The World’s Best Bar is Coming to Vancouver This Weekend (Sort Of)

Sip a little New York cool at Dante's bar-in-a-bar pop-up at Homer St. Cafe.

Bars are inherently a personal things. Your temple of cocktails may be my snobotorium; my lovable dive bar may be a dingy mess to you. But in this world of subjectivity there are always a few objective benchmark establishments: Clyde Common in Portland; Trick Dog in San Fran; The Violet Hour in Chicago; The Connaught in London; PDT or the Pegu Club in NY. That’s my subjective take on an objective list, but all those spots have something in common—they all participated in and help create a golden age of cocktails that hit its stride a decade and a half ago and utterly changed the quality of drinks as we know it. When Jeffrey Morgenthaler first starting aging cocktails in wood barrels circa 2010, little did he know that Indigo would one day be selling home-use kits for weekend mixologists.

All of which to say that in 2019 the level of bartending is so high that to stand out takes some serious chops. New Yorks Dante, has those chops. It was named best bar in the world last month be the World’s 50 Best Bars and before that was likewise named top dog by the Tales of the Cocktail Foundation, a feat akin to being winning the Triple Crown in horse racing (you know, if there were only two races).

And now Dante’s crew is touching down in our faircity to a do a week long stint at Homer St. Cafe from Nov 1 – 5. Present and pouring will be Dante beverage director Naren Young, who’ll be showcasing an apertivo-forward drinks menu (this junket is sponsored by our bitter friends at Campari after all), so expect killer negonis and for those who don’t want summer to die, Aperol spritzes. The Homer St. kitchen will hop aboard by making “savor” bites inspired by Dante’s Aussie-Italian menu.

The fun goes from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. nightly during the run. Details at homerstcafebar.com.