Andrew Morrison

hello everybody. my name is Andrew and i'm an eGulaholic. my last post was 30 minutes ago... i just want to say thanks for all your support...it's been hard. Andrew editor@waiterblog.com waiterblog.com

i love how topics here trundle along and then WHAM, off we go... ...to deborahs living room, no less. not even a month as an eGulleteer and i'm hooked. this here be e-crack. looking forward to meeting you all at West. Andrew editor@waiterblog waiterblog.com

Neil you're hilarious.

ooh yeah, i've been there. wonderful stuff. thanks for the reminder. Andrew editor@waiterblog waiterblog.com

agreed. it's insane, but i can't go too long without the lumberjack special at sophie's. and you know the kids will keep themselves occupied. Andrew editor@waiterblog waiterblog.com

you could try shopping at the dundarave fish market. ask to speak to one of the chefs, either shaun or corbin. super friendly and sharp as tacks when it comes to seafood. Andrew editor@waiterblog waiterblog.com

We did a $50 over-the-phone reso deposit for this new years eve. even though dine out is a different animal, the number of no-shows could still hurt. it made us nervous, potentially pissing off our regulars by not "trusting" them. but the number shrunk from 20% of our reservations being no-shows last year to 5% this year. it seemed to work, and our guests seemed to take it in stride. i hope you have room, David. Andrew editor@waiterblog waiterblog.com

Ling, Lucky you. I love Bis Moreno. The room is stunningly simple. I haven't seen his dine-out menus but his set menus are usually fantastic. Good service, too. The West dinner i'm looking forward to, but i'm also thinking about going to Wild Rice (no reservations...), which shares the Irish Heather price tag of $15. I'm going to miss Ken Brooks' Marine Drive this month. Out of the handful of places i went last year, it was tops for Dine Out... Andrew editor@waiterblog waiterblog.com PS> anyone except me notice that service can take a nose dive during Dine Out?

i just posted on another thread about a hickory burger i had today at derek archer's new place on lonsdale (and 18th) in north van. it's called browns restaurant and bar. back bacon, cheese, bbq sauce. 10 bucks with plenty fries or salad. worth every penny. Andrew editor@waiterblog waiterblog.com

thanks for the suggestions. i don't know if i should cross-post this with the burger club thread, but i just had an awesome father son lunch with my boy at browns restaurant and bar in north vancouver. awesome burgers. table cloths are white paper and our waitron gave us tonnes of crayons. on a weird note: they had mini televisions built into the mirrors in the bathrooms playing the food network on a loop. Andrew editor@waiterblog waiterblog

i don't think i could ever possibly become "one of them". whenever i dine out, as i've written elsewhere, i'm still in waiter mode, looking around at how the restaurants operation runs. that's a shame, but i can't help it. Andrew editor@waiterblog waiterblog

sounds just about right! thanks mooshmouse.

My wife and I need to start trying new places for excellent, inexpensive, middle of winter comfort food where we can take a lunatic 2 year old boy and not have to worry about causing a food fight. We love burgoo. Oh, the stew! Do you have any other suggestions? We're getting bored of Bourguignon (is that even possible?). Good coffee a big plus. Must have crayons. Maybe advil, too... If we're eye-high in fine dining here, feel free to shut me down if the question belongs somewhere else. But i bet we all wish we could hollow out a potato, fill it with cheese and bacon, bake it, deep fry it till brown, put it on a stick, and then dunk it in gravy....at least from time to time. Andrew editor@waiterblog waiterblog

my vote is based on the 8am to 11am timeslot of dining: cindy's new cafe in west van. took over from ken brooks' marine drive space. nothing shishi about it, but my goodness, they can lay out a sweet breakfast spread, plus they treat their regulars like gold. early in the morning with a two year old in tow, bacon and breakfast sausages taste better than pancetta and the best kind of wurst. plenty crayons. cheap as sin. ed. http://waiterblog.com

quite a few places seem to be not going along with dine out this year, and some are that i find surprising...skybar?

i'll be working my section like a dog.

herald street caffe in victoria. had a blast.

west remains above the rest in my books as far as vancouver is concerned. twas the best experience i've ever had in a restaurant, anywhere, and has yet to be topped. brian hopkins is about as gracious a host out there.

pretty much any restaurant will do dessert take-out until well after they shut down for appetisers and main courses late at night. though you pay a premium, most fine dining restaurants have excellent pastry chefs. you might have to forego the whipped cream, the creme anglaise, and the fruity coulis that comes with each plate (not pretty in a box), if it's only a piece of chocolate or lemon torte, a slice of pie, or a slab of cheesecake, most restaurants will hand over their desserts until 11pm or so. hope that opens up some options... ed.

shame about torrefazione shutting down all it's locations in vancouver. the only one left was the best, on government street in victoria. i spent hours there over the holiday, people watching and sipping from very well made americanos and little caprese sandwiches. the ones in vancouver, especially the one in west van, were borderline useless in comparison. ed.

there's still time, neil. merry christmas everbody! ed.

woah neil! i'm sorry to you and all the rest of the community if i've given the impression that i'm pumping you or the community at large for info. i ask not for the sake of waiterblog or any other reason. i'm just trying to participate as a member of eGullet. that is, presumably for the same reasons you are. waiterblog is being developed to promote a sense of community in a province of restaurants that practises little love, respect, or knowledge of eachother in comparison to say, ontario, or better yet - france. we're about good things, not theft. my forays here on eGullet are totally unrelated and personal, on my oath to bacchus. i hope you can respect that and that you do believe me. waiterblog isn't public until january so i'd expect the comment threads to be bare, even though they certainly are not (that's pride of parent, there). moreover, it's non-profit. my participation here on eGullet is completely without ulterior design. i like being here and subterfuge just isn't my style. beyond that, i'd still love to have an answer to the question: what are the best waterfront restaurants in b.c. to consider that your answers would somehow show up on waiterblog is to suggest i'm a parasitic jackass, which (i can assure you) i certainly am not. i'm just a waiter, neil. like the guys who work for you. ed.

living in a city dotted with high calibre waterfront restaurants, how do they fare in relation to each other? which ones are tops and which ones lag behind?

if anyone wants to write about lift over the holidays i'd appreciate you getting in touch with me before waiterblog goes public january 1st. i'm isolated on the island until new years eve and won't be able to go....if anybody goes and can put pen to paper without having an embolism and is eye-high in the christmas spirit of charity and goodwill...give me a shout as i'd truly appreciate it. my posts should dwindle over the next few days, so i just want to wish you all a very merry christmas. eat well, drink better. play safe.

little birdies tell me there are some changes on the way at chambar with staff. they're all great folks, some of them real pros. as to specifics, i can only speculate. for starters, streamlining and policing the service would be great. opening up for lunch again would be smart. as far as nico's food is concerned, i hope they don't change a thing. perhaps going the route of no reservations would be an idea they could pursue to keep the buzz afloat... and yes, please no talk of taxes ;-), it'll have us waiters in a swift panic! the consistent service at earls, for me personally, is dwarfed by the uniform plasticity of the ambiance. give me originality, like the HSG, and i'm a happy diner. give me cookie cutter slush and i'm out the door, good service or not.