Chef Dino Renaerts Takes Over At Fraîche And Crave Beachside

News From Scout supporters Fraîche and Crave Beachside

West Vancouver, BC | Local top chef Dino Renaerts makes an exciting move to replace chef Wayne Martin at the helm of Fraîche Restaurant and Crave Beachside. The acclaimed hilltop restaurant and seaside eatery, loved by locals and critics alike, are now in the hands of Renaerts – one of the few born, raised, trained and celebrated Vancouver chefs.

“I’m really looking forward to doing something new, somewhere new,” says Renaerts. “The food at Fraîche has been impeccable since Wayne Martin opened its doors in 2007 and it’s going to be fun and challenging to add my own twist to the menu and wine program.” Dino Renaerts comes to West Vancouver from his latest post as Executive Chef for Diva at the Met in the Metropolitan Hotel. A certified sommelier, Renaerts believes that a well-designed pairing of food and wine is much greater than the sum of their parts. Read more

Four Seasons’ Yew Restaurant + Bar Joins The Scout Community

The good folks at YEW restaurant + bar in the Four Seasons Hotel are now proud member supporters of Scout. We will be publishing their news and press releases on our front page and hosting a page for them in our list of recommended restaurants. Click ahead or jump to their Scout page here. Read more

Pan-American Wine Bar “Latitude” On Main St. Now Open For Lunch

News from Scout supporter Latitude

Vancouver, BC | Main Street’s Latitude Restaurant and Wine Bar is now open for lunch from 11:30am – 2:30pm Monday to Saturday.  With our relaxed atmosphere and central location, our new service promises to be as successful as our dinners have become since opening last spring. Latitude’s lunch menu departs from its dinner selections while maintaining a refined Latin American tilt.  Try our gourmet Tacos, Southwestern Seafood Chowder, Caesar Salad with Tabasco and Clamato sauteed side stripe prawns from Tofino’s Wildside Seafood, Bison Flat Iron Steak Sandwich with chimichurri mayo, or White Bean and Chicken Chili with smoked jalapeno buttered cornbread. Read more

Scout List: Italian Eats At Yew And Secrets Beyond The Door…

The main objective of this website is to scout out and promote the things that make Vancouver such a sweet place to be. We do this with an emphasis on the city’s independent spirit to foster a sense of connectedness within and between our communities, and to introduce our readers to the people who grow and cook our food, play the raddest tunes in our better venues, create our most interesting art, and design everything from what we wear to the spaces we inhabit.

The Scout List is our carefully considered first rate list of super awesome things that we’re either doing, wishing that we could do, or conspiring to do this week. From our calendar to yours…

Food…

Four Seasons Milano

Being part of a high-end global hotel chain means each chef can dip into a vast pool of culinary knowledge. With this in mind, executive chef Oliver Beckett at YEW Restaurant in The Four Seasons has put together a three course $35 prix fixe based on dishes from the Four Seasons in Milan. The special menu, which can be paired with Italian-inspired cocktails (and don’t forget the 300 wines by the glass) will be available for the entire month of March.
Now until March 31st | Reserve at 604-692-4939 | Yew Website

Perogies!

The first Friday of the month means it’s perogy night at the Holy Trinity Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral on 10th (just off Main). The delicious, old-school perogies are handmade by church volunteers. A “regular dinner” consisting of 6 perogies, 2 cabbage rolls, sauerkraut or salad and Ukrainian sausage will cost you $11. If you’re looking for something a little lighter, borscht served with rye bread is only three bucks. Hit ‘em up this month because they are skipping April.
March 5 | 5 till 8 pm | Holy Trinity Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral | 154 E 10th | $3 – $14

Music

Bluebeard’s Castle

This Sunday, Opera Pro Cantanti presents an fairy tale evening with Bluebeard’s Castle. “Bluebeard lives in a world of darkness, and [his new bride] Judith is determined to bring light and love into her husband’s life. When Bluebeard forbids her to open the seven locked doors of his castle, Judith passionately insists that her love for Bluebeard gives her the right to know everything about him. Thus begins a battle of the wills that ends in tragedy, as Judith learns the truth about the man she has married.” The show will begin with an introductory presentation discussing the original Bluebeard fairy tale and its many adaptations. Sung in the original Hungarian!
March 7th | 7:30pm | Cambrian Hall (215 E17th Ave)| $15

The Nautical Miles

There’s a cool sort of show going down at the Little Mountain Gallery this weekend. Check it out: 12 months. 12 songs. 12 works of art. “Every month last year, The Nautical Miles released a brand new song on their website, accompanied by a piece of visual art created by one of their friends. On March 6th, The Nautical Miles will play the project in its entirety, with many of the guests that played with them over the course of the year. The artwork will be projected on the wall behind them.”
March 6 | 7:30pm | Little Mountain Gallery

Eve Egoyan

Music on Main delivers the goods this week with a performance by Eve Egoyan.  From a recent press release: “Toronto’s Eve Egoyan is a singular pianist whose passion for the music of today is unrivalled. Her recording of Ann Southam’s mesmerizing “Simple Lines of Enquiry” was named as one of the “2009: Ten Exceptional Recordings” by Alex Ross in The New Yorker. Don’t miss her Vancouver appearance in the intimate Cellar.”
March 9 | doors 6pm – music 9pm | 6:30 pm Cellar Restaurant & Jazz Club (3611 Broadway ) | $20

Culture Stuff…

Kaori Kasai Blims

The opening reception at Blim this weekend is worth a peek for an introduction to their March artist in residence – Kaori Kasai. Deets on the artist : “Using androgynous characters, Kasai creates storyboards of short vignettes about kinship, alienation, emotional boundaries and our interactions with physical environments.” Snacks, refreshments, music, meet the artist on Thursday night.
March 4 | 8-11pm | Blim | Free

Photogenic

There’s a new exhibit opening at Blanket: works by Markus Amm, Walead Beshty, Liz Deschenes, Lorna Macintyre, László Moholy-Nagy, Mark Soo, and James Welling. Here’s a Scout List-sized edit of what to expect: “Beyond a set of formal similarities, the artists share prevailing interest in materiality and process as concrete manifestations of a specific set of conditions offering unique visual energies and questioning the assumptions about photography.” Get the full explanation here and hit the opening reception on Friday to experience it first hand.
March 5 – April 10 | Blanket Gallery | FREE

Jo-Anne Birnie Danzker

As the Emily Carr promo explains: “Jo-Anne Birnie Danzker is a specialist in the history of the Modern and was exhibition director of the international research and exhibition projects The Short Century (curator Okwui Enwezor), as well as Shanghai Modern and Art of Tomorrow: Hilla von Rebay and Solomon R. Guggenheim which she also co-curated. She is currently the Director of the Frye Art Museum in Seattle. Birnie Danzker will engage in a dialogue with Sadira Rodrigues, Director of Continuing Studies at Emily Carr.”
March 11 | 6pm | Emily Carr – South Building Lecture Hall| FREE

Flicks…

Get Oscar ready

Out at the Norm this weekend you can brush up on your Oscar Nominated flicks by catching either Precious or An Education for the very reasonable price of $3 each.
March 3 – 7 | 7 & 9 pm | Norm Theatre | $3

Neil Young Trunk Show

If his brief appearance at the Olympics whet your appetite for a little more Neil – you can get your fix at the Vancity Theatre this week: “a traveling display of unique goods, packed and unpacked along the way…Jonathan Demme’s follow up and reaction to the acclaimed concert film Heart of Gold, drawn from two December 2007 shows at the Tower Theatre, Pennsylvania. Shifting from delicately offered acoustic numbers like “Sad Movies” and “Mexico” to searing, chaotic anthems including “Like a Hurricane” and “Cinammon Girl”; rarely performed pieces like “Kansas” and “Ambulance Blues”; and the blistering 22-minute electric tornado of “No Hidden Path” (which Rolling Stone likened to a high-speed car chase in an action thriller) this is Neil Young letting rip and rocking raw.”  Check a stitch of it on Youtube.
Special Advance Loud Show – March 5 | 7pm | Vancity Theatre | 10 beans

Secrets Beyond the Door

Cruise over to Pacific Cinémathèque to catch Secrets Beyond the Door: Treasures from the UCLA Festival of Preservation (starting next Thursday). Here’s the skinny from Pacific Cinémathèque (sounds pretty cool): “As part of the ongoing program of public film screenings we present as a cinematheque, Pacific Cinémathèque takes pleasure in showcasing the important preservation and restoration work being done by other cinema archives, film studios and speciality distribution companies around the globe — providing our audience not only with rare big-screen access to cinema’s greatest classics and treasures, but also the even rarer opportunity to see them projected from beautiful, pristine celluloid prints (the way they were meant to be seen). The UCLA Film and Television Archive’s Festival of Preservation, currently on North American tour and making its first-ever Vancouver (and only scheduled Canadian) stop, offers a true embarrassment of such riches. The festival features, in sparkling 35mm prints, 14 wide-ranging programs of major classics and undiscovered gems spanning a wide spectrum of film history, from the silent era to the new American independent cinema of the 1980s. Among the stellar offerings are one of the most historically and culturally significant films ever shot in British Columbia; an important landmark of Sri Lanka’s national cinema; a breakthrough work of gay cinema; and feature films from a cinephile’s-dream list of directors, including Fritz Lang, John Cassavetes, Joseph Losey, Frank Borzage, Josef von Sternberg, Edgar G. Ulmer, and others.”
March 11-29 | Various times  (usually 7 or 9pm) |Pacific Cinémathèque (1131 Howe) | $10

Blood Into Wine

Heads up for next week – because it would be a shame to miss it – the documentary film that makes Sideways look like a soft and silly chick flick screens at the Rio. Blood Into Wine focuses on Maynard James Keenan (Tool/A Perfect Circle) and his “…mission to bring credibility and sustainability to a newly born Arizona wine industry.” Be sure to stay late on Friday to catch Steve Martin in The Jerk.
March 12 | 7 and 9:30 | Rio Theatre | $10

Nature Stuff…

Owl Prowl

For a different way to start your weekend – consider an evening with the owls in Stanley Park. “Join renowned birder Al Grass for an evening with the owls in Stanley Park. An indoor presentation will be followed by a walk to Beaver Lake to listen for these secretive and nocturnal creatures. Registration required. Hit up conservation@stanleyparkecology.ca
March 5 | 7 – 9pm | Stanley Park Dining Pavilion | Pay what you can

Journey of the Blue Whale

The fine and learned crowd over at the Vancouver Institute once again use their powers for good and bring us a lecture on the Blue Whale. The scoop: “Dr Trites’ main area of research is the interaction between marine mammals and commercial fisheries. This includes the population biology and bioenergetics of seals, sea lions and whales, and involves a combination of field, captive and computer studies. The nutrition of animals and how much fish they take leads, inevitably, to conflict between the animals and fisheries: “We are applying our results in an attempt to find ways of resolving that conflict.” Dr Trites has convened workshops, including interactions between vessels and killer whales, and the effects of human disturbance on Steller sea lions. He is currently directing the recovery of the skeletal remains of a blue whale, the world’s largest mammal, to be prominently displayed in a glass-sided museum in the centre of UBC. ” Dr. Andrew Trites is the Director, Marine Mammal Research Unit, UBC Fisheries Centre – that some serious street cred in the world of marine science.
March 6 | 8:15 | Woodward Instructional Resources Centre,  UBC | FREE

Moss Walk

Mix it up this weekend with a closer look at lichens and mosses. Grab your magnifying glass and hook up with Renfrew Park Community Centre staff as they lead you through the beautiful ravine trail and explain to you the magical world of moss and lichens. Dress for the weather – there is a good chance of rain. Moss loves rain. Meet at Renfrew Park Community Centre-library side entance.
March 7 | 7 – 9pm | Renfrew Park Community Centre (2929 East 22nd Avenue)| $2

——————————————————————————————–

Michelle Sproule grew up in Kitsilano and attended Bond University in Australia and the University of Victoria before receiving her graduate degree in Library Sciences from The University of Toronto. She lives by the beach in Vancouver and enjoys wandering aimlessly through the city’s shops and streets with her best friend – a beat up, sticky, grimy, and uncooperative camera.

——————————————————————————————–

Scout List: Because “The Games” Are Not The Only Show In Town

The main objective of this website is to scout out and promote the things that make Vancouver such a sweet place to be. We do this with an emphasis on the city’s independent spirit to foster a sense of connectedness within and between our communities, and to introduce our readers to the people who grow and cook our food, play the raddest tunes in our better venues, create our most interesting art, and design everything from what we wear to the spaces we inhabit.

The Scout List is our carefully considered first rate list of super awesome things that we’re either doing, wishing that we could do, or conspiring to do this week. From our calendar to yours… Read more

Because Paying A $20 Cover To Drink Beer In A Tent Is Retarded

The biggest draw of Gastown right now seems to be the temporary German beerhall set up in the parking lot next to Steamworks. It’s not even in Gastown proper, but rather at its gates, sucking a lot of the daytime Olympic traffic from the neighbourhood. I went by yesterday and marveled at all the folks lined up when over a dozen kickass watering holes were within reach down the street. I hear zee Germans actually sold more beer in the first 9 days of the Games than they did at Turin altogether. Word is they actually ran out and had to charter a flight full of Thuringian suds to meet the ridiculous demand.

To help the local establishments out, Richard Gallagher, partner and creative director of Gastown’s Engine Digital, put this cool two-sided flyer together. Feel free to tweet, copy, paste, Facebook and forward it to all your contacts. All of those included - The Alibi Room, Cobre, The Diamond, Shebeen, Irish Heather, Boneta, Chill Winston, Six Acres, Salt, Jules, Revel Room, Black Frog, Pourhouse, Greedy Pig – are just a wedge to a 3-wood off the typical tourist track. Check ‘em out, not least because paying a $20 cover to line the pockets of people who aren’t invested in the city is sort of dumb. “No Tents. No Line-Ups. Actual Bars”. Dig it.

Food Media Omnibus #537: World Press Dogpile Our Restaurants

From the Vancouver Sun: Team Canada carbo-loads at DB Bistro Moderne, with Sid the Kid scarfing two bowls of pasta and a glass or two of red (Macleans writes the same story); the opening of The Keefer gets noticed; Mia Stainsby serves up 25 must-do foodie observances and welcomes back Daniel Boulud;

From the Province: Earls gets bad press about autograts and price hikes. They aren’t alone. As we noted last week, it’s been pretty horrific at some places. I heard one Yaletown restaurateur had a bit of a defensive meltdown on the news when confronted about it. Anyone see that?

From the Straight: Pieta Wooley on our culinary icons changing with the times; Carolyn Ali loves Local Public Eatery in Kits.

From the Globe & Mail: Alexandra Gill nails a few price hikers/autogratters. My favourite part of the piece?

Is the short-term gain really worth the long-term pain these practices may incite? Greedy restaurateurs may want to consider this warning tweeted by Raul Pacheco (@hummingbird604): “2 those in food industry jacking up $ during Olympics. Others may forget I won’t & I have a popular blog,”

How awesome is that? Local restaurateurs better watch out for that Raul dude, whoever he is. His “popular blog” will break your fucking legs, bro. For real. Snap. Read more

Next Page »