*Deborah*

Gee, maybe we should go...we could all wear tight, low-cut t-shirts and tell them real women serve good food...

LMAO Yes, if you've ever tried to walk the seawall in the early evening summer, you'd know there are teeming hordes of tourists pretty close by...Sunset Beach and all that. I will prepare to dodge Fatburger-wielding masses this year.

Do you think they're really going for Vera's clientele, or do you think they're trying to appeal to the (numerous) American tourists on Denman Street? The only Fatburger I've been to is in Santa Monica, and it was situated similarly close to the water... Not that we don't like a good burger! I agree the football theme is a bit...odd. I guess White Spot already took baseball.

I'll be in L.A. next month, and an In-n-Out is SO on my list (my first!!). I wasn't ALL that impressed with the Santa Monica Fatburger I had last time I was there...I mean it was good, but not quite all that. I'm looking forward to the In-n-Out !

Haha. The thin greasy kind - yes, NY style. We like to call it well oiled. I think the other type you are referring to is what they call Sicilian style in NY. Not sure what it is called here, as I haven't seen it anyplace. Do they serve it in Vancouver? Cheers! ← I don't know, Marc-David...that's another thing I loved in Montréal. Actually, I think they have it at the deli case my supermarket, but I haven't dared to try it yet... Wow, I was looking at Nat's website and I think I'm jonesing for a good meatball sub to the point I might go get one tonight! has anyone tried theirs?

Wow, I am so not a pizza connoisseur...I like Bella because they use a doughball like they do in Montréal But I like all kinds: the thin, greasy kind you have to fold in half (NY style?); the thinner crispy kind sometimes; I really like the kind some regions make in a big cookie sheet or whatever, that get sliced in rectangles, those are really good cold. Mmmmm, pizza!

I have The DaVinci Code and Angels and Demons. And I'm an English major. Oh my. ← I think it's OK to have Angels & Demons if you also have Foucault's Pendulum (and have read the former once, and the latter, a half-dozen times) *raises hand* ← I think that these points are particularly true if you are eating at Earl's (to keep this thread on track and not bring down the forum gods on us). ← Hmm, maybe you have to read your Eco while drinking your coffee at Prado!!

I have The DaVinci Code and Angels and Demons. And I'm an English major. Oh my. ← I think it's OK to have Angels & Demons if you also have Foucault's Pendulum (and have read the former once, and the latter, a half-dozen times) *raises hand*

*hesitating to admit that there is a Stephen King novel on my bookshelf (although almost all of Michael Ondaatje is there, too)*

What I find shocking nowadays is people who are more than 10 minutes late for something and who don't call to tell you their ETA. If you know they're going to be half an hour late or an hour late or whatever it is, then you can plan accordingly, but when you expect them momentarily, it can really put a wrench in the works. That said, I was recently more than an hour late for a gathering of eGulleters because I thought the restaurant was on a different street than it was (miles apart, as it happened)...I would gladly have called to get directions/warn of my lateness, if I had anyone's number with me but they kindly forgave me, and now I'm not allowed to go to a new place without double-checking the address before I leave. I am in the "order without them" camp, if they're more than 15 minutes late and no phone call.

Mu means "my" in Greek. For example, "my Deborah". Leonard C General Manager ← Oh, so even sweeter than I thought! Thanks for the clarification

Good thread idea! I don't know if I'll be able to remember the actual last three things I cooked (well, some of them would be boring steamed broccoli) so how about the actual last meal and then the past two interesting meals? Last night: My so glamourous dinner consisted of toasted squirrelly bread with butter and cheese I can almost always be tempted by a cheese sandwich. Last interesting meal: Caramelized onions, with garlic and peppers, and hot Italian sausages made at my market next door (Nester's), served with nice crusty bread and an organic baby spinach salad with avocado and a bit of bacon and Litehouse's One Carb Southwestern Ranch dressing (which I got for its chipotle flavour, not its carbs or lack thereof--it's pretty tasty). We drank a few bottles of red with that. Query: does anyone ever see dark curly mature spinach? all I ever seem to see is that pale baby stuff, and I miss the other one, full of sand though it may be. Second last interesting meal: Specialty, $25 dollar chicken from a butcher at GIM (I'm still not sure what was so special about it, but it was very delicious) roasted with a rub of olive oil, fresh thyme (I finally learned the trick of removing the thyme leaves from the stalks, duh), garlic, and lemon zest, stuffed with a lemon, and the fabulous gravy...mashed potatoes with sauteed leeks, and steamed broccoli. We're heathens, and drank two bottles of red that night as well

Oatmeal, Cream of Wheat, sometimes Shredded Wheat with boiling water and a bit of milk and sugar (those big yummy pillows of "Shred of Wheat" as I called it!) and then later when we moved to the US, my mum would make grits from time to time. My cupboard is empty without oatmeal and Cream of Wheat! I eat it for supper sometimes too (benefit of the single life).

It is amazing how you can say something so brutal about an individual you have never met. This just happens to be my cousin, so I may be a little bias. A little tidbit for you. Erin spent time in a few restaurants shadowing management and front line employees. We were happy to have Erin with us at C for a couple of nights. Remember that one key employee who left, who was so amazing that everyone still brings up. Well that would be Erin if you had her working for you. I am sure that Mr. Fuller would love to have Erin working at one of his restaurants. Leonard J Nakonechny C Restaurant GM ← Leonard, I'm talking about the character, not the actress, not making it as a hostess, never mind a manager. From the way it was written. And the way it was shown. It was not a criticism of your cousin's acting ability, but of the writing. At the 30-minute mark (when I made that comment), that character didn't look as though she could manage a lemonade stand. I should have been clearer, perhaps, although I can't see that I (unlike others) have said anything that says "this or that actor is terrible"; I was talking about the character. I'm sorry to you and your cousin if she took it badly; there's a little Vancouver eGullet "Earl's Hostess" riff that bounces through the forum, so that is the comparison I chose. And having majored in drama and theatre through high school and university, I feel I am actually somewhat qualified to have an opinion.

Oh, I have wanted to ban that phrase for AGES! I think it's more overused than "resolve" as spoken by politicians, even.

Wow, I seem to be in the minority; I loathe sitting with a dirty plate in front of me while waiting for everyone else to finish... I missed that in etiquette school

Totally agree. Add in the familiarity factor and you guarantee these kind of results. How many people eat at West in a year vs Milestones? The Straight used to at least have some of their own writers' recommendations and commentary but each year they've cut back on this aspect. ← The other thing to remember is that it's the Straight readers, whose demographics vary wildly, but there's a very large young (poor) student component...what I considered best at 20 is not what I consider best now, and a lot of their bests are on the lower end of the price scale. Which is fine! The critics' bests are a little more in line with eGulleters' I would say. The Kolachy Shop did well Yay Kolachy Keith and Jason!

It's a majority rule thing with polls like that; aside from ballot stuffing, if there are 20 good candidates, the one with the most votes (however mediocre--see Starbucks) will win. As Kathleen Hanna puts it: Mediocrity Rules.

For me it always comes out lumpy till I assault it mercilessly with an immersion blender. ← OK, I actually have one of those! Glad I'm not the only lumpy one.

Both times I've made DLD, I boiled it for about three hours, and it was lumpy and wouldn't smooth out for me, even with a whisk...is it because I was using a small can and not a large one? should I keep that going for a shorter time? I left the lid on and kept the can submerged. Newbie at DLD.

Thanks, Jeffy Boy: my understanding of "normal" pronunciation must be from all the Torontonians at McGill. The actress who enunciated it so clearly is originally from Jasper, not T.O. It's not like I think it's the worst show EVAR or anything, btw; it just kind of reminded me why I usually only watch West Wing, Law & Order, and HNIC. I thought the pastry chef was not a bad actress, but they seem to have based her character pretty directly on Phoebe on Friends; the manageress dancing I realize has a story tie-in, but again seems derivative from Friends; the fact that a lot of the viewing public have worked in restaurants and have some idea of how it goes means that a lot of people are going to have an opinion about it...does anyone remember that show, It's a Living, about the waitresses? with that tall blonde actress whose name I can't recall. That show sort of had a better idea of what it was, it seems to me, straight sit-com. This one...not so much...is it a sit-com? is it Sex in the Bistro? is it 86ed as Folk? Maybe I don't watch enough of these modern shows to really understand where this one is coming from. I can certainly see it improving, and I felt better toward it by the end than I did after 20-30 minutes.

Oh, am I jealous of that cheesecakse, it looks like my favourite, creamy kind! Arne, I think you and Shiro were separated at birth: not just your heads, but your smiles are so similar! And thanks for the Cioffi reminder, I don't get over there often enough.

I enjoyed a wonderful solo dinner tonight at one of the only formal dining venues here on blustery Cape Cod. But it took me a minute or two to recover from having the hostess/owner pronounce loudly upon my arrival in a quiet, crowded dining room, "Ah... one? A single girl? Aww... that's too bad!" I would have walked out but I was so stunned that I followed her to my table and tried to stifle my shock with a mouthful of bread. I ordered so many dishes, though, that I think they thought I was a food critic. They were really, really nice to me. When the hostess came by to check on me and saw that I'd ordered foie gras and sweetbreads, she said something like, "Ah! A woman who eats like a man!" before scurrying away to annoy someone else. I think I'll write a letter. I just found that unbelievably innapropriate. ← That's unbelievably insulting!! I think I might have complained to the manager, and I'm not a complainer in restaurants, as a rule. I hope your dinner was good!

Definitive Diplomat. Yum!

Google is your friend: Edit: Oh, bless us, only 5 more episodes to watch, er, ridicule...hmm, maybe we should hope for more!