British Columbia Restaurants

The hospitable staff at Raw Canvas challenges the concept of the starving artist with a menu of tapas and desserts that recharge brainpower for creative endeavours. Like a bust of Andy Warhol carved out of butter, Raw Canvas merges the worlds of art and cuisine with a painting pit where colourful brushstrokes flow freely and a dining area for munching on fine sausages and alpine cheeses. The restaurant-studio prides itself on its eco-friendly approach to both visual expression and bodily nourishment, stocking up on paints made on Granville Island and culinary ingredients culled from local family farms. Guests sip craft beers and complex wines as they marvel at Raw Canvas's gallery of original paintings by local artists, or admire the patron-conceived masterpieces that adorn the walls of the painting pit.

Palm fronds spill over Baja Surf Grill’s two-tiered dining room, lending the 150-seat eatery a lush, tropical aura. Arched porticoes and columns recall Spanish colonial revival architecture, which designers update with pastel pink and green hues and tropical throw pillows. The ambience reinforces the menu, which highlights the Baja fish taco, a creation pioneered by Japanese fishermen in Baja after their idea for the Munich meat muffin failed to catch on. Chefs pay additional homage to Japan’s culinary influence on the region with southwestern-style sushi peppered with ingredients such as fire-roasted corn and chipotle mayo.

The Hronopoulos family, owners of Sokela Restaurant and Lounge, call upon Greek, Italian, Moroccan, Spanish, and French influences to create a menu that represents a mélange of Mediterranean flavours. Sokela was born when the owners decided to turn the image of their traditional Greek restaurant, Alekos, around by reversing its name. To reflect this new philosophy, the Greek plates share menu space with chorizo, gnocchi, and West Coast seafood dishes to please palates and confuse U.S. customs employees. Beige and brown accents, tiles, exposed wood, and short cylindrical hanging lamps create a casual atmosphere and surround patrons as they dine in the main room or the lounge.

From its perch alongside the Pitt River, Gillnetter Pub serves up crab cakes, halibut burgers, seafood stew, and PEI mussels that complement a view of the tranquil water, best enjoyed on the open-air patio that hosts revellers all summer long. Winter visitors get a similarly cozy treatment with an enclosed patio complete with a stone fireplace, toasty heaters, and an awning that folds back when the weather allows. Inside, diners feasting on baby back ribs or clam chowder can take in sports on one of several HDTVs or the pub's big screen, with games from the Canucks, Whitecaps, and BC Lions making regular appearances on the screens and in the strange dreams that customers have later that night.

It’s hard to tell what’s more awe-inspiring: a 150-inch high-definition TV screen ablaze with a heated sports game or a 6-ounce beef burger patty towering with bacon, danish blue cheese, and blue-cheese mayo. Great Bear Pub lures patrons into its dark-wood restaurant with both of these treats, along with four other signature burgers, more than 20 craft beers, and a slate-stone outdoor dining area lined with televisions of its own. Patrons dig into internationally inspired eats, such as jamaican steak bites and cheese-stuffed pierogi, or stop in for a quick lunch that's prepared and presented in less than 10 minutes. The sophisticated pub also hosts live entertainment six nights a week, and sits alongside its own liquor store to ensure dry pint glasses don’t stage political revolts.

Since May 1986, the Chronakis family has crafted authentic Greek cuisine at Minoas Greek Taverna. Dinner platters teem with Hellenic morsels such as grilled chicken souvlaki, creamy hummus, and the rice-stuffed grape leaves of dolmades. The wait staff also serves entrees à la carte, so diners can dig into plates of steaming moussaka and avoid jealous struggles with the pastitsio, which would only get tomato sauce all over the pristine white stucco walls. Lush ivy winds up the walls and traverses the ceiling, tablecloths in the cobalt blue of the Greek flag dot the interior, and traditional folk music drifts through the air, transporting diners to the Mediterranean without requiring a gas-guzzling teleportation device.