2021 in review: Culinary artists kept Metro Vancouver delicious despite forkfuls of difficulty
Chefs, restaurateurs, and others in the local food community passionately pursued their craft, pandemic be damned
Yasma introduced a Ramadan menu in 2021 and will be setting up shop in Coal Harbour next year. Photo by Leila Kwok.
IF THE PANDEMIC has taught us anything, it’s that creativity is a lifeline, a tool to help us adapt, heal, and survive. Having made it through the shock of 2020, this past year has seen culinary artists push forward despite extraordinarily difficult circumstances, dedicated to their craft and to the sense of community that dining creates: food brings people together in good times and bad.
By the time the calendar had flipped to 2021, some of the ways that restaurants and food ventures had first responded to the effects of COVID restrictions became lasting changes: takeout and delivery at places that never would have previously considered food to go, for example, are largely here to stay. So are meal kits, cocktail kits, bottled cocktails, and all manner of virtual culinary experiences, from cooking classes to wine tastings.
Here’s a look at some of the notable moments from the local food and dining scene of the past year.
To Metro Vancouver’s benefit, several restaurants threw open their doors, pandemic be damned.
Chef’s Choice Chinese Cuisine wowed from the moment it opened, with traditional dim sum and old- school dishes from Hong Kong and Guangdong executed with extraordinary technique by a team helmed by chef Tommy Pang, who opened Richmond’s acclaimed Chef Tony Seafood Restaurant. Try the Gold Coin Roasted Chicken and Steamed Thousand Layer Cake. Chupito became the hottest little hidden cocktail bar and eatery in town, inspired by the flavours and food culture of Mexico’s Sinaloa coast. Yuyina Zhang’s stylish Street Auntie Aperitivo House takes its name from a term of affection for street-food vendors in China’s Yunnan province, where Zhang grew up. She serves a set menu of Asian small plates that changes weekly and that always consists of bright, bold flavours; local ingredients; and whimsy. B House opened on the Drive, inspired by Ho Chi Minh street food. Operating out of Coho Commissary, Hānai Family Table celebrates the cuisine of the Hawaiian Archipelago—and aims to quash stereotypes of what is “Hawaiian”. The pandemic presented an opportunity for Victor Vazquez and José Rodolfo to bring a taste of their home, the Mexican state of Michoacán, to the West Coast with Carnitas el Rolys. With experience at Michelin-starred restaurants in Europe, chef Jonathan Sanz began cooking regional Spanish foods to order with El Mercat. North Vancouver’s Café Norte was reincarnated as Cantina Norte, with one heck of a back story.
Anh and Chi. Photo by Leila Kwok.
Yasma, which popped up in Kits in late 2020, serving deeply flavourful dishes of the Syria and Lebanon, created a special menu to mark Ramadan; look for its new home coming to Coal Harbour in 2022. Tayybeh, too, introduced a Ramadan menu; the social enterprise serving Syrian cuisine and employing women refugees and their families turned five. Anh and Chi, which also reached its five-year milestone this year, teamed up with The Cultch for a culinary-arts pairing for the play we the same, both ventures born out of the experiences of Vietnamese refugees. Flavours of Hope partnered with Coho Collective to help newcomer refugee women build business—and community—through their culinary knowledge and traditions with Dream Cuisines. One of its first cohorts was Super Dishes, Alexandria native Huda Abd Elhamid’s Egyptian-food venture, where you can find the ultimate comfort dish of her home country, koshery.
Chupito. Photo by Ruben Nava
Giovani bacaro opened in the Fairmont Pacific Rim’s street-level space, evoking Venice beyond the touristy stereotypes, while Lital Tamari Cohen introduced the West Coast to white coffee, breads, and pull-apart pastries from her native Yemen with Jedda’s Authentic Yemeni Goodies. Burgerland Smash Up took a bite out of burger culture, owner Bodhi Valentine inspired by George Motz with beef and plant-based “smashburger” kits; it’s now expanding with Sausageland, making a variety of sausages crafted with a selection of Main Street Brewing Co.’s beer. Modern Afghan restaurant Zarak came to Vancouver, and with it, hope for Kabul-born co-owner Hassib Sarwari’s beloved Afghanistan.
In the West End, Maxine’s Café and Bar introduced the city to the Dutch Baby (on a menu with other dishes you might find in a European bistro). Kanadell Japanese Bakery owner Keiko Nakanishi expanded, adding the Kanadell-Ya Japanese Market right next door.
A brand-new culinary hub came to Granville Island: Alimentaria Mexicana arose as a result of chef Ernesto Gomez’s quest to reconnect with his Indigenous roots and to support farmers throughout Mexico. On the traditional territories of the Sk̲wx̲wú7mesh Nation and L̓il̓wat7úl Nation, the Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre in Whistler launched Spo7ez Winter Feast, a culinary and culture-filled journey that includes Indigenous foods with a modern twist, songs, stories, and performances.
Buckstop. Photo by Wade Comer for Behind the Plexi.
Cool stuff happened outside the kitchen
A collective of Vancouver photographers captured behind-the-scenes images of local restaurants for Breaking Bread’s Behind the Plexi fundraiser for scholarships for hospitality workers. St. Lawrence Restaurant introduced a system of monthly menus that people must book and pay for in advance—just as you would buy a ticket to a dance or theatre show.
Efforts to improve the quality of life for those who work in the food and dining sectors continued. Tacofino launched a series called Shift Change, free panel discussions open to the public about everything from inclusivity, diversity, mental health, addiction, and more. Cookscamp—the Mise-en-Place Podcast, produced by Chefs’ Table Society of BC and hosted by esteemed chef Robert Belcham, took a deep dive into issues like culinary leadership, the role of mentorship, the role and relevance in 2021 of Escoffier’s Big Idea—the brigade system, a military-style hierarchy to organize kitchen work—support services such as Mind the Bar (which provides hospitality workers experiencing anxiety, depression, addiction, and other mental-health issues), among other compelling topics.
Chef Jean-Francis Quaglia of Provence Marinaside was named a Chevalier (Knight) of the Ordre du Mérite Agricole by the French Government.
Glowbal Restaurant Group held its second annual 10 Days of Glowbal Giving: staff and management teams from its 10 restaurants (Glowbal, Coast, Black and Blue, The Roof, Trattoria Kitsilano, Trattoria Burnaby, Trattoria Park Royal, Italian Kitchen, NOSH and Five Sails) prepared ready-to-eat meals (some 110,000 of them) that were delivered to five local charities: Aboriginal Mother Centre, Atira Women’s Resource Society, Directions Youth Services, S.U.C.C.E.S.S. Housing, and Vancouver Firefighter Charities Snacks for Kids. The group partnered with Vancouver Food Runners to enlist volunteer drivers, while off-duty firefighters also delivered meals.
Acclaimed chef Andrea Carlson (Burdock & Co., Harvest Community Foods, Bar Gobo) and her team continued offering Community-Supported Agriculture bags, full of fresh delightful fresh produce—a boon for home cooks and a wonderful way to support small, local farmers who care about every little seed they plant.
Salmon n’ Bannock Bistro.
The OG 100-mile diet
The locavore movement may be continually gaining ground, but eating locally, seasonally, and sustainably was a way of life for Indigenous people since time immemorial prior to colonization. With food being one way to learn about traditional Indigenous culture, Indigenous Tourism BC (ITBC) launched the Indigenous Restaurant Guide to encourage people to dine at Indigenous restaurants, including the ground-breaking Salmon n’ Bannock Bistro. Squamish Nation chef Paul Natrall of Mr. Bannock Indigenous Cuisine launched Bannock at Home, while Kelsey Coutts and Destiny Hoostie launched Bangin’ Bannock, a way to share their culture through the bread that’s close to their hearts. Look for increasing focus on Indigenous cuisine in the years ahead—not so much a trend but a return to what once , with food sovereignty on the table.
Uncle’s Snack Shop. Photo by @stephwants
Support for Chinatown
Chinatown was hit early on and hard by the pandemic, with restaurants especially vulnerable to declining numbers of customers. Lee Man and Emma Choo spearheaded #MyChinatown, a campaign to help counter the troubling losses by encouraging people to dine in or order takeout or delivery. Among the recipients of the 2021 Chinese Restaurant Awards were four new Game Changers for their courage in the face of adversity during the pandemic:
Chef’s Choice Chinese Cuisine; iDen and Quan Ju De; Old Bird; and Uncle’s Snack Shop. “There isn’t really an adversity that cannot be overcome,” Chef’s Choice Chinese Cuisine chef Pang, who has more than 50 years’ experience, said in a video interview.
Food and restaurant culture also served an entryway to stories about the Asian-immigrant experience in A Seat at the Table, an exhibition at the Museum of Vancouver on view to 2023. It explores historical and contemporary stories of Chinese Canadians in B.C. and their struggles for belonging
Raising a glass to remember
Then there were the ones we lost—some because of the toll of COVID-19; others for different reasons. They include Wildebeest, Soirette, Edible Canada, WildTale, Mak N Ming, Nicli Antica Pizzeria, Smak, Scandalicious, Uncommon Café, Black Lodge, DD Mau, Bao Chau, Ugly Dumpling, Copper Chimney, Miantiao (now Carlino), Bridges (soon to be Tap and Barrel), and Terroir, to name a few.
Sadly, the food community lost some hugely important individuals in 2021.
Chef Leung Yui Tong.
Legendary chef Leung Yui Tong of Hoi Tong Seafood Restaurant, who worked by his wife’s side for decades, passed. A native of Shunde in Guangdong, China, Chef Leung began his career in 1954, going on to master Shunde cuisine—the best of Cantonese cuisine. After cooking for celebrities at the Far East Exchange, he immigrated to Vancouver in the 1980s and opened several restaurants, with Hoi Tong being widely recognized as the top authentic Cantonese restaurant in the region. He retired in 2019. Lee Man, judging chair of the Chinese Restaurant Awards, which named “Uncle Tong” a Chinese Master Chef, spoke to Tong’s skill and significance best: “I cannot express what a giant he was in Vancouver’s Chinese Dining Community - cooking well into his 80’s, his food was the absolute height of Cantonese restraint and refinement,” Man said on social media. “His dishes were superlative and unforgettable. But it was his character that was truly amazing - steadfast and demanding of himself, but humble and focused on his customers. All he wanted was to make diners happy - and he poured all his efforts into the unseen hard-work and craftsmanship that is the hallmark of the finest Chinese food. I asked him near the time of his retirement (only a few years ago) - why he continued the back breaking work of running a restaurant and cooking every night. His response was that he still had the skills to execute at a high level - but there would be a day when his abilities would no longer be up to the task, and that it would be a waste of his experience if he did not use his skills for his customers until then. There was nothing more important to him than his craft and his diners.”
Andrew Morrison.
Andrew Morrison, who launched Scout Magazine in 2008, also passed on, leaving behind his wife and business partner, Michelle Sproule, and their two children.
“Andrew was a father, husband, and friend as well as a writer, skateboarder, historian, campfire builder, road tripper, dog owner, and Canucks fan.” Sproule wrote in announcing the news. “He was gentle, full of love, and always up for adventure. He was fiercely dedicated to his work and his community, but there was nothing in the world more important to him than his family, particularly his sons James and Pip.
“Instead of focusing on the frustration and sadness we feel about the fact that he had to leave us too soon, we – his family – choose to celebrate the good times we shared while we were together,” she wrote. “Rather than ‘share’ the news of Andrew’s death on social media, we encourage you to go to a local and independently owned restaurant, brewery, bar or café and raise a glass in his honour. That’s the way Andrew would have wanted it.”
What’s ahead?
There may be light at the end of the tunnel, but these are still uncertain times for culinary creatives. Besides dining in or on a heated patio, other ways to support them are to order in, grab takeout, deliver food to a friend as a surprise or kind gesture, spring for gift cards or merchandise, and seek out local and indie over big chains headquartered elsewhere. Staff shortages will continue to be a problem. Be kind. Be calm. Be patient.
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