As we were putting this issue of The Alchemist together, an atmospheric river came roaring through town. It was dark, cold and gloomy, with raging torrents of water pouring outside. It was, in other words, whisky weather.

It’s no secret that we love whisky over here at The Alchemist, whether it’s a refined single malt with plenty of age and a touch of peaty smoke in its lineage or a spicy rye, corn-sweet bourbon or the latest elegant expression from Japan. We love whisky neat, on ice and in cocktails; most of all, we love that it’s a thoughtful spirit, one we can linger over while enjoying a good conversation.

A new location of Heritage restaurant brings the chance to expand its menu and join an exciting food neighbourhood

A Vancouver restaurant that closed one of its locations last year due to Broadway Subway construction is starting a fresh chapter with an expanded concept in another part of the city.

Heritage Asian Eatery, known for its approachable menu of Chinese comfort classics, like dim sum dishes, loaded bao, and BBQ meats served to share or as plates with rice or noodles, is nearly ready to welcome guests to its new location in Riley Park at 4242 Main St. The restaurant replaces Alphabet City and Bingo Taco, which closed back in June.

Opening day is set for Tuesday, October 8.

Heritage Restaurant and Bar marks a new second location for the local restaurant, which began on Pender Street in Vancouver’s financial district in 2016 before its second outpost launched a couple of years later at 382 W Broadway. However, in January 2023, owner Paul Zhang shared he was forced to close the West Broadway location due to the significant disruptions to his business caused by the ongoing subway construction.

New Heritage location means expanded menu offerings

The new Main Street venture is a prime example of how timing – and location – can help an established restaurant brand like Heritage expand its scope.

While the long-planned Heritage location on the North Shore at the revitalized Lonsdale Quay remains in the works (with hopefully a wintertime launch), conversations with Zhang, and Heritage’s chef Jimmy Lam about how the restaurant could grow its concept to serve a nighttime clientele evolved into a wish to embark on another location.

This spring, the former Alphabet City/Bing Taco space became available, and it was an undeniable opportunity for Zhang and Lam, who shifted into a shared ownership deal and got to work planning for Heritage on Main.

The deal closed fast, Zhang shared with V.I.A. during a visit to the new space, so they got to work on the design and then moved into the construction phase.

“The bones were great,” describes Zhang. Those “great bones” meant that the space only needed cosmetic changes, shaving months and plenty of dollars of what could have otherwise been an extensive build-out.

“We’re really psyched about the huge bar,” Zhang adds. It’s a 50-foot, 18-seat horseshoe bar that runs the room’s length, right in the middle. So the team leaned into the bar as a central focus and the natural division of the remainder of the room it creates. Various seating options include a large table with a lazy Susan located at the front by one of the two garage-door-style windows that flank the entrance.

Contemporary take on traditional Chinese dining

“We wanted to have some elements that reflected classic Chinese restaurant in a more contemporary setting,” explains Zhang, noting that communal dining with larger groups is typical of higher-end Chinese restaurants.

Date night, pre- or post- dinner drinks, celebrations: the core of the concept of Heritage on Main is to join the ranks of the neighbourhood’s celebrated spots in offering a dynamic destination in Mount Pleasant for cocktails (or mocktails) along with modern Chinese fare.

The neighbourhood in particular signalled an exciting opportunity for partner and chef Lam, whose childhood memories of growing up in Vancouver stretch from walks through Chinatown to shop for ingredients to seeing countless Chinese restaurants lining Main Street. Now, says Lam, Main Street is an explosion of global cuisines, and it has him fired up to put his 14 years in the culinary industry into the mix with Heritage.

“I feel like being on Main Street gives you another level of cooking,” Lam observes, noting nearby spots lauded for their Peruvian, Vietnamese, or West Coast fare.

Expanded menu offerings with cocktails

Lam also says Heritage’s new location is an opportunity for him to showcase what it means to be able to express his Chinese-Canadian heritage through food, and to reconnect with some treasured ingredients, techniques, and traditions, with his own contemporary spin.

To that end, the menu for Heritage on Main will not only include the restaurant’s signature line of approachable, comforting Chinese eats like dumplings and BBQ, but also new and exciting snacks or share plates. Crispy fried squid with salted egg yolk, a cucumber and wood ear mushroom salad, and tender fried eggplant with house made XO sauce will join classic items like Peking duck with handmade crepes.

Near the kitchen is a familiar feature from Chinese restaurants, a tank for live seafood. Heritage will be serving up crab and lobster in a variety of preparations, with plans to do things like steamed lobster with a kombu butter sauce.

While Heritage’s Pender customers know the restaurant’s beer and wine program, the Main Street restaurant is dialling up the bar offerings thanks to the talents of Bar Manager Derek Granton. The drinks program builds on classic cocktails with a twist, like an Old Fashioned made with honey and five spice. The idea is to focus on technique and simple ingredients with excellent execution.

“We really want to do some cocktails where there’s nothing to really hide behind,” describes Zhang.

Celebrations, solo snacks: Many ways to experience the new Heritage

For Lam, the chance to work with Granton is a reunion, as the two were both at Bao Bei previously, some nights cooking and cocktail-shaking non-stop at a dizzying pace, the chef recalls. Now they are able to team up to offer Main Street a place to experience great cocktails – or zero-proof mocktails – with modern Chinese food and experience Heritage’s relaxed but celebratory atmosphere.

There’s a welcome flexibility to what Heritage is set to offer on Main, which means guests can experience the food, drink, and elegant space in multiple ways.

Zhang describes Heritage on Main as the ideal spot to stop in for a drink before a baseball game or ahead of dinner reservations elsewhere in the neighbourhood, or as a spot for date night or a group celebration.

To that end, while there is the one big table, the room and the menu are designed so that ordering multiple dishes to share works well for groups of two or four – smaller numbers than what most traditional Chinese banquet-style restaurants cater to.

“We want to share the culture and the way of dining, family-style, and it’s difficult at some classic Chinese places where you need six to 10 people. The dishes are huge,” explains Zhang. So at Heritage’s new location, the portions are smaller and the prices lower so that smaller groups can still dine family style.

Or, as Lam describes, a solo diner can pop in and have a seat at the bar for a cocktail and a snack. “I like that!” shares Lam. “Sometimes I like to just be alone and have my own dumplings.”

Dumplings will certainly be on the menu come dinner time, as Heritage will launch with evening service from 5 to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and from 5 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday to start. The plan is to extend service to seven days a week with later weekend hours and daily lunch service within the first two months of operation.

—by Lindsay William-Ross

Sometimes—well, most of the time, really—all we crave is the clean, icy-cold flavour of a Martini, the botanical bite of the gin and delicate floral essence of the vermouth. And it seems we’re not alone. Although the Martini has been around for at least a century and likely longer, it has never been trendier than it is right now. (Unless you include the syrupy “tinis” of the 1990s, which we don’t.)