George W.

Renka asks for previous experiences: in 1999 Couillard produced one of my top 3 all-time meals when he was at Sarkis. He is a character and I suspect your request will get responses that span the complete range. He has many detractors, saying he is living in the past - his Jump Up Soup is from another era. He hasn't stayed still long enough for me to catch him lately but I will (how could I not given my 1999 meal) give Spice Room a try.

Since Segar is gone from the Hart House it is probably not of any interest but I think the link is http://harthouserestaurant.com/ As noted Segar opened Suvai in Vancouver in November, 2006.

The old Spinello space is now Six Steps owned by Pat Quinn of P.J. O'Briens just down the street. The chef is Paul Lietaer and Paul Boehmer is a consulting chef.

The article I read said Sassafraz was to be re-opened.

I wish some of the street people would step forth and attach their names to their "insider information". The provincial fire investigators have declared the fire to be an accidental kitchen fire. The interior of the building is currently being demolished and restoration will follow. This is expected to take four or five months.

The Chef at Pangaea is Martin Kouprie. He along with Peter Geary have been co-owners of Pangaea since it opened 10 years ago.

On December 13 the Ottawa Citizen reported that Vardy is now the EC of Whalesbone Oyster, 430 Bank Street. Also, starting in February he will offer (through Whalesbone) once-a-month fine dining evenings at his home on Quebec.

You may want to have a look at the private room off the kitchen at beerbistro, 18 King Street E. I believe it meets your specs.

The Ottawa Citizen note (November 29, 2006) stated: "Chef Stephen Vardy, 2006 winner of Chef of the Year Epicurean Award, will be leaving his position Friday as executive chef at Par-fyum Bistro Moderne in Gatineau (Hull) after a three-month stint. Mr. Vardy will announce a new venture soon. He is being replaced by sous-chef Che Chartrand." - - -

The purpose of that statement in our FAQs was to make sure no user was under the impression that every entry was correct - it tried to convey a lower limit. Considering the number and mobility of chefs I do not believe even a "professional" site could give a guarantee of perfection. In actual fact perhaps far more checking goes on than our statement might suggest. There are a number of sources with whom I have built up considerable positive experiences and I and I do not need to do a deep background check on most individuals they submit. For new chefs that come from sources I do not know (usually the chefs themselves) I would always attempt to verify the data through an Internet search - it is rare that this is not possible. For example last night Todd you submitted a modification for a New Orleans chef. I did not simply enter the information I verified it by finding an article in the Times-Picayune that confirmed your submission. At the same time I was able to determine further data about the chef's successor, again from more than one source. I have said before, we are not perfect and never claim to be perfect, users will have to recognize this and decide if this is enough of a problem to make them not want to use the site.

I have hesitated to respond to Todd's thoughts but there are a couple of things I feel I must say. I certainly have no interest in getting into a debate about the merits of ChefDb, clearly Todd is entitled to his opinion and I would expect he would never again click on www.chefdb.com, after all whatever is created by a "couple of guys" can not possibly be any good. The more serious issue is that Todd has implied there is no verification of the data. Where does he get this - he has never inquired (i..e., verified) if this is in fact the case. I spend considerable time checking the correctness of data that is sent in by registered users (usually chefs or owners). Many submissions have been questioned and a number have been rejected. I do not mean to suggest that somebody couldn't sneak through a completely spurious entry (like entering a dog in the race for mayor), of course they could but Chefdb is not unique in that regard. For some reason Todd seems to prefer a "wiki" approach, I don't. I prefer to have each submission vetted for potential problems. We too rely on the peer influence to restrain an individual from claiming to be what they are not. To me a "wiki site available only to eGullet members" has not been thought through but I wish anyone who chooses to implement such an approach the best of luck.

ChefDb is not a "wiki" site, individual records or entire bios can be submitted through the Add Record feature at http://www.chefdb.com. To do this users must register so that we can communicate with them to verify information. Todd is correct his city (and others) are not represented as they should be. The best way to rectify this is for chefs or owners to submit their data. Currentlly my time is almost totally taken up with handling submissions from users, when this traffic lessens there is time for doing independent research for new entries. We have done a considerable amount of this but clearly we still (and always will) have a number of holes.

Chef Vardy's replacement is current Sous, Mike Moffat. Also, John Leung is no longer a co-owner he is sticking with his other position as the Chef at the British High Commissioner's residence. Caroline Gosselin bought out her partners at par-fyum.

I am sorry but my total knowledge of the new place is in the post - except, I guess, they have applied for a Liquor Licence (Wednesday's Toronto Star). Which Puck outlet would you consider to be in the "upscale" catagory - I am not trying to be funny, I am not familiar with his entire empire.

One of the other Topics got into new places and "the word on the street" so I will add my contribution (I am certainly not on "the street" but it sounds impressive.) Trevor Wilkinson is opening Trevor Kitchen and Bar at 38 Wellington E. This most recently was Bouchon and Trevor was the Executive Chef at Lobby and Jump. It appears Wolfgang Puck Gourmet Restaurant is going into The Colonnade, 131 Bloor W. - I understand it might be in the current Dynasty space.