FEAST | Rabbit Food x Do Chay Saigon Vegetarian x Kingsway

banana leaf-wrapped glass dumplings (steamed rice flour dumplings stuffed with mushrooms)

Kingsway—(May 25, 2019) The brand new, plant-based Do Chay Saigon Vegetarian Restaurant opened recently in Kensington–Cedar Cottage. From the well-known Đỗ family—most notably behind House Special in Yaletown among other local eateries they've opened (Green Lemongrass and Broken Rice) over the years—the restaurant debuted to high expectations for its anticipated vegan and vegetarian Vietnamese fare.

WANDER | Alberto Giacometti x 'A Line Through Time' x VAG

Downtown—(June 15, 2019) The Vancouver Art Gallery opened its headline summer exhibition, A Line Through Time, focused on the works of eccentric but renowned Swiss-born sculptor Alberto Giacometti (1901-66). Occupying the gallery's first-floor space, the unique display showcases Giacometti's many surreal pieces alongside various ancient sculptures that served his imagination as inspiration as well as complementary works (over 130 in total) by other famed contemporary artists with whom he was in dialogue.

SCREEN | Just Friends – 'Plus One' Has All the Feels

Plus One is a very charming and real feeling indie comedy about two longtime friends becoming more than just friends as they play each other's guest and wingman at various summer weddings. Actors Maya Erskine and Jack Quaid make for a very compelling pair, Alice and Ben, who struggle with their own relationship issues while bonding over mutual experiences.

WEEKENDER | Vancouver Craft Beer Week 2019

Hastings–Sunrise—(May 30 and June 8, 2019) The tenth annual Vancouver Craft Beer Week took place last week with its many ale related activities including their always fun kickoff opening party, located this year at Beaumont Studios, as well as the now massive, flagship two-day closing weekend festival on the PNE Fairgrounds—where it's been a fixture the last few years.

CINEMA | Thompson and Kaling Shake Up 'Late Night'

"I'm so happy I feel sick."

Writer/producer Mindy Kaling's latest workplace comedy, Late Night, tries to juggle a lot of seemingly high concepts about diversity/inclusivity, female empowerment, toxic work environments, and the rarely seen politics of making comedy. The always winning Emma Thompson stars as an iconic talk show comedian, Katherine Newbury, who's forced to hire a woman of colour, Kaling's Molly, to help combat the complacency of her declining work.

CINEMA | A Bad Romance – Joanna Hogg Keeps 'The Souvenir'

British auteur Joanna Hogg reaches into her past for an absorbing drama about a posh, ambitious young film student who falls into an intensely emotional relationship with a troubled older man. Set sumptuously in early '80s London, The Souvenir is such an artfully piercing yet captivating story of doomed romance.

CINEMA | 'Dark Phoenix' Fades Out 'X-Men' History

"You will posess the very power of a god."

The simply titled Dark Phoenix, the latest and likely final entry into the durable yet seemingly out of time X-Men film franchise, is a somewhat lean, mildly straightforward dramatic adaptation of the famed cosmic comic book storyline. Written and directed by now longtime producer Simon Kinberg in his directorial debut, who also notoriously co-wrote the third X-entry, The Last Stand, that very poorly sort of half-adapted the same story run, he executes a more cerebrally theatrical film with his younger X-cast.

GATHER | Redesigned x Livingspace Interiors x Kitsilano

Kitsilano—(May 23, 2019) Luxury furniture showroom Livingspace Interiors celebrated its 30th anniversary in business by revealing an impressive $2-million redesign and expansion referred to as "The Next Chapter". Housed in a 1930s era printing factory in Vancouver's Armoury District, the high-end European design store notably added a fifth-floor—previously occupied by Bocci headquarters—to its space that now showcases an unexpected rooftop garden courtyard (see below).

SCREEN | 93 'Til – You'll 'Always Be My Maybe' on Netflix

"Tastes like a cloud!"

There's a specificity to Always Be My Maybe, written and produced by Asian-American comedians and longtime real-life friends Ali Wong and Randall Park, that makes the romantic comedy so refreshingly charming. Clearly influenced by the pair's own experiences, its Asian quality isn't really essential to its humour but enhanced by it thanks to the duo's natural chemistry.