Celebrate BC Craft Beer at Homegrown Heroes Cask Dinner

The Corner Suite Bistro De Luxe Collaborates with Five Local BC Breweries this May 12th, 2010

News from Scout supporter R&B Brewing Co.

Vancouver BC | On Wednesday May 12th at 7:30pm, The Corner Suite Bistro De Luxe and R&B Brewing Co. present the Homegrown Heroes Cask Dinner. Five local BC Craft Breweries, including R&B Brewing Co, Crannog Ales, Steamworks Brewing Co., Vancouver Island Brewery and Spinnakers Brew Pub, will each present a cask beer to pair with one of five courses prepared by Chef Jason Leizert of The Corner Suite Bistro De Luxe. Homegrown Heroes diners will indulge in five courses including R&B Saison poached Foie Gras Terrine with pickled prune paired with R&B Psycho Saison Belgian Ale, Boudin Blanc with pomme puree & grainy mustard sauce paired with Crannog Gael’s Blood Potato Ale, Sablefish Collars, rhubarb galette, stinging nettle beurre blanc paired with Steamworks NXNW Pale Ale, braised Oxtail Pot Pie, flowering brussel sprouts, poached organic egg yolk, bacon jam paired with Vancouver Island ALT and Cocoa Nib chocolate truffles & 5 year aged cheddar from Quebec paired with Spinnaker’s Oatmeal Stout. Tickets for the dinner are $80 and will include a commemorative tee shirt exclusive to the Homegrown Heroes Cask Dinner. Full details after the jump… Read more

Corner Suite Named “Best New Vancouver Bar” By Food & Wine

The Corner Suite Bistro De Luxe has been named the “Best New Bar In Vancouver” by Food & Wine magazine assistant research editor Kelly Snowden.

“Ten years ago, I knew nothing about the right way to make cocktails—I’d even use my teeth to open a beer,” says mixologist Steve Da Cruz. Today, Da Cruz is a star of Vancouver’s phenomenal cocktail scene.

For the drinks at the new Corner Suite Bistro de Luxe, he resurrects cocktails from 19th-century books, though some of his best drinks have a slightly more modern provenance. One is the Vancouver, a combination of gin, sweet vermouth and Benedictine created at the city’s Sylvia Hotel in the 1950s. “I learned how to make it from a customer with a thick Scottish brogue, who came in dressed like he was one of The Dirty Dozen,” Da Cruz says.

Da Cruz became obsessed with cocktails while hanging out in seminal Manhattan bars like Milk & Honey, but he’s happier in Vancouver. “In New York, you had to twist someone’s arm to lend you an unusual spirit,” he says. “Here, we share what we can.”

The snippet doesn’t say why it’s the “best”, but what’s glossy journalism without those declarative, wholly subjective and hyperbolic headlines? It goes without saying that barman/co-owner Steve Da Cruz can make a drink with the best of them (boy, does he ever), but is CSBDL really the Best New Bar in Vancouver? Maybe, but if we think of all the other places that have opened in the past year (if a year is what Snowden allowed), it’s a pretty tight field. Tannis and her crew at Bao Bei are solid. Jay Jones at Pourhouse is no slouch. And what about the The Diamond, which has amassed enough raw bartending talent to slay all for blocks around?

Your thoughts after the jump… Read more

Getting To Know The Boys Of The Corner Suite Bistro De Luxe

Once or twice a week Scout poses 60 questions to a different individual. They pick and choose which ones they’d prefer to answer, with a minimum response rate of 20. It’s some sort of Rorschach test, for sure.

We’ve never before presented three Q&As at once, but separating the boys of The Corner Suite Bistro De Luxe didn’t feel right. To that end, we introduce you to Steve, Andre, and Jason… Read more

The Corner Suite Bistro De Luxe Opens For Friends And Family…

A pal of mine and I were about town last night and were happily surprised to find The Corner Suite Bistro De Luxe with the paper off the windows and some friends and family in, finally. So we snuck in for a first sip, taste, and look at what the long awaited new restaurant had to offer. It’s a cool-looking space. See for yourselves. They’re closed Monday, but they might open for real this Tuesday once they get their final piece of paper from the city. Take a look in the video below and scroll even further down for a few dozen photos of the exterior and interior, as well as the few plates of food that we sampled… Read more

The Making Of A Restaurant: The Corner Suite Bistro De Luxe

From the fellows at the Corner Suite Bistro De Luxe comes a photo montage of their build (complete with Platinum Blonde soundtrack). More photos of the almost finished restaurant here.

Light At The End Of The Tunnel For Anticipated “Corner Suite”

I toured the still unfinished Corner Suite today. The highly anticipated downtown restaurant-to-be starring Food Network celebrity chef Anthony Sedlak and the front of house talents of Steve Da Cruz and Andre MacGillivray is very nearly there. Cross your fingers for a November opening… Read more

Meet Corner Suite Chef & Food Network Star Anthony Sedlak

Our interview with Anthony Sedlak, star of the Food Network show The Main and the executive chef at the Corner Suite Bistro De Luxe, the highly anticipated new off-Robson joint from restaurateurs Andre McGillivray and Steve Da Cruz. Read more

The New Van Mag Feature On The Corner Suite Bistro De Luxe…

- Scarfing cheese in The Corner Suite's test kitchen with executive chef Anthony Sedlak

My new Van Mag feature on the coming of The Corner Suite Bistro De Luxe is now available in print and online. Excerpts and the link to the original after the leap. Read more

Van Mag Telling The Story Of The Corner Suite Bistro De Luxe

Corner Suite Bistro De Luxe co-owners Andre McGillivray and Steve Da Cruz at rest in their new digs | PHOTO - AM

The highly anticipated restaurant is still under construction (the Corner Suite Bistro De Luxe won’t launch until July), but that doesn’t mean it won’t be interesting until after its doors are opened… Read more

Anticipation Poll: The Diamond, Corner Suite Or The Pourhouse

This is a tough one. I’m looking forward to all three of the following options, and have the utmost confidence in their individual abilities and relative likelihood of success, even in a shit poor economy. But if I had to pick just one…gosh…I just couldn’t do it. Here, you do it.

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For those requiring some background…

The Corner Suite Bistro De Luxe

Propreitors Steve Da Cruz and Andre McGillivray with executive chef Anthony Sedlak,

Opening day: early July

From the Anticipated Openings list (LINKAGE):

Former Boneta co-owner and Le Crocodile/Lumiere/Chambar managerial alumnus Andre McGillivray has partnered up with barman Steve Da Cruz (Boneta and most recently on the wood at Gastropod). Together they’ve secured the old Piccolo Mondo location (most recently Saveur) at 850 Thurlow, just off the Robson drag. They’re releasing no details on the concept or the plan just yet, but with the players involved I think it’s safe to assume that we might be looking at a cocktail-forward and service driven joint with very good food. I’m imagining a downtown cousin of Chambar and Boneta. The bigger news is that the executive chef is going to be none other than Anthony Sedlak, local boy and star of the Food Network show, The Main. This is Anthony’s first executive role, which means this is likely just as exciting for him as it is for his legions of fans.

The Diamond

Josh Pape and Mark Brand, co-owners of The Diamon (not pictured is their partner, Sophie Taverner )

Opening day: May 2009

From the Anticipated Openings list (LINKAGE):

With principals that are among the city’s top bartenders – Mark Brand, the 2006 Van Mag Bartender of the Year and co-owner of Boneta; ex-Chambar bar manager Josh Pape; and Sophie Taverner, formerly of The Cascade – they could have called themselves The Ghengis Khan Soda Shack & Swizzle Bar and they’d still likely open to a sustained packed house. Located upstairs at 6 Powell St overlooking Gassy Jack Square, the sixty seat bar and restaurant is called The Diamond. They’ve picked up Christie Peters (ex-Feenies, Chow) and Pierre Natarani (ex-Feenies, Boneta, Medina) to run the small, easy Asian-themed kitchen (gyozas, ramen, etc), and Chambar’s Charles Ainsbury is on his way down to join the bar team as well (the world’s youngest Bartender of the Year, from Australia). The business is a two fronted thing, with days seeing it run as a bartending school, something that will hopefully help elevate the bar scene from its rye and coke doldrums. They’ll also be offering spirit seminars to folks who want to sip and learn prior to heading out on the town, not unlike the many wine tasters you might see at Salt just around the corner. But it’s from 5:30pm until midnight (Thurs-Sun) that The Diamond will likely shine brightest.

The Pourhouse

Opening day: late summer 2009

From the Anticipated Openings list (LINKAGE):

It’s about time the journeyman settled down! He’s worked a lot of places over the years (and has accrued a great many of fans and regulars), so this has the reassuring ring of permanence to it. I just spent a week with him in Kentucky on the Bourbon Trail, so I’ve seen first hand how much he appreciates his spirits (it’s terrifying).

So where’s the new place going to be? According to an email from Jay, it’s “the old Flux location in Gastown, just southeast of the Steam clock.” There’ll be 160 seats in total, with 25 at the bar. The concept? “Spirit focused, back to basics drinking and eating.” Huzzah!

Regular readers will recall the flame out of Flux, the concept-less joint at 162 Water St. that tried (if I recall correctly) to mix chocolate with sushi. I always thought it was a prime location, and ripe for folks with either solid name recognition and talent or people with lots of money to buy both. Jay will knock it out of the park here.

Jones’ partner is executive chef Chris Irving, who worked at the Wickaninnish Inn in Tofino and West before moving to the UK to toil under the direction of Marcus Wareing and Gordon Ramsay at Restaurant Petrus in London.

All Anticipated Openings

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