Embarrasing admission

[appreciator]

Felicia's is a little joint down the street (to the west, opposite side of the street) from Da Francesco, on Hastings...it is in the Punk Rock Boy™'s neighbourhood, and he said that all of the food geeks will be happy to know about it...apparently the service is more...character than 4-star, but the food really good. I haven't tried it yet, but I think that will be our next stop in his neighbourhood.

Felicia's sounds great.... I've added it to my list!

[*Deborah*]

My list is getting a bit shorter:

Aurora Bistro

Ba Guo Bu Yi Szechuan

Baru

Beach Side Cafe

C

Cafe Artigiano

Cassis

Le Crocodile

Cru

Dockside

Elysian Room

En

Le Gavroche

Go Fish

Gotham

Guu

Hapa Izakaya

Henry's Kitchen

Hermitage

Japone

Living Room

Long's Noodle House

Maurya

Modern Club

Nu (when it opens)

Octopus's Garden

Okada

Pair Bistro

Phnom Phen

Random

Rangoli

La Regalade

Salade de Fruits

Saveur

Savoury Coast

The Ordinary Cafe

The Pear Tree

Tojo's

Vij's

Vintropolis

Yuji's

[*Deborah*]

Partly a bump, and partly to keep up to date:

Aurora Bistro

Ba Guo Bu Yi Szechuan

Baru

Beach Side Cafe

Cafe Artigiano

Cassis

Le Crocodile

Cru

Dockside

Elysian Room

En

Le Gavroche

Go Fish

Gotham

Guu

Henry's Kitchen

Hermitage

Japone

Living Room

Long's Noodle House

Maurya

Modern Club

Nu (when it opens)

Octopus's Garden

Okada

Pair Bistro

Phnom Phen

Rangoli

La Regalade

Salade de Fruits

Saveur

Savoury Coast

The Ordinary Cafe

The Pear Tree

Tojo's

Vij's

Vintropolis

Watermark

Yuji's

Edited July 27, 2005 by *Deborah* (log)

[appreciator]

I'm happy to note that my list has shrunk a bit too - even with a few new additions.

Some of the deletions are due to a change of interest (just a couple), some a sad demise, most are due to finally eating there... yah!

Amacord

Aurora Bistro

Ba Guo Bu Yi Szechuan

Blue Water Cafe

Bravo Bistro

Brix

Cafe Artigiano

Cafe D'Lite

Cassis

Central Bistro

Ch'i

Cioppino

Circolo

Cru

Diva

Elysian Room

Go Fish

Gotham

Gramercy Grill (I believe someone from Herald Street Cafe runs this place)

Hapa Izakaya

Henry's Kitchen

Hermitage

Horizon's (the view's gotta be worth something)

House of Selassie

Il Nido

Japone

Kirin (I'm hoping that the dim sum here will finally convert me)

Le Gavroche

Lift

Liliget Feast House

Living Room (now that it's changed hands)

Long's Noodle House

Maurya

Modern Club

Montri's

Nemoto Cafe

Nickie's & Lola's

Nu

Okada

Parkside

Phat's

Phnom Phen

Raincity Grill

Rangoli

Relish

Rodney's

Sausi's

Saveur

Savoury Coast

Shiru Bay

Spice Islands Indonesian Restaurant

The Pear Tree

The Reef

Tojo's

Totoyo

Umami

Vintropolis

Watermark (if not for the food, then at least for the view)

West

Wild Rice

William Tell

Still an awful lot of catching up to do!

[*Deborah*]

Partly a bump, and partly to keep up to date:

Ba Guo Bu Yi Szechuan

Baru

Beach Side Cafe

Caffe Artigiano

Cassis

Le Crocodile

Cru

Dockside

Elysian Room

En

Le Gavroche

Go Fish

Gotham

Guu

Henry's Kitchen

Hermitage

Japone

Living Room

Long's Noodle House

Maurya

Modern Club

Nu

Octopus's Garden

Pair Bistro

Phnom Phen

Rangoli

La Regalade

Salade de Fruits

Saveur

Savoury Coast

The Ordinary Cafe

The Pear Tree

Tojo's

Vij's

Vintropolis

Watermark

Yuji's

[transfattyacid]

I also have an Embarrasing admission to tell .

Hopefully this post will let me come to terms with it, so i can be proud of my experience, and get on with my life.

Back in April of this year, Mrs fattyacid and I took some time off work and did a little road trip to kamloops and kelowna , whilst in kamloops we dinned very low key, hitting up the ' laminated menu ' joints like it was going out of style.

One of these places was so delightful and so memorable the experience is now permanently imbedded in my consciousness.

The establishment in question was Tony Roma`s .

Honestly, egullet it blew me away.I kid you not.

Now i`ve tried very hard to understand what made this place so good , the decor: was it the flags hanging everywhere that made this expat feel most welcome so far from home, or was it the service : the waitress was very friendly indeed. or was it the ribs, bloody hell they were good.

or maybe the atmosphere :it was just so relaxing , a breath of fresh air even.

Could it have anything to do with that fact that I`m from a land where ribs don`t feature in the culinary sensibility of the populous, or have cultural significance.

It`s just that the ribs were so damn tasty, basted with Tony`s original sauce and i chose baked beans and coleslaw as side dishes.

Do you think that as a cook seeing and preparing fine dining dishes, day in day out that you become numb to it, and in the pursuit of career aspirations one can easliy become blind to what defines eating out to the majority of the hard working citizens of North America ?.

But explain this :- 5 months down the line and the taste is still in my head.

Long live Tony Roma`s " its famous for ribs i tell you "

p.s As soon as we were back in Vancouver we eat at the our local branch of Mr Romas empire, alas it just didn`t live up to our kamloops experience .

[Daddy-A]

p.s As soon as we were back in Vancouver we eat at the our local branch of Mr Romas empire,  alas it just didn`t live up to our kamloops experience .

TFA,

Have you tried the ribs at Memphis Blue? If you're looking for a cultural experience with ribs, that'd be the place.

A.

[BCinBC]

Bump. It's 2006, time for another installment of culinary trainspotting.

My own embarrasing list includes (not exhaustively!):

Cru, C, Chambar, Aurora Bistro (all of whom have participation or at least are lurking on this board, so it's a little extra embarrasing, but at least Chambar will be stricken from the list as of Monday), Le Croc  (I know I know, it's an institution!), Bis Moreno, Parkside, Villa del Lupo, any Guu, Go Fish, Kolachy Shop (only on this board would this be an "embarrasing" admission?), Kaplan's Deli...

←

I can cross off Cru, Chambar, Aurora (as of tomorrow), and Parkside (okay as of the 31st) off the above list. Oh Bis Moreno too I guess. I am unsure what to do with Villa del Luop after the ownership change, so it's in limbo.

However, happily / sadly there are a couple more to add. My new list goes something like this:

Le Croc, C, any Guu, Kolachy Shop (although I've had kolachies from there), Kaplan's, Phnom Phen, La Relagade, Pear Tree, Diva, En, Shanghai River & Wind, Mistral, Senhor Rooster's. I would add Nu, but C somehow supercedes it. Also Go Fish is on the list, but only after the hype has died. Or perhaps I'll just never go there.

And in Victoria: Paprika, Brasserie, and Arbutus Grille.

[appreciator]

As I'm going through the list, I'm noticing that I'm crossing off a fair number of places that don't necessarily appeal to me any more. I may eat there some day but that "burning" desire seems to have passed. Must be age

A few places have been added, a few deleted due to change of interest (as noted above, and some deleted due to their untimely demise).

Some I've had the great pleasure to experience and that's the best reason to cross them off the list imnsho.

Amacord

Aurora Bistro (done! ~ dine out Vancouver 2006 )

Cafe D'Lite

Central Bistro (done! ~ lunch and dinner, fall of 2005)

Century

Cru (gotta love this place ~ done! fall 2005, winter 2006 )

Diva

Elysian Room (done! ~ fall 2005 and again just the other week: biggrin: )

Go Fish

Hapa Izakaya

Henry's Kitchen

Hola Churros

Japone

Jolly's Indian Bistro

Liliget Feast House

Living Room (this is going to have to be soon.... it's soooo close to where I live!)

Lolitas

Long's Noodle House

Maurya

Modern Club

Octopus's Garden

Okada

Parkside

Phnom Phen

Railspur Alley Bar & Grill

Raincity Grill (done! crossed off the list in fall 2005)

Rangoli

Rare (One)

The Pear Tree

Tojo's

Totoyo

Vintropolis

Watermark (if not for the food, then at least for the view)

West

Wild Rice

William Tell

Oh.. have to add sushi place on 16th and Main.... name of which, currently, escapes me.

Edited February 27, 2006 by appreciator (log)

[Mooshmouse]

Oh.. have to add sushi place on 16th and Main.... name of which, currently, escapes me.

←

Toshi's.

[Ling]

I haven't yet been to any of Umberto Menghi's restaurants  , Le Crocodile, Villa del Lupo, C, Cru, Sooke Harbour House, Cioppino's, Diva at the Met, Bishop's, Chartwell, La Belle Auberge, Bistro Pastis, Tojo's, La Regalade, and Vij's.

I'm going to Aurora Bistro on Friday night, and Chamber on Monday--so there's two off the list. 

←

I can cross off Le Crocodile, Villa del Lupo, C, and Diva.

The Rosemeade is pretty much at the top of my list right now, but that would be a day's adventure to get there.

Edited February 27, 2006 by Ling (log)

[Albondigas]

Watermark (if not for the food, then at least for the view)

←

Note: The view is free to all. Its in a public park. There are too many places to go with great food to waste one's time on Watermark. Build an appetite with a walk on the beach and then go someplace worthwhile instead.

[jamiemaw]

Abra performs cadabra with Phnomenal 'cherry' rice pudding right here.

[appreciator]

Watermark (if not for the food, then at least for the view)

←

Note: The view is free to all. Its in a public park. There are too many places to go with great food to waste one's time on Watermark. Build an appetite with a walk on the beach and then go someplace worthwhile instead.

←

Thanks for the tip.

I've lived in Vancouver for over 20 years now and am well aware of the, ummmm, attributes, of Kits Beach.

Dining in a state of the art building (though not necessarily a peak experience) certainly merits a visit.

Beautiful thing.... we all have our own opinions and can choose to dine where we see fit.

[fud]

Havn't been to...

- Le Crocodile

- Diva

- Lumiere

- Cioppino's

- La Terrazza

Can cross off list

- Beach House

- C R U

- Il Giardano

- Parkside

- Storman Norman's

- Rare

To eat next

- Lee's Fried Chicken (Richmond - Apparently has new name)

- Witch burger (maple ridge)

- Burgers Etc... (burnaby) [*burger club!]

- Le Regelade

- Paprika's

- Bearfoot Bistro

Edited April 5, 2006 by fud (log)

[samasutra]

As this thread has turned into a partial  fast food discussion, I copied this from the General topics forum. This was how MacDonalds started out. I remember from my youth that they resembled something like this. I do not think that it does today so I for one would not want to start any road trip at the Golden Arches. Do not get me wrong, their marketing machine has reached into my household and we make the weekly trip to satisfy the four and two year olds but food club is way to sophisticated for that.

Original MacDonalds  -

1. The restaurant sparkles, shines.

2. Only fresh raw product = fresh cut, twice fried french fries, fresh beef patties ground early in the morning and delivered fresh each day, daily made tartar sauce. No freezer. No microwave.

3. Only fresh finished product - burgers and fries are trashed after 10 minutes holding. Timers in each section of the bin to make sure it happens. During rush hours burgers are never more than a minute or two off the grill.

4. Two additional employees - the porter who spends his time keeping the parking lot and inside spotless. The bus person who clears and cleans everyone's table as soon as they leave.

5. A youth workforce that wants/needs to work, that competes for jobs, where there is a waiting list and some franchisees only hire straight A students.

Then put in a manager who started off at a buck an hour peeling potatoes, who will motivate, build morale and enthusiasm, who will lead by stepping in wherever needed and is able take over the grill from the justifiably cocky crew cheif and, using two spatulas, one in each hand, flip the burgers six at a time, laying down "12's" and "24's" in rows of 6 on an eight foot grill full of patties and buns in precise alignment and all cooked perfectly.

You'll end up with a fast food restaurant that in its way is as well run and as committed to service and quality as any five star french restaurant. And you'll end up with a fast food restaurant with lines out the door and around the building just like it used to be back in the '60s.

The majority of the McDonald's of today are a discrace. If the first McDonald's restaurant operated with the sloppy standards of today's McDonald's, the company never would have made it out of Des Plaines IL - Ray Kroc's first McDonald's.

But back then most McDonald's restaurants ran with the beauty and precision of a finely tuned Swiss clock. It was a thrill to stand behind the scenes in an out-of-the-way corner and watch a high volume McDonald's turn out its equivelent of pitching a "no-hitter" - back-to-back thousand dollar hours at a time when burgers were going for fifteen cents each.

Oh how it has changed.

←

Years ago when I was an employment counsellor at employment Canada , employment counsellors liked to encourage their teens to work at McDonalds because their standards were so high. My son in laws brother was working there recently and I do know one employee got fired because he got caught taking a french fry and eating it on the job. So I suppose they still have some standards.

However, I agree with you that they are not the same as they once were.

I find that alot of restaurants do not have the same standards. Years ago before I went back to school , I work in the food industry as a cook. I always wore my hair up and wore a net. I also waitressed before that and wore my hair up. Today, I see alot of hair hanging down on the collar. It really bothers me. I have found hair in my food and that totally freaks me out. I have seen poor hygiene in five star restaurants. I like the old school, hair up off your neck and the black and white dress code and sensible shoes. I guess my age is showing.

Samasutra

[annanstee]

[i do know one employee got fired because he got caught taking a french fry and  eating it on the job. Samasutra

←

Sounds like plantation standards to me

[Abra]

Hey, would the next person to go to Phnom Penh do me a huge favor and ask them the name of the black rice they use for that special pudding, and the name of the pudding itself? It's driving me crazy not knowing.

[fud]

I find that alot of  restaurants do not have the same standards. Years ago before I went back to school , I work in the food industry as a cook. I always wore my hair up and wore a net. I also waitressed before that and wore my hair up. Today, I see alot of hair hanging down on the collar. It really bothers me. I have found hair in my food and that totally freaks me out. I have seen poor hygiene in five star restaurants. I like the old school, hair up off your neck and the black and white dress code and sensible shoes. I guess my age is showing.

Do you think this is because diner's expectations are lower or their tolerance of lower standards higher?

I have always been a fan of some of hte innovation behind McDonalds. The book Fast Food Nation talks about a potato canon which launches potatoes in rapid fire towards a wall of knives in a matrix pattern to create the fries we know today. Stuff like that is pretty incredible.

[Daddy-A]

[sarcastic host]

You know that little voice inside your head that says "I'm pretty sure what I'm typing is off topic"? We should all listen to that little voice more often.

Time to steer this ship back on course and continue the discussion of local retaurants we haven't visited but feel we should.

Thanks!

A.

[/sarcastic host]

[Little Frog]

Bringing this excellent thread back from the dead because I recently told myself: "Come on, how can you claim to be interested in good food when you still have to try:"

- Parkside (this will change soon thanks to DOV, though)

- Shoji's

- West

- La Regalade

- Salt

- Villa del Lupo (all this talk of osso buco is making me very hungry!)

- Pear Tree

- Bravo Bistro

- Bacchus

- Trafalgars

- Kirin

- and I also must conduct further research on the Ethiopian restaurants in our fair city, in hopes of finding a good replacement for the now defunct House of Selassie that I enjoyed so much.

Also on the must-go list (but that would be a third visit in both cases), Chambar and Sun Sui Wah

[fud]

^ I just re-read my post. What the heck? I was way off topic.

Anyways I am still not entirely proud to admit to have never eaten at:

- Lumiere

- La Regalade

- Salt

- Cioppino's

- La Belle Auberge

- Paprika's on the Island

I hope Chris still works at Lumiere I still intend to hit up the tasting bar soon...i keep saying that.

[Andrew Morrison]

Chris Stearns?

[Sam Salmon]

....I also must conduct further research on the Ethiopian restaurants in our fair city, in hopes of finding a good replacement for the now defunct House of Selassie....

←

Start @ The Red Sea Café

[fud]

^ If they are as good as House of Selassie I will shower you with gratitude Sam.