Restaurant Awards 2025: The Hall of Fame

The Vancouver Magazine Restaurant Awards Hall of Fame is presented by Cactus Club Cafe.

Hall of Fame 2025: Cioppino’s

It’s really gone. When chef Pino Posteraro announced the closing of Cioppino’s at last year’s Restaurant Awards it seemed unreal. A legendary spot, still very much at the top of its game both in cooking and patronage, isn’t supposed to close. Surely this was going to be simply a retool or relaunch, right? But as the months marched on it became clear that such was not the case. It’s tough to overstate the impact of Cioppino’s on the dining scene here—there’s no such thing as a great food city without a great Italian restaurant and for 25 years that was Cioppino’s. It was lauded not just here—at Vanmag we had to split Italian into two categories (Upscale and Casual) so other Italian restaurants would have a chance to know what winning felt like—but internationally as well, where it was frequently recognized as one of the great temples of Italian food on the globe. Will we see Pino again? Here’s hoping a chef with so much to give will return in some form, but the Yaletown institution he built that anchored our food scene for so long belongs to the ages now. Grazie mille, Cioppino’s.—Neal McLennan

Hall of Fame 2025: Michel Jacob

If anyone set the gold standard for fine dining in Vancouver, it was Michel Jacob. The legendary chef behind Le Crocodile is one of two 2025 inductees into the Vancouver Magazine Restaurant Awards Hall of Fame—an honour befitting a man who shaped the city’s culinary landscape one buttery plate of Dover sole at a time.

When Jacob opened Le Crocodile in 1983, it was in a modest space. But as demand grew, so did the restaurant, eventually settling into its longtime home on Burrard Street. Jacob’s impeccable French-Alsatian cuisine and unwavering standards made Le Crocodile a powerhouse, drawing in scores of loyal regulars, visiting celebrities and ambitious young chefs eager to train under his watchful eye. The kitchen at Le Croc became an incubator for talent, launching the careers of some of Canada’s most celebrated chefs, including David Hawksworth, Ned Bell and Jacob’s successor, Rob Feenie.

Though Jacob retired last year, Le Crocodile remains a beacon of French fine dining (see our Best French category, where Croc snagged bronze), with Feenie helming its next chapter. The legacy? Still impeccably plated, still très magnifique. This Hall of Fame nod isn’t just for Jacob’s past achievements—it’s a testament to culinary standards so high that this legacy refuses to fade. Even after he hung up his toque, Michel Jacob’s influence on Vancouver’s dining experiences is, well, eternal. ­—Lindsay William-Ross

Find more of the best Vancouver restaurants on our list of 2025 Vancouver Magazine Restaurant Award winners.