Chocoholic

I believe that can take you past Howe and Georgia where you can pop into Sen5es for one of their muffins or other baked goodness. Warning: do NOT try their croissants. You will become addicted and your waistline will most certainly do things that will disagree with you. In fact, go in there wearing a blindfold or shout your order from just outside the door. I cannot go in there without emerging with at least a small baggie of chocolates, a cookie and a croissant. Not to mention their hot chocolate...

I am getting a new kitchen at the moment ( ) so after everything is hooked up again and the construction equipment is out of the way I am going to be doing some very serious cooking. One more week and counting...in the meantime, it is takeout food or restaurant visits every evening...

The Cookworks web site lists Chef's Choice sharpeners. Here is a link. I am going to the broadway store this weekend to check them out. The web site lists $199 as the price...ouch, some of the US on-line sites list them for US$120. That is CAN$140, add tax and shipping, probably around $180.

Has anybody ever tried some of the delectable yummies from Wild Sweets in Richmond? I went to their book launch a year or so ago and some of the desserts they served there were out of this world. They use unusual ingredients and techniques to achieve dessert bliss. Their book is a very interesting read.

I returned last night from a great week in San Francisco. I would like to thank everybody who responded in this thread, my little restaurant list was a big hit! Sunday evening after flying in I headed to Oola with two colleagues. Since we had no reservations we ate at the bar which was just fine. The food was lovely, the service a bit chaotic at times but overall a good start of a week of eating out. Monday after a particularly grueling 9 hour meeting marathon our COO took the group to a place called Foreign Cinema. Very interesting setting and since the boss is a bit of a gourmand, copious amounts of wine and oysters started arriving at our table. Many dishes and bottles of wine later we headed back to the hotel. The food was great, details are a bit vague. I blame the wine Tuesday was a smaller outing, 4 of us headed for Zuni Cafe. Very nice place, great food and service. Another excellent recommendation. Wednesday we had a group of 8 this time and since the current Most Senior Person (i.e. the one paying) said she wanted to eat well I suggested Hawthorne Lane. Luckily they had a table for us and this was definitely the best meal of the week. The food was simply gorgeous, I remember the veal chop I had, succulent and grilled to perfection. Thursday was party night, all major players had parties so I had a long procession of finger foods and free drinks. Details are much shrouded in alcoholic amnesia. Friday I wandered around San Francisco for a while in the afternoon, the weather was gorgeous. I strolled along Polk street, down Lombard street and through little Italy into Chinatown. What a great city you have! Many, many thanks for the excellent recommendations. I have now thoroughly cemented my reputation as a recommender of restaurants since I managed to impress my colleagues and friends. It was funny, wandering around SF with a group in tow, peering at a map trying to guide everyone to the next eating destination. I have already been instructed to start a list for LA for our visit to E3 later this year

Friday night, Rebellious Tomato pizza delivery. I am not a big fan of delivery pizza, the spectre of a grease-soaked box containing a limp piece of undercooked dough covered in a blob of melted cheese and dried out mushrooms will forever haunt me after my early twenties that I spent doing long nights of computer programming fueled only by pizza and 1.5 litre bottles of Coca Cola. I am older and wiser now and much healthier and fitter as a result Anyway...I actually like the Rebellious Tomato pizzas. They surely satisfy the odd craving I get and they are well made, have a nice thin and crispy crust and home delivery sometimes can't be beat for convenience. Last night....friends came over for babysitting duty. It was Connie's (my wife) turn to pick the restaurant and she picked En. I still love that place, a nice procession of small Japanese dishes, flash-grilled salmon, lovely little pieces of ahi, morsels of honey-ginger pork, a few bits of tasty sushi, yum. I asked our server to surprise me with a couple of glasses of premium sake. That stuff goes down very, very well and has a silent potency that hits you when you get up from your chair and wonder why you are feeling blissfully fuzzy. The one thing about En I wonder about is their menu, it has been the same for a number of years now. I guess when something ain't broke you don't fix it but still, I would love to see some new dishes to try there. After En the night was not over. Japanese desserts don't do it for me so I had the audacious idea of wandering over to West to see if there were a couple of seats at the bar for some desserts and drinks. Fortunately there were and we were seated at the bar, re-energized by the lively room and the Martini mixing action happening in front of us. After a very decadent concoction containing white and dark chocolate liquers and some espresso I had the special dessert of the evening, some creme caramel with an Earl Grey infused dark chocolate ganache in the middle with a bit of apple crumble and some sorbet. The bartender suggested a lovely late harvest to go with it. Connie had some frozen lemon souffle with cardamom merengue and a healthy glass of Blueberry tea. In all a perfect evening, our babysitting friends had no trouble with our little one and we spent the rest of the evening at home chatting with them.

Milk. In Holland where I grew up they had a government program to make people drink more milk back in the seventies. Part of it focused on milk consumption in schools. After being forced to drink milk in school and absolutely hating it I will never touch the stuff again. The smell alone makes me cringe. It is funny how a lot of other things I wouldn't eat as a kid (carrots, brussel sprouts, asparagus, etc) I now love. After learning how to cook them myself and turning them from mushy overcooked inedible blobs to nicely roasted/grilled/sauteed vegetables. I have converted quite a few brussel sprout haters with a recipe that involves briefly boiling them, taking all the leaves off and sauteing the leaves in a bit of butter with some chopped bacon. I make it into a salad with some roasted mushrooms and roasted tomato vinaigrette. (see Tom Colicchio's "think like a chef" for the recipes and inspiration)

The "adventures in eating" forum has some interesting threads about eating foods that the average westerner would never think of eating. I guess it all depends on your cultural background and upbringing. My hard-core Sicilian mother in law collects and eats snails from her garden, puts a piece of pork lard on crusty bread and has it for breakfast and serves pasta with thick pieces of pork skin. I love her home made sausages but I am very afraid to ask what is in them. Most people shiver at the sight of pork lard or skin (and I had some trouble trying it when it was put in front of me) but she digs into them with a nonplussed demeanor. Mustard Neil? What's wrong with that?

I live about a 10 min walk from Granville Island so I shop there every weekend. The opening hours prohibit me from visiting during the week, something that I really don't like. I hate being forced to go to Safeway on the way home from work. I simply don't have the time to go out of my way to Capers or something like that. If the market was open for one extra hour (7pm instead of 6pm) that would make all the difference to me. I work in Burnaby and finish work usually around 5:30pm, making that 6pm deadline impossible. And um, yes I do visit with my son in a stroller most of the time. And yes it gets really, really crammed on weekends, especially during the summer. But I am very good at stroller-navigation! Our sunday breakfasts from Rubina are a tradition now, he loves the scrambled eggs they do with the flatbread and the mango chutney. Some of the vendors have known him since he was a wee newborn strapped to my chest in a Baby Bjorn. He gets a free slice of Bavarian meatloaf at Oyama every time we visit. He also loves to chase the pigeons at the little square in the back and listen to the performers. A dancing 1.5 year old surely attracts people to a busker! He must be in a lot of photo albums. Price wise I don't think it is any more expensive than a place like Capers or Choices. In fact, most of the vegetables and such are very cheap imo. The butchers are a bit more expensive but I have no problem with that since I like getting my meat from a butcher I know, rather than from a bin at Safeway. Parking is a major hassle. If I need a large amount of groceries I drive there at 9:00am sharp. There are a few 'secret spots' that usually have spaces but after 10am on a weekend all parking bets are off. Walking past that long line of cars on a Saturday afternoon makes me feel lucky I live close enough to walk.

Cheers everyone! I will be taking my list and am much looking forward to my visit. The last time I was in SF was about 13 years ago. I am sure things have changed since then...

Oyama sausage in Granville Island sells it, even though they don't advertise it as such in English. I guess they don't want to offend/gross out too many people. It is a deli meat called "Paarde rookvlees" which is a Dutch delicacy, smoked horse meat. They also have the beef version simply called "rookvlees" (literally translated as "smoked meat") which is a cured and smoked beef cut. Deliciously salty with a hint of smoke. In fact I had some on a slice of sunflower seed bread this morning. Hmm.... In Holland you get it sliced paper thin and pile it on a well buttered round airy crispbread called "beschuit" and have it for breakfast. I miss my mum's weekend morning spreads... Oyama also has a buffalo version sometimes which is equally tasty.

I will be attending the Game Developers Conference next week in SF and will be staying in the Argent Hotel close to the Convention Centre. I am looking for suggestions for good restaurants in that area or within convenient taxi distance. There will be a small group (around 6 people) of us from Vancouver, Canada. We are looking for nice places to eat and unwind after long days of conference attendance and meetings. Money not the greatest obstacle (expense accounts you know ), relaxed atmosphere and good food (and wine) most important. All cuisines and cooking styles welcome

For those interested, I ended up booking George. There is something about the menu and vibe of that place (as much as you can get one from electronic posts!) that appeals to me. Thanks again for all the suggestions.

I found it on the web here. Mine turned out a bit wet, I suggest you drain the zucchini after it has cooked before adding the potatoes. I also finished it off under the broiler for a few minutes for a nice brown top. It is very good, nice soft texture and zucchini/potato flavor.

Saturday, braised beef southwestern style in dark beef stock with onions, garlic, carrots, red peppers, poblano peppers, chipotle puree, cumin and a couple of anchos for flavor. Finished off with some beans, reduced the braising liquid to a nice thick sauce and served over papardelle noodles. Enjoyed it with a nice glass of Australian Shiraz. Comfort food all the way. Last night's dinner was an Italian style zucchini loaf made with onions, garlic, zucchini, eggs, parmesan, fresh herbs and potatoes. I served that topped with a breaded piece of cod fillet and some roasted mushrooms. I always keep my little one in mind, the stew wasn't too spicy so he enjoyed some of the noodles with a bit of braising liquid, chopped cooked chicken (the braised beef cubes are still too much for him to handle) and veggies. Yesterday's zucchini loaf and cod were a big hit as well. Tonight: leftover beef braise with leftover zucchini loaf.

I don't work in the industry but as an enthusiastic amateur chef I'd love to spend an afternoon in the kitchen of a place like West or Lumiere and see what goes on there. Les Relais du Gourmand does this internship thing where for a lot of money you can spend a week at a high end restaurant as a kind of apprentice. I have been pondering doing something like this for a while. It will require some serious wife convincing. (See this link for more info) I spent an afternoon at Uprising Breads bakery a while ago, I won it at a silent auction for a charity benefit. It was great fun, watching them handle the monstrous blobs of dough and tossing chunks of it in a loaf shaping machine. I emerged from there covered in flour and with a new respect for bakers. I guess having bumbling amateurs around the kitchen is the last thing any chef wants. But if any local restaurants were to do some charity related auction for a an afternoon of observation and silly question asking in the kitchen, I'd be bidding for sure.

I have but I am a bit embarassed about it As parents of a 1.5 year old who are avid foodies and restaurant visitors, things get crazy sometimes. We thought we had his habits sussed out, around 6pm he will be sleepy and hungry enough to quietly sit in his chair and eat his food. So we headed for Adesso last Saturday for a 6pm dinner, eager to try out the place. Well, we were wrong. We got about 30 minutes into dinner when we decided to bail. Pack up the uncontrollable toddler and the food and head home where he can rampage without being a tripping hazard for servers and bothering other guests. However the food we had was great. My wife loved the Arancini, so you passed the picky Italian diner test I can't remember the other starter we had (too much chaos happening) but the mains we had were great, I had the braised shortribs and Ms. Chocoholic had the pasta con vongole, which she polished off at home with Chocoholic Jr. who devoured them as well. He also had some of the shortribs and pasta which also went down very well. We also had the chorizo pizza, originally ordered for the little one, we had that on Sunday and liked it so much that when I had to drop by to pick up the bib we left behind, picked up two more pizzas to take home. Many thanks to the staff at Adesso for being very friendly and helpful, even when Chocoholic Jr. was running around demanding attention from the restaurant staff and creating general chaos. The wife and I will definately be back, this time with the little one at home with a babysitter!

I think you can still live large at Diva at the Met as well, it is one of my old favorites. I agree with Tojo's, my last business related outing there was with high level execs from the company I work for and bottles of the "Tojo's private vintage" sake at $200 a pop were being ordered like bottles of water. CinCin is also classy. Morton's beats all other steakhouses for it's extravagance (there is something wrong with a $10 baked potato) but it is an American chain so they may not be that interested. Don't forget Bishop's either. Or you can always make Neil's day and send them to HSG

Actually I just booked for this evening at 6pm so we will be trying the Arancini then.

This thread brings back memories... I grew up in Holland and remember about 15 or so years ago when I first started traveling in North America that one of the things I always looked forward to was Haagen Dazs. One of the first things I would do is buy a tub and retreat to my hotel/motel/tent and devour it. Belgian Chocolate or Double Chocolate Chip used to be my favorite. I still have a photo in an old album of myself in front of a Haagen-Dazs truck parked outside a gas station. The grin on my face in that picture still makes me smile. A few years later they started selling it in Holland but only in a handful of select places. On most Friday nights I would take a 30 minute detour on my way home from work to get myself a tub for the weekend. This was quite a treat and an expensive one, one tub cost about the equivalent of $10 back then. Since then I moved to Canada and now have abundant access to the stuff. I still like it (Dulce de Leche being my favorite) but it has lost its magic a long time ago. It is still the ice cream of choice however, I probably will never stray from the good old HD!

I'd like to bring the wife and son over for brunch on Sunday but I don't see arancini on the brunch menu. It is the promise of arancini that will lure my wife to Adesso. (see my previous post) If we ask nicely, will there be arancini on Sunday?

Risotto - my 1.5 year old loves it and gobbles up the creamy rice concoctions I make up. Tonight's version included lots of shallots and garlic, chopped roasted mushrooms and frozen peas. Finished off with a generous dose of Parmesiano Reggiano and some white pepper. Served topped with some polpette (little Italian meatballs) courtesy of his grandmother. A treat for everyone and leftovers are packed for his lunch at day care tomorrow.

Thanks for all the suggestions and spirited comments so far! I found web sites for most of the places mentioned in this thread, but George is too wide a term to find anything so any links are welcome. So far I am leaning towards Perigee, the concept is unknown in Vancouver and I would like to try it out. Still considering Susur as well. Maybe I'll let the wife decide, she is less fussy than I am.

We had our much anticipated 10 year anniversary meal at West last night. It was fabulous, I had spoken to David Hawksworth and Brian Hopkins about it before so we got the royal treatment. No menus, just sit down, have a glass of wine (the first of many!) and let the food arrive in a steady stream of great dishes. Some of the highlights include a steamed artichoke heart stuffed with a truffle mousse and duck confit, some striped bass with truffles and the first wild spring salmon of the season on a Meyer lemon confit. We spent almost 3 hours there, quiet and unhurried, enjoying the evening. Dessert was a frozen lemon souffle with tamarind, you can imagine the flavors in that one. Brian's wine pairings were meticulous and delicious, most of the wines were unknown to us but he is great at explaining them and his enthusiasm for wine is infectuous. When we left we were presented with a copy of the menu as a keepsake, something we much appreciated. Truly an evening to remember, we are now supremely spoilt and wondering how we can top this one! (A fun thing we did was try to guess the next dish by the wine that always arrived before the food. Usually the cutlery gave it away ) I can't think of a better way for a food lover to spend a special occasion. I am sad it is over. I cannot recommend it enough.

Hello everyone, I will be in Toronto for a few days at the end of March with the wife and child (the Easter weekend actually hence my early inquiries) visiting the in-laws on the way to the Caribbean from Vancouver. In between Italian home cooking we will escape one night in search of a quiet and tasty dinner. We are looking for fine dining, something to showcase Toronto's kitchens. It has been seven years since we lived there so I am no longer up to date at all. The budget isn't that much of a concern, great food, room and service are! For anybody familiar with Vancouver, I am after a Toronto equivalent of say West or Lumiere. Susur has been suggested, but I know little about it. Any other suggestions will be very welcome and appreciated. (the child will stay home with nonna by the way!)