Elite Traveler March-April 2015

elite traveler MAR/APR 2015 ISSUE 2 125

FOOD & DRINK

FIVE OF THE BEST DISHES

CHEF FOCUS NED BELL

Many chefs pay lip service to farm-to- table eating, but few beat the drum as passionately as Vancouver’s YEW Seafood + Bar’s chef Ned Bell. He won the Pinnacle Award’s chef of the year in 2014 after cycling 5,400 miles across Canada to raise awareness for the Chefs for Oceans campaign for sustainable seafood. “When I became executive chef at YEW at the Four Seasons, I felt a responsibility to make sure there’s something left for the next generation,” Bell says. Bell calls his award-winning cuisine “globally inspired and locally created”. Guests can book an exclusive Ned Bell tasting menu experience – which includes his signature dish of crab tacos with redmiso, maple & lime, avocado, apples – and enjoy the day’s fresh catch. Bell loves Asian food and Vancouver has some of the best: “For sushi I’d go to Zest and for noodles I’d go to Kintaro, a tiny hole-in-the-wall place that does amazing ramen.” yewseafood.com/private_dining (+1 604 609 5480), chefsforoceans.com

1 Omakase Tojo’s

Nothing sums up Vancouver’s sushi culture better than Tojo’s omakase on West Broadway: faultless knife work, superb fish and a deliciously inspired blend of West Coast and Asian flavors. tojos.com 2 Wagyu steak Shirakawa Gastown restaurant Shirakawa serves imported kuroge Wagyu steaks at $79.50 for 4oz. The finely-marbled steaks are cooked medium rare, each bite an intensely meaty juicy swoon of joy. shirakawagastown.com 3 Kaisen tomato ramen Gyoza Bar + Ramen Vancouver adores ramen, andDowntown’s Gyoza Bar + Ramen have taken it upmarket with their $13.50 Kaisen tomato version with a saffron and sustainable seafood broth which delivers serious umami. gyozabar.ca 4 Lambpopsicles Vij’s There are waits of an hour or more outside this no-reservations South Granville restaurant, but it’s worth it for Vij’s legendary lamb popsicles, a riot of creamy, spicy fenugreek and wine-marinated lamb for $24 in one of the best Indian restaurants. vijsrestaurant.ca 5 Seafood tower BlueWater Café A triple-layeredmountain of spicy tuna roll, fresh crab meat roll, tuna goma-ae and chilled lobster is the $102 must-have at this premier seafood eatery in Yaletown. bluewatercafe.net

Above The restaurant interior at YEW at the Four Seasons, Vancouver

People watch The barman

classics – “Negroni, Manhattan, Sazeracs” – he is introducing variations on classics at the Arena. ”It’s all about an intimate environment, customized cocktails, even interaction with Canucks alumni, all with a killer view over the ice.” rogersarena.com

Named by GQ as Vancouver’s most

imaginative bartender, Jay Jones was recently drafted by his beloved Canucks ice hockey team’s stadium, the Rogers Arena, to whip its drinks menu into shape for match days and events. While Jones enjoys