Truth be told: Where've you eaten lately? (Part 2)

[Vancouver]

Pocions Cafe down on South East Marine for the stuffed cabbage. The 2 rolls were stuffed with a blend of beef, rice, and various spices and bathed in a rather simple tomato sauce. It was served piping hot by the extremely friendly staff. With a little pepper added these were a good rendition of the eastern european favourite. They also had perogie on the menu, but I did not get to sample.

Tiem bahn dong khanh bakery on Kingsway for a Bahn mi (more details at: Bahn Mi thread) and a durian coconut bun.

Fatburger for a vanilla milkshake per Neil's suggestion. Best of your life? Really? It was good for a fast food shake - definitely. Best in class? Maybe not. The whipped cream they put on top was the standard from a can variety. For best in class, it would have to be the real stuff, no? The shake itself was creamy and quite thick.

Sam Po for 1/4 of a Ling sized portion of BBQ Pork. The seasoning had a slightly larger anise kick than I have had elsewhere - and I liked that. Wonderful price too - the half pound only cost $2.10!

Ocean 6 Seventeen for the Flat Iron steak. The chimichura sauce was the highlight with a distinct citrus kick.

Cheers!

[Daddy-A]

Pocions Cafe down on South East Marine for the stuffed cabbage.  The 2 rolls were stuffed with a blend of beef, rice, and various spices and bathed in a rather simple tomato sauce.  It was served piping hot by the extremely friendly staff.  With a little pepper added these were a good rendition of the eastern european favourite.  They also had perogie on the menu, but I did not get to sample.

MD ... so glad you made it down there! Make sure you go back for the perogies ... and their borscht is really good too!

Ocean 6 Seventeen for the Flat Iron steak.  The chimichura sauce was the highlight with a distinct citrus kick.

My ONLY exception for my disapproval of the current steak-frites craze. Soooo good!

A.

[nwyles]

Fatburger for a vanilla milkshake per Neil's suggestion. Best of your life? Really? It was good for a fast food shake - definitely. Best in class? Maybe not. The whipped cream they put on top was the standard from a can variety. For best in class, it would have to be the real stuff, no? The shake itself was creamy and quite thick.

I had the chocolate, no whip. Really good. Try the chocolate. Who drinks vanilla shakes ?? That's weird.

[Vancouver]

Ok, ok, I'll try the chocolate without whip.

I had read someplace that they just add chocolate syrup to the vanilla shake to make the chocolate, so I thought I'd try the pure thing.

Cheers!

[gerald]

Ok, ok, I'll try the chocolate without whip. 

I had read someplace that they just add chocolate syrup to the vanilla shake to make the chocolate, so I thought I'd try the pure thing. 

Cheers!

←

Actually from what my spies have told me, all of their milkshakes are vanilla ice cream with flavoured syrups

[Vancouver]

So Neil, I take it the chocolate syrup doesn't give that awful syrup flavour that it sometimes does at other places?

Cheers!

[nwyles]

So Neil, I take it the chocolate syrup doesn't give that awful syrup flavour that it sometimes does at other places?

Cheers!

←

Hey, I am not over analyizing it !. It was a real good shake ! I would hope they have good syrup as it is one of the very few things that they make there. Could have been Hershey ?

It certainly did not have that strange aftertaste that a McDonald's shake has, you know, that you can still taste 1 hour later.

[kurtisk]

It certainly did not have that strange aftertaste that a McDonald's shake has, you know, that you can still taste 1 hour later.

←

Yeah Neil, I seem to recall never being able to get through a McDonald's shake before the cup gets ultra sweaty and starts breaking down right in your hands. But the "flavour" sure lingers...

We are SO gonna get in trouble for getting off-topic!

k.

[Zucchini Mama]

Well, I've had such good luck lately with eating out, and I'm so careful about where I spend my money on food, I guess odds are I'd hit a couple of duds sooner or later. The first is a place called La Petite France on Arbutus near Broadway. I'd never heard of it before, but was drawn in by the sight of a large group of women having lunch with what looked like nice big salads.

The food is pre-prepared and it looked good. I got my son a pastry filled with ground beef and I ordered the mushroom crepe for myself. The server asked me if it was all right to take ten minutes to heat the crepe in the oven and I said it wasn't a problem.

My son's meal was basically a glorified sausage role, which tasted fine, but was not worth five dollars. My crêpes (about $8) were soggy, overheated (obviously nuked when that's not what they'd said they'd do) and so bland I almost cried. I love mushrooms and this even had chanterelles and morelles, but how they could make them so tasteles, I don't know. Our salads looked like the leftover cores of romaine that they'd picked off the sides to make other people's salads and the dressing was very bland.

So we tried to console ourself with dessert. My son wanted a grenouille- which is a rum-ball confection covered with green icing and made to look like a frog. It's cute, but the inside had white chalky bits inside and it was not appetizing. I had a couple of chocolate truffles which were good.

When the server asked how we'd like our food. I told her exactly what I thought of mine, and her smile froze and she said "Well, thanks for telling us."

Then I went to Ebi Ten for octapus balls today and although the octapus was tender, the batter was mushy and slimy.

Bummer.

Zuke

[*Deborah*]

Wednesday dinner: My mum and I went to HSG because it's nearby and we were quibbling, deciding, and I said, "Neil's is where we had that gingerbread pudding" "What? Oh, no question then." I had the filet mignon tournedos with béarnaise and garlic mashed and random veggies, delicious, and she had the smaller sirloin and a caesar, and we finished up with GBP (of course). Wednesday, of course, is Neil's night off, so we didn't get to say hello (count yourself lucky, Neil: it really means my mother didn't have a chance to pontificate at you about anything ), and what was it we drank...the Tinhorn Creek Collector's Merlot, something like that. 2001. Pretty good! not as big and bad as I might prefer, but it was fine.

Thursday dinner: both parents and I stopped in at The Smoking Dog en route to the Bard on the Beach. My dad's plane was delayed, so while waiting for the parents, I ordered a nice bottle of Bordeaux, a 1999(?) Canon-Moueix Canon-Fronsac, on the recommendation of Adam. It had a lovely nose, very smooth on the tongue. There was no Table d'Hôte menu, but my mother and I managed to order the same things nonetheless: pâté maison served with cornichons and olives to begin, and the pasta du jour: veal and truffle ravioli in a sauce beurre blanc with chanterelles and morels. Que c'était délicieux! My dad began with a salad of some sort, and enjoyed a pork chop prepared with a wine/ginger sauce. He has been in Unalaska for the past six months, less about a week each month, and has grown less fond of halibut than once he was. For dessert, my mother had a chocolate fondant cake (Mummy to me: "what's fondant?" Me: "goo!" the waiter concurred), my dad had the pear sorbet, which was delicious, and I had profiteroles with a very good pastry cream inside.

Friday dinner: we were scheduled to go to West for the early prix-fixe before the Tom Jones show, but they decided they weren't into the menu items. Chambar was the next choice, for proximity to the venue, but we couldn't get a reservation, and the lounge or bar would not have suited. So we ended up at Lucy Mae Brown, for proximity to my house. My mother started with the tart with sausage and apple this time, which she loved as much as the last one she tried, I had the seared foie gras (surprising, isn't it ) and my dad had the spinach salad with goat cheese and roasted beets, which he enjoyed. For mains, my mother had linguine with white clams, I had a pasta that I can't remember how to spell with a duck and orange sauce (actually kind of similar flavour to the pasta I had the night before...I must have been craving sweet pasta) and my dad had the chicken breast with organic vegetables. We began with a bottle of Primitivo that, while not off, was not to any of our taste (we have had several Primitivos that we enjoyed before). When even I of the lame palate couldn't drink it, I asked for the wine list back and we got a bottle of Gran Feudo instead, which was satisfactory. We should have just had the Pirramima in the first place. For dessert, my mother had the sticky toffee pudding, my dad the palette of sorbets (darling presentation, the dish is like an artist's palette), and I just went with a Monte Cristo, as I was feeling under-alcoholized and under-caffeinated. (The Tom Jones show was tons of fun, by the way, he sings just as well as he ever did!)

Edited June 19, 2005 by *Deborah* (log)

[Ling]

In the past week:

Jang Mo Jib for late-night snacks of chap chee, chicken skewers, and mackerel.

Big Rock Brewpub for drinks and snacks before Batman Begins.

Cactus Club for drinks and dessert after a healthful dinner of chips and carrot cake at my friend's house.

Saturday

Dinner 1:

Dinner at Hapa Izakaya: My date ordered the sparkling sake (Indigo Wind) and the sake that comes in a the hollowed bamboo. We had the takoyaki, the daikon and seaweed salad, the pork buns (big pieces of unctuous, braised pork belly that we folded into the steamed flat buns, and then dipped in the broth...easily the best dish of the evening), the ebi chili-mayo (Shiru-Bay's version is much, much better--larger prawns, lighter batter, and a richer mayonnaise sauce).

Dinner 2:

I shared the crab dip and this salmon dish with rice pilaf at Cactus Club...it was the only Richmond restaurant we could find open at 12a.m. (besides No. 9)The rice pilaf was very strange--it came soaked in a sweet and sour sauce with pieces of diced hot pepper in it. The salmon was a bit overcooked and not very moist.

Sunday

I had another date at Morton's. I had the giant shrimp cocktail, the best ribeye I'd ever eaten, and the Godiva chocolate mousse cake. I drank a pinot noir. My date drank orange juice because he's allergic to alcohol. He had the porterhouse, shared the sauteed wild mushrooms with me, and finished with the NY cheesecake. The appetizer, side, and desserts were quite good, but the steaks were the real stars. I've never had such good meat in my life.

Edited June 20, 2005 by Ling (log)

[Zucchini Mama]

Lunch at HSG today with my son to celebrate that fact that preschool's out. We had coconut shrimp and yam fries, followed by GBP. The meal was delish. I really liked that the coconut shrimp weren't served with a sweet sauce, the way I've had them at other places. I like the more savory approach because the subtle sweetness of the coconut is enough on its own without more added on top. I had a pear cider, and chatted with that there celebrity chef that hides out there occasionally.

Then who should come in desperately seeking kolachy, but a hot and flustered WaiterBlog! Hope you found what you were looking for Andrew. We headed down to the Roundhouse where a couple of my friends have pieces in the exhibition there. In the morning we watched Daina Warren braid hair in her teepee and in the afternoon we did a workshop with Peter Morin, writing stories and creating images out of our text. My son created pictures mixing aboriginal and Harry Potter motifs.

By the way, we also discovered a gem of a comic book shop right beside the HSG and they even gave us a free Batman toy. I also love that new Book Warehouse Store in the same block. Oh boy, Hamilton Street = Temptation Alley.

Tonight, I headed off to the City Food Policy Forum and the cheese plate was out of this world-just a mind-boggling variety of local cheese. The wraps and veggies were catered by Cook Studio Food Services, who create training and employment opportunities for youth. The event was so inspiring-all these vibrant people working on food politics. I got really excited about the UBC Farm. They even have a Mayan garden and a Musqueum Garden. They've got summer camps for kids, and yes, they need support so that the land doesn't get turned into condos. Perhaps they could provide Neil with veggies and he could be the UBC farm poster-boy! They could even make a nude calendar (with a few strategically placed zucchinis).

Zuke

Edited June 24, 2005 by Zucchini Mama (log)

[Ling]

Monday:

-wine tasting and appetizers at the HSG...my favourite was the salmon tartare with the vegetarian caviar

-tuna springrolls at Umami

Wednesday

-martinis and late-night snacks at Tatlow's

Thursday

Oh boy...here goes:

From 8:30-11:00, I was downing $2 gin and tonics, wine and the scallop and chorizo appetizer Chivana's on W. 4th. The dish was a good snack-size portion of food--three scallops cooked to medium, with slices of chorizo served on some watercress. There was chive oil and roasted red pepper puree on the plate, and the dish was sprinkled with black sesame seeds. Chivana's was pretty quiet for a Thursday night, which was nice because we were a little rowdy.

From 11:00-12:15, we were at Martini's drinking double margarhitas (strawberry, lime, and blueberry...I tried them all.) We shared a plate of buffalo chicken wings (my friend called them "anorexic wings"...they were a little on the small side) with blue cheese dressing.

For those of you who know me, I was already sufficiently sauced by the time I started drinking my 2nd gin and tonic at Chivana's...thus, I was an easy target when they decided to drag me to a place of ill-repute. Let's just say there was some gyrating on poles going on. At this point, my friends were buying me Black Russians and shots of Soho. I had to be dragged in and out of the club.

At 2:30, we were at Congee Noodle House eating plates of stir-fried noodles, and this one dish that was just really good, simple Chinese comfort food--large dices of tofu, and chicken thigh accented with salted fish on rice.

Edited June 24, 2005 by Ling (log)

[Ling]

Yesterday:

C Restaurant for the amazing Sustainability Luncheon. Amazing food, great service, beautiful view. My favourite dish was the seared scallop with the pork shoulder and morels, followed closely by the sweet English pea soup with BC spot prawns and pickled ramps (the slight tang was the perfect foil to the sweet shellfish...just incredible.)

HSG: tastes of Daddy-A's brisket, and an oyster wrapped in grated Yukon Gold potato, fried, that someone couldn't finish

Morton's of Chicago for a late dinner. We had the Caesar salad, the shrimp Alexander (battered and baked in a buttery wine sauce), filet mignon, creamed spinach, potatoes Lyonnaise, and a molten Godiva chocolate cake with vanilla ice-cream. My friend ordered the same things, except he had the NY cheesecake. The meal was a steal (with our coupon--$99 for 2 people), but I really prefer the ribeye over the filet. I drank an Australian Cab-Sauv.

HSG: one more stop at 11pm at night for a take-out order of gingerbread pudding. I opened the container in the car and almost had a heart attack when I saw the size of that thing. Warm and gooey after a quick heat-up in the microwave. Delicious as always. My date couldn't stop talking about how good it smelled.

Edited June 27, 2005 by Ling (log)

[the g-man]

Yesterday:

C Restaurant for the amazing Sustainability Luncheon. Amazing food, great service, beautiful view. My favourite dish was the seared scallop with the pork shoulder and morels, followed closely by the sweet English pea soup with BC spot prawns and pickled ramps (the slight tang was the perfect foil to the sweet shellfish...just incredible.)

HSG: tastes of Daddy-A's brisket, and an oyster wrapped in grated Yukon Gold potato, fried, that someone couldn't finish 

Morton's of Chicago for a late dinner. We had the Caesar salad, the shrimp Alexander (battered and baked in a buttery wine sauce), filet mignon, creamed spinach, potatoes Lyonnaise, and a molten Godiva chocolate cake with vanilla ice-cream. My friend ordered the same things, except he had the NY cheesecake. The meal was a steal (with our coupon--$99 for 2 people), but I really prefer the ribeye over the filet. I drank an Australian Cab-Sauv.

HSG: one more stop at 11pm at night for a take-out order of gingerbread pudding. I opened the container in the car and almost had a heart attack when I saw the size of that thing.  Warm and gooey after a quick heat-up in the microwave. Delicious as always. My date couldn't stop talking about how good it smelled. 

←

My stomach lives vicariously through Ling.

[Irishgirl]

Yesterday:

C Restaurant for the amazing Sustainability Luncheon. Amazing food, great service, beautiful view. My favourite dish was the seared scallop with the pork shoulder and morels, followed closely by the sweet English pea soup with BC spot prawns and pickled ramps (the slight tang was the perfect foil to the sweet shellfish...just incredible.)

HSG: tastes of Daddy-A's brisket, and an oyster wrapped in grated Yukon Gold potato, fried, that someone couldn't finish 

Morton's of Chicago for a late dinner. We had the Caesar salad, the shrimp Alexander (battered and baked in a buttery wine sauce), filet mignon, creamed spinach, potatoes Lyonnaise, and a molten Godiva chocolate cake with vanilla ice-cream. My friend ordered the same things, except he had the NY cheesecake. The meal was a steal (with our coupon--$99 for 2 people), but I really prefer the ribeye over the filet. I drank an Australian Cab-Sauv.

HSG: one more stop at 11pm at night for a take-out order of gingerbread pudding. I opened the container in the car and almost had a heart attack when I saw the size of that thing.  Warm and gooey after a quick heat-up in the microwave. Delicious as always. My date couldn't stop talking about how good it smelled. 

←

My stomach lives vicariously through Ling.

←

Mine too. I wish i had the cash and the time to eat out as much as she does.

My last three meals away from home would consist of staff meals at work:

Sunday: Chicken stir fry with rice

Saturday: Wor Won Ton Soup (Excellent)

Friday: Taco Salad (also good)

We eat simply but well. One of these days i will be able to make it out to an egullet dinner/function.....

[kurtisk]

Yesterday we went to Cafe Artigiano on Hastings where I had a wicked Leek/Onion/Goat Cheese/Pancetta Tart with a (needless to say) incredible latte. I forget what my wife had because I was so consumed with my own food.

The night before, we ordered in from Panago, who we feel are the most high-end of the low-end pizza places. The Mediterranean Veggie pizza is awesome, with thin crust (requested), Kalamata olives, sundried tomatoes, baby spinach, red peppers, mozza and feta. Of all the biggies, Panago's yer best bet- I swear.

Before that it was (oh, boy) Swiss Chalet with my parents in Edmonton. I had the Messy Chicken Sandwich ( from website; Our fresh Rotisserie Chicken is piled high between two slices of bread and smothered with Swiss Chalet gravy. Served with Fresh Cut Fries and fresh vegetables.).

Secretly, between you and me, it was juicy, seasoned very well and dee-licious.

I feel so lowbrow.

k.

[nwyles]

Last three places :

"C" for lunch on Sat. See other threads for heaps of praise piled upon each other.

White Spot for pancakes on Sunday morning after wife ran Scotia half marathon. She was running, I was sleeping. Perfect.

And a trip down memory lane : ended up in New West late Sunday so grabbed a pizza at Me & Ed's with the kids. Had a Soprano ( I think as in "The Soprano's " )

Anyways, proscuitto, bocconcini, fresh tomatoes, basil chiffonade, EVO, spices etc. on the thin crust with no edge. Devoured it. Loved it. Used to go there lots in my yute. Forgot how good it really was. I think we will make another trip there one day as the kids liked it as well. Got to stand up up on the bench and watch the pizzas being made. This allows for five minutes of sanity. Worth it !!

[Chocoholic]

After two weeks of traveling for work (UK, Holland, Florida) and much eating on the good old expense account it was time for a jet-lagged and decidedly fuzzy weekend of light fare. Well, that was the plan anyway

Friday was my first day back, happily reuinited with the missus and Chocoholic Jr. We ended up at Red Door that evening with some friends, sitting on the patio, working our way through their menu and sharing the plates. Their Bellini-style drink (I forget the name) surely works when sitting in the sun while your brain thinks it is 3am. I vaguely remember their tea smoked duck in crepes and the 'shaking beef' being particularly tasty. Jr. entertained the other guests by running up and down the patio and climbing on empty chairs in attempts to reach interesting items on the tables.

Saturday was the HSG beer tasting and brisket munching.

Sunday I cooked (Granville Island fresh noodles, mushrooms, asparagus, cream sauce...yum), Monday we got take out from Jumbo Sushi, an old favorite. Yaki soba, udon in soup, gyoza and sushi rolls always work. The little one likes to take his sushi apart, mix it with the noodles and pour some water on it to make a tasty concoction he then enthusiastically devours. Hurray for hardwood floors!

[Daddy-A]

Saturday was the HSG beer tasting and brisket munching.

Is that a euphamism?

Back to more of the same ol' routine for me this week.

Tropika across the street from the office for a bowl of Karay Ayam Noodle Soup. Kinda sad that a warm bowl of soup is the perfect lunch for the second last day in June. Roti as well ... perfect as always.

Pastis yesterday for Mooshmouse's birthday lunch. Gotta say she looks pretty good for 46! [ducks, runs & hides] Enjoyed the Salade Nicoise which was more of what I was looking for than Boeuf Bourguignon which the others enjoyed. I must say I was a little surprised to see the salad dressed in foam! Damn tasty foam, but still it was kinda wierd.

Shiro for Lunch Combo B. Yum!! Chicken Karaage, sashimi, tempura and an extra helping of gommae.

A.

[BCinBC]

I am very very sad that I had to miss the C + HSG events, but I was able to make it up with some Okanagan golfing. Obviously not an equal match culinarily, but I bet the fun quotient was "on par". Ha ha, I got a million of 'em folks.

Friday night: Sage Pub in Osoyoos

Okay, if I could just talk about the food I would - I had a mushroom swiss burger and we had really a lot of beer (added to a lot of beer on the course prior). Burger was good, waitress was great... But man do they have some crazy ideas about entertainment. They had this one guy playing guitar and singing to pre-recorded background music. Like karaoke, but it's one guy all the time. If you used to listen to CHRX at 600 on your AM dial, you know all the songs. And the guy gives commentary between songs on life, love and politics. The best (worst) part was his name. "Party Hog." Seriously, WTF people!?!

Saturday: Fairview Mountain GC in Oliver

First off, we had the best hot dogs at the turn here. Really great, fresh off the grill hot dogs with a bevvy of condiments (I had ketchup, mustard and a lot of pickles). Yow, these are good dogs. In fact, these should be on the Best Dogs thread, except they're in Oliver.

Then after the round, we sat on the deck and enjoyed a decent dinner. Nothing groundbreaking, but solid food at cheap prices. I think the 3-course was $26. I had a steak and BBQ chicken combo, the steak was cooked to a perfect MR, but the chicken I think was just a poached breast, finished on the grill with some sauce. More beer. I think we were there for about 5 hours. The worst (best) part was some poor couple was having their wedding reception inside, and as it turned out, our table was immediately behind the head table, separated only by picture windows. I wonder how the wedding video turned out, cause I know I'd love to have had 10 drunken jackasses in the background of all our speeches.

Anyway, they have quite a nice facility so if you can actually find the place hidden within the orchards, give it a try for lunch. It is close to several vineyards which is a bonus, Tinhorn and Burrowing Owl spring to mind.

Sunday: Osoyoos GC

Lunch on the deck, but just a clubhouse for me. The sandwich was really good, thinking about the tomatoes just now I started salivating. But how can you screw up a clubhouse? Course itself is a bit meh, but again the room and deck are nice.

Technically my last meal out was at 5-Point on Main, but that is in another thread.

[*Deborah*]

Another three:

Dinner last night: Mooshmouse and I traipsed over to Hapa Izakaya for supper. I finally went! I was carrying my Hello Kitty knapsack, so I had to have a Hello Kitty cocktail! it was delicious, with vodka, and strawberry puree, and I'm not sure what else...Moosh and I started with garlicky edamame, and had fried rice with pork and kimchi, and this salmon sashimi and avocado dish served with nori, and a tuna sashimi in a sesame sauce, not sure what else was in there but it was divine. We also had (obviously) ebi with chili mayo (and I'm with Lorna, this was good but I prefer the heavier batter at Shiru-Bay)...I think that's all? For dessert we shared the matcha tiramisu (oh, yum!) and the ice cream with red bean sauce and rice cracker (oh, yum again!).

Then we went for a walk and then I stopped and tried the gelato at the Yaletown gelato place at Homer and Davie (we must have just missed Pao Pao and Yummy!): a split scoop of chocolate (lovely and creamy) and coconut (like having a Bounty bar!). A most satisfactory evening.

For lunch today, a bunch of us from my office went to Wilson's. Notwithstanding Mr. Maw's less than hearty recommendation, the boys wanted some meat for lunch, and I decided to come along, how bad can it be at lunch? Well. We sprung ourselves on them (party of 7) and they were quite nice about setting up a table for us. We ordered (two hamburgers, 4 steaks, and a steak salad). We waited...quite a while. It looked fine when it came; my french fries were good, and the burger looked pretty good, comes with cheese and bacon for 9.95. I asked if they could do the burger medium, but they don't do that. I guess it's just hard to make a burger juicy if you cook it well. It was a bit charcoaly for my taste, but I understand people like that. The burger on the whole wasn't bad though, if a bit dry. The steaks were another matter entirely; three of them were ordered medium rare, and one, medium. All were medium, pink in the middle but not red. The boys said they tasted OK though...being lunch time, nobody was interested in requesting a less-done steak. The salads, veggies, etc. all looked good. They bring you free refills on your pop, if that matters to you. Service was fine, our server brought us separate checks without a single quibble or grumble, and despite the menu warning, did not stick the dreaded 18% autograt on there.

Edited June 30, 2005 by *Deborah* (log)

[canucklehead]

Went down to Seattle for a weekend that kind of turned into a personal gavage and with my liver transformed into human foie gras. I have posted most of the details in the Seattle thread but I wanted to share(okay - gloat) a couple of things with the Vancouver forum.

First off Salumi - fantastic! All I can say is I went and you did'nt. HA! HA!

Porchetta Sandwhich and Salumi Salami Sandwich

Also got to try a SUPER fresh mozzarella - Buttara at Zoe's. OMG. It was so f-king fantastic, I would have hit Daddy-A over the head for another piece of it (okay - that's not a high threshold). No really - it was making me weep. Why can't this be made in BC? We got cows! We got cheesemakers! I want the BC Dairy Board to give us some answers now.

I noticed that hanger steak was on EVERY single menu on Seattle. No kidding - just look up the online menu of Brasa, Zoe, Le Pichet... it was everywhere! I think that HSG needs to consider a frontal assault of some sort. I was going to yell at the chefs - " What is this!? You think this is hanger steak? I know hanger steak. Hanger steak is a friend of mine... this sir, is no hanger steak."

I will be lying down for the next two days - concentrating on digesting my food.

[Keith Talent]

Two quick points. A) Salumi is worth the drive to Seattle in and of itself. I'll trade the citizens of the Emerald City Oyama, Amis des Frommage and throw in Go Fish for Salumi. Lemme know if you want to go ahead, Seattle.

And the burgers at Fairview Mountain could entirely be made with the prevelant marmots all over the course. Those are one strange patty. Maybe the best way to describe them is Spam made with bison? Or at least they have both the texture and taste of what I'd imagine bison Spam to taste like. Or marmot.

[BCinBC]

Keith: I didn't get to sample the burger at Fairview, but I totally concur that there are marmots all over the place. I mean I have never seen as many marmots combined in my life prior to that day on the course.

However, if the hot dogs are actually prairie dogs, then they are pretty delicious little rodents.

You sure have peaked my interest though. Next time I'm getting a dog and a burger at the turn.