jamiemaw

We had a fairly traditional Canadian tasting menu, interrupted only by live reports from Jacksonville compliments of a couple of pals who were sober enough to find the stadium. 1. Crudites and chips, guacamole, salsa /Heineken 2. Grilled coss lettuce hearts with pungent vinaigrette, sauteed side-stripe shrimp and Dungeness crab heaped high. /Mission Hills 5 Vineyards Pinot Grigio; Cedar Creek Chardonnay 3. Garlic-crusted grilled deep-cut sirloin steaks, about 3" and 1.5 kilos each with Hy's 'Only' glaze. Wild mushroom risotto. /Jackson-Triggs Grand Reserve Meritage 4. More Heineken. Everything was delicious and except for the grilling during Paul McCartney's set, was stress-free to plate and serve. The risotto disappointed though: I had experimented with California organic arborio that was just too soft. It tasted good, but was porridgey (I should have adjusted my stir time) and looked like Yasser Arafat's death mask. The best part of the day though, was being surrounded by gorgeous, football-savvy women who drink lager from the bottle and swear in the affirmative immediately following immacualte receptions. Plus, they asked life-affirming questions such as: "Would you care for more steak to go with the beer I'm just about to bring you?" All day long, as they say.

I personally keep the elks' balls warm. To not do so would be a travesty against the honour of my mother-cuisine, you bastard. May a pox be upon your house, and may Tommy Lee dedicate a song to your youngest daughter, Chef Sven Chen Lenson

A Message from the Executive Chef of Kung Pow Phat Soy First, as I am not a member, but wanted to reply quickly to the poisonous and highly personal attacks on my business, staff and even decor, it was very kind of Jamie Maw to allow me to share this message with you. Second, let me clear up one egregious error right now. Although my Canadian name is Chef Sven Chen-Amundson, under the stricter naming protocol of Sweden, my official name, in honour of my father, the well-known chef Len Chen, is Chef Sven Chen Lenson. Thankyou. It's one thing to be told you have tasteless decor. Did it ever occur to you Yaletown-dwellers in your fancy "living spaces" that I am a struggling immigrant who can only afford cinder blocks? Of course not. But tasteless food as well? That kind of vitriol comes from a place foreign to both of my mother cultures and can hardly improve Canadian-Sino-Swedish relations, already stretched to the limit over the whole rebar fiasco. As our head swerver Bjorn Thorsenblorgenstadtlanderen reported above, our family recipe for elk balls goes back in time to the reign of my maternal great grandfather Prince Vapid (of the Vapid Waters Vapids), whose family have ruled the province of Saab since 1953. Anyway, before I stray too far off topic and get you all into trouble again, it is a favourite recipe used even today in the manufacture of automobiles and light field armaments. I notice that the "poster"in question, aka "petulant princess" (I'm personally convinced she works for our rival, Triple Happy Xxxtasy Gardens over on No. 2 Road), couldn't even read her notes properly because she was so blotto with the traditional Swedish "Festive Punch" that we introduced especially for the purposes of DOVE 2005. Reminds me of the twins when they went on that three goal scoring spree a couple of seasons back. They had a couple of Ribena and Carlsbergs and then tried to run a couple of Laps. Next, nine times out of ten I'll back my staff 50/50 and you can bet on it because when they're not talking hockey they are actually quite attentive. If you want your Aquavit poured for you, or little details like your bill being brought to the table, for goodness sake, that's another thing entirely, of course. No wonder 79-year old Swedish men are more fit than the average Canadian university student and can eat many elk balls in one sitting. I could go on and on but I'm not Irish. Thank you for having the patience to hear me out and you are welcome to brighten our doorway and revisit at anytime, especially as our new fleet of plasma televisions has arrived just in time for the resumption of hockey in 2007. Yours sincerely, Chef Sven Chen Lenson Kung Pow Phat Soy Ristorante "Where Important People Come To Meet, And Then Leave." **** NOW SERVING BJORK ****

A Message from ANDY LIONS: As we like to say around here, one more time with feeling: if you have something to say about your DOVE dining experience at Kung Pow Phat Soy, please go ahead and post on this thread. If your point is a more general one, please seek out the most appropriate forum in which it post it. I believe that there is a specific thread dedicated to "Famous Foodstuffs of the Modern Biopic" over in the General Food Topics Forum or simply post it in the Leonardo DiCaprio Forum.

Did anyone see hangar steak as featured in the Howard Hughes biopic "The Aviator?" It looked pretty much like Neil's recipe and now we all know how it got its name!

With respect, Chatters, I had the exact opposite experience at KPPS last week. I've spent the last few nights up late pondering exactly what to say, because I too really enjoyed the Chinese cheese tasting and the lecture on the history of glogg- making that Sven put on after Christmas. But to be honest, I found the elk balls WAYYY too big. Secondly, the sauce was flatulent and the "traditional Swedish risotto" that it accompanied it didn't work for me--besides it totally lacked flavour unless you like "those kinds" of animal-like flavours. But what really got me hot was how Lars, Magnus and the twins would just walk past us (to discuss lock-out strategy, no doubt) as if we didn't even exist. I even had to fill my Aquavit glass myself from time-to-time. They're not bigshots any more you know and even when i stamped my feet they didn't compliment me on my outfit. Jeez--I even put on a clean bra! Plus, they only had those expensive Swedish waters like Vapid and Boris, so we didn't order any. Instead we had hot water and lemon. The second course was barely OK. Actually, it wasn't OK. Again (and I know that Sven's dad Len Chen was a big-time Burquitlam chef and all), I just didn't "get" the "Special Chop Suey" which was literally swimming in their "House Signature Phat Soy" sauce. What gives? Alright, the Swedish coffee cake was pretty neat--I'll give you that. But ours was served with that ABBA-brand liquer (kind of like Galliano mixed with Chianti) which is even stickier than Malibu. Not so good. I won't be rushing back. petulantprincess

Nice try, Chatters. You are the most transparent shill on this forum--talk about direct marketing--you take the (traditional Swedish coffee) cake. Unbelievable! We all know that you were appointed late yesterday as Director of Hunan Resources at Kung Pow Phat Soy. What do you take us for? Any more of this and we're sending over the newly sleek Coop in his blue lycra powersuit to sort out you and your off-duty hockey player busboys once and for all! Signed, etc. Jamie Maw

Hi, I’m a new poster but the fabulous DOVE experience I just had drew me out—I just had to share it with you. Simply put, I had the gustatory experience of a lifetime at Kung Pow Phat Soy last night. My palate still fairly sings with the reductive incandescence of chef/proprietor Sven Chen-Amundson’s extraordinary take on modern Sino-Swedish fusion cooking. The aquavit pairings and lychee-Malibu punch were extraordinary too, although I woke up this morning thinking that maybe an F-16 had mistaken my mouth for a Taliban cave. Particularly remarkable is that chef Sven managed to carry off this extraordinary tour de force for only $15 (or a mere 85 kronor in his mother’s native currency). In Stockholm that won’t even get you an espresso. To me he really sums up modern Vancouver—well, alright, Richmond: wife and two young children to support (none of whom speak English), moving trailers this week and all the usual hassle of converting his brigade of locked-out Swedish hockey players to become busboys. I even watched him training a thick-headed defenseman named Lars that a "walk-away" was a sin very similar to not taking your man to the corner. Lars turned beet red, not unlike when Mark Crawford chews him out—he looked a little Thor. All that and cooking in two distinct dialects: Swedish (traditional meatballs, fermented fish, abba-toir, lussekator, bjork and glogg etc.) and the classic Chinese cuisine perpetrated by his father, Len Chen, in the Whalley-Burquitlam triangle for many years at the now legendary “Len’s: Chinese/Canadian Food Served Here.” You probably know that KPPS is located in a fairly iffy location of Richmond (under the overpass, so it's actually quite dry though) and I really congratulate Sven, Mattias, Marcus, the twins and even Lars for the incredible service during DOVE. And it was really gracious of Sven to host the glogg and Chinese cheese tasting a few weeks ago, even if quite a few of you had trouble finding the place. Before I start in on the food, a few notes about the décor. (Excuse me if my memory isn’y perfed, butt I had quite a few punches like the hockey players and my notes got soaked in lychee-Malibu. Sticky situation! But here goes nothing: cinder blocks. Whoops, that’s all I rember! Anyway, the food. The three course DOVE menu was fantastic. FIRST COURSE: We started with a Swedish dish—mini elk meatballs in a rustic and earthy pimento-laced tomato-elk reduction. Rambunctious to the touch, they made even better projectiles, although Lars had enforced a strict lock-down on the crusty rolls (replaced with those Nerf-type airline rolls) and cubed sugar. Anyway, the elk balls were truly memorable! SECOND COURSE: “Special Chop Suey”. Here Sven swung abruptly but deliciously back to the provenance of his father’s native land of Burquitlam. And talk about ample portions, dropped at the table by Lars and the twins in record time. This dish had a pleasant mouthfeel even if the meat parts, beautifully bathed in the house “Phat Soy”, were slightly mysterious and tasted faintly feline. Wine Pairing: 2004 Viognier "Monologue" THIRD COURSE: Back to the Baltics (!) with traditional Swedish coffee cake with melted ice cream. What another fabulous treat as Sven sent them flaming to the table in a pool of Aquavit even if the ice cream didn’t quite pull through it was quite a show sort of like those Canucks games when they dim the lights and blast off those fireworks. All in all, a fantastic, fabulous night and our tab for two was less than $200 including a generous tip to the out-of-work hockey players. Has anyone else tried Kung Pow Phat Soy during DOVE? I’d be interested in your comments. As for me I can hardly wait (just 350 more sleeps) for DOVE 2006! Cheers! F. Morris Chatters

What utterly despicable manners. In our family we typically order our first drink about two hours before our reservation. Sure, it can be a bit of a wait, sitting outside in the car like that, but then we know we'll be right on time.

As long as you realize that one couldn't exist without the other. And further--and this was my real point--that we enjoy an unusually high standard of CFD spots here. For example you'd find it pretty tough to find anything approaching Kung Pao on a Chili's menu--you'd have to rely on the deep fryer, I'm afraid, and their Awesome Blossom ® onion. Sorry your Kung failed to Pow, and hoping that syndrome didn't follow you home, Respectfully yours etc., F. Morris Chatters Director of Hunan Resources Kung Pow Phat Soy Restaurants Ltd. "Where friends come to meet, and then leave" Richmond, B.C.

I was recently being interviewed. The host asked me if I would ever consider opening my own restaurant. "Absolutely not," I replied, "I know too much about the business. And my sensitive disposition does not lend itself to dealing with the public." It was not the response she was seeking. "Well, say you did, she went on, "would you rather be chef or maitre d' . . ." "Neither," I said. "I would insist on being Director of Human Resources at Earls."

Here you go Dodger I think that a Spring Break launch is more realistic though.

I have enjoyed your posts, 2Roost--they are clearly balanced by first-hand experience. For that there is no substitute. I too enjoyed reading this thread. Vancouver is an egalitarian city, and this is an Egulleterian site. That is the nature of the beast. As someone much more clever than I said, "I may disagree with what Mrs. Slabworth said, but I will defend to the death her right to say it." You may recall me writing at length recently in Vancouver that the unfettered discourse on eGullet (and other culinary websites) might well, in time, render my job redundant. Equally, I think this city is the better for proprietors like Sean Heather; I'd rather drink Guinness than the dregs of milquetoast any day. Before that article, however, and before eGullet really gained traction (December, 2003, where the article in its entirety can be found under "Archives" and then "Diner"), I wrote about the tripartite symbyosis between restaurateur, critic and the dining public. I believe that those words hold true today, even if we might now add in the role of the "public critic", i.e. the Egullet poster: "The role of the restaurant critic directly correlates to the price of dinner—the consumer needs sound advice before parting with the cash, especially if it’s a lot of cash. The power of the restaurant critic, however, correlates to the size of the market, the circulation and legitimacy of the publication, as well as the methodology of the review process. As for the restaurateur, well it’s a business that we critics are messing with, and there are families, suspicious bankers and surly partners involved, so any review should be balanced, objective, accurate and responsible. That’s where flamboyant interlopers like A.A. Gill (of London's The Sunday Times)are called to account. You might ask yourself what you’d think if a stranger came into your office unannounced, sat down for a couple of hours to fondle your files, made a few notes, spoke briefly to your assistant and then left? Then two weeks later, when you open the Daily Asperator, you discover that “Mel’s fourth quarter marketing plan was dramatically underseasoned, perhaps deliberately so.” A good example of a bad review—which is to say one that’s shamelessly inaccurate—was a column by Jacob Richler, a one-visit wonder--published in the National Post a summer ago. It was a review of the Vancouver seafood restaurant C, where Mr. Richler, in addition to professing an extreme dislike of seagulls and in-line skaters while dining al fresco (wuss), made several inaccurate statements of fact (wimp). Compare this to the same publication’s Financial Post, which, when analyzing other businesses, prides itself on objective journalistic protocols and high standards of accuracy. So, although the subjective is one thing (as with movies and books, you should find a restaurant critic whose taste you can literally trust), being wrong is something else again. The fact is, the field is cluttered with conflict and is more subjective than judging figure skating. One critic I know, who extols the virtues of locality, seasonality and all things fresh, writes like a dream about restaurants that espouse these themes in the context of our emerging regional cuisine (cool). But he has an aversion to steakhouses (not so cool), even if they serve B.C. beef, free-range béchamel, Pemberton potatoes and home-made Okanagan tomato ketchup. My own bias is against anything pretentious. I disdain pretentious service (the imperious host or snotty sommelier), pretentious food (vertical presentation with the provenance of each ingredient noted, right down to its mother’s maiden name) and pretentious décor (faux-Tuscan and noisily styled moderne being the chief offenders). And I can smell pretension a mile away—because it’s a trait I despise in others while having learned to live with it in myself. . . . William Grimes, who reviews anonymously for the New York Times every Wednesday, spends huge expense account money (more than $10,000 US some months) dining out. He and his dining cronies try to taste the entire menu before publishing a review. He is responsible, and because of unerring fact-checking, deadly accurate. Grimes is the most powerful restaurant critic in North America. Many consumers will dine out on a highly positive Grimes review and, while one does not guarantee the long-term success of a restaurant, it’s certainly very helpful. . . . The Canadian equivalent of Grimes is Joanne Kates, who largely reviews Toronto restaurants but gets little respect in the industry (critic as victim, we say) for her seemingly single-visit reviews and lazy writing. A bright spot, though, and our own equivalent of Mariani, is Enroute magazine’s annual “Best New Restaurants in Canada.” Conflict alert: Some small weeklies might have no budget whatsoever; their critic might be on their own financially, and might actually barter a review for dinner. While this magazine doesn’t pretend to have the budget of the New York Times (we spend about $4,000 per month in restaurants), we do endeavour to respect the business, be accurate and fair, and revisit to eat enough of the menu to get the full flavour of the place." Sorry about this long quote, however I think it underscores some of the points that 2Roost quite legitimately raises, and in so doing, perhaps stimulates me to hang on to my job for a while longer. And, time permitting, I think it's high time to start a thread called "The Restaurant Patron as Victim." That will be right after the Super Bowl, where, not unlike this thread, I will be in the unlikely position of cheering for both sides. Best, Jamie

1. Bistro Pastis for a quiet chat and a neat turn on french 2. The Epicurean for casual Italian 3. The Smoking Dog for a crab crepe

Interesting conundrum whenever one names a new baby. 1. Do you name her after what you think she looks like now--i.e. something a little cute and maybe even trendy and very new-millenium? 2. Or do you go with what you think she'll look like in 20 years and likely be doing after college when she's out in the professional world--i.e something a little more corporate? There is also a substantial difference between a 'brand name', i.e. what it says on your storefront and business cards, as opposed to the legal name that the Registrar of Companies will allow you to get away with. Ergo the 'dba' or 'doing business as' moniker that one often sees in business registry or bankruptcy ads. Now, if one wanted to get a little cute (see 1. above), you could name the brand Makin' Bakin'. However that might not age as well as the baby grows up. And for that matter, Bakin' might be a good short-term brand name but you would not be able to register it as such. Certainly, however, it could look great as a marketing flash on graphics and the storefront, but probably as an adjunct to something more substantial . . . So perhaps it's a good time to turn to successfully launched retail operations that deliver a strong sense of quality and locality. I can think of no better than The Okanagan Sausage Company whose main store is now at Granville Island with operations and manufacturing consolidated in Richmond. Although they started in Oyama, and still have a retail presence there, their name acknowledges something bigger, but also something homemade--and that's a good thing. Therefore I would recommend that you call your new operation . . . The Mission Baking Company This would resolve brand and registry in one go and the word mission has several interesting connotations, a sense of locality at the outset, but also, importantly, a sufficient generic flexibilty to allow the baby to graduste college. The graphic could have a screened outline of the mission, and flashes such as Bakin' would be relegated to the Bread Menu. And once you have a retail operation up and running, why not take a page from Krispy Kreme and put a red neon sign in your window reading "HOT BREAD" or "BAKIN'" or "MAKIN' BAKIN'". Just pray that your vision and products are less flawed than theirs! Neat angles: Using artisanal flours (Red Fyfe etc.) would work well. Best of luck with your new venture, Jamie PS: Have to add that I enjoy Canadian Bakin' Company too!

Earl's...that is interesting....excuse this Albertan's ignorance...hey, we do it for "King Ralph" virtually daily...but what is Paramount Place? ← Paramount Place is a major mixed-use 24-storey eatertainment complex (with a sturdy residential tower above) and defined by Hornby, Burrard and Smithe streets. In addition to the cineplex (which will offset the loss of the soon-to-disappear Capital Six complex on Granville Mall), there will be a number of new restaurants, including a state-of-the-art new build Earls. It's pretty.

With pleasure, Steve. Obviously there were lots of interesting discussions going on over the Christmas holidays, and like a kid staring at the Christmas tree, I've been sitting on a few of these announcements since then. Quite a message to the industry in Michael Noble's appointment. And certainly an interesting sidebar to the convergence of value in "brand extension" casual dining rooms (Feenie's on Broadway and soon in Burnaby, Harry Kamboli's new digs, Enoteca, the Small Plates phenomenon et al) versus established CFD chains like Earls that have been hiring well-regarded 'names' such as David Scholefield and Anthony Gismondi to deepen value and taste on their wine lists. It's also interesting to note that Earl's purchasing VP George Piper instituted an organic greens program long before many FD rooms. Although I know there's some snobbery out there about CFD or so-called 'three-ring binder' chains, recent road trips through the States and UK continue to corroborate what I've long suspected--that several of the CFD chains that were birthed here in Western Canada (Earls, Cactus Club, The Keg, Joey's Global Grill, Milestone's) do a quite remarkable job at a very tough price point--at a $20 to $25 average dinner check. The new rooms (wait till you see Paramount Place; the new Park Royal Cactus Club is a sleek beauty) are gorgeous. The service training is legendary--I hosted a couple of teams from the UK in the past year who came explicitly to see how it's done. So I got to thinking, how come they're noticeably (often, remarkably) better than what's available in Eastern Canada, the States and the U.K.? I reckon that in a smaller sized city such as Penticton, say, the local Earls may be the dependable, default choice for a casual meal. But it strikes me that the real determinate is in a larger city such as Vancouver, where the competition for customers at this price point is especially fierce given the virtually unlimited value choices, especially in Asian cuisines. In short, they simply have to be consistently excellent, with nary a microwave and a very limited dependence on the deep fryer. Add in intrepid sourcing and highly integrated distribution (economy of scale) of raw product. Add back the service. Add in an expert real estate team. And add in that one ineffable element--a sense of humour and, dare I say, even fun, and you get the point. That might be one reason that The Keg is doing so well in Dallas, beating them at what we might have assumed was their own game. I suspect we'll see a press release in a week or two, and that Michael will visit us here in person once he's settled in after his trip to France. We probably shouldn't forget that he follows some other highly skilled development chefs: Chris Mills (who is now at Earls siblings Joey's Global Grill and OPM), Alain Leger (ex-Metropolitan Hotel, now executive chef at the Brentwood Bay Resort--both of whom trained under Noble). And Cactus Club has one of the most skookum development kitchens in the country at Broadway and Ash--you may have seen their development team featured, with president Richard Jaffray, on a recent 'Chef at Large' on FNC. Turns out it's a very tough process to develop a chain-wide recipe. It also intrigues me that the food media, who intrepidly chase the next new FD room or perhaps more esoteric Asian or storefront neighbourhood find, virtually ignore this category (with the exception of Tim Pawsey of The Courier, who regularly weighs in on CFD), even though many Canadians, especially at this end of the country, surely don't. But don't ask me. We had occasion to canvass a number of name chefs a while back as to where they eat on their nights off. While many preferred Japanese with their spouse, if the family was involved, you probably already know the answer. Cheers, Jamie

Keith, I may have got the spelling wrong. Instead of 'whoopee' as in the old Krak-a-Joke cushions that replicated flatulent barnyard sounds when your maiden-Aunt Florence sat down for Christmas dinner (remember, she was quite capable of her own replications after three loads of turkey, Brussels sprouts, and the second helping of mince pie), it may actually be spelled 'whoopie', i.e. that what dear Auntie Flo had never made, perhaps for the reason cited above. Semantically yours, Jamie

Olivier at Pattiserie leBeau imports his sugar--at great expense he maintains--from secret suppliers in Belgium. So the dough is one thing . . .

you are correct. Same spot ← Gianni Picchi was there in between until some GST issues caught him up. After cooking at The Stump Lake Ranch and The Beach Side in West Vancouver, he's now rumoured to have struck out--on his own again, that is. There were some amazing souvenirs when he renovated the old Szasz's space, including a perfectly petrified tray of food including a plate of goulash, circa 1961, although carbon-dating is notoriously unreliable when it comes to paprika. And while on the subject of carbon-dating, the Szasz's were cousins of the fabulous Gabor sisters, who could be espied, from time to time, taking a traditional Euro-weiner or two in the back room.

OPENING SOON BC Restaurant Industry News Ah, January, the time of snow, monsoon, occasional sunshine, early daffodils, and rapid restaurant change. Read on . . . Downtown Vancouver WHEN GOOD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE DEPT. Upon his return from Lyon, France where he’s once again attending the Bocuse d’Or culinary competition (but this time as a judge—Team Canada placed 8th under chefs Morgan Wilson and Ryan Stone from the Marriott Pinnacle), Michael Noble (ex-Four Seasons Hotel, Metropolitan Hotel and Catch, Calgary), will join Earls as Head of Culinary Development. After an introductory tour of Earls and affiliated properties throughout Canada and the U.S., Noble’s first launch will occur shortly at Paramount Place. “Everyone in the Earl’s organization is thrilled,” Stan Fuller, the president of Earls told us today. “We chose Michael and he chose us.” Noble, in addition to pioneering the renaissance of our local cuisine via the aggressive sourcing of local ingredients, is also rightly known for the formidable apprenticeship and mentoring programs he implemented at the various properties noted above. We recently reported in Vancouver the westward movement of the new-build downtown restaurant nexus. Where restaurants sprouted along the Yaletown corridors over the past decade, there’s movement back to Robson and especially Alberni, spurred by the potential footfall traffic generated by the Shangri-la and Paramount Place multi-use developments. The Granville Mall remains the Great Divide for quality dining. So watch carefully the former Bruce fashion space on Alberni (just west of Burrard). There are some exciting designs for a 200+ seat CFD restaurant and bar in the clear-span space—nails bang shortly for a planned Labour Day launch. More news soon. Nearby, Romy Prassad, ex-executive chef at Jack Evrensel’s CinCin, is refreshing the second-floor former Settebello space. With partner Dee Anand, he plans to open the to-be-named restaurant before spring break. Replacing Prassad at CinCin will be Andreas Wechselberger, previously executive sous at CinCin and prior, executive chef at Teatro, Calgary, where he replaced Mission Hills’ Michael Allemeier. Perhaps the solution for the Granville Mall will be the proposed refurb of the 900-block, continuing south from the recently revamped 800-block, now recast in retail, restaurant and office space. With the Capital Six slated for redevelopment (on the podium: Orpheum extension, rehearsal hall and music school) with a large-scale residential tower above. Farther north of The Bay, The 440-suite Hudson, again with commercial and other amenities at street level, should combine to offer the city both more centrally-located restaurant opportunities and the night-time street life that drives them. False Creek Harry Kambolis, the quietly successful proprietor of Raincity Grill, has inked the lease to Riley’s, the well-located but under-used False Creek space just a smoked octopus’s throw from that gem called C. Concept is being refined, menu developed, but look for an informal approach to seafood and more—watch this space . . . . Whistler Meanwhile at Whistler, CinCin sib Araxi’s exec chef James Walt decamps for a year to Rome. Replacing him is Andrew Richardson, formerly opening sous chef at West in 2001, and then Carter House Inn in California. Richardson also worked at Cioppino’s and Sooke Harbour House. Yaletown LilyKate—a 2,700 square foot restaurant (70 indoor seats in dark wood, espresso-coloured banquettes and a zinc bar; 35 patio) and shop—will open February 7th at 1265 Hamilton Street (604-687-5885). Offering “the comfort food people long for and crave”, proprietor Britta Joyce will show a home style menu of mac and cheese, meatloaf, and apple-stuffed pork chops from exec chef Elke Brandstatter. Pastry chef Carley Makela will offer pecan sticky buns, whoopee pies, German chocolate cake and New York cheesecake. The shop will feature pastries, foods, prepped meals and quality condiments. At Bluewater, Chef Frank Pabst has launched (suspended during Dine Out) a 7-course “Unsung Heroes” menu that celebrates many of our under-recognized coastal species such as anchovies, mackerel, sardines, sea urchin, sea urchin, geoduck, cuttlefish, squid and periwinkles. Sounds an interesting bargain at $79, runs until February 28th; individual tasting plates are available--I'll take mine at the bar with some neat Smirnoff--it won this week's New York Times tasting against all the big quadruple-filtered boys. Wine Country Driving from Kelowna to Sun Peaks for the annual Ice Wine Festival last weekend, Mission Hill’s Director of Sales Ingo Grady proudly shared some news: Mission Hill’s Anthony von Mandl will soon become the first Canadian president of the International Wine and Spirit Competition, an accolade indeed. Other notables who have served the position include Baroness Philippine de Rothschild, Robert Mondavi and Wolf Blass (and you thought it was just another crafty marketing brand). Von Mandl knows the competition well—it was a Mission Hill chardonnay (winemaker John Simes first vintage, a 1992, in fact) that won the IWSC’s Avery Trophy for Best Chardonnay in the World, at the London competition in 1994. Famously, the French judges at that competition professed an inability to pronounce the word Okanagan let alone know how to spell it. They insisted on a re-tasting. Mission Hill won again. The best of the wine dinners was at The Val, where Grady (Mission Hills and Gehringer Bros. co-hosted) and I ate some well-prepped tuna and a hearty turn of duck. Nice job. Kelowna’s Bouchons Restaurant near Prospera Place plays to packed houses most nights. It’s from the same Richard and Martine Toussaint who used to run Vancouver’s Café de Paris and short-lived Cyrano, now occupied by CRU; chef André Bernier pushes out quality bistro food with plate bending accessories, often including miniature vegetable timabales, terrines, scalloped potatoes or good frites. You might not often associate the words bistro with vegan, but a call-ahead request for one of our guests showed a four-course vegetable tasting menu laden with flavour—a tough stunt at this time of year. Free advice: Order the satisfying cabbage and bacon soup. The attractively designed next-door Waterside Wine Bar (it’s not) offers many by-the-glass locals and a short menu. The only caveat—nearby parking spaces are few, especially on hockey nights. Bundle up. Pierre-Jean Martin and his wife Sandrine Raffault have opened La Boulangerie, a day-only room in a former fast food taco space on Lakeshore just south of KLO. Restorative soups, quiches and husky sandwiches en baguette and a terrific retinue of pastries and breads. Martin uses only French flour, by the way, and the drive-thru window raises obvious and attractive questions. La Bussola has moved west into new downtown premises. Scampi and veal rate well, pastas well-made, solid cellar. Farther south, Joie is changing its name to reflect that accommodation will only be available for folks attending its cooking school this season. Other Business The BC Restaurant and Foodservices Association (BCRFA) recently announced the first inductees to its new BC Restaurant Hall of Fame. Herewith, their press release: “We founded the Hall of Fame to celebrate and promote excellence in BC’s culinary traditions and pay tribute to the outstanding individuals, past and present, who have shaped this vibrant industry,” said Richard Floody, Chair of the BC Restaurant and Foodservices Association. “British Columbia ’s restaurant scene is one of the most dynamic in North America , if not the world and we are proud to honour those who have made it the success it is today,” said Bing Smith, Chair of the BC Restaurant Hall of Fame Committee. Leading the list of the first 16 BC Restaurant Hall of Fame inductees are Erwin Doebeli of the William Tell and Umberto Menghi of Umberto’s who were named in the Active Category, which celebrates the exceptional restaurateur who is currently active in the BC restaurant industry. Inductees in the four categories (Active, Pioneer, Industry, Friend of the Industry) are: Active Celebrating exceptional restaurateurs currently active in the BC restaurant industry. · Erwin Doebeli: The William Tell · Umberto Menghi: Umberto’s Pioneer Pioneers of the BC restaurant industry, either retired or deceased. · Hy Aisenstat: HY’s Steakhouse · Nat Bailey: White Spot · Frank Baker: The Attic · Mario Corsi: Park Royal Hotel and Corsi Trattoria · Frank & Eva Iaci: Iaci’s · Mike McLaughlin: Old House Restaurant, Comox · Louis Stervinou: Devonshire Seafood House and Ondines · Peter Szasz: Szasz Restaurant · George Tidball: Keg Restaurants · Joe Troll: Troll’s Restaurant Industry Award Individual—retired, deceased or active—who is or has been a chef, server, manager, bartender and who has demonstrated exceptional professionalism working in the restaurant industry. These individuals will be recognized for making their restaurant a special experience for customers. Back of House· Bruno Marti: Chef/Owner, La Belle Auberge Front of House Ann Bentley: General Manager, Aqua Riva Friend of the Industry An individual who has provided exceptional support to the restaurant industry – either a supplier, restaurant reporter, or politician who has consistently supported BC’s restaurant industry. · Harry McWatters: Sumac Ridge Winery · Peter Whittall: Neptune Food Service Inductees were chosen by a panel of 50 judges made up of industry leaders from throughout the province. The Hall of Fame presentations will be made during a special industry celebration on March 7, 2005 at BC Place Stadium. The permanent home of the BC Restaurant Hall of Fame will be at the new Center of Excellence in Hospitality at the downtown campus of Vancouver Community College . Limited tickets available. TO PURCHASE TICKETS: call Kathy Rutherford at (604) 669-2239 or (800) 663-4482. It was, as they say, an honour to be nominated, but certainly more befitting that the longtime vets mentioned above be given their just desserts. Congratulations to all.

It doesn't look very ripe to me but maybe it's heirloom and supposed to be like that. ← Pictured Above: Wild bunch of Canadian ice carrots. In lieu of celery, they make for a delicious garnish in Bloody Caesars. Hard hat recommended at harvest. Season with Canadian Tire driveway salt and superior horseradish.

Thank you, at least on behalf of the organizers and judges, because the credit is due them, especially David Scholefield (whom, you'll remember, used to order the bulk of the wine entering this province), Sid Cross (whose wine mneumonics continue to astound), and Christina Burridge. I don't pretend to enjoy their sophistication; on a good day I can scarcely tell an '05 Heineken from a straggler snagged from the back of the fridge. And certainly, there are many wine sophisticates on this forum whose opinions should be highly valued, even (or perhaps especially) in light of the fact that British Columbians drank some $16 million of Yellow Tail (the success of which is a seeming lightening rod for opinion leaders) product last year. As Coop pointed out: If pressed, I'd have to admit that I'm not a big fan of Emeril myself, but I think Coop's point was that it's a little like shooting ducks in a barrel. I will cede the Bamster this though: He tuned a lot of people into cooking. And certainly, and perhaps not unlike brassy and unsophisticated shiraz, we always knew we could change the channel once we'd outgrown him. And then, as Coop also suggests, move on. (Incidentally, I'm sure that many of you read the Wall Street Journal's excellent commentary last week on the rise of Australian shiraz, but the relative vapidity (sweet, oaky) in comparing this year to last.) While I was amused that the Yellow Tail attracted so much fuss (it was but one of 121 award winning bottles), I was curious as to why some other low cost wines did not, namely the 2003 Con Sur Viognier ($10.99--Special Merit Award) and the NV Fossi Roso ($10.95--Best Buy). Anything that demystifies the wine world works fine for me. Snobbery, and inverse snobbery remains rife, as does confusion. I think it's important to quote David Scholefield, the awards coordinator, from his introduction: WHY WE DID IT THE WAY WE DID IT "Why another wine competition? It might be argued that ther are enough wine tastings, dinners, auctions, festivals, galas and seminars already. Wine is better than ever, but shopping is harder. Wines around the world have improved immeasurably in recent years--one must look no further than our own backyard for conclusive proof. Shopping for wine should be an easy prosition, but strangely, it ain't necessarily so. Somehow the old myths that have always surrounded wine manage to persist. Something that should be easy--perhaps even enjoyable--is made to seem dauntingly complicated. As a result far too often consumers are too intimidated to venture into unfamiliar wine territory. That's where this competition comes in. We wanted to find a way to take the mystery out of the equation. Wines were therefore judged in 10 broad stylistic categories, often grouping obscure, as-yet-unkowns with the tried and true. Progressive retailers and restaurauteurs around the world have recognized that wine drinkers care more about style and occasion than appelation, vintage and grape variety. Furthermore, price is everything. Judges were relentlessly browbeaten to taste from the point of view of the consumer. The wine shoppers' first question is always "What's the best value for money?" The judges' selections are meant to answer that question. Wines were tasted blind on a like-with-like bais in three price categories--less than $15, $15-$30 and over $30. Best Buy award winners are wines the judges agreed (judging was by consensus) they would choose to drink at home. The Special Merit winners are exemplary wines of extrordinary quality and value--Best Buys-plus . . ." While I agree with much of Barolo's commentary (by the way, I think Christina Burridge might have been referring to the relative value, perhaps unclearly, when she lauded the showing of New World wines), I respectfully question this remark: Again, the vast majority of wines selected were not "convenience store wines" at all, but represent a broad and diverse range of geography, price range and value and, I think, an appropriate consensus selection for the inaugural year of this competition. Thus far, the consumer has shown a keen interest in the results, especially via the insert being distributed at LDB outlets. i beleive there are bin flags going up too. In closing, I can only add that, after avery strong start, I hope that this competiton will grow in its appeal for all of the stakeholders: Consumer, winemaker, and agent. FYI, (and to be completely transparent) for us at Vancouver Magazine, it made a working 'profit' roughly equal to the sale of two additional pages of advertising. And that should be just enough to ensure it happens again next year. Thank you all, as always, for your valuable commentary and opinions. Jamie PS--I hope, like me, that you also enjoy the refreshing lack of adjectives (nary a "leather", "tar", "cat pee" in the lot), but the useful food pairing information.

A leading imperative of our 'local, seasonal' mantra, especially during the 90s, was focussed through the prism of what we ate in restaurants. Every major city chef in North America rediscovered the provenance of the local larder, even if in Las Vegas that meant indigenous meat leathers. In time it became a conceit. But I've been eating imported fruit (Mandarin oranges are a lead example) at home in the winter time for half a century. And half a century before that, a recent trip to the Kelowna Museum reminded me, Okanagan Valley and Washington State apples (in diversity and profusion) were winning awards in Covent Garden, London, and beating local, British fruit for Best in Show ribbons. In those days, like today, shipability factors remain the challenge.

On the trot, no doubt.