Best Casual Dining 2015

Best Casual Restaurant winners of Vancouver Magazine’s 26th Annual Restaurant Awards

• Gold: Ask for Luigi
• Silver: Farmer’s Apprentice
• Bronze: L’Abattoir
• Honourable Mentions: Bao Bei Chinese Brasserie, Chambar

 One judge declares that the food at Ask for Luigi has “a humble integrity that is worthy of the most expensive rooms in the city,” which goes some way toward explaining why the four-time victor (where, at the time of writing, almost no dish costs more than $20) is a Gold winner in this category. In fact, of everything at this serially feted trat—its rough-and-tumble neighbourhood, the spotless but austere space, servers who seem seconds away from ordering a drink for themselves—only the food seems out of place: it’s too damn good. Not that anyone is complaining.In its second year, Silver collector Farmer’s Apprentice (it recently jettisoned its “The”) continues to justify its “accolades and ridiculously long reservation list” with David Gunawan’s consistently imaginative use of local ingredients. L’Abattoir (Bronze) arguably now charges too much of a premium to be considered casual, but Lee Cooper’s knockout creations merit splashing out. And as always, you can come as you are—one of the nicest places to do so anywhere in Vancouver. Honourable Mentions: Bao Bei Chinese Brasserie, Chambar