Soon-to-open Vancouver bar plans to go 'supernova' in 10 years
Rarely does a restaurant or bar plan for its demise, which is why we were surprised at how elated Max Curzon-Price was when speaking about the end of his latest concept, Bar Supernova, which he is a partner at alongside Andrew Kong and chef Sean Kouzelis.
“Restaurant trends are typically 10-year cycles, so the intention on day one is that we have a 10-year countdown clock on the wall somewhere in a restaurant that will press the button, and after 10 years, we either shut it down or blow it up or reimagine it or change the concepts,” he told Dished over the phone. “It’s a reminder that we ourselves have to die. Everything has to die.”
Morbid? Maybe a little bit, but it speaks to the ethos that the team are bringing to Supernova.
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Using end-of-life products
Supernova labels itself as a waste-conscious cocktail concept, using byproducts from other bars and restaurants that would otherwise be thrown out to inform its menu and make its drinks.
“Oyster shells from Boulevard is a really good example,” shared Curzon-Price. “When you shuck an oyster, the top half just goes straight into compost. But if you clean it and grind it and distill it into neutral grain spirit, you get a really cool oyster shell distillate, which actually pairs well with prawn heads, which we were getting from Anh and Chi. So instead of making a gin, we were making an ocean shell distillate as the starting point for our cocktails.”
Other restaurants that the team has borrowed byproducts from include DD Mau, Elisa, and a couple of coffee shops, where the team is using leftover coffee grinds to make coffee liqueur.
“A star is at its biggest in its death, and it’s a sort of moment of cosmic generosity that we’re all supposedly made of stardust anyway. But in order for that to take place, a star has to die, and its biggest form is actually its death. So we wanted to take these ‘dying stars ingredients’ and boil them up at the end of their lives and give them this whole second life in their death rather than letting them just whimper and go into a bin and go nowhere,” explained Curzon-Price.
He also added that due to working with so many different products coming in, the menu will always be rotating to accommodate them, with a total refresh of the menu every two months.
“No staples, all food, all drink has to go away,” he said. “Menu items can come back in the future, probably in like a 2.0 or a 3.0 version, but to force creativity within ourselves, we have to keep this pipeline moving of exploring what other people are discarding and what they’re throwing away and how we can keep working with that instead of getting stuck in a rut.”
But using the term “waste conscious” was a very deliberate decision from the team, who intentionally avoided verbiage around sustainability.
“A lot of bars and restaurants these days claim to be zero waste in some form or another, and that’s extremely rarely true,” said Curzon-Price.
“The first 95 per cent is so easy, but the last 5 per cent of getting to true waste, zero waste, is not impossible. Because where do you stop? If you order a new blender, can you ask the manufacturer not to send it in the plastic packaging that comes inside the box? Because that’s waste. What are you going to do with that? It’s that stuff that gets really finicky.”
Instead, at Supernova, it’s less about removing a bin from the space, but more about what they can stop from ever going into the bin in the first place.
“Bring us all the snacks”
But it’s not just the cocktail program to get excited about, as Curzon-Price shared that Supernova will be serving what he calls “sexy snacks.”
Currently, Supernova is operating a rooftop patio pop-up at The Keefer House Hotel, where it’s offering a selection of drinks and bites. Think marinated olives, stracciatella with peas and B.C. strawberries, and boquerones and peppers with white anchovies and fire-roasted capsicum.
But where the menu shines is when you ask the team to “Bring us all the snacks.”
“We just ask how hungry you are, and decision paralysis can not be part of the equation,” explained Curzon-Price. “We’re just going to send you stuff, and you tell us when you want to stop eating.”
While the offerings are still limited while it operates its rooftop pop-up, Curzon-Price shared that folks can expect around 10 different food items and maybe two dessert offerings on the menu. And yes, Kouzelis will also be refreshing the food menu entirely every two months.
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A space designed for socializing and exploration
Speaking of the physical space, the team plans to challenge the typical bar experience you’d find in Vancouver.
The 61-seat room will feature 39 bar seats, which will have guests on both sides of the bar, meaning you can sit alongside the bartender and across from your guests.
“We really want people to be curious about the space and to move around and go talk to friends. Part of the layout of the bar is designed to make people more social,” said Curzon-Price.
Curzon-Price is originally from the U.K., where he said the bar culture allows you to get up and move around. But 95 per cent of the bars here in Vancouver are more of a sit-down experience with staff coming to you.
“[It] just takes the fun out of it for me. A bar is an adult playground,” he said. “We want to encourage people to be curious and interact with the space.
This will also be achieved with numerous easter eggs placed throughout the space, further encouraging folks to explore. Curzon-Price didn’t want to give away any specifics, but he promised that there would be plenty of things to “poke and prod at” in the bar.
And when it comes to the aforementioned rooftop pop-up, Curzon-Price confirmed that while it is a pop-up at the moment, it is in the same building as the brick-and-mortar space, and the team will reintroduce the rooftop patio starting next year.
Curzon-Price couldn’t confirm an exact opening date for the ground-floor space, but said he hopes to officially launch it starting in September. Until then, you can visit the rooftop pop-up Friday to Sunday from 1 to 10 p.m.
Bar Supernova
Address: 125 Keefer St., Vancouver
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