The NOX team (from left) managing director Alejandro Diaz; general manager Lucy Nahácka; and executive chef Sam Fabbro,

NOX AT COAL HARBOUR
A Treasury of Fusion Cuisine

With so many local restaurants having closed in recent years, it’s always exciting to be able to report on the opening of a new dining venture with an interesting take on fusion cuisine.

Coal Harbour’s NOX is the passion project of Alejandro Diaz and Sam Fabbro, who have been collaborating for over six years on New Westminster’s el Santo and Amaranthus restaurants and decided it was time to create a new culinary player in the Vancouver restaurant scene. Although they come from different backgrounds, they found a lot of parallels between Alejandro’s Mexican heritage and Sam’s Italian heritage in terms of cultural and social values, and through these similarities the idea for NOX was born.

NOX is the Goddess of night in Roman mythology, known for her exceptional power and beauty, and it is believed that she is the beginning of all things. The team at NOX believes that food has power—the power to nourish the body, the power to bring people to together, and to fuel celebration, connections, and growth. It is, they say, the beginning of meaningful conversations, hilarious stories, budding friendships, and lasting love stories.

NOX was inspired by the rich traditions of Italian cuisine and the fresh and bright flavour profiles found on the West Coast of Canada. Upscale plates in a down-to-earth space lets everyone know they are welcome to pull up a chair—a place designed as much for special occasions as for spontaneous pop-ins.

The NOX menu will change with the seasons as Alejandro and Sam embrace the temperamental nature of the West Coast and its micro-seasons, aligning with the Italian philosophy of using what is in your own backyard. They will source as much as they can close to home and use imported Italian goods when needed.

Corporate chef Sam’s greatest passion is cooking, and he’s been sharing his love for food with others for as long as he can remember. He started professionally at Cobre in Gastown while still in high school, then completed the Culinary Arts program at Vancouver Community College. Right after graduation, Sam joined the team at the West Coast-inspired Restaurant 62 in Abbotsford before moving on to Raincity and CinCin, both in Vancouver’s West End. He has been the executive chef at el Santo since 2017, and at Amaranthus since its opening in 2019.

Now, as corporate chef at NOX, Sam will draw heavily from his Italian heritage and combine it with his affinity for local West Coast ingredients.

Managing director Alejandro has been in love with the hospitality business ever since his childhood days, spending holidays with his uncle who worked at various hotels in Mexico. He moved to Canada from Mexico City in 1996 and has been hustling in the restaurant industry for over 26 years, working his way from dishwasher to director of finance and everything in between. He decided to forge his own path and opened el Santo in New Westminster in 2015, a restaurant that celebrates cuisine from his native Mexico. Not long after, he opened Amaranthus, specializing in plant-based food, and now he’s taking on the famed Italian culinary scene with NOX.

General manager Lucy Nahácka has more than a decade of industry experience working in fine-dining restaurants across Europe and Canada. A passion for wine is an understatement, as Lucy holds a Wine & Spirit Education Trust Level 3 and has completed the Bourgogne Master-Level at the Wine Scholar Guild. She is the perfect fit to run the much-anticipated wine program at NOX. She will focus on bringing on boutique wineries from Italy and British Columbia which are not only of the highest quality, but have a sustainable approach to wine making.

Visit NOX Restaurant’s website here to see the complete menu, and plan to add NOX to you list of West End/Coal Harbour evening out destinations.