jamiemaw

In addition to carswell's excellent suggestions: Lightly smoked sablefish with cfeme fraiche; American lumpfish caviar, garlic-chilli wok-fried baby squid tubes. Sushi is an easy pairing with Kabinett; and chicken chow mein, of all things, is joined at the hip. If you're sampling a late harvest reisling, a spiced-peach tarte Tatin might be interesting this time of year. Cheers, Jamie

Or this year's eGullet Christmas card.

They have a nice private room, as well. They also have excellent non-seafood options. Frank Pabst was my first favourite chef in Vancouver, when he was at Bistro Pastis. My budget doesn't let me eat at Blue Water often, but what I have had there since he's been has been excellent. ← I can also vouch for the private dining room at Bluewater. It's a lovely (and quiet) space and chef will work with you. I'd suggest plateaux de mer to begin, some of Yoshi's excellent sushi to continue, and then mains from the menu, if you can handle that quantity. Then just fresh fruit and cheese to finish. Cioppino's Enoteca now has three private rooms. We've had several private dinners there recently; always beautifully choreographed and some excellent fish dishes. If you speak politely, they might also do some rotisserie chicken for some of the mains--normally only available at lunch. Cheers, Jamie

Hear, hear. Nicely said, Russ.

A similar reaction in 1994, when a 1992 Mission Hill Reserve Chardonnay won the Avery Trophy for Best Chardonnay in the World. The judges, a number of whom were French, couldn't pronounce the word 'Okanagan' and when they found out which bottle they had put forward for the award, insisted on a retasting. Same result. Since then, it's happened several more times, most notably when a Calona Artist's Series won Best White Wine at the Los Angeles County Fair several years ago, besting thousands of bottles, some over $100. Cost: $8.95. So maybe that's why we drink above our weight.

For lemon meringue pie you can charge as much as $6.95!

I can see how the Right Honorable F. Morris Chatters' tender consolation could provide comfort during hospice care, but I sense he is best suited to the Carnegie Deli segment of the hospitality industry. ← Precisely. But how about Mum?

Up here, on the other hand, we're disciples of the F. Morris Chatters school of hospicing: "Life is nasty, brutish and short. Get over it." On the other hand, Mum always espoused, "You were put here to bring out the best in others. So that eventually, they'll have the opportunity to bring out the best in you." Needless to say, Danny Meyer overheard her. J.

So why'd ya have to say it twice?

I was being somewhat-to-quite facetious, but couldn't find the right emoticon. By the way, my Philadelphia-based business partner was 'shushed' for cheering too loudly at a Vancouver Canucks hockey game. He also left an impressive midden of peanut shells under his and adjacent seats but was not actually arrested. Merely a cheap pun regarding writing and eating (as in trencherman) for a couple of decades. I don't differentiate between fine dining and a good rack. I've seen some particularly stupid behaviour, at restaurants as different in their approach to assuaging the human condition as the parvenus who frequent Café Boulud and La Côte Basque are from payday Friday brothers at my local rib shack. Maybe its the egalitarian in me, but if I had to choose one type of restaurant misbehaviour, I'd probably opt for the more transparent versus the snotty. Agreed. This thought alone could jump you to the head of the queue. Well done on the first thought. It's called the food service industry after all and perhaps that's what's so very attractive about the vast corpus of humanity that swells its ranks. On your second thought, legion are the stories that most restaurauteurs and chefs have about intransigent/PMessy/snobby/fornicating-in-the-coat closet/projectile vomiting/know-it-all/leglessly drunk dinner guests. But the storyteller isn't complaining, he's sharing his life and more often than not, he's laughing. I enjoy hearing those stories every bit as much as I look forward to stepping over the protaganists on my way out the door. Cheers, Jamie

i certainly hope you're right about vancouverites, but on this count, i think you're wrong. have you ever talked to a guy selling ladies' shoes? ← Russ, while I appreciate your empathy with the Al Bundy cohort, I hardly think it a correct analogy. Chef is to cobbler as server is to Bundy. Wouldn't nine out of 10 New Yorkians agree about 50% of the time?

Your comments don't entirely reflect my premise, Russ, or perhaps there's a cultural divide even wider than I might have supposed. Of course chefs and restaurant owners are in a retail business. And I didn't state nor mean to imply that they are 'artists in their ateliers', in fact quite the opposite: for the most part they're gut-busting, beer-drinking, sore-footed, washed-up rugby players just like you and me. Perhaps that's why I'm so very fond of (most of) them. But that too is hardly the point. They are also flackcatchers like no others (OK, I'll allow you Michael Bloomberg), and the inequity is indeed real and sometimes injurious. The likes of it, in fact, are unknown to me in other industries. That's why I thought it refreshing to hear from the dark side, and far from finding it whining, I thought it a rather refreshing little diatribe. Hopefully we'll hear more right here. I believe that your statement, "the basis is that one side (the restaurant) needs the other (the customer) much more than vice versa" is perhaps reflective of that yawning cultural divide. Vancouverites , while not necessarily self-effacing, may well invest less capital in the notion that there should be a difference in standards between the demeanor of personal and social relationships and those transactions where one is separating fellow comrades from their money. At least that's what the WTO had to say last week. Jamie

Thank the unusaully polite guests (brotherly love et al) in your wonderful city, Holly, which I frequent several times a year. Tomorrow, in fact, I'm hosting some industry friends from the Four Seasons Philadelphia. I can only hope that our local restaurant guests don't wind up in fisticuffs a la the Broad Street Bullies of yore. I mean, where's Dave Schultz when you need him? Your response, while beautifully reasoned, does not completely fit with my experience. I would continue to maintain that the contract is skewed, perhaps based on the North American ethos of 'The Customer Is Always Right Even When He's Not' or merely the artificial sense of entitlement that I observe restaurant patrons subjecting less well-paid service workers to. That experience has been gained, sometimes painfully, after 20 years in the front trench and I often find that the more expensive the restaurant the worse the disparity in patron:worker politesse. That being said, your extensive first-hand experience gives me hope. Jamie

You are joking, right? I mean, ALL of them? Even kulfi??? Or a delicate rice pudding, nicely chillled, and perfumed gently with rose water?? Come to Berlin, and I will feed you Indian desserts which will change your mind. I don't like rose water. and the Kulfi I got served was just some boring ice cream. Not very bad, but definitley not the best. And then there's those sticky deep fried cookies that are really hot and is so sticky they get stuck in your mouth and burn your tounge. Not fan of those "milk balls" either. But I have probably been unlucky in chosing what places I ate those things. There's probably some people and some dishes that are better! ← Whereas Adam and I would argue that haggis is universally excellent.

Just as someone intimidated by a used car salesman's sharp trading practices shouldn't be the one negotiating with the used car salesman (no offense to honest used car salesmen intended). But please understand my point clearly: I am not intimidated by a hard sell; instead, it offends me. A truly classy establishment will not try to pull a fast one on its customers. ← Pan, Fortunately we still have potable tap water here. I request it by name. However our Italian hosts at dinner the other evening had ensured that both still (Badoit) and sparkling (San Pellegrino) waters were offered to each of their guests throughout the night. In Vancouver, that's the equivalent of carrying coals to Newcastle. But it would be a shame to see this thread suffer this monumentally petite aqueous distraction when there are, I suspect, rather larger issues (see above) in play. I hope that restaurant proprietors and chefs take this opportunity to chime in. Jamie

I'm delighted that this chef/restaurateur spoke out; more of his peers should sound off too, for there was much more than just spleen on offer. The fact is that the Social Contract of Dining Out, especially in North America, is tilted in favour of the customer. And right from the get go, because it's the customer who opens the contract either by making a reservation or simply walking in. No-shows, those who choose to unilaterally cancel the contract before the operator has a chance to fulfill it, remain an egregious waste of capital and morale. Few other industries (and businesses) would suffer this artificial imbalance; fewer still could survive it. Cutting much deeper though is the false sense of entitlement that many restaurant patrons exhibit nightly, often via aggressive, boorish, rude or merely belittling behaviour (I control the contract because I'm paying). If meals are the hinges of our day, then surely good manners should lubricate them. Quite often though, restaurant patrons are simply ignorant of or boozily oblivious to the rules of the road. To suggest, as Phyllis Richman does, that . . . . . . only perpetuates this sometimes disrespectful schism, I'm afraid. Although I agree with the bolded statements below, I again disagree with how Ms. Richman builds her hypothesis; few are the chefs and proprietors I know who dream of becoming famous, rich and sage etc. My experience tells me that when they have the time to dream, which is not as often as you or me, they dream of being able to make the rent next week and payroll the week after. Of course the diner has a higher obligation than to merely pay the bill. Cheerful resolution is a useful beginning. Few restaurant guests understand the tremendous physical and emotional labour and stress and long hours of multi-tasking involved in making their dinner. But they will often be immediately critical and unforgiving over a misplaced detail or timing dysfunction. To them, I would respectfully request they begin their absolution by separating the fly shit from the pepper. In short, I wish that more restaurateurs could and would candidly and publically (I note that both writers are retired) address the inequity of the Dining Out contract, and to reference more specific instances as to its root causes and its consequences. After all, for anyone intimidated by the prospect of declining bottled water, well . . . they might be more comfortable in establishments where it's not offered at all. Jamie

But then we wouldn't be able to drink together anymore.

I immediately called Orca Bay to address your question, Keith. According to official Aquilini family spokesperson, F. Morris Chatters (who replaced Stan McCammon yesterday), "The price point is not what determines the drinking vessel. Rather, and although it's at the discretion of the server, Orca Bay personnel and concession contractors are strongly advised to follow this Policy Directive": OFFICIAL ORCA BAY BEVERAGE SERVICE POLICY DIRECTIVE To inhibit injury to customers, their families and employees of Orca Bay, the following PROFILED demographic groups and individuals must ALWAYS be served alcoholic beverages in plastic containers: • Heavily tattooed customers. NOTE: Cactus Club servers with butterfly tattoos immediately above their magenta thongs are excused • Mulletted customers • Steve Moore • The Gagliardi family • Customers with demonic, Charles Mansoneque looks or who are obviously from Richmond, British Columbia • Customers who noisily complain about the food in the Brew Pub. • Customers who covertly hide takeaway containers from Wild Rice while ordering their Scotch rocks • Anyone from the Burquitlam-Whalley Triangle • Brian Burke and Jennifer Mather • Customers who pay in quarters and dimes • Customers with clear affiliation to outlawed motorcycle clubs • Pat Quinn • Stan McCammon • The extended Bertuzzi family

I trust that will forgive those of us with a monthly deadline. I cracked off four visits and filed mine before Alexandra and still hope to shed fresh light on the mysteries of smelt corn dogs. Besides, it might offer some relief for the fabulous Wilson bros. J.

Truth be known, I was rather hoping that the Gagliardis would have head-manned the Canucks' buyout as they also own Sandman Inns and Moxie's. I thought a nasty article on arena food might be interesting as, comparitively speaking, Garage food actually makes Wilson's Steakhouse look relatively civilized. Come to think of it, Garage nachos look uglier than a Sandman. Now that's saying something, as they desecrate the main drag landscape of every B-Town in BC and their hook-up with White Spot has hardly boosted the Gross Provincial Dining Product. Personally, I blame Joy McPhail. The Aquilinis (of Zen and Aquilini slumlord fame) on the other hand, will no doubt be serving takeaways of quality salumi, lively platters of penne puttanesca and Artgiano coffees, available with portraits of Orland Kurtenbach, Dale Tallon, Stan Smyl or Tiger Williams inscribed in latte foam. Yours until hell freezes over (or they can put down decent ice at The Garage in June), J. PS: The forthcoming lawsuit between the two warring families promises many patented Savardian spinnerama moves. Can't hardly wait. But like Keith, I'll be eating before I go, at Wild Rice, Chambar, The Hammy or elsewhere in Yaletown.

London Drugs has an excellent sale on right now. Remember, mounting height is very important.

New screens can certainly cohabit with fine dining, Neil. In my social circle, I daresay it actually improves the calibre of the conversation, such as "What's the matter, Daniel, SORE P-U-S-S-Y?" This is much preferred to your usual cutomers, whose laconic dissertations on Sartre and Camus, or the discussion of the ironic superstructure of some weedy Rhone leaves me pretty chilly. Time to get some serious eaters (and drinkers) in there Neil, and where customers are concerned, nothing says I Love You stronger than three 40" flatscreens.

Adjusted for inflation, the average price of gasoline in the US is just about to pass its last record, set in 1981 of just over $3 per gallon, a year also--coincidentally--characterized by spiking interest rates, lowering real estate values, a recessionary economy and a large number of restaurant failures.

The Cactus Clubs have neat flat screens over their bars, and a few in the corners--the Yaletown store is fairly cosy. The new Earls at Paramount Place has lots of them going up the columns and they were thinking of installing a large drop screen over the back bar for game nights. I'm thinking that Saltlik will probably offer something similar. Of course Wilson's Steakhouse has more screens than The House of Stein, but I have to watch from outside there. That yuppie hangout, The Hamilton Street Grill, has screens over the bar, which is properly calibrated to 34˚F. But I would like to start a petition to present to the owner requesting that for every HSG Signature Lemon Meringue Pie® that's sold, 25 cents will be deeded to a sinking fund, the proceeds of which will be invested in post Viet Nam War video technology. I believe that the screens could be comfortably made larger too--I found it very tiresome to share the binoculars with Arne, Neil and Mayor Campbell especially as one of them has eyebrow dandruff.

surely you jest yes, animal offal stuffed into its paunch must surely be "way better" than milk, cream, sugar, flour, and cardamom milagai ← At the risk of invoking your raj, milagai, nine out of 10 Scotsmen can't be wrong.