Holy Nerdgasm, Batman! This place has been advertising itself as Vancouver's Nerd Bar for a few months now. I thought I'd seen a nerd bar when I went to EXP, but no, this place is definitely nerdier. Luckily for all involved, I'm a world class nerd. Storm Crow definitely takes the geek cake, and then runs home with it, eats it all in the closet, and then loudly insists that its mom still thinks that it's cool. One thing about nerd humour, it's easy to write. I'm having some fun with the subject matter, but I really like this place. Geek chic (oh, that felt painful to write), has never been cooler, and it's surprising that there aren't more places catering to this ever growing, and monied demographic.
The bar itself is a mishmash of sci-fi/fantasy nerdism. It's made up of one small room divided into two, and is done up to look like a medieval tavern. That is, if medieval taverns were known for having a collection of rayguns on the walls, action figures hiding behind the bar, a massive bookshelf full of games, and a massive tv screen playing classic sci-fi movies. (During our session Bladerunner, and Aliens played quietly in the background). The place has a great, homey feel, but it is a little on the small side. I got wedged in between my table and seat by the people behind us. If you want to get in, get here early, it's a popular place, it's not very big, and they don't take reservations. The big draw behind this place seems to be the games. Nearly every table with more than three people at it was playing some sort of game. From the long roleplaying games that can take hours to finish, to just simple card games, they have just about any game you can think of. My group decided to try playing "Cards Against Humanity," a rather adult take on "Apples to Apples. I can't think of any other game that can do such an hilarious job of convincing you that you're a bad person.
Management seems to have made an interesting choice with food service. It's a very small, very limited menu. The food is excellent, and fantastically priced, but portions are very small. The decision appears to be to provide limited amounts of high quality food, instead of loads of mediocre food. I'm of two minds about the situation. The food is bloody good, no doubt, but I was still a bit hungry after the fact. I also think it's weird that a bar based around the idea of people hanging out gaming for hours doesn't have a good group food item on the menu. Treat the food as a light snack rather than a meal, and you won't have a problem.
The drinks list seems to be the same idea. Awesome prices for pints, and the pints on sale are the good ones, there just aren't that many of them. It's a good place to go to have your favourite session beer, rather than try 45 different kinds of beer. I spent the evening downing Red Racer's ESB, which has easily become one of my local favourites. For the non-beer lovers (shame on you), there's a healthy wine list, cider on tap, plenty of cocktails, and even locally produced mead. I meant to try the mead, but four drinks in my brain forgot what mead was.
Storm Crow is a fun, friendly, and perennially packed place. If you want a place to watch the Canucks, this is not the bar for you. If you want to geek out with some good friends, you could do a hell of a lot worse.
The Storm Crow Tavern
Wednesday, 23 January 2013
Thursday, 3 January 2013
The Whip Restaurant & Gallery
At the Northern-most end of Mt. Pleasant, The Whip is a fun, neighbourhood pub, that is one of the most popular hangouts in the city.
I've wanted to write up The Whip for a while now. My problem was that it tends to be packed. People love it, and it fills up fast. This is a good thing. My friends tend not to be the most prompt people in the known universe. It makes getting a bunch of us into a popular bar difficult. We took advantage of the pre-Christmas lull, and went a few days before the big holiday. I would have gotten this up sooner but... Christmas.
I really dig this place. It's a long, low, two level room that is actually fairly spacious, but manages to feel cozy. It's in an old building; lots of exposed wood. This probably contributes to that feeling of coziness. I've said before that a good pub should be one in which you feel instantly comfortable, and this place has that quality in spades. Something about bars in old brick buildings...
Food's really good. Standard pub fare. A little more expensive than I'd like, but they're trying to turn a profit in Mr. Pleasant, what are you gonna do? Everything on the menu seems strategically designed to go well with a cold pint. They also do a weekend brunch. I haven't been for that, though, so I can't tell you if it'd go well with beer.
Speaking of beer. They've got a healthy list of local microbrews. No major national or international producers. (For those not yet in the know, that's a good thing, nationwide mega-breweries tend to produce terrible beer). They rotate the whole list every few months, and one of the taps rotates much more frequently than that. They also do a cask Sunday (cask ale is an absolute treat). This was a bigger deal a few years ago when cask ale was hard to get your hands on in this city. It's still rarer than it should be though, so I'll encourage any place that's trying to sell it.
Final word: The Whip is an awesome place, and a Vancouver treasure.
The Whip Restaurant & Gallery
I've wanted to write up The Whip for a while now. My problem was that it tends to be packed. People love it, and it fills up fast. This is a good thing. My friends tend not to be the most prompt people in the known universe. It makes getting a bunch of us into a popular bar difficult. We took advantage of the pre-Christmas lull, and went a few days before the big holiday. I would have gotten this up sooner but... Christmas.
I really dig this place. It's a long, low, two level room that is actually fairly spacious, but manages to feel cozy. It's in an old building; lots of exposed wood. This probably contributes to that feeling of coziness. I've said before that a good pub should be one in which you feel instantly comfortable, and this place has that quality in spades. Something about bars in old brick buildings...
Food's really good. Standard pub fare. A little more expensive than I'd like, but they're trying to turn a profit in Mr. Pleasant, what are you gonna do? Everything on the menu seems strategically designed to go well with a cold pint. They also do a weekend brunch. I haven't been for that, though, so I can't tell you if it'd go well with beer.
Speaking of beer. They've got a healthy list of local microbrews. No major national or international producers. (For those not yet in the know, that's a good thing, nationwide mega-breweries tend to produce terrible beer). They rotate the whole list every few months, and one of the taps rotates much more frequently than that. They also do a cask Sunday (cask ale is an absolute treat). This was a bigger deal a few years ago when cask ale was hard to get your hands on in this city. It's still rarer than it should be though, so I'll encourage any place that's trying to sell it.
Final word: The Whip is an awesome place, and a Vancouver treasure.
The Whip Restaurant & Gallery
Wednesday, 19 December 2012
The Morrissey Pub
Connected to the Downtown Ramada, this is a fun, funky joint, and a great place to grab a quick pint.
Actually, from a decorating point of view, The Morrissey reminds me a lot of Locus, though not quite as dark. It has the same kind of style; exposed wood, with lots of of weird, pieces of art and metal sculpture. However, The Morrissey is very open, so the effect doesn't come off as quite as claustrophobic. That being said, the pattern on the lounge seating actually made me dizzy. All in all, the effect works. You feel comfortable when you walk in the door, which is of course, the point.
When it comes to the menu, The Morrissey seems to have gone with a less is more approach. Not too many items on the menu, but every one of them a winner. Again, I think it works. You're not exactly spoiled for choice, but anything you can choose is bound to be good. It's pub food, but it's good pub food.
This is a good place to get a pint. Twenty beers on tap (some of which rotate), and all of which are eminently quaffable. Another fifteen or so bottles. (Really, though, who goes to a pub to buy bottled beer?) Lots of variety in local and import microbrews too. Whoever buys their beer knows what they're doing.
A word of note. The Morrissey turns into a bit of a dance club on Saturdays after 10. Not really my scene, but it might be yours. They also do an open mic night on Sundays.
Overall, a fun, weird place, with good beer, good food, and the friendliest waitstaff I've ever met. I'll definitely be heading back there soon.
The Morrissey Pub
Actually, from a decorating point of view, The Morrissey reminds me a lot of Locus, though not quite as dark. It has the same kind of style; exposed wood, with lots of of weird, pieces of art and metal sculpture. However, The Morrissey is very open, so the effect doesn't come off as quite as claustrophobic. That being said, the pattern on the lounge seating actually made me dizzy. All in all, the effect works. You feel comfortable when you walk in the door, which is of course, the point.
When it comes to the menu, The Morrissey seems to have gone with a less is more approach. Not too many items on the menu, but every one of them a winner. Again, I think it works. You're not exactly spoiled for choice, but anything you can choose is bound to be good. It's pub food, but it's good pub food.
This is a good place to get a pint. Twenty beers on tap (some of which rotate), and all of which are eminently quaffable. Another fifteen or so bottles. (Really, though, who goes to a pub to buy bottled beer?) Lots of variety in local and import microbrews too. Whoever buys their beer knows what they're doing.
A word of note. The Morrissey turns into a bit of a dance club on Saturdays after 10. Not really my scene, but it might be yours. They also do an open mic night on Sundays.
Overall, a fun, weird place, with good beer, good food, and the friendliest waitstaff I've ever met. I'll definitely be heading back there soon.
The Morrissey Pub
Monday, 3 December 2012
Locus Restaurant & Lounge
Locus is an interesting, eclectic place on Main and King Ed. I've rarely been so of two minds when considering a bar. I guess the only thing to do is go over what's on offer, and see how it adds up.
Right away, you notice Locus is going for a nouveau, socially-conscious, hip vibe. The room is deliberately weird. A large bar dominates the centre of the room, with tables around it. Additional tables are placed around nooks and crannies of what look like opened-up walls. It seems designed to create intimacy, but comes across as a little claustrophobic. The eccentric nature of the place is further accented by dead trees made of wrought iron, and bathrooms designed to look like ancient caves. Weird is by no means a bad thing, I'm a fan of unusual design, but Locus is definitely a product of some unusual decisions.
Locus prides itself on being part of the local, organic food movement. That's something I'm also a fan of. Locally produced food tends to be the good stuff. The downside of local, organic food, is that it's not cheap. It means the menu is a bit on the expensive side, and is rather limited. The food was good, but I wasn't by any means wowed.
The drinks list I have high praise for. A great selection of rotating, local microbrews. Ones that aren't often seen outside of specialty liquor stores. I took far too much enjoyment from the availability of Phillips Ginger Beer, a favourite of mine that I nearly always have to get in bottles. Beyond beer there's a varied wine list, lots of cocktails, scotch, and even shots. No shortage of whistle wetting here.
I think the issue with Locus, is that it has trouble deciding what it wants to be. Is it a weird, hippie place? Or is it a high quality restaurant? Is it a place to get loaded with your friends? Or is it better for intimate occasions? It's trying to be everything and spreading itself a bit thin. That being said, I'm always in favour of something unique. You could do worse than to stick your head in the door and decide what it is for yourself.
Right away, you notice Locus is going for a nouveau, socially-conscious, hip vibe. The room is deliberately weird. A large bar dominates the centre of the room, with tables around it. Additional tables are placed around nooks and crannies of what look like opened-up walls. It seems designed to create intimacy, but comes across as a little claustrophobic. The eccentric nature of the place is further accented by dead trees made of wrought iron, and bathrooms designed to look like ancient caves. Weird is by no means a bad thing, I'm a fan of unusual design, but Locus is definitely a product of some unusual decisions.
Locus prides itself on being part of the local, organic food movement. That's something I'm also a fan of. Locally produced food tends to be the good stuff. The downside of local, organic food, is that it's not cheap. It means the menu is a bit on the expensive side, and is rather limited. The food was good, but I wasn't by any means wowed.
The drinks list I have high praise for. A great selection of rotating, local microbrews. Ones that aren't often seen outside of specialty liquor stores. I took far too much enjoyment from the availability of Phillips Ginger Beer, a favourite of mine that I nearly always have to get in bottles. Beyond beer there's a varied wine list, lots of cocktails, scotch, and even shots. No shortage of whistle wetting here.
I think the issue with Locus, is that it has trouble deciding what it wants to be. Is it a weird, hippie place? Or is it a high quality restaurant? Is it a place to get loaded with your friends? Or is it better for intimate occasions? It's trying to be everything and spreading itself a bit thin. That being said, I'm always in favour of something unique. You could do worse than to stick your head in the door and decide what it is for yourself.
Sunday, 25 November 2012
Raw Canvas
I'm not generally a huge fan of Yaletown. I find it very artificial; a confine of condo complexes, and chic eateries that seems to have sprung up overnight. It's a bit like a yuppie bomb exploded. That being said, I recently stumbled upon a fun, little place that might make my Yaletown visits a bit more frequent.
Raw Canvas is definitely a weird place (almost always a plus in my view). Their unique approach to downtown night life is to combined food, drink, and art. The art is their big draw. (No pun intended). The bar is divided into half dining room, have painters studio. For a price, you can head into the arty side of the room, and a staff artist will provide you with a canvas, smock, and paint supplies, (and give help where requested), and you can paint the evening away. It's not cheap, though. $55 for their smallest canvas. However, it seems very popular. A cool idea for people like me who like the idea of painting, but have no discernible artistic talent. Some people do take it a little too seriously. "Do you mind? I'm making art!" Here's a hint, real artists don't work in bars. An evening of mucking about with a paintbrush and some good friends, on the other hand, can be quite a lot of fun.
It's not a place to get a meal. Their food is limited to charcuterie plates, and pies. Both of which are a bit on the expensive side. The drinks list, on the other hand, is very versatile. Whoever buys beer for Raw Canvas knows what he's doing. Rotating taps of microbrews, and truly wonderful Belgian brews made for a very nice evening. They also have an extensive selection of bottled beers, wines, whiskies, tequilas, and even sake. None of which can be had at bargain prices, but all of which can be categorized as the good stuff.
Raw Canvas isn't going to make its way into my list of regular watering holes. I'm just too poor. However, it's definitely a fun, interesting, ecclectic, and delicious place. I'll back for a special occasion.
Raw Canvas is definitely a weird place (almost always a plus in my view). Their unique approach to downtown night life is to combined food, drink, and art. The art is their big draw. (No pun intended). The bar is divided into half dining room, have painters studio. For a price, you can head into the arty side of the room, and a staff artist will provide you with a canvas, smock, and paint supplies, (and give help where requested), and you can paint the evening away. It's not cheap, though. $55 for their smallest canvas. However, it seems very popular. A cool idea for people like me who like the idea of painting, but have no discernible artistic talent. Some people do take it a little too seriously. "Do you mind? I'm making art!" Here's a hint, real artists don't work in bars. An evening of mucking about with a paintbrush and some good friends, on the other hand, can be quite a lot of fun.
It's not a place to get a meal. Their food is limited to charcuterie plates, and pies. Both of which are a bit on the expensive side. The drinks list, on the other hand, is very versatile. Whoever buys beer for Raw Canvas knows what he's doing. Rotating taps of microbrews, and truly wonderful Belgian brews made for a very nice evening. They also have an extensive selection of bottled beers, wines, whiskies, tequilas, and even sake. None of which can be had at bargain prices, but all of which can be categorized as the good stuff.
Raw Canvas isn't going to make its way into my list of regular watering holes. I'm just too poor. However, it's definitely a fun, interesting, ecclectic, and delicious place. I'll back for a special occasion.
Tuesday, 13 November 2012
BierCraft Bistro
Haven't written up a new pub in almost a month; and there's a very good reason for that. I haven't been to any pubs! It's been more of a hangout at friends places few weeks. However, I couldn't resist the siren call of the beer keg forever, so here we go.
BierCraft Bistro. I reviewed BierCraft's sister establishment three months ago. A lot of what I said then still applies. That said, they're two different places, and can't be treated as though they're interchangeable. The big difference about the bistro is that it's, well, a bistro. Or part of it is, anyway. The building has an interesting layout that effectively splits it so that half the space is an upscale bar, and half is a nice restaurant. Everything on the menu is available on both sides, but you certainly know which side you want to be on if you just want to grab a quiet beer. It sounds weird, but the arrangement actually works quite nicely.
The big difference between the two places is the food menu. Both places do nice tapas, but the bistro also does some really nice mains. They have meal and prix fix options. Normally it would be a bit out of my budget, but I used my birthday as an excuse to splurge a bit. I had something called deconstructed lasagna. The concept was a little strange, and if I were writing the menu, I probably would have just called it pasta, but there's no denying it was really good.
Beer selection is the same as across town. Lots of delicious, rotating taps with a heavily Belgian flair. It's also one of very few places where I enjoy sitting at the bar. The bar itself is big, and the barstools are quite comfy (a rarity). It doesn't hurt that the staff is fairly liberal handing out samples.
Either BierCraft would do you well, but I like this one a little bit better.
Sunday, 21 October 2012
EXP Restaurant & Bar
So Vancouver has a video game bar. ...Sort of. I first heard about this place from friends a few months ago, and being a bit of a nerd, I was quite excited to check it out. However, when we actually got there, we found that it's really more of a video game themed bar, and ultimately, I'm still not sure what to think of it.
I think the big problem for me was being disappointed by the concept. Video game bars are a fairly new idea, but (I think) a good one. Go to the bar with your friends, have some food, drink some drinks, play X-Box, or Playstation, or classic Nintendo, or whatever. Given that most people in Vancouver live in closets, this makes getting a bunch of people over to play games a lot easier. However, this isn't what EXP offers. EXP is, as a friend of mine put it (a sports bar for video games). There is one truly massive screen on which up to four people can play a game, then there are dozens of other screens showing cut-scenes from famous games, or showing an old Mario level walk-through, something like that. It was visually gorgeous, but pretty distracting. (Also, as an aside, am I the only one who thinks Chun-Li's outfit is decidedly impractical for an Interpol agent?) The rumour mill has it that EXP wanted to offer more gaming, but the province's liquor licensing body only understands "video gaming" in the context of things like video poker. So even though the games EXP should be offering would be in no way connected to gambling, the province is proving intractable with it's love of the letter of the law. Though I should point out, this is just what we heard that night, and I haven't been able to corroborate it, so maybe the video game theme was the point.
Video games, however, are not the usual reason one goes pub crawling. EXP has a respectable beer list. I got to try a couple of beers I'd never had before, and that's become rare enough that it improves a bar's standing noticeably in my book. They also have an impressively creative cocktail list. Most of the drinks looked a bit too sweet for me, but if you like weird, fruity martini's (and lotsa people do) it might be worth heading down. The food was quite good. They've done a good job of embracing nerd culture's love of disgusting, but delicious food. For example, a poutine burger. Horrifying in concept, wonderful in execution. It was definitely a good meal.
So, overall, I'm torn, it's not what I thought it was (or what it should be), but it's a good place to get a drink and a bite, and it's not packed to the gills on a Saturday night, which is rare for Vancouver. Check it out if you're in the area.
EXP Restaurant & Bar
Update: 23/10/2012: After a little research I have found that it is indeed the city which is holding back the idea of a videogame bar, Georgia Straight.
Update: 23/10/2012: After a little research I have found that it is indeed the city which is holding back the idea of a videogame bar, Georgia Straight.
Tuesday, 9 October 2012
Brickhouse Late Nite Bistro & Bar
Right from the start, I should mention that this is one of the strangest bars I've ever found myself in, in my life. From my perspective, that's a good thing. Recently, I've been very interested in finding the city's lesser-known holes in the wall, and I think this qualifies. In fact, when we got there at 8 pm, the doors were chained shut. We went down the street to drink somewhere else, but a friend who smokes discovered on one of his breaks that Brickhouse had opened an hour later than the internet told us it was supposed to.
The opening discrepancy was only the first sign that this place is... eclectic. Apparently the owner just opens up the bar when he feels like it. So getting in can be a total crap shoot. Once you do get in, you walk down a short hallway, and find yourself in what appears to be a very well decorated basement. Pool table, ancient sofas, fishtanks in the walls, hipsters pretending they're too cool to play pool. It's a weird place, but it's got a great vibe. Don't go by yourself, go with a group of friends. This is a place to chill and chat. In other words, it's exactly what I'm looking for in pub.
Beer list is definitely respectable. Six local micros, none of the big brewer's stuff. Fantastic prices! $4.75 a pint. No wonder I had a couple too many. As for food, though. I don't know how the word bistro ended up in Brickhouse's name. The only food they sell is packages of potato chips.
Bordering the gungey part of downtown, Brickhouse is a very cool place, that I will definitely be going back to. You should go too. At the rate that area is gentrifying, Brickhouse, and the lovely ancient brick building it resides in may not be standing for many more years.
The opening discrepancy was only the first sign that this place is... eclectic. Apparently the owner just opens up the bar when he feels like it. So getting in can be a total crap shoot. Once you do get in, you walk down a short hallway, and find yourself in what appears to be a very well decorated basement. Pool table, ancient sofas, fishtanks in the walls, hipsters pretending they're too cool to play pool. It's a weird place, but it's got a great vibe. Don't go by yourself, go with a group of friends. This is a place to chill and chat. In other words, it's exactly what I'm looking for in pub.
Beer list is definitely respectable. Six local micros, none of the big brewer's stuff. Fantastic prices! $4.75 a pint. No wonder I had a couple too many. As for food, though. I don't know how the word bistro ended up in Brickhouse's name. The only food they sell is packages of potato chips.
Bordering the gungey part of downtown, Brickhouse is a very cool place, that I will definitely be going back to. You should go too. At the rate that area is gentrifying, Brickhouse, and the lovely ancient brick building it resides in may not be standing for many more years.
Thursday, 4 October 2012
Johnnie Fox's Irish Snug
There are a lot of Irish bars in this city (and around the world) that take kitsch to an art form. Girls in plaid skirts, Guinness advertisements from a hundred years ago, and signs explaining the term "craic" to the uninitiated (look it up). They're everywhere. I've reviewed some of them. Johnnie Fox's isn't one of them. Ok, they do have the Guinness ads, but let's be honest those are adorable.
I have no idea if the management of Johnnie Fox's are Irish or not, and I really don't care. The place seems authentic. I've said before that I will let a lot slide in the name of pub atmosphere. This joint has the kind of atmosphere I've been talking about. It's friendly, inviting, and regardless of how old it is, it feels like it's been standing for a hundred years. It's a tiny little place on what is still the (somewhat) grungy portion of Granville street. You mightn't notice it at all if it weren't for the bright red door. I suppose the friendly atmosphere is necessary. On a busy night, people are packed in to the gills. You make friends fast.
The beer list follows one obvious philosophy: Simplicity. There are only four beers on tap, and one cider. All Irish. Normally lack of diversity in a beer list would vex me, but here it works somehow. I think it again comes down to that authentic atmosphere. If the barman here were pulling from twenty casks it would just come across as artificial. ...There may be a downside to trying to review the ephemeral. Good greasy pub food, and all day breakfast. I don't know why, but eggs always seem like a good idea after a few pints.
I'll definitely be back.
Friday, 28 September 2012
Elwoods
Elwoods is one of those small, non-descript sort of places you can pass by ten thousand times without ever noticing. It's only on the ten thousand and first trip you realize that there is something there worth investigating. Elwoods is a small bar, and it's a bit overshadowed by being one of several watering holes within a three block area in Kits. (Off the top of my head there are at least seven joints within a 60 second walk). I've always liked the road less traveled, and the pub less frequented. Elwoods is a comfortable, living room of a place, surrounded by flashier neighbours.
One thing Elwoods really gets right, that a lot of places don't is the atmosphere. The staff are some of the friendliest I've ever encountered. They're chatty, and seem generally pleased to see you; whether the girl serving drinks is offering up her opinion on tattoos, or the man behind the bar is waxing lyrical about South American wine. It's a small thing, but it makes a bar much friendlier. I've always felt a pub should feel like a living room with tables, so this certainly helps.
The beer list is drinkable, but not remarkable. Whatever the pint of the day is, is four bucks, which in an expensive city like ours, is something I approve of. Food is standard pub fare. Though, they also do flatbread pizzas which are amazingly satisfying after a fifth drink.
Bottom line: friendly, small, under-rated, local. All of which, I think, are good things.
Elwoods
One thing Elwoods really gets right, that a lot of places don't is the atmosphere. The staff are some of the friendliest I've ever encountered. They're chatty, and seem generally pleased to see you; whether the girl serving drinks is offering up her opinion on tattoos, or the man behind the bar is waxing lyrical about South American wine. It's a small thing, but it makes a bar much friendlier. I've always felt a pub should feel like a living room with tables, so this certainly helps.
The beer list is drinkable, but not remarkable. Whatever the pint of the day is, is four bucks, which in an expensive city like ours, is something I approve of. Food is standard pub fare. Though, they also do flatbread pizzas which are amazingly satisfying after a fifth drink.
Bottom line: friendly, small, under-rated, local. All of which, I think, are good things.
Elwoods
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