East Vancouver's Nero Tondo champions hyperlocal B.C. ingredients in 18-seat space

The 18-seat restaurant opened in February 2025 in the former Elephant space on Powell Street, a bustling stretch of East Vancouver where most guests sit at the counter, close enough to watch co-chefs and co-owners Lucas Johnston and Devon Latté cook directly in front of them.

For Latté, counter seating was non-negotiable. "It was kind of a non-negotiable for the space that we were looking for," he tells the Straight. "We were sick of being behind a wall, nobody seeing us, nobody seeing what we're doing. We want [diners] to feel like they're sitting in our kitchen."

At Nero Tondo, "local" is not decorative language on the menu—it is the entire mandate. Johnston and Latté met at Main Street's The Acorn nearly a decade ago during a period when that restaurant helped push Vancouver's vegetable-forward cooking into more ambitious territory. Nero Tondo feels like the next evolution of that work: veg-forward (but not exclusively plant-based), inventive, and tied to the region.

Produce comes from farms including Cropthorne, Local Harvest, Klippers Organics, and Glorious Organics. Seafood sources include Goodfish and Fanny Bay Oysters. The wine list and bar program are B.C.-focused. The commitment extends beyond simply buying local—Latté talks about visiting farms and getting hands in the soil. Trips to farmers markets have become part work, part social outing, a place to pick up ingredients for a restaurant with very little storage, but also a place to see people they now consider friends.

Johnston lit up talking about Nero Tondo's citrus program—something that might seem counterintuitive in a restaurant so committed to B.C. sourcing. "There are a whole lot of restaurants out there that are spewing that kind of, 'We're using local', and a lot of them say 'as much as possible,'" Latté said. "But there's a lot that's possible, and we're showing that."