makanmakan

not sure if this counts, but there's the portuguese club of vancouver on commercial drive. we've always avoided it as it always looked uber smokey and not very clean. they've spent all summer renovating it and cleaning it up and now it looks more inviting. definitely one of the places for us to check out so when we do, i will report back!

i'm gonna have to side with daddy-a here and go with the latin quarter. shelora, i'm glad you have such great hopes for spanish tapas here! i was there last year and still haven't had anything here that comes close to it. gambas pil pil, the grilled sardines, the manchego, and mostly, the jamon iberico. at least, yes, we can get the serano now. i too, have been munching on it all week! oh, and the churros, oh, the churros..... sorry for the digression! back to regular programing now.....

^^ oh my gawd, that sounds good!

great pictures, deborah! wow, everything looked so delicious. i can almost taste the duck fat! thanks to all you guys' enthusiasm and my great experience in chef marco's class, i'm now officially enrolled in the jan program of serious foodies!! duck fat, here i come!

another thought.... i'm not sure if she's still doing this but i had the pleasure of attending a friend's birthday dinner celebration at marta pan's (of pan-o-pan) house. we paid per head, she prepared a 9 course dinner and her husband provided us a list of pairing wines per course and we showed up with that. it was a wonderful evening of tasty food, warm and cozy environment and great hosts. the bonus was that we didn't have to clean up! we brought our own music and also accomodated to various allergies and non meat diners. i believe there were about 16 of us. hope she is as i would love to do that again!

yup, i believe so

D90, yup, lemon curd was right regarding the copper bowl. there is a chemical reaction when you use it to whip egg whites resulting in higher volume. big meringue! i decided to try it out when i could while the rest of the class used the kitchen aids and it really worked! sore arms, but big meringue fud, lol, try bringing something back there to trade with the pastry class, you might have some luck!! as for the chocolate, we used cacao barry all the way through.

the pastries and chocolate class at northwest culinary succeeded in luring me into a class finally. how could i resist?!! 2 evenings of chocolate! reasons i wanted to take the class were 1) stuck in a baking rut 2) wanted to demystify certain techniques the program, taught by chef marco, consisted of 2 nights of demos and hands on and the planned desserts were.... • pecan crusted molten chocolate cake, truffle honey • chocolate espresso tart • chocolate bourbon souffle • chocolate raspberry mousse cake • chocolate creme caramel & poached fruits • French chocolate ice cream really, i ask again, how could i resist?!! i forgot my camera the first night. but what we accomplished were making the batter for the molten cake, and the truffle honey ganache that went inside of it. setting them aside to chill for the second night's assembly. also, we made the chocolate espresso tart, the almond chocolate sponge cake for the mousse cake, and the chocolate creme caramel with caramelized fruits (which we got to devour that night). sorry for the horrible picture but all i had was my camera phone! the chocolate creme caramel with caramelized fruits and nuts, half devoured. the second night, we arrived to a plateful of pretty chocolate truffles that the pro class had made during the day. never enough chocolate, i say! first up was assembly of the chocolate molten cakes. sprinkling some crushed pecans on the bottom of the muffin tins, then a scoop of cake batter, and a ball of truffle honey ganache in the middle and sealed with more batter. the truffle honey ganache was by far, my favourite new combo. cakes fresh from the oven plated molten cake with vanilla sauce and raspberry coulis next up was the assembly of the chocolate raspberry mousse cake. layers of the chocolate almond cake, made with marzipan, and chocolate mousse with raspberries sprinkled all over. so pretty, so yummy, so dreamy! oh, by the way, here's the brilliant chef marco in action with one of my "need to have now" kitchen gadgets.....a copper bowl! here's the finished chocolate espresso tart. whole..... and halved. notice the layer of chocolate sweet crust, the milk chocolate and espresso filling, and the dark chocolate ganache on top. this was my favourite dessert that we made. and finally, our chocolate rum souffle fresh out of the oven! aren't they purrty?!! and plated with the french chocolate ice cream made fresh that night! the souffle was moist and had a deep chocolate flavour. i have to say that having this on their menu was what drew me in. always have been a little scared of making souffles. we've all heard the scares and frights! now, i'm not so scared. and i have a list of "things i now need" that will make a dent in the wallet, not withstanding the complete pro kitchen i'd like to take home with me! i loved this class. it was fun, simple and not to mention, delicious! chef was a great teacher, and made the class very accessible and fun. i loved this class so much that i'm signing up for the serious foodie class (jan 23 session) next week! i think i'm going to raid the fridge for the leftover tart now

c'hi has a private room that's also a karaoke bar. i believe it seats about 25 people. not quite a room, but parkside has a private booth that seats about 6-8 people in the back. *edited for my engrish

another whole hearted thank you, Ling! it was great to meet you, too bad it was in such a hurried circumstance. i was terribly illegally parked! i wish i could have met the rest of the gang that was there too. we ate it later that night after coming home from a rather uninspiring dinner for a friend's birthday. it was delicious!!! the cake saved the night! i'm about to pm you our results! thank you so much again! mmm....chocolate

^^ do i see the next burger club meeting?

best line i've heard this morning!

I believe he is the pastry chef associated with the 'tilted entry'. I checked his picture out on the school website and I'm pretty sure it's the same person based on the picture. I know he was definately from NorthWest. ← yup, asked last night and it was him. we apparently used some of the chocolate last night that he used for that piece!

We're all anxiously awaiting your comments on the class in a new thread! ← will do, as soon as i figure out how to off load the pics from the camera! i think i'm still on a chocolate high

for us, it's the tomahawk. great food, great service and the decor! wow, the decor, you really can't beat that! as for a high end breakkie, i like the raincity grill. love the view and their bennies, and the bonus is that it's just a stumble from my house! another cheap and cheerful one that we like is on commercial drive. skylight diner. simple, good, and dead cheap. my pick is the ukrainian sausage, eggs over easy and yummy hash browns. my tummy is now grumbling

thanks for the pics! mmmm....chocolate i'm actually in the middle of a 2 day course with chef marco from northwest now. is that the pastry chef that you're talking about with the "tilted" entry?

^^ just do not, please read, DO NOT, give in to the temptation to go to kobe steak house just next door!

i just might join you at that class! i'm taking the fine pastries with chocolate one tonight and tomorrow night.

in addition to the octopus garden, guu with garlic and others that have already been mentioned, i'll throw in chiyoda as well. it's more of a traditional sushi and robata place but it's done very well. lunchtime sees it full of japanese businessmen and all summer long, it's filled with busloads of japanese tourists. chiyoda 200-1050 Alberni, Vancouver (604) 688-5050

had to go again first day for lunch for the diner gang. there were 2 other tables when we walked in and as they left, two other tables got occupied. good to see that they're getting a bit of traffic. both my friend and i had the perogies. i was in carb heaven! perogies were lovely. great texture, and not super dense and heavy. flavour was nicely enhanced by sauteed onions and bacon. the bavarian sausage was very tasty as well. yup, my new favourite place!

if i remember correctly, laksa is a siren song for some of us here. i'm always in search of the perfect laksa! did anyone see the article in the sun on thursday, in the previously named queue section about kopitiam? described as a sunny spot serving malaysian food. apparently, the specialties are laksa and hainan chicken. anyone try it yet??

after seeing canucklehead's picture of the souffle, i needed to venture down to diner. we went last night and we definitely weren't disappointed. great looking space, and warm service. it was very quiet when we walked in, one other diner, which i think was andrew (waiterblog). i wasn't 100%, and was too shy to say hi... anyways, we started with the peasant salad. great simple flavours, fresh ingredients. orange, red and yellow tomatoes, thinly sliced red onions, torn chunks of chewy bread and topped with a pile of watercress. perfect start. then we had the meatloaf and chicken schnitzel. oh my god. the meatloaf was delish. moist, yummy, topped with a chunky sweet tomato sauce, almost homemade ketchup-ish and served on a bed of mash and green beans. the chicken schnitzel was tender, flavourful, moist and had a nice crisp on the outside. paired with sauteed beet greens and al dente shpaetzle. of course, we had to have desert. the chocolate souffle, and the coconut mango cake. the souffle was divine. crisp topping, soft ooey innards. deep chocolate flavour and not too sweet. i like canucklehead's idea of having a coulis or the like for balance. the cake, oh the cake. moist, tender, with a meringue like icing and shredded coconut sprinkled upon it, big chunks of mangoes between the layers of cake. i love this place. couldn't stop talking about it today with clients. i love the concept and it's done right. had a chat with heather last night after our meal and she cracked us up. i really hope that it takes off. right now it's only dinner. next week, lunch starts with the same menu, i believe, and then breakfast in the near future. our meal, with 3 glasses of wine, a martini, and a coffee and a tea (both brought to the table in a bodum) came up to about $85. tres tres reasonable.

^^ don't y'all be startin rumours now!!

^ i was stumped too

I wish anyone all the success in the world, but I really hope that this doesn't negatively impact the soup cafe in the quay. I will be very sad if I can't buy his stocks anymore. ← from what i understand, it's not going to be right inside the quay, but somewhere on lonsdale. next to a greek restaurant called anatoli, i think.