The Metropole Pub has announced that 25% of all yearly profits will go to support DTES organizations

Some fantastic new places have recently opened their doors to the neighbourhood. Everything Cafe, the newest locale to be opened by Sean Heather, adds nicely to a recently revitalized Pender Street that includes the new Blim space, Bob Rennie’s offices, Ming Wo, Bombast Furniture and well, the Building Opportunities with Business office and Co-working space, among other great spots. Everything has a very nice, subtle and welcoming interrior with some of the best coffee I’ve tasted yet. I haven’t tried the sandwiches yet but the menu is excellent and a good price too, if it’s anything like the quality of sandwiches at the Salty Tongue then this place is going to be a fast favorite for locals.

photo from http://goodlifevancouver.com/tag/vancouver-restaurant/

Acme Cafe is one of the most charming little spots to open up recently, someone described it as “Straight out of the pages of an Archie comic, it’s Pop Tate’s Chock’lit Shoppe meets American Graffiti’s Mel’s Diner.” and the food is fantastic (made by a real actual French Chef!). How about a Turkey and brie Ciabatta with cranberry–Grand Marnier sauce, grainy dijon mayo? Or Meat Loaf with garlic baby nugget potatoes and salad for $11.50? Vegetarian options abound as well. Great breakfast items (Omelets, eggs and bacon, breakfast croissants etc) and pints of R&B for $5.00 too. Not too shabby…

And last but certainly not least we’d like to welcome the Donnelly Group’s newest pub, the Metropole. It’s not entirely accurate to call the Metropole a new pub as it’s technically over 100 years old! Between Hastings and Pender on Abbot Street, The Metropole is having it’s grand opening tomorrow night (Wednesday the 20th of May) and I for one am excited to welcome this newest incarnation of the legendary venue as it was recently announced that 25% of all yearly profits from the pub will go to support local DTES organizations including United We Can, The Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre and DTES Food Bank. I went to a fantastic night here recently called Westbound and Down (Every 2nd Thursday of the month) where the DJs played a great blend of classic punk, post punk alternative, old gnarly country and Ska tunes. I felt like I was in Brooklyn, or Wicker Park Chicago, it was a fresh kind of atmosphere that has been lacking in Vancouver’s club and pub scene since the days of the Starfish Room, Town Pump, Niagra, or Smilin’ Buddha.

It’s exciting to see these new places opening up in the DTES let alone seeing the eagerness to become involved in the community. Will and I will likely be having a game of pool at the Metropole this Friday after work, come and join us. Or maybe we’ll see you at Westbound and Down June 10th.  If you want to hang out even sooner I’ll be heading to Acme or Everythin Cafe right about now to grab a sammich.

-wes-

Vancouver's laid back west coast lifestyle suits gray whales just fine

It’s been a long time since a gray whale was spotted in Vancouver’s False Creek, and residents here are excited to say the least. Liz Charyna here at BOB saw the gentle giant twice while her dragon boat team was practicing yesterday evening, and whale watchers have lined up along Granville Island, on the Sea Wall in Yaletown and on the various bridges to catch a rare glimpse themselves.

There has been much speculation regarding the whale’s cavalier sauntering about in such a high traffic channel. Is this a sign that our waterways are considered healthier and safer by the species? Has this whale lost its mind? Is it a Trojan Whale? Is this going to end up being a playoffs PR stunt by the Green Men?  Well I think the answer is obvious.

Even a gray whale knows that East Van is the place to be!

This aerial view shows the circuit in which the whale paced about, wondering about mortgages and bank rates

Clearly this beautiful beast heard about Athletes Village winning LEED Platinum Certification, honoring it as the Greenest Neighbourhood in the World. Spending the majority of its time milling about between Granville Bridge and South East False Creek, where the impressive residential development is located, it was clear to me that this whale wants in on the action, and has set its sight on Vancouver’s blossoming Eastside. Yes the secret is out.

South East False Creek’s Athletes Village is  just minutes away from a vibrant Chinatown with exciting new restaurants like Bao Bei, The Keefer Bar, and Campognolo, great shops like Ming Wo,  Bamboo Village and Cathay Importers not to mention our world renowned Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden.

Athletes Village, the award winning LEED Platinum development in SE False Creek that this whale is clearly looking to buy in

Just a five minute walk from the development are the hipster havens of Mt. Pleasent and SOMA, packed with countless neighbourhood watering holes, fashion boutiques, and every amenity an urban whale could need. He or she would  also be close to the new Canada Line Skytrain Route, giving it a convenient and direct transit option to Vancouver’s international airport.

Somehow, between its yearly migration from Mexico to Alaska, this whale heard about how Vancouver’s Eastside has become an innovative hot bed for social enterprise, urban agriculture and art & culture. Music venues like the Rickshaw Theatre, Chapel Arts, The Biltmore, and the Firehall, guarantee this whale something interesting to check out every night of the week; it must be taking that into account looking to live so close to it. He or she probably knows that they are also more than welcome to become a member at the legendary Anza Club just up the hill from Athletes Village (ten bucks, seriously, that’s all it takes, but they might have to take out the pool table for he or she to fit in there).

Just a brief walk from Gastown and Granville Island, someone gave this whale a hot real estate tip that SE False Creek, Mt. Pleasant, the DTES and Strathcona have all become increasingly attractive areas to live, work and play. So it’s only natural that on a sunny afternoon he or she would peruse the area looking for the perfect spot, close to all these great places, right on/in the water.

Well…there goes the neighbourhood.

Many moons ago, when we were at our old offices Mina Jung came into our office about opening up her dream business, selling healthy Korean food as a lunch alternative. She planned on calling the business Next Sunday Kimbab because as a child she always looked forward to the Next Sunday. It took a while and the idea was refined, but Next Sunday Kimbab is now open and providing healthy Korean food delivered to your office for lunch or meetings.

A Next Sunday Kimbab retail location is still in the long term plans, but BOB staff were quite happy with the samples Mina brought over today. So consider Kimbab for your next meeting or staff lunch, you can learn more about Next Sunday Kimbab from their Facebook Page or their blog.

Some colleagues of BOB’s over at UGM recommended we pay a visit to the Velvet Matador at 508 Powell Street. It is a little off the beaten track, but not too far from Railtown or the residential areas of Strathcona. The Velvet Matador is a small cafe run by Hannah Walker. They serve specialty teas and coffees as well as sandwiches and other goodies. BOB staff was pretty pleased with the various drinks we’ve ordered there, so if you’re in Railtown or Eastvan, perhaps you should swing by.

They plan to have live music on some nights, their website is under construction, but they’re already in Google.

Photo: Steven Ballegeer

Two weeks ago we interviewed Boris Mann of Bootup Labs, a technology and software accelerator housing several innovative startups in Vancouver’s beautifully restored Flack Block. This week BOB would like to welcome another innovative company who have also relocated to the Flack Block, eaga Canada (yes it is not capitalized). eaga describes itself as:

a social enterprise and provider of green support services and solutions in the residential sector. The issues we address are; tackling climate change, promoting residential energy efficiency and delivering social inclusion for low income households.

One of the beautiful things about eaga’s business model is that they offer a valuable service to residents who are often unable to afford building upgrades that save them energy and money, and improve the health of interior and exterior environments. The company does this by sourcing and administering grant funds that offset any need for building owners or tenants to foot the bill:

The majority of programs managed on behalf of our clients require the distribution of public grant funding to a particular target group within a specific time period to a specific quality standard. Financial reconciliation is a critical requirement throughout each project, with fully transparent reporting at various stages to fully account for funding we manage, as well as to outline the outputs of the project. We have extensive experience managing the ‘public purse’ and all our systems, processes and financial accounting are fully open and auditable.

Vancouver has become a city not necessarily known for large corporate headquarters with massive management structures, but for innovative clusters of smaller and mid sized offices doing unique things. Though eaga is an international company with its main office in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, we’re happy to welcome eaga Canada to Vancouver’s historic inner-city and believe they’ll fit right in among the other innovative green companies here in the DTES!

See you at Greendrinks and the Green Inner-City Cluster eaga!

And welcome to the neighbourhood.