Kosher in Vancouver

The information in this post is provided courtesy of the Kosher Vancouver Blog - check it out!

Nestled on the shore in British Columbia, Canada�s �Gateway to the Pacific,' the city of Vancouver is blessed with one of the most beautiful backdrops in the world. Surrounded by the Pacific Ocean and snow-capped mountains, Vancouver was recently voted the "Best City in the Americas" at Cond� Nast Traveler Magazine's annual Readers' Choice Awards, beating out Victoria and Quebec City. Vancouver enjoys a temperate climate with mild, wet winters and warm summers ensuring that the city is green throughout the year. Famous for its laid-back attitude, Vancouver also offers a wide range of outdoor activities from sea kayaking, whale watching, in-line skating, and mountain biking to snowboarding, skiing, and winter camping. Thanks to a growing Jewish community, the Kosher traveler shouldn't hesitate to visit this beautiful city. A variety of kosher foods are available including Chinese, pizza, deli and Bistro-style.

The big news in town is Sabra's new Chinese menu, making them the only kosher Chinese meat restaurant in the Pacific Northwest. Having recently hired a Chinese chef, Sabra's now offers such authentic dishes as kung pao chicken, honey beef, and egg rolls. Sabras also features Middle Eastern and Canadian-style cuisine.
3844 Oak Street. Tel: 604.733.4912; hours: Sun-Tue til 7pm, Wed-Thu til 8pm, Fri til 4pm

Omnitsky's is the place for good old-fashioned kosher deli. Featuring a wide range of deli sandwiches, hot dogs, soups and salads. The back section of the store is devoted to kosher groceries and fresh meats. Omnitsky's also carries kosher breads from Garden City Bakery.
5866 Cambie Street. Tel: 604.321.1818; closing is between 6pm and 8pm, Sun-Thu, depending on the season

Pini's Pizza Cafe features delicious cholov Yisroel pizzas and other dairy dishes. They're also a great spot for breakfast with omelettes, bagels and kosher coffees, cappuccinos and latt�s. Their latest addition is cholov Yisroel soft-serve ice cream, a big hit with the community. In the grocery section, Pini's features a wide variety of kosher snacks and candies from all over the world, and his freezer is stocked with Chai kosher meats and poultry, pizzas, vegetarian meals, fish and a wide selection of kosher cheeses.
729 West 16th Avenue. Tel: 604.879.7100; hours: Mon-Thu 8am-9pm, Fri 8am-2pm, Sat 1 hour after Shabbat ends, Sun 11am-9pm

Nava's Creative Cuisine, located inside the Jewish Community Centre, offers breakfast, lunch and dinner. Bistro dishes include quesadillas, burritos, pizza, wraps, soups and the best sandwiches in town with ingredients like roasted red peppers, marinated artichokes, spinach and goat cheese.
950 West 41st Avenue. 604.263.7507; hours: Mon-Thu 8am to 8pm, Fri 8am til 2 hours before the JCC closes for Shabbat, Sun 9:30am-6pm

Garden City Bakery makes breads (including several types of challah), pastries, cookies, pies, knishes and the best poppy seed ring in Canada. All products are pareve. Take out only.
#360-9100 Blundell Road, Richmond. 604.244.7888

Mt. Royal Bagel Factory arguably makes the best bagels in the region. They're available at the bakery and around town. They also make a fantastic granola cereal. (dairy, non Cholov Yisroel)
701 Queensbury Avenue, North Vancouver. 604.904.1116

Kosher Food Warehouse is worth a stop if you're staying for awhile and need groceries. KFW features a wide selection of grain fed poultry, beef, lamb and veal and an extensive line of cheese, salads and groceries and Israeli products.
612 Kingsway. 604.709.9889.

Dan-D Markets has two locations in Vancouver. Although not Jewish-owned, the stores feature a good range of hechshered products, which are indicated with "kosher" tags below each item. The Oak Street location also carries Omnitsky sausages, hot dogs, and kosher cheddar and Mozzarella cheese.
8307 Oak Street, 604.261.4050. 2696 West Broadway, 604.738.0326

BC Liquor Store's 39th and Cambie location carries a very limited number of kosher wines. If you're near another location, call first.
5555 Cambie Street. 604.660.9463

Kosher Food and Restaurant Mapper

Ari Engel the creator of PilotYid software for PDA's, has created a fantastic new website combining the data from the Shamash Restaurant Database with Google Maps. The Kosher Food and Restaurant Mapper allows you to search for kosher establishments and then plots them onto a Google map. Using Google Map's features you can customize and print maps of displaying all of the kosher establishments at your destination.