fmed

With Tesuya and Yoshi gone...who's left at Blue Water's raw bar?

>>Like nearly all the places downtown too. But I must say I had an excellent lunch at la Brasserie over the Christmas break. La Brasserie's suckling pig sandwich is outstanding!

Blue Water is taking over the Sweeney's space. I work in Yaletown and have been to Sweeney's for lunch many times. To food was merely OK....like nearly all the places open for lunch in Yaletown.

It's at Robson and Denman towards Georgia. I think the other yoshoku-ya, Barefoot Kitchen, closed last month too (or so I heard - I haven't been by to confirm).

Have you tried Luda (Hastings at Slocan)? Not open late. They have a bunch of good soups and simple dishes. Not really a noodle house per se - more like Mui Garden (they are "affiliated" through family connections) - a hybrid of HK, noodlehouse, and straight Cantonese. They have a pretty good wonton soup - thin skin, good broth...and to make it a bit different - they add fried garlic chips. Golden Phoenix (Nanaimo at Broadway) is another option - though a bit of a schlep. Good soups - but again not a straight noodlehouse. I think they still open late.

I would love to do a ramen hop if it wasn't so filling! Looking forward to trying Ramen Sanpachi. Good to see the Japanese chains having trust in the Vancouverites' palate for ramen. Could Ippudo and Sategaya be far behind?

It's almost like the city set up the pilot for failure. I don't know why the stalls weren't up and running for the Olympics. Seems they missed out on the cash cow on that one. That said, has anyone posted reviews of any of the street vendors that are up and running? The Olympics were the reason they weren't up and running during the Olympics. The city staff had to suspend many projects and licensing because of the workload brought on by the Olympics. The games were cited specifically as one of the causes for the delays in the street food initiative. Many of the city's foodbloggers have reviewed a number of the stalls already (Sherman, KimHo et al.) Also check out http://vancouverstreeteats.ca/

Cooked pasta tossed with canned sardines.

To try the rabbit heads, you'll have to join us when we have our Watership 'down. (Thanks for that one grayelf). Glad you liked CXG...the cooking can be inconsistent, but when the chef is 'on' (and he thinks you want authentic Sichuan), the food is really good. (BTW there is a dedicated thread to CXG here.) The steamed dish you are describing is 粉蒸肉 fěnzhēngròu which is served at Xi'an Xaochi at the Richmond Public Market.

Sadly, no. (Though, I have a couple of nostalgic hole-in-the-wall favourites - Gain Wah, Newtown, Foo's Ho Ho).

The city should (at very least) plan to phase in better food at the park and beaches concession stands. I see them as a lost opportunity. (Giving monopolies to big restaurant groups doesn't count.)

Los Guerreros is a great place. Check out Killarney Market (Killarney and 49th) as well. On topic: Rice World (Richmond) is a great place. I nearly forgot about this place. My parents shop here regularly. It is the Asian Costco. (Need frozen turtle? You can get it there....)

Portland segregates the carts into clusters or pods. Most of these carts are renting space on private properties (parking lots, etc). Portland has large areas that are underserved by restaurants (compared to here) so food carts thrive there. The restuarant biz there isn't happy with food carts as they see it as unfair competition. They would like to level the playing field a bit. I may have posted this article here already. This article outlines the concerns of the Portland restaurant industry.

It's under the radar because it is a food court stall. It has a following - there are often line ups around lunch time. (Mostly Mainlanders.)

I'm all for more variety. Downtown, much of this pent-up demand for street food can probably be fulfilled by existing cart licenses....ie we don't necessarily need many more vendors - just better, more visionary ones. Less draconian health regs to allow more interesting food will help. Something like Toronto's "a la Carte" pilot project (despite its significant failings) might be something that Vancouver can try. The pre-existing concession stands along the beaches can also be converted into hawker centers. Industrial Parks (eg the airport, the techparks, etc) which dot the city and suburbs can benefit from more food trucks and carts.