canucklehead

The picks up the discussion that began with NYT Articles on Food, Drink, Cooking, and Culinary Culture (2002–2005) The NYT had a quick article about travelling to Vancouver and their food recommendations were: Go Fish Lift Imperial Seafood Cafe Artigiano Brix Winebar for "serious oenophiles" Les Amis du Formage La Casa Gelato The writer of the article was NYT Travel writer Bonnie Tsui. Okay - at the risk of insulting certain industry - come on! Was the article completely outsourced to - ? - god, I don't know who would have given some of these recommendations. Some the recommendations are of course good (Les Amis, Artigiano, Go Fish - though I know there are disagreements even among egullet people). Please Bonnie (or to whatever assistant is helping with compiling your list) - lurk here a little. I don't want tourists going home angry.

I don't want to quote too much from the article - as you need to read it yourselves to get the full picture. But he does seem to say that Montreal's restuarant have a uniquely European aspect to them and that he hopes that they will explore Quebec's rich food history rather than simply go down the "French Laundry" path. He is suprised that there are'nt more restaurants like Au Pied de Cochon - but with a tighter focus and concept. He also notes that Montreal's restaurants seem more focused on cooking well rather than cooking to impress. He notes that the best cooking shows an underlying techinical precision and cocern for harmony. He quickly says though, that Montreal has not suddenly become a gastronomic leader in North America. For me - this speaks very well of Montreal - where the food is the focus and it is the local consumers' standards are being met. To me, this seems to be an organic result of the local ingredients and the strong Quebecois (sic) food culture. In so many other cities - there is this hand wringing about how they measure up to other cities - but to my mind - Montreal (among all other cities in Canada) seems to be least angst ridden - and Montrealers are most comfortable with their own internal standards. It was an interesting article - and makes me want to visit Montreal all the more. I need to brush up on my high school french though...

His big recomendations include: Informal: Bruniose Bu - "by far Montreal's best and most stylish bar a vin" Formal: Area Le Club Chasse & Peche Cube Raza Toque - "the last meal I ate at Toque was nearly perfect" Bagels: Fairmount Bagels Cheese: Yannick Fromagerie d'Exception - "Anywhere, one would be grateful for this shop filled with the reassuring rich, biological smell that comes from outstanding cheeses." Tea: Camellia Senesis (big kudos) Other (generally) postive mentions: Le Jolifou Au Pied de Cochon (duck breast in a can!?) Rosalie Led Caprices de Nicolas Les Chevres La Chronique. Edward Behr does discuss smoked meat a litte and mentions Schwartz only - but does not seem to a big fan of it in general. He feels that Montreal - suprisingly - lacks good bakeries but says that Le Frommentier is the best in the city and L'Amour du Pain as the best outside of the city. He also discusses the large number of chocolatiers in the city - thumbs up to Les Chocolats de Chloe and Patisserie Gascogne - big thumbs down to Genevieve Grandbois. I really enjoy this magazine - the writing is opinionated and informed (Montreal's Lesley Chesterman contributes in this issue). Not sure how you get a copy though unless you subscribe.

There is a great cover story on the current food scene in Montreal in the quaterly "The Art of Eating". Here is the website, but there are no excerpts from the article. Basically - the gist of the article is that Montreal is in the middle of a real upswing as a result of a new appreciation of regional ingredients and a stronger economy. It is great to hear that Montreal is re-establishing itself as a premier food city. Though I live in Vancouver and love it here - I have always had a real effection for Montreal (or perhaps it is a dislike of Toronto ). I look forward to visiting one day and seeing the sophistication and the down to earth 'realness' of your city. Let me know if you want me to list out Mr Behr's top picks.

Here's a link to the review: Lolita's I stopped by yesterday for a beer and beef taquitos - they are off to a good start. ← Had dinner at Lolita's tonight. Very small space- definitely a place for 2 or 3 people. Though the food leans towards mexican - the decor seemed closer to Kontiki to me - well thought out, fun and just skirting that edge of cheesey. An easy going vibe keeping things humming along. It is the perfect late summer kind of place. The food is very good - showing good depth of flavor and finesse. The beef taquitos are crisp with a rich pulled beef filling and a deep smokey chipolte sauce that had the right bite of heat. A bit pricey at $9 for two taquitos - but still very good. Other courses were just as good - the Bin 941 pedigree shows itself - but the food is more straightforward and less gimicky than the mother ship. Won't get into it too much - but it is worth checking out. Dinner for three (two courses) a few drinks - but mostly non-alcoholic - check came to $90 before tip. The cocktail list can get steep - with some of the premium drinks edging towards $11.

Lam Yue is fermented tofu - it has a sharp salty - almost blue cheese - tang to it. It is most often used to cook lamb hot pots and stir fried water spinach (tong choy). The water spinach is known to give you charlie horses if you eat to much of it. It's happened to me.

I went to Moderne Burger last week and was very impressed. The meat was delicous, lean, but still with plenty of juice. It comes unseasoned but has plenty of flavor . Burgers are served cooked through - and no option of med-rare. Fresh cut fries round out platter - and they are delicous, pale gold and crispy. Peter (the owner) tells me that the fried are cut when ordered and then fried in olive oil (which is changed daily)! I assume that it is not evoo - but the fries are great - no oily taste at all. The burger platter is HUGE - and at $8.95, an excellent deal. Left feeling really full but not that grossed out feeling that you can get if the from a large burger meal. Not a light meal, of course, but you can tell that the burger meat is top notch and much leaner then the usual fast food fare.

Zuke! Have you been bugging my house!? I do yell out "Nigella! Nigella!" quite often around my household in a giddy state. The front stoop though, is new ground. Went down to WH on a whim and they did not stock Kozy Shack Rice Pudding. Nothing even close. Well - it looks like I may have to resort to making a homemade version.

Dude - I thought you were a lady.

I don't think a place like this would work in Vancouver, unless it is set up as a front for a sports bookie, like this one in New York. ← Plus the website is overdesigned and over-wrought and super slow (even when I view on the office's super speedy web connection). The first picture of the rice pudding looks vaguely like a pile of oatmeal in an orange toliet. Mmmmmmmm. Plus a whole section on the 'vibe' of the rice pudding shop. Excellent! For gawd's sake - its rice pudding - only in NYC would they overconceptualize it to such a degree. I am going to get a tub of "Kozy Shack" - sit on my stoop with an oversized soup spoon and see what all the fuss about. Plus - this will give my WV neighbours another oppurtunity to shake their heads at me and tell me that 'in Canada, we eat rice puddings in proper bowls - inside the house'. You should have seen the fight my mother got into with our neighbour when my mother actually tried to air out the laundry on our back deck. Just wait until Stephen Harper is Prime Minister.

The service was actually fine - the son was serving us and if anything, he seemed like he was trying to get on top of things and was working hard to keep up. I think the trick was our Chinese brusqeness - we ordered alot and kept him on his toes. The father cooking out back looked mean - but was in fact very nice. Perhaps this is a case of Hong Kong style of forwardness working - we were polite and nice, but we were there to eat - not to make friends with our waiter and that attitude conveys itself in all sorts of ways. My cousin has been a number of times and likes it alot - I don't she has ever noticed any real service issues. For Chinese restaurants, its all about quality food an efficient business model. In Richmond - Chinese Restaurants have a monied and knowledgable clientele who are willing to spend money on good food. Everyone (the waiters, hosts, and customers) know their roles and what is expected of each party in the dining transaction. The Chinese are completely comfortable with brutal economic Darwinism with restaurants - if the food is not up to standards then they deserve to fail. Restauranteers know that they are dealing with fussy and knowledgable eaters - so if they falter, they will quickly have to work out a new business plan. Simple and it works in maintaining standards. If anything, the tougher economics in Vancouver have sharpended these realities even more. I have heard - the quality found in certain Cantonese restaurants in Vancouver is as good or better then in HK (Sea Harbour is in the category right now). In many ways - waiters try not to be too helpful - in a funny way, it conveys that an assumption has been made that the diner knows what they are doing when they ordering. For a Chinese restaurant, these sublte social cues (that the diner is in control) are a part of 'good' service. This does not mean that you cannot ask questions - but they are expected to intelligent questions. Show that you have food knowledge and are interested having good food. What is the house speciality? What does the waiter recommend? It is okay to balk at pricey seafood - but also be comfortable when you are paying for quality (I think that a $50 dollar crab dish is pricey - but in the context the rest of what we ordered - it was alright). Look at what others are ordering. If you have one pricey dish - than stick to basic dishes for the rest of the menu. You should have a variety of foods (ie - different types of meat) and perparations (a deep fried dish, some stir fried items, maybe a braised dish). For cantonese restaurants - ordering a 'balanced' menu is conveys a good sense of food. At the end of the day - in Chinese restaurants - you are in charge of the dining experience and you should take charge of what you would like to eat and how much you are going to spend. The restaurants are trying to efficient - even in the best restaurants, people tend to eat and leave. The margins are all in the food as Chinese people rarely drink with thier meals (my Aunt's glaze over with envy when I tell her about people having a wine paired with each of their courses at egullet events) so tables are turned quickly. I know that it seems like such a maze - and I've got to admit that I like having my Aunt or another older relative with me when I first try a new place so that I can get the lay of the land. But I apply the same general principles to whatever new restaurant I am trying out. Regardless of the cultural barriers.

The Ice Kacang and Halo Halo are a variation on a theme. The Ice Kacang at Kedah had way less 'stuff' than Joie's version. So it was more like smooth ice cream - but lighter and less sweet. Go for the curries, roti's, gado gado - and try one of the kacangs - maybe you will be suprised.

Rice Pudding - how can something that has rice in it seem so alien to an Asian man as myself? I have some versions - but I have hated them all - sweet wallpaper paste with hard bits of undercooked rice. Then again I just posted about a dessert with red beans in it.

May I recommend a close (-enough) replacement called Kedah? It's Malaysian and very much halal/muslim. One of the best and authentic Malaysian restaurants in town. And the prices are *INCREDIBLE*! 5750 Fraser Street: 604 325-9771 ← I went a couple of nights ago and Kedah House is excellent indeed. Very authentic and delicous - also they recreated the tropics by turning off their a/c and leaving me to sweat profusely through my dress shirt - it looked like one of those see through Philipino shirts by the end of dinner. Everything was deeply spiced and you could taste whole spices. The satays tasted wonderful - not overly marinated as at Mui Garden. Meat is generally cooked on the bone - which adds alot of flavor. The Lamb Briyani had whole cumin seeds, aged basmati rice and star anise. The real capper was dessert - Iced Kacang. This is a devisive dessert - as I think only those was a real love of Asian food can like it - and it was fantastic. Soft shaved ice (I mean the ice was like snow flakes) dressed with a pink fruity syrup, condensed milk - and here are the kickers - red beans and bits of agar jelly. It was so good it made my head swim - I was burning up and it was like a cool salvation in a little bowl. The consistency is like when ice cream is prefectly soft. Sweet, cold, and refreshing without being cloying or too filling. AAAAAH - I am not kidding when I say it was the best summer dessert I have had this year. Just thinking about the Ice Kacang makes me smile to myself....

Went back to Sea Harbour again because my mother wanted the Crab with Japanese Pumpkin - the waiter said it was their best seller with 70% of the tables ordering it. Word of warning - the seafood at these places are not cheap - a 3lb+ Crab dish cost us $51 dollars. You've got to be careful in how you order - we were quoted $30/lb for rock cod - which we did NOT order. We generally limit our seafood to one item. Anyways - went back and had the Squab and Braised Pork Belly (Dong Buo Ro): The squab was pretty scrawny - we were told that it was because they were 'babies' with tender meat and crispy skin. Well the skin was good - but a $15 a pop - would have liked more meat. The pork belly was divine. Soft, succulent, deeply flavored - the perfect thing for a big bowl of rice.... This is a cantonese take on a Northern China dish - so it was less vinigery and perhaps more 'refined' - but damn it was good. I think it was about $15 for the dish - good deal. The general rule of thumb on the number of dishes is to get one less than the number of diners (for at least 4 diners). For the most part you will always order three dishes. We had 5 dishes for 6 people (dishes were the Squab, Pork Belly, Crab w/ Japanese Pumpkin, Stir Fried Pork and Chayote, Hand Shredded Chicken) and dinner was about $160 before tips. Not bad really. Then again - no one ever drinks at these places. Saw 3 white people! And 2 of them were dining alone (and they looked like they were serious experts - they ate sea cucumber (yechhh!)). I felt rush of world harmony wash over me as I reached out to my bretheren of all colours.

I agree with Ben that you will be probably looking at pretty high end Chinese places in HK in order to get wine by the glass. These will be mostly french wines and expensive (heavy artillery petrus', margaux, etc...). Part of the reason for not having wine by the glass is that wine storage (given climate and storage space issues) is very difficult in HK - and the restaraunt will not want to have a half opened bottle at the end of the evening. Also - Chinese food is usually eaten in large groups so a bottle of wine could be consumed by the table fairly quickly. And as Ben also pointed out - Cognacs and other spirits would probably be a more common choice. Hotel Chinese restaurants will benefit from having expertise in wines from the hotel's other restaurant and may offer selections by the glass. Your best bests are Spring Moon at the Peninsula and perhaps Summer Palace at the Island Shangrila. I don't think the chinese restaurant in the Mandarin Hotel is that great - but you may want to check that out also. Outside of Hotels - the only place that I can think of that may offer this kind of service is Fook Lum Moon (high end Cantonese) which has a very high proportion of Japanese clientele. The private clubs may also have wine by the glasses with the Hong Kong Jockey Club and HK Country Clubs being the best bets. My favorite HK restaurant is Farm House in Causeway Bay (NOT the crappy chain of western style food places) - which serves excellent home style Cantonese food - they would have a good wine list - but I would be very surprised if they offered wines by the glass. SBonner - I will ask around my HK friends and see what they say.

You add the link (either whole or sliced on the diagonal) with your rice just before you start cooking it. No need to adjust the water. If it is sliced open - the sausage scents the rice with its cured meat flavor. Comfort food for me - I could shovel bowfuls of it down my gullet. When I was a kid - my mother took me and my brother on a bus tour of Disneyland. She packed a rice cooker, rice, and lap cheong. On nights when she had her fill of the western food - she would fire up the rice cooker, throw in the lap cheong - and we would have our own in-house meal. At the time - it seemed a little humilating that we were cooking in a hotel room while the rest of the tour bus was chowing down at Denny's. But I must admit - I will get a hankering once in a while for Chinese cured meats and rice - but strangely, I never crave "Moons over Mi-Hammy".

Dollar is a great meat store - on Pender I think - and has been around for decades. The sausages they make now are shipped around the world and are very much favored in HK and other overseas Chinese communities. When I lived in California it was nice to see the big maple leaf on their packages in asian grocery stores - made me less homesick. My father would bring down a few links for me to eat with my steamed rice. The sausage (lap cheong), an overeasy egg, and steamed rice is a universal Chinese comfort meal.

Hey I was in Seattle again this weekend and went to Dilaurenti to get my Salumi fix and then sampled some brisket from the Frontier Room I knew that we were in for a treat with Dilaurenti - but what a suprise the brisket was at the Frontier Room. Smokey, tender, delicious!! We were treated extra nice and got some end bits and the cap of the brisket. The sauce was really good and the coleslaw had a nice spicy bite. How does the Frontier Room rate in local's minds. If there are better joints - there will be another trip to more fully explore BBQ in Seattle.

Lot's of eating out this week - mostly work related (or so I tell myself...) Two meals at Chambar - won't go on ad naseum gilding the lily - but let's say that I am loving the place. Some real standouts on the menu for me - Octopus Carpacio, Grilled Prawns, and Roasted Elk Loin. The Grilled Prawns were deeply flavored w the right amount of spice - served with a watermelon and parsley salad that was shockingly and refreshingly cold and sweet. Magic Day trip down to Seattle today: Found a loophole in Salumi's Tues-Fri hours - DiLaurentis at Pike Place Market serves their famed salami. Todays impromtu lunch of Fennel Salami, Salami, French Jambon, and DiLaurentis' own pulled mozz. My favorite was the fresh Salami - sweet pork with the right bite of salt. Yumm Sampled the brisket at the Frontier Room - just down the street from Pike Place. It was soft and succulent - some of the best brisket I have ever had (Memphis Blues does not come even close). They must have like us because we got the cap and end bits - GOOD! Pike Place Market is too OTT for me - I am thankful for GI....

Went to Sea Harbour (no. 3 road in Richmond) last week for dinner. Right now - I think this place is the best for cantonese food. The service is very good, and flavors are very clean the preparation simple. In the middle of summer - the cantonese style of cooking really shines as it particularly ingredient based. It's all about the sourcing baby! My brother and mother also went to Fisherman's Terrace in Aberdeen Mall and I had high hopes for it. But the food was sub-par (watery and tasteless crab) and the service was soooo poor that everyone was sure that they were on a hidden camera show. Anyway - here are some pic's Kim Il Jung bunker on the outside (I mean check out the fascist rising sun logo) and very pricey Versace on the inside. But the important thing is the food: Everything was very good - but the above items where the highlights for me (if I posted everything we ate - it would be revealing just how piggy my family is - it was almost more courses then the wedding banquet). The fish maw soup was superb. It is basically fish float bladder in a thickened broth - so really it is all about the broth and here it was excellent. Clean and sweet - very good. The chicken is a hand shredded (the restaurant describes it as 'hand-ripped) roasted chicken. Lots of five-spice powder flavour - this is one of their signiture dishes. The chicken meat is shredded off the bone and placed on top of the bones (cantonese people love cleaning the bones) and the skin - in one whole peice - is placed on top of the pile. Gooooood! We had a three pound crab cooked in a black bean sauce and sweet pumpkin. The crab was spectacular - fresh briney sweet meat and soft roasted pumpkin (that is much closer to a butternut squash). Sweet and sour pork - want can I say, I love the stuff when it is done right. Here they use the same cut of pork as for bbq pork (char sui) so it has a great balace of fat and meat. Excellently fried with a thin but crispy crust, and a sauce that is more tart than sweet. Perfect with a bowl of steamed rice. For dessert - almond milk with egg whites. Tasted like a really great steamed almond milk - but egg whites reminded you that you were in a Chinese restaurant. If you were Chinese - the egg whites are 'smooth' - if you are not they probably would seem more 'bodily fluid' then anything else. Well I liked it and I am not ashamed to say so. There were a number of courses (vegtable focused) that I did not take pictures of - but 10 people were fed for about $180 before tax and tip. A very good deal I think (they comped the dessert). I think that they would love to see non-Chinese people in the place. It was all Chinese the night that I was there. The margins at these places must be pretty thin - nobody drinks and there is a lot of staff in these places. We had a waiter, server, and busser working our table.

The tipping issue is definitely a generational thing. My mother has even gone as far as saying to me - 'Don't tip so much - they won't appreciate it - in fact, they will laugh at you and think that you are stupid' Well - I still tip as though I am in a non-Chinese restaurant and ingore my mother's advice. That being said - the tip is not the lever for getting good service in a Chinese restaurant. At a top notch restaurant - it should be a given that you will recieve good service and the entire restaurant staff is thought of as one team. The cost of good service and nice decor should be built into the price of the food. For example - my mother and her siblings went to Fisherman's Terrace in Richmond yesterday and the crappy service left them (almost) speechless. The way to deal with it though would not be to tip less - but to either speak directly (and harshly) to the server or the manager.

Definitely it is the roast suckling / or young pig. This is readily available alot of Chinese bbq places. They can sell you the whole pig. Usually it is displayed in it's uncut form. Depending on the event - the pig may be decorated and the guest of honor may be the first to carve it. Then it is taken away and chopped up by the chef. A place that sells it to you should be able to supply someone who knows how to hande a cleaver. If it is to be served cut up - then all you may want is the roasted belly portion that is cut into large cubes with the crispy skin attached. I have usually seen it served with a sharp Coleman's mustard. Given your skills with sauces - this may be a great place for Aurora to show some creativity. It is all about enhancing the porkiness of the roasted pig and the crunch of the crisp skin. I am sure Ling (who seems to eat pounds of it in a sitting) or other posters can make specific recommendations as to whose roasted pigs are best. Let me know if you need more info. Here is a picture of a roasted suckling pig and here is a larger guy See if these pictures are what your client has in mind. Good luck

Usually the squab at SSW is excellent - but the ones served at the Wedding Banquet were a let down. They tasted very liver-y and were not succulent as usual (to be honest - almost freezer burned). I also feel that Imperial can be hit or miss with the service. They are very 'driven' to do things their way. It can be helpful or intrusive depending on how you see things. My mother is in town - so there is alot of Chinese eating. Ironically - it is her siblings taking her out, but the last thing she wants (coming in from HK) is HK style food in Vancouver. She is making me block off my calendar for non-Chinese eating.

I went to a Chinese wedding banquet (my cousin's) at Sun Sui Wah in Richmond. The whole point of the evening is extravagance and celebration. At the same time guests are expected to contribute "lucky money" to help defer costs. The going rate seems to be about $75-$100 per head. Deep Fried Crab Claw wrapped in Crab Meat, Stir Fried Scallop, Prawns, and Broccolli, Shark Fin Soup, Stir Fried Lobster Roasted Squab, Abalone braised with Shitake and Gai Lan Steamed Whole Rock Cod, Ying Yang (Honeymoon) Fried Rice Braised Noodles, Traditional Malaysian Coconut Cake and Layered Cake Red Bean Soup Overall - it is hard to say whether the food was really good. So much of the time - it is 'Banquet Food' that follows a real script - so there are really no suprises. Fish is always part of the meal because it symbolizes wealth and prosperity. In parts of China where fish is not available or if it is too expensive - carved wooden fish are placed on plates and 'served' to the table. Noodles represent longevity (and is also a cheap filler). The honeymoon rice - well, that's obvious what it symbolizes right? Getting DOWN!! The Deep Fried Claw is always so hard and rubbery - I don't know why people select it for wedding banquets. The restaurant was pretty cheap with some of the seafood (esp the scallops and abalone). I really dislike shark fin soup - it is a tasteless glop over thicked with cornstarch with a few strands of plasticy shark fin. The Bride and Groom boycotted their servings of shark fin soup in the name of sustainable fisheries. On the plus side - the whole steamed fish was lovely and not over done. And the Malaysian Dessert where homemade by the Bride's mother and - well you could taste the love and care (no irony here). And if you like Red Bean Soup - this was an excellent example of it. The service was excellent and the banquet was handled with millitary precision. These kind of events are a really money maker for the restaurant. 200 guests - I am guessing that dinner was $15k-20k. The important thing was everybody had fun - some relatives got inappropriately drunk - and the Bride and Groom got a great send off.