1,000 Places to See in the U.S.A. & Canada Before You Die (136 page)

An island of calm in this otherwise frenetic community is the Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden, a 2.5-acre complex on the neighborhood’s edge and the first full-scale classical Chinese garden ever built outside China. Completed in 1986, the garden is designed in the style of Suzhou, Vancouver’s sister city, famed for over 700 years for its exquisite gardens.

The Sun Yat-Sen garden (named after the founder of China’s first republic) is an exquisite re-creation of a typical 14th-century Ming garden, a walled oasis filled with horticultural and man-made treasures. Its complex network of corridors and courtyards seems like an intricately chambered jewel box, a pocketsize otherworld. A team of 52 Suzhou artisans and horticulturists spent over a year building the garden, and almost everything was brought from China, including the pagoda roof tiles, the naturally sculpted rocks, the worn pebbles that create the mosaics covering the winding pathways, and the bat-shaped bronze door handles. Don’t miss the complimentary volunteer-led tours that provide perspectives on this and other aspects of Chinese culture, life during the Ming Dynasty, architecture, horticulture, and the art of feng shui.

In autumn, the garden features maple and gingko trees with brilliant red, yellow, and orange leaves.

C
HINESE
G
ARDEN
: Carrall St. between Pender St. and Keefer St. Tel 604-662-3207;
www.vancouverchinesegarden.com
.
W
HEN
: daily, May–Oct; closed Mon, Nov–Apr.

Epicureans Celebrate the Northwest’s Bounty

Vancouver, British Columbia

One of the world’s most cosmopolitan cities, with a rich mix of overlapping cultures, Vancouver is wedged between the chilly waters of the Pacific, the farmlands of the Fraser River valley, and misty mountains whose
meadows abound with wild mushrooms and berries.

There’s no better way to explore the city than through its cuisine, and no more enjoyable way to savor the bounty of Vancouver’s natural setting than at the following restaurants, each renowned for instilling world-class cuisine with a real sense of locale and season.

Tojo’s is a bright and popular restaurant named for its revered chef-owner, Hidekazu Tojo, an amiable innovator responsible for some of the best sushi in Canada. Specialties reflect the changing seasons, but tuna and wild salmon are perennial favorites, consumed at the rate of 300 pounds and 200 pounds, respectively, every week. The waters around Vancouver are rich with king, coho, sockeye, chum, and pink salmon, and Tojo gets his hands on the very best, maintaining an unwavering commitment to fresh local
ingredients. The most coveted seats are at the convivial
omakase
(“in the chef’s hands”) counter, where menus are banned and the chef prepares the freshest, most original dishes—sushi and sashimi plus some cooked items—in season. At the center of it all is the beaming and energetic Tojo, who performs his magic with the precision of a surgeon and the faintest Vegas swagger.

C Restaurant also starts with the finest Pacific seafood and fish, but provides a very different dining experience. In a glass-walled, industrial chic dining room overlooking Granville Island and the marinas in False Creek, the chefs at C Restaurant employ a modern, transformative alchemy, serving the local catch in up-to-the-second dishes like garlic-sautéed local shrimp with grapefruit mousse and licorice, or wild salmon with goat cheese gnocchi and porcini mushroom glaze. Let the kitchen do their magic: Ask for the tasting menu and be guaranteed an evening of seafood dining that is a veritable adventure of new flavors, unusual combinations, and deep satisfaction.

Hidekazu Tojo has an uncanny skill for selecting the best and freshest fish.

Raincity Grill, overlooking English Bay from the glitter of Vancouver’s West End, was one of the first purveyors of Pacific Northwest cuisine, a style of cooking that brings classic European techniques to the freshest of Northwest fish, meats, and produce. While this style is no longer news, at Raincity Grill the dedication to freshness and innovation has kept this restaurant at the cutting edge of Vancouver dining. Elk loin medallions are accented with fresh fig
jus
and a baklava of walnut and pumpkin, while wild mushroom risotto is served with local Camembert, sage pesto, and wild cattail shoots. The wine list explores the finest vintages of British Columbia’s and the Pacific Northwest’s top wineries, keeping every remarkable dish or vintage the restaurant offers close to home. And that’s easily the way dining in Vancouver can and should be, when you know where to look.

T
OJO’S
: Tel 604-872-8050;
www.tojos.com
.
Cost:
dinner US$67/C$75.
C R
ESTAURANT
: Tel 604-681-1164;
www.crestaurant.com
.
Cost:
dinner US$53/C$60.
R
AINCITY
G
RILL
: Tel 604-685-7337;
www.raincitygrill.com
.
Cost:
dinner US$45/C$50.

One-of-a-Kind European Elegance

Vancouver, British Columbia

Perennially ranked one of the highest in the world for its quality of life, Vancouver is also one of North America’s most cosmopolitan cities and will host the 2010 Winter Olympics. The city offers a fascinating mosaic of
cultures, prominently on display along Robson Street, one of downtown Vancouver’s busiest shopping districts. Just a few steps from the bustling throngs and boutiques on
Robson is the Wedgewood Hotel, an island of elegance and splendor—and the best spot in the city to sample Vancouver’s famed urban finesse.

The Wedgewood differs markedly from the anonymous business hotels that otherwise populate downtown Vancouver. The boutique hotel is the consummate vision of Eleni Skalbania, a hospitality dynamo who served as chief designer, contractor, and entrepreneur when the property she owned—built originally as a residential hotel at the turn of the 20th century—was thoroughly gutted and remodeled. What emerged is clearly the embodiment of one person’s infallible vision of luxury and beauty.

While the foyers and public spaces are awash with European opulence, the guest rooms are furnished with understated style and comfort. Skalbania’s private collection of art and antiques adds to their sophistication, making each room personalized. The rooms are large, and some have fireplaces and all offer balconies, some with views over the magisterial Vancouver Art Gallery and the Law Courts, one of Vancouver’s architectural gems.

As the hotel’s many return guests will attest, the Wedgewood isn’t just about good looks. The service level is exemplary—with a guest-to-staff ratio of just one and a half to one. The hotel’s new spa has already been voted Vancouver’s top day spa, while the arrival of Lee Parsons as executive chef for Bacchus restaurant has enlivened the already brilliant menu for the popular dining room.

With an inviting menu of cocktails, polished wood, and plush furniture, the Bacchus Piano Lounge exudes Old World luxury.

W
HERE
: 845 Hornby St. Tel 800-663-0666 or 604-689-7777;
www.wedgewoodhotel.com
.
C
OST
: from US$223/C$250; dinner at Bacchus US$58/C$65.
B
EST TIMES
: late June–early July for the Vancouver International Jazz Festival (
www.coastaljazz.ca
); mid-July for the Vancouver Folk Music

Wildness and Wilderness on the North Pacific Coast

Vancouver Island, British Columbia

The remote western flank of Vancouver Island forms a primordial tableau of dense forest and rugged mountains deeply bitten by steep-sided fjords. Large sections of the area’s coastal rain forests, islands, and broad sandy
beaches are preserved as the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve, established in 1971 as Canada’s first marine park. This three-unit maritime wilderness is hallowed ground for ecotourists, long-distance hikers, and sea kayakers. The famous West Coast Trail is hailed by the Sierra Club as one of the most spectacular and challenging hikes on the continent. From May through September each year, intermediate and experienced hikers
arrive from all over the world to follow the 47-mile track, which was initially designed as a rescue trail for shipwrecked sailors along the otherwise inaccessible coastline between Port Renfrew and Bamfield. The five- to seven-day journey, which involves fording rivers, climbing cliffs, traversing rope bridges, and slogging along miles of wilderness beachfront, is for many the hike of a lifetime.

At the mouth of Barkley Sound is the park’s second unit, centered on the Broken Group Islands. The rocky shoreline was once known by mariners as the Graveyard of the Pacific for the ferocious winter storms that hit these craggy headlands, but yesterday’s tragedy is today’s tourist destination, as these sunken vessels provide a number of historic shipwrecks for scuba divers to explore. Diverse and plentiful marine life is also a major draw: Kayakers explore the archipelago to view sea lions, bald eagles, and pods of whales.

Access to the Broken Group Islands is somewhat limited (outfitters in Bamfield and Ucluelet lead kayak tours), though passengers on the MV
Lady Rose
and MV
Frances Barkley,
packet freighters that deliver mail and supplies to remote fishing and logging communities along Alberni Inlet and Barkley Sound, pass by this watery wilderness. The only transport in this otherwise roadless outback area of Vancouver Island, these Port Alberni–based freighters also convey sightseers on their day-long delivery circuit past tiny waterfront settlements, cliff-lined islands, and heavily wooded mountains. There’s no better way to catch a glimpse of daily life in this remote maritime corner of British Columbia.