Foodie in Vancouver
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Posts posted by Foodie in Vancouver
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Are you referring to the BC Costco stores? If so, I will have to make a trip really soon. I too, have had a serious addiction to the Ecco par baked ficelle.
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I'm looking for restaurant recommendations for a business dinner. There are about 8 of us and we are staying at the W hotel for 3 days of meetings. I am looking for recommendations for dinner within walking distance of the hotel for 1 and possibly 2 evenings. The restaurant should be fine dining with an emphasis on fresh, local ingredients, a good wine list and options suitable for the one non-meat eater in the group. A seafood restaurant is OK - but we get lots of great seafood here in Vancouver so it isn't high on list of needs.
I would also appreciate any other recommendations you have for quick, easy and good food so I can escape the hotel and my colleagues for lunch and/or breakfast. And, (last request) very important to someone from Vancouver, is there anywhere close-by for truly great coffee/espresso?
Many thanks,
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One solution that has worked for us is Quince. We have a standing order for 3 dinners (appetizer, protein, vegatables and a starch) per week which I pick up on Monday afternoon. We have been doing this for the past year and it has transformed our lives, saving us time and money. No more shopping for food we don't end up using; preparing for and cleaning up after dinner is quick and simple giving us the gift of more time in our evenings. But most importantly, all the food is extremely fresh, high quality and full of flavor - something you don't get with frozen meals which was the other alternative we investigated.
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Thanks very much for all your suggestions. My first choice was Lula but they don't take reservations and in discussions with the staff at lula they didn't think it was likely we would get a table for 8. I looked into the options close to O'Hare and used the hotel concierge as suggested. The recommendations were for steak, Carlucci's, Cafe la Cave or Nick's fish house. None of these fit the bill for fresh, innovative and local.
So, back to the orignal plan of heading downtown with the hope that getting there isn't too much fun! I was able to make reservations at Bin 36. Please let me know if you think this isn't a good solution. And again, thanks for your help. If you are ever in Vancouver, please let me know. There are some wonderful restaurants here that I wouldn't want you to miss. We take fresh, local and innovative seriously!
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I am hosting a 2-day business meeting on August 22 and 23 at the O'Hare Hilton (location is based on convenience as everyone is flying in from somewhere in North America). Because we are eating all our other meals in the hotel I would like to take the group off-site for dinner. I thought we could take the train/CTA downtown to a restaurant close to the transit line.
What can you recommend that is really good, without being too over the top price-wise. While I am expensing the meals, I don't want to be too extravagant. $60 - $75/pp with wine is what I was thinking for price but if that seems low I don't mind going higher. A varied and reasonable priced wine list is another requirement. There will be about 8 of us in total. Your help is really appreciated.
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I am literally just in the door after a wonderful meal at Fuel. We had the 5-course tasting menu with wine pairings and it was marvellous. The first course was a celery veloute with steel-head trout caviar; second was lemon-parsely risotto with smoked albacore tuna; third crispy trout with Swiss chard, candy cane beets, carmalized lemon reduction; fourth - lamb loin with a parsnip puree; desert was a chocolate dream- machine! Wines: Shepard's Ridge Sauv Blanc; Joie Reisling; Kalena Chardonnay; Penfold's Shiraz; Tawny Port.
And the bread is extraordinary and addicitve. Sorry for the brief descriptions that don't do the menu justice. It is definintely worthy of a special occasion. Service was excellent - I was concerned at first as our waitress seemed young. I shouldn't have worried. Attentive in all the right ways, inobtrusive, attentive without being overbearing, knowledgable and cheerful. Room is small but not too noisy, despite a very open kitchen and tables are nicely spaced. I highly recommend it. I haven't been to Ocean 617 so can't compare. I have been to Pear Tree and I think Fuel is easily the equal. I tasting menus and Fuel is in the top rank that the city has to offer.
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Sanuk - Victoria
Paprika - Victoria
Mo:Le - Victoria
and all week at the cafeteria at Royal Roads University. Beyond description. I am determined to survive to not tell the tale.
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The Fairmont restaurant at the airport is GLOBE@YVR and is definitely an excellent choice both for a meal as well as a drink. The bar is one of our favorite places for a drink.
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Surely there is some way to deal with people who do this - not only from the restaurant's perspective but also in consideration of what does for others who want to try Rare and won't be able to because Ms. Piggy has snapped up 8 reservations. Shame on her.
I can only hope that her mother taught her better manners than that. But most certainly Chef Fowke and his staff don't deserve to be taken advantage of in this manner. (Are public floggings still alllowed?)
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We are going to be in Victoria this weekend. Any quick thoughts on 2 restaurants we should make sure we get to for dinner on Fri and Sat? It sounds like Brasserie L'Ecole is a sure thing. True? And if so where else should we go?
We will definitely try Choux Choux for lunch and Mo:Le and the Lady Marmalade sound worthy of a visit.
Any recommendations gratefully received.
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LOL Neil! Sounds perfectly delightful - a great meal at a steal of a deal and no crowds or people anxiously peering at you sending you death looks to try and get you to hurry up and leave so they can eat.
I will call you and make a reservation.
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How about Beyond? I have been several times recently and the food and service were excellent and the wine list is quite reasonable with a good selection.
Burgoo is not in downtown so that would disqualify it by location. While the food is definitely of the comfort variety the atmosphere wouldn't help my heart if it was broken.
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We didn't go to DOV last year, nor are we going this year either because of the Boxing Day Sale effect. We will happily venture out the door again once things calm down somewhat. Less stressful to stay home during the DOV madness.
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My second batch is now in the second rise and the first loaf made yesterday is crumbs on the cutting board.
I am used to weights not measures so was hesitant using measures with the first loaf but wanted to follow the recipe exactly. And, it was simple as could be. The flavour is good and I agree that next time 2 tsps of salt would be better.
This second loaf I used weights and I used unbleached flour rather than bread flour. I can definitely understand the difficulties about being too wet. This batch is much harder to work with.
I proofed mine in the oven with the light turned on for a couple of hours as it is cool in the evenings. That seems to do the trick nicely.
And I am now doing the second rise on a flour-covered piece of parchment under a large plastic bowl. I did the second rise of the first loaf on the towel on the counter which is granite and I think it was too cool - it took longer than 2 hours to get to double and some resistance to a poke.
I also took off a 1/4 cup of the dough/batter to use with the next loaf.
We will soon see whether this much wetter batch can be made to bake up as nicely as the first. But so far, this is a winner in terms of convenience - I will still need to work on the timing if I want to have fresh loaf and work!
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I posted somewhere in this forum - but suffice to say, it was soon after opening and nothing went well. The lapses in service - a tray of drinks spilled over one guest, orders forgotten for another, arguing with me as to what wines were on the wine list could have been forgotten if the food had lived up to even minimum standards of taste, presentation or temperature. My daughters now use it as the basis of comparison to all dining out experiences. And, as both are working in the trade while in university, I must admit it has been extraordinarily instructional about how not to treat guests in a restaurant. So, perhaps it wasn't all bad. Just memorable.
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And we would be able to take the last bottles on the shelf?
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We have had our Fisher Paykel drawers for 7 years now - we installed them in December 1999. I love them for the convenience of being able to run cycles independently when we entertain. Our dining room and kitchen are contiguous so we clear each course straight into the drawer press the button and wash while we eat so I can vouch for how quiet they are. They hold lots of 'stuff'. When we were doing the reno I hauled a basket of dishes, wine glasses and drinking glasses to the kitchen appliance showroom and kept trying dishwashers to see which one could take the type of loads we were using in those days (kids are now in university so it has changed dramatically). Trust me - the salespeople weren't thrilled with us but I took no notice and made my point but seeing how much some DWs couldn't hold. As it was so long ago, the main difference then was the European models that didn't seem to be designed for North American needs. I would recommend trying your dishes in the DW you want before you buy.
And for us the space saving feature of 2 dishwashers in the same space as one was very important. My sister recently redid her kitchen and she got 2 Miele dishwashers as it was about the same price to have a second DW as the cabinets. She has 3 teenagers and swears by 2 dishwashers when you have a bunch of kids.
And, last not but least, I love the fact that the top drawer, which is the one I use the most, is at waist height so I load and unload the dishwasher without bending down.
As for cleaning - we think they do a great job. We don't rinse and have had no problems. As I said at the outset, because we entertain a lot I was determined to have 2 dishwashers so I always had somewhere to load dirty dishes into when we have guests. I hate dishes on the counter. And because I wasn't going to give up any of the other appliances I had planned in the kitchen I couldn't have 2 traditional DWs. So our primary motivation was space saving. Even if I didn't need to worry about space I would buy these again for all their conveniences.
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Warning - this is a total rant on my part but really...
I was asked by my sister to pick up wine for her birthday party tonight. She needs 36 bottles of the red and 20 bottles of the white wine she has chosen. It's raining, it's not a fun day to be out in traffic so I decide to use the feature on the BC Liquor store website that tells you which store has the wine you want and what quantity is on hand at each store.
The 39th and Cambie has 52 bottles of the red so we head there. Silly us - for when we got there they only have 1 bottle in stock. When I asked the nice man at the information desk he told me that the website numbers are rarely updated. (The voices in my head are asking questions like "Why does the website tell you to search for the store with the product you want if they don't know what store has product?") The nice man asks us if we want to go to one store to get the wine or to several stores. Hmmm. Let me think about that for a few minutes. The nice man phones the store and asks them to hold the wine for us. Thanks very much and back in the car.
Off we go to the Broadway and Maple store. We stand at the customer service counter forlornly until the security guard takes pity on us and is able to locate someone in the back to help us. They have set aside 30 bottles - we want 36. I ask if we can get 36. His response is "That would take all our stock and we like to have 10 on the shelf." (Voices in my head refuse to be silent.) "Are you telling me I can't buy stock that is on the shelf?" "That would take all of our stock and there wouldn't be any left for anyone else." With that I got brave, walked over to the shelf and took the last 6 bottles. We paid and left without incident - but I wonder if I am now on some secret list of people who insensitively buy the last bottle of wine on the shelf. Wonder what the punishment is - banished from the government liquor store?
Where do I sign the petition to privatize the BC Liquor stores?
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relish is a good choice for the age group. Our daughters (18 and 21) enjoy it and we don't have any problems taking them there. Certainly a better experience than our last family birthday at Joey's. Don't get me started.
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Rare, Cru and West would be 3 of my choices in Vancouver.
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Yes it is in the little strip mall - with Starbucks and M&M meats. And yes, there is parking - but not enough now that Finest at Sea is there. I think it will be a big draw. We are going to drop by on the weekend - will report in later.
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Yeah! Finally a (potentially) great restaurant close to home. Will wait for further information about the opening date.
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After many years of ordering my Christmas dinner from the Sutton Place Hotel (my husband would sneak down with my brother-in-law and pick up the dinner because no one in the family knew our secret), I am going to break down and cook the meal myself. With turkey being the star of the show, I am wondering what to get and what's the best local source. For instance, is there such a thing as a heritage turkey available locally? I seem to recall a thread on chicken that recommended purchasing chickens that had been air chilled. What's the turkey equivalent? Years ago when I used to cook Christmas dinner I would order a NY-style kosher bird. I have no idea if this really does make a difference. And, once I locate this great turkey is brining still recommended?
So help me come back with a better-than-ever Christmas dinner starting with the best-available turkey.
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Lee - thanks for tipping me to the Art of Eating. I just subscribed for me and as a Christmas gift for a friend. Perhaps when your back issues are returned we can work a deal so I can catch up on what I have missed.
2008 Okanagan Spring Wine Festival
in Western Canada: Dining
Posted
If you can, try to get into CedarCreek dinner at Fresco's in Kelowna. It is great value considering both the wines and the food.
If you are going to be in the Okanagan here are a few more wineries worth exploring:
Pentage (just south of Penticton - call for an appointment and directions)
Stag's Hollow - OK Falls
Fairview Cellars - Oliver
Inniskillin - Oliver
La Frenz - Naramata
CedarCreek - Kelowna (their whites are excellent and seem to fly under the radar)
These aren't the only great wineries but ones that can get overlooked.
Enjoy the festival.