barolo

It sold for 7.2 million if I recall correctly... I don't think many restaurants, and especially one based in Vancouver, can have such a deep pocket. ← The hotel is on the first 15 floors of the building. Here's a description of the restaurants: There's also an Urban Fare slated for the building. Check the hotel website here.

Well the les amis website says their Swiss Vacherin is arriving between December 5 and 10. I doubt very much that it is last year's stock.

At $85 for a bottle of Zin, you should have enjoyed it!

According to the CityFood website:

Yes, I would use it, and I have no problem putting my money on the table. If I have a reservation I will show up, whether I've provided a form of security or not.

Congratulations, a shift with Feenie's pastry chef is a great opportunity! What did you make? What did you learn? Is this an ongoing thing or one time only? Or have I missed your report on this elsewhere on egullet?

Apparently it does occur here. I'm told that the cheese section in the Super Value on Davie is locked up at night for this very reason - lots of cheese thieves around.

For stores I recommend, along with the others, les amis du fromage . For local cheese makers, aside from those excellent ones already listed, there's also Hillary's in Cowichan, McLennan Creek Organic Goat Cheese in Abbotsford, Natural Pastures in Courtenay, Little Qualicum Cheeseworks in Parksville, the Farm House Cheeses in Agassiz. I couldn't pick just one to recommend, there's so many good cheeses out there.

I've signed up too, as an early birthday present to myself. This class has been on my "to do" list since it was still offered at Dubrulle, so it is about time I got on with it.

Really ? What specifically would you do ? ← I thought I might get some reaction. Raincity Grill is fine as it is, I just think it could be tweaked and really live up to its potential. To me the room looks tired, it needs some updating, a better and more comfortable entry way, new colours. The layout, with the raised portion in the middle, really cuts up the room. The outside view isn't going anywhere, but that is not an excuse to ignore the inside of the room. Much of the year it is dark and rainy and there is no outside view, the room should stand on its own. I can't speak about the kitchen as that's not something I know about. As for the menu, I think any menu can benefit from some tweaking. I know easy to say, maybe not so easy to do, but you asked the question. Just my opinion.

I nominate Raincity Grill.

There's lots at Marquis Wine Cellars

Thanks! I guess I missed that day! k ← You were probaby off drinking wine as remedial studies!

Isinglass, made from the air bladders of fish, is also used in fining.

Well as *Deborah* pointed out upthread, prices are only part of the equation, disposable income counts too.

Hmmm.... there's also: "Our palettes are tantalized" and "Let's the sports fans eat fries."

I took the WSET classes a few years ago. They were called the Intermediate and Higher Level at that time I think, taught by Mark Davidson at Dubrulle. As Kurtis says, Mark taught a lot of people in Vancouver about wine. The WSET classes are suitable for anyone. In my classes there were a good mix of industry people - servers, a food writer, winery workers, people in sales and distribution, etc - and civilians like me. What I like about WSET is that it is an internationally recognized program, and I figure if you are going to get educated you might as well go through a program that is recognized. It looks as though Mark does not teach the WSET courses anymore, but they are offered through UBC at UBC Robson Square (check Moosemouse's link above). I hear the International Sommelier Guild courses are good as well (lots of overlap with WSET), but I haven't taken one of those.

Yes and it is worth a visit as they are offering samples of everything for $2 this week. Yesterday I had two small slices of the Pane Romano - one with grilled peppers, one with pesto. Both were delicious. If you can get a piece straight from the oven - molto delicious. The space itself is large, airy and modern with lots of seating and a patio area. No sign of the couple from the website.

How about Mistral, Bacchus or Le Gavroche.

Yes, a downtown lunch spot is exactly what it looks like based on a peek in the window. Boy this is a tough crowd! I agree the website is sleazy looking, but I'm looking forward to a new lunch option and I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.

I work half a block away on Pender, so I just ran over to take a look. They are opening next week. Training staff right now and getting furniture set up according to the two having a smoke outside.

My recommendation would be to go to Les Amis and ask them to help you put together a cheese plate rather than go to the store with a preset list. That way you will be able to taste samples of the cheeses you buy and get some background about the cheeses from the staff.

Thank you, Andrew, that sounds very promising. Now back to our regularly scheduled program: "Wireless in Vancouver".

Have the details about Century been revealed anywhere around here? Enquiring minds want to know.

Right now things are pretty good on the Christmas party front. We have two parties each year, one we employees pay for ourselves and the official one. For the official one we usually go out to a restaurant, Le Gavroche last year, Villa del Lupo the previous. Villa del Lupo was especially fabulous. For the staff one we always used go to the Wedgewood in a private room and have a traditional turkey dinner, but last year we went to Caffe de Medici which was pretty good and not turkey (hurray). I'm trying to convince the organizers to quit spending money on buying us cheesy presents and use it for wine and food instead, but I'm not making any inroads. Particularly bad was the one years ago on a carol ship - awful buffet, horrible people getting plastered, cold, damp and no escape.