BCinBC

Hey Ling, we used arborio in class and I use arborio at home (green plastic bag too, with red or pink? writing, about 1L worth, brand-name currently not in brain). I can't recall ever seeing either of the other two in a store, but Chef Tony did talk a bit about how trendy carnaroli is becoming so possibly it is available somewhere. If yes, I'd guess either at GW or somewhere on Commercial, most likely Santa Barbara. ETA: Oops, simulpost with Moosh.

^ Yeah it was about 45-50 minutes, from scratch. We could see her dark blue KitchenAid spinning away back there.

The prices aren't totally unreasonable, especially if he delivers the goods. The convenience of me having to drive for a mere 5 minutes as opposed to to 15-20 for a good (non-Asian) meal more than makes up for it. In fact, if you go the tasting menu route, $30 for 3 courses is downright cheap (as is 5 for $50, relatively). Yes $15 seems pricey for a child's hamburger, but you do get a drink with it and it is really only a couple of $ more than if you went to say White Spot - and probably quite a bit better. I agree that you could find cheaper and more "interesting", but then again you could order your child something off the tapas menu. I suppose there's no use in defending anything that I haven't tried myself yet, but I will say that I am looking forward to it. And Paella Sunday has a nice ring to it.

After a drink and pre-dinner dessert at HSG, N and I checked out Diner on Friday night. Scanned the room for known eGs and was surprised that there were none. Paopao, we must have just missed you and Yummy. When we arrived at about 8, they were running at say 80%. There were about 10 covers ahead of us, so we decided to chance it and stay. Yes Canucklehead the ratio of staff per diner was quite high, yet I couldn't figure out what some of them were doing. But they must be friends and family, otherwise I can't see how Heather could afford to pay all of them given her already existing overheads and the fact that she has just opened. We were tag teamed on the waitress front, which worked fine. They get a solid grade for effort, but one of the girls had to check on a couple of my questions (how much was wine, was it offered by the glass (and how much), could we re-cork the bottle if we didn't finish...). I already knew what I was going to order, so we tried to put our order in as soon as possible - I got the meatloaf, N got the perogies, and we also ordered a bottle of the Hester Creek cab/merlot (the answers were $32, yes ($7) and yes). Wine prices are a steal for this part of town. Dinner was on the table at about 8:45. The meatloaf was good; pre-made obviously then fried for a warm-up. Served with mashed potatoes, tomatoes concasse-ed and green beans with a bit of pesto. The perogies were very good, stuffed with potatoes and cheese and served with a "German sausage" and bacon, sour cream and green onions. If somehow you could order the perogies with the meatloaf instead of sausage, that would really be ideal. Then we put in the order for a chocolate souffle. Turned out to be quite a wait as they started a new batch; they apologised a couple times and wanted to comp us a slice of coconut-mango cake, which was a nice gesture but sadly I actually turned it down (remember the pre-dinner dessert, plus another dessert coming up). I will go back to try that cake another time though. In the end the wait was totally worth it, it was an excellent souffle. Nice rich chocolate flavours within the delicate cap, and the vanilla ice cream that accompanied on the side (and which I put on top) melted and melded with the warm choc innards. Was it better than Cru's? Knee-jerk reaction is yes, though I really did prefer the sour cherry accompaniment over the ice cream. However I reserve final judgement until I actually do a head-to-head tasting. (More hints Mark.) Impressions and observations: 1. The booth we sat in (corner nearest the washrooms) was really weird, the cushion was jutting up into my butt all night. Maybe they just need to get broken in, or sat on by someone heavier than I. I hope so. 2. Otherwise I liked the decor, especially for Yaletown. No fuss. It is diner-ish, except for the wooden table-tops. I was dying to take one home to turn into a cutting board. 3. The food overall was very good, with the real highlight being the souffle. Heather's talents are obvious. 4. Although we received our meals without incident, I witnessed 3 plates from 2 other tables being sent back because they were not hot. Timing issues that hopefully get ironed out. 5. As noted profusely in this thread so far, there are wait staff issues that need to get ironed out as well. They are quite aware of this, and are obviously working on it. 6. I watched Heather cook the whole time we were there, and I met her afterwards. She is a sweetheart and indeed a dynamo, but I think she needs some help in the form of a real line cook. 7. One of the nice touches is when you order a coffee, they grind some JJ Bean(s) and serve it to you in a Bodum. 8. Next up on the To Try list are the burger, one of the pastas, the cake, and the tiramisu. I think she's got a really good thing on the go here, and I wish her best of luck. I'll be back, but I'm going to wait another month or so at least. Go expecting good comfort food and excellent desserts, don't go expecting to be out of there in an hour. ETA: We were there for about 2 hours.

Bob, this post rules. Cheers!

Thank you, John. Monday September 26, 2005 (Part 2) It was time for dinner at La Table des Saveurs. (Here is the link in English.) This restaurant is just at the entrance (or exit, depending on your perspective), and is not really marked or advertised well. However as long as you know about it, it is quite easy to find. The 31 € Menu du Marché When we arrived (at around 7:30-8 PM), N and I were the only ones in the restaurant. (I had tried to call ahead with reservations, but they didn't ever answer the phone!) About half an hour later another couple arrived, and they were followed shortly thereafter by a group of about 8 or 10 German tourists. Still we didn’t even fill the “patio” area of the restaurant. Quiet night. The host / waiter / sommelier seated us and ran through the menus and substitutions (tonight the Mousseline de lotte was being replaced by a Filet de julienne (another type of fish)). He then helped with the wine selection – a half-bottle of Chateau Sainte Marguerite 2003 Cru Classé red. Amuse: foie mousse with crouton It was nice, if a little grainy. Flavours good though. My entrée: Éventail de toasts aux truffes d’été servi avec son œuf brouillé aux herbes I have not eaten a lot of truffles in my time, however I was surprised that there was not a strong earthy earthy aroma at all from the truffles – perhaps this is indicative of the summer variety. Still it was an excellent dish, very rich in flavours. Truthfully the eggs were my favourite part. N’s entrée: Crêpe de riz roulée aux crabes et pamplemousse, sauce cocktail à la menthe The grapefruit was quite strong, but overall I did enjoy the taste combinations here. Also I liked the usage of the rice roll. Palate cleanser This was too much like pink lemonade ice shavings, too candy-ish. My plat: Cœur de Rumstek bœuf de Bavière mariné au gingembre et citron, paillasson de patate douce I did order medium-rare and it came out much more on the rare side – which is fine, but it was a little sinewy / chewy. N’s plat: Filet de julienne This was quite good, and in retrospect I wish I had ordered it as well. I have never had julienne, but IIRC the flesh was like a cod or snapper, but a little thicker like halibut. Nice tomato-based vegetable sauce to accompany. Fromage: La pièce de fromage et sa salade aux herbes I could not finish this cheese. You know how stinky cheese doesn’t actually taste exactly as it smells? Well this one did. It tasted like feet, and I was not really into eating feet. The salad was refreshing. My dessert: Crème brûlée aux ___ et ses chips sucres Sorry, I have forgotten what the fruit was and as you can see in the menu photo, the flash happened to go off right over the word. I think it was fig. The brulee itself was very good; a large surface area made for a lot of crunchy topping (which I love). N’s dessert: Brochette de fruits du saison, confit au caramel, sur vermicelle au lait de cardamome This was only okay; I liked the idea, but the fruit came across as a bit bland. Perhaps not enough caramel? Carte de café More coffee, I had the Ethiopian. All in all it is a relative bargain at 31 € per person, and there were some great ideas being played with here. However, there were not that many home runs that night, at least in my opinion. If I had to do it again I’d go with the egg/truffle entrée, the fish main, the crème brulee (or perhaps the sorbets, they looked good as well – as ordered by some of the Germans), and change the type of cheese. To Epoisse! I understand that the menu changes every few weeks, and I would not hesitate to go again to see what the chef is thinking about with whatever ingredients are seasonal. Edited to add: I realize this is an un-manly admission, but I really liked the silverware.

Falling into the "never would go out and buy for myself" category, but super thoughtful: My wife recently got me a knife carrier for our anniversary. It coincided with the classes I'm taking with a few other eGs at a local cooking school. It was one of the most thoughtful gifts I've gotten for a long time! And I just got her a cardigan... (Which also coincided with our trip to France, and therefore was also thoughtful, so I hope this reduces the tsk'ing.) Like many others have stated here, my favourite gifts for giving and receiving are things that you just cannot get wherever you are. I managed to smuggle some saucisson back from said France trip, and gave some to my FIL. He was both horrified (he works for the airline we flew) and appreciative of this gesture. Similarly, a friend of mine in NYC once gave me a genuine Manhattan deli beef salami that was just excellent. (I've forgotten which deli, just in case you were going to ask.) It truly isn't the cost that counts, but the thought. Although I am also quite happy to receive truffle oil or 25 year old balsamic or just good old booze.

Sorry for the break, this crazy “work” thing is, well, crazy. Monday, September 26, 2005 (Part 1) After retreating from the madness of the Saturday market, N and I decided to return to Saint Tropez to see the town in peace and quiet. But first we did a little side tour of the beaches to the south of town. We stopped at Plage Tahiti, a beach that we had been led to believe was filled with all sorts of interesting people to watch. Well, perhaps not at the end of September. There was a family and less than a handful of others there. Even the beachside bars were empty. We continued on to Saint Tropez, this time parking near the water and the casino. Once you leave the parking lot / harbour, you are faced with quite a beautiful old town packed with touristy shops and vendors. There are painters everywhere with all manner of Côte d’Azur or Provinçal landscapes, harbour shots of Saint Tropez, etc. But if you either accept it or block it out, you can actually have a very pleasant stroll. Like I said, the town itself is quite beautiful, very colourful. There were the obligatory millionaires with their yachts, many of which were from London. One yacht from London and another from Germany actually looked like they might only recently have been cut from running in the America’s Cup. Eventually we wandered up to the Citadel, which is situated on a hill overlooking the Med. Here is the view to the southeast, or perhaps east-south-east (at the bottom you can see the cemetery which all but overhangs the water). The Citadel was hosting a sculpture exhibit. Here was one, being appreciated by a local. Pope and Peacock The peacock is a neat bird, it’s like a really colourful turkey. And speaking of turkey, or meat, or food… After the Citadel we went back to town, stopping near the Place des Lices, the site of the market, for a couple panini. While I waited for them, N went to grab a bench in the park. Lunch delivered... Mozarella, tomates et salade panino w/ Perrier ; Steack et tomates panino w/ Orangina Mmm. Mine (steack) was reminiscent of a gyro. Nice bread, tender steak, and very generous at almost a foot and a half long! Also, the two non-alcoholic drinks I became addicted to in France were espresso and Orangina. In fact I currently have a 2 litre bottle of Orangina in our fridge; expensive, but it scratches the itch! And naturally, after lunch, we returned to Le Sporting for another café and Perrier. As it turned out, these were the highlights of Saint Tropez, for me. The food. Anything related to food totally outdid touristy paintings and pottery – some of which was nice, just really expensive. We had a lazy drive back to Cavalaire, and stopped at the big Champion (not the little one we’d gone to earlier). The big Champion is surreptitiously placed on the north end of the main one-way-north-direction street, just out of the downtown strip. It is on the other side of a boulevard, on a hill, hidden by many trees. I wish we’d known about it earlier! We ended up stocking up a bit on commodities such as wine, chocolate and foie gras. Here is the display for all things duck: Foie, confit, cassoulet, all sorts of goodies stacked in one convenient location For the afternoon, we read and lazed on the patio back at the villa in preparation for another dinner out. Non-sequitur Being from a non-tropical climate, this was quite the curiosity for me: The neighbor’s lime tree. I was quite tempted to hop the fence and steal a lime, just to see what it tasted like, but since we were guests there I never did. Merde, I regret it now!

They are frozen and before serving they are grilled. ← does that make them better? ← I suppose it depends on personal taste. Either way, I'm just trying to point out that they are not Eggo-type waffles. I think you're implying that "fresh" i.e. waffle iron waffles would be better than frozen, which I agree with - if you are looking for a nicer breakfast. However, in Joe's case, it's just not something that you're going to get. Again, it is a greasy spoon. That's all. Comfort breakfast food. And as such, I personally think the grill marks on the waffles are a "nice" touch.

^Jason, this is snipped from Jamie's post. Note the last line. Perhaps Mr Maw or Cate (or Other) can answer the 2nd half of your question.

They are frozen and before serving they are grilled.

Another link, with accompanying links. While I'm at it, here's the Tomohawk bacon thread.

Snacky, as much as I like and respect your posts, I must disagree on this one. I love Joe's; my old roommate and I used to go pretty much every weekend until I moved out. That was for like 5 years. Okay so it was partially because it felt like we were at Monk's in Seinfeld (once we went with moustaches we grew specifically for Halloween, just to live out one Seinfeld episode). It is a greasy spoon, no more, no less. If you don't like the potatoes, get the waffles combo. It even includes "fruit"! I agree that two things happened that made it IMO less of a draw than it used to be: 1. They repainted to make it warmer and less diner-ish (it is "nicer", yet it is not the same). 2. They somehow got popular and started getting breakfast line-ups. Not as bad as Sophie's (and who in their right mind is lining up to eat there??), but if it's over say 10 minutes then no I would not line up for it either. However, if you manage to arrive before about 10 AM, you should be able to slide into a booth no problem. And booths make it all worthwhile. BTW, the Davie location has absolutely nothing on the Kits flagship. PS: 11son, if you go to the pinned Best Of thread, you can find other threads.

I was told recently by a passionate Italian-French gentleman that he was appalled after hearing that someone he knew put saucisson on a pizza. Sacrilege! he said. I nodded and smiled, thinking to myself that that sounded pretty good - understanding that it would be a gourmet pizza of course! I managed to smuggle some wild boar saucisson back home, and am planning on trying it. However I will not be reporting back to the Italian-French gentleman on whether or not it was any good. Bagel-wise, many years ago a friend and I frequented a local place that had a bagel sandwich with ham on the menu. I used to joke about going to the counter and ordering the "Rabbi's Nightmare", but never quite built up the guts to do so.

Don't your friends know what you look like?

Yes you can. I use corn starch a lot actually in cooking thai food because it's "faster" than reducing but of course the results are not as tastey since the flavours don't concentrate as they do in reducing. Make sure to dissolve the corn starch in water BEFORE you add it (and I add it off the heat) to prevent ugly clumping. I'm a fan of action shots. I promise next time I'll have you weilding the shun like a shaolin master chef! ← Thanks Wes, but 2 points: 1. Being Chinese I'm very aware of corn starch as a thickener; in the above post I meant specifically for lemon curd. 2. Henckels! Make sure to dissolve the corn starch in water BEFORE you add it (and I add it off the heat) to prevent ugly clumping. ← You can also dissolve the cornstarch in your lemon juice, before adding it to the sugar. ← This is the same stage at which we were told to add the CS to prevent curdling, so in essence I'd just be adding more. Perhaps what I'll do is reserve a bit of lemon juice, add CS, then if it looks like it needs thickening during cooking, I'll add as necessary. Cheers!

Ling: thanks for the tips. Our recipe has whole eggs, and does use corn starch but only to prevent curdling of the egg whites on direct heat (or so I understood from Chef Tony). I was wondering if I could use corn starch as a thickener during cooking, now I will try it out. Moosh: I agree, I was totally in a zen state during pasta stuffing. We have tried making stuffed pasta at home many times but they have never survived the boiling process, so it may be time for another go. Arne: I have a pasta roller which I would be willing to temporarily trade for another "gadget" - say a bullet?? Actually just make that a bucket of pulled pork... Fud: of all the unflattering pix of me on the internet, that one of me rolling pasta is the new king. Yeesh. Perhaps I should change my nickname to Deer-In-Headlights. Oh and as for length, mine was so long I had to cut it into thirds. Whoops, that didn't sound as good as I was hoping. PS: Biscotti was excellent; I have never had good biscotti so until yesterday I thought I hated it. Not so. The lemon, nuts and (surprise!) fennel seeds work so well together and the texture of the cookie is much better than the doorstops they serve elsewhere. And the cornmeal! I'm pretty sure Joe Peschi would be so appreciative after those that he would not shoot you in the back - or side - of the head.

We actually didn't get around to trying the lemon tart until 2 days afterwards, so by that point my pastry was quite tough as well (lemon curd excellent tho). Which is partially why I wanted to give the pastry another go, that and we have a whole whack of apples we're trying to use up. I was so impressed with lemon curd that I am now trying to adapt the recipe into something that can be used in another form, perhaps in cookies...... So far it's too thin, but I'll try to figure something out.

This weekend I did a quick chicken saltimbocca to place atop some mushroom and pea risotto (using some great shitakes and oysters from GI), while N used the pastry recipe for some apple tarts (with very good results). I love this class! Looking forward to tonight's installment.

Sunday, September 25, 2005 N and I both had trouble sleeping the night before, and we both woke up feeling kind of hung over. Which is odd, since we only had the one bottle of wine plus a Kir each. Has anyone ever had a food hangover? I wonder if this is a real phenomenon. It was shaping up to be a lazy Sunday anyway. We frittered away most of the day by walking to town to check out the Jetski Grand Prix, then lying / reading / swimming at the beach, and generally doing very little. On the way back home we picked up a baguette from La Tarte Tropezienne, as well as an actual slice of tarte Tropezienne, which looks like this: Tarte Tropezienne – note the saucy blonde pâtissiere (is this the correct feminine noun??) Again, the bready-cake part was okay, but the custard was excellent. You can see how thick and rich it is as it actually holds its own sides, plus the cake above, after slicing. My theory is that it incorporates whipped egg whites. Otherwise it was a repeat of the salade/saucisson/paté dinner two nights ago. Chosen for its relative lightness! Sadly but inevitably the cheese absolutely paled in comparison with the cheese plate from the previous night at Les Santons.

Is this true, a 3rd location?? (2nd on the north shore, without the 1st being open yet!?!) I have my doubts. They'll have their hands full starting up the one at the Quay anyway. From the website: Whistler is a frickin brilliant location for this concept, if they can find a reasonable space. I know one of the owners (Ken Carty) - with one degree of separation anyway - so it's really good to see that they're doing well. WingNuts too.

I keep wanting to tell the story of how I repeatedly tricked BA into flying by making him eat a drug-laden hamburger. But that wasn't me, that was Hannibal... Anywho. Not so much "tricked", but my Mom kind of "bribed" us to eat brussel sprouts by cooking them with bacon. Mmm, I love brussel sprouts...

My dinner at CT's last year was good to very good, without being great (link to my extrememly uninformative post in the Trotter's thread). I'd say that the service was excellent, the highlight of the evening - but he's not bringing that with him, is he? I agree with Alex that Feenie, IMO, is a better cook than Trotter, and as such the Trotter marquee is not much of a draw for me. For all the bickering going on here, I don't begrudge anyone for wanting to go to this, and I do hope that it is a success (which it will be, no doubts). In fact let me retract my earlier statement; if I won the 6/49 I'd go just to see what a $1000 dinner is all about. And I'd shell out another $2k; one seat for N and one for a lucky eG to act as the official site photog for the evening. However, if I only won the extra (or even if I had $500 lying around), I would most definitely go to the Jacob/Feenie dinner (me and N, no photog). Now that is about as sure a thing as Peyton Manning throwing a TD on any given Sunday. --> And you could get some wicked BC/Alsace wines paired for that dinner for less than $750 pp I'd guess. Even including the Champagne aperatif!

Dude - you have been eating out a LOT lately! That is a nice looking souffle. N and I had chocolate souffles at Cru in Aug (not on the regular menu) and they were excellent - I can still taste them - so we've got to do a comparison with the Diner version for sure. If only we could set up a head-to-head... (Edited to point out the hint to Mark if too subtle.) Too bad Diner's not open for lunch yet though.

I don't think we're complaining, or at least I wasn't, I was just saying that I would not go. However I agree that 1. the wine selection may contribute a lot to the value of the meal, and 2. there will be people who will shell out for this. They will be trying to make this The Event for the year, and as such, people will want to be seen. No, but instead of bread - they give you a computer. ← Nice!!