Coop

So is this off then? I'm cofused(not the first time).

I'm there if it's still on. I am worried about meeting people live and in person after some of my posts though. Just kidding! Maybe.

Is this event still on for the 22nd? Is there room available?

Dude! Ristretto???

I have never been surprised by people's misconception of thier own importance. The FOH bitch session about the concept of the restaurant was hilarious. They thought they had something at stake because of thier positions. Thats laughable, Rocco or Chowdrow or NBC put up 4 million dollars so they could make the decisions on the concept of the place. If Topher, or Pete or Gideon want to make those decisions go down to the bank sign away everything you own (hair gel, playstation 2, bling bling, and thier parent's house) and feel free to give it a try. Maybe then you would want to know how the busboy thinks you should serve the appetizers. Oh yeah I never watch this show.

Jim you decanted the Pommard! What a heretic!

I have loved the meals I have eaten at Lucy Mae Brown. On the other hand we ate at Brix once last winter and I found the food to be awful! The rissotto was the worst thing I ate all year. Dry and undercooked and not very tasty. however this may have been my problem only as the place seems very successful. There are a number of lounges that serve food in the city like Glowbal, Fluid, and others I have heard good things but never tried them myself.

So Mrs. Coop and I went to Cru last night. We found the room to be very cool. Nicely done banquette on one side and sofas and tables on the other. Glad to see they didn't try to get every seat in they could. Mrs Coop had the green pea panacotta with seared scallops to start. The panacotta was light in texture but rich in pea flavour. It sat on a bed of sauteed pea shoots and was surrounded by three perfectly seared scallops. Mrs Coop declared the dish a resounding success. I started with the seafood soup. It was a tomato flavoured fish broth with 3 mussels and a poached prawn to garnish. It's flavours were very nice. Not the intense sort of thing they do at Provence just a bit lighter. Garnished with a rouille crouton, very nice. Mrs Coop then had the Duck Confit. It came with 3 roasted potatoes and a bit of frissee. It was all dressed with a bacon vinegrette. Mrs Coop knows her confit and she said this one was very good. I had the roasted duck breast which came on a bed of mascrpone polenta, with some sauteed zuchinni. The duck breat was perfectly rose and the polenta was very good. There was a bit of a balsamic-stock reduction sauce around the dish, very nice. We had a bottle of Dogojollo sangiovese with our entrees. This wine lacked acidity and didn't really accompany our food that well. A minor problem though as it was quite tasty. For dessert I went creme brule and Mrs Coop went for the white trash parfait. Again Mrs Coop picked the winner. Both desserts were very good but the parfait just seemed a little more interesting. I have to tell you the staff is very good and the room very comfortable. The food is on a level with much more expensive restaurants. The portions were quite large especially for "small plates". I would recomend everyone try this place before it gets too popular to get in or they raise the prices. Our total was $136.00 with all I described and a couple of glasses of Chilean Sauvignon Blanc. We noticed that the room was quite busy for a Wednesday night so decided to check out how thing were in this uber cool nieghbourhood. First we looked in at Memphis Blues and they were packed (no accounting for taste). Bin 942 was hopping as usual and the Fortune Garden seemed to be doing well. On our way back up Granville we looked into Star Anise. Oh how the mighty have fallen. They were completely empty and looked like they were going to stay that way. I remember in the mid 90's reservations needed to be made weeks ahead to get in. What happened?

You can see the review at thier site. http://www.cru.ca/ Is this place getting too much run considering no one has done a review yet? I will take one for the team as I am going tonight. I expect it will be pretty good. I need to go somewhere while I wait for Andrey Durbach's new place to open. Anyone know anything about that? In Vancouver Mag they were saying he is the chef at Cafe de Paris. Is that true? I know he used to have a rep as a chef for hire. Enquiring minds need to know.

One must hope that the final result of this show is that people will look at what happens in a restaurant and think to themselves "I want to be part of that experience". This can't be bad for anyone in the industry. So wether we love the show or hate it I think it will be good for everyones business.

Wow Gordon I think I'm going to cry. You think NBC would feed us that formula? didn't I see it in every movie and tv show made in the US for the last 100 years.

another new poster hmmmm...

The only food industry guy I saw opening night was Drew Nieperont. Any one see anyone else?

I loved one scene and a moment in last night's show. The scene with the manly voiced woman and her compaion who sent back the clams and the prawns. When the prawns come looking pretty fine he say's What are we supposed to do with these? Then sends them back because they are terribly undercooked. Then the chef declares them perfectly done. These people probably have never been anywhere but Denny's. Then right at the end of the scene with the wise guy wannabe who suck's up to Rocco's mamma, we see the women at the table with the frosted tips stuff a meatball into her hideous looking cake hole. I hope she saw how good she looked. Disgusting!

Wow what an interesting business this. If you feel like you are being treated poorly is it not your option to quit? Also why would people continue to work when there cheques don't? AMAAAAAZING!

If waiters couldn't say AMAZING would they speak at all?

I have been to 12. We road trip from Vancouver to Palm Springs every year so the insight I can give is In and Out is the best. Islands is the worst, because they try to be more then they are and thier burgers are so dry, like eating sand from a camel's hoof. I like the sourdough jacks at Jack in the Box and those deep fried jalopenos.

Is Chowdorow Big Foot from Kitchen Confidential? If not who is?

I think Rocco looks fabulous. Rocco pumping gas, Rocco drinking Coors, Rocco in profile talking on his cell phone, Rocco pretending to be interviewing people, Rocco kissing Katie Couric, Rocco kissing his mommy, Rocco kissing Al Roker, did I mention Rocco pumping gas? Hey what about Rocco making some food? Is it too much to ask? BTW there is nothing I hate more than watching wait staff argue, why would I want to watch that on TV. Why not blend this show with fear factor and Rocco could feed the people the fetal duck eggs and live larva. Imagine I used to have some respect for this guy!

I believe this is off topic, but the funniest winespeak I have ever heard was in a movie called The Great White Hope. Jamie Fox and Samuel L. Jackson had this on going discussion of thier pimped out rides, refering to the Mer Loo Bro-Ham (merlot brougham) with the petit syrah interior.

City Food says Chris Brown is selling bread on Wednesdays at the East Vancouver farmers market. I went to Boleto once years ago and found the food to be a tad too rustic. However this guy knows his way around the bread oven. I believe he and his ex wife started ecco il panne. Thier quality seems to have dropped since thier split.

Rover I have heard others say the same about the Ordinary. may give it a try. On the subject of that address what a grave yard. Anyone remember these tennants: Coco's, The previously mentioned Sante Fe and The Sonoma Grill. Were there others?

I have not been to Napa in almost ten years now, but I can't imagine there is a better place to eat then either Tra Vigne or Mustards. Mustards though seems to have the real Napa wine experience. Great food and service as well as an interesting wine list. As for wineries I love, Cuvaison, Whitehall Lane and Cosentino. Avoid Sterling and V. Sattui at all costs. These too places are way to commercial. I also have always liked the Oakville grocery. If you are into the history of the valley then you have to go to the old Inglenook winery and BV. This is where the two most important wine makers in the history of the valley made historic wine in the 40's, 50's and 60's.

Rover: Sounds like the kind of place to avoid. I agree with you on John Bishop, I was a student at VVI when a chef named Ryan Mills ran the a la carte kitchen. He and John were old friends possibly from the Dorchester in London. John used to come in in the evenings and talk with us after service ask us about our plans after graduating and so on. One day about a year later he came up to me at Granville Island, asked me how I was doing and talked about produce. Why one of the citys brightest chefs would want to spend timne talking to a futureless commis like me was surprisisng, but enjoyable. As for the all BC wine list, I don't know why Restaurant whores want to immediatly limit the amount of business they can attract. If the food and service was really good then maybe I would over look the BC wine thing and perhaps have a beer. I don't think from what I have read that is the case. Anyone recomend some where for me and Mrs Coop to have a lunch on Saturday. Right now we are leaning to returning to West.