by Andrew Morrison | Mark Brand’s much anticipated new Gastown pub, Portside, is set to open this evening at 7 Alexander Street. There will be a media preview starting at 7pm and then the doors open at 1opm. Rich Hope will be the first local musician to take the stage, and then a couple of DJs will take over. I was in late last night to sneak a peek and raise the first glass of Champagne (Brand having sabred the first bottle with a short order fry-flipper). Everything that needed to be in place looked to be in place, including a ceiling-suspended clawfoot bathtub with four taps dispensing whisky, a drop down screen for hockey games, a keg room with a custom-made door locked by a spinning wheel (nautical-style), high top tables planked with either Douglas Fir or reclaimed floorboards from an old Jazz club in Yaletown, and more beer taps than I cared to count. The coolest thing? Several former Waldorf staffers are on the clock, including – I’m told – all the nice folks who always worked the door.

ALL ANTICIPATED OPENINGS

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Andrew Morrison lives and works in Vancouver as editor-in-chief of Scout, and Culinary Referee & Judge at the Canadian Culinary Championships. He also contributes regularly to a wide range of publications, radio programs, and television shows on local food, culture and travel; collects inexpensive things; and enjoys rare birds, skateboards, cocktails, shoes, good pastas, many songs, and the smell of camp fires.