Zucchini Mama

The Locus (Main and King Edward) Would someone please convince the owner to paint it anything other than black. The decor-melted candle wax and metal sculptures, oh boy. Please lighten up the decor, lighten up the menu (there's always too many things happening in one dish). It is a black hole that could be something else much more exciting, anything else. I want to support my local joints, but this place is too depressing. I call it the Locust, as in a plague. I think it's in need of a Queer Eye for the Straight guy makeover. (How can I get those guys to come to my house, by the way? My kitchen needs a QE.) Thanks for the thread Andrew, I've been chomping at the bit to say this. Bottoms Up! Zuke

Great to see you blogging, Mooshmouse! As for kitty, I actually like the name "Shadow" as it befits the patterns on her back, which do resemble the patterns of the shadows in which she reclines. However, I also like "Fingola" AND since she's of Norwegian extraction how about "Krumkaka"? Or perhaps as befitting feline royalty she should have all three names: HRM Shadow Fingola Krumkaka invites you to afternoon tea in the garden. Catnip juleps will be served! Have Fun! Zuke

You go girl! I love your rant. I think they were having a good day when we went, and yes, the food was somewhat slow, but we had good service with no attitude. I noticed a lack of tables for smaller parties which is an inefficient use of the space, since the booths are huge but there'd be a one or two people each booth with a lineup out the door. Please post about your meals at Sebs. I haven't heard anything good about the food yet, but I am intrigued. Zuke

Does it really say that on the menu? Gawd. ← Yes, W.B., and I hear it in Ice T's voice...a la Law and Order Episode where we learn "on the down low" means people pretending to be hetero, when they're gettin' it somewhere else closer to their own sex. So I got a bit confused just what this dish was all about-I mean the political and ontological ramifications got in the way of me actually ordering the dish. Oh, life is so complicated as a SOMA mama. Hope your wife is getting some sleep and congrats by the way. My sister had a baby the other day and she's pretty damned tired, ( but not on the down low, thank god). Zuke

Hatch Breakfast Parlour My son and I went to the Hatch Breakfast Parlour for brunch on this Labour Day Monday. It was a cool, sunny morning that had heated up nicely by the time we arrived. We had about a fifteen minute wait to get seated, as they were full up. I had to spend that time trying to tame a temper tantrum. I finally managed to calm him down with promises of hot chocolate, then was horrified to find it was, of course not on the menu... Say what? A breakfast parlour without hot chocolate is like a service station without Wd40. It's like a temple without an altar. It's a home without a hearth. Anyhoo the hostess saved the day by suggesting steamed coconut milk with maple syrup which she brought forthwith and soothed the savage beast. The crowd is Main Street hipster, which today means everyone is wearing a vintage t-shirt and blue jeans. I look down and even I am wearing an old t-shirt and blue jeans. It's insidious. The menu thew me for a loop. It's looking for a noncommital kind of relationship and is keeping its options open. You can mix and match groups of ingredients with cooking methods. I guess that's a good thing, but call me old fashioned, I like a type who knows what he wants and takes it all the way. If the options were written up in a less "hipster" kind of way would they be more appetizing? E.g.: quiche with phyllo on the down low... Um I guess that means crust? I guess I'm just a hipster imposter. I was really impressed with the service-a Main Street hangout without the superior attitude? I'll take it. The music was loud, but today I really liked it. It went with my "bad girl" meal of high cholesterol choices: cheddar and bacon scrambled with organic eggs with a pouring of maple syrup. It was worth every anti-brownie point. Did I forget to mention the buttered sourdough toast? I haven't had the "bad" kind of cholesterol for such a long time it tasted extra special. I figure the good cholesterol I've stored up lately can go head to head with the baddies and put up a fair fight anyway. The plate looked good too, and I liked the mango dressing on the salad and the sliced roasted potatoes were cooked and seasoned perfectly. I had an iced tea-too sweet for my tastes, but U. loved it and downed it after his steamed coconut milk- a liquid brunch. The server packed up the leftovers in a Chinese takeout carton with a wire handle and we were off. "Mom, I'm much happier than when we came," he says. So an I baby, so am I. We'll be back for sure. Zuke

Yes, I've had two of the Klipper's organic Acres Tiger melons. The first one tasted terrific-ethereal and similar to cantelope and honeydew. The second one filled the room with its melon perfume, but yuck! tasted like fruity mashed potatoes. I guess the trick is not to get them when they're over-ripe. I'll try again. Aren't those black cherry tomatoes beautiful? Your meal looks fabulous-I can't believe you had to do the James Bond thing in the elevator-Ouch! Zuke

Merci!, but you must reserve judgement until you've tasted the wine! I was also thinking, that since you probably have some amazing BBQ back home you should bring back a bottle of our local Merridale Cyser-apple cider made with honey. It's just the thing for BBQ pork, and comes in a little plastic bottle that's perfect for travel. You also asked about Shakespeare in the tent. I haven't seen the shows this year, but it's outdoors, so may be a bit cold this late in the summer. Hope you do get some warm days though. Zuke

You know, I have friends who are strict veggies with a bunch of disposable income and I'm always keeping out and eye for places they could drop some cash. I was thinking Cassis would be a good place where our carnivorous family could sit down and break bread with the vegetarians and both be satisfied. Has anyone been there lately? (The menu is online). Zuke

Quote from Vanderb: "Finally able to eat out again after 2 weeks fighting viruses for customers. I won't regale anyone with tales of vending machines and crap takeout as it is too depressing. Saturday night, Canmore, Alberta - Quarry Bistro. I've heard a fair bit of hype over both Quarry and Crazyweed but on Saturday we were only able to get on the patio at Quarry so there we stayed. Had a very memorable meal with friends... started with seared sea scallops with spinach, carrot and pickled onion slaw and homemade pickled ginger. Excellent dish wish I hadn't shared with my SO. Followed this with a very nice buffalo burger on ciabatta bun with a side of yam and potato fries. This was accompanied by my latest favorite find, Vinho Verde. This Portuguese wine is excellent, very young, fresh, low in alcohol and with a small amount of champagne like bubbles. This can be consumed all night on the right patio. Lunch today, Viet sub from Thi Thi... can't go wrong with the combo super sub (sate chicken and beef) with all the veggies, cilantro and birds eye chilies. This weekend we're off to the mountains for camping in Kananaskis. There will be cold Japanese soba noodle salad w/ tuna, campfire vegetable soup and likely a night of spicy tofu dogs. There may even be a beer or two consumed in honour of Labour day." Vanderb, Curious as to whether you've chowed down in Bragg Creek. My sister lives in Canmore (where I love to visit Bernie's Bavarian Bakery). She says Infusion in the Creek is amazing, but we somehow manage to miss it every time I visit. Heard anything about it? Somehow, I'm dissappointed you're not spit-roasting a bison on your camping trip. You would have made eGullet history! Happy Trails, Zuke

I can't believe St. Tropez is still open. Wow, what a time capsule that must be! You know, after living in Saskatoon during my university years I ended up on a holiday in Greece and it was like coming home! The first time I had a "Greek salad" in Greece was a revelation-"Oh, this is what it's supposed to taste like!" The same with souvlaki, and lemon chicken that melts in your mouth, sun ripened tomatoes, thick Greek yogurt and wild honey, the sunsets in Oia...I have such good memories and eating at Nino's had just made me appreciate it that much more! Zuke

Okay Steve, I think you're gonna like our wines! Because of our cooler climate, we tend not to have those big alcoholic monsters, which is a blessing IMO. Some of my faves: Bubbles: Sumac Ridge Stellar Jay Brut For fun, try a different white grape variety like Cedar Creek Ehrenfelser or a Kerner We like wine from a first nations winery in B.C. Nk' Mip (say "inkameep")-try their Pinot Blanc-dry and no oak For a great rosé try Grey Monk Rotberger- chill it, drink it, kick back and watch the sun set. A light red grape variety I fell for in Austria-Zweigelt: Try the St. Hubertus Zweigelt Okay, for good karma, I'm going to recommend my new party wine which is the Geringer Cuvée Noir, at $10.99-what a flippin' BARGAIN. Don't tell anyone or I won't be able to find any anymore! Couple of helpful websites I just stumbled on gismondionwine.com, and bcwineguys.com. Ciao, Zuke

Thanks for the info reverendtmac, What kind of cuisine is at Ankor? Also, remind me of the name of the bistro in the old men's club and the name of the really popular steakhouse downtown. Please post about where and what you eat on your trip home and recruit some people from Regina for eGullet. Recruit! Recruit! Recruit! Zucchini Mama

Steve, with regards to local wine, what I suggest is you go to the stores mentioned upthread and find someone at the store who can ask you questions about what you're looking for and find something to suit your tastes. There's also a free magazine with some very basic info on local wine that's available at the liquor board outlets here. Can't remember the title-it's buried in my recycling bag. If you tell us what your particular wine loves are, we can probably help you out on this thread, but sometimes the best wines are hard to find because the production happens on such a small scale here. Stephen Bonner and kurtisk are a couple of our resident wine experts. Also, ask the servers at the places your eating out at to point you towards some good local wines. I won't hesitate to reccomend Cru and Aurora. Aurora has fantastic local wines on their menu. Zuke

rêvasser, It's just the beginning of the season. I got my first taste of them yesterday at UBC farm market. The artichoke lady at Nat bailey usually has really good ones. I'll keep you posted if I see them. I Love them. Only 3 or 4 made it home, the rest were eaten right on the farm. Zuke

Tomatilloes are $2 a pound at UBC farmer's market. The prices are really good. They have at least three kinds of beans, including variegated Dragon Beans, and they have some scarlet runners as well. You can e-mail the woman who organizes the market to find out what they're selling each week. There's also the option of picking a mixed bag of beans yourself and there are u-pick flowers as well. We usually create a scarlet runner "teepee" in our back yard, but missed the planting date this year. I miss them now. Ciao for Now, Zuke

Steve, Sounds like you're well-researched. I just wanted to mention Café D'Lite is going to be moving, I think at the end of this month, so heads up on that. As for wine stores, I find Marquis does have some good wine in the lower price range, but is mostly mid to higher range. John carries some local wine, but tends to focus on French wine. Also, we had a trucking strike here which means you should focus on local wines-long story, see the thread. I reccomend Village VQA wines at 3536 West 41st Ave (near Dunbar). They also have a location in North Van if you're in the neighborhood. Have you got Ethiopian/Eritrean food at home? There are a handful of African Restaurants here that serve delicious food. I'm sure others will chime in with more updates and suggestions. Zuke

UBC Farm Tasting Menu at Provence Tonight my son and I headed for a special treat: the UBC farm menu at Provence. We took advantage of the lovely evening and had a seat on the patio. Surrounded by hanging baskets, we were somewhat sheltered from the street and had the patio to ourselves. I ordered the tasting menu with a UBC salad to start, and the Monashee Range Pork Rack Chop with a BC forest mushroom demi-glace. I ordered pommes frites to appease U., who was happy to gorge himself on the lovely slices of warm baguette. I scarfed a couple of fries, and they were good-well-salted, golden brown, and the right amount of starch. The salad was fine-a light vinaigrette on greens, tomatoes and cucumber slices, with a nice bit of arugula in the greens. I've had much better varieties of tomatoes though, especially from Nat Bailey at Klipper's this week. The pork chop was huge, an inch thick with a lot of fat-"rustic". It was not very tender, but I don't mind chewiness when chewiness is due. The meat itself wasn't that flavorful, although better than the average pork chop. The demiglace was gorgeous, (a bit stingy on the morels, but oh well) with red wine, onions, and herbs de Provence. I would have loved mashed potatoes to go with this instead of the boiled ones, which couldn't soak up the sauce. The broccoli did soak it up and that was the best broccoli I have ever tasted. You could really taste the sweetness in the variety. Anyhow, there was also kale, which was a lovely emerald green but it was almost too chewy to eat. I kept asking the waiter questions about the menu and he kept saying, "I think so... I'm not sure... Clearly he was not a food-obsessed human, such as the members of the eGullet tribe. Then he forgot to mention the Cotes de Provence Rosé was unavailable (Zut alors! Maybe due to the container strike) so I ordered the Gamay Noir from Burrowing Owl which tasted flat because it needed to be a bit cooler than it was. (I know, I'm very fussy about my wine temps.) I wish they had some local pinks like Gray Monk Rotberger which I love. The dessert stole the show: Fennel Panna Cotta sweetened with blackberry flower honey with a bit of rhubarb compote, garnished with flower petals and the biggest, plumpest blackerries I've ever seen. Now we're talking! A summery creamy piece of HEAVEN on earth. I was happy to recommend that to the people who sat down beside our table as we were leaving. So the waiter was saying you can somehow mix the fixed menu with the a la carte menu. He did not explain that to me when I ordered. He said people are ordering about %50 fixed and the other %50 a la carte. He said it's been a very successful promotion, and it is on until the end of August. In retrospect I was really wishing for a vegetarian option and would have loved something like gnocchi with the mushroom sauce instead of the pork chop. It would have been nice to have a flyer about the farm, so people could become aware of it and it's impending fate. (Due to be developed and turned into luxury condos in 2112.) I'm hoping there will still be a way to save the farm, and strengthening ties to local restaurants will certainly help. Sage Bistro on campus also serves UBC produce. I remember reading an article once about a bistro in England that "commissions" produce from local farms-which I think is a great idea, and would be wonderful for UBC. This way the chef can be very creative and design the menu before the seeds are even in the ground. I've recently found a great web site called farmtotable.org which looks at the relationship between farmers and restaurants, and reprints some of the best articles on relevant subjects. I also stumbled upon chefscollaborative.org which is of the same ilk. Ciao for Now, Zuke

A quick Google gave me these: Heliotrope (2204 McIntyre, 569-3373) Cathedral Village Free House (2062 Albert St) New Japonica (2167 Hamilton St, 359-7669) The Creek in Cathedral Bistro (3414-13th Ave, 352-4448 India House (806 Victoria Ave 585-8882) I can vouch for Heliotrope-casual vegetarian restaurant in a heritage house. I've also been to the Cathedral Creek Bistro which is fantastic. I always have the spinach feta pizza at the Copper Kettle, mom and pop place downtown. There's also a Vietnamese place downtown which is fine-can't recall the name. There's a good Italian deli-again the name escapes me. Great sandwiches. It should be easy to find int he phone book. Hope this gives you something to work with. Give us a full report! I'll e-mail my friends there to research what's new. Zuke

The other day my friend and I had a conversation about whether the food at Nu would be nude. We were trying to figure out the concept, i.e. revealing the natural flavors of food rather than over-dressing and over-saucing it. We wondered if food "au naturel" would be devoid of sauce, gravy or jus altogether, but the picture above answers the question. I'm glad to see they've kept the sauce, but shouldn't it be called BAREnaise? :-) Zuke

Is nam yue the stuff that kind of tastes like ham in vegetarian dim sum dishes? If so, I love it too. I also vote for the Hainan chicken at Cafe Delight as a personal siren song, but I also get this fix at Le Petite Café, along with their coconut chicken curry. To misquote an eGulleter "If only coconut milk made you thin, like heroine!" Zuke

Tomatilloes are in season right now, for fantastic guacs and salsa verdes. I second the bison for your local land mammals. We never buy beef any more, only buffalo. If you can, try visiting the market on a Thursday when you have the local farmers truck market outside as well. Blackberries! Zuke

Junior, I heard D'reen has opened another place. What's the scoop? Wouldn't you say Mykonos by the Bessborough would be the place for Greek ribs? Zuke

I can't believe how long it's been since I posted on this thread. Anyway, I vouch for the green tea mousse cake at Steeps on Broadway. It's a good balance of the savory tea and the sweetness and lightness of the sponge and the mouse. The sour cherry chocolate chip coffee cake is very good at Kokopelli on Dunbar. My dentist is making a good living off my sweet tooth this week. Zuke

What a great zucchini story! I love it. Hainan chicken with truffled rice-well...that sounds like a recipe for my imaginary French Vietnamese restaurant which I described in an eGullet post on a thread where we were designing our ultimate Vancouver restaurants. Enjoy Vancouver! Zuke