Anchoress

I'm not a pizza afficionado so I don't know how much weight my opinion should carry, but I had a quite good experience with Megabite Pizza on Commercial (604-310-MEGA - that's 604-310-6342). Yeah I know, don't trust any pizza place that spells something with its phone number, but my first and only experience with them was quite good. I had the 'Megadeal 2', two medium pizzas with 5 toppings each for $18.18, tax in, delivery. I chose the 'neopolitan' crust which is the thicker of the two, it was fine but I'm not a crust expert. My first pizza: pineapple, banana peppers, olives, fresh garlic and feta, was good, although they forgot the garlic. The sauce is fine but not spectacular, and the pizza on a whole was not too salty and not stingy on the toppings (excepting aforementioned garlic). My second pizza was spinach, sundried tomatoes, onions, mushrooms and artichoke hearts, and it was really pretty awesome. The toppings were dripping off the pizza, the mushrooms and arties were NOT gooey and spongey like they are sometimes on pizzas, and frankly the sundried toms were the best I've ever had on a pizza and really comparable to anything I've ever had period: NOT the chewy and tasteless imitations of dessicated leeches that end up on a lot of pizzas; these were whole half-tomatoes, nicely-reconstituted, not oily, and actually sweet. The spinach was in big gobs, but it wasn't bad actually, because the spinach wasn't stringy or mushy. Like I said, I'm not a crust expert. What I liked about the pizzas (besides the price) was that they weren't too salty or oily, the crust was chewy but not too doughey or crunchy, the toppings blended well and were well-porportioned, and they seemed to be of a higher quality than most non-specialty pizza places, as well as being nicely-cooked, not raw or overdone. But as I said, it was my first experience of them. I'll be interested to see if the quality holds up, as well as reading other people's opinions. Edited to add: Oh, and they delivered *quicker* than they said they would. Under 30 minutes I think. AND, please note: when I called to complain that they'd forgotten the garlic, the girl said, 'yeah, they often forget the garlic'. lol. And finally, I should say that I frequently have the experience of ordering a small or medium pizza and loving it, but finding the large with the same toppings less satisfying. So... I don't know if I'll like larges of the varieties I tried today.

I'm not sure if it's what you're looking for, but if it's the brioche loaf filled with almond paste and ground poppy seeds (and drizzled with icing) it's sold at the Polonya (sp?) bakery on east Hastings at Nanaimo. I don't know how much it is cuz I've just eaten samples but it's very good.

Um yeah, I know all about PMs thanks... I'm just too lazy.

Hmmmmm... DutchMuse, DutchMuse, are you out there? Did you make it back from Vancouver? How was your sushi experience???

Last Christmas my mom and I had a very memorable Xmas dinner at Samosa Garden on Kingsway near Boundary. They didn't do anything special for Xmas, but the evening was made special for us by the presence (not intrusive, mind you) of several big wedding parties. My family has often had (and enjoyed) Xmas dinner at the Hotel Vancouver, but they're probably all booked up by now. I also remember having lunch Xmas day at - was it Mimi's? - the very odd Chinese restaurant (on Keefer I think) that used to be (and remained decorated and branded as) a Bino's. Don't know if it's there still. Ah to be a feckless teenager again, visiting homeless punker friends in Chinatown on Xmas. OOOoooh, I just remembered, it was Mitzi's. Must go check to see if it's still there.

I don't know if I have anything new to add to this discussion, but I can second a lot of the previous opinions. My mom used to be a small business loans counsellor, and I've worked at a lot of startup restaurants over the years, and I think there are two major things, one of which has been mentioned (business plan) and the other, which is emotion. Of course, you don't need a business plan in order to have a successful business; but - IIRC - 80% of new businesses fail within the first 5 years, and the majority of those failures are due to cash flow or financing problems. Importantly, especially for restauranteurs, many of these businesses do *not* close because they lack business, but often because they are operating at full capacity, but at a loss, for too many months before errors (of action or omission) in gross margin are recognised. I've read that there is an odd brain phenomenon that goes on when we shop for houses: apparently the most concentrated areas for reasoning go completely quiet when we see a house we want to buy (how they figured this out I don't know: free PET scans at MLS?), resulting in the numerous instances of people buying houses without really checking into their viability. Apparently, the combination of stress and desire shuts down our ability to step back and evaluate the reality of the situation, and we take a drastic leap completely on gut feelings. Nothing wrong with gut feelings. But I think the same thing is true with restaurants; there's something deeply emotionally satisfying about being a restaurant owner, and I think that (sometimes. Often?) new restauranteurs don't *want* to see how unviable their idea is; the romantic rush of walking into a storefront where they can picture themselves plying their trade just over-rules higher logical functions. Sometimes. Not always. And - particularly after their signatures are on the dotted line - there's a lot of emotional resistance to rethinking decor, giving up the idea of that special dish, carefully calculating and incorporating hidden (or more likely, un-noticed) costs, which might result in delaying opening or needing more bridge financing. It's where blind hope comes in. If it were any other enterprise a careful look would result in a vote for bailing, but the hopeful entrepreneur keeps plowing on because it would hurt too much to really *see* their idea's failings.

All the places I've ever worked (as a server) did it on the QT, but if someone we didn't know just called us up and asked, we would always say 'no'. Regular customers and people who made the request in person got a 'yes', and - as mentioned above - only if it wasn't on our list. As to price, I don't know if the $30 rule applied in my places; most of the BYOBs we served were either *very* exclusive (often not even available in North America) or - lol - home brew.

Certainly adults have to take responsibility for themselves, but speaking specifically of universities the issue is a bit more complex, for instance the recent fracas at UBC was when - Coke? or Pepsi? - negotiated a deal with the University Governors (against the wishes of the Student Union IIRC) which included removing some of the school's water fountains and installing vending machines all over campus. Deals like this also forbid competition, which means that whichever Beverage Omni-Vendor gets the contract is the only supplier students can buy from. Does adulthood also confer the privilege of choice? What about when your educational institution takes away that choice? The problem with this scenario (and many others) is that it benefits the university economically while hurting students. Students at all levels are considered a captive market for vendors, and educational institutions should not be colluding with such companies to herd consumers towards particular consumption streams. Sorry if this is OT.

Mmmmmm awesome question. Sorry to open up old wounds, but my fave dish this year was at the - now defunct - Da Francesco's restaurant where I used to work (and you guys used to dine). It was a pasta dish Francesco made mostly for staff that had a name whose translation was 'of the forest', can't remember the Italian, and it was rose sauce with olives, capers and red peppers. I am actually salivating while typing. On a related note, my personal culinary triumph of the year was perfectly replicating Chef's rose sauce from numerous instances of observing his technique.

I just want to give a heartfelt 'thank you' to all the people taking this class and reporting on it; I've enjoyed this thread immensely and look forward to each Monday's new posts with great anticipation.

Hmmm... well I hope I haven't spoken out of turn; I haven't been there in a while, but I've always had the waffles in the AM. I sure hope they still have them!!!

I wasn't going to recommend Juicy Lucy's at 1420 Commercial cuz there's only one breafast item I've ever had there, but while we're on the subject of waffles... Their waffles are whole-grain (yeah, I know), but extremely light, tender and not the least bit gritty. They're served with whipped butter, whipped cream, blackberries, strawberries and kiwis, and I definitely think they're worth a try. It's not much of a restaurant, just a couple of tables inside and a couple more outside. I order a carrot, apple and ginger juice to go with (I call it 'adam, eve and lilith').

Thanks for the friendly greetings everyone. Thanks! And shout out from East Van, I was one of the servers at Da Francesco's across from the Hastings Library (that's how I heard of this place). I didn't know that they owned Tamarind, but I heard they closed recently; a shame, cuz I loved the place (the Kingsway Rubina, I heard there was another one somewhere). Thanks for the greeting! Odd though, about the butter chicken; the 'Best Quality Sweets' where we dined was advertised as '100% Vegetarian' - sure the place you're thinking of isn't somewhere different? Yay! Glad you liked it. May I ask what you had?

Hi and welcome back. I *hope* the place you're thinking of that closed isn't the Sunshine Diner (Kitsilano) 2756 W. Broadway, Vancouver Phone: (604)733-7717 - Fax: (604)737-7240 sunshinediner@shaw.ca Just East of Macdonald, on the South side of the street. The decor is genuine (not faux retro) Diner (I not only stuck to the naugahyde booth seats but also to the electrical and gaffer tape covering the rips on said seats), the prices are reasonable, and IMO it's worth a try. In particular they have about eight different bennies with genuine (not microwaved, cornstarch thickened) Hollandaise.

Hi everyone: longtime lurker, first time poster. I've been a 'general' (or whatever) member for almost a year now, and after all the interesting discussions I've read, this was the thread that finally prompted me to write my 'essay' to become a participating member lol. In response to ZM's question (from May, sorry I'm late) on where to eat Indian food on Main, I have to recommend 'Best Quality Sweets' at 7260 Main (near 57th), where my mom and I dined a month or so ago. If you look past the takeout menu (where, if I blurred my eyes, about four of the 20 or so pieces of Microsoft Clipart actually looked like Indian food) and the decor (100% hole-in-the-wall takeout joint) it's really worth a try. The prices are beyond reasonable, the service is everything one could desire (assuming 'everything' comprises friendly, attentive, efficient and so darn cute), and the food ranges from 'excellent value for $' to sublime. And it IS dine-in, despite what it looks like from the door. Forgive me if I am not completely accurate, my single visit was a month ago, but I'll try to describe our meal as best I can. My mom and I usually go to the All India, but we were shopping for cotton, and this place was next door so we decided to give it a try. The menu is vegetarian and very similar to All India (albeit a smaller selection) but the food is fresher and the service is superior. My mom let me order, and I chose the 'Best Quality Combo' appetizer (at $5.95 one of the most expensive items on the menu and frankly a starter built for three or four, not two), Puri Chana (another appie), Palak Paneer, rice for two and chapatis. The Combo was typical, comprising two potato samosas, two (or was it four) potato tikkis (hockey pucks of mashed potato rolled in chana flour and fried - the comparison to a hockey puck is purely size, not texture), a handful of pakoras (mostly crucifers and spinach dipped in batter and deep-fried) and 6 (I think) paneer pakoras (squares of fresh Indian cheese dipped in chana batter and deep-fried). Folks, it was huge. I often order appie combos as meals, but I couldn't have finished this one by myself - and yes, I know this was a grease fest, with four deep-fried battered appies, so no teasing. Of the four items, only the Samosas were sub-par (in my opinion). The veggie pakoras were as good as any I've had, the tikkis (though a little salty IIRC) were very good, the filling fluffier than I'm accustomed to and the batter nicely-cooked and not greasy, but the paneer pakoras were absolutely divine, nicely spiced with whole cumin and somthing green and tasty, the cheese with a nice texture and the batter crispy and delicious. I never dreamt they could taste so good. And it was obvious that at least the last two items (paneer pakoras and tikkis) were cooked to order. It also came with some nice pickled and fresh veggies as garnish, and a sweet (plum I think) and savoury (mint) chutney. The Puri Chana (a decent serving of chickpea stew with a deep-fried - not baked - naan, a great value at $2.99) was wonderful. My mom loved it, and she usually shies away from dal. The naan was greasy, crispy and tender in delicious balance, and the chickpea stew was flavourful without being too spicy and had a 'fresh' flavour notably absent from all but the best restaurant dal (IMO of course). Palak Paneer is my favourite Indian dish, and theirs was good. I'm not raving, because this thick stew made from spinach, mild spices and fresh Indian cheese is a dish I think I make better than anywhere I've had it excepting Lazeez Rubina Tandoori, but it was definitely edible. The chapatis we used to scoop it up were very tender and the rice was perfectly cooked and not as salty as some pulao is. The server(s) were attentive and quick but not obsequious, refilled our waters numerous times (although I must say we were the only diners out of - six? - tables) and made a pot of coffee for us in the middle of the afternoon. Portions? Well, we could have forgone the Palak Paneer and been completely satisfied. The leftovers - which we begged, eyes bulging, to take home with us - made a perfect midnight snack for me (sorry mom, you should try to stay up later). As for our choice of dishes: yup, it was a verifiable grease-in. If you're looking for rabbit food, this isn't the place, but there are lots of items on the menu that *aren't* deep-fried: next time I plan on trying the kofta (think falafel mix, combined with ground vegetables, rolled into balls and cooked in a delicately-spiced cream sauce), mutter paneer (a slightly sweet, thin stew of green peas and fresh Indian cheese), baingan bhartha (roasted eggplant and tomato stew with lots of onion and garlic), and one of the pranthas (a baked stuffed bread dish). They have some yummy-looking desserts, but I don't know if I'll have room. On our way out we commented to one of the servers that after eating there we'd never return to All India, and she replied, 'Everyone says that.' That says it all really. They do seem to do quite good business, there were quite a few pick-ups while we were there, though we remained the sole occupants of the dining room. They're open from 9-9 every day, their number's 604-324-6677, and they have take-out and delivery; although I'd recommend eating in, in order to take advantage of the freshness of preparation and friendly service.