stovetop

Could you make your own stocks? it is cheaper? It is not that hard.... one chicken..whole, carrots... garlic, bay leaves,ect you have a meal and a stock steve

This is definitely not the venue for food politics Why is so hard to discuss objectively about what we eat Food sourcing is my life---- so many years buying food. So many years buying beef; let’s see back in 79 I think I have enough experience to discuss objectively about beef in this country. I do know that things have changed ---not the same product steve

To add Mr. Bonner I do understand where you are at if you have found your self a good steak Eat it I would Your right Does matter where your from With Tenderloins wet aged really does not matter so if the price is right enjoy what wine are you having with it steve

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Some LINKS about Uruguay beef: http://www.naturalbeefdistribution.com/id25.htm http://beef-mag.com/mag/beef_foreign_competitors_uruguay/ http://gremolata.com/gremolata082.htm http://gremolata.com/uruguaybeef.htm http://www.beefinfo.org/pdf/CBIFF_P.pdf Canada only produces 2.5 % of the worlds beef and Argentina is 5.3 % So if BC is only 6% and Alberta is 40% and Argentina is 5.3 % and Canada 2.5 % wow!!! _________________________________________ Canadian beef http://www.cbef.com/Supplierlist.htm http://www.geocities.com/capitolhill/5202/carinc.html http://www.beefinfo.org/pdf/CBIFF_P.pdf BC is only six percent of beef production and Alberta is 40% (do the math) __________________________________ {"Alberta and Uruguay are one in the same"} mtigges said: “Say what? I’ve always enjoyed your posts for good insight, but I’m missing your point here Keith.” 2roost said: “As for the local argument I have to side with KT on this one, Alberta is not local, and if anyone can provide me with available “local BC free range grass fed beef” at a comparable (up to 20% premium) I’ll happily buy it.” “Stong's have carried Free Range Grass Fed Uruguayan Beef for at least two years.” Keith Talent said: “If were talking local, neither Alberta nor Uraguay are local, so unless you grade on a sliding scale of evil, they're both the same. I'd go so far as to add Salmon Arm based Blue Goose in there. Not local. (The distance between Vancouver and Salmon Arm is the equal to crossing two or three European borders, pretty tough to argue that it's even vaguely local.)” Keith Talent said: “I buy local when I can but I have yet to see BC foie gras, Surrey Single Malts or Surrey Stilton I doubt the car you drive is using BC petrol? The beef as Kieth stated is great value and I'm all for value for the $ and we just picked up a few more tenderloins for the bbq tonight with a couple of bottles of Bordeaux. __________________________________________________ You all have valid points. For me it is not always about price point and maybe it is my red neck and proud to be Albertan and Canadian and even being away for ten years (Alberta) I still have that I would walk a mile to buy from my province and home country. In BC Sysco has no tie to any industry here and they have been selling Argentinean beef for about ten years and Aussie beef since I have lived here. Both Products I have not been happy with the constancy and I too have not found consistency with BC meat or what they sell as. The one thing I notice is that beef here does not have a grade mark on it any more Does BC even have any beef processing plants or do they process the beef in the US. The meat is so green when it gets to you and you have to age it at least 14 more days before it has any taste. I was in Alberta all last summer and had steak in so many places and so many times. I worked for a company called NORALTA Lodge and they serviced the oil and logging field up in northern Alberta. They had steak night every week and would buy locally processed beef and it did not need any aging it was Alberta “AAA” New York steaks” that would nock your socks off. I do not care what planet you are from. There is nothing that can come in the same ball park. Except for maybe Kobe beef from Japan. The other thing about the BC market in both restaurants and retail is they sell Sirloin but steaks…What up with that!!…. In Alberta they sell New York cut and like 10oz and nobody bats an eye.(price) The other observation I have noticed and it is a problem in Alberta as well is it is hard to find someone who can cook a steak properly. Like a MR when you ask for a MR. Finally my last words are I am going to work hard to find a way to bring good quality beef here and I wish we had some decent processors here on the island and lower mainland. I like Intercity but I think we could do better. Also they do not do dry aged that is the key to a good steak. No matter where it comes from… steak in a bag just does not cut it for me anymore and saving money for the sake of saving money for a tough steak just does not wash in my world. Go big or stay home. After 28 years of cooking professionaly all over Canada with some of the best restaurants and chefs … I do know what a good steak is! steve

Hi Stephen: When the BSE crises hit the country; beef prices, specifically Alberta beef went through the roof. Meat suppliers had carried Uruguayan beef before but through need I ordered some to try. The price was right and I figured it could not be any worse then Aussie beef. Aussie beef and Uruguayan beef are both wet aged and so is a lot of Canadian beef. Wet aged beef enables meat to travel and the producer to keep the moisture (water) in. When you hang a side you will loose a lot of weight and weight is money. I am a fan of dry aged beef because the problem with wet age meat is we the consumer pay for all that water and unless you dry out the beef you are really boiling the meat on the char broiler. I am not just picking on Uruguayan beef but the whole wet aged Cryovacking or as some call sous vide. I believe quality beef is all about how it is processed - where it grazes is also so important but that wonderful care can be lost in an instant with bad processing. Beef really needs to be hung for at least 14 days. Cargill has really changed the way we eat beef and before the BSE crises we were becoming so limited on choice because of the control Cargill has on the beef industry. BC has been in Crises for years and the BSE crises really broke down the beef industry here in BC. One other BC problem is the Campbell Gov is trying to cut out all the local abattoirs so our choice will become even smaller. We do fortunately live next door to some of the best beef on the planet. Alberta not like BC is helping cattle farms and they are breaking the walls down. The processors there are growing not downsizing like here in BC. They will be Johnny on the spot when BC only has large processors doing wet aged beef and Alberta's dry aged beef industry is growing leaps and bounds and the old days of really good steak sandwich’s from a New York cut not some tough cut from a sirloin. Alberta dry aged beef will be available and maybe the Canadian consumer will know what a good steak is all about. Not some wet rotting hunk of beef from 1000 miles away. So when you are ready to cook that wet aged steak add all that water to your price point and the cost really is not great of a saving when you do servable yield tests- you begin to see what you are paying for. When you sauté the product look and see how much water is in your pan--- you are paying for that You can not beat fresh air dried farm raised Alberta beef. Steve

Hi: This might be a stupid interjection but do the French roll their baguettes by hand or do they use a machine? This will come back to the point when I find out this one fact Thank you Steve Jerichocafe

which no chef could ever be accused of... ← Wow Andy you could not have said better.... chefs can be a rather large Ego lot, suffering from kick the dog syndrome... so when they get to the top they can be an A-hole. Last sun we had a food critic-writer in our restaurant which we just recently opened and on thurs it was in the Victoria times and we have increased our business by 50% over the last few days so I must say that it was good advertising but it is a long run now. Our labour was so high because of a very slow week now it is bursting at the seams. When I left work at ten it was starting a second rush, normally it is slowing down and I did not see any signs of a slow down. Media does have its merits but when you get blasted it can have the reverse effect so you have to take the good and the bad but it can kill or help your business. steve

Not to get side tracked daddy-A; but there is always a downside to this speculation, all those properties of high value will loose there equity and so will a lot their owners. When the interest rates go up and the property go through the roof, places like the west side with very low population densities outside of kits beach will burst at the seams in tax value and all those roads and infrastructure that were put aside to build projects specifically for the Olympics will start to build up ... no more money. When you have to pay 40 bucks for a main at a restaurant in Van and when staff will have to be paid more and about 50 % of your fav places go down well hey it is in the name of business. 1979 all over again--- I lived in Edmonton and watched the market deflate like a hot air balloon, the interest rates can not stay low forever... it is a matter of macro economics and the fact that the US economy is slowing and their debt is getting out of control. We are lucky we have the oil or Alberta is. I hope all restaurants are braced for what will come... life will be fun but the cost of doing business will go up and staff will make great tips but if rent goes up who will be left after the circus leaves town and most of the clowns will be working in Alberta making more money and will have a place to live. PS ...Calgary is still making money on the Olympics, and they have paid for the circus tents, Montréal is just about paid for?? (1976) Vancouver will be paying for a while... the cost of construction has increased beyond expectations and with labour shortages they will have to bring in more foreign workers and someone will be upset about that? All in the name of profit I am a right wing Albertan old boy who has lived in BC for about the same time I lived in Alberta and TO and there is something running amuck..... I don’t think I will be at the circus when it is in town... but I would not hold my breath unless it is on Bell steve

Put out a flowing, top notch and exaggerated press release... invite an eclectic, crazy and rich group of people- spend tones of money, serve great food and give it all away for free. Blow your whole marketing budget all at once. In the end they kill you any way So entice them all at once, sell the farm Go big or stay home steve

Thank you for caring:We get this all the time; van property scene is brutal on the bus….. The turn over rate for restaurants in the lower Mainland as of late is very scary and the road to the Olympics will not be a path made of Gold…high rents will bury all profits, two weeks does not make a Year end! My prediction will be the market will fall! (After) Post Olympic the Hippies will cash out…. Sell sell sell Maybe when the dust settles the restaurant bus can really get some decent rents … Campbell knows dick about tourism… the Olympics is not about real-estate; it is about Culture; Canadian culture!!! And yes Sports!!! peace steve

Hi All To me it is better to invest the time and money on the customers that are in the restaurant then feeding honey to the critics. steve

Matthew are you a food writer?

When did I get confused and joined Eg? I started cooking in 79 I have been confused every since I have been a member for a few years steve

This is funny, raise it lower it... shit.. people will pay what they will. sell a burger for 1o cents and all you need a hundred customers to break even. sell a burger for 10 and all you need is one! steve

If they are your best customers... like any good relationship you take that good and the bad... Critics can miss out on this; although I have seen some amazing Canadian relationships between the critic and the Chef. can this be Bad? but when those conections turn sour ouch steve

Price point sets the game... music sets the mood. Serve, volley... Love We all love to cook. But… Who do we love to cook for? The critic. Sure; we all love TV But we can not all be stars. We must make our business and families live everyday staff and customers make our game. steve

You are getting close to the bulleye steve

who is simons customers? steve

In this new technology I find it funny that the critic is so close e to those who they are criticizing... so much so that they are right at your finger tips... many battles have been fought on the Vancouver pages and I have to say that has been more beneficial then harmful. But someone always loses out in a fight. Some person’s feelings are hurt, but is that the price you pay to play? steve

I can not ask myself that question enough.... “who is my Customer"..... That is the basis of every business plan. The question is here... how we in the restaurant business utilize the critic or media for increasing our sales or just plain exposure, is that not what media is all about? What come first the chicken or the egg? No pun intended steve

Basildog...who is your main customer? steve

I am reading George Orwell... Down and out in London and Paris.... Wow! Anthony Bourdain is right about that book, very good. See... That is a critical opinion... No different then giving an opinion about a restaurant. A big publication can have serious consequences on a small restaurant that just happens to be on the wrong place at the wrong time. stovetop

Yes... that could be confusing.... we all have the same need; not the same wants. steve

For what it is worth? It really helped me... it gave me some insight to another place and time. The question is how can you use it in local marketing? Steve