Coop

Is Sosio's the place about in the middle of the market with really nice but expensive produce? I bought a Chineese truffle there if thats the place. It was good quality. He also said he occaisionally gets Oregon truffles.

The Urban fare often has them at their cheese counter. I have bought them in the past, once good, once nasty. They claim they are from France but I would doubt it, likely Chineese. Your safest bet is to travel down to Seattle and try DeLaurenti's. I have yet to acquire a truffle that has half the flavour of the white truffle oil one can buy at the Gourmet Warehouse. Knowing what I know (from reading) about the clandestine nature of the truffle industry it seems that anything we could acquire here in Vancouver at the retail level would be far down the quality ladder.

I vote decanter on the left, but the item on the right looks like a vase to me. The thickness of the lip screams flowers, not wine.

I agree with Carema, this is why I rarely order wine by the glass. The worst time is at lunch, the glass is likely poured from a bottle opened the previous night. I had the same experience this summer with a Montes cabernet, after a few sips I knew I had made a mistake. I have had this wine from the 2000 vintage and found the fruit to be prevelant with a great soft finish.

I loved Union! Their small plates are very good, the service is excellent and the room is nice but minimalist. I think thier tasting menu would be my choice for a great birthday dinner.

Near Sinclair Centre? I hope you aren't thinking of going east from the Terminal!

I guess I am a little old fashioned but I did not appreciate the bunny cup- and I do not post here to get offended!!! Yes I find such realistic reproductions of bunny fornication to be a bit much for me too. 350+ posts and I still don't know how to use the quote boxes!

Kimpton Hotels have always been my favorite, until we stayed at the W Seattle. Thier rooms are at least as nice and they have better facilities. Just for a cozy place though the Vintage Park / Place are great. The evening wine tastings can be a great thing too. Once at the Vintage Place Mike Hogue just showed up and poured a bottle of his 1995 reserve blend.

I found the Vintage Place / Pazzo combo to be much like Vintage Park / Tulio's. I found the Seattle hotel to be a little nicer, but Pazzo seems a little better then Tulio's. Both are worth a visit.

Forty one dollars, it better be good! The buffet at Swan-e-Set golf couse is very good. A bit of a drive though. We usually go in December and then after brunch check out what's on sale in the pro shop. This is like christmas morning for me. If you decide to go phone ahead and reserve.

Last year we went to Bacchus and Hermitage. If Bacchus is offering thier coq au vin it's worthwile. The only thing negative about it was they put us in that horrible little closet on the north side of the room where the smokers used to partake in thier slow death march. The food though was very good. The service a bit snotty, but I knew that would be the case. At Hermitage the food was good, the service excellent, but I made the mistake of looking at the ceiling which was filthy. I spent the evening wondering what the kitchen looked like. The dessert was the best course, it was a poached pear with a cassis ice cream. It went really nicely with our last glasses of Clos de Jacques Moulin a Vent (Jadot). We tried places we wouldn't normally go to, that way we could see if they were good without dropping huge coin. Book as soon as possible.

We stayed at the W hotel last weekend. It looks like Earth and Ocean may soon be appearing on this list. We tried to eat lunch there on the Saturday. We were given the choice of one of two tables in the holding area, or to eat in the bar amongst the smokers. The rest of the place was completely empty (they had one table of two) and blocked off by chairs. Of course we said no and hiked down to Le Pichet where we had a great lunch. During the weekend we were in and out of the bar, I kept an eye on E and O, which was always near empty. Has the look of one of those places you try to avoid because of thier impending doom.

I loath what MacDonald's has become. They seem to have followed the same path as that other homey 60's California company, Disney. That being said Ray Kroc's widow just passed away and left most of her sizable fortune to various charities and non profit organizations. Including 100 million dollars to NPR.

Thank you for the info. on Fugu. I was misinformed by an article that I read a few years ago when Fugu appeared in New York. The writer complained how the texture of the fish had been ruined by freezing. This freezing was required by the FDA. I geuss I may have assumed this was to kill the pathenogen. It is truly inspiring the amount of knowledge that is poised and ready to be unleashed in these forums.

Living in Vancouver where lists like this seem so abstract due to our government distribution system. I have only had two of these wines #13 and #51. They would both appear near the top of any list I was compliling this year. The Uriah was monumental with Famous Gate 2001 pinot as best wine I have had in years. Maybe they seemed so good because they were both purchased by a wine loving friend and shared over dinner. To even think of acquiring these wines would be absurd in our situation in Vancouver. BTW whats with the Guigal CDP, it seems to be thier perrenial favorite. I've always thought of it as sort of a negociant wine. Do you think that Marvin Shanken and his crew ever have to pick up a dinner cheque. They must dine for free on the likes of Guigal and thier distributors.

T and T markets always have a big pile of them on ice. The Vietnameese places I frequent don't really have many chicken dishes. As for dim sum joints my knowledge is sadly lacking. Although I am always on the look out for them the few times I've dim summed.

Perhaps the French Laundry should start serving Big Macs to avoid that dreaded veto vote.

We have had a McCafe for a couple of years in Maple Ridge (35 miles east of Vancouver). Once I heard the esspresso drinks came from a glorified vending machine I knew my presence was unlikely. Isn't Starbucks bad enough?

Is there any risk involved with eating Fugu in the US? Doesn't the FDA rquire the fish to be flash frozen, thus killing the pathenogen?

Here in BC we have the distinct honour of paying $24.95 for this vino. I found it to be a bit thin or perhaps tight, plummy with a dry finish.

The "list" or Parker's rating system are only two of a myriad of ways to choose wines. My favorite though was shared to me in the early 80's by a fellow who is now the head purchaser for our government run wine distributor here in BC. He suggested buying the wine with the ugliest label. The theory being it must be good to survive in the business with such a hideous label. Every year this becomes more and more challenging, But still worthwile. Some wine that prove the point, all of Alsace, Chateau Palmer, Clos du Val, Dry Creek Suvignon Blanc, Vieux Telegraphe, and all of the wines of George DeBoeuf.

Bung lives in the same niegbourhood as ass but does'nt have as nice a view.

So last weekend Mrs Coop, another couple and myself had dinner at Union. For some reason I thought this would be the place for the highlight dinner of our annual weekend in Seattle. We had already dined at Le Pichet, Brasa and Sazerac in about 36 hours. This dinner could have been anit-climatic, but no. We had brought a bottle of Quilceda Creek Cabernet from my cellar and handed it over to the wine guy. We were sat at our table and our waiter Bradford let us know about the various menu options. We started with a bottle of Matanza Creek Sauvignon Blanc. Our Amuse Bouche was a pear salad perfectly dreesed in a vanilla bean vinegrette. I think you probably already know this was a perfect match. Myself and the other gent at our table decided on the Tasting menu while the ladies went thier own way. The tasting menu started with a tuna tatare. It was dressed with a citrus oil type sauce, also very nice with the vino. Next we were brought a black sriped bass filet on an avocado mousse. In between the bass and the mousse was some fennel perfectly dressed in some very rich olive oil. Now this was a great dish. At this point we ordered a bottle of Jade Mountain Mouvedre. It turned out to be a bit raisiny, but very nice. The next dish was a sweetbread, breaded lightly and sauteed, topped with a bit of frissee, in a bacon vinaigrette. Very well executed. Now came the wine of the evening my Quilceda Creek. A bit tired but still herbaceous and olivey. Thin on the finish, five years or so past it's prime. It was accompanied by slices of perfect rose duck breast on chaterellle mushrooms. Not a combination I would have chosen, but very successful none the less. We were brought a peice of cheese about the size of a big mouthful with some salad greeens and some walnut bread. This small piece of cheese had the most intense flavour one could imagine. It had to be eaten in miniscule pieces. A perfect cheese course. Unbelievable really. We finished with some sort of choclate mouse napolean. It was really nice but anticlimatic after so many great savoury dishes. My friend and I are very lucky to have wives that want to share there dishes with us. So we also had tastes of a great potato soup with a slick of truffle oil on the top, a good chicken breast with some roasted veg and some brilliant smoked salmon, grilled on one side sitting on haricot verte with a horseradish creme fraise. I always have a great time when we travel to Seattle with our friends, so my judgement is always tainted, but this was really a dinner that will always stand out. Great food, paired with thoughtful service in a nice room. The owner Ethan came by our table, we found him to be a truly likeable fellow. I would think that he is in for a very succesful run at 1st and Union. After a couple of hours it was time to head out into the cold Seattle air and find our way up to Tulio's for a night cap, before being tucked into our beds in the W hotel.

It was quite refreshing to take a bottle (83 Quilceda Creek Cabernet) from my cellar along when we went to Union. I have done this in Vancouver but it was at places owned by people I have known for a while.

Boris it's unfortunate but alot of what we have here in BC infrastucture wise has been built on the backs of us boozers. As for the restaurant mark-ups, I agree. Last year we encountered a wine at Bacchus that was marked up 3.5 Xs. It's an outrage. As for the word on Union, it's great. I will do a post this weekend about it and the other places we went to last week in Seattle. It will be on the NW board.