Keith Talent

Thirty second with google yields...

Stopped at the new Duffins at 41st and Knight yesterday. Donuts are still overated, but at the new location you can watch Tony Danza on a 42" high def plasma.

Add tax, tip a couple drinks to start and a cheap bottle of wine and you'll drop 200 bucks on a very substandard meal. Or you could take the same 200 bucks, your significant other and another couple to Cru. Eat better, drink better, get way better value. Yeah I'm still bitter becuase I fell for the Mortons scam once before.

Coincidentally, there is a Thailand exhibition on at Aberdeen Centre this weekend. I was going to berate the girl in the Thailand/Cannadian Association booth for not encouraging enough emigres with an interest opening an inexpensive family run quality local restaurant to move to Canada, but that seemed kinda mean so I didn't. And if you go, try the dried crunchy durain samples up by the foodcourt. Worlds most strangely addictive foodstuff. The whole time you're eating it, you're thinking this is weird and doesn't taste good, but I can't stop, they're like chips, except they're not good. Anyway there are booths setup throughout the mall flogging Thai handicrafts, etc. My favourite booth was the hairbrush importer, with at least fifty different models on display and a big sign explaining he does a wholesale trade only, I was going to ask why he chose to display his wares in the mall, but again seemed kinda rude.

Maybe 100 of us could all pitch in a couple bucks and share the spoon?

The scary thing is what the plastic one is really for. If marrow makes you squeemish, the use of the plastic one will make you freak.

"Yes, but if you count the number of good Japanese restaurants then the ratio is much less striking." Well yeah, that's exactly my point. Where opportunities exist due to under realized culinary infrastructure, human assests generally re-orient themselves to fill market voids. (<- Worst most boring sentence ever written in the english language. With the exception of every John Grisham novel.) Again, why do Chinese not step in like thay have with Sushi?

Or not.

Ebay?

Gone for ages. And it was, without a doubt, the worst restaurant in the history of commercial food preparation. The Tom Yam tasted like the magic secret ingredient might have been oven cleaner. After the proprietors mad culinary skills weren't going to be enough to keep them afloat, they went to the last ditch desparation sure to pack 'em in manouvre, the "all you can eat" menu. It was so grim that patrons found themselves stopping next door at the "Spirit of Pyonyang" North Korean restaurant for a bowl of bark and dirt soup to fillup, as the food they just had was basicly inedible. It was in one of those tragic locations of death, it was about five things before that, the last succesful venture was the Nuffys donuts that was there for like ever, until it became ground zero in the new Chinatown, and Nuffys never got the hang of Red Bean filled donuts and thus went away. Oh - shit - I just remembered. Thai Son is still in business. Right across the street from Richmond Centre. The place I'm talking about was on the south east corner of Cambie and #3. Oops, sorry Thai Son. the place I'm talking about was called Thai No. One perhaps? Thai Son was cause for great excitement in the Talent house when it opened four years ago. Only problem is it serves pho, it's a typical Vietnamese pho shop, without banh mi on the menu, meaning it's excluded from the Talent family pho rota. Thanks anyways. If I was litigious, I'd file a class action for false representation, as not only does it have the word Thai in the name, but the use of neon gives the place a Bangkok after dark appearance.

You probably restrained yourself as it wasn't really much of a witticism, more of a puerile tourettes like outburst I'm so fond of making. Lets be honest, it was a hanging curve that even the fat kid that wears glasses on my kids tee ball team could send yard.

Brings back now legitimate concerns about lotion on the taps.

I'd gladly trade a half dozen mediocre Malay/SE Asian joints for one decent Thai restauarant in South Van/Richmond. I'd like to hope against hope that there actually was an undiscovered gem out there, but I'm reasonably certain there isn't. The only Thai I can think of is in the food court at Aberdeen. And if anyone suggests The Thai House, I'm going to petition the powers that be to revoke your e-gullet membership. Why no Thai? I realize that the local Thai community could hold a mixer in a phone booth. (Someone please explain what a phone booth is to Ling and the other younger members.) But that can't explain it. Vancouver has more Japanese restaurants than actual Japanese people, some enterprising Chinese should open a Thai place, much like has been done with sushi. I need my Tom Yam Gum, damnit.

83)Red Bicyclette Syrah 2002 (France) Uncomplicated And as fresh as a spring rain I'm common, sue me http://redwinehaiku.blogspot.com/

Ditto. Well said. And when you don't feel like cooking, take your evil demon spawn into a restaurant, so the poorly behaved little ingrates learn how to act outside of the house as part of a larger socierty, rather than living an insular existance in front of the TV with takeout/takeaway/reheat at home cuisine.

On pie or cheap pastry related double-entendres? On Pie? I can't be bothered. Pie is the dullest foodstuff ever created. Why do you think Dale Cooper was so obsessed with a slice in Twin Peaks? Yeah Canuckllehead might say something regarding the Donna Hayward character played by Lauara Flynn Boyle. Truth be told is was because he was as dull as a piece of pie. No subtext involved. Pie. It's even a boring number. The innuendo just results in me getting pm's for assorted and sundry admins telling me to knock it off. If I was going to make some off colour commentary however I'd mention that Chilliwack seems like an awfully short flight time. I'm a long haul man myself.

I disagree. We went to Shanghai River for the first time last night. What a place. I know you can't declare a place your favourite after one visit, but damn things have to slip a long way with future visits for it not to take top spot. The Talent family consensus was that SR had considerably better soup buns. The wrapper was the only part I like at SW better. The soup is far better at SR. Cleaner, clearer and far less heavy. Like a really delicious consumme, rather than the very heavy stock inside the buns at SW. Shanghai River's meat was less dense, less pate like and looser. Don't know what the official soup bun standard is, but I prefered them. The wrapper at Shanghai River is thinner more delicate (like the rest of the ingredients), but I prefered the thicker version at Shanghai Wind. In addition we ate duck lettuce wraps. Braised bean curd skin with assorted meat (which was absolutely phenomenal in it's variety and quantity of assorted meats. There had to be at least ten animals on that plate, most in multiple variations.) And Shanghai Soup Noodles. Service was great, down to serving the noodles into individual bowls, although perhaps that was in response to seeing the disaster that was created with the duck wraps and they decided noodles were far beyond out range of expertise. $50.00 including a seven dollar tip. Pretty good value too. Not quite Shanghai Wind, but them the surroundings are about one hundred times fancier. And we observed the same phenomena that taunts as at Shanghai Wind, namely dishes of incredible looking food walking by, that for the life of us we can't see on the menu. Platters of "corned beef" surrounded by steam rolls. Fantastic restaurant. Really really good.

Koni is a kind of Pan-European deli/specialty food shop, culturally nondescript/amalgumated with just a whiff of the Middle East, probably just what the beaurucrats in Brussels are striving for. Here's BC's link, KONI Deli in Marpole Anyway, check it out, it's a good spot.

"(live near Oakridge)." Try KONI in Marpole, on Granville across the street from the Safeway, (who's lot makes a convienet parking place, not that I'd reccomend parking illegally.) (Actually I do reccomend it, but like to have a posted disclaimer in case you should be the first person in the history of auto's to be ticketed while in the lot.)

Best line ever.

Ask the insructor if you're going to be preparing any specialties from Sambo's later in the class.

And for what it's worth, I attempted to find you a map of both the Esquires and Blendz websites. Esquires web site only makes tangential mention of coffee, has no list of locations and is primarily concerned with selling franchises. My Google-fu was too weak to find a Blendz page. And people wonder how Starbucks manages to open three new locations every day.

The Esquires Coffee that's across from the Brew pub along the walkway to the IGA has three free internet terminals at the back. The Blenz further along closer to the IGA should also have free wifi. If you're really desperate, I can give you some friends adresses who's house you can park in front of.

The only good egg tart is in Lisbon, everywhere in Vancouver are just a pale Macau inspired derivitive. There was a Portugese bakery in Oakridge next to the Safeway that had good egg tarts. It's a HMV now. There's also an acceptable version at a Portugese bakery on Rupert at about 20th? (edited, because after 35 years in Vanouver, I still mix up Rupert and Renfrew. Yeah, okay I'm stupid. Rupert=Kerr and Renfrew=PNE. If was was ever going to get a tatoo, thats what I'd get on my arm. Might as well be useful.)

More. (My wife has recorded some idotic documentary on ABBA on the PVR off PBS, there's no way, I'm going to watch that. Doing this is better.) There are a large number of hyper average Greek places scattered around Richmond. There are lots of old pre-asian caucasian places that are still managing to hang on around Richmond. Roosters Quarters Montral Chicken, couple red sauce Italian joints, along with forementioned greek, none merit a visit however. Interestingly, Dem Bones a place that I haven't been to in ten years is closed for renos. Maybe (and this I admit is very unlikely) they've found barbecue religion and it will be good when it reopens. One can hope. Steveston is filled with very very dreary wesetrn joints. Steveston Seafood House, Shady Island, Daves, et al. STAY AWAY.