nwyles

That is not a picture I want to see. I have to go and bleach my eyeballs now.

Nice menu James. Our New Years is a little simpler than that. We have a wedding booked in. They already got married and are having a cocktail reception at the retaurant. I could not be happier. 100 people have RSVP'd. Done. Booked. My juggling, no scrabling to find reso's etc. Smooth sailing. Love it. Three out of the past four years we have had full restaurant bookings for New Years. I have been a little bit spoiled. For those of you in the business , you know what I mean when I say it is "rookies" night out. Lots of young people, infrequent restaurant diners etc. People have an unreal expectation of what New Year's Eve will bring them. I am glad that I do not have to attend one of those parties that for $80.00 entrance fee you get - 1. in 2. a glass of Segura Vidas at midnight 3. paper hat Maybe I am just getting old ? Perhaps a little Grinchy. If I did not have a restaurant, , I would have friends over to the house, nice food, some lobsters, champagne, nice wine, kick back and relax !

Over at Fiction, Chef has been simmering a fantastic cassoulet to serve with his leg of duck confit and english pea stuffed marrowbone. I feel like I'm sneaking in the back door of a french farmhouse kitchen when I dig in! ← Wow, I think Chef Brian Fowke and I might have to pop over and have some tonight after work. Nice to see you on the board Sean , Cheers Neil

Lorna , you are bordering on being a stalker. First the ginerbread pudding obsession and now seeking out my picture at three in the morning. I guess it could be worse , Sam Salmon could be my stalker.

This is a fond memory when I went to UBC. There is (or was) a sandwich shop on the lower floor of the Student Union Building and there was this plump woman from New Zealand. She made great sandwiches, asked all the right questions ( she used to say "butta-mustaad-mayonaaaize" like it was one word ) great rye, black pepper and salt etc. Every now and then I think about popping out there for one ( or two ) sandwiches but I feel that it might have turned into a chain type sandwich shop or something and then the spell would be broken and I could never reflect on the great sandwiches again.

Please read first line of my post in coffee. When you drink as much as I do, it is just a delivery vehicle for caffine.

Cute story Neil. What coffee do you use at home? Is it available only to the restaurant, or can it be bought commercially? I can never seem to duplicate at home, coffee nearly as good as at higher-end restaurants. And no, I don't mean I want you to provide us coffee, as well as steak! ← I hate to say after all of the posts about fine Italian Coffee etc. but usually Seattle's Best , sometimes Starbucks. I feel so dirty. Forgive me.

Coffee - love it lots, drink tons, hot , cold , lukewarm , not too fussy, cream and sugar please. This is the morning coffee ritual in my house. ( and if you have read my other posts re: pancakes seven days a week , you know this is a true ritual ! ) We grind fresh beans everyday. When I say we , I mean the kids. They get the grinder out , fill it and take turns pressing the button. I have no illusions who is in charge of this. I tried once, when I had to get up very early, to grind my own beans. I am not an idiot ( Ok, sometimes I am ) , so I grabbed a bunch of towels and a pillow and placed this over the grinder to muffle the sound. I thought to myself " you are clever " ( hey , it was 6:00 in the morning , not the Mensa Club ) only to have my silenced shattered by a screaming 4 year old about "that's not your job , you don't do that , I do ". ( again and again ) Everybody was up now! even the neighbours. 6:00 A.M. did not make Joan happy when the kids normally sleep until 8:30 and I was out the door like a shot ! What have I learned from this ? A couple of packages of ground coffee from the restaurant in the cupboard for the days when I have meet the plumber at the restaurant at an ungodly hour. Everybody wins.

As far as I know , it will be along the same lines as the other High End food stores with a nice take away section. I have not wandered down that end of the street lately but my friend is the General Contractor on that job so I will post as to the possible opening date. N

Ok , I just got my Van Mag. Let the phone ring , do not disturb, I am reading ! Jamie , Great article , a real good read A crazy amount of lurkers in the last couple of days ! I am thinking everyone wants to see what the hub bub is all about. Be careful ! Once the gullet lures you in, there is no getting out. You will browse and come across an article that gets you going. Once you dip your toe in the water, you might as well jump in. Hope everyone signs up. P.S. Mr. Maw , the quote re: chowhound looking like " cavemen drawings " was mine. Nice mentions of HSG at start and end of article but this would have given you a chance to mention me in the middle as well We only have 5600 posts. ( and climbing at an alarming rate - I think that our board is one of the most active in the world aside from New York ) Cheers Neil " potatoe head" Wyles

I just want to chime in a quick question or statement. When this debate was going in in B.C. , I heard a chap from Alberta come on the radio as a guest and make an interesting statement that got me thinking. Just to be clear, my experience with the BCLCB is mostly at 39th and Cambie and I know what I am doing in the store, know who to ask for help and know which registers to cash out at. It is a generally positive experience. The statement that this chap made was that the Alberta Government, although still making the same amount money from taxation of alcohol, were seeing that profit ( and that is what it is all about ) eroded by increaded "policing costs ". More inspectors, education, monitoring private store etc. Lots of headaches with stores selling to minors, bootleg booze, payola, back door deals etc. With our system, the clerk at the liquor store is not motivated by profit, making the sales, moving the product etc. His / her mandate is to do what management says. They are not selling to minors, drunks etc. There is a certain amount of monitoring going on right at the checkout stand. There is no wheeling and dealing on price etc. No deadbeat customers as it is all C.O.D. James, I am intereted by the statement that Alberta makes twice as much money on alcohol. With a centralized distribution system, they would. They are not in the staffing business, retail business, no retail leases to worry about. There must be a downside otherwise all Provinces would be using this system. I am curious to find out what they might be. I do not seem to recall what derailed our privitization process. I stopped being interested in it long before that. Would we have more selection ? The market will dictate that. If there is a demend, the product will be there. Nobody, private or government want dead inventory on the shelf. Are there difficulties getting new products listed ? Sure is. Will that go away ? I do not know. Someone will have to decide what products come and go from the Province. Probably the same old mandarins making that call. Interesting thread, hope to see lots of action here.

I no I don spel sew gud. I alsew hav phat phingers. I wich this had spel cheque. I yam trying to typ a lot faster.

Is there no computer genius out there to post this stuff. We can all cook a potatoe 10,000 ways but can anybody post this article. Do we have to wait for Jamie to bail us out ? My Van Mag will arrive next week and I can't wait that long. Oh , I know what you are thinking - " Hey Neil, why don't you post it " Cuz I do steaks and chicken and that's it !

I saw this episode last night. That electrician sure takes the cake. Good for them to take on the "general contractor" role in their own restaurant. Joan and I did the same thing and there is no experience like it. I know where every curcuit is, every shut off valve for plumbing etc. It does not leave you at the mercy of retarded electricians like their's. A $400,000 budget. Wow, I could only dream of that sort of budget. We opened the HSG on a budget of $125,000. That included rent and rental deposit, opening inventory and payroll, everything. No bent nail went unstraightened, lots of recycled material etc, but what an education. I also saw the Gord Ramsay Kitchen Nightmares - I hesitate to post on that but it was a good laugh.

I have a DCS at home and the infrared broiler is great. I have a salamander on my Garland stove at the restaurant and I have not turned it on in 7 years. I found it to be way hot in my kitchen and I did not need it that often. I have three ovens, ten burners, a griddle, a grill and a fryer. We can get along without a salamander in a restaurant. On that note, people can not believe we do not have a microwave. I can't for the life of me think of what I would use it for.

I had a "guest" just last week that had to be spoken to regarding his swearing in the dining room like a " drunken sailor ". He started to spout about how much money he was spending and isn't the customer always right ? I had to tell him that it did not really matter how much money he spent if it was causing a discomfort to other guests. He did not understand that! I also had to inform him that the customer is not always right in my little enlightened dicatorship, but he is always the customer. We treat everyone with respect, including him even after his poor behavior. That he seemed to understand.

The price advertised in the window has not changed in 5 years. I have never seen a soul there. Looks like a mafia front like the pork shop in the " Sopranos "

How long is too long. I waited for you all night at HSG. I finally had to leave. I will have to do a reload on Hanger this week. N

Now I know that you might think I might be a bit biased in my opinion and you are probably right. I will always give a second chance as I would always want a second chance. It is not a perfect science and we are not launching the space shuttle, it is just a meal. Reservations get lost, meals get burned, staff don't show up etc. I will copy a response to a woman who wanted to book one of my wine tastings - she calls at 12:30 on Friday and then sends an e-mail about me to her friend. She thinks I was rude That was my response to a person who thought it short and short sighted of me to ask her to call back. Like said , not an excuse , just my reality. This is my passion and my job. Sometimes things go wrong. I always hope it does not but I can't be everywhere for everything, Lord knows I try. I can't control every word out of the servers mouth, every item out of the kitchen etc. You have to let the people who work for you and with you carry some of the load. Sometimes they drop the ball. We have had our issues here but you have to work through them. Think about where you work - unless you are a brain surgeon, there is room for error, shit happens etc. Things need to be put into perspective. It is a $20 meal. Don't get me wrong, I earn my money the hard way too and do not like to waste it on bad food or bad service but I am a little more generous before I condemn a place. If you go into a situation looking for something to be wrong, you will find it. If you go into it with the expectation of a nice meal out with friends or family, good conversation and no cleaning up, you will usually be pleased. After reviewing this post, I have come up with a conclusion - Lower your expectations, you will be happier. Just kidding, great post, can't wait to read responses

I fear that I might have something to do with this. I started buying my buns from the Santa Barbara Market about 2 months ago. Seriously though , does anyone remember the big flap about the Starbucks opening up a few years back. It was going to close because nobody on The Drive would buy from a big American Giant etc. It is still there and busy everyday. I would imagine that Cobs will do Ok as The Drive ( contrary to apperanaces ) has become less militant. Houses are pushing up to the million dollar range off of the Drive and that makes the area a bit more gentrified as the uber pierced, ripped jeans, no job, save the world from everything can't afford to live there anymore( or grew up and got jobs)

There is also some Wagu from B.C. Trimpac meats in Vancouver has a line on some. Let me know which specific cuts you are looking for and I can find out price. It is very expensive. Neil

I am not sure how many Kegs are on the Intercity Program. I know it was a big blow to Intercity to lose them a few years back. I do know that most of the stores ( all of the corperate stores and most franchises ) are on a meat program with their broadline distributor. In Vancouver , that means Sysco for the Kegs. I am an old Keg guy and I do like the Intercity Program. I was always able to get any issues cleared up asap as they were right here in town. I remember when the Keg made the big announcement in about 1989 or so " We are now using Triple A Beef " - it was a big deal. Lots of internal promotion and stuff. It only might have been me but I thought to myself " then what the heck have we been using ? " Never got a clear response on that question. I will post when the hanger steak arives and will research what to do with it and will be able to tell how much re-working it will need once it arrives. Dear peppyre - I am sorry that you were hoodwinked with a skirt steak. Judging from the resistance I am getting re: Hanger steak , I would imagine lots of people are getting the same treatment. Dear Dodger , stand up and indentify yourself. If you have 15 years experience as a supplier, you should rank yourself amongst the professionals. You notice that we all post with our identity clear. Ie: d.hawksworth nwyles Chef Fowke and the thinly veneered JamieMaw etc. Neil

I would imagine it would come in frozen. I have no insight just a guess based on only 1 per cattle etc.

Ok , here is the deal on Hanger Steak. My supplier can bring some in for me. $3.00 per LB Not bad. Here is the kicker. 65 pound case. No breaking it. You have to take the whole thing. That is lots of steak. Well over 100 portion There would need to be a serious egullet egorge going on for us to move that much steak. Any thoughts ?

Coop, just for a laugh, what is this chap's background / pedigree. How long have they been open ? I mean, great set the bar high but to say your food is just as good as Rob Feenie's - ( I do not want a discussion on what influence the Sous Chef's at Lumiere have on Rob's food etc - he is the boss. period ) That might be setting yourself up for a fall. Have any of the big food mags or TV show discovered this place. Is Maple Ridge the new Culinary Mecca ? Lets see how this plays out.