Andrew Morrison

The great thing is that most CFD places listen to criticism and learn from it. As someone pointed out, it's an ultra-competitive market. Keep it coming. The opinions expressed here might trickle up.

Amandla! True enough to pre-condition the palate for the sourest malice.

Perhaps CFD has so many fans because it does other things very well. The newer manifestations of it (Brown's, Earl's Paramount, Watermark, West Van Cactus) are each something to behold. They've poured tons of money into swanky, if stiff, designs (the locations are excellent). Add some fine looking people sweating vitality, all of them working systems designed by pros like Noble et al, and you've got a recipe for a marketable illusion of lifestyle, hipness, and the heat of the moment du jour. Throw in big screen TV's, the duelling perfumes of estrogen and testosterone, and you've got lunar pull. Edited due to my bottled mistress, Stella.

The things we choose to remember! Yup, the West Van Cactus Club has perhaps the best washrooms I've ever peed in, but the food is as pre-pubescent as the service. I also gave Earl's Paramounta a positive review because they exceeded my low expectations. Really, CFD is just not my deal. I still go back because the bridge is the bridge and La Regalade doesn't show PPV games.

^ Goodness girls... I've been pre-programmed to loathe chain restaurants of every stripe, be it a shit box in a strip mall or a faux cadeau dressed up in boobs. When I first heard the term "leader" to describe a manager, I nearly barfed. As for their hiring practices, you can lead a horse through a much-vaunted training regimen, but you can't make it think. I go at least once a month to my neighbourhood Earl's and Cactus Club, and the service at both makes the inclusion of FD in CFD a laughable misnomer. If we're in the business of striving for accuracy, let's call it CFU. Honestly, beauty might be a form of genius, but the service here is not. The food? No thanks. For the same money, I'd sooner go to Nu, Chambar, Diner. Glowbal, Bin, Lolita's, Feenie's, or Baru Latino. In my humble opinion, witnessing individuality, quirkiness, and honest zeal work a room is worth far more than the few bucks I stand to save on wine poured by someone who needs help opening the damn bottle.

I'm shooting for Brasserie L'Ecole. It's my 33rd birthday and I usually spend them back home with my Mom. Valentine's Day doesn't exist with the Morrisons.

Waiterblog has the menus for Century and they look sweet. The room appears very close to being done. It's warm, soaring, ancient. modern and cool. I'm already looking at the wild boar consomme with jalapeno and apple gelee. Mmm...wild boar.

Just not with me? Utterly scandalous. Thanks for the 12 burgers Gerald, and thanks for the company Judith, Tim, Angus, and Jamie ( ). Chef Koo. We looked at your burger, decided you didn't post here often enough anymore, and passed it over in protest. It sounded awesome, though. Peking Duckburger. I used to go this place in Toronto called Champion House. Every time you ordered the Peking Duck the waiter's face would light up and he'd scream "Peking Duck!!" to the back of the room where a little kid with a bowl haircut and a gong would gong it up big time screaming "Peking Duck!!". I was so looking forward to your burger, dude, but the eGullet conspiracy is broad, brother. Broad. Post more. Suffer less.

It seems not even close. You can keep track of their lively progress here.

Above the Earl's level is not always a good thing in the eyes of many.

Staff drinks?

It's my favourite thing on the menu. Aside: pick up the Straight this week everyone. Jurgen Gothe has written a flattering ode to the wine list at Aurora in his column.

Zuke, you'll dig Mo:Le for breakfast and lunch. (mini-Zuke will likely dig it, too). Temple is open for lunch, too. John's Place is kid friendly but menu boring. Ever tried Rebar? Interesting food... There's a Rogers on Government St. off Broughton (landmark store - gorgeous). Farther up Government (between Yates and View) is Rocky Mountain Chocolates. Good VQA store off of Broad Street on Broughton...plus Swan's on Pandora (always seems to have nice RSA wines like Galpin Peak, Boekenhoutskloof, and Meerlust). Have fun! Have fun!

Agreed. But if we didn't learn anything, I'm sure Bruni did.

It's a little ironic because I mentioned a while back that I was planning on writing a story about working at my restaurant plus Chambar, "C", and Feenie's during the Dine Out period. It got nixed because of my heady, toddler-driven schedule, but I was hoping to do it next year. Now, maybe not so much... Damn media.

What a concept! They'd have to pay me a lot of money for that gig.

No worries. He's probably got reservations at both. Just kidding, fud. You rock.

Enough. Call it Phoenix. Call it Zaire. Call it Next. Call it The Immaculate Redemption. Call it One Block From Discovery Street Caffe. Call it Svend. Call it The Death Star. Call it whatever, but for the love of the Year of the Dog (and in fear of putting this pup to sleep), call it something other than the Herald Street Caffe. If Bud skipped to Hawaii and Joe Fortes closed tomorrow, the new owners wouldn't change the name. If it sucked and was going downhill, they'd change it quickly. If it had died 5 times previously, finally leaving a stench of overpriced mediocrity wafting down Government Street like so many fart zephyrs, they'd buy a big bag of chalk and start thinking on a new name immediately. But perhaps I'm missing something. Anyone care to venture a guess as to the reasoning behind the name keep?

I'm just bummed there's a waiter out there who has stolen my patented move. In the purse, no less! Wow, now that's flourish, baby. I once dropped a tray full of red wine glasses on a certain movie star's head because she ruined a perfectly good Woody Allen movie and asked for ice to go with her Penfold's Grange. We bought her a new wig, a pack of smokes, and a slice of lemon tart. It was bygones from there. Bottom line: accidents happen. He may have really been aiming for the leather jacket fellow.

It was my first Dine Out experience of the year tonight and it was a breeze. I was the second waiter on (5pm start) and I was pleased to find I only had one table for the evening; a wedding party of 22. Quite a nice group, actually, though when they squeezed 6 kids under 4 into a separate 4 top of their own (leaving them largely to their own devices), I was a bit sketched. One of the kids decorated the table with a phalanx of toy soldiers, and due to his hampering for coca-cola a few spazzed out of his sight and fell by the wayside. After all was said and autogratted, a trove of midget combatants was found amidst the flotsam and jetsam of 6 meals left half-eaten (and half-thrown). A grenadier from the Irish Guards, a sombre looking Continental dragoon, and a mean looking Teuton too stiff to pose made their way to the hostess stand and into the Lost and Found drawer. My Jack is going to wake up with a Japanese machine gunner for breakfast and a kickass mountain troll as a drink-all-your-milk bonus. Good times. I've worked only 4 shifts in January, the last one being a non-starter a week ago. Consequently, there was some rustiness manifested in several ways. My hands shook some as I poured out 2.5 ounce wine pairings. I also miscounted the number of steak knives prepped for my main course meez. Lastly, I kept referring to the host as Madam. He was most displeased. Still, it was nice to see the whirl and hear the prattle again. I love this business, no matter how much I like to bitch about it. It's in my blood, not unlike a gnarly case of lymphatic filariasis. There was no point in me sticking around to catch the late turn, so I sat at the bar, ordered the prix fixe, and watched the Canucks get beserker on the Habs while my colleagues kept watch on the floor. Looking forward to tomorrow.

Some miracle of scheduling gave me the night off. They were running 6 servers in a 5 server room. Yikes. Double small potatoes. I heard it was fine despite some menu printing glitches at the last moment, doing two and half turns in total with stragglers for dessert. Tomorrow night should be interesting. I'm rusty....

Bah! There goes my plan. Party at Diner!

That's funny, I was just on the phone with the owner about Dine Out (also not taking part). Update: neither is Stella's on Commercial.

Add Browns (both locations). In researching for the column, the best quote I've heard came from one of the Izakaya's: "Most of our diners are overseas students with average checks of $24. When we ask them about Dine Out they say the same thing: 'What's Dine Out?'".

Add The Living Room Bistro and the Ordinary Cafe to the list.