the g-man

Has anyone tried any of the recipes yet? I was looking at this book today. Beautiful photography. The recipes look very time-consuming, with so much happening on one plate at one time. Three or four different sauces, elaborate garnishes, etc.

Here's a coincidence: I was also in Vegas last week, and won a little money playing texas hold 'em.... but I have already spent it on a shirt and tie from Thomas Pink and a bone-in filet at Joe's Stone Crab Grill. Sweet.

An article in the Sun this morning quoted Lumiere's publicist as stating that the $1000 pp tab will "just about cover" the actual cost of the event. I am a little skeptical of this, unless Trotter is flown in on a chartered Lear Jet and put up on the entire top floor of the Opus and given a Hummer as a thank-you gift.

^ samples for $2! sweet... This place is half a block from my office and I am going there for lunch right now. Will let you know if I see any scandalous pasta eating.

I will be visiting Vegas next weekend with 3 friends and have made reservations at FIX. Any suggestions for what to try from anyone who has been recently?

Those little spiced donuts on the brunch menu at Aurora Bistro are pretty fine, too.

Growing up in a small town, there was a donut shop on almost every corner. It was part of everyday life. Kids skipped school to hang out at the donut shop. A donut and coffee was breakfast for most people. Bob and Doug McKenzie enshrined the donut into Canadian culture on SCTV. Now the Tim Horton’s chain is opening new locations across B.C. faster than Starbuck’s in the late ‘90s. Do you love the donut, or do you think its over-hyped? If you love it, where are B.C.'s best donuts? Before weighing in to disrespect the donut, consider the art that the donut can be at its best - not the mass-produced frozen ones but the soft sweet cloud of sweetness at Lee’s Donuts on Granville Island.

^ Thanks! Crab cakes were awesome. We have amazing crabs on the west coast of B.C., and a couple of them were crawling around my kitchen a few hours before that photo was taken.

First time posting in this thread, first time posting photos... A tale of two soups in one bowl: roasted tomato vs. roasted yellow pepper w. a chile cream garnish. Crab cakes with chipotle mayo and micro greens.

Try the lemon tart, too. You'd dig it the most.

I like Toshi. He makes good sushi. I think he had a restaurant in Whistler but re-located to the off-Main Street spot. It is very small, though, there are only about 10 tables which helps explain the lineups. They have a sushi bar where you can sit and watch the sushi orders go out. I usually go for takeout - avoids the lineups completely. The house roll is good, they also have a little dish with lobster and mushrooms that is not too shabby at all.

A small glimpse into the life of a celebrity chef. Never before have I got me some free gingerbread pudding just for being an eyewitness to a few swears. I feel like a human swear-jar. Anyways, nice $!@*#! job on the hanger steak.

A salute to the Hamilton Street Grill for a fine steak last night. Sat at the bar with a hanger steak with chanterelle mushrooms and a glass of B.C. merlot. Honest and unpretentious food presented by people who clearly know and love what they do.

How did you like the wine served with the beef - the Laughing Stock portfolio wine? It is a new Naramata Bench winery that just released their inaugural wines.

I'm assuming that Nu would be a hard reservation to get....being it just opened...and I would have to go on a friday or saturday nite...because of her school schedule...wither than that though I really want to go! ← I have reservations at nu for friday night at 7:30 that I unfortunately have to cancel because I have some friends coming into town. You are welcome to the reservation if you want - if you are interested let me know.

Varmint is distinctly anti-bun and a Carolina BBQ purist. In fact he considers buns to be downright touristy and Yankee-like. I asked him about who was bringing the buns to the Pig Pickin', and he told me nobody was and there was to be no buns served with his 'q, period. ← sounds like a line from the movie Sideways: "if anybody orders &$%# merlot, I'm leaving!"

Memphis Blues. They do catering, and a couple of their Elvis Platters would go a long way.

I thought keepin it on the down low just meant discreet. As in: limited to certain few homies who need to know, such as "don't worry we will keep your grow up on the down low". You learn something new every day, and some days you learn something new from Ice T by way of Zuchini Mama and urbandictionary.com: which says down low means "when black males try to remain straight by... with other men". phyllo on the down low? sounds tasty.

nice work. how did you like the grilled buffalo?

Kurtis' thread has a nice vibe though. More love and less knocking people around for being "overrated". My vote is Bishop's. Rarely mentioned on these pages lately, but a consummate host and seems to have been a pioneer in using fine B.C.-sourced fresh foods. I have almost cooked my way through his most recent cookbook Simply Bishops and have him to thank for some nice meals. The duck breast with apple puree, the goat cheese salad, and the dungeness crab lemongrass soup are the sweetest recipes. You could be the chickenlady or steve urkell, but if you cook those recipes for a date and throw down some miles davis on the stereo you could not lose.

Anybody have the skinny on when this restaurant will open for business?

Link to New York spot that serves nothing but rice pudding: http://ricetoriches.com/

Rice Pudding is due for a resurgence. Flavoured creme brulees peaked in the 90s. I for one would like to see rice pudding replace all green tea brulee, amaretto brulee, or duo of tangerine orange and cappucinno brulee. I think Wild Rice at one time had a rice pudding on their dessert menu, with shredded coconut? Right now their website says that they have a dessert called autumn four-spiced warmed sticky rice, which may or may not qualify as a rice pudding but doesn't sound very old school or old fashioned. Looking forward to seeing the responses on this thread.

You would hope that people, including critics, would cut a new restaurant a small amount of slack if it has just opened and there are still some kinks to be ironed out. For example, I recall some recent writing on the newly-opened Stella's on Commercial discussing uneven service issues and the just-opened factor but otherwise endorsing what was coming out of the kitchen and the overall experience. I think Ms. Gill herself wrote a piece on Stella's along those lines. There comes a point, though, when the overall experience is so distasteful that the just-opened factor does not save the missteps.

From today's Globe and Mail, review of Watermark by Alexandra Gill: "On the surface, this new $7-million dollar restaurant is a mind-blowing stunner. But once you taste the crap coming out of the kitchen, the sheer waste of it all makes you want to cry". I wish she would stop beating around the bush and tell us what she really thinks.