mot juste

The place you mention across the street from Patisserie Bordeaux...is that the Bean Around the World coffee shop? Speaking of good cinnamon buns, have you tried the ones at Solly's on West Broadway? I read somewhere that they are so big, and take so long to unravel, they call them the "Never Ending" bun. The cinnamon buns at Viva Bakery on Yew street are also supposed to be pretty good. As for the Savary Island Pie Co., my vote goes to the organic rhubarb pie - delicious! How come egullet doesn't come with a lip-smacking icon?

Well, yes, all of the above is certainly true. But if you are looking for good bakeries outside of Vancouver, then Fieldstone, which specializes in baking organic artisan breads, is always a safe bet. Their breads are naturally levened, in that they use no commercial yeast. I really like their “Italian Pugliese” which contains just certified organic flour from Manitoba, water, malt and sea salt. The authentic item is traditionally baked in a giant wood burning oven, but James and Ingrid, the bakers at Fieldstone, manage to get pretty much the same effect from the stem-injected, stone hearth oven that they brought over from France. The shop is on Crescent Road in Surrey. They have been there for about five years now and yes, they are open Sundays. Then another good option in Surrey (although I haven’t been to this one recently), is Straight from the Hearth. They used to have the only 100% yeast-free sourdough on the market but I’m not sure if they are still able to make this claim. Anyhow, all their breads are said to be yeast free, contain no oils and use only natural starters. And unlike most organic bakeries, they use natural spring water instead of filtered water. They are on the 2300 block of King George Highway.

Keith: If the backyard thing doesn’t work out, you could try the restaurant route. Osteria Napoli on Renfrew steet used to do special evenings where they only served whole roast pig. It was a bit of a theatrical production when the waiters all emerged from the kitchen with the porkers held aloft on trays -- and very popular with the regulars who booked reservations well in advance. I went a couple of times and it was a pretty entertaining sight, although I learned not to take the kids, who got a little freaked out by the whole thing. Now that we are no longer living in the city I haven’t kept track of whether or not the restaurant is still doing these dinners. Eatrustic: I'm pretty sure the Bearfoot Bistro at Whistler was serving Berkshire pork this winter. I think they got it from a farm in Ontario (?) but someone in their kitchen might give you a local source.

Hmmm...let me see if I have this right. I appear to be getting a thunk on the head for my impotent attempts to have a little fun with Hawaiian tourists from a guy who started this thread by thrusting the entire magnificence of his sense of humour upon the citizens of Calgary. The cattle too near the Parker Ranch may not be heritage but nevertheless, they appear to be sacred. Well, never mind.....Jamie, I’m happy to hear that you are taking the higher road to the Kilauea Crater and doing your best to promote world peace between chefs of Pacific Rim nations and all that..... But what I’m wondering is .... if you are in Hawaii with a beautiful woman (and she surely is), why are you spending time getting your knickers in a twist over what we poor shut-in spammers back home are thinking? You need to get your priorities straight, man. Or do you just need a bigger keyboard?

"Hawaiian Flights Jammed with Flying Doughnuts." No kidding! Well Keith, Calgary may have Tim Hortons but it looks like Hawaiians get that glazed look for Krispy Kremes. link to Forbes Magazine http://www.forbes.com/business/commerce/ne...rtr1331116.html

Would you like another Heineken, Jamie?

True. The quality of tourists that go from Vancouver is not exactly Hawaii’s fault. Calgarians at least have the weather for an excuse. But there are two types of Vancouverites who habitually go to Hawaii. 1) The people who go just after winning the Super Lotto and just before splurging on a new pick up truck. 2) The people who would spend thousands of dollars to go to Tuscany and sit around at Villa Delia with people they already know. And other than that, I guess there are the Iron Man marathon freaks, but we don't want to mention them.

Hest, if you are keen on visiting Temple you should maybe try to get there before October. There's a possibility the chef may be moving away some time this year.

Thanks Keith. I always find your comments to be humourous AND original and that does brighten up my day. (Jamie - Coop is right. Fresh ideas drive this board and your ideas are fine pal, but you’ve got to rotate those road worn puns you’ve been wheeling around on for at least 10 years. Lack of ram? Sound of muesli? Time to retire them and give them a pension.) As for Hawaii, I have to agree. It’s always struck me as a destination for people with no imagination. At least, its never appealed much as a good place for food. Unless you are into poi and then there ARE some imaginative things you can do with that as long as you don’t swallow it. That being said however, I’ve been under the impression that some of the food producers in the agricultural areas were doing interesting work in the way of growing fresh wasabi, raising heritage breeds of cattle...if checking out that sort of thing gets you more motivated than sand in your swim trunks then there is still something there for foodies. Not me though. For pure entertainment value, I’ve heard the seafood auction where they flog 1,000 pound albacore tunas to the sushi agents is a bit of a blast.

Yah, it's a good idea. Good for Mia. Maybe if the restaurants start getting more notice for their lunch menus, more of them will make the effort to stay open for lunch.

If you are looking for a charcuterie menu, George Szasz of Paprika Bistro does a great one.

I would be interested to know why you say that, Keith. I haven't been there for years myself. But I was under the impression it was supposed to be getting better.

zzzzzzzz...oops! Is he finished yet? Don't worry Jamie, you're always good for a laugh.

Exactly. And isn't it always the "journalists" who get involved in this kind of petty mudslinging? Just another excuse to show off, I suspect. Actually, the chefs and restauranteurs in each city think quite highly of each other. Com'on we have a lot to offer each other and more to accomplish if we take a more supportive attitude instead of squabbling over nothing.

Yarrow is a farming community with Mennonite roots near Cultus Lake in the Fraser Valley. To go there, head east on Hwy #1 towards Chilliwack and take the 104 exit. There are some large roadside farm stands about 1 mile after you turn off the highway and also some spots right in the town of Yarrow that are worth searching for, such as the Apple Farm, which I believe is organic. The Apple Farm does farmgate sales of heritage apples and homemade apple pies and in the fall they sell fresh pressed apple juice and cider. They have a website. www.applesandstuff.com Most of the farm stands are only open late spring through Thanksgiving. There is a printed guide available giving locations and opening hours to the farmgate sales in the area. Most of the stands carry it.

You can usually find local organic produce (when it is in season) at the East Vancouver Farmer's Market but it is ridiculously expensive. If you have wheels, it's a nice day for a drive and it's the right time of year, an alternative is to make a weekend outing of it and visit the farmers stands just off the highway outside Yarrow. Yes, it's a long way, but with the money you save (especially at the end of season around Thanksgiving), it more than pays for your gas. Some items like garlic, onions and walnuts will last a long time so you can keep them for a while and not have to make the trip too often. The added bonus is that items like the walnuts and hazelnuts are incredibly fresh - not the situation with the ones you find in the bins of the so-called "green" stores. Last time I did this (October), I came home with flat of double-yolked organic hen eggs for about 2 dollars. I also recommend a visit to the nearby Apple Farm.

Ai ya ya...You guys had me working on that one. First of all I had to read every square inch of the paper trying to find the reference to Bobby Rivers - a task not made easier by the fact that Bobby Rivers is never actually mentioned in the piece. It's pretty clear to me, Keith, that the writer is being hyper sarcastic here (a personality trait seldom found on THIS site). I mean, who wouldn't get bored and rebellious writing calendar items for a living. But after all that effort, I don’t think I will bother to tune in to Top Five. I have no idea who or what Bobby Rivers is but surely he can’t be more obnoxious than the band leader on Ken Kostick’s show. By the way....does anyone ever wonder if Ken Kostick and Nathan Fong (a local TV show guy) were separated at birth?

Has anyone eaten at Wickinninish Inn since Andrew Springett took over the kitchen?

Let's lynch them.

Well, just in case you are not being facetious I will try to answer that. By “Island Mentality” I was using a term often used to describe an “Us Against the World” mindset - in this case, one frequently encountered in Victoria (but also in minority communities) where one group will close ranks and be hyper supportive of its own members while exhibiting a somewhat defensive antagonism towards another that it feels overshadowed by. (In this case, Vancouver). On Vancouver Island it has both good and bad aspects. On the good side it has fostered a remarkably dynamic food and wine culture and given crucial support to such small publications as the aforementioned Eat which would have had difficulty surviving in a more competitive atmosphere. On the negative side it can create a real communications barrier between two groups who could do a lot for each other. Anyway, thanks for the correction on the origins of the Dine Out program. I learned something there. However, by their own admission, the idea for the Burger Club idea did originate in New York so a lot of fluff consuming New York wannabes in that crew, no? Ha, Ha. Getting back to your thoughts on whether there should be more or less media...while God forbid there there should not be enough press around, no one would want to have one publication/radio/TV spot calling all the shots, it’s also not the healthiest situation to have too many. Then what happens is that you have advertisers trying to dictate the terms. You will get advertisers saying “write a glowing report on my mediocre business or I’ll take my promotional dollars to someone who will.” And the more competitive the situation, the more likely the chance that they will be accommodated. Good for the advertiser, bad for the reader. So is the current flood of “advertorial” that we’ve been seeing lately the result of greed, laziness or economic desperation on the part of the media? For example, If you are looking for in-depth writing you have to question the amount of advertorial that is usually on display in Vancouver Magazine - a big chunk of their wine coverage at the back of the magazine and the half-inch thick Dining Guide insert they place in their summer issue. What’s up with that? I guess the ideal situation would be to have enough media with sufficient “employment security” to be able to do a better job of it, but no monopolies. By the way, sorry, I’m not obsessed with media. I’ve just joined e-gullet and I haven’t read most of the other threads yet. And in case anyone is wondering, I was born and raised on the Island.

In depth writing? You are kidding me, right? Well, I don’t see the point of being drawn into a comparison of City Food versus Eat. The later is fine if the deep focus you are looking for is a listing of every condiment jar selling on every store shelf in Victoria, myself I prefer seeing the bigger picture. Obviously we are just looking for different things in a food magazine. To me the more interesting question raised here is why are we so resentful of any coverage in the local food media of the world outside of our own backyard. We like to think of Vancouver as a “world class city” and yet we are not supposed to be interested in what goes on elsewhere and how it may affect or eventually influence us here. I never quite understand the point of all the Toronto bashing that goes on in Vancouver...and of course we’ve all heard of the “Island Mentality Syndrome”. I think a balanced mix between the wide and narrow focus is healthy. Many successful ideas that get started in other places find fruition in Vancouver and it all eventually adds to the cosmopolitan mix that we enjoy having in this city. Take this year’s Dine Out Vancouver, for example. It was an idea that began in New York. Does that make Vancouverites a bunch of “New York Wannabe’s” for making the idea our own and adapting it to our own city? As someone who works in the industry, I like to hear what my peers are doing locally and I also like to compare that to ideas that are in play elsewhere and may show up here too. It gives me food for thought and I admire the effort of anyone who tries to offer both and create a bridge between the two. Yes, you can follow the US media but except for exceptions like “The Fat Guy”, US media seldom acknowledges that we exist. I don’t see how returning the sentiment does us any good.

True, true. So maybe we should encourge them. I hate to say this but if local mags like City Food were to pack it in and move on to do something easier, EAt magazine would make a sorry substitute. Maybe we should start the "E-gullet Digest". What would be on the table of contents?

I think for local based media, the dependence on advertising is the root of the whole problem. If the advertisers cut back because of economic times or because of there are just too many vehicles to support then it shows in the editorial content, paper quality or frequency. I know that at the places I have worked we had advertising reps from numerous sources knocking on our door nearly every day. Look what happened to Local Flavours - couldn’t get enough advertising to last more than three issues and then zip! Except for special issues the glossy mags don’t pay their bills from local advertising, it mostly comes from ads placed by national agencies based in Toronto. I think people forget that although these things are free they cost money to produce. What if it were up to the public to pay a dollar or so for a copy. Would we? Or are we just too used to getting everything for free? If we want more specific local coverage than maybe we should show its worth something to us.

I enjoyed this, Keith. Tell me, has Chatters bought their ad yet thanking the Georgia Straight for naming them "best whatever"?

I have to say that I completely disagree with Young One on this post. I’ve been reading City Food for years and have always found it to be entertaining, informative and above all, trustworthy. They always seem to tell it like it is in the industry and they don’t pander to their advertisers. Yes, there are a few errors in the recent issue, but considering the amount of material it contains I think that’s only to be expected. I can’t say I’ve ever seen a restaurant guide that didn’t have old information, the industry just changes too fast. Beyond that, it’s not cheaply produced and you can’t beat the cover price. I usually pick up a copy at Duthie Books on Fourth Avenue, or next door at Capers, but you have to be fast as they get snapped up quickly. They do offer subscriptions however and maybe that’s the answer for people who have trouble getting their hands on a copy.