MILESENDCocktail

VANCOUVER’S BLUE WATER CAFE MAKES MAGIC WITH SEAFOOD AND DRINKS

Everyone asks Evelyn Chick how old she is, so let’s get that part out of the way. She got the job as bar manager at Vancouver’s Blue Water Cafe last December, the day before her 25th birthday. “I’ve always been a driven person,” she says. Her age seems especially young when you consider she plays a senior role at the bustling, award-winning restaurant that styles itself as “Vancouver’s definitive destination for seafood.”

That bold proposition lures in everyone from local foodies and hungry tourists to a boisterous cocktail crowd and hordes of businesspeople — the last group is especially plentiful during the holiday season, when celebratory dinners jam the three private dining rooms to the max. “It’s a fast-paced fine-dining environment,” Chick says of her workplace, but a Vancouver-appropriate low-key vibe is key. “We try to keep it at a level of excellence, I would say, [but] it’s not stuffy, even if it’s white tablecloths.”

Seafood is a well-known strength of Vancouver’s dining scene, but some visitors drawn in by that bait may be unaware of the city’s similar confidence in the arena of mixology. Chick and her crew have the daunting task of showing off Vancouver’s cred as a cocktail town. The menu starts with lower-alcohol aperitifs and lighter, contemporary creations, but works up to solid stuff built on brown liquor, such as a twist on the formidable boulevardier cocktail (see sidebar). Already spoiled for choice, customers are also handed a wine list with more than 1,000 labels. Whatever challenges might arise from delivering so much selection, Chick’s prime directive is to keep the mood chatty, light and lively. “It’s strange to see bartenders bartend when they’re not talking at the same time.”

cognoscenti know the boulevardier as a boisterous wallop of a beverage — it’s a negroni, but with bourbon instead of gin. Aswap-around of ingredients and twomonthsof rest in a repurposed whisky barrel turns the Blue Water Cafe’s variation into a relatively smoother sail. The key is amaro, an Italian bittersweet digestivo that acts as cementbetween the bourbon and the Cinzano orange vermouth. Method: Decant barrel-rested cocktail into a mixing glass with ice. Stir and dilute, strain into a chilled cocktail coupe and garnish with one long orange zest.