It’s back: locals’ favourite Cantina Norte serves Mexican fare with West Coast flair
Originally called Café Norte, the family-run restaurant in North Vancouver has one hell of a back story
Queso fundido with Ocean Wise shrimp is on the menu at Cantina Norte. Photo by Jason Benson
IN THE EARLY 1980s, Mexican offerings in the local food scene were mostly limited to basic fast food. Philip Mitchell saw an opportunity, and in 1987 he opened Café Norte on the North Shore, one of about dozen Mexican restaurants that followed over the next three decades. That little spot in Edgemont Village, which he ran with his wife and four children, went on to become Vancouver’s most-awarded Mexican restaurant, a destination that developed a loyal following.
After an 11-year run, a series of unfortunate events forced Café Norte to close its doors. Now, over two decades later, the iconic restaurant is back in a new form just 100 metres from its original location as Cantina Norte.
The upscale casual Mexican menu highlights West Coast ingredients, with a focus on sustainable seafood as well as complex sauces and moles that are not all that common locally. Ceviche (with Ocean Wise prawns, rockfish, and Pacific octopus), chicken and mango chimichangas, shrimp queso fundido, and blue corn taquitos are few examples of what’s on offer, with Philip in the role of chef. Cantina Norte is currently offering take-out (pick-up and delivery), with the dining room slated to open in late March.
Getting to this point has been a long time coming.
Philip, Katie, and Jeremy Mitchell carry on a family legacy at the new Cantina Norte in North Vancouver.
When Café Norte shuttered in the late 1990s, the family was met with a show of community support. Once news of the closing went public, Edgemont Village banded together and raised more than $250,000 to save the restaurant through “pre-payment” for food.
Jeremy Mitchell, who heads Cantina Norte with his sister, Katie, says that while this type of crowd funding is common today, it was almost unheard of back then. The restaurant fought hard to stay open but couldn’t hang on. He admits that a lot of tequila was consumed that year.
Classic Mexican café flan. Photo by Jason Benson
“Even though the community support was just incredible, the legal maneuver that had been used by the old landlord to close the downtown location and that triggered the close of the North Vancouver location was far greater than what was raised, and in the end we were forced to close regardless,” Mitchell says. “All the funds that were collected were returned to those that donated the funds.
“Food is everything in my family and is the glue that connects us all,” he says. “Without exception, every member of my family has worked in the food industry and has a love of the connections between food and culture…. Katie and I grew up in the restaurant business alongside our parents. We saw how they poured their life and passion into Café Norte, and it was sad when it closed.”
Jeremy went on to start a software company that connected international visitors to food experiences all over the planet. He has run it for 15 years, but then COVID-19 hit.
In 2017, he and his sister signed the lease for the restaurant’s new location in Edgemont Village. Construction delays meant they didn’t get the keys until March 2020—just as the pandemic was taking hold.
“There were two primary challenges related to COVID,” Jeremy says. “First, supply chains globally closed, so items like our chairs and tables, which are being made in Italy, could not be shipped and then were stuck on a boat. These were just two of many similar issues that we encountered. Second, the financial industry and the bank that was backing the project pulled out as restaurants started to suffer through COVID, so we were forced to find new financiers—which of course was a challenge given the outlook on restaurants through the pandemic. We are very lucky that we ultimately found paths forward.”
With the North Shore growing as a food destination, the Mitchells are excited to be back. They’ve modernized the menu to be a shared plate-style offering designed for diners to explore as many flavours as possible, from chicken-and-chili blue corn taquitos to pollo (chicken) enchiladas with ancho chili sauce and jack cheese to elote con crema y rajas (a side dish of roasted corn kernels and poblano-chili strips topped with cream and queso fresco) to classic flan. Chef de cuisine Djaka Putra leads the kitchen team day to day.
Cantina Norte has partnered with San Miguel de Allende’s Feed the Hungry, which works to improve the health and well-being of the children in the city that sits about 240 kilometres north of Mexico City. Through that organization, the Mitchells have adopted a school lunch program.
“We have committed that we will cover every student’s lunch every school day of the year as well as provide nutritional education to their parents so they can learn to produce healthy low-cost options at home,” Jeremy says. “This is one of the ways that we are giving back to the country and culture that have given so much to us by allowing us to really showcase what an incredible food culture Mexico has to offer.”
Cantina Norte is at 3246 Connaught Crescent, North Vancouver. More information is here.
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