After months of speculation as we gazed expectantly at brown paper covered windows, the new venue at 1 Alexander is now open. It was formerly Honey’s Character Restaurant, where in a sign of desperation of the need for more variety in Gastown eateries, we continued to eat at even when several of us got food poisoning on different occasions.

Chill Winston has dramatically increased the patio space allocated to the former owners to create one of the best patios in the city in my view. Comfy chairs, big umbrellas and the non-stop action of Gastown to gaze out at.

We went last night for a few cocktails and a snack after a long, hard day lounging at the Barnett Marine Park. We had the scallops, served with a refreshing asparagus and carrot gomae and the bok choy, which my sausage loving friend needed for the chorizo. I could have spent many more hours lounging. The clientele was a mix of those who are clearly tourists, as well as Gastown residents (like the lovely couple who own Transylvanian Flavour) and pals of the owners/staff. The boys missed out in some very short shorts on the hostess by being too lazy to go out. But that is what camera phones are for I think.

A few of us had dreamed of taking over Characters knowing its closure was inevitable. The new owners have completely redone the interior and expanded into the old Cigar store next door. It really is a gorgeous space now and will be a nice place to spend the fall and winter months indoors.

The bathroom is novel - stalls allocated to both men and women with a shared sink in the centre entrance. We’ll see how that goes. We were there for a few hours last night and the patio stayed busy all night. We’ll have to master the art of getting our typical large tables of friends to pack in on Friday and Saturday, but we’ll figure it out.

All we need now is for Salt to open and you’ll never get me to leave the neighbourhood.