D. Peckham

Quang is working at Diva for the Christmas season, helping out. He does have a plan for the New Year, but I'm sure he will let people know whaen he is ready.

Have they dropped the modern latin cowboy theme? The dinner you had didn't sound very latin.

Once I watched James Barber scream when a squirrel bit his toe. I am sure that James used a Van Mag to beat the animal down...It was a sad day, the rodent scampered off. ← Watch out Chef Fowke, I don't believe that post has anything to do with the topic.

Yes, you did miss something. Her review made comments about the critics that are involved in the Van Mag awards. I was thinking and reading over the people that were involved in the awards and James Barber's name was there and I have never seen or heard of him coming to eat at any place that I've worked. Hope that justifies my earlier post Daddy-A. Just a side note and have seen or have known all the other judges to frequent the restaurants involved. My post was just a general curious question. Daddy-A I will make sure that I send you a copy of every post I plan on posting for you prior approval if it makes you feel better.

I was just wondering. Of the restaurant people that involved in this topic. How many times have you had James Barber into you dining room? Not even for this year but for the last couple of years?

This thread seems exactly the same as the one that followed last years edition. Right down to the egullet golden plate awards.

How could I possibly guess at what the food tasted like? The things I have said about the food have all been about composition and use of ingrediants. By looking at the pictures I don't think I would enjoy it. On some of the plates there does seem to be to much garnish for the proteins( squab as an example) , also there does seem to be alot of oil used on the plates( such as the tuna) and the molten foie just doesn't look tasty at all. Remember when you go to a restaurant , order your food, and it comes to your table that you have to look at it before you even taste it. My question to you is, based on these pictures does this food look like it would taste good?

My thoughts exactly ... although the final judgement comes down to taste doesn't it? Another question ... how does this qualify as "molecular"? Other than a couple dishes with "caviars" I didn't really see anything El Bulli-esque. The price seems a little steep for lounge food too ... but then again that's unlike any other lounge food I've ever seen. Seems adventurous enough to me at first take. A. ← Sure taste does have the most to do with the food that restaurants sell, but when you try and throw yourself into the higher end restaurant with the prices that they charge there are a few other things that are involved. The most basic are the flow of the menu(which from the pictures I saw included three different soups through-out the menu), repeating ingrediants( using the salts as an example) , and repeating of cooking techniques( different caviar) all of which looked a little sloppy and presented in the same manner course to course. I also don't see why this would be considered "molecular" either. On the other hand the food from Lobby to the food of El Bulli isn't really fair , El Bulli has I believe around 40 cooks and stages working during service while my guess is Lobby has at most 5-6 plus the Chef during their service.

Looking at the food I would have to say the presentation is pretty much the same through out the menu, a little messy as well. With the prices charged I would think things would be a little more original , and a little less use of flavoured salts and "caviar".

Easy.. Lower Bowl... Canada vs. U.S.A

People, for the love of god, get over it. If you don't like what Doug has to say or agree with it don't buy the book or eat at his restaurant ( edit for the case that he is the Chef there and not the owner) Doug is a friend of mine and I admire his skill and dedication and I think that this book has alot more to it then one chapter. Every point has been made ten times over and it's getting really stupid.

Not that the food and wine won't be great , but to put it into a league of 1000 dollars a person is pretty lofty. With a high price tag comes high expectations hopefully no one is disappointed with their evening. I would also like to add that my girlfriend and I just ate at Alinea in Chicago 2 weeks ago. Food with wine pairing, tax and tip = around seven hundred Canadian. 28 courses. Each.

I think that alot of people on here had let this thread get a little out of hand , but I think that it is justified sort of because some of you are quite close to the people being discussed. I am also very surprised a the view of some people have taken towards Chef Psaltis and the incident that is being talked about. Chef Bourdain I am sure that you know that life in kitchens is quite different then that of most every other industry that I know of. You yourself have written about drug use and physical abuse in your own books , but is now condeming a slap on the hand. I am not saying what Chef Psaltis did was right, and by all accounts niether is he. Yes he did ommit it from his own book, but given the fact that I know Chef Psaltis as a very intense and driven chef who wants nothing more then to be the best at what he does I am not surprised he left it out considering he must feel very bad and embarrassed about the incident itself. Lets not forget that it is his book and is free to write what he wants and it is by choice that you read it. Second of all why would Chef Psatis spend more time on here considering that he is about to open a restaurant in Manhatten when the last time he posted he was basically torn apart by certain members. I aslo think that Mr. Shaw was wrong in what he was saying for a couple of reasons. Isn't it possible that after this incident happened that by his addmission he was already a few steps out the door and he was very frustrated with the restaurant and vice versa, he and Chef Keller could have talked about the incident and said" You know what this isn't working out for either of use and maybe it's time we parted way" . Also calling the food runner in the incident obnoxious was a little narrow minded considering you don't even know him. I do know him and I wouldn't call him obnoxious more nieve then anything who' background isn't as disciplined and expierenced as Chef Psaltis. Can we possibly drop all this shit and focus on the book as a whole, which I might add is interesting to read.

There shoud be a new topic called Who's your least favorite chef in Vancouver. I think that would be a whole lot funnier and interesting.

You have to understand I do not wish to comment about that chapter in Dougs book or my time and views about the French Laundry. I have positive memories of both and would like to keep it that way. I am not going to go into it online with people I don't know for everyone to see. I just have a problem with the way people made it look like Doug went to work there just to finish his book. I guess it is possible that he did work like a dog for 15 years spending countless hours and money trying to make himself a better cook so he would get the chance to work at TFL and complete the last chapter of his book. That in itself is dedication.

I was not one of the cooks that said" Thats always the way we did things" because I only started there about 2 months before Doug arrived there. So I was just learning the way things are done there. I will not comment on here about that chapter for two reasons. One I respect Doug and two I have alot of friends that work there and I have the upmost respect for Chef Keller and Ms. Cunningham. I am not the person to question any of these people who have done so much in this industry for alot of people. If you want to see the walk-in at TFL just go there and have dinner and ask to see it when they give you a kitchen tour.

I had the chance to work with Doug at The French Laundry when he was there. I just bought the book yesterday and of course skipped right to the chapter on TFL, I will read the rest soon. It did remind me of things that did happen, good and bad while I was there. I will say this about Doug. For the first month or so I couldn't stand the guy. He came on very strong in the beggining and looking back on it was already not that happy there. That being said, I consider Doug a friend and would work for him again if he called. He helped me alot when he was there , and I learned alot from him. I still learn from him. A couple of weeks ago I had a question about a recipe I was working on, so I emailed Doug from work asking for him to call me at work if he had the chance. Not 15 minutes later Doug was on the phone answering all my questions. This is not a comment or opinion on the chapter regarding TFL but rather my thoughts on Doug as some of you have painted him as a someone that is dishonest.

Stearns has also been known Andrew to be Red Hot. He is not the best at throwing lemons for money, but besides making a great drink is pretty good at Kung Fu fighting.

As I do most months I picked up a copy Vancouver Magazine today and had a chance to read it with my morning coffee before I went to work. I thought that the article Jamie Maw wrote on " few many fish in the sea" was correct and well written but I did have one problem with it. After I finished the article I browsed through the section where different restaurants have full page ads about them. What I found kind of funny is that of the restaurants one had Chilean Sea Bass on the menu in the magazine and three others had tuna in the photos of their food. I also found it funny that Mr Maw was basically telling customers to voice their concerns about sustainabilty to chefs and managers but wasn't going to turn down money from restaurants to run ads in the magazine to make the point of sustainabilty that he believes in so much hit home with said chefs and managers. Just a funny observation.

oh Taylor's. I totally forgot about that place, but rather then argue over which is better you could do both on seperate days. If it were me going back to Napa I would run to the Taqueria 3 Hermanos Mexican restaurant right in the town square of Napa for a super burrito.

You have to order the burgers "Animal Style" . Its been awhile since I've had one but from what I remember it has fried onions and maybe mushrooms but I can't recall right now.

I personally think that the golden plate awards don't hold much weight as far as a serious food publication goes but it does have a place in the food scene here in Vancouver. There is no actual results as far as the number of votes cast for any one topic, so there may have only been 10 or 15 people who actually spent the time to fill out the ballot. I also don't remember the Georgia Straight claiming that these awards are the best way for judging where to spend your dining dollar. I think that you have to take these polls and awards with a grain of salt and don't worry or be offended if their opinions don't match yours. I don't get offended when I tell people I only eat out at two restaurants, those being the Cactus Club and Memphis Blues or order in Panago and grab McDonalds take out after work, and they look at me like I'm crazy. Take it for what it is and if it's that big of a deal remember to vote next year.

I had a Vera Burger on Monday and it was great as it always is and I could go for another one right now if I wasn't concered about my weight.

Really I don't think it matters so much where you go to cooking school as it does how much you take with you when you leave. I would suggest that you tour all of the schools that offer programs and decide not based on the cost but based on what you are looking to get out of it and what programs intrest you the most. I have worked with people that have gone to cooking school from all over North America and parts of Europe and none of the school's produce a better consistant product then the next, it all depends on the individual. Some of the worst students I have come across have been trained at the CIA in the U.S., does that mean thats it's not a great school? No. It just means that those people might not have put in as much as the student next to them ther for didn't get as much out of it. Besides it doesn't matter what school you go to if you can't produce in the workplace. I went to Dubrulle and don't always think it was the right place to go but in the end I think that I have done fairly well for myself and don't regret the path I have taken , because without it I wouldn't be as fortunate to work where I do and with the people that I do.

Do you have a family moby ? or worked at a top restaurant? think about it.