fud

Thanks for the pics Julixer! Reminds me of the dinner we had. As for the Ballet BC thing...NO WONDER! I don't recall it being like that last time! Wow. Way to go. That is something a 'little different' for sure. So I guess I'm not a sultan afterall

Lucky he didn't grab your butt! That happened to my friends over the weekend on Commercial. Just randomly he walks by looking the other direction and BAM grabs her butt! We were so shocked there was no time to react. He just kept walking too. Ahh Commercial. Sounds like an amazing trip! Wow and the right people to take you around!

Apparently we're both nuts. Just remember to read the fine print. The gift certs are not usable on friday/saturday. Regardless still a really good deal and well worth not going during the busy times of the week!

^ Somehow by coming back from Norman's today I can make arguments for painting more vivid portraits but I won't

^ We arrived at Parkside late . Being a Vancouverite and forgetting that parking down on Haro is ... well... ridiculous I ended up causing our party to be late. Note to self, use the damn Valet. The bright side is we got a really nice long walk after dinner to the car. We got in and were seated right away. I have never been to Parkside so this was really a pleasant surprise. The room is really cozy. I love it. I also like the frosted glass window in the back where you can peek into the letters to see the kitchen. I wasn't brave enough to do this but still it was a nice touch. The restaurant was nicely full but no lines or anything at the door. The waitress was very attentive we kept sending her away because we simply could not choose from the plethora of choices (4 of each item) on the menu. Being that I drove and am well aware of my asian gene/alcohol tolerance I was ecstatic that they had a selection of booze free drinks on the menu and they were all really interesting sounding - the two I remember (because I ordered them): - Basil and Lemon with Fleur de Sel - Blood Orange and ginger with carrot The highlight dishes we had: The mushroom soup - mind blowing. I don't know how else to describe it. The flavours were SO intense yet you could still enjoy the milder truffle oil and of course some Creme Freche to top it all off. The Ravioli - Sadly I didn't order this one but my friend gave me one piece. Now THAT is ravioli. The pasta was so fresh tasting and soft in texture (like they literally just rolled it out and made it on the spot). The filling was sublime with a mixture of tangy, sweet and crunchy. Really a party in your mouth. We all left very satisfied and my friend actually said to me "you know, this dineout thing works. I would never have gone to this place on my own but now...now we will go back often." There you go. Anecdotal evidence that dineout can, indeed, make converts out of what the industry likes to call "only during dineout people".

It's the hollow leg. It HAS to be Must be a special one for desserts That Terrine looks very similar to the one at Parkside. Mmmm Terrine.

That's a really glowing review! I recognize so many labels and now I know who stole the Nichol's bottles I was after when I was in the naramata bench! I read a write up in - I think it was Exclamation - on Aurora. It was a blurb next to a blurb on Habit. Again another really positive writeup focussing on Jeff's fearless innovation. Pair these two reviews together and you get the bottom line: "Excellent Innovative Food, Unsurpassed local BC wine selection" Plus who can boast these things AND be like 1 block from an army surplus store?

Are you serious? That is INSANE! I didn't think that was possible! I really like Opentable as a restaurant goer too. It makes it easy to book in my skivvy's at 3:00am AND it sends reminders to you the day before. It also emails you a link to their site which sometimes has maps to the restaurant. Not to mention the cute little "insert reservation in outlook" button. Man talk about making it SO easy.

Hmm so they can't steal the hash power from Melriches then. Do they do "fried mash"? That's really good mmm. But the perfectly crispy potatoe cubes are what I'm all about....

I think this may be where I tried the Kumamotos but I'm not sure. Glad to hear I have two very fine establishments to go to for these Actually we've never been to the Bearfoot making it somewhere we will likely visit soon (Thank god it's ski season)

^ Neil, Perhaps they are the new Swimming Cows? Actually what better way to be ocean wise than to eat something from the land! But seriously tho tarteausucre, go back and try the seafood it really is amazing (unless of course you're allergic).

I thought that was why people eat em off the beach? To facilitate nakeness. I think the oyster appreciates being forced open to the world by a naken person over a clothed. Ok where can I find these? I had one once and they were really good! Joe's? Rodney's?

I'm an idiot I admit. I just drove by "Beachside" on the way to Beach House tonight. Ok please throw stuff at me liberally

Minor Segway but I had the same experience at a place in Hong Kong. Middle of dinner, asked to leave because people who were going to spend more money had arrived. I almost strangled the waitor who looked so smug when he said it.

Well now I can link this forum with the one on DOV manners. What a perfect opportunity for a guest to pull a "spill water" move on the intruders. I'd be aiming for water IN the purse. Maybe even water on the inside of the jacket. The restaurant doesn't need to comp on behalf of a guest right? I'm going to Beach House tonight so thanks for the review Paul B! I'm looking forward to the experience now more than ever!

^ Adding to my list. Right after Stormin Norman's Anyone tried Juicy's? It's just oh so close to me I might break down and try it.

^ Wasn't there some kind of strange offer of beer to those who flashed their decoder ring? Chocomoo at least you can say "I'm Chocomoo". When I say "Hi! I'm....Fud" they're like "you're what? You want food?" <sigh>...

Hey it's not like I turned down duck fat! But actually it was mostly because I wasn't the one ordering the risotto therefore I was not given the pleasure to actually make that call.

I was actually not planning on reviewing C since I like eating there and I usually don't have much more to say than mmmm. But this time I'd like to mention my experience because it quite frankly blew me away. We arrived at 7:20 for our 7:30pm reservation. The place looked busy with the weird stand up lean back chair thingies packed full of people. Standing room only. I didn't see Leonard but a very very friendly gentleman with confident cadence came right up to us and asked if we'd like to have a drink. We opted to leave the madness for a walk while the rest of our party arrived. I should mention here that as I was peering into the window of C I saw a familiar face. Dan! He was one of the professional students at the Northwest Culinary Academy who helped a buch of fellow egulleters during our cooking class (Serious Foodie). Anyways I popped in to say hi but he looked REAL busy (duh - Dineout!). It was nice to see you Dan and Way to Go! C! Wow! Anyways after our walk we got back to the restaurant at around 7:30 and our table was still not ready (no biggie, our party hadn't fully arrived). We were offered drinks again which was nice and we got a lot of personal attention which I was surprised about considering the madness of the house at that hour. Two tables for 2 were seated before us (twosomes were churning out of the place faster I guess). When we finally got seated we were given a really great table by the window - well worth the wait. The waitor was very helpful and attentive. The bread was marvellous. I really like their house bread with seaweed embedded. As a foursome we had the power to have everything they had to offer (pretty much). So I managed to get a tase of: Porcini Mushroom and Yukon Gold Potato Soup smoked sablefish, creme fraiche, fennel pollen - I tasted it and got brought back to the parsnip soup with smoked kippers we made in class. Of course this was much richer, darker and full bodied with the amazing aroma of Mushrooms mmm. Prawn and Leek Ravioli on a seared scallop - Scallop was delish, the sauce under it was a bit too sweet - I wasn't a fan - the ravioli was pretty good (a bit hard) but the filling was really good. Roasted Sun Valley Trout butternut squash, dungeness crab, scallion blackstrap molasses gastrique - I had this last year at Dineout and I can never go wrong. SO GOOD. The fish was just flakey and moiste and the skin was crispy. Complete deboned - it was a lazy eaters paradise. The bed of butternut squash with crab was the pefect consistency (I saw Dan making the squash so maybe I'm biased ) Trumpet Royal Mushroom Risotto sidestripe shrimp, spinach, lemon parmesan broth - Foam!! I'm such a sucker for things like foam. But the flavour from the foam was so light and yet so complex. There was a LOT going on in the risotto and I was so happy to see that they didn't "cheat" by adding a lot of cream to finish it off. It was creamy but not overpowering. I don't know what else to say. So much going on and it all worked with that zest of lemon. We didn't do the shaved truffels, there was enough going on in there for us. Grilled 'AAA' Beef Striploin goat cheese gnocchi, parsnip, rapini red wine jus - Seared on the outside, beautifully pink on the inside, nuff said. Ginger and Brown Butter Financier caramel, pears, figs - Pretty good, but nothing to write home about. Ok Actually I managed to do a food review when I really wanted to mention the service. Absolutely above and beyond everything I've experienced in this city ( the other spot I had this kind of service was The Wikininnish). From arriving at C (mentioned above) to the attentive waitor and even the bread guy and the people refilling water. Perfect. When I wanted another slice of bread, boom the guy was there magically. When I went to the bathroom, my napkin was picked up, folded and placed on the table. When Sandy went, he napkin was replaced with a fresh one (messy girls ). And the pièce de résistance, the perfectly choreographed waiters in line, fluidly walking around the table and simultaneous placement of the appy's, mains and dessert. Flawless. A 10 for synchronized plate placement. The french judge would probably give a 8.5. And this. All done DURING DINEOUT VANCOUVER! I sit here speechless now. Did someone mistakenly tip them off that I was the Sultan of some oil rich country?

Glad to hear that. I went by there last summer and there was no indication it was "moving". In fact there was no explicit notice that it was closed either. I was kind of wondering what happened.

Well I think it's human nature to prefer not to eat things which they can easily associate with something else (like a social aspect). Which is why we don't generally eat dogs, cats, etc. Same reason why people who own pot belly pigs as pets will stop eating pork. In this case I think we all generally associate horses with riding horses (?). Cows? You don't see cows a lot in the media, you don't see them happily providing us milk (aside: arn't bulls slaughtered and cows kept for milk anyways?). Even lamb you don't see too often. I don't see little children on TV being saved from the river by a herd of sheep. Maybe if we did we wouldn't be so cavalier about eating them. You don't see hero's valiantly riding bessie into battle in movies and saving humankind. It's bad but we seem to eat the meats we eat because we shelter ourselves from them. Of course I'm not claiming that we all do this but I think it does affect many. I know of meat eaters who get queesey when they see the butcher shopping steaks from the main hunk'o'meat.

We're going to C tonight I can't wait! Is it a good thing that I'm way more excited about eating at C tonight than voting?

It's going at cambie and broadway where the "Crossroads" complex currently sits.

And talk they did. They said "EAT ME. Now!" I like the horseradish on top. Very nice. I was putting that stuff on bread

Buying a house this spring -> means no serious foodie class for me <sniff> <sniff> if yiu guys have leftovers PM me Ill be happy to come clear it away!