For the 15th straight year, The Golden Plate 2012 Readers’ Choice Awards  was conducted by Georgia Straight.

Georgia Straight collected responses from readers online and chose several restaurants in Yaletown, among many Vancouver restaurants.

Cactus Club and Earls racked up multiple awards in categories like Best Restaurant Atmosphere and Best Restaurant with hot servers.  We are also happy to be home to the Best Independent Coffee Shop, Cafe Artigiano.

Below is a list of the winners located in Yaletown.

To see the full list of winners, please visit Georgia Straight magazine’s website.

Best Mid-Price Restaurant

1^st Earls Restaurant

2^nd Cactus Club Cafe

3^rd Milestones Grill + Bar

Best Restaurant Atmosphere

1^st Cactus Club Cafe

Best Restaurant Service

2^nd Cactus Club Cafe

Best Restaurant for a Working Lunch

4^th Cactus Club Cafe

Best Chain Restaurant

1^st Cactus Club Cafe

2^nd Earls Restaurant

Best Pre-Theatre Restaurant

1^st Earls Restaurant

Best Restaurant for People-Watching

3^rd Cactus Club Cafe

Best Restaurant for Hot Male Servers

1^st Rodney’s Oyster House

2^nd Cactus Club Cafe

3^rd Earls Restaurant

Best Restaurant for Hot Female Servers

1^st Cactus Club Cafe

2^nd Earls Restaurant

Best Restaurant In Which to Hang Out On a Rainy Day

2^nd Cactus Club Cafe

Best Restaurant For a First Date With Somebody You Met Online

1^st Cactus Club Cafe

3^rd Earls Restaurant

Best Restaurant to Flirt In

1^st Earls Restaurant

3^rd Cactus Club Cafe

Best New Casual Restaurant

3^rd The Flying Pig

Best Italian

1^st Cioppino’s and Cioppino’s Enoteca

Best Japanese

4^th Hapa Izakaya

Best Mediterranean

1^st Cioppino’s and Cioppino’s Enoteca

3^rd Provence

Best Brunch

1^st Milestones Grill + Bar

Best Appetizers

2^nd Cactus Club Cafe

3^rd Milestones Grill + Bar

Best Pub Food

2^nd Yaletown Brewing Company

Best Wings

2^nd Cactus Club Cafe

3^rd Earls Restaurant

Best Seafood

1^st Blue Water Café + Raw Bar

Best Fish/Shellfish

2^nd Blue Water Café + Raw Bar

Best Steak

1^st Keg Steakhouse & Bar

Best Chicken

3^rd Cactus Club Cafe

Best Izakaya

1^st Hapa Izakaya

Best Salads

4^th Cactus Club Cafe

Best Restaurant Wine List (Imported)

3^rd Blue Water Café + Raw Bar

4^th Cioppino’s and Cioppino’s Enoteca

Best Bar Lounge

3^rd Opus Bar

Best Restaurant for Drink Specials

1^st Earls Restaurant

2^nd Cactus Club Cafe

Best Brewpub Restaurant

1^st Yaletown Brewing Company

Best Independent Coffee Shop

1^st Caffè Artigiano

Best Restaurant Twitter feed

1^st Glowbal_Group

4^th Cactus Club Cafe

The 23rd Annual Restaurant Awards was just held by Vancouver Magazine.

Esteemed judges in the restaurant industry chose among the many Vancouver restaurants and picked the best ones in the different categories.

The following is a list of the winners located in Yaletown:

Best Upscale Restaurant:  Silver – Blue Water Cafe + Raw Bar

Best Casual Chain: Gold – Cactus Club, Silver – Hapa Izakaya

Best Seafood: Blue Water Cafe + Raw Bar

Best Upscale Italian: Cioppino’s Mediterranean Grill and Enoteca

Best Steakhouse/Chops: Bronze – Hamilton Street Grill

To see the full list visit the Vancouver Magazine website.

Congratulations to all the winners!

The BMO Vancouver Marathon will be coming through Yaletown!

The BMO Vancouver Marathon is organized by the Vancouver International Marathon Society, and had created their first Vancouver marathon in 1987.

This year, the race is taking new courses through Vancouver! The 2 races showcase Vancouver’s charming neighbourhoods, world class parks, and stunning Seawall.

On Sunday, May 6th, watch out for the 10,000 half-marathon participants dashing through Yaletown in the early morning (around 7:15 – 9:15am). An additional 5,000 runners will be completing the full marathon, on the outskirts of Yaletown and around Stanley Park.

Come cheer on the runners! There are cheer stations found online here.

Working in Yaletown? Please check these details on the road closures/partial closures:

The time of impact on Yaletown is 7am-9am

• Robson, Hamilton/ Mainland, Helmken, Davie St Closed from 7:15–9:15am
• Pacific Blvd (Davie St to Howe St), 2 westbound lanes closed 7:15am-9:30am

Have you wondered why there’s a huge red crane at the Yaletown Roundhouse Community Centre?

The Roundhouse Turntable Plaza, on Drake St & Pacific Blvd, was originally constructed to turn trains around as they finished their routes through Vancouver in Yaletown. Now this historic public plaza is being upgraded to create a plaza suitable for sitting, shelter from rain, and create a stronger sense of place.

This  upgraded plaza will also host exciting special events and performances!

Check it out! The new Yaletown Roundhouse Turntable plaza opens May 20, 2012
More information and FAQ are available for download here.

Some of the features include:

• Crane reminiscent of early railway cranes to support a canopy
• Mist/steam feature to recall the “Age of Steam”
• Re-purposed brick structure next to the Engine 374 pavilion

WE Best of the City‘s Yaletown Winners

Thanks to Vancouver’s WE magazine, we’ve found many readers’ choice awards in Yaletown. The following is a list of winners within Yaletown, to see the full list of winners in Vancouver, please check WEVancouver.com

Restaurant (Chain)

1. Cactus Club Cafe
2. Earl’s
3. Keg

One-of-a-kind Restaurant – 3rd Cento Notti

Chef (Casual) – 3rd Rob Feenie (Cactus Club Cafe)

West Coast Cuisine – 3rd Blue Water Cafe

Seafood – 1st Blue Water Cafe

Italian – 2nd Cioppinos

Steakhouse – 1st The Keg

Coffee Shop (Chain) – 1st Starbucks, 2nd JJ Bean

Bar (Formal) 3rd Opus Hotel

Unique Gifts – 1st Fine Finds

Skin-care Facility – 2nd Masc, 3rd Skoah

Manicure/Pedicure – 1st Pure Nail Bar

Men’s Apparel (Casual) – 3rd Brooklyn

Hotel (Independent) – 2nd Opus

Financial Institution – 2nd TD Bank, 3rd RBC

Yoga Studio – 1st YYoga, 2nd Exhale Studio

Pilates Studio – 1st Yyoga, 2nd Exhale Studio

Dental Clinic – 2nd Aarm Dental Group and Yaletown Dentistry

Personal Computers – 2nd Mac Station

Thank you for all the excellent entries in the 2012 Illuminate Yaletown Photo contest group! With hundreds of entries, it was hard to choose just one winner.

This year’s photo contest winner is Ann Hung for her photo “MINI @ 2012 Illuminate Yaletown”

Photo Credit: Ann Hung

Runners up:

Photo Credit: TOTORORO.RORO

Photo Credit: Ann Hung

Check out the rest of the entries online at: http://www.flickr.com/groups/1854272@N24/

February 10 and 11, 2012 – Illuminate Yaletown returns!

Additionally, the third Illuminate Yaletown Photo Contest is back on Flickr.

Bring out your cameras and upload your photos to our Flickr Group here. Follow the rules on the Flickr Group to be eligible for a prize. This year the prize will be a single Grand prize that will be judged based on the quality of the photo and the interactions with the photo.

Judging will happen on the following Monday, February 20, 2012. We’ll announce what the grand prize is shortly!

Check out the fabulous submissions from the winners of 2011′s photo contest:

 
Charm –  Rob.Masefield

Edgewater – Ande_Han

Mini - fsurjadi

Epic – Dannychan_ca

Viridian - rjmigz

Earls – box of lettuce

YBC – box of lettuce

24Hrs – FYEOFarrell

Bond – b4ushoot

Clubzone – Doug Batchelor

Thanks to Illuminate Yaletown’s partner, City and Slope, we have a pair of tickets to the Benny Benassi concert to give away!

The concert details:
Benny Benassi, Sander van Doorn, and Arty will perform Saturday, Feb 11, 2012 at 7pm at Vancouver Convention Center

To enter the contest, Tweet the following:

Win a pair of tix to Benny Benassi during @Cityandslope via @iyaletown http://ow.ly/8Ql4b RT to Enter!

Tweet

Contest ends February 7th, 2012. One winner will be drawn at random.

Good luck to everyone who enters!!

Illuminate Yaletown returns this February 10th and 11th 2012, as part of the City and Slope Winter festival.

Photo Credit: Richard Quan

This Vancouver event starts as soon as the sun sets on February 10th and 11th. Once dark, artists will light up their exhibits! Illuminate Yaletown is a free Vancouver event & winter festival, bringing contemporary light art installations throughout the streets of Yaletown. Come enjoy beautiful lights used in innovative ways, interact with exhibits, and capture Illuminations in photos.

Photo Credit: Kama Guezalova

2012 brings City and Slope to unite Vancouver’s easily accessible ski areas with Yaletown’s vibrant night life.

Illuminate Yaletown is a free public outdoor exhibition. Please dress for the weather.

Photo Credit: David Theduy Nguyen

Photo Credit: Bill Kwok

Take this opportunity to visit Yaletown and dine out at one of Vancouver’s top restaurants.

Christmas Day is quickly approaching, and many Yaletown businesses have given back to the community this year through registered charities and charitable activities!

We’d like to recognize some of the Yaletown businesses that have taken on recent charitable activities this Holiday season:

• MINI Yaletown : Toy Drive
• Fine Finds Boutique : Support a Family at BC Children’s Hospital
• New Oxford : Toy Drive for Salvation Army
• Taste of Yaletown Restaurants : Over $4000 to the Greater Vancouver Food Bank
• 6S Marketing : $20,000 for Movember
• Earl’s V Lounge : New Year’s Eve supporting BC Cancer Foundation