The new Dunbar location of Bells and Whistles (4497 Dunbar Street at West 29th Avenue) is on track to softly open for friends and family tonight with an official opening set for this weekend.

Dunbar would be right to be excited about this project from Gooseneck Hospitality. Aside from sports-screening establishments being scarce in the neighbourhood, the food and drink are worthy of anticipation, the high standards of both being well-established not only by the original Bells and Whistles in the Fraserhood but also by all of Gooseneck’s other restaurants: Bufala, Wildebeest and Lucky Taco.

If this is the first you’re hearing about the second coming of Bells and Whistles, here’s some intel from when we broke the news last month:

When it launches in August, the new Bells and Whistles will feature 48 seats inside and another 36 on the adjacent patio (accessed via a garage door) with a massive screen for viewing games and sporting events (one at a time) behind the bar. They’re still determining exactly how much of the original menu will be on offer, but frankly there are so many well conceived home run comforts on it that it wouldn’t be crazy to expect there will be many, such as the All-Day Breakfast Sandwich.

The menu is now online, and it reads like a greatest hits list of everything sports lovers like to eat during the big game, everything from deep fried calamari and cheeseburgers to chicken wings and chili cheese fries. If that all sounds rather pedestrian, look a little bit closer. Notice the twists, the inventiveness, the lemon aioli curve balls on Club sandwiches. When the Bells and Whistles concept was still in the planning stages, the mission was to take foods that were familiar and beloved to fans and give them the overdue fresh attention they deserved.

I took a look inside during the final 24 hours of the room’s makeover of the old Dunbar Public House space. Though there was still quite of bit of work to do it was very much on brand but with an aged patina lending it a completely different character than the original. They’ve done a great job, inside and out. Take a look at the full gallery of images below…

WHY IT MATTERS | Dunbar doesn’t have a lot of perches from which a Canucks fan can take in three periods with a lot of confidence in the food and drink. As a Bells and Whistles fan and local beer-lover who appreciates the restaurant’s slight but noticeable elevation of the sports bar milieu, I take this development as a big win for the neighbourhood.

Bells and Whistles (Dunbar)

Neighbourhood: West Side

4497 Dunbar St.

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