The goal of the 1,000 Cool Things About Vancouver column is to give equal weight to the great and uncommonly fascinating things that make our city well worth living in. You’ll find no steam clocks here. Getting to a thousand is a pretty ambitious goal but we believe in our city and are already well on our way.

Pro tip: when they batch cook off a bunch of steak for their delicious carne asada at La Mezcaleria on Commercial Drive, the intoxicating beef smoke that isn’t trapped by the hood vent gets lit up by the skylight like a meaty moonbeam. You have to time your visit right to see it properly. Around noon during summer weekend brunch services is the most ideal, as you can see in the images above and below, but early evenings can work too (though the slant of the beams aren’t as picturesque). Think of it as an eclipse, but less rare and with tacos.