Covid Art Café set to rebrand as Pizza Bagel Café

A Vancouver café that gained a reputation for a very odd, somewhat controversial theme has decided to change things up.

Covid Art Café opened at 931 Commercial Drive in 2021, with mixed reactions from the community.

At the time of its opening, Dished was told that the cafe, despite its name being quite “jarring” to some people, was meant to be a welcoming place where members of the community would be able to come together and have an ongoing conversation about the pandemic and how it has affected them.

It also angled itself as an art café, highlighting local and NFT (non-fungible token) artists.

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Now nearly two years on, and as the pandemic has just become a part of daily life, the Covid Art Café has decided to rebrand itself and introduce an entirely new menu.

Soon to be called Pizza Bagel Café – a nod to the nostalgia-inducing food that became popular in the ’90s and a major pivot from its original concept – the spot tells us that they felt it was “time to change.”

In an email to Dished, owners explain that “during the [beginning of the] Covid crisis we were a location for artists to display and talk and [heal through] Covid-related art.”

Now that the height of the pandemic has subsided, the cafe feels, the name didn’t make sense anymore.

In addition to the name change, some minor “cosmetic changes and a much different menu” will be offered.

In addition to its range of pizza bagels (including a Hippy Pizza Bagel and a Ghosted Kimchi Pizza Bagel), the café will also offer other burger and pizza-inspired eats, best enjoyed by the exceptionally hungry.

The menu, which is already able to view through DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Skip the Dishes, features other truly unhinged handhelds, including a Pizza Croissant Burger and a Pizza Bourbon Burger.

“We are tweaking the online menu before doing the full in-cafe menu change,” owners tell us.

We’re told the cafe will also be offering brunch and breakfast items, as well as donuts and smoothies.

“We plan on doing a limited release of a new food item every Saturday to help us nail down our new menu,” they tell us. “Our new menu is putting the fun back into food.”

Pizza Bagel Café

Address: 931 Commercial Drive, Vancouver