The Coach House Inn, built in 1964, stood proudly on the North side of the Second Narrows Bridge. Its signature Tudor style finish, dark wood panelling and chandelier lit interior were quintessential products of their era.
The boldly patterned carpeting and imposing central staircase, both discernible from archival photos, remind me of Kubrick’s painstakingly realized Overlook Hotel from The Shining. Were it still standing, I would fully expect the space to speak through the ghosts of three martini lunches, menus of chateaubriand and cherries jubilee prepared tableside, pillowcases stained by Brylcreem and steeped in Aqua Velva, or Polaroid photos of women donning oversized Jackie O sunglasses and elongated Holly Golightly cigarette filters.
The hotel no longer stands, however, having been shuttered in the 1990s and replaced by the rather more generic Holiday Inn.
It would be an act of sanitizing historical revisionism not to also mention that The Coach House pursued decidedly more prurient, adult enterprises throughout the ’80s, contributing to Vancouver’s reputation at that time for permissive, boundary-pushing showbars.
A new, independently-owned venue opened recently in the same spot occupied by the original inn. And, like its eponymous progenitor, it is a quintessential product of its time. In fact, I am hard pressed to think of another spot on the
North Shore that so thoroughly occupies the Vancouver independent casual dining zeitgeist like The Coach House Lounge. On paper (or on the website, more accurately), the venue’s finger-on-the-pulse approach set off alarm bells in my cynical mind. Craft beer, décor of reclaimed wood, tunes spun on vinyl, classic cocktails like White Russians and Whiskey Sours brought back to life in old school glassware: the whole enterprise sounded just a bit too on-the-nose for me, a carefully curated moment in hipsterdom like a frame from a Wes Anderson film.
Still, I have lamented recently in these pages the paucity of cocktail joints on the North Shore and so set out to check out The Coach House Lounge in the hopes that the place will help fill a conspicuous void. And you know what? By and large the Coach House concept works. It does not feel derivative or contrived in any way, but actually lives up to its promotional promise of an easygoing and unpretentious spot to grab a good drink and small bite in a comfortable space with a bit of character.
Yes, some of the furniture is rustic and there are planks of reclaimed wood that serve as mouldings around one side of the room. The walls are adorned with funky retro photos. Many of the light fixtures are ironically gaudy, there are nostalgic 1980s board games to play (who doesn’t love Connect Four, though?), and pretty much everything is marked by the earnest imperfection that heralds authenticity in today’s collective consumer psyche. And yet, for all its on-trend foibles, I still managed to lose myself in the fun of the place for a couple of drinks and a damn good little pizza.
I visited alone on a recent weeknight and the place was relatively quiet, despite the usual din of lager-fuelled conversation bursting from neighbouring Seymour’s Pub. The Coach House Lounge has an endearing, diminutive charm.
There are comfy armchairs, leather-bound books on shelves, side tables on which to perch your drinks and a fireplace, all crammed into a small, square-ish room. The speakers were pumping an eclectic mix of classic rock from Jimi Hendrix to Guns N’ Roses, with tangential forays into blues territory courtesy of B.B. King and cheesy hair metal via Motley Crue. The whole effect was one of disarming eccentricity rather than forced quirkiness; I felt like I might just as easily have been in the library of a wealthy, idiosyncratic uncle.
The menu is small with a clear and deliberate focus on shareable fare to nibble over drinks. There are a handful of pizzas, a charcuterie board (cured meats and cheeses with housemade bread), assorted nuts, a mezze plate (hummus and tzatziki with vegetables and pita), and chicken wings. The cocktail list runs long on classics, there is a nice selection of craft beer on tap to represent various styles, a short wine list, and a longer whiskey list. My hope is that over time the spirits list will deepen to include some barrel-aged rums, a few añejo tequilas and mezcals, and some limited release single malts and bourbons; I really feel that the room would lend itself, particularly in winter, to these slow-sipping treats.
For dinner I selected the Coach House Special Pizza, made with tomato sauce, capocollo, pepperoni, parmesan, mozzarella and olives, and an order of chicken wings with hot sauce and Parmesan cheese, and then sank into my high-backed wing chair with a seriously stiff, expertly-made Manhattan. The wings arrived thermonuclear hot and did the job, as far as wings go, but the pizza was exceptionally tasty. Its uber-thin crust with singed, bubbled edges was a delight and the toppings were amply applied. I would suggest one pizza is adequate for a moderate appetite, but I can imagine a couple of hungry skiers sharing two to three of these with a few pints in what I suspect will become a popular après spot in the coming months.
My meal of pizza and wings, accompanied by a Manhattan and a pint of IPA, was $52 before gratuity.
The Coach House Lounge is located at 700 Old Lillooet Rd. in North Vancouver. Coachhouselounge.ca. 604-985-3111.
