annabel

I agree with you Johnathon, to argue about who is 'best' is probably a waste of time, but to say as dennpeck does that "West have changed their format and haven't been able to provide the same caliber of food and service as they wear 2 years ago" is rubbish. If it were true, then surely West would not have been awarded 'Restaurant of the Year' just six months ago. The awards are controversial anyway, so that aside I can tell you that the changes at West earlier this year have not affected the quality of the food, or levels of service. I know from my own experience and there are plenty of reports on this site that will validate this. The shift has been towards focusing the cooking more on local ingredients, presenting a regional cuisine and dropping the French accents - it's a natural progression. In addition to that diners are not restricted in any way in terms of menu, they are empowered to choose from: two tasing menus, the a la carte menu or small plates selection - quite a challenge to execute so many choices as flawlessly as the brigade at West manage to do. P.S. - I do have a personal connection to the restaurant, but I'm not pimping - just felt I had to speak out on this one!

more Johnathon's ----- I'll drink to that! You didn't mention La Regalade, Johnathon. Three time gold winner - Best New Restaurant, Best Bistro / Brasserie and Best North Shore. I haven't made it there yet, but am determined to get there soon. Lesley C will be pleased to learn its chef owned and operated, although Brigitte and Alain Raye are as French as they come! According to Van Mag. "rustic French country cooking is burnished with Alain's Parisian Michelin-starred resume" and "heart warming and heart-stopping full-flavoured French." Any egulleter's tried this one? Another gold winner and chef-owned op is The Pear Tree (Stephanie and Scott Jaeger) 'Gold for Best of the Burbs' - I know that's a bit of a hokey category but I hear good things about this place all the time - agian - I haven't been, but I did try chef Scott Jaeger's BUTTER BRAISED PHEASANT WITH DOUBLE SMOKED BACON AND TRUFFLE HOLLANDAISE at the Chefs for Life dinner held at Blue Water in Feb and it was divine!!! Vij's is always a favouite, Vikram is such a great host. Hip-hip -horay for West!

Oh my!! Where to begin?? Ok, first, yes - our new 'west' website needs work. In fact it is a work in progress and we should have mentioned that on the site, as well as providing you with the option to 'skip' the intro - a very valid point - thank you. My apologies, we have suffered some technical set backs today but will be jumping right on it to bring you something as streamlined and proffessional as the restaurant itself. Please give us a few days and check back later next week. Let me try to explain about some of the changes, the colours of the new logo have been chosen to represent the four seasons (okay, maybe they don't exactly match everyone's opinion, but that's what we're hoping to convey) and the name has changed from Ouest to West to follow the evolution of the restuarant to become a true representation of our region, of Vancouver. By that I mean that we don't want to be known as a French restaurant in Vancouver, but as a Vancouver restaurant. The influences in Chef Hawksworth's cooking are really global, yes, he spent time with Raymond Blanc, Marco and others in Europe but he is from Vancouver origionally and is an advocate of sourcing locally for the best ingredients and cooking seasonally - the changes seem to reflect this. He is far from gone, but very much in situ at West and I'm sure he will be the first to tell you that his menu has not been 'dumbed down' but is just more extensive. There's tons of exciting stuff - if the menus are not up on line I will post them for you here later. (I know he's a star!)

I will do that - it was only released to local media yesterday and will be distributed further afield on Monday, thanks for the feedback. Sometimes when you're working so closely with the subject you forget to state the obvious!!!!!

Coop, this is Annabel, West's publicist and the sender of the press release that Giblert posted. Firstly, let me reassure you (and everyone at egullet) that Chef Hawksworth is still very much at West. He will absolutely be there on the 17th when you come for dinner and is no doubt looking forward to meeting you and cooking for you. As you probably know, he is a big fan of the egullet site and loves feedback from its members. It seems I have been a little remiss in mentioning him only in the first paragraph of the release and not anywhere later. The sucess of any restaurant relys heavily on team work, which is why I try to give dues to the other people that attribute to that success - and there are many others who were not mentioned. However, you can rest assured that Chef Hawksworth remains at the crux, and is as commited as ever to leading his brigade and to bringing you outstanding cuisine.