hopkin

JJ Bean use 2% and Skim. Elysian Room, and most other shops I know use 3.25% and 1%. Almost all milk is homogenized.

You are totally right, money is not the only currency. (which is why I went to go work for Gerald for so little ) Seriously, its about quality of life and I look for good people in a good atmosphere. As an owner now I employ barista's who I try to pay well, also show respect and try to make thier workplace an enjoyable place to be. I'm thinking owners should be accountable for thier work practices good and bad. perhaps a way for the customers to know how wages and conditions are in restaurants. I certainly want my meal to be made by a happy cook than a bitter overworked and underpaid one. Until then every city will have its sweat kitchens. From how you describe your bosses, I'd be pleased to eat there.

I never said anything about that restaurant being busy. It certainly was at times, and was less as the kitchen went downhill. your 4th problem (which I considered your biggest) was that your amazingly strong kitchen team was being totally eroded through overworking and underpaying. and don't tell me this was circumstancial - it was policy. the demise of the team is the demise of the restaurant. of course, there were many other reasons. I've seen it so often Gerald that I believe this sometimes. It was about the only conclusion we could all come up with then. There seemed no other reasonable explanation to loosing strong staff members over another dollar or two an hour. I think many chefs and owners do it because they cannot find good people. Maybe this is because they are unwilling to pay for it.

I have known many seriously passionate cooks who did NOT have ambitions to become chefs, or owners. Yet these are the gems that really keep a kitchen ticking. If there is one thing I have learned about being an owner it is that good staff are worth paying for. For one, they tend to stick around if you treat them right, even longer than the chef. Oh, and about those chefs who's 'money has come', I haven't heard from many of them lately. They are probably back at the restaurant deep into a 60 hour week with the pain of having to cover for the lack of that extra line cook who hasn't yet applied for the job. Restaurants could pay kitchen staff more, its just not normally a priority, often treating line cooks as disposable expenditures. Paying attention to the 'going rate' is a huge mistake, because a cook is such a huge asset for a restaurant. If paid more they would generally stay longer, work harder, and take more pride in what they do for you. Gerald, as someone who has worked the line in a restaurant you previously owned, I can say that operation was a perfect example. This included the chef who was grossly overworked and underpaid! It was a kitchen that lost truly great people, and quality suffered because management would not pay to keep them, nor attract good talent. Yet the owners profited from it enough to move on to their own separate ventures. The priority there was not fair wages, it was about making money. There are too many restaurants in this city working their kitchens hard and paying way too little for it. Servers, in comparison to line cooks, are filthy rich. That is something management could change without paying for - fairer distribution of gratuities - improving the lives and prides of cooks, your restaurants, and therefore our meals. To quote Gerald once more, my message to restaurant owners who really need good cooks: "prove yourself first".

Victrola Coffee - 411 15th Avenue East, Capitol Hill www.victrolacoffee.com Hines Public Market Coffee - 2243 Eastlake Ave East

It is a rather odd system, at least for now heavier in artistic message than functionality. The intention is intriguing, but the delivery so far is weak. It has been successful in generating dialog, maybe that simply is the key goal. If it develops into a real alternative coffeehouse search engine, it would be seriously useful. Not as anti-starbucks, but as pro-independent.

http://www.delocator.net from the website: Cafés are vital social outposts that have historically provided subjective, social, local, and at times, irrational interaction, inspiration, and nourishment to artists, hipsters, musicians, activists, intellectuals, radicals, and others alike. Currently, independently owned cafés around the world are under aggressive attack; and their numbers have been sharply decreasing for many years. delocator.net is a means to preserve these local businesses. Transnational corporations, like Starbucks, Diedrich, Gloria Jean's, and the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf are at the forefront of this assault. Delocate is a web-verb created for this project as a defense mechanism for independent business establishments.

great stories of such a common scene with the old folks. my own mother is a real foodie but really drops the ball when it comes to beverages. we have talked about it many times, but she doesn't change. i've never figured it out. they grew up in tough times, and even that they are comfortable now, treating themselves to some fine things is limited. they have a nice house, nice cars, and take themselves out to nice restaurants (my dad always ordering the cheapest wine). they like, and know, a good piece of meat. my mother happily pays more for organic produce. but - ability to identify quality is limited to certain specific areas, and they just don't seem to care. oh my, oh my.. they drink boxed wine. identifying good quality in a glass of wine or a cup of coffee comes naturaly to some, others don't really care to try, or spend the energy convincing themselves their swill is good swill. lazy. coffee is for break time. people want coffee to be easy. so they take the easy route. niether can they find enough value added in your great cup to warrant spending a little more money or time improving their coffee. i would say this applies to the masses of coffee drinkers! cheap coffee is so popular, and its SAD. this is why good coffee needs you guys running around with your press pots and fresh roasts! how ironic it would be if kids of this foodie generation grow up to drink cheap coffee, complaining about how when they visit us when we're old that we still spend all this time fussing over 'just a cup of coffee'. how will we feel when they bring their own nescafe?

I suggest three new catagories. Best Coffee and Best Tea are a must. Each have strong showings. Thirdly, Best Informal, which seems to exist only as Best New Restaurant - Informal. While I'm at it I'll express another idea which many may find unrealistic, but I'm not the compeditive type. I would do away with the G, S, B rankings. Showcase the Best three equally. In many catagories there are establishments which certainly produce equal yet different styles which I'm sure as a judge you find difficult to rank one above the other. People are attracted to the drama of competition, which attracts them to awards like this, but I believe first place should be shared by the "Best". The premiere award certainly fits this arrangement. At such a level can you really choose one and say it is better than the other? As they flip flop each year the impression is no.

ah ha. I had my first unsatisfying fries there last week and wondered if it was just an off day. I really prefer the old ones, more brown and crisp.

Why is 'Best Cafe' or even 'Best Coffee' missing?

not all customers are good customers. I think there are plenty of establishments here with pride and attitude. As well there are plenty of customers with bad attitude who figure money can buy them anything anywhere anytime. "I am a customer, I am right". It takes a professional with great customer service skills to decline a request and yet turn it around into a positive. That said, there are so many people with terrible manners who show disrespect to staff and other clients, which should not be tolerated in any environment. Its a real dark place to be in the restaurant business when you really need the income and your best, or only customers are foul and disrespectful. "Philistines!"

I looked everywhere for Shiso plants one year, more often called Perilla. I finally found them at: Art Knapp Urban Garden (1401 Hornby Street 604-662-3303) I love shiso with japanese umeboshi plums, but my favourite preparation is a rice paper wrap with shiso and fresh plums or other fruits like nectarines and mango, wrapped with red pepper, sunflower spouts, cracked pepper. Slice them, drissle them with vinegars, and eat them like sushi, they're a glorious summer snack.

Umm... we Really need to talk. Your kitchen is like a porche yet the stick shift is made of cheap plastic. otherwise cool-a blog daddy-a!

<applause!> If you had excellent brewed coffee, even after an hour it will be much better than an ill-prepared Americano. To make a proper, great tasting americano you will need to invest in equipment, continuous training time, and continuous tweaking time. To pull off espresso properly in any situation you need someone there with the passion to make it happen. You need someone in your establishment that will take on the project and show everyone else what to do and enforce the standards. Its not worth it. On the other hand, you can invest in some really good tableware, some basic equipment, and with a good supplier you can be brewing world class coffee quite easily. The delivery will be consistant, it will make great impressions and you'll 'finish' better than any restaurant in town. I have a lot to say about coffee in restaurants, this could be a new thread all together.

I'm still recovering from a bad cold, my palate just isn't in good enough shape to warrant such a meal. Perhaps a drop in for a late drink afterwards is possible? regardless, enjoy!

Ok. Ok. I have to comment something about coffee. A friend at the table insisted on ordering an espresso. I insisted that he did not. He insisted. After he recieved and tasted the drink, we wished that I had more strongly insisted. But really, no points lost - its the status quo of restaurant coffee, es-pecially espresso.

clever, if they got the bread right! the mussels are almost always fantastic, but i have yet to recieve decent bread even as i'm forced, yet willing to pay for it. they started out doing the [over]grilled focaccia - slow, too complicated, and for dipping in this its all wrong, adding another (usualy burnt flavour). Congolaise mussels "with tomato, smoked chilli and cilantro with a touch of coconut cream and lime". its a close rendition of Thai Tom Yum Gai. Its my favourite with mussles.. fragrant, sour, and perfectly spicy. My last visit (4th time) I was disappointed. The sauce was red, and spicy hot. All we could taste was heat. I mentioned it to our server, worries Nico had altered the recipe, but she just comp'd us a couple of nice beers. Ok! So then the bread came to sop up my heartburn sauce: an italian like roll on a plate with a knife. it was tough, because i had to slice it myself. its such a hard thing to screw up, at this point I can only guess Nico has a thing about bread with mussels. All said, I will return again, and i will order the same thing, again, hoping for as good as the first few visits, and that they solve thier bread issue.

blackberry jam (homemade, handpicked) mango chutney (my own) grainy dijon its funny how much brain power we spend on bizarre questions like these. what defines a condiment, something that is 'prepared' I assume? if butter is considered a condiment that is surely #1. immediatly what came to mind were my jams and cheeses, which with some good bread I could live with alone for a long while. next would be my oils and vinegars, maple syrup, but under this kind of pressure these could be kept outside of the fridge.

JJ Bean on Main Street (@14th Ave) is now open.

i don't understand why who owns a store would be considered private data?

founded/based in vancouver, an international franchise outfit that are trying to be as much like starbucks as possible. they go on and on about business "success and maximum profitability" and say almost nothing about coffee. putting quantity before quality, they are the Cobs of the coffee industry.

Akbar's Own 1905 West Broadway at Cypress constantly delicious. nice room, modest white table cloths. great service, extensive menu and very reasonable prices. i've had at least 30 great meals at Akbar's. my absolute favourite indian. Maurya 1643 West Broadway a little more upscale, grand room that will impress guests. been there about 8 times, had some fantastic meals, one or two were not so great. There are two "Tandoori King" restaurants at Fraser and 60th almost at marine drive that are pretty 'authentic', pretty good food but a little out of the way.

Not when it is consistantly Bad. Thats right, coffee is a fruit. A huge part of being a great Chef is finding great ingredients, and it never stops because produce is always changing. You have to QC every day. For those who want 'consistancy' theres hothouse. Just like those who want the same bland shot every time there's Illy and superautomatic espresso. No one would use 'bland' and Keller together and so there lies the anomaly. I disagree. The viablility is in the passion and the will to deliver it. Keller did it brilliantly with everything else. I believe he missed with the coffee due to lack of research. All of the things he did would be the last things in the world any coffee professional would advise (other than Illy). Tell Keller you have a new space age way of canning scallops and you're certain they will be the same after 6 months as if they came right out of the sea. Just like Illy's preservation, its a foolery.

$20 a pound! I can only hope that it be seriously fantastic coffee. I'm curious also if there's a roast date on the bag? If not, there's a chance it could be over 2 weeks old. If it is, its not worth much.