Andrew Morrison was born in Vancouver then schooled, raised, and rumpled in Toronto and Victoria before moving to South Africa to study history and classics at the University of Cape Town. After further study in similar fields at the University of Toronto, he married and started a successful career as a breeder of fine sons. He returned to Vancouver with his young family in 2002.

Between, during, after and instead of going to school, Andrew did prep, washed dishes, bussed tables, served and managed in restaurants before becoming the restaurant critic at the Westender in 2005. Today, in addition to his oversight of Scout and his weekly column on Vancouver’s vibrant restaurant scene for WE, he contributes to Western Living, Condé Nast Traveller, Monocle, Vancouver and Harry magazines, as well as the annual Van Mag Eating & Drinking Guide. He is the editor of the award-winning Vancouver Cooks cookbook (2010), the National Referee and BC Judge at the Canadian Culinary Championships, an advisor to enRoute magazine on Canada’s Top 10 Best New Restaurants report, and a few things besides.

He lives and works in Vancouver’s vibrant Strathcona with his wife and two kids, James and Alexander.

What are three things about Strathcona that make you want to live there? McLean Park. Character neighbours. Its maze of dead end streets.

What are three things that Strathcona doesn’t have but should? A moat. A really good pub. A lake.

Name the thing that you eat that is bad for you that you will never stop eating? Red meat.

Default drink/cocktail of choice? Cold beer. Also Mint Juleps in summer and sweeter than usual Old Fashioneds in winter.

Name three drinks/cocktails you’ll never have again? My mother’s milk. Decaf. Warm rice wine.

The Vancouverite that you admire most and why? Chef/restaurateur John Bishop. A gentleman all-rounder for the ages.

Your role models? My parents.

Your favourite sound? A diesel Land Rover starting up in the dark just before dawn.

Your least favourite sound? That of a hard, urethane skateboard wheel when it hits a tiny pebble in the dark at speed. It’s like a fart crossed with a dog bark, short and sharp, and the next thing you know you’re flying – surprised – through the air toward the concrete.

Your favourite smells? Stumptown coffee. Gasoline. Burning beach logs. Leather. Pipe tobacco. Good marijuana. Rain on hot dust after a sunny day. Bacon.

Your least favourite smells? The Carrall St. entrance to Blood Alley in Gastown on a Sunday morning after 500 assholes have pissed behind the dumpsters. Bad body odor. Puke.

Where is your favourite local patio? Brix.

The historical personalities, both good and bad, that fascinate you the most? Winston Churchill, Napoleon Bonaparte, Cecil Rhodes, Phillip of Macedon, Galileo, Aristophanes, Jan Smuts, Stephen Bantu Biko.

What trend have you followed that you now regret? I had an LA Raiders jacket with matching hat in 1990.

The dumbest thing that you’ve ever done to your hair? I looked pretty stupid with a shaved head (lost a bet).

What are the three things you’d like to change about Vancouver? Stupid liquor laws. Cops investigating cops. NIMBYism.

Is there a local bartender who could sell you anything? There are many, but Shaun Layton at L’Abattoir, Simon Kaulback at Boneta, David Wolowidnyk at West, and Josh Pape at the Diamond spring immediately to mind.

Your go to, no-frills place for dinner? Dona Cata on Victoria Dr. or Sea Monstr Sushi on Powell.

If you could board a plane this afternoon, where would it be taking you? Either to Tripoli, en route to Leptis Magna, or to Nice.

The strangest place you’ve ever been to? Tough call. Either the Kalahari Desert or Bora Bora.

The three books that you read that made an impact on you in your formative years? I refuse to believe I’ve left my “formative years”, but Swallows & Amazons by Arthur Ransome, A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway and The Practice Of The Wild by Gary Snyder were probably the most impactful when I was younger.

Who’s style do you covet? Peter O’Toole’s.

Where was the last place you traveled to for work or pleasure? Tofino.

What is your biggest phobia? Spiders and airplanes.

Where did you go to school? Vancouver, Victoria, Toronto, Cape Town.

What did you major in as an undergraduate? Modern History & Ancient History at the University of Cape Town.

The cliché that you overuse? “When I was your age…” to my kids.

The strangest talent that you possess? I can draw a relatively accurate outline/map of the world in under two minutes.

Shoe of choice? Three way tie between Vans slip ons, Adidas Gazelles and Converse All Stars.

The different career path that you could have gone on? Historian.

Your ancestry? English and Scottish.

Your three favourite films? Lawrence of Arabia, Kafka, Down By Law.

Television show that you could tolerate re-runs of? Time Team, The West Wing, Fawlty Towers.

Under what circumstances would you join the army? If Canada was at war for a good reason and they guaranteed a bagpiper would play while we went into battle.

Your most regrettable purchase ever? A gold 1973 Plymouth Valiant in 1990.

Your major character flaw? Narcissism, only because I can’t think of a major character flaw.

The character flaw in others that you can’t abide? Religious zealotry.

How do you know when you can trust someone? When they have repeatedly shown that they can be trusted.

What was the luckiest moment in your life? I’ve had a generally lucky life, but tops would be being born in Vancouver and meeting my wife Michelle, who is all kinds of never-ending amazing.

What was the unluckiest moment in your life? Falling off a cliff when I was little.

What are you the most proud of? The erudition and manners of my children. Working up the courage to speak to my future wife in a Toronto bookstore 10 years ago.

What are you the least proud of? My lack of math skills.

The biggest mistake you’ve ever made? I once went into business with someone that I really shouldn’t have.

What is the best thing about your work? I have no boss.

What is the worst thing about your work? I have no boss.

The relatively normal piece of clothing that you believe you’d look the most ridiculous in? One of those Mad Men hats.

The talent that you wish you possessed? The ability to play the guitar.

What are you listening to as you answer these questions? Burning by The Whitest Boy Alive.

What musical instrument do you secretly long to play? I’ve made no secret of my desire to play the guitar, so I’d have to go with the violin.

What sport did you give up and why? Cricket. Once I left private school, no other kids were playing it.

What is the game that you’re best at? Chess.

What is the one animal that scares you the most? The aged, emasculated, angry male lion that has just been bested from his pride and is too slow to catch anything but the sick, injured and slow.

If you had a motto, what would it be? “A boer maak a plan.” It’s an Afrikaans saying that means, “A farmer makes a plan.” It’s the first thing I automatically say to myself whenever I’m in a quandary.

Have you ever fired a gun? If so, what were the circumstances? Yes. In rural Ontario and on safari in the Northern Transvaal and in The Karoo.

Scariest situation you’ve ever been in? Watching a very drunk tsotsi gangster load a handgun in front of me inside a crowded shebeen in a South African township.

Your favourite word? Elocution.

Your least favourite word? Tweet.

Your favourite curse word? “Fuck” and all it’s many glorious derivations.

The thing that makes you the happiest? Doing frontside smith grinds on the halfpipe in my office.

The thing that makes you the angriest? Presumption, ignorance and intolerance from people in positions of power.

Three things of no monetary value that you own and will keep dearly until you die? My grandfather’s old Canadian flag from World War II. The daily journal I kept from my first year away at school. Family photographs.

Describe your tattoos? Large family crest on my right arm and six rhinos on my left arm.

The strangest road you’ve ever travelled? The freshly post-war Tete Corridor through Mozambique from Zimbabwe to Malawi.

Your first memory? Kits Beach in the early 70’s.

The first album that made you love music? Dark Side Of The Moon by Pink Floyd or Michel Jean Jarre’s Oxygene.

Three songs that you could listen to on repeat for an hour? The End by The Doors. The Wind Cries Mary by Jimi Hendrix. Green Mind by Dinosaur Jr.

The one place that you have the least interest in ever visiting? Las Vegas, Nevada.

The first three things that you do every morning? Drink coffee, light a smoke, read my email.

The best way to die? Dunno. Probably at the tail end of an orgasm after a sip of good coffee.

The song that you want played at your funeral? Sympathy For The Devil by The Rolling Stones.

VANCOUVERITES WHO ARE MORE INTERESTING