Keith Talent

THe only redeeming quality I can see in this place is the large numbers of hot young bored mothers milling about looking for some excitement in thier housewife lives. I'm happily married, but should that ever change, the next Mrs. Talent comes from the Chuck E Cheese dating pool.

Hooters doesn't have guys serving. If you had gone you would have known that.

Why would I want to eat shitty chicken wings while staring at guys in tight wife beater tees and orange satin shorts?

"Inspired by all of this, I'm off to start my own chain of parental hells -- with my mascot Herman the Vermin." I'm starting a chain of hot dog shacks with "Pete the Prion" as the spokesperson

A mouse? A six foot tall mouse? No way, that's a rat. I studied biology in high school, and I can say for ceratin that mice do not get to be six feet tall. It's a rat.

A couple of nights ago I had my kids at Chuck E Cheese (word of advice - eat first) and while I was sitting there wishing they had a hard liqiour licence to combat the growing headache caused by flashing lights/incesant noise/roomful of screaming kids I pondered what the hell kind of restaurant chooses a giant freaking rat as it's mascot. It's not even a clean looking rat, but rather slightly scruffy by design. They even let the massive vermin stroll around the restaurant. Now, I'm not a chef, or even involed in the trade, but even I know the optics of a giant rat strolling around the inside of a restaurant are bad. My question is; Chuck E Cheese, the most audacious resteraunteurs ever, or just idiots?

Re-reading the original comment I'm sure ace meant to say SOUP, soap makes no sense. Aside from the fact that there isn't a health inspector that wouldn't go crazy if he saw chemicals being blended in a restaurant kitchen, commercials establishments use detergent, not soap for most tasks.

Why would someone make thier own soap?

The Thirsty Traveler is the biggest dork on the tube. His lack of knowledge/insight is topped only by his middle Canada beer drinking hockey fan persona. I think the ultimate TV horror show should be created by sending him along with Rachel Ray and eighty bucks a day on the road. Maybe have Tyler Florence do the narration. The only funny thing about that show is his slightly more haggard appearance in the second season. It seems the booze/travel is catching up to him.

Nascar is to auto racing as McDonalds is to food. Screw it. I apologize in advance. I hate Nascar, but if you enjoy it, why should I make cheap jokes at its expense? Still think the winning recipe will contain just a hint of possum though.

I've got a fifty that says the winning entry contains possum.

Little help for a west coast Globe reader. So, what is this womens problem? Every week I read her reveiws, and week in week out she scathes wherever she dines. Are the restaurants really this bad in TO or does she have some other problem? I think if I was subjected to that many bad experiences, I'd look for work in another field.

Good timing, I ate there on Saturday night. There was four of us and we all had the Signature menu along with the accompanying wine. I'm irked, because at this point the only conversation we should be having is how good the food is, and it is very, very good, as is the service. The problem was the portion sizes. Small is one thing, leave me wanting more, sure. But, the portions at Bis Moreno were almost a parody of haute cuisine. One tiny little scallop on a giant white plate. Pasta course wasthree lobster ravioli, fish course one (smallish) scallop sitting on roast root vegatables, and the scallop hid the veg underneath, Main was Braised brisket of Bison, which was perhaps the size of a business card, and the men received larger pieces of meat than the ladies. Then, the most laughable aspect, the cheese course. Twelve dollar supplement, if there was sum total of one ounce of cheese on the plate, I'd be astonished. Three types per plate, everyone received different cheeses, some local, some Italian all excellent. In terms of volume, a Kraft Single slice would tilt the scales if weighed against the Bis Moreno cheese course. Desert was excellent and an appropriate portion size. The wine flight was very well matched, all the wines (including two from BC!) were excellent. The problem again was the portion size. Two, maybe three ounces per glass. Enjoy that first sip, becuase there isn't much coming after it. And whatever youdo, don't touch your glass until the course is served, or you will have nothing to drink. The thing I don't understand is their wine menu was very reasonably priced, an average markup of double retail, a refreshing rarity in my opinion. So if you rae going to be so reasonable in bottle pricing, why so stingey with what is essentially a wine by the glass sale? The wine flight was 45 bucks, for five courses. Nine bucks a course, I assure you, nothing that was poured was so rare or exclusive or expensive that to give you less than 5-6 ounces would be only fair. As I said, I'm disappointed to have to vent these petty bitches, because the food is so extraordinarly good. West and Lumiere can move over and make room on the heavy hitters bench for a third. But, with the biggest problem of the restaurant so easily fixed, it's a shame that I need to express grave reservations. It's not like the ingredients are so rare or expensive to justify the tiny portions, they're not, the cost of putting three scallops on a plate oppsed to one will result in a drop in net profit of about what? A tenth of a percent on a six hundred dollar cheque? And all I would have to say would be glowing praise. It's a shame really.

I love Yaohan. My kids love Yaohan. My wife tries. (She's a Scot, so allowances must be made.) Every stall sells something good. I was taken there for a quick business lunch years ago by a chinese client. Boiled chicked that you dip in a green sauce. Weird, but really good. Since then I'm back all the time. Good Hong Kong Coffee at the "chinese starbucks" by the entrance. Wife and I get coffee, kids go niuts on all the coin operated rides, still only a quarter!

Ironic, because I replaced the Dr. Pepper in my glass with bourbon last time I was thirsty and that too turned out well. Who knew Dr. Pepper and bourbon were interchangeable.

Thanks for the quick response and clear answer.

Yeah, I should probably know this, but here goes anyways. The only thing worse than being ignorant is being ignorant and not wanting the become educated. How does the distilation process transfer the intrinsic flavour profile from the mash to the finished product? I assume it's because as the alcohol is evaporating, small amounts of chemical compounds that carry the flavours also go up the condensor? I dunno, anyone hazard a guess? Shouldn't it be pure ethyl going up prior to the water vapourizing?

That's it, Coop is on ignore. He dared speak poorly of Burgundy West. Best line ever; "Outside of BC the sales seem to be very light. I doubt this is from lack of promotion." The thing that galls me isn't the spirit of experimentation that pervades the winemakers in the interior, (purposefully ignoring the AC's of Langley/Cowichan, these are clearly crazy people without a clue), I think they should be applauded for thier innovation. No, what peeves me is they make product in hobbyist quantities and claim to be commercial wineries. If a wine doesn't exist in sufficient quantity to fill the supply chaion at least once, it doesn't really exist, does it? 50 cases is not a commercial wine, it's a hobby, and I'm not suprised that a devoted, deepocketed, tax incentived hobbyist can have small successes.

Apologies, I didn't realize that dissent wasn't appropriate. I don't like BC Wine, I particularly don't like the BC wine industry. Spoiled, coddled, given every advantage, (except perhaps terroir and climate) they've never managed to make anything drinkable in any significant quantities. Their greatest skill as winemakers is their ability to bully toadying media into claiming the emeror is dressed in magnificent robes, when even the blind can tell he's naked. We as BC consumers pay for this hubris everytime we buy a bottle at the liquor store. If they would concentrate on what we can do well here, icewine and obscure German varietals and drop the pretense that we're perpetually on the cusp of bordeaux blend greatness I would be far less critical. I'm off to open a bottle of Aussie shiraz, half the price, twice the flavour. Cheers

Is it good? It is for the price, but then again you are getting pretty much exactly what you pay for. Which makes it good if merely for the fact that yeah it is disappointing, but how disappointed can you be in a two dollar investment? It's definately "new" tasting. No structure from wood. The merlot is the most drinkable. All the varietals taste somewhat like home brew or wine from a kit, that overly grapey underdeveloped flavour you get when someone hands you a glass of their Chateau Garage. Good for cooking.

I think you can extrapolate everything you need to know about BC wine from the number of views this thread has received versus the number of responses.

Using the criteria of the question, Napa most certainly has the most out of whack price to quality ratio. I think their day of reckoning is coming, all of California for that matter. The Aussies are going to progressively take more and more of their lunch money, and probably give them a wedgie for good measure.

Wine dictator? Wine Spectator You may need a "trial membership" to the subscription service to access the notes for vinatges this old, but they will almost certainly have tasting notes and scores.

Where is Cioffi's? The attitude of the staff at Gourmet Warehouse is a little...I dunno, something not good. And the longer I can go without seeing/hearing that shrill Caren McSherry the better. She needs to back off the caffeine in her diet. You can always find some cool stuff there though. I like Galloways in Richmond, as it's A) Close to my office and B) 50% cheaper than Gourmet Warehouse with alot of the same stuff.

I was going to post a cheap streetwalker joke here, but have decided that I'm above it.