jamiemaw

Squishy would be a good term, and a valuable bun for pulled meat. ← Definitely should be squishy and of the refined flour type. ← Nerf-like, so that the harder you throw them the less far they go. Sort of like Ben Affleck's career. Foam buns should also be reserved for those college dinners when the speaker is even remotely controversial. You've been there--when the cubed sugar and candlesticks are also removed from the tables.

It seems rather extrordinary, that just one year in, so much has been accompished by so few for so many. I'm sure I'm not alone in congratulating Karri and Nico for injecting spirit and spirited cooking into this tail of the town. It also seems a long time ago that we ran this story about their ambitious business plan. But then restaurants age in dog years. What I really congratulate them for though, is realizing their early shortcomings and reacting quickly and decisively. By bringing in Annette and Andre, to cure service issues that were the result of an early success, they not only survived, but found a way to stay in love, both with each other and us. The next chapter, as they settle in for a long run off-Broadway, may well write itself. But not without the zealous enthusiasm they bring each day. In the face of other, more cynical openings this year, many thanks. Jamie

Check. Vik on the fenugreek popsicles. And those Nu wings are well and deliciously hijacked and brought French. Gotta like the cooking outside of the bento box concept too.

A salt and batter issue, clearly. First, they should find some rice flour and then recalibrate their fryer. Cross hatching the squid tubes is a must. But finally, and they will never do this, the dry (overnight) marinade is laced with MSG, as is the batter. It's that double whalloping that frags the umami baby. Bring it on by the wheelbarrow. I can hardly wait for the first Chinese place to place a rider on their delivery menus: "MSG Proudly Served".

Hi Jamie, im off-topic but i was just curious about this affirmation. Is there now a city bylaw that regulates the construction and use of wood-fire ovens? Thank you, ← Yes. Wood burning fireplaces are bait-and-switch now too--after the inspector leaves the fake logs are pulled and the gas tap's converted to a jet that lights the real logs.

I've spotted a variation of the squid dish at Sandbar and Cardero's, but in those cases with more of a sweet and sour chili sauce. They were lacking the deep umami factor though, probably because of the removal of a primary--but still controversial--ingredient as seen in its Phnom Penh delivery. What was the Ground Zero of the BC roll? Tojo? And you're right: miso-marinated sable fish has also become ubiquitous. Where did it launch from? The first white chef exploiting it widely, as I recall, was Michael Noble at Diva at the Met. But it clearly had an earlier provenance. That the savoury pie has been so badly injured in Vancouver (it amazes me what people will settle for) suggests it may never recover, especially now that new build wood-burning ovens are no longer permitted. Perhaps Mistral's version (they opened last night) of pissaladiere will help push it back where it belongs: it's virtually impossible to purchase a retail pizza in Vancouver worthy of oral gratification.

Some dishes shout Vancouver, sometimes announcing not just a local ingredient, but also the merged culinary DNA of where it came from (often Asia) and where it landed (here). First they cross-over from Asian (perhaps) restaurants to mainstream rooms. And then they hit a tipping point and become ubiquitous--everybody wants a piece of them. One such dish, it occured to me, is chili-spiked baby squid. If calamari was everywhere in the 80s and 90s, now it's this variation. I think Ground Zero was likely Phnom Penh. At least it was the first time I became aware of it: crisped but still-gossamer rice flour coated, cross-hatched baby squid tubes, raised by chili and garlic, and a lemon-pepper dipping saice that smells like bleach but proves the perfect foil. 1. Where have you spotted themes and variations on this dish--maybe with a different sauce? 2. What other dishes arrived from elsewhere but have taken over the town? And is anything lost in translation? Do they morph?

Goulash archipelago.

Thanks PJ.

The concierge at the 'Tel-A-Frend' motel is very helpful. But seriously, you could do worse than The Eclectic Med, or for a water view and passable pub food, The Blue Heron.

Mia Stainsby gave Nu a very positive review in today's Queue section of The vancouver Sun. In fact, it's the most laudatory recommendation I can remember from Mia. Unfortunately the link is behind a subscriber screen, but it's a worthwhile investment to buy the papaer today. J.

Get thee to the Irish Heather.

And get it done with a smile on their collective faces. And support Chef, for whom I have great respect.

Jamie - I read your review in VanMag and really enjoyed it. Though your displeasure with the food is consistent with many of the comments here - I am glad to see that you gave Chef Larouche some due respect that has been earned in a number of decent restaurants throughout Vancouver. Not sure how they will turn things around - but citing SF tourist dependent restaurants is a good call. Places like Boulevard, No1 Market, and Palimino serve good food and attract a sizable tourist (and local) following. Hope they can pull out of the nosedive they are in. But, as a layman, I am not sure what a restaurant can do, on the fly, to address all these problems. A shut down and relaunch? Or is that suicide? ← Thanks CH and good question. Because by the time that view disappears the tourist traffic will have too. And the locals are just too canny to return to a place where it’s tricky to eat and no reservations are taken, although they may hardly be necessary come November. If the choice were mine, I wouldn’t think it’s necessary to shut down, but to drill down and focus: 1. Move past denial (staff have reported the denigration of some of the reviewing columnists as incompetent know-nothings) whereas they’re the authors of their own misery; 2. Create a Mission Statement and Identity: Are we a seafood house? Are we local, crossover, sauced or naked, Asian, or . . . what? Because the proprietor and management team don’t know, the audience is confused; 3. Immediately remove all questionable menu items; 4. Agree that the Food Cost budget will likely have to bounce by 2 to 3 %. 5. Back-fill wine list; 6. Take chef off the line for one week to revaluate, perform due diligence and re-engineer the menu; 7. Chef should visit three CFD concepts—Earls, Cactus Club, Joey’s Global—to immediately rescue and recalibrate the starter menu, as a starting point—to stop the haemorrhaging; 8. Chef and senior staff should visit restaurants that make individual Best in Vancouver dishes: Phnom Penh for squid, Enoteca for rotisserie chicken, Chambar for moules frites, Provence for fish soup, etc.; 9. Make the menu look like it lives here; 10. Hire some local suppliers; 11. Get November menu ready to roll-out: cassoulet, cioppino/bouillabaisse, crab Louis, oyster fricassee, clam chowder, Hangtown fry, etc.; 12. Hire a competent publicist who can handle the soft relaunch; 13. Promote neighbourhood nights (they’ll need them): Sunday Roast (from 4pm) etc; prix fixe, wine dinners—all for locals; and 14. Visit San Francisco (Boulevard, The Waterfront, Swan Oyster Depot, Aqua etc.) to see variations on the theme. It’s not that they do it better than Vancouver restaurants, but there will be lots of good ideas. That's it.

I believe, but this requires verification as my memory is suffering from EG Vancouver forum induced good food overload, that we saw this Sat afternoon at Les Amis du Fromage, bloomin' (grin) rock solid frozen. ← Steve, Buy it 'fresh' directly from the restaurant if you like, but have no qualms about frozen product. As long as frozen (or FAS) salmon is thawed correctly (long, reefered) there is little discernable (we've done the blind tastings) difference. We've thrashed this discussion to death (FAS vs. Fresh) on several other threads. Bear in mind that most of the salmon sashimi that you eat has been (necessarily) frozen. And all of the salmon at, say, Go Fish is also FAS. If I buy it at Les Amis, for the weekly run up to Kelowna I put it near ice in my cooler. Upon arrival (4 hours later), I place it in a cold part of the fridge. It's nicely thawed by dinner time or for brunch the next morning. Thawed too quickly though, and you'll be mixing it 50:50 with cream cheese. Hope this is helpful, Jamie

Bux, Something like '57 to '66 and then he returned around '68 to become food editor when the Times published so many of his books.

Dejah, Yes, our climate is why we're forced to use surplus Canadian Tire driveway salt for topping our heirloom tomatoes. In January. And boy, are you out of the loop. Vancouver has been officially sanctioned by the UN as a No Fly Zone. Here, West Nile Virus only occurs on Frasier re-runs. J. Now back to regularly scheduled guinataang bilo-bilo, papaya atsara, fish balls, chicken a la King, caldereta, tocino, lumpiang shanghai with sweet & sour sauce, curry manok iban talum, kari imperial ...

Let's hope this is just the beginning of a long, warm and glorious Indigenous Persons' Summer, Stephen. I'm actually a big fan of coniferous evergreens-you don't have to clean up after them. Besides, I'd rather my tomatoes enjoy those amazing colour changes. My Dad, from Montreal and the Eastern Townships says, at the age of 89, "Show me the postcard of the autumn leaves again. Now show me the picture of Uncle Keith with his snow shovel again. Thank you."

Well done, Joie, a busy week for all and annoying to be inside even for a minute in this gorgeous weather. Am particularly looking forward to seeing Filipino dishes pile up on your dining room table. Great timing with the Aurora dinner as well--I'm sure Jeff will announce the prime time of the local larder like no other. Bon chance, Jamie PS: That's my new avatar you see and yes, that's my bug-eyed head on a platter--just where, I suppose, any number of chefs would love to see it.

Beautiful day but I couln't ignore that whiff of autumn in the air this afternoon. A chance bowl of Le Point Blanc's finest clam chowder on a BC Ferry, followed by the antidote of same at Earls (good, fresh, cryovac-bagged from Alberta?) leads me to ask: Who do you nominate for the province's best bowl, and why? PS: By the way, they've changed the White Spot recipe. Gone: that vestigial corn starch sheen and the fishy undertones--now it's only as clammy as a fog.

Thanks ND, M.D. I'm looking forward to returning the favour (James Chatto reviewed several Vancouver restaurants in Toronto Life's August edition) later this month.

Craig Claiborne (who began the one to four star system in 1957) John Canaday A.N. Other? Mimi Sheraton Bryan Miller Ruth Reichel William Grimes Marian Burros Amanda Hesser Frank Bruni Was Bryan Miller the most lucid of the lot? Although some might argue that you don't have to be Sigmund Freud to unravel Reichel's cross-dressing issues, Millers' exit reasoning (adjectival burnout) after almost ten years still makes me smile today. "I just kept writing the same phrase--'and it was good'--over and over." Complete meltdown--thank a weekly deadline and massive due diligence. I remember that Miller also was one of the first to file his road stories via email. We hayseeds out here were suitably impressed as was I when he ordered six main courses and four desserts one night--for the two of us--the NYT had that sort of budget, and we had to move on to the next restaurant right smartly.

Gravadlax is our weapon of choice and easy to make, but for a quality commercial cold-smoked product we've had very good luck with C's Nass/Skeena sockeye or their Skeena pink. Both are available at the restaurant or Stong's. Unfortunately the C Website doesn't have pricing information but as I recall it wasn't wildly unreasonable, just wild. And delicious: Rob Clark micro-manages his product; the Hawkshaw catch is live-caught and handled immaculately. "The Hawkshaws have pioneered a selective gillnet fishery on Skeena River sockeye, catching fish by the jawbone, not the gills, and landing them live. The fish are bled and dressed live, making them the highest quality sockeye available anywhere. The Hawkshaw’s method allows them to catch fewer fish, release any by-catch like coho and steelhead without injury, and earn three times the going rate for the fish they land because they concentrate on quality, not volume. Ecotrust Canada is working alongside the Hawkshaws to create policy and market openings for their selectively caught, highest quality wild fish." -- Expurgated from a brief from Ecotrust Canada We were the beneficiaries of the product at the Sustainability Luncheon held earlier this summer.

Has anyone checked out the (plasmoid) mounting angles at Bogart's recently? We've had a couple of good reports on the food/drink/spectating trifecta.

Absolutely gorgeous guys. Having installed our girls at university yesterday we returned to an empty house--unusual for Labour Day Sunday. Thanks for filling the void--and then some. And Rachel, I had to adjust my set. Looks like an Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in a mould, but please describe the flavour(s)! Cheers, Jamie