fud

Friday Night -------------- Dinner at a friend's house - Carrot potato mash - Beef Tenderloin in a apple cider/pomegranate reduction - Roasted Aparugi with nothing but butter (and salt) Saturday Night ----------------- Dinner at another friend's (who I might add has a dream kitchen) - Guyere French Onion Soup (inspired by Nu) - Pork Tenderloin with rosemary,s&p rub and a generous portion of olive oil - Toasted almond salad - Carmelized Yams - Thinly sliced skirt steak marinated in red wine/port/cassis/balsamic and rolled around enoki mushrooms - Hand made angel hair pasta with grilled chicken in mushroom sauce - Sub zero BBQ grilled bell peppers, eggplant and zuccini - Home made green tea ice cream in freshly made waffle cones Sunday night to Last Night ----------- - Leftovers! - I made some <drool> bacon wrapped water chestnuts in teriyaki sauce and in BBQ sauce. My god these things are evil. - Baked brie with a plum jam inside oh. meat overload. Too.much.meat.but.must.eat.more.bacon.mmmm

Welcome to the club teamboom! Fiddlehead Joe's has a really intimate setup but I am not sure if they are open Christmas Eve. I believe they might have their staff party that night but check with them.

^ The Sea Bass. Unfortunately sea bass is pretty much endangered now so it's up to you whether you want to try it. But their sea bass is amazing.

Chambar is a really lively place with belgian beer so I think it would be a great spot for a party. 8 people should be pretty manageable. I'm a big fan of the Afghan Horsemen because of the lounging pillow rooms where 8 people can get really relaxed and cozy!

The Five Point (main and 15th) is where I hang. It's pretty funky and sometimes has the most awesome and/or aweful live music. Always keeps things interesting. Another great spot is Locus on (Main and 25th) D90 I like Joey Tomatoes too but I find myself feeling a little like a dirty old man as some of the waitresses and especially the hosts at the door are really really young I actually liked the 'old' Joey's better. There was more of a neighbourhood feel to it.

My coworker has a breakfast spot he goes to every weekend with his wife. By the time they leave the car and are heading into the place, their "table" is ready and a coffee with caraf plus a tea are waiting for them. The type of place you walk into and the waitress greets you by name and uses the oh-so-wished-for "the usual?". I need to find me a place like that.

This is exactly where I get my laksa and roti fix when I need a quick one

Me too! One of my favorite malaysian digs

^ LK looked a lot bigger than I had initially remembered it being. I peeked in on my way to Diner on the weekend. I'll give it a shake sometime - looks kinda funky in there. Good point McTee, wage increase has a big impact when business is slow. I guess grat is like comission for each food sale. The more food the restaurant can put in front of customers, the more the grat generally. As a consumer I've always been of the mind that the price listed is what we pay. This of course says a lot about everything: tipping, taxes, etc... It was refreshing to have exactly this setup in Japan when I was visiting. Ok enough hijacking the thread - I applaud LK for really trying new things and being bold about wholesale changes to see what direction the restautant can go in. It seems to me restaurants are a hard-as-hell business and it takes a lot of courage and confidence to keep them up to date or to identify things that can be changed.

Thanks Peppyre! I will definately try Winsor. I hope I can catch them before they close during the week. Did you say they have stuff dry aging? Oooh you're making me drool! I was about to make a modification to the fridge so I could hang steaks.

^ This thread really makes me wonder then...why not just pay the servers 15 to 20% more and just charge people that percentage on the bill itself? Autograt does this anyways so why not just have it as part of the food cost? If customers have a bad time they can speak to management which is what they should do anyways. Down with tipping, up with wages

Ok so since this is a steak thread. Where on earth do I find a Skirt or (gasp) Hanger steak in town? I'd love to try to make something with this cut of beef it is so tastey!

yeah I read that article as well. We bought some dried fruit from China a while back and brought them home to make a soup. When the fruit went into the soup a bunch of spider carcasses came out. Yumm. Lordy.

At Diner over the weekend one of our group ordered a "burger" but stuffed inside a grilled cheese. The result was pretty marvellous. The patty is HUGE in comparison to the bread and the size is just right for your mouth. Plus you get that classic grilled cheese flavour mixed with the burger and bacon. Yumm! Since I didn't really know him that well I refrained from asking for a 'bite' but I will go back to try it. It sounded intruiging and well worth a visit for 'research' purposes.

But he's moving here to Vancouver to live? How would going to Europe help him hone his skills while living in Vancouver?

At least tell me the sprinklers for the grass spit out Asahi?

^ It's on my list. I've heard a lot from word of mouth (not eGullet related) and it has all been good. Maybe they are an institution and don't need more good reviews?

I second this recommendation. Yogi's is really tastey and the host/hostess are super nice. I need to go back.

I have never heard someone use the word pornographic in that way but it really drove the point home.

That goes without saying. Logically a starving university student might tend to tip less than a career person. However there are exceptions to every rule and I bet a starving uni student who part time bar tends will be more generous with the tipping. Special circumstances will also cause a change in tipping: for example if a waiter gives us a free dessert or something because of some mishap (perhaps) then I will tend to tip such that the cost of the 'free' item is more than made up for.

And will there be something on the TOP of Shangri-La?

I agree. The Bins are good and solid! Anyone have the Pakora's at dv8? My god I love them.

^ I found T&T to be really solid with thai chillies and vietnamese ingredients like star anise and noodles. Man I was so taken when I bought a bag of star anise at granville island for $3.99 and my friend bought a bag 4 times as big at T&T for less than a buck!

I think it's called King and I and it had a picture of a Playing Card (King no doubt). Is this the one you saw? I think they took over an old Chinese restaurant there but the chinese words are still on the window but I couldn't read them ;p

Actually there are some good points here. This might be a general practice but out of lazyness I just tip on the total. I don't think I really look at the pre-tax amount however during promotionals or when using an entertainment book coupon for example I will ensure I am tipping on the pre-coupon amount. I mean come on, we're saving a main dish with this coupon don't get too skimpy on the tip! Generally, I try not to 'punish' the waiter for something that is out of his/her control. However having a waitor ask myself and my mother to 'leave the restaurant' because someone of 'higher importance' has arrived warrants no-tip and in my case a 0.01 tip. Don't worry this was not in Vancouver. Back on topic, I figure serious consideration on tip (ie not just tossing a toonie down) usually happens in a place which sits you down and it doesn't take 5 minutes to have your food to you (ie noodle shops, congee places, fast burger shacks, etc..) Vancouver has a lot of these kind of places and they either have a jar for tips or if you do sit down I guess they pool them.