A great spot to get together with pals
Mia Stainsby
Sun
The Diamond in Maple Tree Square is a conceit of opposites with the food reflecting Vancouver circa 2009 and the room looking like Vancouver circa 1920.
THE DIAMOND
6 Powell St. No phone. Contact at [email protected]; http://www.di6mond.com. Open Wednesday to Sunday from 5 p.m. to midnight.
Overall: ***1/2
Food: ***1/2
Ambience: ***1/2
Service: ***1/2
Price: $/$$
Mark Brand isn’t just a mover/shaker in the cocktail sense. He’s staked a sizable claim in Gastown: part owner of Boneta, a cool eat/drink nexus in the oldest building in Gastown; he runs Sharks + Hammers, a “homegrown” streetwear store and most recently, he and partners Josh Pape and Sophie Taverner — of a trendsetting cocktail crowd — opened The Diamond, in the second-oldest building in Gastown.
It’s on the second floor, overlooking Maple Tree Square and its stew of social classes. Look here, an agitated woman, jaywalking, eating pasta from a foil container; and there, a panhandler walking with his sign that contains an obscenity, followed by the clack-clack-clack of young fashionistas in pretty shoes and fun dresses.
At the mention of old buildings in Gastown, I always ask about ghosts because inevitably, there’s a story. “We had a massive native cleansing,” says Brand. “Josh is half Salish and I have some native blood from back East so we had this spiritual cleansing of the place with Salish drummers and a shaman who found a really strong presence of angry spirits still in the building. They’ve now moved on.” Way back when, during Prohibition, “diamond” was a code word for rye. In another blast from the past, the building’s owner is an interesting guy who “ran with the Rat Pack crew, ran a speakeasy and played backgammon with Bob Hope and John Wayne,” according to Brand.
Brand has got a fourth and fifth project already taking shape. A bartending school — a great idea considering his modern take on drink. The fifth project? Maybe a spinoff Diamond?
The Diamond is a conceit of opposites. The cocktails are clean, fresh, imaginative and delicious and the food reflects Vancouver circa 2009, whereas the room is Vancouver circa 1920s. In fact, it has the feel of a saloon. They try to help the poor in the neighbourhood and hire them to clean windows, sweep the street, and “keep watch.” “They’re all down on their luck,” says Brand. “All I ask of them is loyalty and honesty.”
The Diamond has a food-primary licence but to me, it’s a place to go to talk, enjoy a cocktail or two, share some dishes and savour life with your pals. I’m not saying the kitchen doesn’t deliver. The food is light, tasty and mostly under $10.
I loved the simple Peking duck and chicken (Polderside) sub with a Vietnamese bun; pork gyoza (with Sloping Hills pork) is a steal for $5. There seem to be a disproportionate number of Asian noodle dishes (three out of 10) on the menu. (Brand says the original plan was to run a noodle house and to call it Diamond Jack’s Noodle House And Cocktail Party.) The lemongrass glass noodles with market vegetables is nice and light (I ordered the $3 add-on of fish but didn’t see any); duck and soba noodles in Peking duck broth with vegetables is heartier.
There was one dessert, a coconut tapioca pudding with mangos which I couldn’t help but notice looked like a cocktail with layers of pudding, mango and lemon foam.
A couple of the to-die-for cocktails I spoke of? Bicicletta (Campari, Italian vermouth, Gewurztraminer) which goes nicely with some of the Asian flavours and the Isadora (sparkling wine, cantaloup, ginger, basil) is a real floozie and isn’t particular about who she mates with.
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