JADE RUSH: Demand for B.C. jadee (nephrite) is at an all-time high. For decades China had little interest in the B.C. jade and favoured instead the Burmese jadeite. Fortunes changed in 2008 when the stone was incorporated into the Beijing Olympic medals and Chinese residents were reminded nephrite was the traditional jade of China. Demand and sales subsequently skyrocketed along with the price — as much as $500 a kilogram. Sharing the story of B.C.’s jade rush at a Shareholders Gala was Kirk Makepeace, COO of Canadian Jade Mine Resources, one of the world’s largest producers. Makepeace, along with CEO Shaolong Li, welcomed nearly 200 aficionadas who assembled at the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel for the jade jamboree. The sale netted $125,000 for St. Paul’s Hospital Foundation and VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation.
SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW: CinCin, one of the city’s venerable Italian restaurants, will mark 25 years of fine dining and service. At the helm for the past three years, executive chef Andrew Richardson continues CinCin’s legacy of skillfully crafted modern Italian cuisine. Richardson and his crew will be creating a commemorative four-course $79 menu that will mix the resto’s classics with contemporary twists, including wood-fired dishes from the chef’s fiery Grillworks Infierno. Another Vancouver institution, Glowbal, was reborn, bigger and better. First opened in 2002, launching owner Emad Yacoub’s empire of restaurants — nine and counting — the newly relocated establishment in Vancouver’s TELUS Garden is by far the toniest and largest at 17,000 square-feet. Yacoub, along with his wife, Shannon Bosa, welcomed hundreds to the grand opening, a stylish see-and-be-seen affair attended by foodies, influencers and tastemakers.
DRIVING FOR A CAUSE: The 13th annual Shuhachi Naito Coast Hotels Golf Classic raised a record $72,000 for the Salvation Army and ALS Society. Named after its former senior executive, who lost his battle with ALS in 2014, hotel brass, hospitality industry leaders and suppliers hit the links at Coquitlam’s Westwood Plateau Golf and Country Club for the 13th running. Robert Pratt, president of Coast Hotels, fronted the charity luau on the greens. Under sunny skies, players merrily played their way through 18 holes and participated in many on-course activities before enjoying a welcome reception back at the clubhouse. Since its inception, the hotel chain’s fairway fundraiser has generated close to $700,000 for local charities. Notables teeing off included Wendy Toyer, executive director of the ALS Society of BC and Lt. Colonel Larry Martin, divisional commander for The Salvation Army.
