Meet the talented bar leaders at Wentworth Hospitality Group
The restaurants in the Wentworth Hospitality Group are known for their welcoming atmosphere, friendly neighbourhood vibe and excellent food and drink. As the group’s beverage director J-S Dupuis says, “We’re elevated without the elevated price tag.”
He credits much of that to his talented team of bar managers. “When you come into the bar, you are coming into their house and they will treat you as such,” Dupuis says. “We really focus on hospitality with the leaders we have. They really understand that.”
Meet the team leading the bars at Homer Street Cafe, Maxine’s Café & Bar and Tableau Bar Bistro.
Homer Street Cafe: Andrew MacDonald
Tucked in a cosy, vintage building in Yaletown, Homer Street Cafe has been a beloved local institution for years, famous for its rotisserie chicken and the best Espresso Martini in town.
“We describe our food as elevated comfort food and I would describe our cocktail program as the same. We try to do elevated classics,” says Andrew MacDonald. Originally from Alberta, he moved to Vancouver last April and took over the bar program in fall.
“We don’t want to do anything too out there. We want our cocktail program to be approachable. We’ve had some quite esteemed bartenders come through Homer Street and I’m just building on what they did before.”
Maxine’s Café & Bar: Nicola Roland
Maxine’s, located near the Burrard Street Bridge, opened just last April, a bright, cheerful, rustic-chic spot famous for its daily brunches.
“It is until 3 p.m. only brunch, so we have a lot of cocktails involving espresso,” says bar manager Nicola Roland, a 20-year veteran of the Vancouver restaurant scene. “Then we flip into dinner and the cocktail program switches into an evening program. It’s almost like running two separate bars.”
Her cocktails are all “house” drinks—even the classics have a little twist to them—with a new menu set to launch just in time for patio season. “We’re going to be doing a spritz program and changing our classics and staples,” she says.
Tableau Bar Bistro: Nich Box
Nich Box has worked some of Vancouver’s most adventurous bar programs, including The Acorn, L’Abattoir, Black Tail and The Parker. Now he’s shaking things up at Tableau, a chic French bistro where he works with mainly French products, crafting cocktails both classic and modern.
“It is awesome. It’s my team, it’s my bar, it’s a lot of fun,” he says. “It was easy to sign up because there was a lot of Cognac and Champagne. There is a finesse and some elegance.” At the same time, he adds, “It is a very French bistro in that it’s pretty approachable. What we do is really about the neighbourhood.”
And that makes it a perfect fit in the Wentworth Hospitality family.
THIS POST IS SPONSORED BY:
Wentworth Hospitality Group
