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Anzu: You said it much better than I could.

VanEats reports that Moderne Burger is reopening tomorrow.

Rye whisk(e)y can't remember the spelling Montreal style bagels Saskatoon berries MacKintosh's Toffee

Sorry, but as far as I can tell, the only one in Vancouver -- Ma's Kitchen on Main and about 20th -- has closed since a couple of months ago. May I recommend a close (-enough) replacement called Kedah? It's Malaysian and very much halal/muslim. One of the best and authentic Malaysian restaurants in town. And the prices are *INCREDIBLE*! 5750 Fraser Street: 604 325-9771 ← Mia Stainsby has a short write up on Kedah House in Today's Queue, sounds good.

How about seafood platters with crab, shrimp, mussels, clams, oysters etc.? You can cook all them in all advance and offer dipping sauces or have some raw, some cooked. A big platter or two with seafood on crushed ice looks great and seafood works well with champagne. Gazpacho shooters in little glasses to start would be a nice. I don"t have any great duck ideas, I think of it as winter food for some reason.

Has anyone been to the UBC Farm Market? It is every Saturday from 9:00 to 1:00 and you get to go to the farm instead of the farmer coming to you. I haven't been myself and wonder if it is worth a trip. I'll also give the Ambleside market another go, Mark.

Thanks that's a useful suggestion. I do take the occasional Thursday off during the summer just so I can go the truck market, but maybe I should make more of an effort to get there regularly.

Congratulations Chef Fowke. Having a day job, I still haven't had my kolachy indoctrination but I'll make a point to stop in for a visit soon now that the opening hours have expanded.

I agree this is a good market, it just doesn't work for me because I have to go to work on Thursdays.

cheese bread apples

I was away and missed this question but maybe it's time to bring this thread to the top of page so we can find out if the sale is on yet. I checked the Gourmet Warehouse website but there's nothing there on the move or a sale. As for your question, CanadianBakin', I'm afraid I do shop around, so I can't suggest one place to go as an alternative. I live in the West End and tend to stick close to home for shopping for the most part but I have a huge selection of food places to check out and there's always stuff on sale. I also go Parthenon and T&T downtown for cheap prices as Sam suggests. I just bought a bag of savory at Parthenon for 47 cents! and it was very fresh and aromatic. For dishes, pots and pans etc - the Bay and Sears often have good stuff on sale, Cookworks has sales regularly, Ming Wo has sales regularly, Winners is worth checking out. I'm not suggesting that I never shop at Gourmet Warehouse or that you shouldn't, only that the prices don't seem reliably low to me. In another thread recently choux reported finding Valrhona chocolate cheaper at Whole Foods than at Gourmet Warehouse - Whole Foods is hardly known for its low prices. It sounds like the convenience of having everything in one place is important to you given that you are in Mission and not in a position to shop around, so Gourmet Warehouse is a good option for you. However, I think it would be worth posting questions on this site for recommendations on where to source specific products. There's lots of resourceful shoppers here.

I think Little Qualicum is a large enough business to operate at more than one market. Bad Girl alternates between Trout Lake and West End. I think she said she'd be at West End three Saturdays out of four a month. Lots of vendors alternate between markets. The vendor schedule is posted on the website here.

I, for one, would be delighted if you posted some pictures canucklehead. I am sadly ignorant about Chinese food and would appreciate the tutelage. As for your question - I think there is a reasonably good balance here. There's usually dissenting views on any topic when praise or criticism are heaped particularly high. I like the mix of voices here. We all come to the table with different backgrounds, experiences and expectations and, when we are at our best, it is like sitting around a table having a friendly debate. When we're at our worst it's like sitting around a table debating after a few too many drinks. I particularly appreciate the input from those in the business. I'm just a consumer, I'm not an insider, I don't have any connections, but I come here and get insights from Neil, Gerald, Jamie and others that give me a better understanding of the challenges on the other side of the cash register. The genuine voices of people like Neil and Gerald, especially a good rant, interest me more than some puff piece written to promote their restaurants. Nothing against that stuff, but that's not what I come here for. I come here for insight and learning. If I get some entertainment along the way so much the better. I would like to see Vancouver grow into a real food city where great local ingredients were readily available in stores and commonly used in restaurants and homes. We have a glimmer of that here, but we're not there yet. We shouldn't pretend, but we should recognize and support what's good here - even if we don't always agree on what that is.

The first West End Farmers' Market was today and, despite the light rain, it was off to a good start. Lots of produce, bread, chocolate etc and only a few craft vendors. I did my best to spread my dollars around - raspberries, strawberries, cherries (already!), Bad Girl chocolate, fig bread, white chocolate and apricot biscotti, arugula, fava beans, english peas, lettuce, radishes, fromage frais from Little Qualicum Cheese Works and a latte from the coffee van. Picked up the newspapers on the way home, sliced the strawberries and tested the cherries already. Tonight I'll put the peas in a risotto and slightly mash the cooked fava beans, top them with a thin slice of pecorino and a little drizzle of olive oil. Even though I really don't need any more food, I think I'll check out the West Van market tomorrow, just to give them my support.

Here's one version of the nanaimo bar story: Nanaimo bar mystery

A quote from Tojo's website "Vancouver in the early 1970s had only four Japanese restaurants, and Tojo's first original dishes were aimed at helping locals learn how to appreciate the world of Japanese cuisine. His Tojo tuna (maguro ai) and Tojo-maki (inside-out version of what would become known as "California roll") created a bridge. His dishes enabled locals unfamiliar with sushi and sashimi to enter a new world. Increasingly, fresh local ingredients unknown or very rare in Japan found pride of place in his new recipes: Gindara (broiled black cod, now known as sablefish), baked local oysters, local albacore tuna, asparagus, and, famously, salmon. Tojo's barbecued salmon-skin roll, first created in 1974, can today be found in virtually every Japanese restaurant on the West Coast, under the name of "BC roll". He was also the first to introduce smoked salmon into Japanese cuisine."

Interesting how different people respond to this. My office used to be in Bentall 2 so Mosaic was a regular lunch spot for celebrating office birthdays. Lots of my colleagues loved those giant cakes, but I was horrified. Give me a great lemon tart over one of those anytime. I can attest that it is a great way to impress an 8 year old though. A friend's niece still talks about her birthday lunch at Mosaic.

No, you are not alone. I tend to agree with you. There are some good prices, but lots of stuff is priced like westside retail.

Thanks for the picture Andrew. The tower is a lifeguard tower. Here's a quote from the Vancouver Courier article, check out Mooshmouse's Digest above for the full story: "Barnett said the $5.3 million complex, which will house a lifeguard and first-aid station, washrooms, a concession stand, and licensed restaurant called Watermark on Kits Beach, should be operational before July 1." Looks interesting, I'll reserve judgement until it is a little further along, but with such a location they could build anything and it would be full every night. Like Jamie, I'd like to see more restaurants on the seawall. The crap they serve now in the Parks Board concessions doesn't do anything for Vancouver's reputation.

I feel this way too. My family has been reading Gourmet since the 60's and I grew up reading it. Now there are many other food magazines available but in those days Gourmet was treasure. Gourmet expanded my culinary horizons and gave me an introduction to a gastronomic world that just wasn't available locally. I loved the articles that finished with long arcane recipes for exotic meals - they fed my dreams, even if I never attempted the recipes. Gourmet was my travel magazine, my National Geographic. Even now, when Gourmet so often disappoints, I hold on to my subscription, remembering its former magic and hoping for a better edition next month.

That's great. I'm looking forward to some good reading! Congratulations, Andrew.

Thanks Matt, your cod dish sounds delicious. I would have liked to eat at Shelter but we were looking for lunch spots and they don't do lunch.

I hope you manage to buy the Ovaltine so that I can order this hamburger!

Good questions Zuke, and I readily admit that I don't have the answers. I'd love to hear the perspective of those in the restaurant business on the trials and tribulations of operating a seafood restaurant in Vancouver and BC.

I agree completely! When, in an earlier thread, Jamie Maw asked what was missing from the Vancouver dining scene good, inexpensive fish and seafood restaurants were on my list. This lack of focus on fresh and simple has been a real puzzle for me. And yes it is sad that I did not expect to get good fish or seafood in a Tofino restaurant. Good rant, by the way.