A big Breaking Bread welcome to one of the newest additions to the Vancouver restaurant scene and the latest member to join the @kitchentablegroup famiglia — @giovanebacaro.

Inspired by tucked-away 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒔 in Venice, memories of drinking too many Spritzes and hanging out over shared plates of 𝒄𝒊𝒄𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒊, cured meats and fresh pasta, giovane bacaro is ‘an homage to a culture that we're forever longing for,’ says the award-winning hospitality group.

‘Our fondest memories of frequenting these hidden gems are the inspiration behind bacaro and we hope to emulate the same experience in our own city.’

Located inside the @fairmontpacific, next to @giovanecaffe, it’s the perfect spot to stop by, order a Spritz and chips and pretend you’re in Venice, even if just for a moment. 🤌🏼

⁠Stand tall. Stay strong. Show love. Support local.

This quote from a great feature in the latest issue of @menumagca entitled “Rebuilding and Reinventing Careers During COVID-19” that details how an array of industry pros adapted their careers and lifestyles to pursue their passions during the pandemic.

Evelyn Chick took the opportunity the pandemic presented to transform her side hustle into a full-time career. Chick was a beverage director for a large hospitality group but in April 2020 she made the business Evelyn Chick Projects her top priority.

She first launched the business in 2018 as an umbrella consultancy that offers a wide range of services from bar design, beverage innovation and spirits education to virtual events curation.

However, she had to adapt and reconfigure her original business model and strategies to conform to COVID-19 realities. She used her 13 years of experience in the hospitality industry to “find ways to connect with consumers and try to turn what I have always done, which is guest services and creating beverage experiences, into a profitable venture. I had to figure out how to make that (concept) come to fruition and then build a brand and website around it.”

In the feature, she urges other business owners to stay open-minded when challenges arise in order to stay afloat and discover new pathways to success.

For more on Evelyn’s unique successful-reinvention-in-the-time-of-COVID story, check out the latest issue of @menumagca.

Stand tall. Stay strong. Show love. Support local.

A well-deserved shout-out to these two amazing Vancouver chefs — @pidginyvr sous Kym Nguyen (they/them) aka @kymcoming and @cincinristorante CDC Andrea Alridge (she/her) aka @andreaalridge — for making it into the final four on the season nine finale of #TopChefCanada last night!

As CinCin put it: “Andrea has always been a star and Season Nine of Top Chef Canada made it incredibly clear just how talented she is. We are so proud of how she represented our CinCin family and her home of Vancouver. Congratulations to Andrea and to all of this season's competitors!”

Over at PiDGiN, Kym’s coworkers celebrated her second-place finish with this: “Thank you to everyone who has supported Kym along their Top Chef journey. As they're part of the PiDGiN family, we get to spend a lot of time with the incredible Kym Nguyen — so much skill, so much heart, and full of kindness and grace.⁠”

A big congrats to all of the competitors and Toronto’s @chefericak on the well-deserved and hard-fought win!

Stand tall. Stay strong. Show love. Support local.