Black and Blue brings a unique upscale dining experience to Vancouver, with more eye-catching details than just the food on the plate.
Opened in late October 2011, the impressive 12,000-square-foot specialty steakhouse is the seventh and largest to date for the Glowbal Group. It is also its third restaurant to be located on Alberni Street.
With its soaring 38-foot ceiling, custom lighting and dramatic meat locker, the multi-million dollar, two-level restaurant is an evocative and contemporary reinterpretation of a classic steakhouse. Its opulent interior is a mix of warm woods, gold accents, velvet and leather to create a refined sophistication.
“It’s glamorous but restrained at the same time,” says Box Interior Design principal Jay Brooks about Black and Blue, the fourth new dining establishment his firm has created for Glowbal. “You’re selling steak so it needs to be sensual and evocative.”
The expansive 240-seat restaurant features a number of striking features that have been carefully orchestrated by the award-winning firm Box Interior Design, led by Brooks and Cynthia Penner.
The main challenge for the project was figuring out how to deal with the high two volume space and to create a level of intimacy that never existed before, says Brooks.
The existing space saw the demise of two restaurants before proprietor Emad Yacoub decided to step in and create a steakhouse. Brooks attributes that failure in part to a physical space that was not ideal. So, the first change was to extend the original mezzanine to make a complete second floor that overlooks the large rectangular bar.
“By having the bar right in the centre, it creates that high energy and buzz,” he continues. “Glowbal restaurants are all about ‘see and be seen’.”
Without a doubt, the illuminated meat locker lined with a Himalayan rock salt wall – a first for Vancouver – is the most distinctive and unusual feature.
Having seen the use of the salt blocks for spa treatments, the team decided to use it as a backdrop for the aged and cured meats. The use of the marble-like salt blocks provides two benefits – it visually softens the display of meats (with a pink and orange glow) and helps the dry aging process.
“By having it illuminated, the pink blocks become orangey, almost onyx, and varied in its colour tone so that the meat is not so glaringly obvious … some are even in shadow,” explains Brooks. “It’s a strong glowing focal point of interest that can be seen from the street.”
Located between the bar and kitchen, the 12-foot by 12-foot glass encased locker showcases all the available rare cuts of beef, aged for 28 to 48 days.
Another highlight is the lighting throughout the space. The show stopper is a custom Tom Dixon light installation that floats like a cloud of gold above the bar with its stunning cluster of 86 etch pendants.
More intimate lighting is provided through the use of wall sconces and table lamps. Upstairs, four massive 12-foot long custom crystal chandeliers sparkle against the floor-to-ceiling windows.
“When you have all these different levels of lighting, it becomes more glamorous,” says Brooks. “It shows people in their best light and also makes it more theatrical.”
While the main floor injects the space with a high energy vibe reflected in the harder surface choices such as the black and ivory granite floor, upstairs is purposely more plush and intimate, with carpeting and dining booths separated with velvet drapes.
The restaurant offers a wide variety of seating styles from olive green leather banquettes and modern high wing-back chairs to cozy sofas.
There are also two private dining rooms upstairs, which feature smoked tobacco wall panelling, high coffered ceilings and granite-clad fireplaces.
Cheryl Mah is managing editor of Design Quarterly magazine.
