#2360 - Pourhouse Restaurant, Vancouver, BC - 11/30/2013

In an elegant setting on Gastown's Water Street (kitty corner to the steam clock), the Pourhouse delivers fine cocktails and food with some upscale takes on familiar comfort foods. The 1910 building that originally held the Leckie Boot Co. now features a 38 foot long bar created from reclaimed 120-year-old Douglas Fir, and this is surrounded by antiques and turn of the (20th) century decor. The cocktail menu is short and rotates, and you depend on the quality of any classic. They are likely to be crowded, so plan ahead.

162 Water Street, Vancouver, BC V6B 1B2 - (604) 568-7022
Est. Sep 2009 - Building constructed: 1910
Previous bars in this location:
Web site: pourhousevancouver.com - facebook
Articles ranked: globeandmail - vancouverobserver - vancouversun - cocktailia - itstodiefor - bevancouver - whyilovelife - yelp

#2359 - The Portside Pub Vancouver, BC - 11/29/2013

The Portside Pub, Vancouver, BC
   

I probably would not have liked this place much if I'd come during its clubby hours, with the rope line and the bros with backward baseball caps (it seems odd for someplace named as a public room to charge a cover, no?). But during the slower hours when we dropped into the lower level of the three-level restaurant and bar we could relax and enjoy the nicely remodeled historic building and the maritime decor. And I'm an admirer of owner Mark Brand's (Save On Meats, Boneta, Sharks and Hammers, Diamond) appreciation for beautiful old buildings in the area and respect for the residents, even when they're down and out.

The Portside Pub, Vancouver, BC

7 Alexander Street, Vancouver, BC V6A 1E9 - (604) 559-6333
Est. Jan 28, 2013
Previous bars in this location: PostModern
Web site: theportsidepub.com - facebook
Reviews: vancitybuzz - vancitybuzz - dennisthefoodie - vancouverfoodtour - vancouverisawesome - thesnipenews - yelp - urbanspoon

#2358 - Narrow Lounge, Vancouver, BC - 11/29/2013

The entrance to the Narrow Bar has no sign, and it looks like an abandoned building, broken into by street people. For those in the know, the clue that the romantic bar downstairs is open is the red light out front. Down the stairs is a bar about the size of a train car, seemingly decorated for some gilded age robber baron, which serves quite nice cocktails and is packed and lively in the evenings. It may be my favorite bar that I've ever been to in Vancouver. We definitely need to come back in the Summer when the Hideaway secret tiki bar is open on the back patio. (Thanks to our local friend Peter for guiding us to in our Main Street bar crawl.)

1898 Main St, Vancouver, BC V5T 3B7 - (604) 839-5780
Est. 2008
Web site: narrowlounge.com - facebook
Articles ranked: followmefoodie - foodology - shermansfoodadventures - boredinvancouver - lonelyplanet - urbanspoon - bcliving - yelp

#2357 - The Cascade Room, Vancouver, BC - 11/29/2013

Good cocktails

2616 Main Street, Vancouver, BC V5T 3E6 - (604) 709-8650
Web site: thecascade.ca - facebook
Reviews: bcliving - straight.com - urbanspoon - yelp - urbandiner

#2356 - El Caminos, Vancouver, BC - 11/29/2013

A nice place to have some tapas modified from various Latin countries, or just some good margaritas or tequilas.

3250 Main Street, Vancouver, BC V5V 3M6 - (604) 875-6246
Est. 2012
Web site: elcaminos.ca - facebook
Reviews: vancitybuzz - straight - thetacoproblem - yelp - urbanspoon - dinehere

#2355 - The Shameful Tiki Room, Vancouver, BC - 11/29/2013

Owner Rod Moore took in some of the top new tiki bars around the country including Martin Cate's Smugglers Cove and put together a tiki bar in Vancouver that is top notch in both decor and cocktails. If you step into the darkness from a sunny day outside, you'll need a few moments for your eyes to adjust to the welcoming dark glow of the float lights and fishtrap lamps amidst the bamboo and thatch. Moore says Cate advised him "Don’t go cheap: even if no one in Vancouver knows what tiki is, they will all know what cheap is" (straight.com), and the attention to detail shows. The narrow space reminds me a little bit of Portland's Hale Pale,

The food is smallish menu of Trader Vics-like polynesian and Asian tastes, and the cocktails are reliably good, with shared, flaming Volcano Bowls and Mystery Bowls available, which are sometimes delivered Mai Kai Mystery Girl style, a gong, smoke, thunder and lightning. They also have a Rum Club and we had the good fortune of meeting our friend and Vancouver bon vivant Peter there on the night he became the very first person to complete a passport, having ordered 50 different rums.

4362 Main Street, Vancouver, BC V5V 3P9 - (604) 319-1747
Est. March 2013
Web site: shamefultikiroom.com - facebook
Articles ranked: critiki - straight.com - vancitydrinkspecials - theglobeandmail - vanbrosia - winetimes - tikiroom - vancouversun - scoutmagazine - foodadventuretime - urbanspoon - yelp - foodology - bcliving - vancourier - 10best - lonelyplanet - kiosk - ooga-mooga

#2354 - Funky Winker Beans, Vancouver, BC - 11/29/2013

Funky Winker Beans, Vancouver, BC

Just across West Hastings street from Funky Winker Beans is the Grand Union Hotel, which I have described as a very pure dive, with an elderly crowd and not a hint of hipness. Funkys is the opposite sort of dive, where young people go to hear live punk and metal shows on the weekends, and karaoke every other day of the week.

For many decades previously the building appears to have operated as a hotel and brothel, and the old photographs of women on the bar walls are said to be prostitutes who worked upstairs around the 1920s. It features a grand, antique back bar and columns that look like they date back to about that time.

Funky Winkerbeans, Vancouver, BC

37 W Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC V6B 1G4 - (604) 569-3515
Est. 1984? - Building constructed: year
Previous bars in this location: The Palace Hotel
Web site: funkywinkerbeans.ca - facebook - tumblr
Reviews: yelp - theprovince - alienatedinvancouver - tumblr - tumblr - ahamedia