nwyles

Hear, hear ! I have given this a great deal of thought in the last couple of days and have had discussions with staff. Streamlining the operation on those nights might penalize the patron who wanted to spend more - true. It would also enable me to perhaps spend a couple more bucks on the Dine Out dinner, be it in food cost or labour. I would not have to worry about product from the regular menu spoiling for lack of use or disappointing people who order those regular menu items only to find out that we are out. This has happened as things have fallen in between the cracks and got lost ie : we did not sell a cheesecake for two weeks, guess what, when someone ordered it, we were out. It had just fallen off of the radar. I can only speak for myself but our dine Out menu was very similar to our regular menu so I think you would get a fair idea of what we are all about. I think that next year I might go this route but with some interesting upsells that could razzle dazzle a little bit ie: Lobster risotto upsell or Black truffle Mashed. It is a hard choice. I also see the "white flag of surrender point", it is just hard to deal with when the floodgates open and you are being stormed at the door. I am in an interesting position, I am a neighbourhood restaurant in a large dining district. Lots of regular guests who know me well and cheer me on when they see that we are busy. When they walk in the door, reservation or not, Dine Out or not, whatever, they get sat. They are the bread and butter all year round. No one is the wiser ! " Good evening Mr Bonne, I have your table ready right over here !" Or " Hi Jon, hey your table will be ready in a few minutes, would you like to have a beer at the bar. They know, you know, it's all cool.

Have you tried the Latin Supermarket at 14th and Commercial ?

A quick note regarding a reservation situation on the last night of Dine Out. 8 people at 8:00 , I have 2 spots that I can put them. An 8 walks in. I hesitate, reconfirm they are not my reso, take a chance and seat them in the nicer of the two tables. ( this pays off as they spend lots o dough ! ) 8:29 - I have just flipped 9 two tops but I have two tables of four waiting with reservations. everyone is camping, no four tops on the horizon. I pull apart the 8 and seat the two fours. I turn around and there is one chap at the door. I have a reservation for 8 ! I just gave your table away, you are 30 minutes late. He is not sure what to say so he squeaks out " but I have a reservation" I smile. This is the last day of Dine Out. Enough ! Let's wait and see what comes up. Where are the other people in your group ? They are on their way. I have a 6 top booth coming up but it will be a little tight. Not much else is movng. 30 minutes later, 5 more people come in for a total of 6. The six top is up but I have not cleared or set it yet, and strangely, I feel no need to hurry. I slide up to the door to welcome our newcomers. They are all talking on cell phones ! I wonder if to each other ? I tell the newcomers the situation and say I will have a table in a few minutes. One young lady steps up firmly to tell me SHE HAS A RESERVATION ! I smile. ( This is the last day of Dine Out ! ) Yes, I said , but that was for 8:00. Your friend did not arrive until 8:30. It is now 9:00 and unfortuatly nobody had a cellphone so they could call me and say you were going to be late. I would have held the table but instead, I gave it to some people who were here. Let me see what I can do. Give me a few minutes. Again, I feel gravity tugging at me and I find I am unable to move quickly. Oh well. I get them sat at about 9:15. After that I decide that the lesson is over. Either they got it or not. I tell the server to get on it. They are not ready to order for the first three times he approached the table. The minute his back is turned, two of them rush the bar saying they need drinks. Bartender sends them back to their seats and says he will send server over asap. Like Manuel from Faulty Towers, the server appears at the table. Guess what ? They are still not ready. The brave young girl states that they will wait for their other friends. You get the picture. Two people stroll in at 10:00. I meet them at the door. They tell me they have a reservation. I smile. ( This is the last day of Dine Out ). I take them to the table. They look at the table, they look at me. I smile( This is the last day of Dine Out ). They think better of it. They sit down. Two hours after their reservation time, they order their first drink ! Only 350 more days to go until Dine Out 2006 !

Yes, he married my sister in law. I see him all of the time. PM me your contact info and I can pass it along. Neil

In Yaletown it is ! I know, who would have thunk it. I can only speak for that one. I should have been clearer. Neil

Three meals a day at the Pantry. You lucky guy. Tell us about it. What sort of bottle water did they have ? How was the Olive oil. Crap, I could so go for a Monte Cristo sandwich right now. I was so jealous of 24 hour room service ! Glad that you are home. How did the dog fare. Happy to see you again ? Cheers N

Overrated : Milestones - The service style sucks. I can never tell who is taking care of me. One person seats us, a different person says hi at the table, a different person takes the order( I think this would be our waiter ) , a different waiter delivers it, water refilled by a different person, drinks run by bartender, quality check by someone else, a few others inbetween and then back to the waiter for bill delivery. It is not the fault of the people who work there, but the system that they work under. Very strange. I understand that they can only walk in one direction in the dining room. Either clockwise or counterclockwise, I do not know, but you end up using more shoe leather than needed. I am not sure if they still do that but it certainly was the afterwork complaint when the servers came down for a drink after work. The second to last time we ordered our 4 year old a cheese burger and fries from the kids menu - it was not fit for human consumption - a shriveled up burger patty the resembled something out of that Gordon Ramsay's nightmare episode. The bun was as hard as a rock. Matthew would not eat that, so the next time we were in, we just got him a regular burger. It really steamed me. Have they been keeping this patty on the corner of the grill on the off chance that a kid came in ? Underrated : Amarcord - This is a nice little Italian joint on the next block in Yaletown. As far as Italian places in Yaletown, it certainly gets overshadowed by Pino's place, Umberto's place and La Terraza. I think it gets overlooked but the food is great ! Sort of old school Northern Italian. Pinkish tablecloths, quiet music, low key but nice. Manlio is a kind and attentive host. A great meal at a third the cost of the big boys. No silicone, no Ferrari's outside, no cougars at the bar, just nice.

Ok, I give. Not ! Sean is a friend and I feel a strange compulsion to defend him even though he does not need it ( and has not asked for it - I am going to be crushed when he tells me to shut the fuck up ! ). I do not know what is driving it ? I must be crazy becuase I can't let it go ! Like a dog with a bone ! When I said Sean is one of our own, perhaps that is not quite true. He and I ( and a few others ) share something in common. We post about our experiences, giving everybody a chance to see and understand what goes on behind the scenes in restaurants in this town. He invited all of us down to the Heather ( on his dime ! ) for a cheese and whiskey tasting, sharing two of his passions in his home. Any place that you spend 95 % of your waking hours is your home. The other place is where you sleep. He is one of the "professionals" on this board and has shared a unique insight into his operation in the first post on the Irish Heather thread. He let it all hang out, leaving nothing unsaid. Overwhelmed and expressing difficulties with the whole Dine Out adventure, having to close the doors on one of the outlets because of staff shortages etc. I am not the ettiquite director and am not hear to point out the lack of social graces ( we will leave that for Andrew's mother ) It is not about being "nice nice" or pulling punches. It is knowing when to not say anything. I know, you paid your $15 so you get to have your moment in the sun. You sat in the corner and scribbled on your napkin all of your thoughts. Or you quietly got drunk and jumped on the bandwaon when your head cleared enough for you to remember you were there. You ran home and posted as soon as you could for all to see. Good for you. You paid your $15.00. so you get to play food critic. Bully for you. Why does this bother me ? I guess because he already let it all hang out, telling about the difficulties and everyone so quick to agree and point out other short comings. Then it starts to pile on. Whatever. Good for you. I have fuelled the fire by not letting this go. I accept that. But you know, it just seems like kicking a guy when he is down ( not really, I mean Sean has three business that he built in a really rough neighbourhood. It will take more than a few mean words from a few egulleters to have any real effect ) It just does not seem sporting and is not a true representative of what the Heather is all about. It is good to see that some of you have gone down and checked it out in the past 24 hours and it would seem that everything is OK. Anyways, I have to go now, I too am starting to get cranky.....................

You'd be incredibly surprised. I have the feeling that eGullet (the Vancouver chapter) has it's finger on the pulse of dining in Vancouver, more so than the glossies and the print press. If I owned a restaurant, was a consultant, or cared about the industry, i'd be cruising these boards for smelt like a shark. Ahhh, it's nice to have the apron off. ← They are ! It's true ! ( Ok, this is starting to sound like some kind of conspiracy theory, it is time for me to go and put my tinfoil helmet back on so "they" can't read my mind )

I think that this has started to get out of hand. I do not think that anyone should be walking on eggshells, ever. This started to get a little off kilter when the Irish Heather took a bit of a chewin'. The snowball effect started to take place and Sean is one of our own. He has been our gracious host en mass as well as individually. In this certain case, I think it could have been handled a little better. If you want to sit in the corner, scribble your notes and play food writer - cool , have fun. Although there were lots of well meaning intentions, it came off as a bit of a roasting. That being said , "Over and under" - great idea, have fun. If you want to take this piss out of "Bob" Feenie for his funky dancin', go to town - he is a big man and can handle it.( and probably does not read these posts anyways. ) Just remember, what gets written, gets read. Chambar, Bis Moreno etc - you think that these people do not know about this stuff - wrong, they certainly do. Let's not get swelled heads but this is just the long form comment card. You do not have to face them and tell them you thought something was amiss, you leave it on the table as you dart out the door. This is the same thing, just the electronic version with bigger spaces to fill in your stuff. You go out, spend your money, write your notes and have a good time. It is all in good fun. Just be aware that you never know who is reading your stuff. I know we all think that it is just us reading this stuff but it is not. We have had so many "meets" that we feel that we know each other, and plan on having more. But there are other people out there reading this stuff - Arne heard some chatter on the radio today and you damn well know someone has been reading our posts. Other food writers have been trolling the boards for ideas - if you did not know this before, you sure do now. If you think a place is a dive or you have had a bad experience, have the goods to back it up and post. Be prepared to be challenged, not in a bad way, but we all have very different opinions. In a few cases, you might see someone from the establishment pipe in and tell the other side of the story. As I have said before, it is the difference in opinions that makes this forum interesting. The market place will take care of the players who don't belong in the game, not a few posts on egullet. I do not want to see this become a back slapping, glad handing, old boys network where we all sit around and sing the praise of the Chef d'jour. It will become stale very quick. Anyways, that is enough on that. Who wants to fire the first shot across the bow ? Not me - I only have a kitchen staff of five and can not take on the brigade of another restuarant !

"You never know who is reading your stuff !" - nwyles, Jan 2005

Lots of good discussion here. This has really become the Time Vampire. This will be my last post on this topic as it taken up too much time already. I am glad that everyone has been out and had a good time during Dine Out. That is what it is there for. Good to see lots of posts, sharing experiences, good, bad, and indifferent. I hope everybody realizes that DOV is not a true representation of a restaurants ability. In a perfect world it would be, but as you have had so many glimpses into the inner workings of it, you know it is not true. It has become the never ending Boxing Day sale. In the end, everyone walks away with what they want. As for the Heather, great to see that everyone went out and supported Sean during the Dine Out. I feel no need to defend him as he is a big man and can certainly do that one his own. And he certainly does not want, or asked, for the likes of me spouting off for him. But as a quick addition, hats off to the guy who opened three places in Canada's worst neighbourhood and has been active in trying to rebuild it and the reputation the Downtown Eastside has. You are a better man than I. What we have seen on this thread is something I call " feeding frenzy" - it is when one person at a table of ten says " my vegetables are cold" and everybody else jumps in and echoes the same, send ten dinners back to the kitchen to be replated. A couple of drops of blood in the water and look what happens ! When I clicked on this morning, there were 36 people online. Holy crap ! All at once ! And this thread looks like it has about 1800 visits. One thing of note. There is one among us who has not posted about Dine Out. Mr. Maw, the true professional food critic, has left this alone other than to give some guidelines and wish us well. I wonder why ? Perhaps he knows that DOV is not a true representation of a restaurants abilities and that the sting of the written word lingers a little long. I don't know, but that is what comes to mind. I would love to get his insight over a green bottled beer when this madness is all over ! Ok, I have to get back to work now. I do not have the luxury of having extra staff on today so I can indulge myself on egullet.

It's true! Once you've eaten it, your life becomes a junkie's nightmare, dreaming of the blissful dish, trying to get all your friends hooked so you'll have more opportunities to go, compulsively planning your next fix... I'm gonna regret posting this ... This Gingerbread addiction has to be a chick thing. Don't get me wrong ... it's awesome. One of the best desserts I've ever enjoyed. But an addiction? Not for me at least. Get a grip girls A. ← Come on, you are amongst friends here, embrace your inner girlie man and declare your undying love for the gingerbread. The gingerbread know you love it. The gingerbread loves everyone. All hail the gingerbread.

Dear Mr. Acid, I love to rant! My staff say " oh, fuck, what is the old man on about now ! . I wish he would just shut up !" I am careful not to rant on the board because I post under my own name and I have no desire for another Chef to come down here with his entire brigade and kick the crap out of me. ( I also post with my restaurant name - they could quickly find me ! ) But, that being said, I do love a good rant ! So, rant on !

Holy Crap , have I been waiting to hear that !! A little background folks. Inanimate has his own website / blog - www.inanimate.com I google "Hamilton Street Grill" every now and then to see what is out there. This is the very first thing I ever saw about my restaurant online - go ahead, check it out, I'm Ok with that. Let's get this out in the open ! I did not realize there ever was an " Asshole Chef of the Year Award " and I certainly was not looking to compete. The long and short of it was we simply ran out of food. The train came off of the rails. Crash and burn, over and out. I have never had a day like that in my life and he was there to experience it. Every time I google, I see it. It teases me, I try to ignore it but it calls to me. I check it out every now and then. It is like a car crash - you don't want to look but you always do. You can't undo what has been done but this is one of the things that is out there that causes me to shake my head ! Bring it on, come on down and have the Gingerbread experience. Once that happens, you will be in my power forever !!! Not to worry, I never use my power for evil, only good ! ← Oh sure... you want him to come on down with his nasty comments but what about me? ← Shhhhh, it is all just a ploy. I am going to beat him about the head with a large rolling pin and then carve another notch in the handle ! Do you really want some of that too ? ← Let's not get into that shall we But I've actually just checked inanimate's website and any ref. to HSG seems to have vanished into thin air ← It will always be burned on my retina so not to worry. I do not recall a negative comment from you about the HSG - have I missed something ? Are you planning a major expose? Prepare me as I do not like surprises.

Holy Crap , have I been waiting to hear that !! A little background folks. Inanimate has his own website / blog - www.inanimate.com I google "Hamilton Street Grill" every now and then to see what is out there. This is the very first thing I ever saw about my restaurant online - go ahead, check it out, I'm Ok with that. Let's get this out in the open ! I did not realize there ever was an " Asshole Chef of the Year Award " and I certainly was not looking to compete. The long and short of it was we simply ran out of food. The train came off of the rails. Crash and burn, over and out. I have never had a day like that in my life and he was there to experience it. Every time I google, I see it. It teases me, I try to ignore it but it calls to me. I check it out every now and then. It is like a car crash - you don't want to look but you always do. You can't undo what has been done but this is one of the things that is out there that causes me to shake my head ! Bring it on, come on down and have the Gingerbread experience. Once that happens, you will be in my power forever !!! Not to worry, I never use my power for evil, only good ! ← Oh sure... you want him to come on down with his nasty comments but what about me? ← Shhhhh, it is all just a ploy. I am going to beat him about the head with a large rolling pin and then carve another notch in the handle ! Do you really want some of that too ?

Holy Crap , have I been waiting to hear that !! A little background folks. Inanimate has his own website / blog - www.inanimate.com I google "Hamilton Street Grill" every now and then to see what is out there. This is the very first thing I ever saw about my restaurant online - go ahead, check it out, I'm Ok with that. Let's get this out in the open ! I did not realize there ever was an " Asshole Chef of the Year Award " and I certainly was not looking to compete. The long and short of it was we simply ran out of food. The train came off of the rails. Crash and burn, over and out. I have never had a day like that in my life and he was there to experience it. Every time I google, I see it. It teases me, I try to ignore it but it calls to me. I check it out every now and then. It is like a car crash - you don't want to look but you always do. You can't undo what has been done but this is one of the things that is out there that causes me to shake my head ! Bring it on, come on down and have the Gingerbread experience. Once that happens, you will be in my power forever !!! Not to worry, I never use my power for evil, only good !

Sheesh, I do a six hour shift and my feet feel like they've walked from here to the moon. But 16 to 20?! I feel for you Neil. It's great that you're up 60-65%! Your numbers for Jan. must be closing in on a summer month! (My mom just called and said "we don't talk about money, dear.") ← Yes, Andrew , we do not normally talk about it but as it is a major part of the relationship between all involved, it is no secret. We all know what we paid for our meal and we all know you see a $2.50 tip per head ( at 10 % - math being my strong point ! ) My numbers for January are a couple of bucks off of December ! Again, how do you plan for that !

It certainly has been interesting reading the boards over the last couple of weeks as restaurants and diners collide in the Dine Out event. I will speak for myself and say that this Dine Out has been a bit overwhelming. We had a great year last year and did some projections based off of those numbers. I took into account that there are quite a few more restaurants in town jumping on the experience and new restaurants open that will dilute the overall effect. I took into account that some restaurants are offering $25 and others $35 menues. I based a bit of growth in my restaurant on the $25 price point that would be countered with the growiing number of venues. I think the event jumped up about 40 more restaurants this year ( perhaps someone from Tourism Vancouver can confirm there numbers - you have my e-mail and I know you are watching ! ) I imagined that our numbers would stay flat, year on year. Was I wrong ! By the time Thursday rolls around, we will be up over last year between 60 and 65 %. How do you plan for that ? No warning ! Too late to hire anymore people ( even if you did, they would just be banging into things ! ) ! Can't rent another walk in cooler ! All you can do is batten down the hatches and ride out the storm ! What to do ? Stop taking reservations ? We did ! And people still show up ! People who have reservations up their numbers on the day of ! Don't get me wrong. This is a great problem to have in the early months of the year. The downside is that sometimes restaurants have under delivered. It is not a unique problem to just the restaurant industry. Shit happens, large orders for widgets come in and the order has to be filled, whatever business you are in, shit happens and you get overwhelmed. Imagine you are working the jewelery counter at a large department store and you wake up in some alternate universe where everyday is Christmas Eve and thousands of crazed husbands are begging for your help in getting the right gift for their wives ! Hey, don't cry for me, but that is just a glimpse into my own personal "Twilight Zone" Some places have been able to handle it better than others( David Hawkworth - the new gold standard ! ) , but believe me, everyone is trying, but just worn down to the nub, exhausted to the very inner core of their being. No one sets out to dissappoint. People in this industry love what they do and are very passionate about it - we see it on this board everyday. My staff are baffled as to how I can keep working 16 to 20 hour days again and again ( today being a little slower than others and having a couple more staff one so I can post on egullet ! ). You just have to. You have no choice. It will be over soon. And then we can get back to our normal, everyday business. I realize that there are many dining options in this town and why should someone spend money at a place that has not lived up to expectations - hey, everyone works hard for their money - I totally respect that. I have seen a couple a negative experiences on the boards in the last couple of days. I for one can't wait for things to get back to normal ( although my bank account loves double the action ), a regular steady pace in which those who love what they do can exceed your expectations and make your dining experience a glowing and positive one. Nobody opens a restaurant to underwhelm and dissapoint. If that was our goal, we would have been politicians. I am glad everybody has had a good time getting out and trying places they might not normally have and eaten things they might not normally have eaten. As serious foodies, we have to take the whole Dine Out with a grain of salt ( sea salt, fleur de sel ? ), glean from the all the posts and boards what we can and let everyone get back to normal. I for one look forward to seeing my kids again !

But so much of it ?

I just had a long chat with Sean. He has been a little busy, both at the restaurants ( He has three operations going ) and he has moved house. He has tried to keep informed about your posts / conversations / concerns / critiques. He assures me that he will be back "online" and respond to everyone in a couple of days. He wanted to say that he was aware of what was being written, just unable to respond as they were still in the unpacking stages. Neil

If I didn't tell you, then who??? Glad I could help. A. ← Hey , if you can't use egullet to get a reso during Dine Out, extra gingerbread pudding or a little help from your friends, what good is it ?

First, I would have to teach mine to walk upright !

As I sit here and read this, I too am thinking to myself - self - I wonder if anyone has sent Sean a PM regarding their Heather experience ? The poor bugger might be just too busy to check and this will come as a bit of a surprise / blow when he reads this. A quick little PM might have gotten the chef to check his seasoning levels. I realize that this forum is to communicate our experiences but as Sean is one of us and our most gracious host at the cheese tasting, how about a little heads up ? I know that I have served soup that was too salty for some people ! Right Arne !!! And I reacted right away - by beating the cooks with a large rolling pin about the head. Communication - the key to success and a quick beating about the head !

Lots of info here. I am sourcing out stabilizers with local baking supplier. Why no canned juice ? I normally squeeze a case of Ruby grapefruits but was thinking of using a 1 litre boxed juice. Neil