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I feel your pain. Several years ago the Liquor Board carried Marc de Champagne at Christmas time in the Cambie store. It was de Venoges I think. It is fantastic stuff. They haven't carried it for at least 4 years unfortunately. I was in Paris a few years ago and thought it would be the ideal chance to pick some up. It went to supposedly the best store and they gave me a blank look, the woman had to get her manager and all they could come up with was Marc de Bourgogne. It was a very weak substitute. The Marc de Champagne has a carmelly/burnt sugar flavour that is fantastic. The Bourgogne was more one dimensional, not bad but I wouldn't go out of my way for it. Xolatl (sp?) on Burrard in Vancouver carries a line of filled chocolates and one of them is Marc de Champagne and it is very nice. I think the brand is Zotter or something. Good luck, it's worth looking for if its available.

The tomato jam goes nicely with grilled salmon & halibut.

That's great! I've been looking for an excuse to check these guys out. I'm going to call them tomorrow. Pollo al Mattone on the weekend!

I'm not sure how to harvest it but it is great as part of a rub for grilled chicken. I got the idea from Mario Batali's Italian Grill, Pollo all Mattone (chicken under a brick). He also has a recipe for rolling balls of ricotta in the fennel pollen but I wasn't so keen on that one.

The store in Portland is In Good Taste (231 NW 11th Ave). It's in the Pearl district about a block form Sur La Table. That's interesting about the Southern Italian angle, I always thought it was Tuscan.

I've gotten hooked on Mario Batali's recipe for chicken under a brick in his Italian Grilling book and have exhausted the supply of Fennel Pollen I picked up in Portland. I checked at Gourmet Warehouse yesterday and they are out of stock and having problems sourcing it. Has anyone seen it in Vancouver?

A personal favourite of mine is the Corpse Reviver #2. I use the recipe from Ted Haigh's Vintage Spirits & Forgotten Cocktails. It has equal parts gin, Lillet, Cointreau and a dash of pastis as well as lemon juice.

I completely agree about Fraiche. The food is not what I expected which is not unheard of but we had visitors in from out of town and it was disappointing. It was food I would have expected from a 'view' restaurant but not from someone who started Crave and had the Four Seasons pedigree. I had always assumed the simple food at Crave was carefully calibrated to the neighborhood but now realize it is, in fact, all they are capable of. I had a duck breast with soggy skin I would have been embarrassed to serve at home. Our guests were too polite to say so but they were not impressed. The view is spectacular but it is not otherwise worth the trip.

Just saw some Laguiole corkscrews at Atkinson's Table Arts on Granville. Looked like they had at least 3 different styles.

Les Amis de Fromage have some high end butters. I got a tub of the stuff they use at West but it was a bit past it. Name escapes me. They had a couple of interestng other ones. Can't quite bring myself to try them as my waistline really doesn't need 2 or 3 loaves of bread crammed into it. OK, OK, pass me some high-end butter, so I can slather it on my words before I eat them.

Benny's Bagels on Broadway has them or at least they did 6 monthgs ago.

The bar in the Sutton Place Hotel does a very credible version of H&C. It's probably the only place you'll get your wedge of lemon wrapped in cheesecloth. For my money it also makes the best bourbon Manhattan of any fish and chip place I've been to.

I couldn't agree more about Hebrew National being the top of the heap. They haven't been available here for almost a year. On a grill they can't be beat. I just picked up some free-range 'franks' at Whole Foods that were pretty delicious. Nicely spiced. My only reservation is that I recall a passage in Revelations about a free-range wiener product that heralded the end of days. I could be mistaken, it may have referred to organic doughnuts.

I'd have to register a vote for the Gerard Bar in the Sutton Place. It's more mellow than Bacchus and they make a mean steak sandwich with hollandaise. For my money it's the most bar like altho I'm partial to Bacchus as well.

How about a real good cookware store? Seattle has City Kitchens and Sur La Table. We don't have anything even close. It's easy finding stores that sell pots but how about the little things that make every cooking day better? Gadgets and gizmos that are sub-$100.