Bartender David Wolowidnyk | Recommendations - Find. Eat. Drink.
Bartender David Wolowidnyk, Bar, Restaurant, West, Vancouver, Fairview, Where to eat, Where to drink, Where to shop, Bars, Recommendations, Liquor, Stores, Bitters, Spirits, Drink Recommendations, Bartender Recommendations, Bars, Restaurants, Cocktails, Best Cocktail Bars in Vancouver, Best Places for cocktails, Most Creative Bartenders, Insider Recommendations
Recommendations
KITSILANO FARMERS MARKET / TROUT LAKE FARMERS MARKET
Kitsilano Farmers Market
Parking Lot of Kitsilano Community C
2690 Larch Street, Vancouver, BC V6K 2J4, Canada
May 20 - October 21
Sun: 10am - 2pm
Trout Lake Farmers Market
Trout Lake Park
13th Avenue Alley, Vancouver, BC V5N 4L9, Canada
May 12 - October 20
Sat: 9am - 2pm
Kitsilano / Trout Lake
Farmers Market
Find | Markets - Vancouver, QC
The local Farmers’ markets (Trout Lake and Kits Farmers’ Market in particular) are one of my favorite places to obtain produce throughout the year because the quality of products is amazing. I like to support local businesses whenever possible, and the seasonal fruits and vegetables are inspiring.
LEGACY LIQUOR STORE
When I buy liquor for West Restaurant, I must, by law, purchase from a government store, but when I buy for personal use I prefer to shop at Legacy Liquor because they carry a vast selection of products not seen elsewhere.
Granville Island / False Creek
Liquor Store
Bartender David Wolowidnyk | Recommendations
Who
Bartender David Wolowidnyk is the award-wining bar manager at West restaurant in Vancouver, BC.
Why
Declared the “World’s Most Imaginative Bartender” after winning this year’s Bombay Sapphire competition in Morocco, David has also been named “Best Mixologist in Canada” by Grey Goose, “Best Bartender Pacific Northwest” by Art of the Cocktail Festival and “Bartender of the Year” by two Vancouver magazines.
July 18, 2012
West Restaurant - Vancouver, BC
Photo Credit: Find. Eat. Drink.
Find | Wine & Liquor Stores - Vancouver, QC
BLUE WATER CAFE
Yaletown
Seafood
Eat | Restaurants - Vancouver, QC
Blue Water Cafe for the raw bar, and chef Frank Pabst’s ‘Local Heroes Menu.’
CINCIN
1154 Robson Street, 2nd Floor, Vancouver, BC V6E 1B2 Canada
T: 604.688.7338 (make a reservation)
For a wonderful Italian experience. Chef Andrew Richardson is a marvel.
West End
Italian
DIVA AT THE MET
www.metropolitan.com/diva/menus.htm
645 Howe Street, Vancouver, BC V6C 2Y9, Canada
T: 604.602.7788 (make a reservation)
Downtown
Northwest
For whatever Chef Hamid Salimian bcooks.
FARINA
For pizza.
Downtown / Strathcona
Pizza
KINGYO
West End
Japanese / Izakaya
It’s a Japanese izakaya... order everything.
KIRIN
Downtown
1172 Alberni Street, Vancouver, BC V6E 3Z3, Canada
T: 604.682.8833
Richmond
200 Three West Centre, 7900 Westminster Highway
Richmond, BC V6X 1A5, Canada
T: 604.303.8833
Multiple Locations
Chinese / Dim Sum
Chinese restaurant. Go for dim sum.
MAENAM
Thai restaurant... for everything.
Kitsilano
Thai
MIKU
1055 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC V6E 2E9, Canada
T: 604.568.3900 (make a reservation)
It’s a Japanese sushi restaurant and I’d get the sashimi.
Downtown / Coal Harbor
Japanese / Sushi
ALIBI ROOM
Gastown
Beer
Drink | Bars & Cocktails - Vancouver, QC
I’m a beer fan and they have an amazing selection of beer at the Alibi Room. The staff is very well versed in it, as well. The bar manager is a wizard when it comes to beer and the selections that he likes to offer, what he is able to source and find, I think it’s one of the city’s best beer rooms. There are others, that have popped up that are excellent as well, I just always love the vibe and it has been one of the longest standing beer rooms in the city.
BAYSIDE LOUNGE
www.bestwesternsandshotelvancouver.com/dining/bayside-lounge
1755 Davie Street, Vancouver, BC V6G 1W5, Canada
T: 604.682.183
When I’m not in the mood for cocktails I like to go to places where the ‘room’ adds something interesting to the evening. My usual order involves a simple bourbon and a beer.
West End
Cocktail Lounge
CINCIN
1154 Robson Street, 2nd Floor, Vancouver, BC V6E 1B2, Canada
T: 604.688.7338 (make a reservation)
West End
Italian
I love grappa and CinCin boasts the largest grappa list in Canada. The cocktails that Colin Turner’s producing there are definitely of an Italian forward theme and you don’t often see that. When I feel like I want to travel somewhere, he has a great list with bitters and grappas and he doesn’t just have them on the shelf, he actually uses them. And I think he utilizes them well.
CHAMBAR
562 Beatty Street, Vancouver, BC V6B 2L3, Canada
T: 604.879.7119 (make a reservation)
The wizard behind the bar is Jacob Sweetapple. He is an Australian transplant that fell in love with a beautiful Canadian girl and decided to make Vancouver their home. He is incredibly talented. His cocktails hit me in the right place. Every once in a while you’ll sit down at someone’s bar and three of them are good and one may be a miss, with Jacob everything I’ve tasted has been fantastic.
Downtown
European
CLOUGH CLUB
212 Abbott Street, Vancouver, BC V6B 1B2, Canada
T: 604.558.1581
Gastown
Cocktails
Under the radar right now but are turning out some really high quality cocktails.
HAWKSWORTH
Hotel Georgia, 801 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC V6C 1P7, Canada
T: 604.673.7000
I think the bar team is fantastic. I respect Brad Stanton’s skills immensely and I think he leads a good charge when it comes to heading up the program over there. I love the style of the drinks they make. It’s in an historical building and overall I think they just do a fantastic job.
Downtown
Cocktails
KEEFER BAR
Chinatown
Cocktails
I love the Keefer Bar. They consider the qualities and the character of botanicals and they are also the first to start experimenting with sound. Like bottle-aging or barrel-aging, over time the ingredients come together. Everything has a slightly different vibration, the longer they hang out together, they start to vibrate at the same frequency. We get a smoother character in that drink, in that cocktail. Imagine if you apply sound to speed up that process and get a tuning fork with the tone of a C Sharp. You can make two identical cocktails side by side, go out of the room, someone tunes one of those cocktails, you come back and there is a difference. The one that has been tuned is smoother, rounder and the other one still has an edge to it.
L’ABATTOIR
217 Carrall Street, Vancouver, BC V6B 2J2, Canada
T. 604.568.1701 (make a reservation)
Shaun Layton and David Greig are so complimentary to each other. Shaun is technically the bar manager and David in his own right is an amazing bartender. Their cocktails are classically driven, but tweaked to a contemporary side to be a little more interesting. They are wonderful hosts, their room is quite small, always very busy, yet they are always willing and able to take a moment to make each one of their guests feel like an individual and not just a number coming through the door. And it’s difficult to do that in a small and very busy environment.
Gastown
Contemporary French
MARKET BY JEAN GEORGES
Shangri-La Hotel, 1115 Alberni Street, Vancouver, BC V6E 0A8, Canada
T: 604.695.1115 (make a reservation)
Downtown
International
When I consume cocktails, I really enjoy a booze-forward cocktails. Jay Jones, who runs the bar at Market, is a huge proponent of making spirit-forward cocktails. Very classically driven and I like that. I think he is a wonderful person and a fantastic bartender. He is somebody that I hold very high regard and I’m always thrilled to sit across the bar from him.
POURHOUSE
162 Water Street, Vancouver, BC V6B 1B2, Canada
T: 604.568.7022 (make a reservation)
The staff likes to mimic the cocktail recipes from a bygone era and replicate them to the best of their abilities to those original preparations, techniques and styles, occasionally adding in their own little twist. They really pride themselves on being that classic old saloon style of a bar.
Gastown
American
UNION BAR
Arthur Wynne is such a character. At one point, he was one of the world’s most sought-after coffee judges and he was flown around the world to barista competitions. Only a few short years ago, he decided to step behind a bar and become the fantastic bartender that he is today. He has a wonderful view of ingredient use, the way that he balances different flavor profiles. He also likes to incorporate flavors that remind him of his to childhood growing up in the southern hemisphere, very different fruits and spices and combinations of those things. He is such a nice gentleman, I don’t like to sit at a bar where people have an attitude. I like when they enjoy what they do and they enjoy the company of others and giving people a wonderful experience and Arthur is one of those people.
Strathcona
Cocktails
BLUE WATER CAFE
I love to go there for the food, I also love to go there for the drinks. They are a perfect example of doing high volume and quality simultaneously. The cocktails are built for speed, but they’re balanced with their complexity and delicious.
Yaletown
Seafood
EL CAMINO
Riley Park
Latin American
If I am at El Camino, tequila is a must.
JULES BISTRO
Under the radar right now but are turning out some really high quality cocktails.
Gastown
French
THE MARQUIS
When I’m not in the mood for cocktails I like to go to places where the ‘room’ adds something interesting to the evening. My usual order involves a simple bourbon and a beer.
Fairview
Cocktail Lounge
THE WALDORF
When I’m not in the mood for cocktails I like to go to places where the ‘room’ adds something interesting to the evening. My usual order involves a simple bourbon and a beer.
Grandview-Woodlands
Cocktail Lounge
JJ BEAN
Granville Island
1689 Johnston Street, Vancouver, BC V6H 3R9, Canada
T: 604.685.0613
Yaletown
402 Davie Street, Vancouver, BC V6B 2G2, Canada
T: 604.684.9253
Powell Street
1904 Powell Street, Vancouver, BC V5L 1J2, Canada
T: 604.254.0169
Railway Street
460 Railway Street, Vancouver, BC V6A 1B1, Canada
T: 604.253.7245
Commercial Drive
2206 Commercial Drive, Vancouver, BC V5N 5P9, Canada
T: 604.254.3723
Woodward
146 West Cordova Street, Vancouver, BC V6B 1C9, Canada
T: 604.408.9663
Main Street
3010 Main Street, Vancouver, BC V5T 3G5, Canada
T: 604.879.2326
CBC
740 Hamilton Street, Vancouver, BC V6B 1E7, Canada
T: 604.687.1056
Park and Tilford
333 Brooksbank Avenue N., Vancouver, BC V7J 3S8, Canada
T: 604.984.8630
Alberni
1188 Alberni Street, Vancouver, BC V6E 4R9, Canada
T: 604.254.3724
Multiple Locations
Coffee
Drink | Coffee - Vancouver, QC
John Neate’s family has been in the coffee biz for 65/ 70 years and he decided to go on his own and that is when he started JJ Bean. I like to support local coffee whenever I can and I think they do a wonderful job.
MILANO COFFEE ROASTING COMPANY
Mount Pleasant
156 8th Avenue West, Vancouver, BC V5Y 1N2, Canada
T: 604.879.4468
Gastown
36 Powell Street, Vancouver, BC V6B 2JY, Canada
T: 604.558.0999
Multiple Locations
Coffee
REVOLVER
Arguably some of the best coffee in the city.
Gastown
Coffee
Drink | Spirits & Liquors
BOMBAY SAPPHIRE EAST
United Kingdom
Spirit / Gin
PLANTATION RUM
Caribbean
Spirit / Rum
Drink | Bitters
THE BITTER TRUTH
I like the Bitter Truth out of Germany. They do a fantastic line. I love all of them.
Germany
Bitters
SCRAPPY’S BITTERS
United States / Seattle
Bitters
They’re a brand new label from Seattle. They’re doing a bang up job, I’m really quite happy with their product. They’re very hands on with an artisanal approach.
