Vancouver, So Far

Including a Game-Changing S'mores Ice Cream Bar, Dinner at Published on Main, and a Jaunt Down to Bellingham.

Hey everyone,

Craig has always said to me that the best place to spend the summer is the Pacific Northwest. And I’ve always said, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, that’s nice, but I’m sticking to the rivers and lakes that I’m used to.” But this summer in Brooklyn has been so sweltering and unpleasant, that there’s no denying the splendor and magnificence of August in Vancouver.

The weather feels like it’s been designed by AI for maximum pleasure. Right now it’s 66 degrees and will get up to 76 later today. That’s pretty ideal summer weather. Add gorgeous scenery and nice people, and what’s not to love?

I arrived on Thursday night and grabbed a quick dinner at The Flying Pig, very good, and the next day and I visited Craig on the set of School Spirits, the show he’s directing (episodes 5 and 6 of Season Two).

If you’ve ever wondered about the glamour of being on a film or TV set, let me disabuse you of any fantasy: it’s highly boring! Imagine seeing the same scene over and over again, shot from a variety of angles, with lots of time in-between for various set-ups. But it was fun to see Craig at work and to meet some of the cast and crew.

After a quick spaghetti Bolognese from catering, I Ubered back to Yaletown, where we’re staying, and did a Map search for “ice cream” and wound up at this place called Mister. Let’s go to the video:

amateurgourmet

A post shared by @amateurgourmet

That’s right, I encountered a mind-blowing S’mores ice cream bar that defied all logic and reason. It involved liquid nitrogen and a blow torch and did for a traditional S’mores what Tina Turner did for John Fogerty’s “Proud Mary.” If you come to Vancouver and you like ice cream, get thee to Mister.

On Saturday, Craig and I did a big walk to Stanley Park and stopped for lunch at their Brewery.

I think I might be entering my IPA era: lately, I’ve been enjoying a good hoppy beer with certain foods. For example, this club sandwich and French fries that I had for lunch:

We burned off all those calories by walking through one of the world’s most beautiful parks. Here’s Craig in front of a tree:

We walked for a really long time and when we looked at a map, we’d barely made it 1/8th of the way into the park. Next time, we won’t walk from Yaletown to Stanley (a big walk in and of itself) so we have enough energy to traverse the park.

That night, we went to a big fancy dinner at Published on Main, recommended by my friend Billy.

The cocktails were far-out. Craig had the martini with “copperpenny gin X published gin, booch with the fir, elderflower.” I had the Gringo in Paradise with “cachaça, passionfruit, yerba mate, sugar cane, chocolate, açaí, coffee aromatics.”

There were many amazing dishes but my favorites were the Barley Sound Sockeye Salmon (see above) and the potato gnocchi with morels (below).

The waitress waited to bring out the bread for the pasta course (bee pollen milk buns, in the background) so we could swipe it through the sauce, which had a pleasantly sour note from pickled kelp. A tremendous combo.

Finally, we spent Sunday and Monday in Bellingham, Washington where Craig’s family lives.

Craig’s sister Kristin and her partner Dean hosted us for a lovely taco dinner and I got to meet their friend Bob Kramer, one of the country’s premiere knife makers. He talked me through the process of making one of his knives (which sometimes go for $50,000). Turns out he was featured in a video starring Anthony Bourdain and directed by our close friend and neighbor Rob Meyer. You can watch it here:

And if you don’t believe we were actually with him, here’s everyone at the table!

So it was a great weekend in Bellingham.

Now let’s look at some links:

• Tejal Rao is Houston’s-pilled… but aren’t we all! (NYT);

• GORP Cookies (Susanality);

• Pete Wells’ last restaurant review (NYT).

That’s all for today, folks…

See you back here, with more Vancouver stories, on Friday!

Your pal,

Adam