nwyles

What up with the name change ? I think I will have to change mine then. Cheers Neil

I dined there when they first opened( I think it was the second night ) . My wife work with Heinz and Joanna, so we went out to ay hi. It was excellent then and I am glad to see that it still is even after Heinz retired. I will make sure it is on the aganda the next time I am in the 'Peg

Cate Simpson told me the name of some incredible wine guru who is doing the wine for the dinner but I promptly forgot. Perhaps she will chime in and remind me.

Rockin' good. Joan and I had three meals between the two of us, followed by three desserts. I am looking forward to trying it out again. Very reasonably priced ( cheap ! ) and most enjoyable. More about it later. Got to sleeeeep now. Belly full. P.S. The perogies were fantastic ! I will have those again next time. Prices : Meatloaf $10.95, Chicken Schnitzel $12.95, Perogies $10.95, Beer $5.95, Dessert $5.95 Each entree was big enough that we only needed one each, not three between two. editted to provide prices

Rob is donating 6 seats to young apprentices. That is a $6000 value right there. I would call that a donation !

You need to have a little faith that Rob is on top of it. He is here for the long haul and this dinner is a celebration of ten years. As the dinner with Michel Jacob is $250, this should give you an idea of some of the wines that he will be pulling out. I really hoped there would be a menu and wine list released as to stop all of the speculation as to the value of this event. You can rest assured that this will not be a 16 liter Gala Keg event.

Check again. Prime is the top 3 % of beef on the continent. I do not think that it is broken down to different quality grades within Prime. You could specify breed and age, but Prime is Prime. Given the difficulties in the beef market right now, I do not think that level of specifics is possible right now. 3 % of 3% is three animals in 10,000 and that is very unlikely for one restaurant the size of Gotham. You would eat through most of that tight a spec in a few weeks. I would imagine that Gotham goes through 2 - 3 beef cattle a day in middle cuts ( Prime Rib, Ribeyes, New Yorks, Filets ) . I think that you are dealing with the top 3 % ( 3 in 100 Beef Cattle )

Can we clarify ? Prime is the top 3 % of beef. Gotham is serving Prime, which is the top 3 %. I find it hard to imagine that they are serving the top 3 % of that top 3 %. Cheers Neil

Is there an age limit on "young" chef ?

Nothing says " I love you" like a 42' plasma T.V. So how about two. I just mounted them over the bar, and still left the other ones there as I had no other place to put them. 4 T.V.'s I have had so much trouble with Bell Expreassvu that it nearly brought me to tears ! These guys were so inept. Unbelievable ! I nearly smashed my phone after an hour and a half of "talking" to these boobs on the phone. What stopped me was that the small voice in the back of my head said " don't do it, you will just have to buy another phone ! " My building has no cable so I have to use satellite. It took nearly two months to get new smart cards for my receivers. Still some fine tuning, but wow, it is a beautiful sight. Now, is it just me or most games have been PPV so far. It seems a heavy amount this early in the season. Why PPV Chicago, they are the permanent basement dweller.

Bully for you for beating the local Richmond expert, Keith Talent, to the punch. Do they have a website ? I think I will be out in that direction soon and might need a place to dine with family. Cheers Neil

I realize that Lorna.

A nod of thanks to whomever thinks that my words actually mean something but I think that the only "pros" on the board, as far as restaurant reviewers are Jamie, Andrew and Jane Mundy. ( And that upstart Andrew, only just recently became a pro !! ) That being said, their participation on this board is the same as everyone else's : A person who loves food and wine and all of the things that go with it and enjoys sharing that experience. Sharing experiences is what this board is all about. To those who think that their contributions are restaurant "reviews", your heads are getting a bit big. You are sharing your impressions, and that does not qualify as a "review" in the sense that we see from the beforementioned reviewers in their real world lives. Even with the real world reviews, we know that there is two sides to the situation, and we only ever get to hear about the one side. If you read what FannyBay had to say in the Diva fiasco, you can see that not everything is as it appears.

Abuse him ! If he has not researched your alter ego, take him to the cleaners ! Although my occasions for dining out have been very sparse lately, I think that I might "lunch" one day real soon at Diva. I feel a little bad for the "fallen from grace" comment and should get in there. That certainly was not my intention. Perhaps I will run into Ling and her date ! Ling, if you see me there, be sure you send over a bottle of champagne.

It is a regular delivery spot for us. At least once a month. Love the pork dumplings as well as all of the items that you mentioned. One thing of note. Delivery prices always wildly fluctuate. Sometimes the order is $30 and sometimes the exact same thing is $50

Au Contraire. its getting very boring. ← agreed, boring indeed ← and yet over 3000 views in 3 days...we should all be so fortunate to be so boring... ← I must admit that many of those view are mine. It is like a car wreck, as much as I try, I still can not look away. I think it is turning into an obsessive compulsive disorder. I will have to go to a twelve step program for this.

Au Contraire. its getting very boring. ← agreed, boring indeed

I recognize the constraints of a monthly format that has to be submitted earlier than you would like to make deadline. So many things can happen in a month. This is one of the reasons I like the Globe's new feature. Weekly. They get four point three kicks at the can to Jamie's one. "Classic restaurants" can be revisited, rekindling a love affair with an old favourite that deserves some attention ie : Bishop's Let's see what interesting topic comes up next Friday ! P.S. Sorry Jamie, I must have missed the Mistral review but it certainly is on the list for an evening out real soon. Can you provide a link ? Let's not forget Andrew ! Multi talented Wunderkind. He is everywhere ! This boy is five times a month but the delivery of the Westender in Yaletown is a little sporadic. I actually have to whip around the neighbourhood to find one, and sometimes it is raining and I really don't put that much effort in to going out in the rain. Does that make me a bad person ?

As a avid reader of Alex Gill's stuff, I can tell you that it is the first thing I go for on Friday morning ( pre-coffee ! ) I enjoyed the bloodbath known as Watermark and all of the stuff that followed here. Lolita's, Fat Burger, Brown's, Nu and the like. She has my interest. I enjoy the "edge" to the review. This one just left me flat. I really hold true to the first question. What was the point ? There is two minutes I will never get back. The doors are open, they are taking money, it is all fair game. I agree. I would never debate that. There are so many things that could be written right now : Chambar : One year after ! Is the apple still shiny. Lumière : Ten years after opening. Mistral : The move across the water. Diner : The dynamo known as Heather has finally opened. Coco Pazzo : What went wrong ! ( Ok, that would be a short column ) This one just left me flat. Diva, Hated it. So what. I am not rushing out and canceling my subscription or anything. I just expected something better I have had ten times more enjoyment of the banter on this board than the actual article.

I have been waiting for a little nudge in the right direction on that one myself.

Jamie, no one can argue about the committment the Henry Wu has made to the food scene in this city with his support of chefs going to International competitions, especially the Boucuse D'Or. He has been able to bring International attention to our Culinary scene I was not being mean-spirited about it at all. I really was just wondering why Diva was the focus of an Alex Gill Review. It is the shoulder season, they are not focusing on showcasing a chef for an upcoming competition. They are just bumping along doing their thing, minding their own business. It just seemed an odd choice.

I saw this article early this morning. I know it is human nature to sometimes take a perverse pleasure from something like this but I really was just left wondering one thing : What was the point ? Diva has fallen below the radar in the last few years with changes in chefs and management and has suffered perhaps a fall from grace. That certainly is not lost on anyone so what was the point in drawing attention to it. It was better left unsaid. It is not like they are new or reinventing themselves, putting themselves on a pedestal for people to take pot shots at. It just seemed sad to draw attention to someone's suffering. It is not like they were being cock 'o the walk, new beach front property and needed to be taken down a peg or three. They were quietly existing, servicing their hotel guests and that was all. There are better topics to write about. Are there not ?

Perhaps you have not been on this board long enough. Have you ever heard of the remorseless eating machine known as "Ling".

It is over. Quite a busy event. I have tabulated the numbers and we are 100 % over last year. A couple of soft days early week ! Just to be clear, and although fun to say we are 100 % up over last year, it goes to show how crappy the week around Thanksgiving is. We chose this time for that specific reason : success was easy to measure as the only place to go was up ! All in all, a huge success. A couple of scary moments last night. Room was packed, everybody running. I find myself on the grill, and then seating people between flips of hanger steak. I go outside to see five groups patiently sitting on the cold, soggy patio, waiting to get in. A few egulleters sprinkled around the room and a group from another internet food site whooping it up ! ( Crazy internet people ! ). The manager from another restaurant came in to return some borrowed alcohol and started bussing tables. I love Yaletown ! Chef Pino brought his crew down for some celebratory pints after service. He filled all of the seats that he made available to ToY every night. Next up, Dine Out Vancouver, only 98 more days to go

Is that "food porn" ! ? Doesn't everybody eat pasta that way ?