The Bon Vivant Blog

For ages now we’ve been going on about how great the macarons are at Pierre Hermé while we haven’t been giving the other challenger, Ladurée even a chance. This is like seeing Joe Frazier go at a heavy bag and saying that he’s the best boxer in the world. It’s like seeing a Picasso and [...]

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Amazing. Not only does he produce the best pastries that I have had in North America – and better than many I have had in France, but he has replicated his business in North Vancouver and opened a Kitsilano branch. He will be busy. Saturday morning – about 11:30 (late start) – we pick up [...]

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Wednesday – Remembrance Day – mid-week brunch with M. Medina has been open for a while, and is owned by the same folks that own Chambar – and located right next door to the same. I’ve heard legendary stories about Medina’s brunch and waffles, so even though we knew we’d have to wait, we thought [...]

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This was probably my favourite store in Italy. It’s inside an old church that has had its inside torn out and about 4 floors of books and restaurants installed. It’s a huge bookstore, with at least 3 restaurants – one for sandwiches, one for pasta, and one that is a wine bar (there may be [...]

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There really only are two places in Vancouver for truly great coffee: 49th Parallel Roasters and Wicked Cafe. The people here really love coffee. They import Intelligentsia coffee (often referred to as the best coffee in the U.S.) from Chicago and they’ll either pull you one of the best ristrettos in the city, or sell [...]

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Gene – the local coffee shop on Main Street is located in the quirky thin corner building at the corner of Main and Kingsway. An almost all-white space – named apparently for their carpenter? – it definitely appeals to the hipster Main Street crowd. There aren’t too many coffee shops these days that you can [...]

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We’d all love for our cities to have a Pierre Hermé or a Thomas Haas. Well, if you look hard enough, pretty much every city has someone (probably from Europe) who has opened a bakery, and is putting their passion into pastry. Didier Julien and his family and team at Julien’s are doing just that [...]

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