If you like Browns Socialhouse but wish it was a bit brighter and had more pizza and pasta on the menu, look no further than Liberty Kitchen.
The brand-new North Vancouver restaurant opened its doors for the first time on Tuesday, May 13 at 4 p.m., at 1378 Main St.
The establishment promises a menu full of pizzas, pastas and other Mediterranean dishes, with an upscale feel that still caters to many different types of occasions. On the drink menu, you’ll find local breweries alongside an extensive list of Italian wines.
The completely renovated location hosts 217 seats total, which includes a sizable outdoor patio that can seat 50 to 60 guests.
Locals will remember the address as the former home of Toby’s Social Hub, which closed in June 2023.
Liberty Kitchen co-owners Derek Archer and Ryan Spicknell said they were approached by the landlord as Toby’s was shutting down.
That’s around 10 years after they were first approached by the landlord – before Toby’s went in – to put a Browns in at that location.
“At the time, I was just working on doing the Lower Lonsdale deal, so that didn’t work out,” said Archer, who handles business development for several locations in the Browns Restaurant Group, including Browns on the North Shore, Red Deer and Kelowna, as well as Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Vancouver and the Ventura Room below it.
But when he was approached about the Main Street address this time around, the timing aligned.
“With all the development going on [in the area], it seemed like it was pretty good idea to start looking at it,” Archer said.
Spicknell, who’s head of operations for the collection of restaurants, said there’s a demand for this type of business in the neighbourhood.
“We’ve done a few events so far, just to get to know the community and reach out to them. And everyone’s mentioned – whether it’s Deep Cove or Seymour, up in the Lynn Valley area, even some Lonsdale people – they want more,” Spicknell said.
'Community is a big deal for us,' restaurant owners say
If Liberty Kitchen were a car, it would have the same chassis as Browns, but a more elevated version, Archer said.
“It’s got a bit more of a Mediterranean vibe to it. We do have a little West Coast flair to it as well,” he said. “But typically it’s Mediterranean, with pizzas and pastas and in-house made sauces and fun wine lists, cool cocktails.”
Don’t think of it as a special-occasion type place, Archer said.
“It’s still an everyday kind of opportunity, but a little bit for everybody,” he said.
Both Archer and Spicknell said they’re born and raised on the North Shore, and want people to feel that in the new restaurant.
“My regional manager Byron over there lives in the new towers like a stone’s throw away. All of our managers are kind of close by,” Spicknell said. “We’re local community guys.”
A couple weeks ago, the pair held an event across the street at Wildeye Brewing because they want to connect with other people and businesses in the area, he said.
“We’ve chatted with probably 150 businesses in the area, introduced ourselves, given them little $15 gift cards to come in and check us out,” Spicknell said. “Community is a big deal for us.”
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