Vancouver Ready to Shine

[raggedy13]

Thanks to Taller, Better at SSC for bringing this article to my attention. I don't think anybody has posted it yet here:

Vancouver ready to shine

National Post Published: Friday, September 18, 2009


Chambar is busy tonight, as it is almost every night. The funky rooms of this weathered old Vancouver building are crammed with a happy mix of downtown hipsters, uptown society matrons and curious visitors, all savouring the restaurant's signature Afro-Belgian fare and its famous Moroccan-spiced cocktails.

Many of tonight's guests have spilled over from the two nearby sports arenas and the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. And if you think tonight is bustling, just wait -- come February, those arenas will be hosting the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, the theatre will be home to the Cultural Olympiad and this is going to be the most action-packed neighbourhood in the world.

In fact, the party has already begun.

The Olympic venues are completed, on time and on budget. The shiny new Canada Line train whizzes by every few minutes, all the way from the airport to downtown's Waterfront Station. New bars and restaurants are opening for business. Construction on the Granville Street entertainment strip is finally almost finished.

This city is ready to welcome the world.

Of course, Vancouver has always been a tourist draw. It is a uniquely beautiful city, its charming homes and luxuriant gardens perched by the ocean and circled by glorious mountain peaks. But it has, at times, been a sleepy sort of town. Not any more.

True, that's partly because of the Olympics. But many of the projects and plans were already in the works before Vancouver won the bid in 2003; if anything, the Games just gave the city a deadline for getting them built.

Take the posh new Shangri-La Hotel, the first North American outpost for the Asian luxury hotel chain.

Located just off Robson Street, it has been busy ever since it opened in January. Customers carrying designer shopping bags fill the chic bar at the hotel's restaurant, Market, lining up for the ginger margaritas and the glamour of hanging out in Canada's first restaurant owned by international celebrity chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten.

Yaletown, too, is bustling, and it's only going to get busier now that the Canada Line stops here, right behind the boutiquey Opus Hotel.

Only 20 years ago, this was a neighbourhood of decrepit warehouses; now it's all sleek condos and busy restaurants, nightclubs and bars, places such as the darkly stylish George Ultra Lounge.

At George, bar manager Shaun Layton has prepared for an onslaught of visitors next February by inviting bartending buddies from around the world to drop by, take a few shifts and compete in a "Bartending Olympics" while they're here. In the meantime, he's showcasing their signature drinks on his cocktail list.

Things are shaking at other cocktail lounges, too. Over the past decade, Vancouver has become one of the world's great cocktail cities, with a serious core of creative mixologists who can compete with the best anywhere.

Now, several of them are opening their own places: Jay Jones at Pourhouse in Gastown, Steve da Cruz at Corner Suite Bistro Deluxe off Robson Street and, earlier this summer, Mark Brand, Josh Pape and Sophie Taverner at the Diamond, located in a historic Gastown building, one of only two to escape the great fire of 1886.



In fact, Gastown is becoming the city's new culinary hot spot. Gastown -- named for city founder and saloon keeper Gassy Jack Deighton -- is the historic hood where Vancouver began, but for years was home mainly to shops selling touristy kitsch to visitors wandering off the cruise ships docked nearby.

Now it's the place to come for First Nations art, local designer fashions, cool decor items and great food at restaurants such as Boneta, Cobre, So. cial, Salt, the Irish Heather, the Diamond and, just up the road in the newly named "Crosstown" neighbourhood, Chambar.

But exceptional cuisine can be found anywhere in this food-mad city.

Locals will quickly direct you to their favourite restaurant, be it Tojo's for shockingly good sushi, Vij's for Indian food unlike anything you've ever eaten, Bishop's for the most authentic taste of the West Coast or the back-to-basics Go Fish near Fisherman's Wharf, for what is arguably the best takeout fish and chips anywhere.

At the same time, Vancouver has suddenly become a prime shopping destination.

There are, of course, Robson Street's many boutiques featuring many of the great designer names, including Chanel, Hermes and Tiffany, as well as all the major chain stores, including Chapters, the Gap, HMV and Armani Exchange. More mainstream shops fill nearby Pacific Centre, including the new Sephora and the elegant flagship Holt Renfrew luxury retailer.

But for finds that are truly unique, you'll want to go farther afield, to Main Street for local fashion designers, Granville Island for food and crafts, the suburb of Richmond for exotic kitsch from Asia and Kitsilano, once hippie central and now home to chic boutiques of all sorts.

Once you tire of shopping and drinking and dining, there is still plenty of sightseeing to do, both indoors (Vancouver Art Gallery, Museum of Anthropology and Telus Science World) and out (Stanley Park, Capilano Suspension Bridge and the many beaches).

With the Winter Games on the horizon, this is also a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play in an Olympic venue. The most beautiful of the new venues is the Richmond Olympic Oval, where visitors can try speed skating or playing wheelchair basketball.

The most fun is probably the Biathlon Centre in Whistler, where, once the snow falls, guests can ski and shoot. Whistler also boasts the Sliding Centre, busy with youngsters learning bobsled and luge, the ski jumps, looming out of the forest, and the new Peak 2 Peak gondola between Blackcomb and Whistler mountains -- the longest and highest gondola in the world.

Closer to the city is Cypress Mountain, one of Vancouver's three ski hills and home to the snowboarding events, with its spacious new day lodge. And right next door is Grouse Mountain, which will be open 24 hours a day during the Games, home base for NBC and a playground for guests who want to try the sports the athletes are so expert at, be it boarding, skiing or skating on the outdoor rink.

But until then, visitors and locals alike can take part in that other great Vancouver sport: simply savouring life, preferably in a beautiful setting such as Chambar, George or Market by Jean-Georges, with a drink in hand and a great meal on the way.

No stated author, National Post