chasmartel

I've read the press releases & part of Rothschild's SEC filing. It is a pretty complicated deal. Any MBA/wine market economists out there that can help analyze? I've read that the price for Chalone is just a little more than book value (and pretty far below fair market value). What is really going on? Edited to add missing word.

Ridge at Lytton Springs -- on Lytton Springs Road off Dry Creek Road, very close to Healdsburg. The wine is among the best -- zinfandel is the Sonoma specialty, but the second label cabs from Monte Bello in the South Bay are terrific too. The tasting room experience is not "disneyfied" like most of Napa -- just very nice staff & very good wine. The winery building is new & pretty interesting in its own right. It is an energy-efficient envoronmentally-sensitive "straw" buildings. Check the ridge website: http://www.ridgewine.com/ And a foodie trivia note -- the winemaker at Lytton Springs is John Olney, Richard Olney's nephew.

My wife & I had lunch at the bar at the Slanted Door in the Ferry Building. Terrific. Another fun, casual experience is Fish in Sausalito. Informal mid-range FRESH local fish. One of the partners is from Masa in the city.

From the Zuni cookbook -- artichokes baked with onions, olives and mint. I made it a couple of Sundays ago with a roast pork -- holy cow! I still think about it. The leftovers on Monday were at least as good, maybe better. Also, sauted slowly in butter with potatoes. Then tossed with a persillade at the end. From Richard Olney's Lulu's Provencal Table. I used this as the basis for a frittata as well with great success

Didn't I read something about a pig farmer in Port Coquitlam doing something interesting things with sausage? I think he's having some trouble with the law . . . maybe you can get a deal. Paul Mitchell: Your post was one of the funniest I've ever read. Sounds good read out loud too.

My wife and stayed near Aix on our honeymoon a few years ago (1998). One of the most memorable meals for our trip was in Aix at Clos de la Violette. They have a website: Clos de la Violette which tells me the chef & owner is the same. I think it is a Michelin one or two star. We still talk about the scallop dish my wife ordered as a first course. Not only was the food good, but the service was quite warm while still being "proper." I do not know if they are open for lunch, or if they are open on a monday, but if not, file it away for future reference. I do not think we ate anywhere else in Aix. Have fun. Charley Martel

I'll add another warning -- two people have been killed & one paralyzed in the last week riding in Sonoma County. Two drunk drivers -- one at 11 AM. The roads are narrow and there are a lot of cars. I've ridden in Sonoma (Dry Creek Road etc.) and it is beautiful and fun, but I've gotta say, I'm not sure I'm so interested anymore.

Foodie in Vancouver: That is the $64,000 Question. We're working on applications to become landed immigrants which right now take about 18 months to process. We can't really start looking for work until we get further along. Moving to Canada has a lot of appeal for us -- especially if Bush is re-elected. As we go along, we may have job/contact questions, so stay tuned.

Well, we're back. All in all, we had a grand time. We were in Vancouver from the evening of the 6th through the morning of the 10th when we took the ferry to Nanaimo & thence to Victoria until a return ferry & flight home on the 14th. The weather was spectacular -- I think we had about 4 raindrops on our way to the airport and from what I can tell, it was warmer than it was in California. I know it is a cliche, but most everyone we encountered was polite --even teenagers. I don't think I was honked at once in a week of occasionally tourist-style driving. Remarkable. Your collective eating recommendations were very helpful and got us to places we probably wouldn't have found otherwise. Thanks. Here is my "trip report": We arrived hungry at our hotel, the Westin Bayshore, at about 9 PM. We had a decent but expensive meal at their "coffee-shop." I had a salmon fillet with a sweet-sour crust that involved maple syrup that tasted better than it sounds. My wife had a seafood mixed grill. Our daughter had mac & cheese that was probably the best entree. We had a Greata Ranch Pinot Blanc (maybe it was pinot gris) that was pretty simple & straightforward and just fine for the occasion. We had an expensive & not very good breakfast in the same place the next morning. Shortly after we sat down, we found ourselves surrounded by the Calgary Flames (though we had to be told who they were by the staff). They were well-dressed & seemed very polite (for professional athletes). We spent much of the day in Stanley Park (Aquarium, horse carriage & playground at Second Beach), but made our way over to Commercial Drive for dinner. Our goal was Marcellos. We found it with no problem & enjoyed it. My wife & daughter had pasta (our near-4-year old ate most of the vongole & left my wife with the spaghetti). I had a Pizza Napolatena. We had a Brolio Chianti Classico -- a 2001 I think -- which was perfectly good & reasonably priced. After eating we wandered up & down the street for gelato & a stop at a playground (a recurrent theme here). Commercial is pretty funky -- kind of reminded me of a mix of Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley and the SF Mission District, but with a much prettier mountain backdrop. We drove around the area before after dinner -- going farther east and south before heading back to the hotel. I gotta say, there are a lot of ugly houses in Vancouver, though the many streets lined with pink flowering trees were beautiful. We couldn't figure out the grey-brown composite material on the outside of a fair number of the houses. I guess we've gotten pretty used to pastel-colored stucco. The next day we had breakfast at the White Spot near the Westin. I remembered Keith Talent's mini-rant about White Spot from a few months ago & wanted to see for myself. It was actually a little better than I thought it would be and about 25% of the cost of breakfast at the Westin. We spent the day on the North Shore -- at Grouse Mountain and then Lynn Canyon. Very pleasant. We ate lunch on Grouse Mountain -- sitting outside with a great view of Vancouver. For supper, we set out for Gyoza King. By the time we got there, we had a very tired child & found a long line so we set off down the street. By and by, we found Kintaro (with no line) and had a great meal. I'd never had ramen like that, and the gyoza were pretty good too. Our daughter perked up & actually ate a lot of her mother's bowl. What is the deal with the "Forest Fire" ramen? There were signs everywhere saying that it is only served on Saturdays. I'm guessing there is often a line out the door. The next day started with another trip to Stanley Park (playgrounds and train) followed by a late dim sum lunch at Sun Sui Wah. Good food & fun cross-cultural experience, but our daughter wasn't in such good form. Everything we tried was good, but nothing was much different or better than I've had in places like Harbor Village in SF. We spent the rest of the day touring around Vancouver neighborhoods with an extended stop at Queen Elizabeth Park (beautiful). This time we saw many nice houses & neighborhoods (Mount Pleasant, Fairview then west to UBC then south through Dunbar) that are probably not very affordable. Back to the hotel & sandwiches for dinner at Bojangles Cafe in Coal Harbor. Its best feature was that we could easily walk to the hotel (and it also had gelato). Off to Victoria (via Nanaimo). After the ferry, we made our obligatory stop at Butchart Garden & the Butterfly Gardens (both good stops). Then off to the Coast Harborside in Victoria. We ate dinner downstairs at the Blue Crab. I remember that none of the menu descriptions really grabbed me, but the food when it arrived was actually pretty good. My wife & each had Arctic Char which was roasted & served with a barley risotto (I forget the first courses). It was simple, but well prepared. We had a Burrowing Owl Pinot Gris. It was pretty interesting, balanced & tasty going down, but it had no finish. All in all not worth the price ($65). The mark-up on some of the California wines was appalling. One non-descript white that often retails at supermarkets for maybe US$12 was CD$51 on the wine list. The next day was Easter Sunday, so after an attempt to go church at St. Andrews (no room), we had brunch at the Great Gatsby (a last minute choice). We sat on the porch which was very nice, but the food was really pretty dreadful. Our fortunes turned at dinner -- we went to Barb's Fish & Ships at Fisherman's Wharf. We got fish & chips, while our daughter got the clams she had been asking for since our meal at Marcello's. She went after them like a sea gull. We shared a picnic table with a retired couple visiting from Edmonton. We got talking hockey and I offered that we had earlier stayed in the same hotel as the Flames. The gentleman told me in all seriousness that as an Edmontonian, he could not, even in the next life, cheer for Calgary. The next day, we toured around the neighborhoods of Victoria in the morning, and then made our way to Sooke in the afternoon. We had lunch at the Stovepipe Bar & Grill in Sooke. I had a bowl of seafood chowder & scallops wrapped & bacon. My wife had a cup of chowder & a steak sandwich and our daughter was quite pleased to have clams & mussels in a cream tarragon broth. All were good, particularly the clams & mussels. It is exactly the sort of place you'd hope to find on an drive out of town out to the seashore. I would go back. Our lunch wasn't so big that we wanted to skip dinner, so off we went to Cafe Brio. Can't remember what we had as first courses, but my wife and I both went with the halibut with bitter greens and white beans, while our daughter had orrechiette (sp?) with butter and . . . a double lamb chop, her first love. She left only the bone, stripped of all flesh. We had a 2003 Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc which I think was about $59, a very reasonable mark-up over the $30 I would pay at retail here. I had a warm apple turnover for dessert that was a little too sweet, though I ate ever bit just to be sure. The food and service was very good. We spent much of our last full day the Royal BC Museum and then . . . a playground. We drove right past Moxie's and had our last dinner at Zambri's. It was very good -- especially for a Tuesday night (I’m pretty sure Peter the chef was off that night). I started with farfalle with broccoli rabe & sausage. It was exactly right. My wife had asparagus wrapped with prosciuto and then lightly browned. Very good. I follow with leg of lamb with tomatoes, eggplant & mint over polenta, while my wife had hay & straw pasta with clams (which were commandeered by our daughter who had penne with peas). We had a delicious 1999 Chianti Classico, but I forget the name. A very good meal in a peculiar location. I think the meals we have at Cafe Brio & Zambri's were very good & fairly priced. They did not try to do too much (not haute cuisine), and succeeded very well at what they did do. I think both places are pretty impressive for an area the size of Victoria. We left Victoria in the morning with a 6 PM flight out of Victoria. We had about an hour to eat before going to the airport. We found the Yoahan Center on the map and decided it would be a perfect stop. I had read the "Yoahan Sucks" thread that Keith started, but I found I couldn't recall important details like the one or two edible choices. Bad bad steam table Chinese is what we got. We know cheap steam table Chinese (from many lunches in SF), and this was very bad. It was very good trip and many thanks are due for your recommendations. PLEASE ask for recommendations if you are coming down here.

Somebody once described the French Laundry cookbook as food porn.

Thanks for your replies--they are exactly what I was looking for, and pretty amusing to boot! I think maybe we'll skip Moxies. At least seafood at Moxies. More suggestions are, of course, welcome, (especially a good dim sum place), but I also have a couple follow-up quesions. First, any suggesstions for the North Shore? We're staying downtown, but I want to spend at least part of a day on the north side of the bridge(s). On Vancouver Island, are there any stand-out activities for kids? Hikes or other outdoor activities that would suit a 3 1/2 yr old especially welcome. Redhead--I picked out the Coast Harborside for our Victoria hotel from all of my internet research. It was great to see your recommendation & it makes us even more excited about coming. (In Vancouver, we're staying at the Westin Bayshore. Good choice?)

Hello BC, I'm an eGulletter from the SF Bay Area and my wife & 4 year old daughter and I are travelling to Vancouver and Victoria in early April. I've read the recent thread re:Vancouver restaurant recommendations for the marathoner his spouse, but we need some ideas of places that would be OK with a kid (well-behaved, mostly, but still a kid). We also need some help in/around Victoria. We may be relocating to BC from California, and so a goal of the trip is to begin to learn about different places that we might want to live. General comments re: neighborhoods/districts are welcome too. What we're looking for on this trip are good neighborhood restaurants rather than "destination" spots (that's for another time). A decent wine list would be good too. Our daughter can at times be be pretty adventurous in eating (on Sunday, she ate a huge artichoke and about 1/3 of a rack of lamb), but at other times just wants pasta with butter & cheese. We'd like to get dim sum at least once, and some noodles. Also, where do you shop for wine in Vancouver/Victoria? Not "collectible" wine, but better than mass-market wine. In government stores mostly or private shops? Recommendations? Warnings? Thanks in advance for your help!

Try Las Camilias (sp?) in San Rafael, I think on Lincoln. We've eaten there many times and have found the food consistent, and I think a cut above. They have interesting dishes beyond tex-mex, but I don't know enough about real Mexican food to say whether it is aiuthentic or not. I do like a lot of them. San Rafael has a fairly large Mexican-American population and I'm sure there are small hole-in-the-wall places that must be good, but I can't say I know where they are. Picante in Berkeley is not fine dining, but it is fun and the food is quite good considering the volume etc. Possibly the most kid-friendly place in the East Bay (and Mom & Dad get decent food & a beer). (We're having some frozen leftover pork chili stew from Hadley Dent's Santa Fe cookbook with some of your beans for dinner tonight. We like them a lot.)

On the other hand, there is a place in Pacific Grove (Monterey) California called Passionfish that has a wine list with retail prices (OK not Costco, but good wine store). Their list is also quite interesting, I think, for a fairly small & informal restaurant: Passionfish wine list We've been three times over the last six years or so and found the restaurant very comfortable with good food -- not haute cuisine -- at reasonable prices. Best meals & wine we've had in the touristy part of Monterey by far.

I learned a lot from the Waverley Root book. It is divided by region, and I remember thinking what fun it would be to travel with it. Also Elizabeth David's book on Italian cooking (a Penguin paperback). Both are a little dated, but after reading them, I felt like I had a respectable start on understanding traditional regional cuisine of Italy. Have fun! Edit: Added a missing word.

We have often made the tarte aux clementine from Lydie Marshall's Chez Nous (republished as A Passion for Provence).

For what its worth, a few years I was visiting a friend in Milan. A friend of my host, (a very sweet woman from Puglia) took me to breakfast one Sunday morning at an "American" (and not inexpensive) restaurant. The pancakes were nearly inedible and everything else was just a little bit off. Ok its WAY off topic but Sandra Lee's Semi Homemade Holiday show just appeared on the Food Network. She just "made" a blue "store-bought" angel food cake. I can't believe it. Anything comparable on Italian TV? Now she is decorating a cake for Kwanza. Oh my god.

Kyo-ya in the Sheraton Palace Hotel is first rate (but can be very expensive). The hotel is owned by Japanese & they know what they are doing re: food & presentation. I work across the street from it & often go for lunch. Elsewhere on the spectrum is Kirala in Berkeley. I haven't been in a couple of years, but we liked it alot. It is not fancy, but very good food & rationally priced. I don't think they take reservations, so go v. early or prepare to wait. Pretty good Berkeley scene.

Just to be clear, this is an issue before the town of Sonoma, not the County of Sonoma, so the actual legal effect of a ban would be comparatively small. That doesn't, however, reduce the soapbox value of the issue. Small town democracy in northern California can be great theater.

FWIW, you can also get a reservation at FL by just showing up around 10AM two months before you want to go. I did once a couple of years ago, and was offered my choice of times & location (garden or outisde). Except for the driving, the whole transaction took about 3 minutes. And now you can reward yourself with a treat at the Bouchon Bakery down the street.

I live in the SF Bay Area & like going to SLT in SF or in Berkeley on 4th Street to troll & get ideas & maybe the odd small tool. When I am out to but something in the pot/stock pot/skillet family, I go to East Bay Restaurant Supply in Oakland -- on Embarcadero, I think. It is huge & you could outfit a restaurant -- new and used. I've bought All-Clad Professional there at very good prices and they have less dainty sizes that might be found at Williams Sonomsa or SLT. I also have dragged by wife & child to the Le Creuset outlet in Vacaville...

Does anyone know anything about Maya on 2nd Street -- at Marathon Plaza? Maybe its because I just made reservations there for tomorrow night, but it seems conspicuously absent on this thread.

Check Niman Ranch online. I know they have guanciale for sale, but I can't remember if they have uncured jowls. Good luck!

I like the idea of the new SF Hooters scoring an opening week record. I live in the Bay Area & like SF alot, but sometimes the city seems to collectively get a little too full of itself. I remember turning on the television late one night on my first trip to Paris and finding mud wrestling.

Kermit Lynch Wine Merchant is one of my personal favorites and is someone that I think has had an impact beyond the Bay Area & California.