Jump to content

Andrew Morrison

participating member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    1,210

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Posts posted by Andrew Morrison

    Openings and closings (2006–2008 part 1)

    in Western Canada: Dining

    Posted · Edited by Andrew Morrison (log)

    ^ So sayeth The Ordinary. I'm going to miss it. There was talk of them doing a Phoenix act, but after a significant intermezzo. As for the link not loading properly, try hitting reload (it's a pesky ghost in the machine).

    Meanwhile in Victoria, Earl's has apparently locked up the Elephant and Castle space at Government and View. Quite the solid location!

    Best Place to watch an Oilers' playoff hockey game

    in Western Canada: Dining

    Posted · Edited by Andrew Morrison (log)

    Quentin,

    What an unsurprising and timely question! I almost forgot you were an Oilers fan (who else would be so considerate as to post the above while the puck is still cold?).

    I've given your query plenty of thought, and without hesitation I'm going to suggest Chambar.

    With 25 flatscreen HDTV's in the dining room alone (another 8 at the bar), several light beers on tap (Coors, Miller, Bud), a variety of locally sourced jerkies (plus Oceanwise pemmican), and plenty of parking out back - what's not to like?

    Word on the street is if you bring some good old Oiler love, you get 25 cent wings on game nights and a free frosted mug (only if you wear blue, orange, and white and carry a noise-maker of the most obnoxious variety).

    One more thing, sports fans. Be sure to ask for the tall, bespectacled fellow at the door singing Queen's "We are the Champions" in an august falsetto. He'll spot you a pint of Cristal on the King of Belgium if you scream out "Detroit in 4" three times fast.

    :cool: Go Whitecaps.

    Headhunters in BC

    in Western Canada: Dining

    Posted · Edited by Andrew Morrison (log)

    Your resume on the ChefDB suggests you and I may have shared a shaft meal or two at Prego back in the early 90's.

    Go2 has been on a blitz recently, so you can always start by contacting them. By the conversations on this board recently (and from the look of your resume), finding work should be relatively easy. Best of luck. :wink:

    labour shortage in the hospitality biz

    in Western Canada: Dining

    Posted · Edited by Andrew Morrison (log)

    Another poster upstream said they were moving to Calgary for work, but wasn't it in Calgary recently that a new restaurant was providing a trip to Mexico as incentive for finding employees?

    Smart not to offer a free trip to Vancouver, as they'd likely never leave. :laugh:

    If anyone is really familiar with the area and the industry context, I have some questions...

    Is the cost of renting an issue in Tofino for employees (when and where is it not!)?

    What would the rent range be for a 2 bdr house?

    Is seasonality growing to be less an issue than in Victoria?

    Giving Negative Restaurant Feedback

    in Restaurant Life

    Posted · Edited by Andrew Morrison (log)

    A tale of enthusiasm and climate change....

    Jamie: Of course both of these excerpts were written by you, Steven. In your theme of 'getting the best possible meal out of any given restaurant', perhaps some of the local eGullet members simply took your advice and did exactly that. Can you fault them?
    Shaw: They don't give a damn about food anyway. We'll be up on the roof deck enjoying the best seafood the Pacific Northwest has to offer, because we know the secret code word.

    well told. Perhaps it is time to cast the decoder ring into the fires of Mount Doom.

    edited due to a late night and the absence of coffee.

    labour shortage in the hospitality biz

    in Western Canada: Dining

    Posted · Edited by Andrew Morrison (log)

    I myself will be travelling to the south of France early june because i have stage set up there and i will be staying there for 3 months, then travelling for another 3 months. I won't be paid, except they are providing me with room and board.

    Good for you.

    I'm sure I'm not alone in hoping that you come back!

    Perhaps a course on passion versus financial reality should be required learning for all in our culinary school. It's kind of like the Army - the pay sucks and you have to really love it to tolerate it.

    1215

    in Western Canada: Dining

    Posted · Edited by Andrew Morrison (log)

    Owzer, it was your presence that made me so nervous as to momentarily lose track of Pip. In such esteemed company, I always want to look as professional as I can! :biggrin:

    I trust Shige has a plan, but as Clausewitz said (a great busser when not campaigning): "No plan survives first contact with the enemy."

    I'm sure a little time is all they require.

    labour shortage in the hospitality biz

    in Western Canada: Dining

    Posted · Edited by Andrew Morrison (log)

    $18 per hour for a line cook might be an urban myth unless some eG member chef feels like sharing. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I think $12 to $15 is more accurate (plus a nibble of the house tips).

    It hasn't exactly been a walk in the park for Vancouver kitchens either. Just recently, an obscene number of tourism industry job vacancies (over 10,000) were forecasted by 2015. In conversations with several chefs last month (for a related story), I was told the pinch is already being felt (especially in the area of experienced line cooks).

    Other than the promise of blood, sweat, fear and loathing, what other incentives might attract the numbers needed to begin the triage, both on the Island and the LM? Both are exciting places to work right now, but is that enough when the smell of oil money wafts down seductively from over the hills and far away?

    labour shortage in the hospitality biz

    in Western Canada: Dining

    Posted

    I have heard from a couple who work in the industry that they will be moving to Calgary because they can get better pay, and the cost of living is lower.  Ofcourse as long as we pay our kitchen staff poorly, we will not be encouraging others to start, or continue in that trade.  Some are in to it for the passion, and many are trying to make a buck.  Many have to work double shifts to make a decent living.

    There is one server in particular who works at the Rosemeade, Temple, and Cafe Brio (I think that's right - Shelora?) in order to get by. I had to do the same during my adolescent angst years, washing dishes and doing prep in the day while bussing tables at night. The seasonality of work is the real killer. The city rocks tourists from May to September, but then it must rely largely on locals in the winter. I think the doldrums are getting better, but then again it's been a few years since I took a paycheck across the Strait, and most of the staff I knew growing up have moved to Vancouver.

    labour shortage in the hospitality biz

    in Western Canada: Dining

    Posted · Edited by Andrew Morrison (log)

    Wow, Shelora. I find it difficult to believe! It's always been my experience that Victoria has too many servers and not enough restaurants. Is this exclusively a kitchen issue? Is the deficit only at the executive level? I know plenty of NCO and line cook types always looking for work over there, but they're all stoned lifers (the "baked hairnet brigade" we used to call them) and hardly worthy of recommendation. :biggrin:

    Perhaps Matt and Mark can fill us out from the inside...

    1215

    in Western Canada: Dining

    Posted · Edited by Andrew Morrison (log)

    If you're anywhere near a WE box today, you'll find my review of 1215. I wasn't too impressed with the food (three stars out of five), and was equally mystified by the cold miso-marinated beef that tasted like biltong and the colder mashed potatoes (I rather enjoyed his croquette treatment of kobe sauced on the inside with a sweet demi). The room, reminiscent of a Twin Peaks dream sequence shot on a shoestring is, methinks, evidence of a tight budget (as is the signage afterthought out front). I was surprised that there was little Japanese influence on the menu, but there was plenty of hot and cold sake as well as several shochu options. The bellowed greeting, fud, was there in full force.

    Much of my article was positive because I tend to applaud chefs who take chances with their concept. Shige would be more successful if he kept to his izakaya roots, but he's trying something new, and I like that. Whether that translates into excellence, however, is a different kettle of fired mackeral altogether (the table-side seared halibut carpaccio sounded delicious, but it didn't make the cut of the 8 dishes I tried over two visits). With the new wine bar soon to open just a few doors down, I'm just happy to see the Peloponnese Pridelands on the up and up.

    I assume the fun cocktails will appear as soon as they get their shit together. I have a sneaking suspicion that they found the location, pounced, and opened almost immediately due to financial constraints (if you have a killer nose you might still smell the souvlaki). I'll give them a few months before I go back.

×
×
  • Create New...