VANCOUVER, B.C. — In the heart of Vancouver's East Hastings neighborhood, Nero Tondo has emerged as a beacon of hyper-local cuisine, earning a coveted Michelin recommendation just a year after opening its doors. Located at 1879 Powell St., the intimate restaurant operates for dinner service Tuesday through Saturday, drawing food enthusiasts with its focus on seasonal, difficult-to-love vegetables and impeccably sourced seafood. Owners and chefs Devon Latté and Lucas Johnston, who met while working at the Michelin-recommended vegetarian spot Acorn, have crafted a dining experience that emphasizes locality and innovation, blending influences from French, Japanese, and Italian traditions.
The restaurant's name derives from the nero tondo, a Spanish black radish known for its coarse black skin and fiery initial bite. Latté describes it as “a vegetable with a difficult personality, but it is a vegetable and that’s what our cooking revolves around and what we’re all about.” He and Johnston embrace such challenging ingredients, often marinating, roasting, and searing them at high temperatures to coax out their flavors. “It needs some love,” Latté adds, highlighting their commitment to vegetable-centric dishes that form the core of the menu.
While vegetables take center stage, the menu incorporates excellent seafood, sourced with an eye toward sustainability and locality. Everything is super seasonal and ever-changing, reflecting the chefs' travels and inspirations. To avoid imports, the team produces its own soy sauce and sources citrus from Jane Squier's greenhouse on Salt Spring Island, which offers varieties like makrut lime, Buddha’s hand, finger limes, calamansi, and sudachi, along with tropical plants such as avocados. “It’s a tropical paradise out there and her greenhouse is heated with compost,” Latté says of Squier's innovative setup.
Latté and Johnston's background at Acorn informed their approach at Nero Tondo, where they've extended the hyper-local ethos to the bar and wine program. In their debut year, the restaurant secured a Michelin nod, a testament to their dedication. “With local ingredients, the quality can’t be matched. We know the soil where our produce comes from, the waters where the fish are from, the fishers we buy from,” Latté explains. Johnston echoes this, noting, “It definitely feels good connecting with our purveyors and to know who’s coming through the door every day.” The duo frequents farmers markets, which they liken to social hours.
The restaurant's service, led by general manager and sommelier Meghan McDowell Johnston — Lucas's real-life partner — is notably warm and engaging. Staff greet guests with enthusiasm, as if they've been eagerly awaiting their arrival. This personal touch aligns with the open-kitchen concept, where the narrow, squeezy space accommodates just 18 to 20 diners at a counter. Equipped with only two induction burners and tiny counters, the galley buzzes with activity as chefs, servers, and bar staff navigate the tight quarters. “Behind you! Behind you!” becomes a rhythmic call, but Latté views it positively: “It’s something we got used to in our careers. There’s nowhere to hide. No wall to go behind. It speaks to our cuisine and style of cooking, talking about our purveyors and putting them on the pedestal.”
Adding to the charm are the retro serving dishes, many inherited from Latté’s grandmother, supplemented by a customer's donation of vintage china from a storage locker. “People come in and say, ‘I love your plates!’ I’ve got boxes of these in my basement,” Johnston shares. “We’ve got a good mix now.” These family heirlooms contribute to the homey yet sophisticated atmosphere.
Diners have two menu options: à la carte or a tasting menu priced at $79 for five to six courses, which most patrons choose for its value. “Our goal is value,” Johnston says. “We’d like everyone we’ve worked with, friends, neighbors, to come in and be able to afford it more than once.” The tasting menu showcases the restaurant's philosophy through a progression of dishes that highlight local bounty.
The meal begins with a chanterelle broth infused with miso and finished with smoked kelp oil, gently awakening the palate. Next comes an oyster from an Indigenously operated farm in Desolation Sound, dressed in a mignonette made from housemade strawberry leaf red wine vinegar and makrut lime. A grilled shishito pepper, sourced from the non-profit Sharing Farm in Richmond — which donates $20,000 annually to charities — arrives with huacatay sauce, a Peruvian black mint grown locally.
Vegetable crudités of local origin pair with a garlic lentil dip, while skin-on sweet potatoes dressed in a Thousand Island-style sauce share the plate with sweet corn vierge. A julienned chayote and kohlrabi salad incorporates pinto beans and Thai-inspired flavors: makrut lime, palm sugar, fish sauce, herbs, and honey. Mussels are served in a bowl alongside Johnston’s daily sourdough focaccia, baked using a starter named “Margaret.” During service, Johnston can often be seen kneading fresh dough for the next day right at the counter.
A palate cleanser features radicchio, Honeycrisp apple, hazelnuts, and Jersey Blue cheese from Golden, tossed in a vinaigrette of Salt Spring Island Meyer lemon, beet juice, and apple cider. The pasta course is a baked parmigiana, a recipe from Johnston’s aunt Nicolette, infusing the meal with personal history. Standout is the albacore tuna duo — tartare and edge-seared — from line-caught fish processed via the Japanese ikejime method to preserve quality by minimizing stress and contamination. Accompanying it is local rice from Abbotsford, grown by Artisan SakeMaker’s Masa Shiroki. “This year’s harvest is the highest quality we’ve seen from his team,” Latté notes. The rice appears as a duo: with a citrus condiment and puffed atop the tartare.
Dessert pays homage to Latté’s grandmother with her “Wendy’s angel food cake,” layered like a sundae or parfait with strawberry preserves and dusted with powdered sea asparagus. “The flavour resembles matcha tea. It’s one of the seven wonders of the world,” Latté enthuses. This simple yet elevated finish underscores the restaurant's blend of tradition and creativity.
The beverage program mirrors the kitchen's locavore spirit, featuring signature cocktails with B.C. craft spirits, local craft beers, and an all-B.C. wine list emphasizing small, natural producers like Scout, Kutatas, Aasha, and Poppyshake. Reservations can be made by calling 604-895-4233 or visiting nerotondo.com.
Nero Tondo's rise reflects broader trends in Vancouver's dining scene, where sustainability and locality are paramount amid growing interest in Michelin-recognized spots. The restaurant's quick acclaim suggests it will continue to influence the local food landscape, potentially inspiring more chefs to tackle unconventional ingredients and deepen ties with regional producers. As Latté and Johnston evolve their menu with the seasons, diners can expect ongoing exploration of B.C.'s culinary potential, all while keeping accessibility at the forefront.
For those outside Vancouver, the restaurant's story highlights the global appeal of farm-to-table dining, even as it remains deeply rooted in its Pacific Northwest context. With its emphasis on connection — from purveyors to plates — Nero Tondo offers not just a meal, but a narrative of place and people.