Paul B

The magic word: paella. Every summer a neighbour and I hold a paella party in my backyard. We bought a 31-inch paella pan and, after we almost burned down the 'hood the first year, a paella propane ring. We prepare food for 40 people and when it's ready everyone grabs a plate and serves themselves from the pan. We tell everyone to BYOB and bring a bottle of red for the sangria bowl which my wife keeps topped up with brandied fruit, etc. The party has proved such a success that friends now arrange their summer vacations around it. And as for the paella recipe, we played with a few but the one that serves as the basis of our dish is from (wait for it....) Martha Stewart. Good fun, especially on a warm summer night.

This sounds kinda boring, but it's appreciated both in Europe and Mexico: maple sugar candies. Purdy's makes them and will put together a box of them for you. Can't get much more Canadian, though not exactly west coast.

A friend of mine who works at Georgia and Howe buys brioches from a bakery around the corner from her office. I think its called Senses -- I've never been in it but she swears by it and she's an avid foodie.

Someone asked about barbequing pizzas. I've done it. I make the dough in a bread machine: 1 1/2 cups of water; 3 1/3 cups bread flour; 1 1/2 tsp yeast; 1 tsp salt; a splash of vegetable oil. When the bread machine is done with it, I take it out, put it in a large bowl and cover it with a towel to allow it to rise. Takes at least an hour and I have enough dough for two pizzas. To cook it on the barbeque you have to have cleaned the grill within an inch of its life. I mean super clean. Then you oil the grill. Then close the lid and let the bbq get good and hot. Finally I open the lid, toss the rolled out dough on the grill, and shut the lid. Let it coook for 5-10 minutes, then flip the dough and quickly dump put the toppings on the pizza and shut the lid. Let it regain heat, then turn off the bbq and let the pizza cook with residual heat. As for unusual toppings, I like to make a (wait for it) curry pizza now and then. I stir-fry some pieces of chicken and some sliced white onion. Add a jar of a good curry sauce and let it thicken. Then add some frozen peas and stir until they thaw. Then take all that and put it on the pizza dough and add small cubes of feta cheese. Cook as you would a regular pizza. Not very Italian, but nice on a cold day. I actually got the idea when I was living in Ireland. The Dominos in that country offers a pizza called the Winter Warmer which has pieces of tandoori chicken on it.

Was there a month ago and IT ROCKED. Two bottles of Burrowing Old merlot may have contributed to our enjoyment....

I agree on the Floata. I take the family there once a month and brought my parents there when they visited from Toronto. They loved it. If you befriend the servers they'll ply you with some of the more offbeat dishes. They have, for example, eel, something I haven't seen at any other dim sum place. The lobster dumplings that the guys in suits bring around are unusual and nice. And the free parking is great. Drive to the top of the parkade and you can walk right into the restaurant. On the North Shore, there's a Chinese restaurant in the Westview Mall (just off the upper levels). Used to be terrible but some friends took us there for dim sum a week or so ago and it was very good. New management. No carts -- you have to order from a menu -- but very fresh and hot. When we lived in East Van we used to go to the Flamingo on Fraser south of Kingsway. Not the greatest dim sum by any means, but its might be the cheapest and the servers are incredibly friendly. They watched my boys grow up and used to rush over to our table to talk to them. I feel kinda guilty I haven't been there in a while...

Same here. We ate there several times during the first years it was open and every time we went it seemed to be getting a bit worse. We finally just gave up.

A bit late for this subject, but the Pic Nic bakery, that little gem on Clyde between 14th and 15th in West Van, makes very good hot cross buns.

No insult to Saskatoon, but I have to add an anecdote here. About four years ago I went to a conference in 'Toon. My oldest friend happened to be doing some business nearby so we arranged to spend an extra night in town and hang out. When the conference ended and I got to the hotel I found my buddy had paid for my room. Great guy. So I told him I was going to buy him the best meal in the city. We went to the concierge and I asked him to recommend the finest restaurant in town. He said, no lie, The Keg. I said no, the best. He said The Keg. So I switched tracks: "What's the best ethnic restaurant in the city?" "Ah," he says, "I know a brilliant Italian place." He calls us a cab and gives the driver directions. Fifteen minutes later we find ourselves in the suburbs looking an Italian restaurant in a strip mall. It has "All the pasta you can eat for $6.95" on a big sign outside. There was a line up of families and screaming kids halfway around the mall. We ended up eating at a Boston Pizza. I hope the food scene has imporved in Saskabush or the concierge's have gotten smarter.

I haven't been, but I think I was told that Calvin's in Dundarave is Czech.

How about the bento boxes at Fujiya at Clark and Venables? I believe they mark them down just before closing but even before that they're a bargain. There are also great deals to be had at the food courts in a couple of the Richmond Malls. The court in Yaohan Centre (3700 No. 3 Road) has everything, and some of it crazy cheap. My family prefers the upscale court on the third floor of the Aberdeen Centre just up the street. There's a Japanese noodle place in there that makes a curry udon which is, like, 5$ and you can get fresh tako yaki from the stand beside it.

Here on the North Shore there is all sorts of Persian food. For a quick, very cheap introduction to Persian cuisine you might want to try the Kebab place in West Vancouver on Marine near 14th. This is the place that generated the anti-smell by-law that's been in the news lately. It's cheap, it's fast, and the number of Persians who frequent it (many taking home big containers of food) suggests it's authentic. But fancy it ain't. I have it on authority from some Persian neighbors that the best Persian food in the city is to be had at the (wait for it) Pink Elephant. This place is just west of Lonsdale on, I think, 3rd. I haven't been. In general I find Persian food a bit bland, but my neighbors brought a rice dish to our annual block Christmas party last year that was very good. And in the fall my wife opened our door to find a Persian woman who was excited by the quince tree we have on our front yard. She wondered if she could pick one. My wife said pick them all, which she did, then invited us to her place to try the jams and jellies she made from the fruit. Pretty durn good.

Try a library! The West Vancouver library has a coffee stand in it. It also has a periodical reading room downstairs that has a fireplace. Very cozy and civilized on a rainy day.

I'd like the crab cake recipe too. I usually buy cakes and serve them on top of a lemon risotto (with peas mixed in) and topped with a chipolte mayonaisse. A fave family dinner that also looks pretty enough to serve guests.

One of my family's faves that I invented a year or so ago: I'll serve crab cakes on a bed of lemon risotto (with peas in it) and top the crab cake with a dollop of chipolte Mayonnaise. Simple but pretty and a nice combination Paul B

If you're on the North Shore, there's a place on 12th just a few steps east of Lonsdale that makes a seriously good bagel. I can't remember the name of the shop, but I do know they provide Whole Foods with their bagels. Paul B

I recently read that crabs are at an all time low price in the Vancouver area. I was wondering where people buy fresh crabs (I tend to go to T&T), which restaurants they frequent for crabs, and if they have any tips about preparing and serving crabs. An additional sub-topic might be, where do you get the best crab cakes (to take home) in Vancouver? I go to the fish market at the corner of 15th and Marine in West Vancouver because it's convenient, and have been to the crab shack on the Dollarton Highway (recently burned out, I hear) but there must be other places to get them. Thanks. Paul B

We went with another couple to La Zuppa in the 1500 block of Lonsdale, North Van, one Friday night a couple of months ago. The place is unprepossessing but the tapas is actually not bad. The big attraction, however, is the Spanish music on Friday nights: two guitarists and a flamenco dancer. The musicians rocked the small room. We ended up having a great time. Paul B