Is this the best concentration of restaurants in the city?

You might deduce from the title that I’m referring to Main Street, or somewhere downtown, swathes of streets imbued with twinkling Michelin-starred restaurants. 

Not so. I humbly submit to all you readers that it’s a little block on Powell St. between Victoria and Sudbury, tucked away in East Vancouver. There may be no higher concentration of high-quality restaurants in such a small area in the city.

Sandwiched together like a tight sushi roll, the quality of food has always been there. Aleph has served high-quality vegetarian Middle Eastern dishes, Andrea Gail with its snacks and congenial atmosphere, have always been local favourites. And who could forget Straight and Marrow before it shut down?

But it’s the new generation of restaurants that piqued my curiosity and are putting the area back on the food map.

I’ll have more to say about Nero Tondo at 1879 Powell at a later date, but the chef and co-owners Devon Latte and Lucas Johnson have my attention. Hyper-focused on local BC food and drinks, veggie-forward—though you can still get flaky turbot and tangy lamb tartare—the walls are framed with glass jars and plastic containers of fermenting food and pickled preserves that may or may not make it onto your plate. It’s intimate, both in the space and the friendly atmosphere.

Our freelance writer, Sara, recently sang the praises of new entrant Niwa at 1875 Powell. Like Nero Tondo, it’s all about seasonal, local food but with the addition of Japanese influences (though don’t call it a Japanese restaurant). Dishes change constantly, and it's brand seems to be an undefinable quality that enables the team to explore their interests.

Angela Pastificio at 1869 Powell joins an already crowded landscape of Italian restaurants focused on pasta. Chef Calvin Vogstad has the chops, having worked six years under the chef at La Quercia at 3689 W 4th Ave. Like its name implies, this is first and foremost a homemade pasta restaurant. I’ve only heard good things so far.

Is there a consistency to each place? Size seems to be a defining feature. Pastificio has 20 seats, and as Vogstad notes in an interview with Scout, “Once a restaurant reaches a certain size, handmade pasta has to come off the menu.” 

Nero Tondo’s space is similarly small, with only 18 seats, but the intimacy is a feature rather than a bug. The small but comfortable-ness of the restaurant, staff and customers imbue a lingering feeling of excitement and energy, that if any bigger, would completely change the vibe.

All three also share an affordable tasking menu. Angela’s offers an $89 menu with antipasta, five pastas and dessert. Niwa’s omakase is $85 and has five dishes, while Nero Tondo’s was $79 for more dishes than I could count. We are in an omakase bull market, and at least in Vancouver, the inevitable backlash is not yet here. 

What seems to set the new generation of restaurants apart over at Powell is a combination of embracing the limitations of space without letting it define or hold back the food. Less space places constraints, shaping each restaurant’s aesthetics and meals. Nero Tondo, Angela Pastificio, and Niwa may be small, but the limitations of their venues are doing nothing to stop each chef’s creativity.