gingerfreak

Thanks for the welcome, and do make sure you visit BC! Though I'm thrilled to be coming home, well, purgatory it ain't out here A couple of questions - first, is it possible to guarantee that your linzer torte would have had no contact with chocolate? I'm not talking about the extremes concerning nut allergies, but chocolate gives my partner migraines so he avoids it. Second, what would you charge for delivery to downtown toronto for a below minimum order? Thanks!

Your line looks fantastic - I'm relocating back to TO later this summer (I'm coming home!) and will absolutely be picking some up in celebration. Best of luck with this!

This would be a tossup between the crickets, grubs and silkworms offered at a house in Thailand, and the home brewed whisky on hand to wash it down

Braised beet greens with garlic, olive oil and bacon are great as a pizza topping...soooo good with all that melted cheese. Karen Barnaby has a recipe for this in The Passionate Cook.

Hey I'd be happy with a "real" kitchen! I live in a Vancouver west end hole-in-the-wall apartment with a cubbyhole for a kitchen. When I cook it seems to take over the whole apartment (boiling water on the stove steams up the windows..). And it's a good thing I cook best solo as there's no room for 2. An island? One can dream... oh, and the oven's on a slant so baked goods end up sliding together or lopsided - good thing I'm going for taste, not looks if it weren't for the (lack of) a kitchen, I'd love my little place. And I've had some impressive results regardless.

Well at various times I'm all of the above - except a toaster because 1) I don't trust the office toaster and 2) I don't trust myself to keep track of what I'm doing! For the most part I'm a grazer in an office full of messy scavengers and toasters. I am the smallest person in the office and am ALWAYS eating something. And one more category, the NON-EATERS. We have people who simply don't seem to eat anything as they foster the image of being too busy for such things (coffee excepted of course, all the better to fuel the ambition). We may very well have tipplers who manage to hide their habit well.

Things I've given up buying as my illusions of self-control have been shattered too many times.. - pop tarts (yes, I KNOW, they're not even that good but I've put myself into sugar shock over these things) - potato chips - any kind - any kind of "fun" cereal And I'll pay more for singles of most of my indulgences even if it costs more i.e. Cadbury creme eggs (no point buying the 3 pack as I WILL end up eating them all at once, and the year they made them in dark chocolate was bad..but so good )

Ling, glad you found the sour cherries - I thought I looked everywhere! And at $40 , I'd hope the ones at Meinhardt's would have good packaging... What, pray tell was the brandy they were using?

I stopped in yesterday - closest I could find was canned bing cherries and sour cherry preserves. I guess the quest continues...

Went chocolate hunting last night - this place absolutely lives up to the praise! First, the owners are wonderful with such incredible passion for what they do. Much as I love chocolate, I'm not a big fan of overly sweet stuff, so went with the absolutely divine azteca which has just the right amount of spice. Per the recommendations here I also tried the saffron truffle - incredible indeed. Also loved the white chocolate with matcha, and who can go wrong with a piece of valhrona. They have a small selection of pastries; I forgot to ask if they're expanding the repertoire, but my friend had the baclava which she quite enjoyed. For her hot chocolate she went with the hazelnut - loved it. What a great addition to the area; I definitely will be returning. Oh, and Sylphid, welcome, and you made my day when you said they're doing courses! I will be all over that!

European delis do often carry the jarred sour cherries sans alcohol (Euro Deli across from Capers for one). I've seen them at Bosa as well. Never tried them, though I have a jar that I've been meaning to open for about a year now! ← Does anyone know what time Euro Deli closes on the weekend, and during the week? ← Did you mean the Euro Food Plus on Bidwell near the Robson Capers? If so, I'm not sure if they're open Sundays but through the week their hours are 9:30 - 9:30. Happy hunting!

I don't know if it's been covered here yet or not, but I love love LOVE the dark chocolae and ginger combo (and white chocolate and ginger too). Also something with a chai flavour. And I love the idea of herbal and/or savoury combos too

Oh I so agree about going to places for sentimental value..but it IS hard to go back! Years ago when we were starving students, my partner and I lived in a rotten area of Surrey. The saving grace was easy access to White Rock and we used to regularly go to Charlie Don't Surf where we would split an order of calamari and the grand marnier cheesecake, and have specialty coffees (odd combo I know, but then some say the same about the 2 of us ). A few months ago we went back to revisit old times. but since our tastes have improved it was not a great experience (not to mention the effort of getting to White Rock by transit from downtown!!). Not that we ever thought it was a great place to go, but it was "our" place and it was a real letdown. Ah well. We don't really have a "place" here in Vancouver since he lives on the Island (living apart, the secret to relationship longevity, I tell ya), but since it's in the neighbourhood, we end up at Central a lot. Always totally enjoyable for a casual meal

I love using them in anything that calls for sesame seeds - I love the visual effect. Lately I've made some really nice slightly sweet sesame biscotti - and I go half and half with white and black sesame seeds.

When I lived in Victoria ReBar or Willie's Bakery were always good bets. Wish Mo:Le had been open when I was there!

[quote When I use to get my daily espresso at Cafe Artigianno I would often buy their biscotti. I'm not sure who supplied them but they were the soft kind that didn't seem to be double baked. Their pistachio & cranberry biscotti goes so well with their latte! ←

When my sister was a kid, hamburgers were hang-a-burgers Among my husband's university crowd, if someone suggested "firing up the bitch", well a trip to Wendy's was in order And my cousin couldn't pronounce "dr", so in the summer would often come rushing into the house, all hot from playing, yelling "I need a shrink!"

I agree with others here that the CFDs do have their place, and appeal to people who are not likely to be posting here. Consistency and "safety" (i.e. non-adventurous) are their selling points for the so-called masses, which is exactly why so many people here dislike them so much. We want to be surprised! (in a good way ). I can't say that I've ever had a good time at a CFD establishment that wasn't a product of the company involved (with the possible exception of some drunken student bellini-filled times at Milestones And even then, it wouldn't have been much fun without the friends..more sad, really..). Basically I've found them enormously useful when dining with people who are terrified of anything new (i.e. much of my family). It's safe for them while I peruse the menu for something "harmless enough". And peace is kept. As far as their impact on the independents, I really don't know. It seems that a lot of the indies appeal to those who hate the CFDs...so I'd say there's room for both, and probably a fair amount of crossover clientele between the two.

Melanie, question for you that I forgot to ask earlier. What were the reviews on the apple-walnut strudels? I'm an apple pie/strudel girl at heart, and I was very curious about that dessert. ← Alas, I seem to have failed in my egullet duties (self-flagellation begins now ) ... the strudels happened to be at the other end of the table so I didn't get much in the way of opinion beyond "they're good". I can say that the portions looked fairly large and they were eaten with great gusto. Perhaps someone in the cat family will be able to elaborate later?

Mooshmouse, thanks for the lovely photos - one of these days I'll make the leap into the 21st century and actually get myself a digital camera

So...my dinner at Brix. Wonderful! We were a party of 10 (which due to a couple of last minute cancellations became a party of 8 - I don't know the offenders as they were friends of my friend) and due to scattered arrivals I didn't actually see a martini list. No matter, they made me a lovely straight-up martini. Is water-throwing a growing trend amongst Vancouver servers? Is the rain finally making people wiggy? The first thing that happened was our server ended up spilling water on the table. Fortunately it was a minor accident and no one was injured , but given recent discussion here, I found it inordinately funny. My non-EG friends merely thought I'd lost my mind . I think between all of us, most of the available DOV dishes were ordered. I went with the tomato-boccoccini salad, a favourite of mine, and loved that the tomatoes in this version were oven-dried and oh so flavourful. The tapenade and capers were excellent accompaniments. Others went for the spring rolls, artfully arranged in what my friend called "springroll jenga", and another got the seven-spice tuna and said it was amazing. My main was the venison, which was everything *Deborah* described. The tang of the tomato jam really sent it over the top, and I REALLY appreciated the tagliatelle after having been subjected to the old Spaghetti Factory last week (what can I say - my friend was leaving the country and wanted his last meal in Canada there.... ) And as noted, the meat was incredibly tender. The salmon, chicken, and sablefish entrees (which I got to sample - very good) were all approved around the table as well. I went with a glass of the suggested wine pairing, the Mission Hill Estate Syrah, which complemented the meal very well. On to dessert! Everyone who went with the $35 menu did so because of the chocolate mousse cake, while I did for the venison...and I opted for the sorbet. My friends were so sweet - my dessert came last and they all sat looking longingly at their cakes (and a few apple-walnut strudels), waiting for me to be served (awww... ). You know that's love. The presentation of the sorbet was beautiful and there was a moment of jealousy around the table until they dug in. Then they got over it. The cake was uniformly pronounced delicious, and I loved the sorbet - after the richness of the venison it was just the refreshment I wanted. Oh, and as it was my friend's birthday, the kitchen even put a little candle on her cake. Cute. So..thumbs up the Brix, in terms of food and service. It was my first time there and I will definitely be returning. Thanks!!

Thanks for the review *Deborah* - now I'm really looking forward to dinner tonight! I was eyeing that venison dish so now am definitely going to order it. Also the heads up on the chocolate dessert. I really prefer dark chocolate too, so may go for the sorbet instead

I think the Bistro Pastis "experience" was maybe a bad example on my part, in response to the original question of service level during DOV. (it is turning out to be way bigger than it should be...). I didn't mean that people should EXPECT to be comped when something small goes wrong, but on the other hand, when a restaurant takes the initiative to address even minor missteps, that goes a long way in the eyes of a guest, and could go a really long way in cultivating a loyal customer. Something minor like this wouldn't really put me off all that much, but if the restaurant were proactive in dealing with it, I'd be quite impressed. I agree...diners who expect the moon are just as annoying as really bad service . Too many people go in expecting way too much, and as winegeek pointed out, a lot of servers aren't used to the DOV craziness. But back to the original question of service levels during DOV: 2-tier service is a possibility, and as I said before, I'm heartened to see so many restaurants (at least as reviewed here) who continue to provide during DOV their customary exceptional service. Those are the ones who are likely to gain some repeat clientele

I had a somewhat similar experience during Taste of Yaletown a while back...service wasn't actually bad, but was fairly scattered and we definitely felt that other tables dining from the regular menu were getting more attention. I had also been to the restaurant in question a few times before and had stellar service. That said...my friends were being, I thought, exceptionally picky and demanding and THEN fulfilled "dining deal" stereotypes by really cheaping out on the tip (what they wanted to leave was stingy - less than 15% - on the deal cost, let alone what the meal would have actually cost). This is why I haven't been overly interested in DOV and why I'm only going (Brix! tonight!) because my friend made her birthday reservations. It does seem to be a bit of a crapshoot - some people on this board have reported exceptional DOV service and then there was an experience like ElizR's at Bistro Pastis (would response have been the same if she were not a DOV customer?). I don't think it's too much to ask for respectful service; after all, you're cultivating potential customers, but on the other hand, too many in the service industry have no doubt seen the worst of cheap customers...

Just confirmed my spot for my friend's birthday dinner on Tuesday at Brix...yay! Lucky birthday girl is doing THREE DOV birthday dinners.