Vancouver Lee

Vera's is where we're going next, April 3rd at 7pm. And yes, Feenie's is on the list for a future visit. Glad to hear you aren't letting a little thing like only having one servicable hand getting the way of eating!

Now here's a good debate. Who will pay $9 for the G pudding? ← Now that you are all hooked on it, you all will. Sometime I feel like a "dealer" , getting you hooked and then jacking the price. ← I just had this vision of Ling mugging some poor old woman outside HSG to get money for her "fix"....

Makes mental note not to bring Junior Vancouver Lee to this eGullet gathering.....

Please add "Rainy" the duck, "Honky" the goose and "Wooly" the lamb to the list: I had rabbits, ducks, geese and sheep as pets when I was little, and have no problems whatsoever eating any of these. But horse makes me go "ew" for reasons I cannot fathom. Yet another very interesting thread that has veered away from the local angle. Can Arne be far off to steer us back on track?

I'd pay good money to watch these two battle it out.

Just HAD to get another pie, so I called ahead to place a take out order, renewed my passport and headed over to Hastings and Slocan. Fast or accurate they are not (an extra-cheese-pepperoni-mushroom became a margherita), but who cares when this pizza is this good? The place was populated by older Italian men, all speaking their native language and enjoying their lunches. You have to love this place.....

We do a fair amount of shopping at GIM, but the hours are an issue for us. Staying open to 7 or 8, even just a few days a week, would win all our fresh food business (i.e. veggies, bread, meat and fish). Parking isn't that much of an issue for us. We've always been able to find a space in the parking garage beside the Emily Carr Institute, even on a summer Saturday. On nice days, we'll park under the Cambie Street bridge and use the Aqua Bus and avoid having to wait in the traffic line up. I'm not a price shopper, but I've never felt like I wasn't getting good value for my money. A discount card for locals is a great idea, however.

McDonalds? Seriously, back in our courtin' days (those would be the 1980's), it was one particular Keg in Toronto. Once we grew up and developed an appreciation for good, interesting food, "our" place became Monsoon (again in Toronto). Sadly, nothing has become "our" place here in Vancouver. Yet.

In reverse order, and excludes various airplane meals and hotel room service sandwiches.... Dinner last night was Danbry's in Regina. I had the fish special, which was sea bass in an orange garlic sauce over butternut squash risotto. The fish was excellent - properly cooked and flavourful, but the sauce was awful (waaaaay too garlicy) and the risotto tasted like white rice with mashed raw squash poured on top. I don't know how you make risotto that badly, but they sure did. Quite a shame, as the fish itself was great. Dinner on Sunday was a cheeseburger and fries at Red Onion and dessert at HSG afterwards. See the Burger Club thread for the gory details. Lunch on Sunday was at Tomato, where we ran into Peppyre and the Mooshmouse family. I had a delicious sandwich, but for love or money I can't remember what it was. After lunch, we all retired to my rooftop patio to enjoy the sunshine and a few early-afternoon cocktails! Dinner on Saturday night was at Incendio. I had a Montreal pizza with salami, mushrooms green peppers and mozza. Simply delicious. I live here a year, can't find any halfway decent pizza, then in the space of a week I find two places I like! Go figure.

I've been tempted to try this place, too. I live within sight of the place, but with so many other places I've never been before, it never gets chosen when my wife and are trying to decide where to go. This thread might just be the tipping point....I'll let you know. An eGullet "do" perhaps?

My apologies, everyone, for taking so long to post. My quick trip to Regina turned into a "leave early, stay late" adventure, and kept me from posting my comments about our evening at Red Onion. The posts above pretty much summed up the experience for me, so I won't waste space repeating what's already been said. By the time we got to HSG for dessert, I was so full I could hardly even dig into (let alone finish) my gingerbread pudding. I had to take home most of it. But that's OK, my wife was very happy about that. So, on to Round Two: Vera's on Denman. Date/Time: April 3rd, 7pm My understanding is that Vera's isn't the sort of place that one can make reservations - can anyone confirm that? I'll get in touch with the manager there and let them know we're coming, but I'd like to make the event "come one, come all". Please PM me to let me know you're coming so I can give Vera's an idea of numbers.

I visited Il Terrazzo for lunch today. I had a terrific pizza with a glass of 2002 Penfolds Shirz/Cab, and my guest has the linguine with chicken, mango and a few other ingredients I cannot remember. I brought an order of their butternut squash ravioli with walnuts back home for my wife, who reports it was excellent, too (despite being reheated). Great room, great service, and Andrew is correct - an excellent wine list.

I haven't been to Marcello's or Adesso yet. I suppose I should have qualified my comment - "best pizza I've had in Vancouver". Whoohoo! Good pizza in the 'hood! Sounds like a great place to sample with the family when the next craving hits. Thanks for the review Lee. ← It occurs to me that pizza is much like underwear - whether it's boxers, thongs or briefs, everyone has very strong opinions on what they like and it largely boils down to personal taste. I'm sitting here full to the point of almost sick, having scarfed down 2/3rd's of a very large pie, so it's safe to say I *love* this pizza. Your mileage may vary, but definately give it a try.

I just returned from a pilgrimage to Slocan and Hastings in search of pizza Nirvana. From Maximillian's post, I somehow assumed the ex-Marcello employee had opened a new restaurant, but from a quick survey up and down the block in all four directions, there doesn't appear to be any new restaurants (although there are several empty stores). Da Francesco, a few doors West of Slocan on the North side of Hastings with "Pizza" and "Pasta" signs in the window, seemed the likeliest place. Is this the restaurant you mean, Max? Da Francesca has a dozen or so tables that were, reassuringly, about half full at lunch on a Monday. I ordered a large pie to go, and came within inches of rear-ending some poor guy on the way home, so engrossed I was in eating. Yum Yum Yum! The best pizza I've had in Vancouver. Now I suppose that's a little like being the thinnest Sumo wrestler, but the pizza is actually quite good. Not too sweet, nicely spiced, and properly cheesy without being gooey. My only complaint, and it's a minor one, is that the crust was a touch too chewy and a touch too thick in relation to the cheese and toppings. That may have been a result of eating it out of a box in my car - a crust on a vented pan may not have been quite a chewy. $16 for a large (and I mean LARGE) two topping pizza - very reasonable. Overall, I'm a happy guy. Now, if only these guys would do home delivery....

Leonard, I'm very pleased to see you took my comments in the manner that they were intended: constructive feedback rather than mean-spirited criticism. I'm glad to hear that my comments helped, too, and even more glad to hear that you welcome feedback from your customers to improve the service you deliver. We'll be darkening your doorway again.

I finally get to sleep in my own bed for a few nights (at least) after several whirl-wind business trips to Toronto. My dining adventures: Wednesday evening in Toronto, I dined at Harbour Sixty (Clickety, as Arne would say). Appetizer was a shrimp cocktail that truly merited the term "jumbo shrimp". Main course was a humungous filet, perfectly cooked, with a baked potato the size of a size 14 sneaker. Washed it down with a 2002 Brokenwood Cab/Shiraz. Thank God my company pays for these things.... Prior to that, I tried to have lunch on Saturday at HSG, but alas Neil is closed for lunch on weekends. My wife will have to wait a bit longer to succumb to the powers of gingerbread. At my son's request, we ended up at Boston Pizza instead. I can almost hear Neil cringing as I type this... Dinner on Friday was back in Toronto at Julia's, an Italian place in Oakville. I was with a group of 30 co-workers on a busy night, so I won't condemn the incorrectly cooked and bland food too harshly. The slammed kitchen aside, the menu was extremely boring. It made me realize how good we have it here. Glad to be back home.....

Fantastic story, Andrew. Thanks for sharing it.

Who....me?

You go, girl! This proud Dad feels the same way. (about my wife and son, however...)

I believe Fiddlehead Joe's in undergoing a reno right now, and is closed. I go past there when I go biking and last time by (perhaps 2 weeks ago) they were boarded up tight. Oh, and the patio at Go Fish! is open year round.

Dinner and a free show. Now that's an evening. ← Just be sure to write a review of it for those of us here....

Yah but... I did mention the Ordinary in my comment.... didn't I???? I like the place... it's good.... I'm going back real soon to enjoy some of those.... mmm... crab cakes... yes indeedy ← Coming in March: Crab Cake Club at the Ordinary!

Bacchus is our choice, too, for a bar free of frat boys and girls with exposed tummies, but I'll second the recommendation of the bar in the Fairmont at YVR. I essentially lived at that hotel for 6 months last year when I was working here full time but my family had not yet moved here. Friendly, stylish and a great room.

Oh, I'd be happy to post my reviews of the rub and tugs...... Did I say that out loud?

Yep - no quibbles there. In fact, that concept goes well beyond the name: they aren't trying to be West/C/Cioppino's/Chambar/etc. They're a neighbourhood restaurant serving good, well-cooked food. Period. Kindof like Tomato on Cambie (except Tomato's food is better! ). You are absolutely correct, eatrustic. It's not fair at all to judge a place based on one visit. And it's especially not fair to judge a neighbourhood restaurant (called the "Ordinary" Cafe, no less) right after having eaten at West. Apples and oranges. I thought about phrasing my comments that way, but it's not true. As I posted above, the truth is that we're either impressed or we're not, and if we're not impressed we mosts likely won't be back. My two rules for posting on the 'net are 1) never post anything you wouldn't say to someone's face, and 2) never lie. Hence why I posted what I did. Who knows, perhaps we will end up back there. The group of friends we were with certainly loved the place, so perhaps a birthday or some special event will end up there again. That's OK with me.