Keith Talent

Yeah, I should have put the appellation. I was at my Government run store yesterday, and they had four cases on clearance at the front of the store, from 18.00 to 10.00. Bought a couple bottles rushed home and cracked one. Immediately sent my wife back to scoop the rest, I felt bad swiping it all, as the cashier told me he was going to grab a case after his shift, and I have to continue to shop there. Anyway, it was pleasant, light but with good varietal characteristics. Considerably more elegant and refined than most ten dollar bottles. I'm pretty proud of my score, but was hoping to find a little info regarding the producer and the back story of the wine. The wine is corked with a long solid cork, which leads me to beleive that somewhere, someone belives that this is more than just cheap swill.

Has anyone ever heard of this wine from Bordeaux? Searching for info has been a wash thus far. I've found refernces to the white on some UK wine lists, but haven't seen mention of the red. Cheers

If I was a gambling man, I'd wager you fifty bucks that you don't see your meal at Chatters through to conclusion, but I'm not so I won't. But if you do you're a better man than I.

The theme music was one of Bach's Brandenberg Concertos. Of that I'm certain.

So Coop, I'm going to Parkside on Friday night, you tell me what I'm gonna eat. (Although if I get to pick it's going to be the chicken liver salad to start and the elk for an entree, but I'm open to suggestions.) And how many ribs do you get with the rack of lamb? And tell me about the cheese plate. Gracias.

http://www.straight.com/section.cfm?id=145 The peoples choice always make me ashamed to be a native Vancouverite. Subway as the best Sandwich? McDonalds as best fries? Starbucks has the best coffee? Good grief. We are a cosmopolitian bunch. The best ballot stuff goes to...drum roll... Chatters in Richmond! Just beating Elixer and just behind Bishops. WTF? I live and work in Richmond. I'd never heard of Chatters on Gilley road, hell I'd never heard of Gilley Road. Last week my kids were dining with their grandparents, (which means all of Vancouvers best fries you can eat and handfulls of chocolate chips for desert), so the Mrs. and I thought we'd go out. Hmm, where to go? Mrs. Talent has the brainstorm she'd like to try the place from The Geotgia Straight. No way I said, it was a rigged vote, it's going to be some shitty greek/pizza/baked pasta joint. She insists, we truck out to deepest darkest Hamilton, a little known neighbourhood on the east end of the island butting against New West. Although instinct tells me to avoid anything in close proximity to New West, I press on. Pull into the strip mall with the former IGA that's lost it's franchise and is now a Pay'n'Shop or some such, never a good omen. Back of the lot is Chatters, Tapas Bar. Okay, it looks like a greek pizza/pasta joint. Go in, restarant empty except three tables, already know without looking what we're going to eat without seeing the menu. Decor is period, that period is Earls, circa 1984. Bright colours, parrots and neon Corona signs. Seated in a window booth, tres romantique, open the menus. Under Tapas heading see Fries and Gravy. Begin to sweat. Fortunately, my wifes sense of adventure disappeared as quickly as my appetite, and she suggested pulling a French military manouvre, namely a retreat. Jackets back on and we were gone. Now I feel bad about this story, the proprietor is probably just a working Joe like me trying to make a living in an albeit shitty location. Why run the guy down? All he's trying to do is drum up some business. And really, Chatters is probably a great place for what it is, namely a neighbourhood place for a couple eggs and bacon on Saturday morning, or a beer after work, in spite of the misguided attempt to garner publicity manipulating the Straight. The real villian in this is a) me, for not even trying the food, (trust me, I knew exactly what was coming) and b) The Georgia Straight. The whiole Golden Plate thing is a joke, this just proves it. Way to vet the responses, dumbasses. Anyone with even the tiniest shred of journalistic curiousity would have spotted this a mile away. This city gets the paper it deserves (and pays for too.) On the up side, we discoverd the best Malaysian restaurant I've ever been to (grated it's a small sample size). Ellie at Sexsmith and Cambie, in Continental Centre. More about it another time, suffice to say the lemon chicken was the single greatest thing I've eaten since being in Italy. Seriously. Ice cold plate, ice cold slices of lemon. Hot breaded chicken strips, slathered in ice cold sabal and, the best part, marinated onion and cilantro salad, also ice cold. So freaking good. Only been once, try to get there again this week to try everything again.

HOLY SHIT. Mussels at Moxies? I don't believe you. Two reasons, A) You'd probably be dead and B) This sounds a little too much like bragging. Mussles and Salmon? I don't think so. You over played you hand getting greedy by adding the salmon. There is no possible way two people could both eat seafood at Moxies and live to tell the tale, no way at all.

Two things, I defy you to find an issue of Vanmag that DOESN'T feature a cover story on real estate. Talk about your boring fixations. I'd hate to be trapped by the editorial board of Vanmag at a party. "Didja know Mt. Pleasant is up 13% this year?" "Yeah, you told me that last month too." Enough already with the self congradulatory back slapping over our "world class" real estate hyper inflation. It's almost as tedious as anything James Barber has to say. And second, Jamie Maw needs to refrain from the obligatory working the phrase "cities best cut man" into every freaking column. I mean, WTF is a cut man anyway? And besides, the cities best cut man works under a yellow tent in front of the burger place with the fried onions at the PNE every summer flogging crappy knives. If I come up with a little time this afternoon I'll try to come up with a more current urban hipster spotters guide.

Coop's list is pretty much bang on, with the exception of his characterizations of neighbourhood residents. Marcellos on Commercial is excellent for kids, they universally love it. Vancouvers best pizza (although it's somewhat akin to being the smartest pro wressling fan or having the best looking women at a monster truck derby) it also leaves you close to Casa Gelato for desert ( Casa Gelato - Caution volume down, hyper irritating imbedded music within ) Kids dig Casa Gelato much like dads dig booze. Or at least that holds true in my family Actually, almost any restaurant on Commercial is excellent for short picky eaters. Havana, Bukowskis, Wazubee, all are resonably good, especially for lunch, funky which kids seem to appreciate and cheap(ish). Actually, the more I think about it, the more I'm convinced Commercial is the best street in the city for eating out with kids. Memphis Blues Barbecue House at the corner of Granville and Broadway is good for kids, provided you go before six to avoid lines. Kids seem to fundementally understand the concept of the nothing but protein (and a few sweet potato fries) meal. Get one of the platters, ribs, brisket, sausage, chicken and stop to buy some Rolaids before going to bed.

That's easy. See the thing about Whole Foods, or EAT is that admit it or not, there is some prestige involved in the transaction, you're essentially telling the world "I CAN PAY TEN BUCKS FOR AN AVERAGE EGG SALAD." No, the biggest ripoff in the world at the moment are the mini Pepsi tins I see at the grocery. Six six ounce tins, $2.99. Why? It'll take a more insightful mind than mine to explain what would possess someone to buy them, when two feet away there are twelve packs of 12 oz. tins for the exact same price. People are willing to pay a four time premium for a novelty pack? I'll never understand my fellow human beings.

Wow, condescend much? And I'm glad to see you don't let tiny details like having been to the establishment in question preclude you from having an opinion. And I'm curious, as an ignorant caucasian unable to appreciate Chinese cuisine, you (rightly) point out the Chinese enjoyment of texture cuts of meat, and suggest maybe that's how the clientele want it. Fair enough, but to parse the whole sentence would have required you to explain the previously unexplained Chinese enjoyment of badly overcooked veg and greasy noodles. Any explanations here?

I read it a couple weeks ago, great story. My only complaint was he is too modest. Situations happened and he would be rewarded, he always seemed to chalk it uo to luck, when in reality the outside observer can see his genuis played a bigger role than luck. He seems like such a decent guy though you can't imagine him really telling the truth, rather glossing things over than to praise himself. And Claudine, (along with Sofia Coppola) are two women I'd like to marry, 'cept of course the fact that I'm already happily married. Neither of them are too hard on the eyes, but the real reason is that I'd like to hang out with their old men. "So, uhhh, we going to your parents again this weekend?"

Leave a bag of unmarked twenties in the washroom of the Starbucks on Robson and Thurlow, the cool north one, not the trendy south one, or I'll cross post this to the Vancouver board, and then all the smart mouthed lotus eaters will flood in here and make a mockery of Canada's number one city.

Couple things, Coop should have his editing priveledges revoked, unedited Coop is far more entertaining than the sanitized version. Would it be possible to turn this feature off on his account? Second, had the Laska from the Malaysian curry stall. I'm going to start doubling back and praising Yaohan again. Consistancy of thought isn't one of my attributes. Damn that was good. Coconut curry broth, noodles, egg, chicken, tofu, unidentifiable asian starchy things, probaly with some incredibily gradiose name that makes you think they're way more important than the really are, "Ten thousand year old emperor's favourite mung bean cake". Really, really good. Only complaint was the portion could have been slightly larger. As a fat man that is attempting to grow larger, I resent these attempts to portion control my meals to sensible sizes. The Laksa and Be bim bop are definately worth the trip, although not a trip on a bus. Maybe on a really well run rapid transit like in Paris or London where you could just pop on and hop off. Then again the RAV line is still 6 years out, as long as those whiny crybabies on Cambie don't get their way. We had a very similar soup in Bali for lunch most days.

Where were you golfing a couple weeks ago? Must have been wayyyyy south of the border.

Does the setting play some role in the raves? We spent the morning walking on the beach at the end of town, I don't know it's name, the one with the boardwalk out to it. I was in a good mood, wife was in a good mood, kids were in a good mood. It was sunny/warm. We were hungry. The owners were friendly. The hippy clientele amusing. Sorry, but white guys with dreads always bring a smile to my face. Maybe all those things in conjunction work in SOBO's favour. No booze though, that needs fixing. Or at least a bottle, some glasses and a corkscrew thrown in the trunk.

Okay, so I got taken by Amazon. The stupid piece of crap was in my Gold Box, that stupid icon on the top left of the page that I literally never click, ever. Well last week I clicked it and what was inside waiting? Well my new corkscrew. (For those unfamiliar with the concept, Amazon has this thing called the Gold Box, essentially blowout specials that you either need to order immeadiately upon viewing or the opportunity lapses.) I didn't ever think to scroll down and read the reveiws, I'm not so Amazon conditioned that it would occur to me taht people would write reviews on a corkscrew. Could have saved myself som money if I had. Stay away from this nasty piece of junk. I'd poke Jeff Bezos in te eye with it, but the worm would probably break.

Too good a deal? Anyone have any insight here? I thought these were more money than their equivent weight in gold? I ordered one and it just arrived, it looks...used...cheap...fake? Open a bottle tonight and give it a real test.

I'm looking forward to trying the food court at Aberdeen, strolled around it once, didn't eat, only one place A Japanese noodle stall was open. It's on the top floor, has a great view (or at least as good as any Richmond view, the vistas aren't really inspired out there) and resembles a Scandavian Airport. All high tech meshed with organic elements. Bring your own Gravlax and you'd swear you're in Coppenhegen. I've got high hopes, although I suspect parking will require the same number of shots of Bourbon parking at Yaohan does to settle after finding a spot.

I also want to try the sushi from that front part of Osaka supermarket. It always looks fabulously good, but honestly I've never had pre-made sushi that was worth eating.

I used to be a big fan of the place at Landsdowne, the until Himalya opened at five and Cambie. Now that is a good lunch. 6.95, lamb curry, salad, overly greasy nann, peas and cheese, curried garbanzos and rice. I'm not totally off Yaohan. The Korean place is worth occasional visits. I'm still attempting to find where a certain bowl of noodles are coming from. Served in a real china bowl, seem to be filled with a thin wheat noodle, broth, beef and some gai lan on top. I've tried to keep my eyes open from which stall they come out of, but they seem to magically appear without preparation. (Actully I think it's the Taiwanese place between to the "healthy chinese" and curry stand.) I'll definately try the Laksa soon, that sounds like everything I like in one big bowl. And I realize that the urry stall isn't strictly indian, but it does beg the question, if you are going to eat curry, and lots of good Indian curry is around, why not have that. Kinda like if you have tex-mex and real mex, why would you choose to eat tex-mex?

...you'd have a trinity of bad Vancouver inspired restaurantrs?

I've been on this huge Yaohan food fair bandwagon lately, primamrily due to you people, but also due to alot of media chatter, (Steven Wong, the Seattle PI, etc) And I've got to say...you are all nuts. The food isn't good, it's barely edible. I've been to most stalls now, some two and three times and there is really very little reason to return. The Korean place has the stone bowl rice, which to be fair is pretty good, but outside that what's good? The emperor is wearing no clothes and I too have been guilty of unjustified boosterism. Lets run through. North wall, three "Chinese" restaurants (I say Chinese because they sell the most westernized versions of chinese food court cooking. They all are bad, very very bad. Meat dishes consist of fat and grizzle, veg is overcooked and the noodles are greasy. These are the places that seem to do the most business, and are in my opnion the worst stalls at the court. Moving clockwise we come to the two bubble tea and one tea shop, no real opinion. The the pho place. No banh mi which is a critical flaw in my book, plus the pho is average at best, doesn't contain the rare beef as advertised, and has some of the greasiest spring rolls ever seen, they'd probably make great candles in the case of a blackout. Then a couple more "chinese" places, one advertising "Healthy" cuisine, and one Taiwanese place. Same greasy stir fried dishes as the three palces on the north wall. The comes the curry shop everyone speaks so high about. Why? Who the hell goes to a chinese mall for East Indian food, particulary in Richmond? Richmond has tons of super cheap super good real Indian curry, the stuff at Yahoan isn't bad per se, just makes you wonder why. Then on the south wall is the barbecue place. The forementioned Korean, and a very average Japanese sushi/noodle joint. Last we have the Chinese Starbucks, where it has to be said they do make a good cup of coffee. Condensed milk, esppresso then topped with regular brewed coffee, you'll be up all night. So, what am I missing? I look around at what others are eating and it's nothing I haven't tried there. Sometimes you want to pay a little more for your food. I took my wife kids for dinner the other night, yeah it's good to feed four and get change from a ten, but really maybe paying more would be better?

Went to Tofino this weekend and I can report that SOBO is almost worth the hellacious drive to Longbeach. Best food in Tofino, and that includes the quite crappy Wikaninish. We tried the Shrimp Cakes, Polentra fries, miso udon, and fish taco. The fish taco was outstanding, in spite of the blue corn tortillia hardshell taco. You know how damn good a taco has to be to include freakin' kiwi and a hard shell and still say it's good? Definately schedule lunches at SOBO if heading to Tofino. Although, I have no idea why people head there. It's too far, too expensive and the scenery isn't markedly better than elsewhere on the BC coast. West of Sooke is just as picturesque, less crowded and a better value plus closer. No SOBO though.

What? That Japanese politicos have a penchant for bad bowties?