Inside Published on Main: What makes this Vancouver restaurant so good?
The list for Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants of 2022 just dropped, lending a new-found appreciation for all our city’s most renowned spots.
Topping the list this year is Vancouver’s Published on Main – the first time ever that a Vancouver restaurant has been voted in the number one spot.
The Riley Park-Little Mountain restaurant serves contemporary cuisine with an eye to all things local and sustainable, and has now become a bonafide dining destination.
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Led by executive chef Gus Stieffenhofer-Brandson, Published offers a varied menu that changes all the time depending on the seasons, what the team is currently interested in, and what they may have recently foraged.
It’s a very new-school, Pacific Northwest approach to dining, one that has garnered them some much-deserved attention nationwide – so much so that the restaurant’s website went down the day of the list’s announcement due to “high traffic issues.”
So what makes Published on Main so special?
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The food is refined and inventive
Published – a name that refers to the stories that food can tell and the ways in which a meal “might remind you of a notion from your past” – has a frequently-changing menu, but there’s always an element of play involved.
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Specials like schnitzel with burnt morel jaegersauce, green harissa cauliflower, and fried chicken with honey mustard dill sauce shine on the menu.
Even the dessert menu is somehow pared down while also feeling extravagant, featuring plates that celebrate their basic ingredients while also indulging in some pageantry. Think rhubarb with sorrel ice cream, woodruff cream, and tonka bean crumb or caramelized yogurt served with black currant sorbet and candied sunflower seeds.
Since it opened back in winter of 2019, Published has been impressing diners with its thoughtful approach to food and its top-notch bar program. Expect to find a range of drink offerings that are as inspired as the dishes.
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The drink list is one-of-a-kind
Cocktails include the Forbidden Fruit (botanist gin, grapefruit-coriander sherbet, melon, sparkling wine, szechuan-coriander rim) and the Published Martini No. 5 – a smokey take on the classic, combining gunpowder tea gin, lapsang souchong vermouth blend, and cedar smoke served in a glass apothecary bottle.
The restaurant also has a great wine list, beer and cider offerings, as well as non-alcoholic cocktails that are just as tasty and refined as their alcoholic counterparts.
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The vibe is cool but approachable
The atmosphere at Published combines an old-world, European flair – seen in details like brass railings, tiled flooring, and banquette seating – but with a decidedly new-world coolness.
Even though the menu is high-level and would easily be categorized as fine dining, Published doesn’t feel snooty or stuffy – it’s as much a local spot to grab an after-work cocktail as it is a special occasion restaurant, suitable for anniversaries and birthdays.
This is a unique combination, one that the folks behind Published have also brought to their newly opened natural wine and small plates concept spot Bar Susu.
Whether you’ve been to Published on Main before or have only heard of it for the first time this week, it’s high time you add it to your list of must-try restaurants in Vancouver – but maybe expect a bit of a wait time for reservations.
Published on Main
Address: 3593 Main Street, Vancouver
Phone: 604-423-4840
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