Johnathon

I agree with the inclusion of citrus with the strawberries. My family and I used to go picking strawberries all day then return home to make lime sorbet with a balsamic-strawberry topping, deeelicious! Thanks for the extra ideas everyone!

Looks like we have a party. Who will be the one to host and book the evening?

My schedule is pretty busy but I always refer to the quote of "If you want to get something done, give it to a busy person." mmmmmmm, S&V chips! So many brands, so little time. I will bring a collection. We can do a vertical of chips!

If you are into venturing a little further North, memphis Blues in vancouver makes phenomenal BBQ, southern style. And if that doesn't get your lips smacking for more, let me know and I will fire up my BBQ on the deck and feed you some Southern food goodies and secrets I brought back with me from my last trip through Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana. By the way, would you mind if a food lovin' Canuck ventured South to join y'all for the Jones' excursion?

I concur with Coop, based upon personal experience the Portugese cuisine in vancouver is not that big a deal compared to your memories of the real thing. However with that said, La Bodega is a great place for tapas and they have been doing it quite well for years. Is it stellar? No. Worth a special trip from Seattle? No. But you would not go wrong throwing it into the mix during your next Vancouver sojourn.

Syria and BBQ mentioned in the same post, I am seeing a very politically incorrect joke coming out of this! 201: The Music Fest, the salute to Korean Cuisine and the BBQ competition all happen at different times of the month of May. Please hit the link at the beginning of this thread to see the schedule so you can decide how many days and which events you would like to attend. I opted to attend the BBQ Competition only as I have very little travel time in my schedule. Also coming from an incredibly diverse culturally infused city like Vancouver, Asian cuisine (and very good dining establishments at that!) is commonplace. Memphis to me is what Ron mentioned earlier Brews, Blues and BBQ's! Looking forward to it.

Thanks to everyone for some more thoughts as to where to go, what to eat and what to do! Ron, when were you last in Memphis? Are the places you mentioned still running? I am beginning to agree that the schedule should really consist of brews, blues and BBQ as the order of the day (and night) for Memphis in May. Finding the perfect fried chicken is definitely a must as well for this sojourn, especially considering the amount of pork I will be consuming at the BBQ competition! Where is the Four Way Grill located (if it is still there)?

Sounds like a plan. Once I finalize my travel arrangements I will email my contact info to you off list. You can reach me on my cell phone while in Memphis. I believe my sister is going to arrange for VIP access to the BBQ competition so I will be able to eat with the judges. I will do my best to see if the invitation can be extended to an e-gullet gathering of sorts. Is there anywhere else besides Wally Joe's to check out? Doesn't have to be white table as it IS Memphis after all! Just really good food, I am all over local fare or regional specialties.

Forgot to ask you Spencer, is your avatar from MediEvil? It mad me want to refill my life potions to keep attacking zombies!

Sorry for the delay, had to wrestle some red chili, cilantro, pancetta pasta off the stove before the hockey game starts! Your offer is not only generous, but deeply appreciated. My sister and her husband are currently living in Memphis so the group could be a wonderfully diverse crowd to shake up the town and see what food falls out! I am thinking Sunday, May 18th. Start early and finish late on Beale Street. Would love to hear some of your suggestions for destinations. I will be at the BBQ competition all day the day before gorging myself on as much of the festival's offerings as possible so an evening of maybe at least one white table followed by a series of sauce stained tables would be a great idea. Anybody else care to join us?

I have decided to hang up the jackets and ties, empty my head of planned trips to French Laundry, Trotters and Ducasse (for the time being) and returning to the age old tradition of pulled pork and BBQ. I will be in Memphis for the big BBQ competition in May: http://www.memphisinmay.org/frames.html ...and was wondering if anyone from the area, or those that have been before, could recommend must sees, must do's, must eats and most importantly, the stay the hell away from... As a photographer and an avid fan of food, this intrigues me as a unique event and one to experience at least once. Travel, food and drink have been documented for a personal book of recipes, great dining experiences, rotten dining experiences and my favourite part... trying to recreate the brilliant dishes eaten around the world by phenomenal chefs at home with local ingredients (bumbling my way through of course!). I would appreciate anyone giving me more info on the dining (or lack of) in Memphis and watering holes not to be missed for the next chapter in the book of good eats.

Wonderful reading! Thank you so much for being as thorough as you are with your sharing of Vancouver dining experiences. The Thomas Haas bar won my heart (and taste buds) over when I had it as part of the desserts Chef Haas had prepared for the Santi Santamaria dinner at Lumiere (which also included Chef Rob Feenie and Chef Pino Posteraro). Absolutely exquisite. Just to let everyone know that the most recent of accolades for Thomas Haas was for Best Last Course awarded at the recent Vancouver Magazine Restaurant Awards. Two years in a row for Chef Haas, and deservedly so.

Lesley and Annabel, you two make me blush! And that, I assure you, is no easy feat. I must echo Lesley's call for more Chef owned restaurants in Vancouver. La Regalade and Le Crocodile are prime examples of the Chef owned establishment, as is Piccolo Mondo (who also garnered awards for wine list - Italian). I did not mention La Regalade as I have yet to dine there, Le Crocodile on the other hand is testament to a surviving and thriving French Restaurant in Vancouver. Always a pleasure to dine there and I highly recommend a visit to anyone looking for Alsatian cuisine. To expand on comments from Oakland Barb on service, I totally agree with you and that is what I had mentioned in my earlier post. I mentioned that even if the sky is falling, you put it behind you and do your best at your chosen profession. After all, if the "bad day" is really that bad, why are you at work? maybe a tad harsh but I agree with Barb that at this level of dining, service is crucial. A dinner can be brilliant but if the entire evening is not as memorable we will always focus on the things that went wrong which in turn taints the overall experience. In my mind, this is such a shame and completely unfair to those in the restaurant going out of their way to make the experience a memorable one to the diner. Sophisticated diner or not. On that note, I have to say that some of the best service I have ever had came within two weeks of each other and covered each coast. The first was Alain Ducasse in New York and then followed up with a very memorable evening at Boulevard in San Francisco. The next time I am in the Bay Area, I will be sure to ask for some suggestions fron Oakland Barb as I will ask for some suggestions from Lesley about Montreal in May. The value of the input from everyone on this forum is invaluable, it is why I keep coming back to read up on the Good, the Bad and the Ugly in dining from those that actually care about what they consume!

Oakland Barb: Your post was in no way out of line in my opinion and is exactly what this forum is about. I agree completely with you that it is not an environment wherein only the soft caresses of compliment are meant be passed. Personal observations are just that, personal. As are the rebuttals and subsequent posts from others. We all have our opinions and we all have a right to share them. If anything, I have grown to expect such openness in this forum to learn about so many of the fine dining establishments in the world through the dialogue contained within this site. Lesley C: No offence taken whatsoever! I have always valued the input you have given in this forum. You mentioned that you felt my post was an ?overreaction?. Absolutely! I love food and I love the many incredible offerings Vancouver has to offer. In no way to I apologize for being so supportive of West and Chef Hawksworths? cuisine. I have been going to the restaurant since it?s inception and will continue to do so because of what they accomplish in the kitchen. Vancouver may have a ways to go, but I would like to know where it is supposed to go to? Bang for your buck, local ingredients that are requested all over the world, number of quality establishments based on population, number of ethnic communities contributing to incredible markets and fine cuisine, I have never been to a city that could compare to Vancouver based on these observations and the few people who actually live here. We are by no means Manhattan, Montreal or San Francisco Bay Area, but we (as Coop mentioned earlier) have absolutely nothing to be embarrassed by. I closed my last post with an observation that I am way too sensitive to Vancouver criticism, especially of some of my favourite haunts and even addressed it as being painfully evident upon rereading my post, but I offer no apology for speaking my mind as I expect no apology from anyone else who gives and shares their experiences and observations. It is one of the many reasons this forum works as well as it does. I have no problem hearing if someone finds a dish too sweet or too salty to his or her own personal tastes, but to describe something as ?inedible? is what got me questioning the criticism and where it was going. And as a quick aside, the Vancouver magazine restaurant Awards were held recently and a number of restaurants mentioned in this thread have come away with Gold Awards. Vij?s for Best Indian, West for Best Contemporary/Regional Restaurant, and West for Restaurant of the Year. (This does not include the Bronze for last Course or the honorable mentions and Service Award given to their Restaurant Director.) If you have not been to Memphis Blues and love pulled pork, ribs and other gooey goodness, definitely check them out. Gold for (get this) Best Meat. Lumiere took Gold for Best French but did not manage to sustain itself in Gold for any other category.

My understanding is that the dining room at Lumiere will not expand into the bar area (yet). The fact that the bar at Lumiere is so incredibly popular has changed much of what the original intention of that space was to be. I believe the intention was to have a small elegant space in which to enjoy a cocktail, an appetizer and a chat with friends or associates before going into the dining room to really enjoy the food and wine. The success of the bar has taken away from the ideal of an area to start relaxing before dining. Many additions were placed in the menu for the bar that were intended for dining room and it is always packed. This in itself is not bad thing, thus the recognition of something that works and finding a place to accomodate it and still give the diners at Lumiere the full experience of the bar and dining room. It will be very interesting to see how this plays out over time. Before there was only one door to go to when you wanted Rob Feenie's creations, now you will have two completely, physically seperate entities to choose from. Will one suffer due to the other? Only time will tell. They have June marked as opening time but with any knowledge whatsoever in building a restaurant, I suggest an opening in mid July more realistic.

As a Vancouverite who eats too much, I was sorry to hear about Oakland Barb's less than stellar experience in Vancouver Dining. I am also partly surprised. Vij's has a lockdown on what works for them, it is always busy and always good. The changes in the menu are done just often enough so that you could return on a regular basis and always be introduced to a tantalizing new dish. In a city that rarely packs it's restaurants with diners each and every night, Vij's policy of no reservations is keeping them lined up at the bar waiting to dive into the latest creations from the kitchen. The Four Seasons is just that, the Four Seasons. As good as it is capable of being, it is still a large hotel chain with a need to please many people and many tastes whether they are genuine interests or feigned likes and dislikes to see how high the staff will jump. The problem with this is like most large hotel groups, it lacks focus and direction. This is where Vancouver restaurants shine in comparison. Each and every turn in the city is seemingly full of restaurants. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. They are all there waiting to be tried. The Good are very good due to the constant hunt for the diner's dollar. There are many restaurants of high calibre and few patrons to keep them in the black. The ones that find the ring of power to make them successful deserve the attentions of diners as it is not easy to do here. I have seen many restaurants open that were very good and filled niches very well only to see them slink away silently due to whatever reason the crowds were not coming. West (nee Ouest) has recently turned a few leaves in it's approach to the dining experience. All these changes have been based upon the physical environment and many additions to the menu in way of smaller plates for the the bar menu and extra tasting menus (I pity the kitchen staff that is required to have all of those menu offerings rolling out on a busy night!). Of all the times I have dined at West, I have never, ever had a dish that could be described as "inedible". The only inedible item I have encountered at West was my napkin, and at the end of an especially "saucy" evening, even that would be debatable! The Parfait is always amazing, always. And I cannot recall one time it was served to me without a sprinkling of fleur de sel. The butternut squash and sage butter ravioli is a very tasty dish, at least to my taste. Considering these are the two items that have never left the menu, I would suggest that countless others continue to enjoy them as well. Service on the other hand, everyone has bad days. The diner could be having a rotten day and is taking it out on everyone around them. The waiter would rather be snowboarding than serving that diner. The bartender could not care less about your request for a lime twist in your Evian because his dog has to be taken to the vet. The point is, and this is only my opinion, that when you go to dine you want to be treated well. I do not mean having the entire wait staff fawning over you, but care and attention to detail and congeniality should be omnipresent. Bad days, trouble at home... who cares. There is a time and a place for everything and we can all testify to having to do something we would rather not be doing but still perform with the best of our ability because we take pride in what impressions we leave behind. West has always been a bar of level of service that I use to compare when dining anywhere else in the world. Some are better, many are worse. But consistency is key. I know I am sensitive to any Vancouver bashing and this is painfully evident in this post as I reread it, but I know what this city offers on a regular basis and I am one of the first to point out the variances from the norm. But I also have to say that an award winning restaurant does not get that way by serving inedible food, ever. The joy of dining is that is much like art, highly personal and extremely subjective, therin lies the crux of personal tastes against personal tirades.

I know, I know... Where the hell is Johnathon's report?! Since I have no idea where to begin I will just start blabbing. First and foremost I had severe reservations about the idea of changing names, menus, decor and anything else they wished to throw into the mix. But you know what? It works. The new decor is great. The addition of mirrors on the leather walls adds an extra dimension to the space and the experience. The mirror sculpure overhead offers an organic flow to a previously extremely geometric and dare I say, semi-sterile room. Don't get me wrong, I was a huge fan of the decor but the changes are a welcome addition. Especially the red wall at the front of the room with the same red accenting at the very back. The only thing that drives me crazy is the yellow gels added to the underlighting of the bottles at the bar. It starts to look like a demented apothecary collection or a long line of samples for the doctor (can you tell I am not a fan of yellow light "tainting" my vodkas of choice?). There is a large tree in the middle of the room which adds an extra touch of the outside in and assists in breaking up the previously mentioned mechanical geometry of the room before. A little iconic in it's central location but like I said, it works. The food. Well I am very happy to report that Chef David Hawksworth is still working very hard at creating tantalizing dishes for discerning palates whilst not neglecting dishes for a larger audience, which the restaurant is now positioning itself to appeal to. I would love to go into detail about the dishes I had the night Coop and his wife were there (thank you for stopping by and introducing yourselves!) they touched on most that I had and I have since been back a number of times. As a matter of fact, all this talk about the dishes at West is making me hungry! I am going to go to West right now and find out the true report on what happened at the hockey game vs. Lumiere and try some more of Chef's new plates. By the way, I was at the Lumiere dinner featuring Chef Santi Santimaria (sp?) and will report on that on a seperate thread later on. As well I just returned from a shoot in Toronto and had some amazing meals at no less than four restaurants. If I ever find free time in my life I will post on those as well.

The Pho Hoang on Main Street is a few blocks from both my studio and my home so I have found it's pho to be always available and very inconsistent. When it is good, it rocks. When it is less than good, it sucks. Fortunately it is better than worse for the most part. Part great pho, part convenience for me. I still go back and find that the spicey broth with rare beef is a must and definitely insist on fresh thai basil with the dish. Cabrales and Coop, care to join me for pho at the Hoang one day to compare the experience? Feel free to PM me on this one.

Yaletown has definitely become a location for the food and drink lover. I must concur with some of Explorer's critiques and can only add my own feelings. Cioppino's: Fabulous Italian food but I get a little tired of the $45 entree "specials" whenever some fungi sniffing pig in Alba kicks up a truffle for Pino Opus Hotel: So much potential, so little realization. The kitchen has some wonderful food combinations which are very intriguing but rarely executed well Blue Water: Overated? I have never heard it rated really. But, I can attest that a long night of sushi (west coast style), fresh oysters and some very well done martinis make for a fine evening, at least for me. Glowbal: I enjoyed the two dining experiences I have had there recently. Design wise, great looking room and the kitchen is full of young people having fun. Cobination of these two leads to some pretty good plates. Circolo: Great to witness the Thursday night cougar prowl with a decent Italian wine list All in all, it is a fun area but it is still growing and learning about itself and where such an identity for the area will find itself or whether or not it is a succesful area, only time will tell. The best thing in Yaletown has got to be Barbara Jo's Books to Cooks. Fantastic bookstore for foodies.

I don't believe it has anything to do with copyright infringement or trademark issues. The change as far as I know was to look deeper into the local, regional and seasonal aspects of the west coast and to add David hawksworth's culinary prowess to the mix to make a restaurant indicative of the Vancouver area and it's local flavours. I have purposely waited until the changes were done before going down to see, sample and take in the new menu and decor. As a long time fan of Ouest and especially Chef's contributions, I was a little leery about the proposed changes as I felt what was there was exceptional. But I realize that I am only one voice of many. Fat Guy ponts out an excellent thought that one restaurant cannot be everything for all people and Ouest had never situated itself as such so I am very interested to see how this new look and marketing will play out. I will be there tonight to take in the changes and will post my thoughts afterwards for the new "West".

I would love the recipe Johnathon. Also could you share your experience as you made that recipe with all of us here? That is always the most fun part about a recipe.. hearing what someone else went through as they followed it. Not much to it actually! (I have sent the recipe to you directly, check your PM) You must remember that I was the only "chef" dealing with a dinner for ten and spent two days prepping and precooking what I could so the cooking experience was a blur of knives, mandoline, flour, pastry and a very messy kitchen! Not to mention a few glasses of great wine to add to a wonderful couple of days of cooking. The only things I would add are to slice the potatoes quite thin (1/16") and layer them evenly in the pastry crust. The other thing is to use a very good quality goat cheese and definitely fresh rosemary. Enjoy!

I just made a New Brunswick Potato Cake for a family dinner using a mandoline. The dish turned out superbly! If you would like the recipe I can PM it to you.

The DB Bistro has a very good selection of wines by the glass as does Babbo. Babbo has a great little bar at the front of the house to enjoy, but it usually is quite busy. I f you are anything like me, go early, stay late!

As previously mentioned, Araxi is very deserving of any accolades it officially reeives. It is a wonderful restaurant. As far as I know, all the restaurants in the Top Table Group are under one owner financially and management wise. I would be happy to share any input on Vancouver area restaurants. There are very few that I have not dined at and I know a fair amount of fellow foodies and restaurant people to give a fair assumption towards many fine dining establishments here in Vancouver. Only too happy to share on this site, it is how I gain so much knowledge, understanding, appreciation and tips on where to dine when I travel.

You could go back tomorrow and have the same experience, it is that consistent. Wonderful restaurant with an excellent manager at the helm providing a fine example to his staff as to how to treat a customer. I think I will go tomorrow night for dinner!