charcuterie

LoLo North Vancouver
100 East 2nd Street,
North Vancouver, BC.
Ph: (778) 340-6655

It has been a long time since I visited the area around Lonsdale Quay in North Vancouver, and I had heard there were some excellent new restaurants in that area. 

I was meeting a friend from West Vancouver for a long over-due, catch-up-on-our-news supper, and we decided to try LoLo Wine bar and Restaurant. LoLo stands for Lower Lonsdale,  and when I checked  the location on the map I realized it was only a couple of blocks up from the Seabus terminal.

I think the last time I took the Seabus was probably over 30 years ago when I lived on the North Shore. The present catamaran passenger ferries were introduced around 1977 and at that time we took our kids on a ride for an adventure. 

This time I thought I would do the whole trip from Yaletown to the restaurant and back using public transit just to compare times with my usual system of driving across to theatre and dances on the North Shore.

The Wine Bar at The Cultch
1895 Venables Street, Vancouver
 

Tucked away on the corner of Venables Street and Victorian Drive, a block east of  buzzing Commercial Drive, the creaky old Vancouver East Cultural Theatre had a quaint charm for theatre lovers despite its uncomfortable seats and awkwardly located washrooms.  Originally an old abandoned church that was developed into a theatre space some thirty-seven years ago, the facility suffered from structural and technical limitations and uncomfortable working conditions for casts and crews and has now been extensively renovated.

I had seen several shows in the new and smaller VanCity Culture Lab which opened towards the end of 2008 but until now had not seen the refurbished main Historic Theatre. After picking up our tickets for Best Before we decided to await the start of the show in the Wine bar - what a pleasant surprise.  It is a delightful spot with comfortable bar stools placed around about 10 raised bar tables.