Western Living Magazine
The Home Tour: A 1,400-Square-Foot Townhouse With Scandi-Cool Style
Home Tour: Inside This Mountain-Modern Home
A Seven-Bedroom Pied-a-Terre Designed to Bring Family Together
Recipe: Green Papaya Salad from Chef Angus An
Recipe: Scallop Ceviche from Maenam’s Chef Angus An
3 Classy Australian White Wines to Toast Olivia Newton-John With
The Best Beginner Hikes In and Around Whistler
Getaway Guide: How to Spend One Perfect Day on Galiano Island
Where to Eat, Stay and Play in Canmore
‘West Coast North’ is a Love Letter to Western Canadian Architecture and Interiors
Design Obsession: This Roll-Up Drying Rack Is Maybe My Favourite Thing in the Kitchen
10 of the Hottest Homewares for Summer 2022
Announcing the 2022 Designers of the Year Finalists
You’re Invited to the Design Party of the Year!
DotY 2022: Our Judges for the Maker Category Can’t Wait to See What You’ve Got
The pair behind Dachi, Elephant and Hanai are always spotlighting the success of their collaborators (but they deserve some major credit, too).
The great ones make it look easy. Drop by Dachi on any given night and you’ll probably see Miki Ellis or Stephen Whiteside milling about, effortlessly attending to everyone’s needs—and, for a second, you’ll think I could do that in the same way that watching Steph Curry draining three-pointers at a pre-game practice makes basketball seem simple, too. Ditto at Elephant, where, notwithstanding the fact that chef Justin Lee is creating one of the most ambitious tasting menus in Vancouver for an insanely low tariff, there’s no sense of artiste tension pervading the easygoing space. And don’t even get us started on the brand-new Hanai, where Chef Tess Bevernage’s spirit of Aloha brings the fun factor to 11.
The sense of ease is amped up even further by the tendency of the self-deprecating duo to spotlight their collaborators as the reason for their restaurants’ successes… yet, despite that ample quick praise, at a certain juncture you realize that they are the common denominator. But behind all that self-erasure beat the hearts of two industry vets who’ve opened huge rooms and managed big budgets—always based on the same recipe of serious elbow grease (“I’ve gotten really good at electrical,” confides Ellis), even more serious passion, and an overwhelming faith in letting good people do great work.
At the beginning of the pandemic, I made these brownies every day. It was a ridiculous home recipe that was not scaled up for the volume, so I would make several batches daily, and they were so expensive and time-consuming it made no sense! But the daily routine of it was somewhat grounding amid the chaos of the times.
Spirited Away, with the pigs gorging on everything.
To visit Darren and Nana in Karuizawa, Nagano, Japan!
Love an opera cake!
