What does that mural say?

We have received a couple of requests asking for the meaning of the mural....so here you go!










Goat, Judas Goat. Pleased to meet you. Welcome to my place. Please sit down, have a drink, and a bite to eat. Enjoy yourself, relax. You deserve it. It’s rough out there, and I ought to know. I had a nervous breakdown, victim of my own success really. On stress leave, and thinking about rolling this into a sweet retirement. It was simple back in the day, when farmers were allowed gate sales, the meat you ate came from one animal. Every so often I would lead a herd of spring lamb to the truck or a few cows to the slaughterhouse. Things got busy later, operations got bigger, increased demand and I was working steady, every day busy. The money was good, up at Seven, get my stink on, take a load of sheep to the truck, move 30 head of cattle, break for lunch, then back for more cows, a coffee, a few more sheep, and knock off at five for a cold one. Like I said, the money was good. Then one day, THEN ONE DAY!! The government changed the laws, no more gate sales, each and every animal slaughtered had to be taken to an abattoir. I was working insane hours. No lunch. No coffee. They upsized and I was head of the largest department in history. Crazy making. Up at four thirty, meet the team by teleconference. Each moving six hundred head of cattle by seven. Don’t even mention the sheep. Millions, literally. The stress was giving me an ulcer. By the time the cows went nuts, I walked. We take it slow here, it’s peaceful. The food is good. The company is excellent.

Click the photo to link to the artist's website

Patio for the Goat

GOAT PATIO

We are working hard to secure a 3ft patio that'll run parallel to the restaurant's sliding doors.

The idea is to secure just enough room for a row of high stool to run the length of the marble counter. Guests will be served over the counter, instead of by way of our servers carrying food and drink out into the street.

As with most of the stuff that we do, there doesn't seem to be a precedent so we are breaking new ground, and as you can imagine, it takes a little longer to achieve.

That said, we are pretty far along the road with this....so fingers crossed.

New Dish At Judas Goat

Gin, fennel & olive oil compressed watermelon with shaved feta, radish & celery leave salad

We are plenty happy now!!

"The hype is well justified. Because once I finally lassoed a table at this tiny, 28-seat hideaway, I was thrilled to discover that of all the trendy new Spanish-themed tapas bars now running around the ring, Judas Goat is the only matador worth cheering for". Alexandra Gill

Click HERE for review

Tim Pawsey like the Goat

Tim Pawsey from the Courier says CLICK HERE

Mia Stainsby likes our Goat

The Vancouver Sun's food critic Mia Stainsby visited us twice last week....not that we knew it at the time, and she liked what she saw/ate. Click HERE for her review.

Delighted with the reviews so far....

We have been anxious over the first few reviews of our little goat. So far, people are receiving it as we hoped that they would.

URBANDINER

MARTINI BOYS

VITAMIN DAILY

YELP

NOSHWELL

VANCOUVER SLOP

THE PROVINCE NEWSPAPER

Staff Menu Knowledge Session-445pm March 13th, 2010

WE ARE OPEN !!!

Finally, after several false starts and a tonne of red tape heartache, we've opened the door.

On Thursday we hosted family and friends, whose opinions we trust, for a dry run. On Friday morning we had a meeting to discuss their comments, did a little tweaking and then opened at 6pm for business.

For last night and tonight we are offering all food items at 20% off. This is just our way of saying that it might take us a couple of days to get our game together and while we tweak things, we are not going to charge full price. Sunday we close to regroup and on Monday at 5pm we'll be rocking at full steam.

Here is a look at the menu:(Click to enlarge)

Good News & Bad News

Despite our best efforts, it is now highly unlikely that we will receive final documentation in time to open for the Olympics. Last night, we made the difficult decision to delay the opening of Judas Goat, until early March. The uncertainty of the red tape situation means that instead of training, ghost running and ironing out kinks, we are stalled. If we get the green light next week we'll be doing all of those things on the eve of the Olympics.... it is too much stress to place on the Salt and the Irish Heather teams. So, with heavy heart we have decided to postpone the opening.

That said, if we get the paperwork back sooner rather than later, and can spare the staff from one of the operations, we will do a couple dry runs.

And now the good news, Judas Goat is looking splendid, well, we think so!

Sean

The Carrera Arrives

The final big piece of the puzzle falls into place.

Judas Goat now has it's marble.

While I am reluctant to say it, it was worth the wait.

Artist Robert Chaplin completes our mural.

The Story of Judas Goat

Vancouver Sun

Mia Stainsby wrote about us in the Vancouver Sun on Jan 4th.

http://bit.ly/51NerJ

The photo caption mistakenly claims that Judas Goat opened on Dec 21st and that night 37 people either phone Salt or turn up at the door......it would appear that there might be some interest in our little Goat.

Nice mention in Vancouver Magazine

click HERE to read

Media Interest Begins To Burn

Early in November, Scout Magazine posted a video of the bare bones shell of Judas Goat. Since then, several publications have expressed an interest in photographing J.G. and/or interviewing me.

This is an essential part of launching a successful operation. If people don't write about your project, chances are, few people will ever know that you even opened.

This afternoon, Scott Hawthorn and myself had a blast being a part of a photo shoot, arranged by Mia Stainsby of The Vancouver Sun. Early in January, I have an interview with Paul Kamon, of UrbanDiner.ca.

And so it begins......

Sheep being led by a Judas Goat

Scout Magazine does a video update

Yesterday Andrew Morrison posted a video of an interview he conducted with Sean Heather. In it Sean discusses the vision for Judas Goat and Blood Alley.

Click HERE to view

FLOOR - DONE

Hey, we are included in the Georgia Straight's "Best of Vancouver"

Best New Restaurant Name

Judas Goat Taberna
Blood Alley, Gastown

Judas Goat Taberna will likely be open by the time you read this. This wee eatery, next door to sibling Salt, is the latest venture from Sean Heather (Salt, Irish Heather, Salty Tongue, Shebeen) and his partner in Salt, Scott Hawthorn. The pair decided to open a taberna, or Spanish-style tapas bar, and figured the name Judas Goat seemed fitting. A Judas goat, an abattoir habitué, is trained to make nice with other goats, sheep, and cows, and then lead them to be slaughtered. The new space is located in Gastown’s Blood Alley, and once Heather and Hawthorn discovered that several abattoirs once backed onto it, well, they couldn’t resist.

We have a floor!

We have chosen the classic octagon tile shaped mosiac that was once so popular here in Gastown. Though still fairly popular around the world, this particular tile is scarce here in North America. We have chosen a white floor with black tiles as an accent....if we had chosen a red or brown accent the price and lead time would have been crazy, or so I've been told.

Here is an example of an original floor here in Gastown.