Daddy-A

... and dogs are welcome. A.

Truly, Chef Fowke's pastrami is the stuff of legends ... and tastes every bit as good as you'd think it would. Much better than Kaplan's IMO. Brian? Wherefore art though Brian? A.

Thanks! I thought as much, but I was never able to get an answer. If you see a couple of really cute Jack Russel Terriers tied to the outside of a railing in Yaletown, chances are that'll be J & I stting beside them A.

I was going to ask ... does a patio count as being "open" when the only reason people are using it is to smoke? Another question ... are there any dog-friendly patios in the Lower Mainland? A.

Apparently PaoPao sufffers from short term memory loss A.

Local eGulleter *Deborah*'s parents live up there. She mentioned some dining at Sun Peaks recently ... Try here ... I'm sure she'll post in here soon. A.

Dude! I'm betting you're wishing you HAD upsold to the Dom! A.

Must have just missed you! Agree ... soup is good for today. Shepherd's Pie Kolachy as well .... mashed taters! MMMMM. A.

Yeah, we've been a couple times. I agree, nice room, friendly service, good value for money. They also do take-out which is a great addition to our neighbourhood. Here's the review of my first visit. A.

J & I love Point No Point!! We stayed there for our honneymoon and an anniversary. Each cabin comes with a kitchenette, so we've never actually eaten at their restaurant. In fact, we rarely leave the cabin The hottubs are extremely secluded too. Another fave of ours! Paprika Bistro does Old World in a very New World way. The pork belly is one of my faves ... although don't mention the turkey sausage to Keith Another thing George does that I really appreciate is pickles! Pickled carrots, beets, etc. Not enough pickles around for my liking!A.

I think they're still recovering ... A.

I'm still not sure how being considered the Prince Ass-clown of ICA is a shrewd business move. Sure, it's great for the producers ... people talk about Flay, and as we know, negative press is still press. But as for Flay, I don't see how it helps further his career. Personally I'd rather talk about the food and how it was used. After a couple battles, Flay's stuff just seems to lag behing Batali in the creativity department. Flay tends to fall back on certain preparation techniques. I'm looking forward to Morimoto next week. He just embodies the spirit of Iron Chef to me. A.

I was thinking the same thing ... about the sparseness of Michael's plates that is. However, all in all, that had to be the most entertaining ICA yet. I realized a few things last night I enjoy the show much better when Flay isn't cooking The banter between Alton & Mario is hillarious! Not just this episode either. Steingarten actually has a sense of humour I like when the Chairman adds special "rules". Like requiring the chefs to make at least 3 savoury dishes. While I was hoping for a dessert battle, chocolate would have been a really boring ingredient for that. We're really looking forward to next week's battle here in Vancouver. Our own Rob Feenie is going up against Morimoto (if memory serves me correct ...) A.

And again I need to insist we keep the discussion on topic. Let's talk about Bis Moreno and the dining experiences had there during DOV. If we can't even remotely keep this on topic, the thread will have to be shut down. A.

As I head out this morning to start a kitchen remodel for one of my own clients, I raise my mug of coffee to the Varmint family. May your workers stay safe, may your troubles be few and may your new kitchen be everything you had dreamed of and more. A.

You'd best not come to dinner with a group of eGulleters then! A.

Okay, I know I'm really late coming to the table on this one, but I did it, and dammit, I'm gonna document it! I used the Cassoulet recipe from Les Halles ... it was simple enough for a rookie like me, and it was the only one I had (besides Martha Stewart's recipe for Cassoulet for 100 my wife founf tonight ). I made a couple of ingredient substitutions of note: the beans were Great Nothern white beans (not the Tarbais) and I had several murgez in the freezer which I used instead of the pork sausage. I hope Tony would approve eGullet member peppyre & I made confit a few weeks back ... I believe she has uplaoded the pictures ... I'll provide the links if I find them. Beans, pork belly, onions, etc. getting ready to simmer. Clockwise from left: Pork belly after cooking with beans, onions, pork rind & duck confit ... ready to assemble! Layer 1 ... murgez and that yummy pork rind, onion puree! Layer 2 ... pork belly! Layer 3 ... duck confit! At the end of Day #2 ... cooked and ready for the fridge. The plan was to have it for an early Valentine's dinner with my wife, J ... Plated and ready for dinner. Thanks to Carolyn Tille et al for helping me with the veggie decision. The salad was dressed with a Dijon Mustard Vinaigrette. Our wine was a 2000 Hester Creek Cab-Merlot (sorry Carolyn! ... no pinot!). Observations: The murgez gave off a lot of fat, so if I were to use it again I'd cut back on some of the duck fat. Les Halles says this recipe serves 4. Tony, please tell me this was a typo! Dear God! I'm going to be eating this for a week! I used my new Le Creuset (6.9 litres / 7.25 quarts). This was the only dish I had that was close to appropriate ... would an earthenware dish have yielded different/better results? All in all it was excellent if I do say so myself. A different sort of meal for me ... long range planning and all, which works well for my lifestyle. I'm already planning braised lamb shanks for Friday night! A.

There seems to be a lot of that going on around here. Diners giving their opinions ... owner's giving theirs. The freedom of expression aforded us by eGullet is something both sides are going to have to get used to. For the record, Ling never made the connection between being home at 8:30 and feeling rushed ... you did FannyBay. Ling's remarks about when she arrived and when she left were at the beginning of the post. It wasn't until the end that she said ... ... which IMO indicates that her feeling of being "rushed" had nothing to do with the amount of time they spent in the restaurant, but how they were treated.Now can we get back to discussing the food please? A. ps. If you'd like to have your initials, name etc at the end of each post, click on the Options link and the top of the page, and then click the Edit Signature link on the left of the page. Enter your signature there, and voila, that's what will appear after every post. PM me if you need more help.

J & I did the eGullet tour of Vancouver last night ... coffee at The Elysian Room, went to see Sideways at the 5th, and then wine, appetizers & dessert at Adesso Bistro. Have I ever mentioned my aversion to Kits? It's primarily due to the parking or lack thereof, especially between Cornwall & 4th. This is usually my excuse for not venturing into dining establishments in this part of town. Adesso Bistro presents a strong case for finding a way to deal with the parking. We arrived just after 10 ... still a number of Valentine's diners. I had never been to Da Pasta Bar or any of this location's previous incarnations so I can't comment on how the chi flowed in comparison (sorry butter!). It's a nice room ... a little noisy for my ears, but then again I have a hard time hearing in any crowd, the result of too many nights listening to Led Zeppelin & Queen at ear splitting volumes. We ordered a couple glasses of Mt Boucherie ... Pinot for me, Merlot for J (appropriate since we'd just seen Sideways) ... and a couple appy's. The Vitello Tonnato and the Arancini. Excellent on both counts, but the star, as mentioned by others, has to go to the rissoto balls! I may have to learn how to make these myself! Nicely crispy on the outside with the sweet, almost sticky arborio inside. I hadn't read the menu all that closely to be honest, so the parma and provelone was a big suprise! The veal had an off start with me ... or more to the point it was the tuna mayo. The fishyness caught me by surprise (again, I hadn't read the menu too closely ) and didn't really work with the veal IMO. Then J told me to have some of the crispy shallots with the mayo & veal. Bingo! The saltiness of the shallots, along with the capers, brought it all home. Really well calculated. A couple glasses of muscat accompanied our dessert ... the White Chocolate Panna Cotta. I don't think we could have finished the evening on a better note. "Smooth as silk" may be cliché but is describes this dessert perfectly. I love Italian desserts ... tiramisu being one of my all time faves ... so I can't wait to try the rest of this menu. Travis came by and introduced himself, and our server was none other than manager GianFranco. My apologies to Luciano & Carol for not introducing myself. As many other eGulleters will tell you, I'm a bit of an intovert Next time. Everybody was working so hard last night and seemed really proud of what they were doing. I like it when I see the owners bussing tables! As I said, Adesso presents a good reason for me to get over my aversin to parking in kits. Perhaps I need a Vespa? A.

Yesterday - The arancini from Adesso ... seriously the nicest appetizer I've had in a long time! A.

I think Mrs. Moreno should speak for herself. As of now, this is all hearsay. That is the beauty of eGullet ... it gives the restaurants a chance to answer comments made by their customers. If they think customers aren't already saying things about them, good or bad, they're dillusional. The difference with eGullet is that there is a much wider audience ... and the audience can talk back. FannyBay, what about the comment annoyed you? That Mrs. Moreno made it, or the subject of her comments (i.e. Ling). I wasn't quite clear on that. A.

Best Indian meal I have ever enjoyed was at a "wedding" celebration for some friends. I say "wedding" because they are not married at all, but it was easier for the "bride's" mother to say they were married than to explain to the rest of the family that the couple was simply living in sin Anyway, I digress ... (what else is new?) The restaurant was in Abbotsford, and there were about 200 people there at any given time. J & I attended along with my two sons. My eldest son M is an adventurous eater, his younger brother, R? Not so much. R is however much more sociable, and soon was running around with an Indian boy about his age. When it came time for dinner, I found R sitting with his new friend, with a plate full of dahl, saag, paneer, butter chicken, aloo gobi. I asked R "So, how do you like the bread?" He glanced up at me with that look of disdain that only an 8 year old can have and said "Dad, it's called naan. Duh!" I'll find out the name of the restaurant for y'all A.

OMG! I can NEVER get my tongue around that one! I learned that one from Chairman Kaga on Iron Chef ... fwah grah (said with a Japanese accent ) Think "vicheyssoise" ... broo-nwahz Pree-fix Who let W in here? A.

OMG! I agree with dodger! I'ver started a new thread (CLICKETY) to discuss the "ethics" of owners & chefs posting about their own restaurants. Travis & Luciano, please keep posting! We all just need to keep discussing the food. A. ps: Feng Shui? really butter? That is sooooo 1990's!

I was about to clear this up nathan ... the Aga is most definitely NOT a commercial cooker. I think that is where some confusion has taken place. There are specific installation requirements, but nothing as severe as the code requirements for commercial appliances I noted above. I don't know you, and I don't know your friends, but I severely doubt they have commercial ranges in their homes. If they do, the walls of their homes are likely covered in grease or are charcoal black because the burners are too powerful for residential use. Commercial ranges are NOT designed for home use unless proper precautions are taken. The "big deal" over violating codes is that the codes are there to protect people: The dimwit customers who figure they can save a few bucks by avoiding permits The neighbours of said dimwit customer whose houses will no doubt be dammaged when dimwit customer's home burns down because he has improperly installed a commercial range The contractor, who will no doubt be getting sued by dimwit customer. Bruce has it right. Codes are minimum requirements. And in most jurasdictions they are non-negotiable. Do it right and everybody wins. A.