Sam Salmon

If the haul over to Clark Drive for Mochi doesn't appeal try Uminari Japanese Foods 3780 W 10th 604 -222 - 1767

Vij's has never impressed me-pretentious and overblown come to mind. That being said I did have a lovely lunch in the covered patio @ Rangoli last week.The food was tasty but in no way exceptional, one server warm and energetic the two others lumps of resentment and ennui. I note the abscence of any Indo Canadians whenever I've been in Vij's over the years. The parochial attitude toward 'certain' restaurants-the idea that 'no others need apply' as exhibited by certain posters on this thread-is unfortunate. How can a person maintain a balanced, forward looking yet critical view of restaurant food by sneering at every newcomer on the scene/refusing to try anything new/being satisfied with same old/same old? Isn't that a textbook definition of parochialism? It wasn't long ago that Vancouver was a very small city provincial and downright boring in terms of eating habits-I see that for some 'old habits die hard'. Back to the original question-Akbar's Own and Rubina Tandoor are both quality restaurants dedicated to quality food and service. My experience with Himalaya is that it's run by shortchange artists-count it and see! Yes the Naan is decent but no bread is good enough to excuse larceny.

Thanks for bringing this back up. Had a wonderful tasty 'Rustic Baguette' from Mix Bakery this past weekend. Also http://www.europeanbreads.com for some stellar products. I have noticed a decline on some Terra product which is a shame-I don't like and never eat burnt bread -somebody isn't paying attention.

I've seen the truck from the seafood company unloading onto the boats as well. In the beginning I know only seafood caught aboard the vessel was allowed to be sold on that dock that's why it was founded to give Commercial fishermen an outlet. It's 'possible' that the trucks are delivering the boat's own fish that is in storage-not every boat has the ability to maintain long term frozen fish like the Tuna trollers do. I've only ever bought fresh Shrimp and frozen Tuna so I haven't had to opportunity to question any boat owner as to why the deliveries-not that I'd believe what they tell me I've been lied to @ Steveston a number of times about seafood providence.It's become something of a game to ask where the fish is from when I know I'll be told a complete falsehood. As to Halibut it's all frozen now-January is completely closed for Halibut and the season commercially won't open for another month or more.The Halibut I've seen on offer around town is tired and brown around the edges-it doesn't take freezing well unless vacuum packed.

The new place in the 1800 Block W4 is called Totoya haven't been yet m'self.

Indian Oven upstairs on 4th @ Maple. Gorgeous view and wonderful Eggplant Bhajia. Maybe they'll open the patio if it's warm. Another excellent lunch spot is Annapurna the Indian Vegetarian place on 4th @ Burrard.

T&T next to Tinseltown/edge of Chinatown. Usually see farmed Salmon there though. The products/service are idiosyncratic but the selection is large and prices often low. It's clean and I like to look very closely at any seafood I buy-easy to do @ T&T good lighting clean and clean all 'round. Once they get to know you they offer 'instant specials'-a low price on Rockfish if you're buying Prawns for instance.

Live Oysters have to be pried off the rocks and then eaten instantly-easy enough to do where I live. Not necessarily any tastier though-it depends on where one is-standing waist deep in a freezing salt sea isn't always conducive to gastronomic bliss. Ditto Gooseneck Barnacles.

As per the screen name-Salmon either Sockeye or Spring Salmon. Sockeye is so firm and smooth while Spring Salmon is something akin to cool butter in the mouth. Because we live so close to the sea fresh Wild Fish is available most of the time-at the right places EDIT-if/when there's no fresh Wild Salmon then Hamachi rules with Albacore a close second.

The last camping I did was this past summer on a fishing trip. Fresh Prawns every day, fresh Lingcod/Rockfish and some smaller Shrimp. Stir fries, Curries and steamed Prawns as I recall. I was too tired to do Salmon up right so we froze all those daily. I wish I remembered more about the details, 0500hr starts, 12 hours in a 16 foot boat and plenty of wine with dinner don't make for great memories.

Sea water often tastes like Seaweed smells-at least where I live. So while it's fine for boiling Dungeness Crab and will as mentioned do for Bivalves be sure to 'go easy'.

I can report seeing the 'Chovies in question on sale @ Famous Foods on Kingsway so given the other reports there must be an Importer in town who handles them. Too bad it's so hard to track down one product without endless phoning-Good Luck!

I may be a little late to this party but why bother to scale them at all? Just fillet them and then slice the skin off each fillet. OK so they're tiny freshwater fish but skinning is still much less work than endlessly scraping scales off. Do you really eat the skin? Here in BC no one ever scales a fish-I can't remember the last time I ever did it. Place the fillet skin side down on a cutting board, cut down through the fillet to the skin and keeping the knife angled down draw the skin toward you. Much easier to do than type with these 2 old fingers and the result is a perfect piece of fish to cook with.

I tried it in Colombia last year and was a tad underwhelmed. Mind you I found that all of their Rums and even Beers lacked anything to separate them from the mainstream Caribbean styled pap. Loved the country though-fabulous vacation destination .

Another Honourable Mention to the location on the NW corner of Broadway & Cypress next to Akbar's Own. While Akbar's continues to thrive the corner locale has had rivers of money poured into it for different venues/styles of food/ideas galore and it never ever works. Now I see the building is 'slated for redevelopment/renovation' tenancy Mar '05. Well if that's the case they'd better get cracking!

The only place that comes to mind that might have it is La Casa Gelato.

LOL! I was going to say-"give 'em 2 days notice that's lots" One consideration that's rarely mentioned with Cru & Pastis is that both rooms are somewhat (IMO) tight for space-how close do you want your neighbours?. My vote goes to Fiction as mentioned-lots of your demographic and decent choices for food/wine.

Check out http://www.knifezone.ca/ for excellent prices/stellar service.

A strong flavour like Kahlua is inadvisable IMO. The Diplomats I've known-mostly from Notte's-were consumed after momentous birthday parties and for the life of me I can't remember them ever tasting of rum

How true! After being offices/vacant for a real long time that space has now been converted into small high end retail spaces-it was being renovated for such last I cycled through during the warmer weather.

It's true that Robson Street has enough pedestrian traffic to 'push people upstairs'. OTOH second floor buildings on West Broadway from Burrard to Cambie are littered with the carcasses of failed dreams.

The locales as mentioned are all poor but anywhere that's upstairs takes the cake in this town. By upstairs I mean more than 4 steps-it's pitiful but people here will not ascend staircases to eat-or even shop. Honourable mention to the strip mall SW corner of 1st & Rupert-might as well be the moon.

I think you should expect more honest and informative reporting from your magazines. Did the Chef actually say 'fresh' or fresh frozen? Because that's what it was-frozen fish. The time line as posted by you is typical of the small scale long liners but the ones I'm familiar with freeze their fish @ sea.The idea of a fish-especially a Tuna-being as you say 'held' aboard a boat in Tropical waters unrefrigerated is nonsensical-after 24 hours the fish would be inedible-I speak from 20+ years of Tropical fishing experience. (I fished Trinidad's sister Island-Tobago-for Tuna in February '03. The fish we caught was shipped from Crown Point Airport that night, a few hour flight to Miami and was sold fresh in the AM appearing on lunch/dinner plates the same day.) edit-here in Vancouver fresh Yellowfin are flown direct from Hawaii and arrive in beautiful condition. Albacore fresh is problematic here because the local fleet are small operators that freeze all their fish @ sea 'occasionally' fresh troll caught fish are found @ better Sushi bars in season. Seasonally Bluefin and even Bigeye are flown in from the Atlantic-fresh as a daisy. I find it difficult to believe that Sushi joints in a large prosperous city like Toronto would serve weeks old Tuna as fresh when they have access to the same wholesalers/airlines.

There's a glitch somewhere-I see Henry of Pelham on offer @ the Cambie Street store and also the aforementioned JT.

Sakanaya Seafoods (604) 261-7717 8435 Granville St Vancouver, BC The owner (Roberto-san) is a Sushi Chef/has a takeout biz as well as selling Sashimi grade fish.