chef jeff

hazelmere organic farm, south surrey 604-538-3018 nice little market, great produce, amazing people, beautiful spot.

Hi LordB, I'm sorry to hear about your experience. Fortunately, your experience does not seem to be the norm. I'm curious if you asked to have your soup heated up. Also, what do you mean by the veal cheeks being overdone? Were they dry, or were they not pink in the middle? They are braised for 2 1/2 hours, so they are very cooked. As for the cake, I'm sorry you didn't enjoy it. Most people have been loving it, but I guess it's not for everyone. Jeff

what are the days/hours? I would like to check it out, but I always seem to be working.

Hmmm. I have mixed feelings about this Gerald. While I love Vera's meat, this won't be good for my heart. I assume you'll be on Main St. I hope you're not on my way to work. Do you have, like, a buy 10 get one free card? Did I mention I like your burgers? Are you hiring? When will you be open? mmmmmm. burgers gggggggh (in the style of Homer Simpson) Good luck boys.

I'm confused by this. There seems to be one or two good places to eat outside of downtown, no matter what your style or price range. In fact, without using any math or facts or scientific method, I would say that there is more good dining outside of downtown than in downtown itself.

I'm also coming to Terrra Madre in October, from Vancouver, and was thinking of doing a stage while I'm there. Can anyone reccomend someone in the area I should contact about a stage? Cheers

Fraser Falley Farms Co-op at the farmers markets (trout lake saturday, nat bailey wednesdays) fresh, beautiful, organic and local Jeff

That cranky SOB? You're kidding right? Agree 110% - Well deserved! The question is ... will we still be able to get a table? A. ← We accept bribes only in smoked meat currency.

Kurtis also won a premier crew award. Well deserved. And congrats to all other winners. I'm glad to see our neighbours at Habit recognized. J.

I can't see straight. my head hurts. why is the sun so bright. thanks guys. J.

Hair of the dog.

Lemontart, I'm sorry to hear about your experience. I assure you that every one of our glasses get polished and our restuarant gets dusted a couple of times a week, or as needed. We strive for perfection, like anyone else who cares in this business, but sometimes we miss things. We are only human. I will look into our cleaning process and see if there is anywhere we can improve. Was the fly a fruit fly, or a house fly? I would assume a fruit fly. The odd fruit fly does get into the sweeter liquor bottles on occassion, and in any dark busy restaurant they can end up in a drink. While not acceptable, these little pieces of pickled protien are harmless, and do not indicate that we are dirty. I hope you gave us a chance to bring you a fresh martini. Finally, you mention that our servers can be irritating to old people. In what way are they irritating? We have many regular customers, and quite a few of them are "old"(although I'm sure they don't like being called that!). I'm sure if they were irritated they wouldn't come back. Our servers enjoy serving people of all ages, and some of our favourite customers are "old". I think if they knew that old people found them irritating, they would want to know how they could change that situation. We thank you for your input, and would love for you to experience again, the restaurant that we are proud of and passionate about. Feel free to contact me at 604-873-9944 if you have any more concerns. Regards, Jeff Van Geest Chef/Owner Aurora Bistro

I fully intend to ← One of my mother-in-law's friends discovered wrapping the doughnuts in duck bacon. discus.

does that make me an overzealous freak?! I've been called a freak before, but never overzealous.

My parents were in from Ontario, so we went to check out Rare last night. We had: fried oysters with chorizo vinaigrette and cocoa beans cauliflower soup with lobster salad and smoked stealhead caviar carrot and blood orange seltzers snapper with, I think, an arugula sauce hedgehog mushroom ravioli striploin steak beef cheeks a round of grapefruit and honey sorbets spanish cheese platter (I can't remember all the details, I had a couple of beers before we arrived and was a wee bit tipsy by the time we left) Our food was very well prepared, the service was attentive and knowledgable, the room is beautiful, and the passion of Tim and Brian is very obvious. Thanks guys and continued success. Jeff.

So it's Friday, 5:00 and I had a couple of free minutes to drop a quick post on this duck. I just cooked a breast up to try out. The verdict from myself and the rest of the staff is a resounding "Very, very tender, great texture with a subtle flavour." Personally, I would like a little more flavour, but overall it's very good duck. We are serving the breasts roasted with a ambrosia apple, sweet potato and aged cheddar terrine and whiskey jus. Kurtis will suggest lighter wines to pair with it such as a BC Gamay Noir, or a nice Semillon, and especially the Joie Pinot Noir Rose Cheers, Jeff

We will also inform our clientelle and pass on the link to contact the marketing board

Thanks to Virginia for the feedback. Pass on my thanks and support please Chef Metcalf. I look forward to serving her ducks this weekend as a special, and will contact her about her chickens. Jeff

Just Googled 'polderside farms' for a lark (nice to see what local producers are doing) and was surprised to find that the farm is/was in hot water with the provincial government for growing chicken without "permit or quota", and in fact had their flock seized in Dec 2004. You can read the report(s) for yourself, they are a little confusing, but I was wondering if this farm is allowed to sell to restaurants, or are licensed for direct sales only? Anyone have any more information? -- Matt. ← I guess I'll be looking into that! The unfortunate thing is that these small producers generally are all very ethical, clean etc. in the way that they raise their crops and livestock, but marketing boards and beurocracy prevent them from getting their superior products out to the public. Because of this, farmers get frustrated, sell or go back to conventional practices. As well the public forgets what these products are supposed to taste like because they have been weened on the teet of factory farms and corporate agri-business.

We are recieving a couple dozen of these birds on Friday. I will run them as a special over the weekend, and will report back as to how they are. Jeff

Good. I can wipe away my tears now! Thank you so much. I'm taking the shortribs out of the freezer as we speak. I have one question about the recipe, how many shortribs are you using? And at the end of the recipe you say,"the important thing to remember is that the rootbeer doesn't get too sweet." What if it does? ← I usually do 20 - 50 pounds at a time, but that's a little rediculous for home use, unless you are fiends for the ribs! with 20 pounds (bone in for flavour) I use 12 cans of blue sky root beer and 6 litres of beef stock. For home I would think 5 pounds would give you lots. You can freeze the extra braised meat for a week or two. I think it's best to freeze it before you mix it with mirepoix and sauce, as the addition of the sauce later will add moisture to the frozen meat. When I mentioned the sweetness of the rootbeer, what I was saying was, when you reduce all the flavours concentrate. If the sweetness starts to get cloying from reduction, you need to balance it with some acidity ie: red wine vinager or balsamic vinager. Let me know how it goes.

Hi Shelora, I wasn't ignoring you so that I didn't have to give you this recipe. I've been without a computer that works for a couple of days. Work and home computers both went on the same day. AAAAggggghhhhh! You don't realize how much you depend on them until they croak. Anyways, here's the quick version. If you want a more detailed version, let me know. Season and sear bison shortribs - no flour In a pot large enough to hold the ribs bring to a boil: 1 part root beer (I prefer an organic or naturally flavoured one such as blue sky. Stay away from Sante Fe, as it is clear and doesn't help the colour of your sauce) 1 part beef or chicken stock 1/8 part crushed tomatoes or tomato puree enough red wine or balsamic vinager to balance the sweetness of the rootbeer a few cloves of garlic a sprig of thyme add ribs adjust seasoning reduce to simmer add ribs, cover and place in a 250 degree oven check ribs after 3 hours. They normally take over 4 hours, but sometimes they are quicker. If they go too long the dry out. When they are done, strain the liquid into a pot, and skim and reduce to a nice "demi" consistency. At the restaurant, we pull the meat, add sauteed mirepoix and reduced braising sauce. We then cool it, and wrap balls of this mix in caul fat. We bread it, deep fry it till golden, and bake in the oven until heated through. We serve this on a bed of braised chard, a loose (almost sauce like) celery root puree, and pour the reduced and refined braising liquid around the plate. The important thing to remember is that the rootbeer doesn't get too sweet. Good luck, and let me know if you want more detail. Cheers, Jeff

Dungeness Crabcakes, maybe with a rhubarb compote if it's a summer menu Smoked Sablefish with pemberton potato salad White Spring Salmon Gravlax with preserved lemon creme fraiche and cedar jelly

My wife and I don't normally celebrate valentines day, as I usually work. But this year, I am leaving it in my very capable sous chef's hands and we are going to the Pear Tree. We like to dine there for our anniversary, but as my wife is in a family way, with my little apprentice due just before our anniversary, we decided to brave the masses of St. Hallmarks... I mean St. Valentines day. Every experience at the Pear Tree has been top notch in the past and I'm sure this one will be just as good. I'm looking forward to seeing the room post reno. It will be interesting to see this day from the other side!