SHOWCASE BAR

1122 West Hastings St., 604-639-4040. www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/yvrdt-vancouver-marriott-pinnacle-dow ntown-hotel/

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You can grab a humble burger or an unpretentious pizza and do it in style at Showcase Bar. The modern, airy space in the Vancouver Marriott Pinnacle is adjacent to the more serious dining room. It has a soaring ceiling, lots of personal space and there's so much glass, it feels al fresco.

Showcase Bar not highly visible as it's tucked inside a hotel but it's not going begging for visitors with the office towers and hotel guests. The relaxed room is a real draw for neighbouring office workers at lunch. After work, it's perfect for unwinding with colleagues with a drink and a nosh of say, crabcakes or firecracker prawns. To me, it's so much brighter, lighter, more elegant than meeting up and hollering at each other in a pub. If the drink turns into dinner, there's pizza; beer-batted salmon and chips; beef burger; pulled pork flatbread; or a seafood club with crab and shrimp ($14 to $19).

The butter chicken and curry of the day are misfits in the Pacific Northwest themed menu at Showcase but they have a lot of takers. The soup and sandwich option ($15) changes daily.

Being a hotel, the days starts early. You can do a very civilized breakfast in the dining room if you're in the mood for a hearty push-off in the morning. There are hot and cold breakfast buffets as well as an a la carte menu with pancakes, french toast, eggs bennies.

There are some TV screens in the room but they don't dominate and although it's no sports bar, it does attract its share of sports fans before and after games.

Chef Stuart Klassen has presided over the kitchen since 2002. He has previously worked at several of Umberto Menghi's restaurants as well as Delta Whistler Resort, the Whistler Convention Center and the Hilton Vancouver Airport.

© The Vancouver Sun 2008