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Best traveller's resource

Wanderlust
1929 West 4th Avenue
604-739-2182

If travel books and guides (10,000 titles and counting), maps, backpacks and wheelies, accessories, and electronic aids (converters, plugs, and transformers of every sort) rock your expanding world, then Wanderlust, Canada's largest travel-resource store, newly expanded to over 4,000 square feet, has it all for you. We like the vast selection of travel lit, Lonely Planet's excellent World Food series, and the whack of surfing guides. Bonus: store staff has been everywhere you're going—from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe and beyond—scaling mountains and diving oceans along the way.

Best place to ogle Stepford Wives

Not Google, ogle. Waltz into almost any trendy Lower Mainland restaurant chain and check out the female wait staff, who are all blonde, white (in spite of living in one of the most multicultural Canadian cities), and Jessica Simpson. And your wife thought you were salivating because of the food? When dollar bills roll out of their mouths, resist the temptation to ask when that upgrade hit the market.

Most artful accommodation

Listel Vancouver Hotel
1300 Robson Street
604-684-8461
www.thelistelhotel.com/

Check into the stylish boutique hotel and you'll be bedding down amidst some of the best original art in the city. Obvious clues? Lawn sculptures, lobby paintings and glassworks, and choices of rooms on gallery and museum floors. Each of the gallery floors' rooms was curated by Buschlen Mowatt Gallery (30 international and regional artists are represented by 250 works), while the museum floors feature Northwest Coast art including prints, pottery, masks, carved cedar, and more—all curated by the Museum of Anthropology. Art books in rooms enhance the cultural themes. Bonus: a copy of The Vancouver Stories, an anthology of the city's best tales, a result of an initiative of the Listel and publisher Raincoast Books, replaces the omnipresent Gideon Bible.

On the Native theme, consider dumping next summer's guests with Coastal Cool: a First Nations–focused package in its fourth season; presumably, it'll be up again next summer. From June 1 through August 31, $799 gets two people two nights' stay on the Museum floor plus a two-hour Northwest canoe-adventure tour, admission to the MOA, a copy of the book Objects and Expressions, a $75 gift certificate at Liliget Feast House, a bottle of Nk'Mip Pinot Noir, and some of those Robert Davidson–designed chocolate medallions from Chocolate Arts.

Aw, forget the guests. Let them have your place and book yourself in.

Best proof that raw fish has jumped the sharkVancouver restaurateurs used to stick to tried-and-true varieties of sushi, such as the California roll and the tuna roll. But apparently there are still those willing to chart new territory. Drop by Kishu Island (2509 Main Street, 604-874-4518) and check out its Ass Sashimi combo and BBQ Quid (for cash-strapped Brits, presumably). Rebecca Blissett photo.

Best hotel minibar

Pacific Palisades Hotel
1277 Robson Street
604-688-0461

This eco-minded hotel features ongoing environmental initiatives such as extensive recycling, water conservation, Power Smart, Save-a-Tree 100-percent post-consumer-recycled paper products, and eco-friendly cleaning products. Now, it has added organic goodies like chips, chocolate, energy bars, and nonalcoholic bevvies to its in-room minibars. Others? Earth Care room rates deliver 10 percent off the best available room rate with $1 from each booked room per night and $1 from each Zin Restaurant & Lounge organic ECO-Tini sold during Earth Care months (June and July) going to Green Kids Inc. (greenkids.com/?), a theatre troupe that educates youngsters about the environment.

Most UnderRated Restaurant

Parkside on Haro
1906 Haro Street
604-683-6912

The almost-hidden 60-seater on the Stanley Park side of Denman ranks high among this restaurant-crazy city's very best. Chef Andrey Durbach has to be in the top 10, easy, and yet he keeps a low profile, preferring just to cook and keep his fiercely loyal clientele deliciously happy. Service is exemplary; a whole lot of wannabes could come here for lessons in how to be efficient, friendly, knowledgeable, and not overbearing. The chef's manifesto—“Good cooking that's about simple things done well”—is realized in every bite. The prix fixe menu changes daily, the wine cellar is exquisite, the cocktails—classics, not bizarros—are real, and it's home to the city's best selection of after-dinner treats. Dinner is served seven nights a week, up till midnight. Parking's a problem in this 'hood, but the walk'll do you good, especially after dinner.

Best examples of a neighbourly food fit

Karv
2201 West 1st Avenue
778-898-6489

Crave on Main Street stepped into Clews's old premises, kept what regulars loved (like Red Bull and all-day breakfasts, starting at 9 a.m. on weekends), and fixed everything else. Chef-owner Wayne Martin (ex–Four Seasons) caters wholeheartedly to his diners, with a stylish menu of comfort classics (fish and chips, short-rib shepherd's pie, burgers, and Bennies) at non-downtown prices. In Kits, surf-style beach bar/resto Karv, opened by three guys who live in the 'hood, has managed to do what several predecessors couldn't simply by giving the locals what they wanted: a laid-back casual spot with easy eats like veggie burgers, fish tacos, and tiki wings, plus microbrews and cocktails. Duh.

Best places to go nuts

El Furniture Warehouse
989 Granville Street
604-688-1111

Dix BBQ & Brewery
871 Beatty Street
604-682-2739

If you guessed downtown Granville Street, you're on the money. El Furniture has a massive barrel of peanuts that you can smash on the table (or not) and toss the shells on the floor. Ditto Dix—the pub side, not the restaurant.

Personal Best Oceanside Restaurant

Ocean 6 Seventeen
617 Stamps Landing, Granville Island
604-879-6178

Four times in three weeks—that's got to be some kind of record for us on return visits to new discoveries. It shouldn't be surprising, though, because chef Sean Cousins is here: after propelling Raincity Grill to greatness, he's delivering the treats at this “Vancouver bistro”. Boar won ton soup starts his glorious menu, then some fish or meat or charcuterie to follow (beef tartare for the intrepid), ending with wonderful cheeses and three rock-solid desserts. The descriptions are remarkably devoid of dumb foodie phraseology, and the little wine list is excellent. Service is easygoing but very attentive seven days a week from 11:30 a.m. (lunch weekdays only).

Best gold mountain diner

New Town Bakery & Restaurant
158 East Pender Street
604-689-7835

If what you're after is a sandwich-sized steamed pork bun, then join the constant queue at this casual Chinatown establishment. The jostle has a reason. And if you can possibly sit for 10 minutes, it's dim sum, quick as you like, and the crowd is entertaining. Made up mostly of older Chinese gents, they're crammed loud around tables and dotted along a small bar reminiscent of a '50s diner, where waitresses mix it up with green tea and black coffee and serve prawns, pork, and probably fries.

Best smokin' menu and cellar

Le Gavroche
1616 Alberni Street
604-685-3924

When would a restaurant have a “fire sale”? After it's had a fire, of course. Or two, in this case. Lightning striking twice and all, this popular downtown French restaurant barely rebounded from one conflagration when it got hit by another. Upon reopening, the chef and the owner did a weeks' worth of “smoky” dishes: turkey sausage with white beans, smoked sablefish, rabbit, sturgeon, onions. Cigars after were optional; $55 all-in, with fire-sale wine bargains to boot.

Not all of Vancouver's best wine lists are in top-drawer restaurants. It's true Le Gavroche has a 35,000-bottle cellar that's not only deep in some of the planet's best labels but has the best B.C. wine list in the city. But range a little more widely and you'll discover that on the North Shore, a couple of newbies—the Ocean Club (105–100 Park Royal, West Vancouver; 604-992-4593) and Mumbai Masala (138 16th Street West, North Vancouver; 604-984-8888)—sport wide-ranging, accessible, and well-priced lists geared to their particular adventures with food. Also consider Beyond (1015 Burrard Street, 604-684-3474) in the Century Plaza.

Best dining hideaway

Whineo's
1017 Granville Street
604-669-9463

We love the hidden tables in the Scooby-Doo Room at no-attitude Whineo's. Book a private party for up to 20, and you'll be escorted to a wall of large bookcases that unfolds to reveal a cleverly concealed space to party down in relative privacy.

Best downtown spot to segue from pictures to pitchers

The Gallery Café
750 Hornby Street
604-688-2233

Yes, the last rays of summer have dribbled into the first rains of fall, but stake out a spot for Indian summer lunches and dinners on the second-floor deck of the Gallery Café, located at the Vancouver Art Gallery. All the requisite greenery, drinkery, eatery, and ambiance are just above the thrum, hum, and hubbub of Robson Square. And, hey, with global warming and all, this could become a year-round outdoor-dining venue.

Best reason to avoid failing a brandalyzer test

The B.C. Liquor Control and Licensing Branch has objected to several restaurants' names and required them to change them, which is particularly punitive for those who'd been open for months and would have to change all signage, menus, et cetera. Cases in point: Moonshine is now Six Acres, the Distillery is Room Eighteen, and Wino's is Whineo's (still pronounced “winos”, though). Apparently the name has to reflect an establishment's class of licence (the “offenders” have restaurant licences), according to Section 13 of the Liquor Control and Licensing Policy manual. It's all enough to drive one to drink, drink, drink.

Most potentially confusing naming trend for the numerically challenged

Like rock bands Sum 41, Maroon 5, and Finger Eleven, many new clubs and restaurants in Vancouver are adding numbers to their names. With minimalist chic, some venues have taken things a step further by naming themselves after their address, like Club 23 West and Ocean 6 Seventeen. It's cool and practical. When it becomes ubiquitous, however, sometimes it backfires. Case in point: 1181 and 1215, two trendy new venues a block apart on Davie that opened around the same time. One is a Japanese izakaya, the other a lounge. If you're not good with numbers, you can't tell a friend that you'll meet them at that place with the numbers at Davie and Bute because there are two of them. And it's easy, for people who don't excel at math, to get the numbers mixed up. Was it 1151? 1285? 90210? Some of us have a hard enough time remembering our own postal code.

Best false advertising (we hope)

That'd be Roadkill Entertainment, headed by partners James Iranzad and Mark Durland whose Kits-centric (mostly West 4th) empire encompasses Nevermind, Hell's Kitchen, Abigail's Party, and the current out-of-the-?ballpark hit, the Flying Tiger. Remember, when the bright lights are looking into your eyes, you're in trouble. Run!

Best proof we're still turning japanese

Non-sushi favourites

Takoyaki (octopus balls) and any number of other yummy things at the Powell Street Festival. Onigiri (rice balls) in the food court at Thurlow and Alberni. Okonomiyaki (pizza pancake) at Modern Club. Tsukune (skewered ground meat) and mochi (sticky rice paste) at Zakkushi. The second wave of izakayas (Japanese bar/restaurants that serve Japanese fusion tapas). The ongoing integration of matcha, miso, and edamame into local menus. We've had our fill of sushi, and there's plenty more to explore.

Best way to disguise lack of expertise in Korean cooking

So we're scrounging around for dinner ideas to impress impromptu guests, whose enjoyment of our famous mac and cheese is a little too frequent to be sincere. Then we remember the frozen chicken thighs in the freezer. We stick them in the microwave to defrost and run out to Kim's Mart (517 East Broadway, 604-872-8885), under the friendly red awning at the corner of East Broadway and St. George.

We head right by the rows of interesting Asian drinks to the end of the cooler, above the kimchi. And there it is: a black fluid in a clear jar, $5.99 for about a litre, labelled BBQ & Bulgogi Sauce.

The older Korean lady who seems to be running the place is eyeballing us a little because we have tattoos, unlike anyone else in her respectable, neat-as-a-pin grocery store, so we smile sheepishly, hold up the jar, and say, “Found what I was looking for!”

She beams immediately. “Good! This very healthy, no MSG.”

“Yes,” we nod, thinking of the tangy, rich flavour this dark, sweet dressing will give chicken that has been soaked in it for a couple of hours, “Garlic, I guess. Ginger—”

“It has everything,” she declares. So pleased is she with our look of reverent agreement that she tucks a free sample of small pan-fried vegetable omelettes into our sack, which later accompanies the best barbecued chicken thighs our guests have ever eaten.

Best soy-fuelled work ethic

Sunrise Soya Foods
729 Powell Street
604-253-2326

Patriarch and founder of Sunrise Soya Foods, 72-year-old Leslie Joe marked the 50th anniversary of the family-run business (Canada's biggest tofu producer) this spring. After a lavish catered celebration, complete with speeches and cake-cutting at the Powell Street plant, Joe headed back to the Sunrise Market (300 Powell Street), where he works daily from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Still dressed in his suit, the king of soy was spotted tidying the sidewalk bins and trimming veggies. “Hard work is ingrained in our family,” he said, smiling. Three of his daughters work at the ?market, and his sons run the tofu operation.

Best Dockside Fish 'n' Chips

Go Fish!
1501 West 1st Avenue
604-730-5040

Bin meister Gord Martin continues to define fresh-fish eating here with his little seafood shack, open from just before noon to just around dusk—or till the fish runs out. No reservations, no nothing, just fantastic seafood—imaginative, minutes fresh from the water and with the unique Bins-style creative touch. This is what a seaside eatery ought to be and so rarely is. If the Scallop Burger with butter lettuce, lime mayo, and crispy onion rings (all of 10 bucks!) is on, consider yourself in lucky-star mode and buy a 6/49 ticket. It could be catching.

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