What Our Editors Are Doing This Weekend: November 23-25

Because we occasionally leave the office.

Pino Posterero x Heinz Beck at Cioppino’s

It’s awesome that the city gets so many visiting chef dinners these days, but within that broad statement there are a few provisos that I think are warranted, namely that not all visiting chefs are equal. A good rule of thumb is that if they have “Food Network Chef….” before, exercise caution as to what their actual restaurant cooking chops may be before dropping the big coin. On the completely other end of the spectrum are the words “Three Michelin Star Chef,” as in  Three Michelin Star Chef Heinz Beck of Rome’s La Pergola will by cooking with Chef Pino at Cioppino‘s tonight. And at $300 (including wine pairings), it qualifies as big coin but it’s also simultaneously something of a smoking deal. Bare with me: the tasting at La Pergola is $390 CDN without wine. Throw a few glasses of Barbaresco in there and pretty soon you’re in eyesight of $500 so, while this is a treat to be sure it also makes financial sense if you’re in the mood to dip into the rarified territory of Three Michelin Star cuisine. So being prudent, that’s what I’m doing tonight. I’m pretty sure tickets are long sold out but you could always call and see if there’s a cancellation.—Neal McLennan, food editor

Winning Bellingham

So I have a love affair with our closest city over the border, almost entirely because my sister once lived there while she worked at Western Washington University, and we’d spend weekends visiting local favourites like Boundary Bay Brewery (yam enchiladas, killer) and the Old Town Cafe (I live for their biscuits on a gluten cheat day). It’s the kind of place where most of the locals look like they’ve just hiked some gorgeous trail and aren’t to worried about whether they have hat head or not, and the community co-op stocks an impressive selection of GF treats for those days when I am not ignoring dietary woes. And though it’s been over 15 years since she lived there, my vegan sister still pines for the city that understood that her dairy allergy meant you couldn’t put cheese on her burger at Boundary Bay. (She’d moved there from Illinois. Her standards were somewhat skewed.) So this weekend I’m breaking my US travel ban (ugh, Trump) to go buy her the adorable Bellingham-themed Monopoly game that they’ve released just in time for Christmas. Surely this is a kinder, crunchy-granola version of the game, yes?—Anicka Quin, editorial director

Brunch at Hunnybee Bruncheonette

Hot take: I am not a fan of brunch. Which is weird for someone who decided long ago that their last meal on Earth—in the event that I’m ever sentenced to death by electric chair or something—would be breakfast. But, really, you can only reinvent eggs Benedict and hash-browns so many times. And you can only spend upwards of $15 on said eggs Benedict and hash-browns so many times before you realize that you can make a poached egg at home for a fraction of that price. But images of the bright and cheery plates from Hunnybee Bruncheonette—a new-ish joint on the edge of Strathcona by the same folks behind Gastown’s The Birds and the Beets—have been permeating my ’gram for quite some time now, and they’ve intrigued me enough to give brunch another go. I’ll be tucking into the ricotta pancake—a fluffy meal-sized morsel topped with what appears to be seasonal fruit, jam and some sort of crumble—and toasting (and ’gramming) with a hibiscus lemonade in hand. Don’t @ me.—Lucy Lau, style editor

Julien Baker and Phoebe Bridgers with Lucy Dacus at the Commodore

What happens when three female songwriters born in the mid-90s from Memphis, Pasadena and Richmond, Virginia get together? Well, they create supergroup Boygenius. Yes, at first, I told my girlfriend I’d be completely fine if she took a friend with her to the trio’s Commodore show. But after she slowly and carefully inundated me with helpings from the band’s self-titled EP like a test rodent being drugged, I changed my tune. Boygenius is buoyed by catchy rhythms, impeccable guitar and soaring harmonies that make it hard not to tap your foot and sing along to. The three reportedly recorded the six-song album in just four days and perform with no opener. Instead, each of them performs individually before they bring down the house as a group. Sometimes—just sometimes—I’m thankful that my girlfriend’s Spotify account is linked to our Apple Home. Hurry, there are still some tickets available for tonight’s show.—Nathan Caddell, associate editor