Verdura Salads has officially opened at 2509 Main St. The restaurant features a wide range of à la carte salads as well as a build-your-own salad bar. verdurasalads.com
Casual seafood restaurants are on the rise. OddFish has opened at 1889 West 1st Ave. in Kitsilano and comes from the owners behind Tavola and Nook. Look for lots of casual seafood dishes, chilled seafood, etc. Hook Sea Bar will be opening soon at the corner of Davie and Denman in the West End, in the former Milestones spot.
Brigitte Raye, formerly of Café Ça Va in West Vancouver, and her son Steeve, have opened Orto Artisan Pasta at 1600 Mackay Rd. in North Vancouver. The casual restaurant will serve lunch and dinner daily, and weekend brunch. Look for handmade pastas, a few hearty sandwiches, appetizers, and cheese and charcuterie boards. ortoartisanpasta.com
Tacofino is adding a new counter-service location in the Bentall One building at 1050 West Pender St. later this summer. The 1,350-square-foot space will be fully licensed with a 30-seat dining room and 10-seat patio, and will be open 11am-7pm, Monday to Friday. Stay tuned for opening date. tacofino.com
Canada has a new national spirits competition. The first annual Canadian Artisan Spirit Competition is now accepting submissions from Canadian artisan distilleries. The competition is founded and run by Alex Hamer, who has run the BC Distilled festival for the last five years. Expert judges represent every region of the country. Learn more at artisanspirit.ca.
On Saturday, Aug. 26, the Chef’s Table Society, along with the BC Salmon Marketing Council, will host the inaugural Wild Salmon Celebration dinner at False Creek Fishermen’s Wharf. The outdoor event will feature multiple stations, live music, and salmon-safe wine samples. Participating chefs include Lee Cooper (L’Abattoir), Derek Dammann (Maison Publique, Montreal), Lucais Syme (Cinara), and Ricardo Valverde (Ancora), among other. This is a 19+ event. Tickets $49 via Eventbrite. chefstablesociety.com
Eat! Vancouver, the popular food and cooking festival, is back Nov. 6-11 with a wide range of dinners, workshops, tastings, expert classes, vendors and more. Participating chefs, pastry chefs and chocolatiers this year include Patrice Demers (Patrice Pâtissier, Montreal), Jeff Kang (Canis, Toronto), Todd Perrin (Mallard Cottage, St. John’s), and Amanda Cohen (Dirt Candy, New York), as well as local chefs including Andrea Carlson, Angus An, Hamid Salimian, Robert Belcham, Makoto Ono, Amanda Cheng, Lucais Syme, Nick Nutting, Shelome Bouvette, Thierry Busset and Thomas Haas. All events will benefit Project Chef. See the full list of events and participating chefs at eat-vancouver.com.
