kontemporary

I signed up for the hints, whatever that means.

Could it be that the best French restaurant in the world is not in France and not run by a Frenchman?

I'm thinking of how wine pairings will work

About the patios, not the question. The crowd today at Eat Vancouver was surprisingly non-active and just sat there and stared.. and never asked questions. But his response was humourous.. it was basically a non-direct rant at the city.

I actually asked Feenie about his patio today at Eat Vancouver during his demo. He didn't see to pleased about it

Holy crap I was so lucky to get a seat in the front row when I was watching Feenie tonight. Crowds were basically just surrounding the seated area. Being the kinda guy I am I also got Rob Feenie's and David Hawksworth's signatures

I know that Simply Thai has quite a list for such a small restaurant. They were recognized by Wine Spectator for their list last year. Is this what you are looking for ? ← Yeah, just any Asian restaurant, whether big or small with wine pairings and/or a wine list should have some mention because they are a bit of a rarity in my opinion.

I think that any Asian/Chinese restaurant with a wine list (rather than just a selection of wines to offer to customers whenever asked) as part of the menu deserves to be mentioned. Few do actually come to my head..

Wow I didn't know so many people disliked Rob Feenie on here.. unless it was all jokingly, of course. I've only seen him in that Iron Chef American episode, otherwise I've never see his show on Food Network Canada. He seemed like a friendly guy during the Iron Chef faceoff.

Open for lunch and dinner: West, Raincity Grill (Brunch on Sat & Sun), CinCin, LIFT. Open for dinner only: Lumière, Chambar, Vij's, Tojo's, Blue Water Café. These should give you a good idea of what Vancouver's food scene is like but including mainly its finest (so you don't miss out). Since you're staying for only two nights, I recommend you at least have lunch at West. But you'll have to make a decision between many of the restaurants. For not-so-upscale dining but places that are still unique to Vancouver, even a stroll through Richmond, Gastown, and Chinatown should bring you to places for a good experience. Try Phnom Penh in Chinatown, Pink Pearl or Sun Sui Wah for Dim Sum, or Hapa Izakaya on Robson. Vancouver's restaurant scene is really broad - narrowing specifically what you want to see would be good.

The thing, I believe, the seperates true restaurants and hole-in-the-walls is the atmosphere that the restaurant provides. Some people think it's service - but I've seen bad service from bottom to top, and good service top to bottom. Well what makes an atmosphere anyways? I usually consider many things to compose the atmosphere of a restaurant: - the décor/lighting/architecture - the background music - the service (uniform, attitude) - the crowd/location But perhaps the idea of rating atmosphere is even more subjective than food itself, as tastes completely vary throughout people. There are different tastes - some like electic upbeat audiences, others like a casual business atmosphere. Personally I find young, electic attitudeless atmospheres most pleasing to my tastes. Some restaurants with good atmospheres that do it for me: - Rugby Beach Club Grille - LIFT - Glowbal Grill Satay Bar - Wild Rice - Casual Chains: Cactus Club, Milestone's, etc. Even a lot of the lounge/restaurants on Granville provide excellent places to enjoy a drink or light meal.

Are you sure? You should check out Joe Fortes.

Early evening dinner at West with their early prix fixe. We were the first table that night, at 5:45, though crowds started arriving within 10 minutes. I ordered the smoked salmon to start, the halibut entrée, and the lemon terrine to finish. The appetizer was perfect, the salmon soft and flavourful, and their dressing complimenting. The halibut entrée was good as well. I did not enjoy the parsley foam, but the halibut was cooked perfectly and very smooth. The halibut was placed over cooked mushrooms and asparagus which were very nicely done. There was also some gnocchi, though I found that to be a bit bland as the halibut jus was not strong enough to compliment it. The terrine for dessert I found to be a bit too sweet, but the passionfruit white chocolate ice cream over taopica sauce was a piece of heaven. Good service as always, but of course, we're talking about West. Had late evening drinks and dessert at LIFT. Very nice atmosphere, decor, crowd. Lively, electic, and packed. The "LIFT it up" martini was excellent - consisted of bols blue, lychee SOHO, and a dash of grapefruit. The John Collins cocktail was very good as well. Their bloody mary however, was not up to par. Had the pear tatin dessert. Was a bit too sweet with the caramel dressing over poached pears (not done too well), but the vanilla ice cream (I couldn't taste any chocolate if there were any) helped dilute some of the sweetness. Dinner at Wild Rice yesterday. Had the AAA charred rare beef tenderloin on crispy jasmine rice, which was absolutely delicious. The 'Chinatown sweep' bowl of fried noodles and BBQ pork was decent, though the sauce was a bit watery but nonetheless flavourful. Drinks were good. I had the Shanghai Alley cocktail, which consisted of vodka, lychee juice, and grapefruit. The lychee juice overpowered the rest mostly, though. Their infused teas were good - especially the vanilla tea. It was flavourful yet suttle, and just the right sweetness. Their lemon-mango unfortunately was much too sour to enjoy with the rest of the meal.

I'm surprised no one mentioned of Odoul's downtown. They have jazz every night. Rime on Commercial, which is quite new also has musicians and jazz quite often.

Definitely.. West. I was there yesterday and had the early prix fixe. Delicious food; good service. Though our table was wobbly, our waiter gladly fixed that. Not too south on Granville but just east a bit from the W Broadway/Granville intersection is Cru. A nice place to check out as well.