Vancouver Magazine
Now Open: The Sourdough Savants at Tall Shadow Have an East Van Bakery Now
The Best Thing I Ate All Week: Beaucoup Bakery’s Pistachio Raspberry Cake
Live Spot Prawns Are Only Here for a Month—and You Can Try Them at This Festival
Succession Is Over: Now It’s Time To Watch the Greatest Show About Wine Ever Made
Our 2023 Sommelier of the Year Franco Michienzi of Elisa Steakhouse Shares His Top Wine Picks
We’ve Scored a Major Discount for VanMag Readers at the Best Wine Festival in Town
5 Things to Do in Vancouver This Week (June 5-11)
Meet OneSpace, the East Vancouver Co-working Space That Offers On-site Childcare
What You Missed at the VMO 2022/23 Season Finale Concert
Wellness in Whistler-Your Ultimate Early Summer Retreat
Local Summer Getaway: 3 Beautiful Okanagan Farm Tours
Local Summer Getaway: Golfing at Alberta’s Crowsnest Pass
Review: Vancouver-Based Denim Brand Duer Is Making Wide-Legged Jeans You Can Hem Yourself
The Latest in Cutting-Edge Kitchen Appliances
7 Spring-y Shopping Picks, From a Lightweight Jacket to a Fresh Face Cleanser
Cheers to our shortlist of the best bars in the city.
This year, we’re trying something different with our Restaurant Awards. In years past, we always struggled with trying to give every winner their proper due in the Restaurant Awards issue, and while it’s always our biggest of the year, there’s still never enough space to properly fete the great winners. That’s why we sometime rotate certain categories in and out. But this year we had an idea: our Jan/Feb issue is traditionally concerned with all things drinking, so why not transport the drinking categories of the Restaurant Awards—Sommelier of the Year, Bartender of the Year, Best Bar, Best Brewery—into their own special edition of the magazine? The winners will still be part of our yearly bash, but they’ll also get an issue of their own where we can properly sing their praises. The Drinking Issue will come out this February, but here’s a sneak peek of the rooms that will be vying for best bar.
This mecca for true cocktail nerds also serves as a world-beating factory for creating competition-winning bartenders in its spare time. The most elegant, adventurous watering hole in the city.
Who says good things don’t come in small packages? Boxcar boasts one of the better beer lists in town, along with strong offerings in the cocktail section. Oh, and they’ll let you bring in some pie from Pizzeria Farina next door. Take them up on it.
An almost perfect bar. Its roster of bartenders—both past and present—includes former BOTYs Dani Tatarin and Amber Bruce, as well as legends Gez McAlpine and Keenan Hood. Even when the Keefer is slammed (which is pretty much always) the team of pros here craft each cocktail like they’re in a competition.
Haven’t heard of Trans Am? Awesome—that means there’s a slim chance we might actually get into this tiny spot of amazingness of Powell St. Curated to perfection, without looking curated at all.
Everything—from the drinks, to the minimal signage, to the food, to the mustachioed smiling bartender who seems like a long lost friend in just 10 minutes—is just exactly as it should be at this temple of unstudied excellence.