*Deborah*

I have heard bruschetta mispronounced so many times by so many people that now I have to think twice and visualize it before I say it, lest I embarrass myself. Last night I asked for a bottle of Gran Feudo, and the waiter asked me if I wanted Gran Fuedo.

You know, we are not going to West after all, as I can't afford to treat on the regular menu, and the early prix-fixe choices are not appealing to my parental units today...we'll probably end up at Chambar I think, after all that!! I've got my fingers crossed he'll play Delilah!

How many lbs of meat in there, Andrew? was it as big as a dinner plate? was it Kobe beef or something?

I'm going too! My parents and I are going to the early prix-fixe at West. Blue Water is closer to GM Place, though, they have a similar program (eat before 6:00). The Beatty Street Bar & Grill in the Georgia Court Hotel (b/w Robson & Georgia) is fairly quick...quicker than the Shark Club, e.g. They also have martini specials on Fridays. The burgers are pretty reliable...I eat there often, as my office is across the street. Moxie's takes more than an hour for lunch, so I don't eat there. They might be OK if you have enough time. You could try the bar at Wild Rice or Chambar, but I have no idea about if you'd have to wait to be seated, or how busy the kitchen is early.

I love Nanaimo Bars! they're about the only thing I'll eat on BC Ferries.

Thanks for looking into that, Brian, please keep us updated!

If you go to the City of Nanaimo website, they have all the info, and a recipe!

Oh, thanks for the additional thoughts; we're going to the Smoking Dog this time. They may well come back to town during the season, though, so there will be chances to try other places in the neighbourhood.

Purely from an enduser/eater point of view, how do you reconcile these: Vancouver restaurants charging $300 for the supposedly non-world-class (God I hate that term) or inferior to NY/LA/Las Vegas (??)/any small town in France meal, and Vancouver third from the top (if I understand line cook correctly), fresh-out-of-school cooks who want to make $35K a year? I honestly don't have a feel for what a fair wage is for someone who has taken a year of culinary school, and I don't dispute at ALL that it is very hard work...but I do know that with a Bachelor's degree from a good university, it took me a good 5 years of working life to get to $35K (why the hell didn't I get a degree in Engineering? ) and I didn't get dinner with that. Anyways, I don't want to sound as though I think cooks should work for nothing, because I don't; and I certainly agree that experience and ability should be rewarded with higher wages, I'm just thinking of the starting wages. Maybe some more of the management types can comment on how that works, because my knowledge of restaurant cash flow is between slim and none.

Wow, because some people praise Rob Feenie and Lumière, he is a hyper-critical asshole? no, wait, apparently he's a hyper-critical asshole wannabe, who flouts [sic] his restaurant to all and sundry... I'm just shaking my head. Maybe I'm sheltered, but I don't actually remember hearing him say he had the best restaurant in the world or anything. The Relais and Chateaux organization seems to think that his restaurant is...OK. I've eaten there once, and I enjoyed it. Doubtless I am one of the lucky many who is happy with a lot of what I eat, rather than being jaded to the point of appreciating only the very best I have seen that Rob Feenie, like many others who lurk on eGullet or hear about what's going on here, is a very responsive guy, who at least appears to be down-to-earth rather than arrogant, and who is generally--and genuinely--eager to please his customers. More than one person above has mentioned that if Foodie-Girl had said something to staff at the time of her meal, the restaurant would more than likely have tried to fix anything she perceived was wrong. Whatever. It's unfortunate that she had a not-great experience. Does anyone happen to think that there is a single restaurant on the entire planet where every customer, every time, has had exactly the soul-exalting experience they had hoped for? If so, please tell me where, and I will start saving. Edited to say that I did get confused as to which topic this was, sorry, Daddy-A.

Well, another pair to talk about: My mum and dad called me a few weeks ago and said, "we're on our way to Oliver, birdwatching," I said, "Oh, go to Burrowing Owl for dinner!" and they did. So when she got back home, she started bugging me, "Oh, we have to go! you have to go! let's go!" So I just spent 12 of the past 36 hours driving to and from the South Okanagan. We had a late lunch in Oliver yesterday, at a place whose name I have blocked. We started with breaded calamari and a red pepper sauce. I have eaten calamari in dozens of restaurants, with and without breading and batter, with various sorts of sauce. I am not sure what they dipped these poor bits of squid in...I felt bad for it. When I could find it. Honestly, it just got worse from there. I ordered a hamburger and fries, and the burger was very charcoaly and dry, I ate about as much as that Rodeo Burger last week. I'll be at Vera's soon enough, I guess, my tastebuds are now crying piteously for a decent hamburger. My mum had an onion and cheese tart of some sort, served with Caesar, and neither was to her taste, either. I felt bad for the server, she was anxious that we didn't like our meals. We didn't but we were horrible customers and lied in our teeth that we just weren't that hungry, and just wanted it to be over. Do I have to cease posting on eGullet for failing to tell the restaurant what they could do to improve? they have so very much to improve, I don't even know where they should start. Happily, dinner was not a disappointment. We taxied down to Burrowing Owl and got a very nice table next to the fireplace. The room is HUGE! The ceilings are very high, wood, with beams, and painted designs...enormous light fixtures. Well, I mean the building itself is perched up on the hill like a fort, at the moment, I suppose in time it will be sweetly landscaped in but I half expected to see sentries pacing the roof... It's very theatrical! I don't mean to sound like I don't like the building or anything, it's just very...exuberant! The first thing I saw upon entering the room is these cute little stuffed burrowing owls. Needless to say, I have one gracing my mantel as I type this. Pierre looked after my mother and me superbly. We started out with the '02 (?? may have been 2000) Méritage. I called my dad in Alaska to let him know I had arrived safely and that we were about to dine (we always try to include my poor dad when he's away). He got to hear me say, "Oh, they're decanting the wine! wheee!" which I think made his day as much as it made mine. The wine was just delicious, and breathed out even better. Turns out that Pierre likely served us at la Crêperie long long ago...small world. My mother couldn't decide between several fabulous appetizers, and in the interest of being able to eat her dinner and still have room for dessert, simply had a mixed salad. I started with the scallop special appetizer, gorgeous scallops in their shells, with a Pernod and fennel sauce. The only problem was that there were so many of them! I ate 9 I think, but the last few were beyond me, I had duck on the way. My mother had the lamb main, and ate it all up. Which is unusual in itself, she has a very small appetite. I had seared duck breast, I can believe in God because he/she/it created duck, and people with the brains to prepare it in ways that please me. It was served with mission figs and I just ate the leftovers on toast for supper. For dessert, my mum had the warm chocolate velvet, and I had a gianduja truffle. You know, we didn't even discuss how good it was, but we ate it all, so I suppose it was OK. Thus fortified, we got a few bottles of '03 Syrah and the aforementioned owl, as well as a stylish t-shirt for me (which you gulleters no doubt will see modelled at upcoming events ).

I wonder if it's the old Vong's space they're moving into? I used to love their jade chicken. Tonight is Ukranians-go-for-Chinese night in the Cat family so perhaps I'll request one last hurrah at the old New Grand View so we can bid adieu to the weird ivy climbing up the window and the beloved always-empty free parking lot. What are they gonna call the new joint? The New New Grand View? The New Fraser View? ← Aaaaugh! My favourite General Tso's Chicken might not get delivered to my hood any more??!!

I think they don't have Gardennay in the US yet, Tricia, I mentioned to my girlfriend in Philly once and she had no clue. Not sure how well soup-in-a-box will go down there, maybe? I could never find the pureed tomatoes in a box from Italy when I was in the US (not shopping at the right place, probably). Knorr has them here now, too. I have tried the Gardennay carrot, red pepper, and squash flavours, they're OK. I like to add a little ginger to the carrot, and a little nutmeg to the squash, and pepper to them all, really. Can't live on them, and I know nothing of the sodium levels, but it's better than a poke in the eye.

Ah. We were originally going to go there before we heard about Jean-Claude, but then I wasn't sure...I didn't realize it's been passed on in the family! that's wonderful to hear! That's definitely a plan. Thanks, Jamie

Here and there, where have I been? Lunch today: Kolachy Shop. I know, I know, I sound like a paid shill (I'm not!), but I just love this store. Today, the Tuna Melt, which I am so into. I love tuna salad, and this one has mirepoix celery (you should have heard me trying to explain mirepoix to some guys who were behind me in the lineup! I only have a vague concept, not a proper definition). I never have celery in the house, so I never put it in my tuna salad, much as I like it. This (plus a spare for later) and the Black Bean Soup are just making my day. Dinner last night: Jang Mo Jib with Mooshmouse and another woman of small stature and large appetite (I of course am large in stature AND appetite). After a nice circumnavigation of Stanley Park on the Seawall, we dragged ourselves to my first (!) Korean meal. The only dish I have any hope of spelling recognizably is bulgoki. It was delicious! We also had sweet potato clear noodles with vegetables and meat, and the rice dish with an egg and vegetables and meat that you mix up at the table and let crisp against the sides of the metal bowl. It all came with kimchi and bits of this and that (mmm, seaweed!) and including tea and one beer (a Heini in honour of Neil, Andrew and Jamie), came to $46. We were all quite stuffed, and could have taken home almost enough for someone's lunch if we wanted. That's all for now...by this time next week I should have some more new places on my list!

My mum is less-than-perfectly mobile, so I fear we will be stuck with a car regardless. But I would like to go someplace new (to us), and I'm just inviting thoughts since I seldom eat in that neighbourhood, and I'm not 100% sure what's around. Wow, what a memory! exactly.

I have some thoughts (Adesso, Joie mentioned the Ordinary Café) but wanted more Gulleters' input, please! My parents and I are attending BOTB on Thursday and need to eat somewhere beforehand, not too fancy (plus I think we're going to West on Friday). My dad is allergic to shellfish, but otherwise we're only picky re: not too trendy or loud, and somewhere relatively close by would be a good thing. What say you?

Oh, their environment will be offering dishes. Somehow I neglected to laugh at that before.

We should break out the frosted white eyeshadow and white lipstick and pay the Hyperbole -oops, I mean Superlative - Lounge a visit when it opens! Any other closet former mods want to bust out the Lambrettas for a trip? Ha. ← It's open! but Joie and I can't go in yet, we're still consumed with giggles whenever we think of it.

All I can say is I'm *craving* a Vera Burger and decent onion rings after that Rodeo fiasco the other day.

Is Circolo still all hustle-bustle? I know they have booths...booths are kind of hard to find anymore!

I will be dining at the Sonora Room at Burrowing Owl this weekend and will let you know if it becomes a favourite

*Pink Tea Triad Alert* *Pink Tea Triad Alert* Ladies, we need to try this place out!

I fear I am only a part-time member of this illustrious Club. Happily, my work schedule means that I am not available during the week ! Aren't sandwiches already shaped like (square) cakes?

Oh, I see what you mean about the glass, not knowing if it were tempered would be a bit scary! That backsplash stuff is cool! Smooth stainless would be easier than the brushed stuff, which sucks in the grease (see my fridge and stove front )