TimK

I am in! I haven't tried Century yet. I am hoping for some time off very soon and want to pop in and enjoy the room and food.

I am craving some breakfast kolachys. Is the corn beef hash still available? I want to come down and grab some Ice Packs for my freezer.

Oops. I completely dropped the ball on that part.

Oh man that looks good...I am thinking of breaking into Hamilton Street Grill right now to see if I can get some. Or if anyone wants to send some to me in a cab that would be great. PM me for the address...lol.

You may have given it a 4 out of 10, but everyone at our table gave it top marks as the best dessert we ordered (the chocolate terrine, pear sabayon, and guinness ice cream being the others). ← Staff gave it a 9/10....at least i think that is what they said..their mouths were full and they were drooling down their chins....not a pleasant sight. I think you are way to hard on yourself...it was a great dessert. And those roses were gorgeous....will you post who you got them from?

Well Mike, you can thank Tim's post for my visit last night. A. ← Hey if you are around Sunday night you can thank me in person . I am planning on coming down for dinner, really looking forward to it. Sounds like you have a great thing going, congrats.

Home? No way! You MUST bring some by the next time you make it....I will pay top dollar for it. Pecan graham crust, oh yeah. I think my stomach just rumbled....I am going pavlovian right now thinking about it.

My last meal is at a few of my favourite places. A sazerac from George to get my last meal going. Pan Fried Oysters from Rodneys as my app. The Lobster Ceviche at Blue Water for second course, I have to get past the lobster snapping its claws at me in the ice bowl while I eat the tail in front of it. OK I am past it already. A 20 ounce New York from the Hamilton Street Grill as my entree, the best big steak deal in town. I am not sure if this dish is still available but I had the stilton cheese cake at Diva back in the Michael Noble days and it was unreal.

The Grant Burge was the un-oaked 2004 and your server was Chris. It was great having you all in and thank you for making our first night so much fun. I hope to see you soon. Cheers. Tim

A great group of people on Saturday. It was a fun event. I was a bit worried however when I saw Lorna walking into the kitchen to help plate the entree in her high heels. She managed to not only plate at the speed that Brian expected but also made it back to her seat in the dining room without slipping and landing on her butt.

(We drank three wines with the meal--a Riesling, the Quail's Gate Chenin Blanc, and a red that I'm forgetting...would someone please fill in the blanks?) The wines were Bonny Doon Pacific Rim Riesling....this irreverent winery is one of my favourite as they make great wine with a tongue in cheek aproach to the marketing of it. The Riesling grapes come from Washington State, California and 5% from Germany. I am hoping for a resurgence of this varietal. The red was an Okanagan Wine...I brown bagged it for the staff a week ago so as not to have any pre conceived notions about it. Lots of fruit and mellow tannins it was a hit with them. I then popped it out of the bag to reveal the Sumac Ridge Black Sage Merlot 2002. It is funny how some people still have a perception of what BC wine, especially reds should taste like. I hope those who attended enjoyed them. I have to admit I had some post partem depression Saturday night as I saw some wines being decanted at the table off of our list....Brian was laughing at me as he knew that for one of them I drove all over the Lower Mainland to grab the last few bottles available. I am glad that they were enjoyed, that is the point after all isnt it? Once they are gone I guess I get to have fun scouring the city for the next little treat.

We're open seven days a week...You can call 604.633.2700 for a reservation, cheers ← Congrats on your opening. I am excited that you are open 7 days a week as I am hoping to have Sunday nights free to try some of the new restaurants that have been opening over the last few weeks. All the best in your new venture.

I don't even want to get going on our outside sign. It was promised for this week....well we are now looking at another week or 10 days. As Brian mentioned earlier if you are ever looking for a sign please PM one of us before hand and maybe we can save you some grief. It has been a nightmare with their "customer service" department being a bit lacking to say the least. Anyways, I am glad you enjoyed your night and hopefully upon your next visit you will see a beautiful sign with red backlighting beckoning you to Rare.

Thanks for your comments. It is nice to get feedback like that as it starts to put things in perspective. Right now I see alot of little details to get done and a timeline of Wednesday looming. Everytime we get a task completed a new one pops up. We are finding out that space or lack of it becomes a huge issue when we are operational. That being said last night was not an ordinary night as we will rarely be serving 30 people the same courses at the same time so we will see on Wednesday what it is like with a regular flow of customers. Last night revealed a few items that need to be completed today. Wine lists dont fit into the menu covers right now and prices listed with the wrong wine. How does that happen at the printer when it was fine in the proof? POS system needs to be updated and the staff labour system needs to be integrated into it. Servery needs to get organised, outside windows washed, outside sidewalks power washed, coat closet organised, staff area overhauled and the list goes on and on. I am really happy about the staff we have working with us....they are great and all bring a positive aspect to the restaurant. They have helped relieve my stress immensely, they have all stepped up to get the restaurant ready to go and some have volunteered to help outside of their scheduled training. With all the stress of opening next Wednesday, the lack of sleep and headaches that have come up over the last few months it was nice to have things in perspective last night. Having a dining room full of people eating great food and drinking great wine and enjoying themselves.

A great night for charity at Rare, The Children's Heart Foundation. Brian shucked 30+ dozen oysters. Quang was busy in the kitchen with an audience watching him prepare the other dishes for the evening. I would say more but I will let Brian describe the dishes in detail. Toilets were working, sinks in, mirrors and glass polished, the new dishwasher worked like a charm. We had our artist in and he was busy getting our mural started. There is still a cosmetic item or two to get done in the space but we are very close. The upstairs soft seating area and servery were very popular and the guests were rubbing shoulders up there while enjoying the food and Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand and Pinot Noir from BC. I think it is great to see BC wines shine on so many levels....quality and the price point. I will leave a more detailed description of the night to Brian. Thank you to Neil from the Hammy for giving Brian a hand with some construction items over the last week, it was appreciated as it allowed me to work on some marketing and training deadlines.

I have been 50/50 on DOV. I may be converting. I was at Circolo last night and had a fantastic meal, great friendly service, a greeting from the manager (he thought I was the brother of one of the staff, maybe a slight resemblance) never felt rushed and was happy with it all. We added oysters and a prawn cocktail and walked out raving about it. The room was full and people were having fun, what more could you want on a Tuesday. Wish I would have tried it earlier so I could have ventured to more locales.

To confirm the earlier comments...Neil is bringing free beer to Rare? Nice.

Do not fret....we open March 1.

Are they now serving breakfast?

Thanks. The orange bitters and peychaud were just delivered. I now have a source in the states who is on the hunt for unique bar ingredients so I will get him on the trail of peach bitters.

I just had a flashback to last year. Behind the bar at the Hammy, been many years since I bartended and just getting hit with wave after wave of customers. Wondering why I promised to help out. I just shuddered at the thought of it, I am kidding, i had a good time and it was nice to make some cash. I did find that most people I talked to had never been to HSG before. It seemed like great exposure for the restaurant. Sure, some people had water but I recalled pouring alot of wine, beer martinis and highballs, and even some port and late Harvest. Neil, loved your comments in the other thread re: DOV and the Entertainment card. Someone always pushing the limits and not realising great value when it is in front of them. Anyways, hope you have dusted off the spurs and are hanging on for the whole 8 seconds....yee haw.

I also have a yet-untried recipe for orange bitters. Unfortunately it calls for grain alcohol -sprky ←

It is funny that I came upon this topic. Yesterday I ordered a case of Peychaud's and Regan's Orange bitters. Shipping and handling was $13.25 us for 12 x 2 10 oz bottles....I did send them to a Washington State address so that may have been why it was so reasonable and they guarranteed 2 day shipping if product in stock. I think I may start a black market business, hmmm?

I'd be hard pressed to look at Earl's and the Cactus Club in the same format as a gastropub. I look at the gastropub concept more like a French brassarie. In the U.K. The Cow and the Eagle are my ideas of a gastropub as were RedOak Brewing and the Lord Nelson in Sydney. I think our best attempt to date has been Spinnakers and The Canoe ( Aussi chef as well I believe) in Victoria. Cheers, Stephen ← That was the Province's quote...I sadly shook my head that they were making the comparison as I couldnt think of any true gastro pubs in the downtown core. The gastro pub we went to most of the time was The Enterprise and the Pigs Ear in Chelsea....yes they serve pig ears....they are best washed down with a pint...they crunch. This is the corporate website for The Enterprise, restaurants are listed on the left. Menus are available through the site. http://www.christophersgrill.com/newsite/default.asp A little different than what we consider a pub to be here in Vancouver. No big screen tv's or lottery terminals as was already mentioned earlier. White linen and fresh flowers, clean beer lines. It isn't that much of a departure than what Stephen mentioned re: French brasserie....it isnt a place where people are having 10 drinks a night but you could if ya wanted to. Makes me want to go back to London.

An article in todays Province's money section talked about "Pleasuring palates". It mentions the development of gastro pubs (a concept that I have enjoyed in London over the last few years). It goes on to say that pubs that are switching to the "gastro" format are doing well and that there is a blending of pubs and restaurants such as Earl's and Cactus Club. So apparently it is already starting here.