BUCKSTOP
A BBQ And Small Plate Saloon

by Karen Petersen
Their mantra - Eat meat, repeat.

Buckstop is a dark, intimate West End bar and eatery. Intimate as in 32 seats intimate. It has been described as a BBQ and small plate saloon and that’s certainly an apt description - especially the saloon aspect.

Fiona Grieve . “Buckstop is my life’s Work”

Buckstop features a half horseshoe-shaped bar displaying a constellation of fine spirits. The bar’s most often peopled by locals in the ‘hood, but they’re a friendly lot. There is also seating in the window overlooking the bustle of Denman Street and additional tables line the walls.

Owner Fiona Grieve is a force of nature. She’s also known as “...chief wrangler, spirits slinger and much much more” She says, “At the end of the day, Buckstop is my life’s work. I’m just a Vancouver to Toronto and back waitress who worked really hard and really long to save her tips and open her own restaurant.”

The resto opened in May of 2013 and has been booming ever since. Fiona clarifies that “We are not fine dining, high end casual or anything remotely close.”

Buckstop specializes in ultra slow-cooked meats with the help of their electric Cookshack smoker, which goes by the name of “Fast Eddy” and it is “...supplemented with hickory chips because local bylaws prevent indoor kitchens from using all-hardwood fire....” (according to Alexandra Gill from the Globe & Mail.)

The super slow-cooked meats - beef back ribs, pork back ribs, brisket, smoked chicken, and pulled pork - are regular menu features, as are home-made delights such as home-cut Kennebec fries, various unique condiments - ketchup, barbecue sauce, grenadine and ginger - to name but a very few.

Every single Monday since Buckstop opened in 2013, they have featured a brand new burger creation.

“Themes and quantities vary—however we always promise meats ground in-house paired with creative, fresh (and sometimes crazy) toppings. When they’re gone, they’re gone forever and we haven’t run any repeats yet!”

Not to say the food is exclusively for meat-eaters - Buckstop uses as much local produce as possible and the menu changes seasonally.

Just some of the current possibilities for herbivores are the mac and cheese, cauliflower queso dip, hush puppies & cornbread, fried dill pickles, mozzarella sticks, those home-cut Kinnebec fries, Dijon aioli slaw…and the list goes on.

And when Fiona isn’t laboring at her life’s work, she boxes, fences, runs (before she blew out her knee) and these days, she often heads off to the gym for a workout early in the mornings after closing up and putting her career restaurant to bed one more time.

Buckstop
833 Denman (between Haro & Robson)
604.428.2528
Website