eatrustic

Not scheduled to start until September we already have controversy: Kitchen Nightmare Lawsuit (N.Y.) Not exactly a surprise but this is going to generate a ton of publicity for Fox. Basically Ramsay and co. are being sued for alleged staging of scenes and (alleged) villification of a staff member in the featured restaurant.

In his blog exchange with Tony, Rocco asked Tony how the two of them are so different. He said, to paraphrase, we both used to cook, now we do TV and sell things. You call Rocco a media whore. Would you call Tony a media whore? Is it all because of the 15 minutes of "the Restaurant", where he left such a virtual bad taste in so many TV devouring mouths? ← Yeah, Bourdain is a MW but he plays the game and for the most part delivers as he goes about making a nice living. ......and perhaps he was lucky (and smart enough) to keep the skirt chasing, self indulgent crap away from the cameras.

You know it's full on summer when Milan finally makes his appearance with tomatoes at Trout Lake. He was there Saturday with a nice crop of Sungolds (his first tomatoes of the season). He will also be at the new Kitsilano market as well on Sundays. Word has it though that he is planning to hang it up this year as the grind is getting to him. (Then again this may be just early season fatigue that he will work out of his system.) If he does retire he at least leaves the Heirloom Tomato scene in Vancouver in pretty good shape as there are any number of vendors at the farmer's markets with some pretty decent product. In fact I have to say that for the last few weeks there has been a day table vendor at Granville Island with really excellent Heirlooms that are as close to the best summer tomatoes as I have ever had. They grown them in polytunnels in Chillawack. All the dark varieties are really good (Black Krim etc.), just buy them a day or so before you need them so that they can finish ripening.

where abouts is it? ← Was on Georgia near Burrard, formerly owned by Julio Gonzales of Villa de Lupo. ← oops...i meant the ice cream place ← On Denman, just in from Davie.

where abouts is it? ← Was on Georgia near Burrard, formerly owned by Julio Gonzales of Villa de Lupo.

Here's a heads up for all you fans of Osoyoos Larose. Friends mentioned on the weekend that they had come across this at our local VQA store and it's the first I've heard of it until now. Petales d'Osoyoos (Larose get it?). Pretty smart name for a second label. I ran over to the Vintropolis wine store on 1st (which by the way is no longer associated with Vintropolis which has closed and has changed it's name) and picked up a bottle. It's a traditional Bordeaux blend with Merlot, Cab, Cab Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot and sells for $25. Although I haven't had a chance to taste it yet (I'm going for a Quail's Gate Rose tonight with this heat) the people who I've talked to who have tried it say it is delicious and the wine store I picked it up at is blowing through their allotment (they had about 6- 6 packs left and they just got it in). Anyone out there with more wine smarts than me who has tried it? Sounds like something the local restaurants would have jumped all over as the price point is perfect.

I'm growing mainly herbs on my balcony garden (after one crazy summer with 5 heirloom tomato plants that completely took over my balcony and despite being planted in tubs the size of garbage cans still dried out twice a day with their monster root systems and ended up with blossom end rot). I've had to replant all my perennial herbs like Rosemary, Bay, and Sorrel that were killed off by the cold last winter. I bought a new kind of Sorrel that has leaves that look like Beet leaves. It grew really well except.....it has absolutely no lemony taste, the whole reason I like Sorrel. Luckily it's not too late to score some real Sorrel plants but what a disappointment.

Just heard an interview on CBC (AM) this afternoon about this. According to the CMHC (landlord) rep any increases in rent are based on ongoing costs to upkeep and maintain the island. Her comment was that the "Artistic Grapevine" was very ripe with conjecture that was not true (i.e. move existing artisans to bring in high end retailers). There is no plan to remove or relocate any of the artists as this is an important part of the composition of the G.I. and CMHC very much wants to keep it that way.

Just back from the afternoon show and dug almost everything. The kitchen scenes are gorgeous and quite realistic (way more than 95% of movies with similar scenes- including the blurb for No Reservations which was one of the trailers). The final food scenes with the ratatouille were the least realistic for me as they looked more like those plastic foods you see in the sushi bars than real food. The credits which rolled by too quickly listed Guy Savoy and Michael Hung as a consulting chef. Anyone know who he is?

Interesting article that suggests that although Ratatouille will make lots of $$$ it might well still disappoint at the box office in comparison to other Pixar flicks. The reasons? Very low marketing revenues as the the biggest licencees are often fast food joints and they are not likely to want to give away little rats with their burgers. As well, the lack of high end food interest on the part of the "Heartland" and an even bigger dislike of the French by many Americans. All this despite huge critical love. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out. New York Magazine article

Thanks for this. I loved the first installment and will seek out the series via Torrents. It has that anime style that I can find tiring to watch after awhile when overdone but it's a bit more user friendly then most and the food subject makes it irresistible. It reminds me of YAKITATE about the adventures of a young baker with SOLAR HANDS! that he uses to develop a unique Japan bread.

Talk about coals to Newcastle. I'm off to Edmonton for a few days and I'm packing along a Vancouver bought piece of Tri Tip beef to do a BBQ when I get there (I don't want to take the chance of not finding the cut there). I made this last year using the recipe Russ Parson's (one of our Gulleters as well as L.A. Times food columnist) gave in his L.A. Times article about Santa Maria BBQ, and with just crushed black pepper and garlic as the marinade it was phenomenally tasty. I threw in some Applewood chips last time and was amazed at how much smoke flavour came through in the short cooking time (cooked rare).

As the Cambie saga continues with the negative spin of restaurant closings those of us who have been around long enough know that one restauranteur's bummer is another's opportunity. Tomato Cafe which closed recently (but has already reopened in the Mark James space) is slated to be a Cajun style restaurant with Alberta owners. Don Don Noodle, which was in the press today as closing is rumoured to have been taken over by the boys from Parkside/La Buca. And so it goes.

This month's Vancouver Magazine (June) has a great feature on Best Chinese. Congrats to Lee Man (one of our own ?) for a great job. It's even the cover story!

As luck had I was in the market for a new sushi place to try with some out of town friends and thanks to Canucklehead's enthusiastic review we gave Okada a try last night. We went in around 7:30 and the place was quiet, perhaps a third full but as it's split up in three small areas with the sushi bar in the center it didn't feel empty at all. We sat at the Sushi bar (of course) and told the server to let the chef do his thing with a mixture of sushi and kitchen items. Without going into the blow by blow of every dish I'll just say that almost everything was great with all the fish being gorgeously fresh - we started with a sashimi selection including amaebi- (with the heads served deep fried afterwards) hamachi, and what I thought they said was Big Eye Tuna (the one that is the incredibly red colour). Geoduck and halibut were excellent. Among the hot dishes were miso cooked black cod, a nice little dish of whole grilled japanese green chilis which aren't spicy but very tasty. The only items that did not do much for me were one of the hot dishes- basically a deep fried pasta like tube of some sort with a creamy crab stuffing which was bland and one of the sushi items: the California Roll (which I would never have ordered) tasted of overly creamy avocado and nothing else. Stay away from those and everything else was worth going back for. I remarked to my friends that the first time (letting the chef do his thing) is always a bit tentative until he gets to know you and you him. By the third visit it gets to be lots of fun. If Yoshi is still at BlueWater I would recommend him highly if it weren't for the prices they charge. He is wonderful at being allowed to do his thing.

I see that as of Sunday (or Saturday) that Tomato Fresh Cafe has closed for good. They are, of course, opening a new place in the old Mark James restaurant off of Broadway so this is more an opportunity for them than the fault of Cambie construction.

We stopped in for a quick lunch on the way to the airport last week and wish we had gone for dinner as well. The food is tasty and beautifully presented. I had the Duck Confit Sandwich which was good, if a touch dry, served with good fries. My wife had the Crab salad, again very nicely presented. I would have gone for the burger which looked incredible but 102F. heat made the large portion too much for me to even think about. They have a nice little hidden garden area in the back if it's not too hot. As I was on a Margarita crusade this trip I tried their house Marg (the only one they offer). It was made with Patron Anejo which I would rather have traded for a silver or reposado as the fine qualities of the Anejo are better enjoyed in a snifter. Sure enough the Marg, although tasty and a good sized portion, could have been made with any decent tequila and for less than $12. I'm almost at the point of ordering my tequila on the side as I've serious doubts in many cases as to what "premium" product is actually being poured.

Speaking of Mexican....Saturday is Cinco de Mayo and although there is probably not much going on in most of the restaurants I heard that there is going to be a Cinco de Mayo celebration at the Roundhouse sponsored by the Mexican Consulate. There are supposed to be Botanos (mexican appy's) and something like 20 different kinds of Tequila available for tasting. I'm afraid I don't have any more info than that (like cost and time), I read it in the Vancouver Sun today while having coffee but forgot to keep it! Anyone?

Not only that but they are also about to open another one in Park Royal across from Whole Foods and Artigiano. Don't know much about them except they already have a couple of locations but with the current labour market it's quite a logistical feat to go for openings so close together. They must have the pockets to finance but let's see if the head (corp.) chef can pull this off.

I agree with Russ on the San Marzanos being hit and miss (even the DOP's). They are a lot more expensive for questionable improvement in taste. I prefer to buy the whole plum (usually italian) from my local Italian deli. Like wine or any seasonal product they tend to change a lot from one year to the next so I ask what they are liking at the moment. Right now the Angelo brand of Plum Tomatoes are very nice and not too pricy but they may be hard to find in every market. For the price (always well under $2-28oz. can) I like to buy two or three brands and try them out and then stock up on the one I like best.

Opening soon -2112 W. Broadway in the medical building near the corner of Arbutus: Transylvania Flavour Restaurant. No idea if it's related to the Transylvania Bakery. Could it be that the days of the Greek domination of W. Broadway are finally over with a new ethnic crowd moving in ?

Just a heads up for anyone (like myself!) who will be in Phoenix next week: May 8 - 12. Both Pizzaria Bianco and Pane Bianco are closed so that Chris can attend the James Beard Awards (go Chris go!) in New York as well as a fundraiser in Philly. Combine those dates with his usual Sunday/Monday closures and I have been completely shut out of my annual Bianco fix! If only it wasn't a business trip I would have rescheduled, sigh! Oh well, this is my chance to try Grazie for pizza and Andreoli for paninis.

Any idea where it will be held? Doesn't look like the site has been updated ← After a long time lurking, I have some information to share, but I wish it was more positive: At the last winter farmer's market, I was told by someone at the VFM membership table that the site for the Kitsilano farmer's market had had been a opposed by a couple of people who live nearby. Unfortunately, she said they would have to find a new site, which could not be done in time for this upcoming season. ← Not sure if that is quite true at this point. I was also at the last Farmer's Market and although I was told the NIMBY factor among others is true there is still hope for a market somewhere in Kits. Time is getting short though for a June launch (and then they have to find some quality farm produce). Since both Trout Lake and the West End Farmer's Markets fall on the Saturday it'll be interesting to see who is available for the Sunday market with produce.

Uh oh! Just saw the Beni Hana chef episode where Blumer has to learn to perform a routine while slicing and dicing pseudo Japanese food in front of an audience. Weak concept and weak execution. Looks likes this is going to be a pick and choose series.

Thought I would bump this thread up (apologies if there is another more current one). I watched the Oyster Shucking Episode of Glutton for Punishment last night and was surprised how much I enjoyed it. (The only one I've seen so far.) First of all let me say that I absolutely cannot stand the Surreal Gourmet and the persona Bob Blumer utilizes in it. Having said that I started watching Glutton for Punishment last night and got caught up in the whole process of becoming a shucking champ. As long as the competition was on the level (and he and the organizer swear to the camera that it was) then I have to hand it to the guy (although I would have liked to have seen him go up against the female champ who looked like the Terminator.) He placed very well. I was at a coffee show in Vancouver recently where he was entered in the Barrista competition and all the coffee geeks were blown away with how good he was. (I won't say how he did.) I'm not sure how well the series will hold up but it's a lot more interesting than Bobby Flay's Smackdown (ambush) show. I'd rather watch a motivated guy try something out of his area of expertise vs a guy who has all the skills, preparing behind the scenes with a pro team to take down some person who has a single specialty!