jamiemaw

Arne, I am enjoying your personalized tour of Vancouver and its eastern sububurbs very much indeed. Did you happen to bump into Harrison Ford, Virginia Madsen or F. Morris Chatters last night at the Wine Festival? It's rumoured that they're here to film the sequel to Sideways, but this time it takes place in the Napa. The working title is Indiana Jones and the Valley of Gloom. I believe that's a reference to too much oak. Of the many intriguing stops on your tour, I couldn't help but be entranced by the spoiler in your kitchen. Less secure men typically attach these to the business ends of their Porsches or Trans Ams. So I was thrilled to see that you've taken it inside, the better to keep your counter under control when cooking at speed.

Since I posted this Coop, I've had a couple of other messages about below-par food and above-par 'tude. And indifferent service. So I should declare that our visits have been mainly restricted to the cold sheet on the way home from Whistler. On the other hand, ths is West Vancouver, where the equivalent of having an affair is forgetting to return your neighbour's table saw.

Well, he was looking pretty intensely at Miss Madsen, and she's being touted (a word that Chatters and I profoundly dislike for reasons known only too well here) for a guest shot. Truth be known, though, by the end of the afternoon she was looking at Chatters with a disdain seen previously only in out-takes from Elimidate. So it'll probably be the dead chef after all.

Hey, until I met you in person, I thought you were Jamie's alter ego. Like Clark Kent and Superman, never seen in the same place at the same time, but somehow connected. I think a round on you is in order for releasing the beast of F. Morris Chatters. Can you put the genie back in the bottle ? I fear it is too late. I think that Maw is nearly done production of the next issue of Van Mag, so he is going to unleash F. Morris with a furious vengence real soon. ← Keith, First, can I be Clark tonight? I've got to review a restaurant and the spandex caused a bit of a stir at Delilah's last week. I've left the cape for you under the back doormat. Plus, I need the steel-blue hair tint back please. Neil, Congratulations on winning your award at the Wine Festival Wine List/Program Awards today. Now you can put the genie back in the bottle too. All, As to the whereabouts of F. Morris Chatters, last sighting was at the Wine Festival where he was seen squiring no less than Virginia Madsen around the campus. He was heard to remark, "For a while there I thought I was slipping precipitously backwards, but it turns out it was merely sideways." At the encouragement of Miss Madsen, Chatters is reportedly considering moving on from hospitality PR into a career on the small screen. Kind of. Apparently he's auditioning to play a feckless restaurant PR director on an uber-trendy Bravo! series currently shooting in Yaletown. Anybody heard of it?

Zen, 2232 Marine Drive, West Vancouver. Top up at Le Regalade next door if need be.

Vancouver Playhouse International Wine Festival/Vancouver Magazine Wine List and Sommelier of the Year Awards The methodology for judging the Wine List Awards was considerably changed this year. Instead of sifting through countless wine lists, a large panel of expert judges went into the field to adjudicate not just the lists, but the entire wine program including food and wine pairings, staff knowledge, and storage and presentation of wines--right down to the glassware. Vancouver Magazine partners with the Wine Festival to recognize the award winners editorially and at our annual Restaurant Awards on the 29th of March. Today at the Festival, in front of 300 industry colleagues, wine consultant David Scholefield, Vancouver Wine Academy’s (and international Sommelier Guild’s) Mark Davidson and I presented the following awards in these categories: Sommelier of the Year Award Tom Doughty, C Restaurant WINE LIST AWARDS Great Value Bravo Restaurant & Lounge (Chilliwack), Canadian Mountain Holidays (Banff), Cassis Bistro, Chi’I Restaurant, Ridge Bistro (Maple Ridge), Vintropolis Wine Bar & Bistro, Wild Rice Modern Chinese Cuisisne Best First Time Entry Pearl on the Rock (White Rock), Winebar @ Fiction Gold Glass Awards All Seasons Cafe (Nelson), Araxi Restaurant and Seafood Bar (Whistler), Arbutus Grille & Wine Bar (Brentwood Bay Lodge), Bearfoot Bistro (Whistler), Blue Water Cafe, C Restaurant, Cin Cin, Cioppino’s and Enoteca, Diva at the Met, Divino Wine & Cheese Bistro (Calgary), Earls, La Terrazza Restaurarant and Lounge, Le Gavroche, Raincity Grill, Sooke Harbour House, Aerie Resort (Malahat), The Fish House in Stanley Park, West Silver Glass Awards Aqua Riva, Cobblestone Wine Bar at the Naramat Heritage Inn, CRU, Feenie’s, L’Heritage, Il Terrazzo Ristorante (Victoria), La Masia (Surrey), Lizard Creek Lounge (Fernie), Provence Marinaside, Rimrock Cafe (Whistler), The Ranche (Calgary), The Wildflower at the Fairmont Chateau Whistler, Vij’s Curry Art Bronze Glass Awards Bin 941, Canoe Brew Pub (Victoria), Crowne Plaza Hotel Georgia, Hamilton Street Grill, Hastings House, Joe Fortes, The Cannery, The Five Sails Honourable Mention A Kettle of Fish, Chambar, DOC 503 (Sidney), Fleuri, Island Lake Resort (Fernie), Lift, Provence Bistro (Winnipeg), Spinnakers (Victoria), The Keg Tomato Fresh Food Cafe, Umami, Vista 18 (Victoria)

Vera's is where we're going next, April 3rd at 7pm. And yes, Feenie's is on the list for a future visit. Glad to hear you aren't letting a little thing like only having one servicable hand getting the way of eating! ← For many years the best hamburger in town was at The Vancouver Club. It was served medium rare with a very juicy centre and the buns were crusty chaps made in the basement bakery. But even private clubs have suffered the increased potential of liability issues (and more expensive insurance premiums) and now it's served medium. The best hamburger I've had recently in Vancouver was at Heron's at the Fairmont Waterfront. The beef: crusty surface but oozy interior, not unlike superior women.

The food writer Kasey Wilson once described these rooms as places where you can "Get someone to do something they don't necessarily want to do."

Brunch is for amateurs, chumps and tourists. Breakfast is a good idea, especially on weekends, but for some can arrive too early. And dinner, let it be said, might raise expectations, and certainly prices. In an non-expense account city like Vancouver, proper sit-down lunches are vanishing. A couple of years ago, the script was writ large when the city's premier power luncheon room, Chartwell, went dark at the noon hour. But those rooms that remain open, such as Il Giardino, Bacchus, Le Crocodile, Francesco's, Enoteca and Diva, offer refuge, respite, and value that would make a Scotsman proud. Just when your palate is freshest, and when a sandwich just won't do, I like to save about half the dinner bill, and for forty dollars or a little more, feast. I was entertaining Italian friends earlier this week. We'd had a very good meal at Vij's the night before. But I thought I'd carry the coals to Newcastle and introduce them to Pino Posteraro's cooking at Enoteca, a sleek blonde room. We began with a rustic terrine of pork shoulder served with baby romaine hearts and balsamic syrup. Then a gallantine of poached wild sockeye with salmon caviar, oil, asaparagus and smoked sea salt. Their lunchtime-only rotisserie chicken, which is remarkably good in its deeply reduced sauce, arrived with baby bok choy and buttered beans. Then a lemon granita over diced nectarines and whole raspberries. The linen and silver were top drawer, the setting pretty and quiet enough for good conversation. It was, in the words of my guests, not only delicious, but very civilized. Your favourite places for a civilized lunch?

Restaurants come and go with alarming velocity in Phoenix/Scottsdale. But one that remains and has long captured us for its consistent and understated approach to south western cuisine is Rancho Pinot Grill. It's located behind the AJ's supermarket at Scottsdale Road and Lincoln. Terrific wine list too.

Propitiously, I had to tear myself away to attend a South African wine dinner last evening as I felt the natives might be friendlier there. I largely agree with Keith's premise--that this is contrived restaurant fare for the banal-retentive. You could hear the quotation marks around the industry jargon--they "slammed" the term slammed. If I were to liken Godiva’s to a restaurant, I would be forced to call it the Wilson’s Steakhouse of sitcoms. Is that a shame? Well yes, because in addition to taking up space, it also spells a failed opportunity. The Godiva’s writing reminded me of the finer moments of Married with Children but minus the superior acting talent of David Faustino. Then it would take a mysterious ten minute toboggan ride into Simplify then Exaggerate hell. But more to the point, or the lack of it, it seemed to me that the writers failed in their due diligence: They simply failed the first task, of understanding the business. And perhaps that’s the only remarkable thing about Godiva’s—that with all of the resources available to the production team that they seemingly failed to take any real advantage of any of them. As a result I found the show a rather thin conceit. Thin because it wasn’t researched, a conceit because ignorance, when masquerading as a wannabe insider, is far from bliss. But the conceit seemed amplified by the fact that, in wanting to appear hip, it lacked the street smarts to even upstage Kelly Bundy. That being said, one must remember that Married with Children debuted in its first season at number 142 out of 163 prime time shows. And if Rupert Murdoch was worried about the cash hole that Fox had quickly become, he didn’t blink. On the other hand, he had Christina Applegate and The Nudie Bar. But he also had writers who imtuitively understood how to sell shoes.

Julio Gonzalez-Perini's cooking makes my teeth sweat and I would make a pretty strenuous case that Villa del Lupo might be the most under-rated, or under-appreciated, restaurant in the province. Perhaps it's because it doesn't have a buzzy bar or patio, or because its had inconsistent public relations handling, but I think that Villa is one the most consistently excellent restaurants around. I ate there more than a decade ago with Bryan Miller of the New York Times. The meal was astounding and he said so in print. I've taken other visiting food journalists there too--it seems to get as much or more ink from out-of-town periodicals as our own. For a fairly formal restaurant (perhaps part of its lower recognition challenge) I'm also impressed by the value. With the completion of the adjacent new Wall condominium towers I suspect that many others will be as well. The risotto, chicken, lamb shank osso buco and many other dishes are amongst the tops of their class. Free advice: Go.

I seem to recall, correct me if I'm wrong as I can't be bothered to do research on a Sunday morning, that NU is a Greek letter, I think for the letter G? Anyway, Kambolis is Greek, C is just the letter C, but it really means Sea as in fish, so the play on words here seems as clever as the first restaurant C. ← Nice work, Fanny Bay, although I think it's Greek for the letter 'N'. The other good news is that there are 24 more 'letter' opporunities remaining for Harry Kambolis. Perhaps Gamma will come next, and X, (Chi), is already taken, although H would work as it's pronounced 'a-tuh'. Then there's an opportunity for an all-beef restaurant called 'M' as that one's pronounced Mu. A restaurant serving an exclusively very small plates menu could be I, wich is pronounced iota. The all-dessert restaurant would be Pi, I suppose, or one that was just really good would be Psi. Incidentally, Harry's mother Georgia's annual Easter dinner (with two lambs aspin, swathed with olive oil laden rosemary brushes, on the rotisserie) might single-handedly revive Greek cooking in Vancouver.

The following was announced today: NEW BRITISH COLUMBIA WINE AUTHORITY TO FOCUS ON QUALITY 'VICTORIA - The administration of wine quality standards for the British Columbia wine and grape industry will become the responsibility of the newly formed British Columbia Wine Authority on Aug. 1, 2005, John van Dongen, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries announced today. The authority will administer the new Wines of Marked Quality Program, established by the Wines of Marked Quality Regulation under the Agri-Food Choice and Quality Act. "The regulation establishes the standards for premium wines and appoints the British Columbia Wine Authority as the administrator of the program," said van Dongen. "By adopting the regulation and establishing the new authority, B.C. is strongly positioned to participate in the finalization of national wine standards in collaboration with our industry and government partners across Canada." The minister said the British Columbia Wine Institute, which currently administers B.C.'s wine standards certification program under the authority of the British Columbia Wine Act, is being repositioned to focus on marketing and promoting British Columbia wines. Its wine quality standards administrative functions are being transferred to the new authority. British Columbia VQA will continue to be used as a mark of quality for British Columbia wines. The new regulation is aimed at providing truth in labelling to ensure consumer confidence in British Columbia wine, an independent governance structure to provide fair and transparent wine quality assessment and a program to set standards that will assure the premium quality reputation of the British Columbia wine and grape industry, encouraging continued growth and investment. "The benefit of this is that it will meet industry demands for an independent and objective governance structure," said van Dongen. "This should result in the British Columbia wine and grape industries working together to promote British Columbia premium wines. The new regulation also supports the development of a national wine standards program." "These strong new regulations will increase the competitiveness of our already growing B.C. wine and grape industry," said Bill Barisoff , MLA for Penticton-Okanagan Valley. "The grape and wine sector has come a long way in gaining an international reputation, and the new authority will enhance the international reputation of B.C.'s premium wines." "The establishment of the New British Columbia Wine Authority has been in discussion since 2003. B.C.'s wine industry, including a four-member industry advisory panel representing the four vintner associations, has been consulted each step of the way," said van Dongen. The industry advisory panel comprised of Bob Ferguson of the Association of BC Winegrowers, Gordon Fitzpatrick of the British Columbia Wine Institute, David Godfrey of the Wine Islands Vintners Association and Tony Stewart of the BC Estate Winery Association will continue to provide advice to the ministry in getting the new wine authority into operation and developing details of its governance policies. "This is an extremely positive step for the British Columbia wine and grape industry," said Fitzpatrick. "It will allow B.C. growers and producers to expand their markets and assure consumers both here and abroad of our high standards and quality." British Columbia now has 101 licensed wineries, and in 2003 B.C. wines generated more than $240 million in domestic sales. Exports passed $3.2 million last year with the top three export markets being the U.S., Japan and the European Union.'

Yes, congratulations to Travis and his charming proprietors who have hit that combination of neighbourly dining at affordable prices, but with destination-quality cooking. Our two visits there have been very pleasant indeed; the discipline on Travis's resume shines through. Well done, Jamie

Saltlik is opening just after Labour Day in the former Bruce fashion retail space on Alberni between Burrard and Thurlow. It's a clear-span, two storey space and will accomodate about 220 seats. The lease rate appears to be very advantageous relative to similar comparable Thurlow and Robson properties, which includes two of the city's highest grossing restaurants, The Keg and Joe Fortes. Saltlik is operated by Stewart Fuller and has operations in Banff and Calgary, both of which have been very succesful. Although billed as steakhouses, they have ample seafood. Two summers ago, at the Banff location, I had the best venison chop (with juniper berries) I've ever eaten.

Canada and the uS are the two largest trading partners in the world. Or at least they were. The wine embargo is actually only one of many levers, I believe. And although relatively minor to Canada, it is likely to be invoked because it is highly visible and will atract media attention to the underlying NAFTA/soft wood issue and the $4.2 billion of missing revenues that have been seemingly hijacked. Much more serious levers are the supply of water, energy and fossil fuels (Canada is now the US's largest supplier of oil) and the disruption of the propsed Alaska pipeline, which Canada will now undoubdetly delay if not outright cancel, but of course for reasons of 'environmental review'. According to the international adjudicating body, all this could be cured but for the stubborness of the US softwood industry and a few protectionaist senators. Needless to say, in rewarding inefficient US softwood producers, the countervail duty has also substantially raised the cost of US housing. The failure of the US senate to lift the ban on Canadian beef this week did not help relations (promulgated by midwest senators this time, who over-ruled their own experts' reports, so that the appearance is of more protectionism, not protection). But, ironically, it is President Bush who is apparently leaping to Canada's defense by raising the spectre of his first veto if the senate sends him a beef-ban bill. Why? Because he sees the bigger picture of all the above-noted retaliatory measures that Canada could invoke. That, no doubt is why PM Paul Martin has been invited to Crawford--the formerly polite Canadian has a lot of tiger in his tank. Quite a Conundrum. PS--I realize that political discussion is not the point of these forums, however as these issues are absolutely linked I hope that this backround is helpful in order to more fully understand the proposed wine embargo.

What an interesting comparison you have tilled on the road less travelled, Sam. Looking forward to the tales of Lalibela--do dish. Jamie

I'm sure that you'll receive much sound cousel for dinner, but here are a couple of lunch suggestions: 1. Visit Barbara-jo's Books to Cooks on Mainland near Davie Streets in Yaletown, late morning. You might eevn see if she has a class on via her website. Afterward, walk north a block, and one block west to Hamilton Street and have the rotisserie chicken at Cioppino's Enoteca. For another lunch, hop in a cab to Phnom Penh at 244 East Georgia Street in the heart of Chinatown. Take a walk around the produce and fish stores, but return for lunch: garlic squid, Chinese greens, hot and sour soup will do you. Enjoy, Jamie

Keith, Chatters is a mere shadow of his former self--nothing like his glory days at his eponymous restaurant in Richmond or even when he was handling The Capilano Suspension Bridge account. Very slippery slope indeed, and I hear that his membership in The Guild of Culinary and Hospitality Public Relations Professionals may even be revoked. Apparently the El Camino caused quite a stir when he tried to force his way into the Skybar recently--the doormen pretended not to see him. Finally, they were forced to call in a Buster's truck, while Chatters was heard to mutter, "And I used to rule this place--I made it what it is." No matter your opinion of the man, you must admit it's been a rapid, and ultimately sad decline.

From the desk of: F. Morris Chatters, Urban Tribester I am the newly appointed Director of Communications for Godiver's, the urbane, decidedly urban restaurant sitcom that dares to exfolliate all that you once held true in your 'hood. Named after a box of liquid-centre chocolates . . . well, you get the metaphor I'm sure. Despite that ruthless shill, Maw, trying to usurp my proper position in communicating the volcanic interplay of disenfranchised service workers, I believe that you owe the first episode a proper viewing, perhaps at a steakhouse with extremely large televisions. Since the unrelenting tout, Maw, drummed me out of my last position at Kung Pow Phat Soy, I have had to fall back on the solace of family and friends. The last straw was when my son, M. Keith Chatters, named for a longtime regular customer, threatened to charge me rent for his unused nanny's quarters. But now I am gainfully employed again, promoting the virtues of comedic men with sharp knives if dull wit. Not incidentally, Maw has personally promised me that, along with other chattels, he will keep his hyperbole safely tucked in his sock, where it belongs.

I think that "hosted meals" may have been a challenge in the past. PR people are often judged by how much press they generate. Awards might be said to enter into that equation too. And you're right, not every restaurant could necessarily afford this type of exposure. Several years ago we became aware of the increase in this activity and have since discouraged it. I don't attend hosted meals (the exceptions being an important visiting chef, some charity and industry events--such as the BCRFA Hall of Fame dinner last night where I was a guest speaker-- etc.) or attend soft openings as a rule. Thanks very much for your comments, Jamie

Great to hear your voice Paul. Have you been travelling during the off-season? Best, Jamie

Virtually every year, mangez, we do run 'dishes of the year' as reported by the various critics, so as to lead you from Chopin prelude to Beethoven symphony. Personally, I'm a big fan of the Chopin Prelude in E Minor, rather like the first dish in a very good tasting menu. And I'll certainly admonish Barbara-jo to cut down on her salt intake immediately.

← Welcome to these boards, Shellfish Sam. That being said, I rather resent your inference that there is some mysterious connection between the Godiva's sitcom, which I posted as a service bulletin of potential interest to our members, and our annual restaurant awards program. There is absolutely no connection whatsoever. In no way did I pass judgement on the Godiva's show, much as I wouldn't review a restaurant that I haven't visited. Perhaps you would like to state your claim, i.e. what reasons you have to make such an inference, or do the honourable thing and apologize. I look forward to your response. Jamie Maw