Dumpling Girl

Great tips, Saborosa (including the room key one, hee hee)! Thanks! I checked out your site too, nice work! - Nancy

Just wanted to thank everyone for the Barcelona (and nearby) suggestions in here. I am going to Europe for my first time in about a week, and will be spending several days in Barcelona. This forum has been invaluable in helping me decide where to eat. (El Bulli was already booked up when I thought to try to make reservations 9 months ahead of time. Not quite early enough, heheh). Here is my tentative food plan: Sat night - arrive in the evening, in time to go for the 5 course dessert meal at the second shift reservation at Espai Sucre Sun - maybe try to find some paella for lunch, hit tapas or pintxos bars in the evening to have an extended dinner at multiple locations. Interested in Mam I Teca, as I'll be staying in Raval (Caasa Camper). Might find myself in Barceloneta, depending on how far I get in my sightseeing. Interested in Agulla, El Vaso del Oro and Cal Pep. Interested in Quimet y Quiemet as well. Mon - Pinotxo and El Quim in La Boqueria for breakfast and lunch. Again, casual and simple dinner in tapas or pintxos bars. Tues - Travel to Figueres. Find somewhere to eat in town near Dali Museum. Tasting menu dinner reservation and overnight at Mas Pau. Wed - Lunch reservation at El Cellar de Can Roca Fri - dinner possibly at Abac or Cinq Sentis. May not be in the mood for another heavy meal. If anyone has any particular suggestions for a Sunday paella lunch or particular tapas recommendations for Sun and Mon, or lunch in Figueres, please let me know. All comments welcome. If anyone is planning on travelling to Vancouver, BC, Canada, I'd be happy to make recommendations (http://nancyland.blogspot.com). - Nancy P.S. Ooo, almost forgot. I will try to fit in a visit to Jamonisimo. Is it worth making the trip to the shop, or should I just eat ham in the restaurants?

Wow, it's nice to see that Capones is looking to improve themselves. I'm of the latter group - I was relatively pleased with the food, (as well as the drinks and music) on my one visit during the Jazz fest in 2005, but I felt like I got the "look you up and down to decide if you're worthy of sucking up or not" type of snobby service, from both the man who showed me to the table, and somewhat from the server, and never returned. My dining companion, who arrived separately concurred. We're both self-proclaimed foodies who spend a lot of money on dining out, and clean ourselves up to dine in a restaurant, but neither of us are terribly interested in flashing any sort of bling. The attitude ruining the experience was very unfortunate, because I love jazz, love the experience of being able to enjoy live music and food and drinks at the same time, and I live fairly close by too (downtown). The actual logistics of the service - timing, knowledge, etc. were fine. But at the price point of Capones, there should really be no service issues. If the changes result in a snobbery-free evening, I'd be willing to give it another try. Thanks for the invitation to give feedback.

Little donut/mini donut I can't remember if the place actually has a name. I remember sugar or no sugar....was there a cinnamon flavour to? ← They used to be called Tom Thumb Donuts a long, long time ago. I think they're still called "Those Little Donuts" (at least they were last year) and they're so much better than the imitations sold in the Playland area, or at the Celebration of Light fireworks. I've never had them without the cinnamon sugar, but they coat them in front of you, so I suppose you could have them without. Those mini donuts are my raison d'entrer (as opposed to my raison d'etre) for the PNE. I eat all sorts of crap when I go though - cotton candy, candy apple, those fair scones with jam, corn on the cob dipped in butter (don't think about the price) or the skewer of garlic butter prawns at that corn stand, the annual corn dog or foot long hot dog, Curry in a Hurry, BBQ pork sandwich, those freeze dried ice cream dots. Everything is overpriced of course. I remember Banh mi's being there, but have never gotten them. Maybe those are reasonably priced relative to the other food. I've always wanted to try the JJ's, and I've always wanted to win the meal after the cooking demonstrations. My parents have always gotten the overcooked, dry barbequed chicken. Mini donuts are really the only thing I have to have. Check out my blog if you're interested in the offerings at the Richmond Night Market - all the the PNE needs is a takoyaki stand or meat on a stick stands.

Hey! I've had a very similar experience. Dropped by late (well, I think it was only 9:30, but it was a Sunday in the late winter, so the room was fairly dead) for nibbles, drinks, desserts. I thought it was kind of funny that my my "crispy pork" wasn't crispy. I wondered if they had shut down the fryer and reheated it for me, but not quite high enough. They were soggy, and I didn't like them. I was disappointed, and I had that same feeling of regret that maybe I should have sent it back, but then again, I didn't want to go through that hassle (and yes, I was there on a date too). Good thing it was a second visit, after having a really good dinner there before, so I knew that they can do a lot better. I've had those olives another time, and when they're done right, I love them, and they are crispy (but yes, they are really really salty). Had wonderful service both visits, and haven't held the pork dish against them (just have a mental note not to order them again). I still wish I had ordered the chicken wings instead. Anyhow, I keep meaning to go back, because their patio seems like a perfect summer meal spot. Nancy

'young' hehehehe

Thanks for posting this, Tim! I'll keep my eye for the menus. Are you giving a sneak preview that Rare is participating? I really miss the Taste of the Nation event here that also supported charities that fight hunger. Nancy

Just because some people go and have a positive experience and report on what they experienced, and you and your friend go and have negative experiences doesn't mean you need to dismiss the positive reports as "mindless" and as a "jerk off." So you didn't like it. I get it. Everyone's got their own taste, and that's fine. When they took a while to get our dessert wines, they were fully aware they goofed up and apologized profusely - I hope they did the same for you. Maybe give them a tiny bit of slack considering they're not even finished their third week of operation yet? Or not. But from my point of view, there's a lot to like about the place, and it's pretty mindful stuff

See my blog for more gushing like a school girl. Also, for a bit of explanation behind Blood Alley. The alley has been nicknamed that for a long time. Don't know where the name Trounce Alley originated from. I like little city history stories, so I'm glad they went with Blood Alley on the business card. Hope this place doesn't get overexposed from our gushings. I think it has serious staying power though, so I'm not worried. http://nancyland.blogspot.com/2006/07/salt...up-to-hype.html Nancy

At any rate, I like this trend of trying to improve the airline food, rather than taking all the food away, which seems to be where all the other domestic airlines seem to be going. Good airline food is definitely possible - I flew Singapore airlines' business class once, and it was great. And they even served it in multiple courses. Really, neither the White Spot commercials (hey, he grew up in BC) nor this promotion makes me think Rob Feenie is a sell-out. But it does make me wonder if Lumiere will suffer (more) with his absence. Anyone been lately? Nancy

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Does Gnocchi Quattro Formaggi from Amarcord count? Or are u very attached to the "mac" in mac n' cheese?

Breakfast - almond croissant from La Baguette et L'echalote, coffee from PICA counter or from JJ Bean in the market. $6 I actually think Sen5es almond croissant is better, but Ling already said that one, and anyway, I find the entire experience of eating the croissant outside at Granville Island very satisfying. Lunch - Dim Sum at International Chinese Restaurant on Hastings - about $11 for anyone out of town who doesn't normally get a lot of dim sum. Dinner - now you've got $27 to have dinner at Yuji's Japanese Tapas, which should be plenty to get you a nice meal. Or save a few dollars for a candy store spree down the street afterwards. Alternately, For brunch, have a $2.99 breakfast anywhere with a coffee, or a big bowl of pho and an iced vietnamese coffee, and then have Rack of lamb at Senhor Roosters for an early dinner ($35). To be honest, I'm on a pretty tight budget in my normal life, so $44 isn't that out of the ordinary for me. Should we start a thread for "Vancouver on $440 a day"?

Thanks Everyone for your help! I did wind up going to Ya Ya's and had a nice time. We went for deep fried oysters, oyster platter (1/2 dozen, each oyster having a different sauce, their dry ribs, and a fried feta and spinach salad). The different sauces were fun to sample, but almost all of them felt like too much, and seemed to take away from the oyster itself. My favourite thing wound up being the dry ribs. Had a blast on the boat ride too. Nancy

Hi Everyone, I'm going to be going on an eco-tour from Horseshoe Bay Village today and will be looking for a really late lunch (3 pm) afterwards, and don't really know much about the area. I once ate at the Boathouse, and that's an option. Any body have any recommendations? Thanks! Nancy