Room is located in Gastown's Blood Alley | 604-633-1912 | www.salttastingroom.com

The GOODS from Salt Tasting Room

Vancouver, BC | Join us at the Salt Cellar on Monday May 30th, 2011 for the 2nd in our beer series as we pair six of Phillips Brewery beers with our artisan cheese and local charcuterie. The Salt Cellar Series is all about sampling, learning and making new friends in an intimate and casual environment. It really is a unique Vancouver experience. Tickets are $40 and the event starts at 7pm.

Purchase tickets at http://bit.ly/qtWfJ. More details after the jump… Read more

GOODS: Gastown’s “Salt Tasting Room” Hosting Pair Of Neal’s Yard Cheese Tastings

Salt Tasting Room is located in Gastown's Blood Alley | 604-633-1912 | www.salttastingroom.com

The GOODS from Salt Tasting Room

Vancouver, BC | Salt Tasting Room is proud to welcome world renowned Neal’s Yard Dairy to the Salt Cellar Series on Monday, May 16th at 7pm and Tuesday, May 17th at 7pm. Usually the focus of the Cellar Series leans towards the grape as we invite winemakers from near and far to share an evening with us. On these dates, the focus shifts slightly as we explore the world of cheese!

The team at Salt takes it’s cheese very seriously. Sean Heather, co-owner of Salt, visits cheese-mongers both locally and around the world for the best products he can find, and when you’re talking about the best, the conversation has to involve Neal’s Yard Dairy in the UK. They are quite particular about the cheeses they represent (and who represents them) and this is your chance to see why. We are privileged to have Chris George from Neal’s Yard Dairy join the team at Salt in hosting these two events, pairing his cheeses to fine wines and condiments. Details after the jump… Read more

Sean Heather To Open “Bitter” Joint On The Downtown Eastside

Sean Heather and Scott Hawthorn, partners at Salt Tasting Room and Judas Goat, are joining forces for a third time to open a new joint called Bitter. “It’s an extension of Salt, really” says Heather, “only its a beer format instead of wine”. Beers will be had in all guises and sizes, from tiny tasters to pitchers, while the food will see fresh pretzels, weisswurst, smoked sausage, house sauerkraut, currywurst, whole smoked ham hocks, pickled onions, scotch eggs, pork pies, and more. Bitter will land on the main floor of the oddly-shaped (flat-iron-ish) building at 18 West Hastings opposite Pigeon Park, and will sport some 140 seats, two entrances (one from the street and one from the back alley), a patio in Center A’s parking lot, a 20ft diameter circular bar and finishing kitchen around which diners will sit and be served, and my favourite thing of all..a neon sign flashing the word “BITTER”.

We’ll be giving you the first look very soon, probably tomorrow after we launch the new version of the site. Until then, dream a little dream of pork hock and ales…

ALL ANTICIPATED OPENINGS

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