Jeffy Boy

I will pick up the gauntlet you have thrown down, and fight valiantly for my bread bowl queen! Beef (though I actually prefer chicken) Stew in a Bread Bowl is nothing less than culinary artistry, fusion for the masses!! You do not know the joy of savouring a hearty stew while at the same time consuming, deconstructing the very vessel within which it is served. Nor the art of ingesting the optimal mix of stew and bread, while retaining throughout enough of the bowl's architecture that the stew does not run out. And then the final phase, when the chunks are gone, and the sauce, the glorious stew liquor has permeated the bowl, rendering it not bread not stew, but "br-ew". Oh, how it pains me to realize that the nobleman will never know the simple pleasures of the peasant. So I will not fight the Bread Bowl. I will embrace it!

I'm not sure where this discussion is going. Is it a review of the burgers at Save-On Meat, a search for the cheapest meat, or an exercise in plotting the bad areas in Vancouver? I can find meat plenty cheap enough for me at my local Safeway or Save-On. But then I guess I'd miss the excitement of the crack heads.

Hey, not your fault at all! I went there twice before you went, and I really liked it the frst time. You had a meal of starters, and I've always found those to be good. I may give them another go yet, and stick to that part of the menu.

Just to make your selection more difficult, I would agree with Coop - don't let the location necessarily dictate where you eat. The QE Theatre is a short cab ride from any of the downtown restaurants. A few weeks ago, we ate at Cru before heading to a Comedy Club downtown. Made reservations for 5:30pm, had a fantastic meal, and it took almost no time to get to our show (at 7:30pm). There's a cab stand right there, so it would probably only take about 10 minutes to get to the QE Theatre. That said, I think Villa del Lupo and Chambar are great choices.

Hi inanimate, Let me be the first to welcome you to eGullet! There's some interesting, funny stuff over on your website, though I haven't looked too much further than the gem that Chef Fowke found. Hope you find good things here and opportunities to contribute!

The weather today was gorgeous, so lemon curd and I headed out for a long walk, with lunch somewhere on the beach in White Rock our only destination. We are fortunate to live a quick 5 minute drive, or 40 minute walk from the pier. Actually, with the steep hill down to the beach, it's quite a bit faster and easier getting there than coming back. Especially when the return trip is on a full stomach. The holiday and great weather obviously brought out the crowds, and many of the restaurants appeared full or near full. The recent post by tighe about Pearl was in the back of my mind, so we settled on Pearl. I say "settled" because we've been there twice before - once for dinner, which was very good, and another time for lunch, which was not so good. It was getting late, after 2pm, and we were both pretty hungry. To start, I had a roasted parsnip soup - very creamy, rich, and flavourful. Lemon curd had a caesar salad - nice presentation, tasty dressing. She said the croutons could be better seasoned; I thought they were just right. I think they were toasted foccacia pieces. For entrees, I had a calamari sandwich and lemon curd ordered the fish and chips. This is unfortunately where we experienced some lunch-plate letdown. While the calamari in my sandwich was fine, the baguette in which it was served was too small to hold the calamari, and was cut in a way that made it very difficult to pick up. I found myself poking and cramming the calamari into the baguette with my index finger. My sandwich was served with some not-quite-crisp-enough yam chips and a side salad with too much vinaigrette. Lemon curd's fish & chips were disappointing. The fish was OK (snapper), but was rather greasy. Served on top of a little "log cabin" of fries (they shouldn't be called "wedge fries" if they have two parallel sides), it was at first hard to tell if the oily puddle that had accumulated was from the fish or the fries. Turns out it was the fish, and it made the fries pretty much inedible. On the bright side, my czechvar was ice cold, as was lemon curd's Carona, so it would have taken much worse than this to spoil such a beautiful sunny November afternoon.

Maybe if you weren't so stingy with your punctuation, your message would be clearer.

I had to read this twice. At first I thought "Wow! Neve Campbell went to Save-On Meats for a burger?!?"

I'd like to try using vermouth, but I don't think I've ever bought it, let alone cooked with it. Therefore some dumb questions: 1. What kind should I look for for cooking? 2. Can you use it as a 1:1 substitute for white wine? 3. Will it keep after opening (unrefrigerated)?

"Never get out of the boat, man!! All I wanted to do was learn how to f***in' cook, man!!!"

Status report: I used a Chilean Cab-Syrah blend (about $14 CDN, I think) in the stew, and am drinking a glass as it simmers. Wine tastes good. Stew smells good.

I've heard many times that you shouldn't use "cheap" wine in cooking, and that you should use what you would drink. Maybe if I only needed a 1/4 cup or something, but get serious! We're making a beef stew tonight, and there's NO WAY I'm going to pour two cups of a really good wine in. Anyone share my thinking??

There's a dish called "balila", served at a little Lebanese restaurant in Vancouver called Habibi's. It's basically warmed chick peas in a garlic-infused olive oil. It's simple, but delicious. I've come close to replicating it at home, just by sauteeing some canned chick peas in olive oil, minced garlic and salt.

Gorgeous pictures! You lived my dream! Hey, that was my dream!!

Figured I would check in, now that I'm awake and returned to near normal functioning. lemon curd and I had a great time last night, and enjoyed the chance to finally meet the people behind the usernames, and their SOs. Not to mention the evening of great food and too much to drink! I'll count myself amongst those I heard remark how "normal" and "nice" everyone seemed, relieved that none of us appear to be drooling on-line freaks who are hideous once exposed to the light. I hope we can find other opportunities to get together and share our passions for good food! Thanks to all those who made last night possible!

That settles it. I'm wearing sweat pants. Tied casually around my shoulders.

I'm continually amazed at the fact that I'm too lazy to make a sandwich before heading up the hill, but a few hours later will trudge into the Roundhouse in ski boots, to fight the crowds so I can line up for overpriced food, then spend 10 minutes looking for a place to sit. If I were a little more entrepreneurial, I'd hire a platoon of guys in snowshoes to carry thermal backpacks, dispensing hot soup at the lift lineups at five bucks a cup.

Interesting. I think this is how to get a proper "Canadian" rating out of her inflated scores: (Her Rating) x 5/9 + 32 = 99 "B.S." Points x 5/9 + 32 = 87 points. Sound a little more appropriate for a good Canadian wine??

Perhaps the taster was influenced by her surroundings. The Mission Hill winery is gorgeous, and I know that when I'm enjoying one of the Okanagan's better wines with all that stunning scenery I sometimes think I've landed in paradise. Someone said recently that the Okanagan is a lot like Napa valley - except it's got a 60-MILE LONG LAKE RUNNING DOWN THE MIDDLE!

Actually, I think it was the magazine that commissioned the tasting, but I agree something smells here, to get a rating that's so far off the map for Canada. I haven't tried the 2001 Oculus. Though I'm a fan and supporter of BC wines, I don't spend $35.99 a bottle for it. Even if someone gave it 99 points.

Lunch today - a new sushi place in White Rock (can't remember the name, doesn't matter 'cause I won't go back). Food was mediocre; table next to us had annoying, demanding couple with crying baby. Lunch yesterday - Saigon Viet Star in Richmond for Vietnamese sub. Awesome! See my delerious raving here. Dinner last Sunday at Trishna Tandoori Tempatations on 120th St in Surrey. "Funky" place upstairs in a strip mall. Food was pretty good, but there are better spots. We ended up there after trying to go to Mahek (also on 120th) but it's gone! (Anyone know what happened to it?)

On Keith Talent's suggestion, I checked out Saigon Viet Star (in Richmond at Park & Cooney) today at lunch for a Vietnamese sub, or banh mi. I sampled their BBQ chicken sub, along with a small pho. The pho was good, but unremarkable. The sub on the other hand... Keith, it was everything you said it would be. The baguette wonderfully soft yet crispy, tender chunks of chicken, with some tasty pickled carrots and a delicious aoili. It's making me hungry just thinking about it, and I've just had dinner! I think I'll never visit Subway or Quizno's again, and will likely now be on a quest for the perfect banh mi.

My brother and I used to have "fig newton races" with my two sisters (although they never really seemed to be playing along). Open up a fresh package of fig newtons, and the first team to finish off their row, won! The boys always won. And we were also pretty "regular" the next day.

I saw the sign at Pho Thy - "Vietnamese sub - $2.50". I thought "what the hell kind of sub can you get for $2.50?" Maybe more than I think... OK, I can now hear in my head Don Cherry bellowing "Ba-hani my eye! Beauty!!"

Wow! That sounds pretty good, Keith! Yup, I work in Richmond, so I've noted the two places you mention and will give one of them a try real soon. Thanks! And I'm sure Don Cherry would make a great spokesman. I can't think of the Vietnamese equivalent of "Toasted Tastes Better!", but it would certainly give him a whole new set of words to butcher.