eatrustic

Maenam the Thai replacement for Gastropod on W.4th (same chef/owners) officially opens for business Friday although they have been doing a soft opening the last couple of days.

All right! Do you know when his Kits location will be opening? ← September, but as we all know that's probably flexible this early on.

Sounds like someone bailing on their job. That's what I understood from your first post.

It's been too long since I made the pilgrimage to Seattle from Vancouver but one of the first places I wanted to try (after lunch at Salumi) was Serious Pie. I happened to be dining solo and got lucky with a spot available as soon as I walked in, so I jumped the line and ordered within ten minutes of showing up. I had the Baby Lettuces and radish salad with muscatel vinaigrette to start (nice citrusy bite to the salad). The pizza was the Guanciale with soft egg, Parmesan and fresh dandelion greens. It was nothing short of spectacular in that all the ingredients combined to make an absolutely delicious meal! The crust had just the right combination of crisp and chew that I love. My dessert of choice, the Fresh Rhubarb Hand Pie with Ricotta was sold out so I settled for the Cannoli. The rest of the people at my table ordered the supposedly famous Coconut Cream Pie (which is not on the menu but available from next door for those in the know). I've had pizza in Naples as well as Chris Bianco's in Phoenix and this (although different) was easily as good. I planned to return the following evening but an enthusiastic tip on a new Peruvian roast chicken place that was close at hand made me change my plans at the last moment (sadly not worth the detour). I'll be back.

Maybe it's time to stop fooling around and drop a grand on this 8 qt. bad boy: Globe Mixer I bet this won't jump around on the counter while mixing and the motor head looks like an homage to Aliens

There's also a piece about Umberto and all the chefs who've worked for him and who are successful on their own. They mention that both Mario Enero (La Rua) and Barbara-jo McIntosh (Books to Cooks) worked as cooks for him. Never knew that, I thought they were Front of House..........

Just to be clear, all my comments on DLX, KA etc. were based on home use, not production for which they are obviously not suited.

I own the DLX (as well as an older Kenwood Major which is the larger version of the Kenwood Chef mixer). I've owned the DLX for about 2 years now but have never fallen in love with it's bread making capabilities. I'm a professional baker and have used just about every kind of mixer home and away there is. The DLX looks hearbreakingly close to a spiral mixer which is just about the ultimate in professional mixing technology. Instead, I find the DLX to be very low tech in it's approach to mixing (not necessarily a bad thing but in this case it doesn't quite live up to it's hype). The roller system does do a pretty good job of creaming butter and sugar for making cookies, biscotti etc. but I find I have to continually put my fingers or a spatula into the mixing process to move things along. The dough hook which many have found to be underwhelming is excellent for incorporating ingredients into biscotti etc. but it sure didn't do much for moving bread dough in an efficient manner. Another thing that bugs me with the DLX is the separate bowl required for whisking, I make everything from stiff multigrain doughs to very wet Italian style doughs and it would be nice to start with a paddle/whisk to mix a wet dough and then switch quickly to the hook to finish. Of all the home mixers I've tried the Kenwood has worked the best (but still requires lots of stopping and scraping the dough around). The various KA's I've used have been last on my list for bread doughs. They all seem to be suited to pastry vs bread production. I have seen mini spiral mixers for home use in some of the Italian Espresso machine showrooms but they are pricey and with the rep that Italian machinery often has for being unreliable I've held back. I would recommend you try and find someone with a DLX to see if you can make a trial batch of your favorite bread dough before making the leap. Wouldn't it be great if there was a mixer shop like Epicurean Edge where you could go in and lay hands on all the toys

I'd have to think that the Turkey vendor on Granville Island must have them. They seem to have just about every part of the bird in one form or another for sale. Not too far to drive/walk either.

May be a long shot as this isn't the same brand but I have the My Weigh KD and it did exactly the same thing. I thought it was the battery but after changing it the problem continued. It turned out that I had been picking my scale up by the top plate and this had loosened the screws inside that control the pressure plate. I had to disassemble the whole thing and tighten all the screws. It works fine now and I always pick my scale up by the sides .

My KitchenAid hand mixer has served me well with lots of power and it should be as easy to find as a B & D.

I'm sure I've often seen it at Tenderland in Granville Island. ← Right you are. At almost $10./lb that was a $30. bunny but, I did say on the West Side... It'll make two courses and serve 3 people well so it averages out not too badly.

Anyone have a good source for fresh rabbit? Somewhere on the West Side would be great. Thanks

And if you're lucky you can find the coolest version which is the Mario Battali pizza peel which features a swing out handle for compact storage. Seen them occasionally at Home Sense.

The one across from Dolcetto is more than a rumour: Artigiano signs are already up inside and out. It is about four doors east of the Tim Horton's on West Broadway at Balaclava, next to the hobby store. Is there another Timmy Ho's on West Broadway, or are you talking about the small one at Hemlock in the gas station? ← Oh yeah there's another Tim's, a big "mothership" about half-way between Oak and Cambie beside the Shoppers.

This sounds wonderful. How much did your roast weigh? Also, if the skin was on I assume there was a healthy layer of fat underneath. As it melted did you have the pork sitting on a rack or did it just bathe in it's own fat?

I'd appreciate suggestions for using a fresh pork shoulder (bone in) with the hock. I guess it's the hock that's throwing me as a boneless pork shoulder is one of my absolute favorite pieces of meat for making Italian, Chinese or Mexican dishes. I've got a great local sale (.99 cents/lb) and I'd like to buy a couple to play with. Since they come with the skin on and a layer of fat am I obviously removing these or can I do a low and slow in the oven with a nice batch of seasoning? I'm not set up for BBQ which would seem to be the classic way to go. I'm open to any cuisine if there is one that uses this cut a lot. Thanks!

Man, talk about not fooling around: It looks like Caffe Artigiano has no fewer than three locations in the works for the Broadway corridor. One is rumoured to be on Broadway, West of MacDonald across from the newly opened Dolcetto Cafe. Another is opening in the London Drugs (yes inside) on Broadway near Cambie and across from the new Elysian Room Cafe and a couple of doors down from a newly opened Blenz, and the third one is opening right next door to the Tim Hortons on W. Broadway! Of the three locations any bets as to which of the "competition" will not suffer from C.A. moving in?

As luck had it I had back to back evenings out this week. First up was Cafe Boulud. This is my second visit, the first being just before Christmas. I intended to give the famous burger a shot but when I found out the Dine Out menu was being extended I had to go for the value. I had the Moroccan spiced (I think that's the name) Tuna Tartare, it was tasty but lacked any zing (I had to ask for salt). Next up was the Pot au Feu - poached beef with winter vegetables and beef marrow in broth. Again it was nice but lacked any real depth of flavour. The accompanying mustard and more salt helped but both dishes really needed more pizazz. The dessert was the Dark Chocolate Mousse (which also contained a sort of rice crispy and other goodies) and it was outstanding. For the price I have no complaints but at the regular menu pricing (and portions are the same size) I would have been a bit disappointed. I tried the Pork Duo before Christmas and it rocked. The next night I met a friend for dinner at MonBella. I've been critical of the in and out chef situation and the menu style changes up until Brian arrived but the menu looked interesting and we were absolutely not disappointed! Again, they had carried over their version of a Dine Out deal... except that instead of three courses we got six for $38.! We went from a cream soup with horseradish mousse, to mini salad Nicoise, to a slow cooked Tuna in Proscuitto, to a veal dish and then a beef dish (if memory serves me) with fresh strawberry crepes to finish. Honestly, every dish had interesting things going on and most importantly a nice depth of flavour. The room is cosy, the wine list is interesting and they are well on the way to being a great neighbourhood restaurant. I was really impressed with what I had and it was hands down better than Boulud.

Thought that kitchen shop in Granville Island (Net loft) sells them or a clone of them ← Thanks but no they don't have it or a clone. They have an expensive one (Epicure I think it's called) that is very different. I would rather buy an end grain wooden cutting board if that was all I could find.

These are considered to be the best not wooden cutting board, made of a dense rubber material and very kind to knives as well as being incredibly durable. Usually sold through restaurant supply but I've tried all the usual suspects and no one carries them. Hate to have to order one from the U.S. and pay shipping.

Not at Capers? That's where I've seen them in the past.

Haven't had a chance to try it yet but stopped in for a quick look today after checking out the new Urban Fare. I obviously haven't been paying attention because a). I somehow thought it was street level (instead it is through the Shangri-La lobby and up on the 3rd floor and b). All the talk about the great value and the name Market somehow gave me the impression that it was more casual than it is so I would definitely dress up a bit before trying the place. Ran into Jean Georges himself as he came rushing in with some sought after ingredients! The bar has the look of a sushi style bar just to the left as you walk in. That's where I'll go first as well. From the look I would try for a reso as I bet it is very busy at lunch.

I was just flipping through this week's Georgia Straight and spotted Chambar's ad - featuring "Dine Out" with a big negating slash through it. ← Popped in to Chambar the other night and they proudly whipped it out. We took a snap of it for Scout and put it up here. Amusing stuff. ← Sorry, but what was the link for? Don't see anything whipped out.....

Not sure where you live in Vancouver but Market Meats -2326 W. 4th in Kits (across from Safeway) sharpens knives and does a decent job. I would ask them about the Globals though as I'm not sure if the angle is the same as the German knives. There used to be a mobile knife sharpening service that was well reviewed called Knifex but I think they have either changed names or are out of business.