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DINER: New “Salt Tasting Room” Location In Kitsilano Now Softly Open On Broadway

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by Andrew Morrison  (photos via Sean Heather) | The new location of Salt Tasting Room is in the midst of its second soft opening service tonight and will open for real this Tuesday. The 28 seater (with a patio) is located at 2585 West Broadway in the old Mistral address. We broke the news of its coming back in May:

“It’s a weird, fickle block. I say that because it has – in the recent past – felled the luminous likes of Lumiere, DB Bistro, and Mistral in short order. The dolled up “food to go” operation called Nosh – the one that opened in the space in January after Mistral shuttered – lasted a mere five months. I’m not privy to the details of the deal, but Heather has a knack for getting good ones, and I can’t imagine him advancing beyond Gastown if this particular dotted line wasn’t especially mesmerizing (I think it would have had to have been for him to take it). And while it’s true that Heather hasn’t opened a restaurant outside west of Abbott St. in years – not since the short-lived Lucky’s Diner in Yaletown – he knows the area well enough (“I’m happy to be back on the street that I spent four years of my life on as manager [at] Benny’s Bagels when I first arrived from Ireland in 1991,” he writes via email). But more importantly, Salt isn’t an unknown entity in Vancouver, and cured meat + cheese + wine is hardly a bumfuzzling equation anywhere except in vegan and vegetarian circles. People know it and dig it, so it could pretty well open in any address in this city – even off an alley that smells awfully of pee – and folks would still give it a shot. SHort version: it’s a win for the west side.”

The new location is open from 4pm until midnight, Tuesday through Sunday.

ALL ANTICIPATED OPENINGS

There are 4 comments

  1. Passed by there today and had my face pressed up to the glass. Looks good at first, but on closer inspection like a budget (or temporary) version of the great Gastown original. Doesn’t feel a place where you pay over the odds for three slices of cheese. The menu is not designed by a designer, so even that makes it look a bit downscale. The prices are certainly not downscale.

    Having just come back from Bilbao, this irks me a little more than it used to. There, it’s no pretentiousness, a nice glass of house white and three amazingly creative pintxos for $12.

    Oh, and a bottle of Driftwood Farmhand Ale is FOURTEEN DOLLARS!
    Are Driftwood making a special version containing gold leaf for Mr Heather? I understand mark-ups and the BC LDB thing, but 14 bucks?

  2. We were in on Friday and the place looks fantastic. Certainly a different vibe from the gastown location ( less touristy and industrial more of a neighbourhood feel) but still same fun concept and same friendly and knowledgeable service. This is a great round out to the neighbourhood. Can’t wait to be back. Welcome to the neighbourhood!

  3. From the Vancouver Sun

    “I’ve had several people asking what happened to Le Mistral in Kitsilano after it closed down this summer.

    Seems they had some loyal regulars and I’m not surprised — Jean-Yves Benoit was a Michelin-trained chef, putting out affordable food and wife Mina was one of the best at front-of-room service.

    Here’s the skinny. Benoit was in a terrible bicycling accident while cycling with friend, Michel Jacob, of Le Crocodile five years ago. He was hit by a drunk driver passing another vehicle. He hit the windshield, broke his back, his shoulders and his legs as well as sustaining head injuries.

    He took five weeks off after back surgery and was back in the kitchen. He was finding it harder and harder to keep at it and the couple sold the restaurant this summer. Mina is now manager at Yew restaurant at the Four Seasons and he’s getting some rest and trying to heal.

    He says the last years were the busiest at the restaurant but the hardest on him. “I hadn’t had much time to recover. I’m training and working hard to stay fit.” One day, he’ll be back, he says but he’s not sure in what way. “Maybe something easier. Maybe a coffee shop,” he says. “right now we are fine and we are waiting to see what I can do later on. You don’t want to give up.”

    Looking forward, Jean-Yves, to have you back on track!”

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