Award-winning chef heads cocktail bar in legendary Vancouver hotel

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Prophecy

Where: Rosewood Hotel Georgia, 801 West Georgia Street, Vancouver

When: 4 p.m. to late, daily

Info: 604-336-3383. prophecybar.com

When Katharine Hepburn movie-starred her way to the Hotel Georgia in 1950, she handed a manager her list of needs. One ask was to eat dinner privately in her room. That begat evening room service at the hotel.

Over its 97-year history, the hotel has seen glamsters like Marlene Dietrich — and her 40 suitcases — Errol Flynn, Sir Laurence Olivier, Gary Cooper, John Wayne, Frank Sinatra, the Rolling Stones and The King — Elvis, that is. And a British king and other royalty as well.

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It’s now called Rosewood Hotel Georgia and if you’re into glamour-lite, enter off Howe Street and descend to Prophecy, a basement cocktail bar. It’s a throwback to times when people dressed up to escape the everyday — which, in Vancouver fashion means lose the ball cap and Lululemons.

Before furnishing the space, Prophecy’s New York branding company asked, “What kind of a car would it be if it were a car?” Mike Rose, Justin Mensah-Coker and Teddy Wilkie, of At Hospitality restaurant group, brainstormed and decided on an Aston Martin DB5, James Bond’s wheels in the movie Goldfinger.

After a $4 million gut and rebuild, Prophecy is a sexy looker, slightly opulent but with a casual vibe. The room’s commanded by digital art images on 13 LCD screens, curated by the Chicago company, Apollo.

While there is a food menu, mostly for sharing or snacking, the big attraction is the 29 cocktails by drinks whisperer Jeff Savage, who magics ingredients into beautiful drinks. Savage has collected awards, including one for exceptional cocktails in Vancouver’s inaugural Michelin Guide.

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Bartenders like to tell stories through cocktails and some in some places, the menus are graphic storybooks. If you’re serious about cocktails, study up before you visit — the menu’s a lengthy read with story themes (The Living Tapestry, Love of Land and Sea, Home Fires and Wandering Spirits, The Legends Among Us, Short Stories, Free Spirits), and a colour-coded guide to the different styles of drink (spirituous, herbaceous, lush, refreshing). The cocktails are meant to conjure emotions and engage the imagination.

For those who just wanna drink, skip to the back of the menu for a summary index or don’t hesitate to ask a server — the service is polished and servers are knowledgeable. The drinks generally cost $20 to $29. “This is a place to have fun, with live music, DJ sets, lights down. The cocktails lend themselves to that,” Savage says. “There were stories in this historic hotel and stories within the walls. The driving idea is to continue telling stories, creating new ones.”

Some memories are from tangibles, like unique ingredients such as hoja santa, “a leaf common in Mexican cuisine and really robust, like anise and green vegetal” used in Snow Falling on Cedars, combining Douglas fir-infused gin, vodka, Japanese green tea, lime and egg white. In the unique and delicious Canadian Shield cocktail, he uses candy cap mushrooms, which mimics maple syrup.

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In some cases, the presentation sear into memory. The Northern Lights is served in a bell jar, illuminated by colour-changing lights. That drink has Labrador tea, harvested by Inuit in the boreal forest. The Kelpie is served in a glass, handblown to fit the gnarly surface of driftwood. “The drink is very oceanic,” he says. “The story’s about a shape-shifting Celtic water spirit.” And the Sirocco 26 is served in handmade ceramic cups made by a Calgary artist. As you sip the last drops, a demon stares back from the bottom glaze. “The North African wind is associated with ill omens. The flavours in the drink are smoky and bold.”

In his cocktail lab, Savage has a rotary evaporator, an expensive piece of equipment to do a subtle bit of work. For the Wabi Sabi Martini for example, he uses it to extract flavour from matcha. “Matcha doesn’t dissolve in alcohol, so I extract its flavour for a matcha-forward gin. It takes the better part of a day to make but it comes out clear with good flavour extraction.”

So yes, there’s lots of tangibles but for me, it’s the intangible — the strong memory of having one of Savage’s fabulous, beautifully balanced, silky smooth cocktails. Eyes are best closed for that.

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As for the food, it’s friendly, not ambitious, as there is no dedicated kitchen. Rose, the culinary director for the At Hospitality group, works with the Rosewood Hotel kitchen which prepares to food.

The food is simple and casual for sharing, and nicely prepared with ingredients locally sourced when possible. I snacked on wagyu beef dumplings with nam jim sauce ($21), garlic prawns with shishito peppers and crispy garlic ($26), funghi flatbread ($24) with assorted mushrooms, caramelized onions, goat cheese and garlic cream, and a kale Caesar salad with little gem lettuce, kale, Parmesan and anchovy dressing ($24). There was one unforgettable dish — the Miyazaki A5 Wagyu katsu sando for — hold still — $100. “We’re not making a ton of money on it,” Rose says. “The price reflects the cost of the wagyu. A steak house in town sells the same weight for $150.”

Rose says changes are afoot. “People are looking for full meals so we’ll be adding more entrees. It’ll be casual, comforting food.”

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SIDE DISHES

If you want to avoid the adverse effects of drinking like hangovers, drunkenness and Asian flush — a locally made supplement is showing good results — I know it eliminates the flush, which I begin to suffer from after one glass of wine.

Phelix Peer, who has a background in cell biology and genetics, is in the business of pharmaceutical and nutraceutical formulation and manufacturing. He explains how he and some friends developed the natural supplement, Proliv, to address their personal experiences with drinking.

“I and the other founders are Chinese and Korean and we realized there’s a lot of drinking in business as well in social settings and in our mid-30s, our bodies don’t handle it as well.” Peer recently returned from a week of business in Taiwan and it involved four nights of heavy drinking. “We created Proliv to stay sharp and functional during work meetings involving drinking, despite the progression away from the Mad Men days,” he quips. “It’s part of sizing up, catching innuendoes in Asian meetings,” he says.

Natural ingredients in Proliv, approved by Health Canada, promote the liver to produce two enzymes crucial for metabolizing the toxic byproduct of alcohol. “Acetaldehyde buildup in the body leads to most of the hangover symptoms we experience,” says Peer.

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“Holvenia dulcis (Japanese raisin tree in layman’s terms) have high amounts of an ingredient which promotes  production of the enzymes,” says Peer. Other ingredients reduce inflammation, gastric discomfort and provide metabolic support. “Alcohol impacts the brain, blood vessels, heart and Proliv helps the body remove acetaldehyde faster.”

So far, the company’s been selling the supplement at events, online, and at some liquor and wellness stores, but soon will be scaling up, says Peer. They provide educational and health messaging with the product, “recognizing the potential for abuse,” he says.

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