*Deborah*

Neil, the Royal Bank is staying; it was a funny little part of the DP application meeting, actually, that the RBC is a little unhappy about the proposed underground RAV entrance from the site, as they consider it negatively impacts on security, to have a bunch of people digging under their bank

I honestly couldn't say...aside from confidentiality concerns!! I thought it was supposed to be another retailer, but these things can change between when a project begins and completes (i.e., over the course of four or five years, in this case). And I'm not enough of a muckety-muck to be right up-to-date.

Privatejet - how did you get the address? I was thinking that the store would be located in the new development on along the rise on Cambie. But if you are right - it would seem to mean that the whole Fairchild building must be coming down or being redeveloped. A new store is then a couple of years down the road. But I am guessing that plans are pretty firm - they even have estimated square footage on the website - and at 55k - it is a pretty big store. But maybe not so quick. ← My company (day job) is working on the 485 West 8th (8th & Cambie) project...(old Dueck location). There will be a large grocery store in that block. Are they planning yet another store for a mere block away?? And there's a Safeway at 12th & Cambie...and a Caper's will go into that 16th & Cambie spot when it's done. Holy groceries, Batman!

I'm simply speechless. Aside from that, I have taken notes about many other things than the meal in restaurants, especially while travelling...I've never noticed anyone payng much attention to it.

Difficult to talk with your mouth closed, unless you are Edgar Bergen, actually.

Thanks for checking, Lee. Keith, I know exactly what you mean: the great and powerful Gullet...well maybe (if this is true) people will stop blaming us for their ruin when we say something we ate somewhere wasn't perfect, too

Hi, Snacky! I haven't been to the Cannery in a while, but my dad and I enjoyed it. Another place we've been to and enjoyed several times is The Spotted Prawn (also in the Entertainment book, as is the Cannery), but they lost their gorgeous view when Shaw Tower was built...we've only been once since that happened, and their custom was way way down. I honestly am not sure if the quality will stay high when patronage is low...maybe someone else here has been recently? Blue Water is nice and close, indeed; you won't have far to stumble home for your Champagne and cake festivities you can see the menu online here.

Oh, of course! silly me. I do remember the product, although I've never eaten it.

I attribute a lot of poor utensil-holding in North America to commercials for breakfast cereal where the kid is holding the spoon in a fist...remember Mikey? he'd eat anything, and eat it like a little barbarian.

I guess I won't be able to try the pizza after all. I got this email last night: Unverified...maybe someone can make a drive-by verification. Sad, if true.

Greetings! Today lunch time to break my Kolachy fast with the feature roast pork and a cup of the beef soup. Mmmm, I feel better now! Last night: Parents in town, ergo, dinner at Parkside...(Caught a glimpse of Marc-David, as well, but didn't manage to say hi, sorry, Marc-David!) We started with two Blood Orange Negronis and a Dark and Stormy, yum. Chef walked by and chatted for a moment, and then sent us out a little amuse: salmon tartare with crème fraîche and a little bit of this and a little bit of that (lightly smoked salmon roe!), and a pickled ramp (yum!). Delicious. For apps, my mother and I split the Dungeness crab ravioli in a corn broth with tarragon (? I think that's what it was) and the scallops with crispy pork belly and fresh green pea ...velouté? I'm sorry, my mind has completely lost the descriptions. Neither of us actually wanted to switch plates halfway through My dad started with the beet salad and enjoyed it heartily. For mains, My mother had the stuffed lamb (stuffed with lamb shoulder and prosciutto, I got her leftovers for my dinner tonight, yay), my dad had the pork prime rib, poached apricots and pistachios, he nearly picked up the bone to chew, he ate every scrap. I had the duck breast with rhubarb (oh my word it was good). We somehow managed to fit dessert: my mum had the little brandy snap cannoli filled with lemon and a cherry sauce, and my dad had the sorbets (he always has the sorbets), and I had the rhubarb and vanilla trifle. We tried the Masi Grandarella ('01 I think?) and enjoyed it very much. I have told them already I am dragging them to West (maybe kicking and screaming) next time they're here, as they really need to try it there, but we're all such creatures of habit, and we just love it at Parkside. Wednesday night, I finally tried Lucy Mae Brown. I've only lived a block away for four years My mother started with the caramelized onion and Oka pastry thing...what's it called? she really liked it, it's like that Provençal pizza-type thing. I had the Québec foie gras to start, and...while it did melt on my tongue, I found it a bit overcooked for my taste. (GOD I'm such a carnivore.) My duck breast was nicely seared and red on the inside though (duck two nights in a row, I shall quack soon), served with shallot mashed potatoes and a sour cherry sauce. My mother had linguine with fresh clams, and she was very happy with hers, as well. We both finished up with the sticky toffee pudding, which was nice, but the ice cream served with it was banana, not cinnamon, I do believe...it was good nonetheless. We had a new to us and quite enjoyable wine: Pirramimma Petit Verdot, we liked it.

I think they have their own secret decoder rings, Neil!

Lee, it didn't feel thin, particularly--I mean it wasn't a fat HSG burger or anything, but it was adequate, for sure. The buns are quite nice, and being in SoCal, the veggies are delish. We had our onions cooked, so we were not stinky! I think it was at least as good as the Fatburger I had in Santa Monica last time I was in LA. It definitely did the trick for my hangover breakfast, though Sorry, Tricia, I'm out in the Coachella Valley now, can't bring you takeout!

[O/T] Here's my In-N-Out Burger!!!! Delicious breakfast today [/o/t]

Really pretty, but painfully, painfully slow on my browser (Firefox) even on ADSL. Maybe it's just me, though

Heh, if I have any chocolate stain remainders, I fear they're just going to get worse after tonight's "all things Belgian chocolate" dessert. Maybe I should wear a brown outfit out tonight. ← Good call!

I have got to get my self to some of the other fusion restos: I really enjoyed eating at Shiru-Bay both times I was there! I think it's good value for the money (or maybe we were just fortunate in what we ordered being filling) and the people I took both times (30-somethings from out of town, reasonably sophisticated restaurant-goers) were impressed both with the surroundings and the food, and were shocked at the small size of the bill. I think there's some Guu in my future, and after seeing the chef from Hapa Izakaya at the food show yesterday, I am even more encouraged to go there, funny guy -- we might have the same colourist

C'mon, fess up kids. There have to be more than 2 of us. If you don't pipe up, Lee and I are going to start posting about our airline dining experiences, little plastic knives and all! ← There's a thread about airline food on here somewhere, snacky_cat! I would link, but I don't remember where I saw it.

You're most welcome! It took me quite a while to come up with that list and I see that I missed a place I've never heard of Felicia's! Where might this place be and what have you heard about it? Nosy parkers want to know By chance is this the sushi lunch you are planning to have at Shiro? If so, you may want to check to see that they're open for lunch on Saturday because I have a sneaking suspicion that they aren't. If you're going for dinner just never mind me. I'm sure you will love it there as those of us Shiro fans will attest! ← Ah, good point about the lunch...I will check! Felicia's is a little joint down the street (to the west, opposite side of the street) from Da Francesco, on Hastings...it is in the Punk Rock Boy™'s neighbourhood, and he said that all of the food geeks will be happy to know about it...apparently the service is more...character than 4-star, but the food really good. I haven't tried it yet, but I think that will be our next stop in his neighbourhood.

Wow, Sarah! Thanks for making up so much of my list!! (I kinda didn't know where to start...and the ones I took off are about half and half I've eaten there/I don't particularly want to eat there) Aurora Bistro Ba Guo Bu Yi Szechuan Baru Beach Side Cafe C Cafe Artigiano Cassis Chambar (soon to be ticked off the list) Coast Le Crocodile Cru Dockside Elysian Room En Felicia's Fiction Le Gavroche Go Fish Gotham Guu Hapa Izakaya Henry's Kitchen Hermitage Japone Liliget Feast House Living Room (now that it's changed hands) Long's Noodle House Lucy Mae Brown Maurya Modern Club Octopus's Garden Okada Pair Bistro Phnom Phen Random Rangoli La Regalade Salade de Fruits Saveur Savoury Coast Shiro Sushi but I think I'm giong Saturday The Ordinary Cafe The Pear Tree Tojo's Vij's Vintropolis Yuji's

I remember when the STOP WORK went up at LMB, when it was under construction... I just had a lovely lamb and yam on Neil's patio! Yay for sun at noon!

I'm a medium rare (on the rare) side person, and that's how I ask for it. I usually get it that way in a steakhouse, but I usually don't get it that way if I'm in anything BUT a steakhouse. So I usually only order steak in a steakhouse, since I can't stand it overdone.

Exactly! Mercedes...it is my daughters 16th birthday....give me leather seats and upgrade me to the 500 series for free! I am calling Bullshit.... ← I like the irony of this quote sequence. An inconsiderate customer is an inconsiderate customer, but a customer who calls and asks and gets a "Hey, we'd be delighted if you celebrated your [whatever] with us" and then is probably considerate enough to order good wine or extra drinks or whatever to bring the tab up, as well as appropriately compensate the server, is a customer who is also going to come back, I think...and say good things...and remember, "oh, I had my [whatever] at [restaurant], it was great!" So honestly, I can't see what's so wrong about that. If the customer asks and the restaurant says NO OMIGOD WHAT AN INSULT TO MY FABULOUS PASTRY CHEF then I guess it's a different story.

Except Andrew, he's allowed (nay, encouraged!) to wear his blue unitard.

I've been lurking in this thread for a few days, and all I have to say is wow! Wow to bilrus for doing this and sharing it; and wow to the Gulleteers whose encouragement, etc., I'm sure helps a lot...this is a great place, really, isn't it!