A Taste of Yaletown

[jamiemaw]

Neil,

The best kind of collaborative efforts can deliver on several fronts. Like commercial success during a slower time while making competitors allies and drawing attention to an entire gastro-rich neighbourhood. You make better friends along the way too, and, I suspect, you'll draw people back later.

So congratulations to you and your fellow-proprietors for building this project so strongly for its inaugural run. I hope it continues to be a smash for many years to come, and am pleased to know that you aren't simply relying on your movie star looks.

J.

Edited October 13, 2005 by jamiemaw (log)

[nwyles]

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

Edited October 14, 2005 by nwyles (log)

[fud]

^

When a manager from another spot comes over to return something and just starts bussing tables to help you out you know you're in a good 'hood. Comraderie is the greatest thing especially with people one might consider competitors - but you consider comrades

Congrats on the successful ToY. Ever consider a Gingerbread pudding eating competition?

[Andrew Morrison]

Well done Neil!

[nwyles]

^

When a manager from another spot comes over to return something and just starts bussing tables to help you out you know you're in a good 'hood.  Comraderie is the greatest thing especially with people one might consider competitors - but you consider comrades 

Congrats on the successful ToY.  Ever consider a Gingerbread pudding eating competition?

←

Perhaps you have not been on this board long enough.

Have you ever heard of the remorseless eating machine known as "Ling".

[Ling]

^OMG. The stories just will not die!

[jayhay]

a group from another internet food site whooping it up ! ( Crazy internet people ! ).

First time out with members of this group, & we chose HSG, because of eGullet. Finally got to taste the Gingerbread Pudding, & it lived up to the hype! One particular member of the group (you know who, Neil), literally licked his plate clean! Too bad we were too embarrassed to take a picture...you could have used it in your ads.

[plunk]

a group from another internet food site whooping it up ! ( Crazy internet people ! ).

First time out with members of this group, & we chose HSG, because of eGullet. Finally got to taste the Gingerbread Pudding, & it lived up to the hype! One particular member of the group (you know who, Neil), literally licked his plate clean! Too bad we were too embarrassed to take a picture...you could have used it in your ads.

←

Man, what an experience that evening was.

I second the Gingerbread Pudding plaudits, it was amazing! I only wish I had room for the yam fries as well.

Thanks to Neil and Luc and the rest of the staff for being so gracious and patient with our table.

Edited October 15, 2005 by plunk (log)

[McTee]

As one who lives downtown, but not yaletown (anymore), I must say that I heard extremely little about the ToY, except just after I became a member at eGullet.

After reading your accounts of the promotion, I am definitely looking forward to next year.

But in the meantime, I will be paying full price to try the hangar steak and the GBP.

[mamacat]

But in the meantime, I will be paying full price to try the hangar steak and the GBP.

[Little Frog]

What a neat event! And what a great week I had!

Pino's on Wednesday, HSG on Thursday, my tastebuds are very happy

Both restaurants were extremely busy when we went.

At Cioppino's, the Taste of Yaletown menu was served on the Enoteca side to a limited number of guests so it did not feel hectic, but every single table was occupied. Pino made a point of visiting each table, which was a nice touch. I found that the wine pairings were outstanding and they alone gave great value to the tasting menu.

When I got to HSG at 6:30 on Thursday, only a few diners were there but the room filled up incredibly quickly. Shortly after 7:00, the place was packed!

Kudos to our server who kept his cool under pressure and many thanks to our host Neil, who made time to introduce himself and chat with us a little. It was really nice to meet him, as well as a couple of eGulleters to whom he introduced me. Thank you Neil!

My friends and I had a great evening and loved everything we ordered. Then again, how could we possibly go wrong with the much acclaimed ravioli, grill plate and GBP?

I will definitely be back, sooner rather than later

My only regret is not trying more restaurants. Simply Thai was high on my list, but none of my friends were available to go when I was and although I have no problem going to restaurants by myself, all their tasting menus were for two people.

Here is hoping there will be many more Taste of Yaletown events in the years to come!

[gourmande]

Back home and missing the West Coast already.

My first dining experience in Vancouver (HSG Thursday Oct. 13) could not have been better. It was a blast meeting fellow eGulleters jayhay and plunk, as well as members from "the other site"...

And Neil, man, hats off to you and your incredible team, including our tireless server, Luke (or is it Luc?)

The dinner with wine pairings was spectacular from amuse to dessert. I'm glad there were only two options per course as it allowed Dale (mr. gourmande) and I to sample the entire menu. However, because we had agreed to each choose something different, he got the GBP and I got the apple tart Don't get me wrong, the tart was very good, but well... let's just say Neil expressed it best when upon seeing the dessert in front of me he quite simply asked, "What's that?" and when I agreed I should have chosen the GBP his only comment was, "No S**T!"

I know, I know, and I've learned my lesson the hard way. By the way Neil, do you mail order?

Thanks again to Neil and the HSG crew for a fabulous experience.

[canucklehead]

I was driving home today when I heard a beautiful voice come out of my radio. Rich barritone gravelly with manliness - why it was Neil Wyles talking about a Taste of Yaletown on News1130. I almost pulled over as the deep gentle voice was so soothing - I felt myself being lulled to sleep.

2006 Taste of Yaletown

Running Oct 13-29 - some of the menus look very good. I guess Pino is not taking part this year. Too bad.

[lauraf]

With City Dine in September, Taste of Yaletown feels lost to me. Perhaps the fact that City Dine is a fundraiser (sponsored by San Pellegrino) for the Canadian Association of Food Banks, and Taste of Yaletown is a fundraiser (sponsored by Am/Ex) for the Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society, confuddles me (yes, I made that word up).

Then people talk about City Dine as a precursor to Dine Out Vancouver (which starts in January, yes?) and I am reeling. Whose prix-fixe dinner should I patronize, on what day of the week, for which charity? I consider myself somewhat media-savvy yet find myself confused about whom is doing which for what . . . .

[Chef Fowke]

Hmmmm.....

I hear what you are saying; we need to be careful not to dilute our $35 prix fix menu promotions/charities. What is the magical number per year for a city the size of Vancouver?

I am personally going to attend 5 dinners over the Taste of Yaletown promotion ~ I feel good about supporting the charity and look forward to trying 5 NEW restaurants at a less then market price!!! COOL FOR ME ~ the consumer.

Toronto (...and I would never compare Toronto and Vancouver) has two big events a year ~ Summerlicious and Winterlicious ~ they are HUGE events attracting 100’s of thousands of diners.

Dine out is huge in Vancouver....but is it a charity like Dineout or Citydine?

...I signed Rare up for a Charity week/prix fix to support St. Paul’s Hospital this year ~ and it was cancelled because of lack of support from local restaurants. I was supporting this charity for personal reasons, not financial gains and we could not get it off the ground ~ a charity for a local hospital that needs help!

Obviously the Vancouver market is saturated.

For myself, and Rare ~ I am going to sponsor two (customer driven) charities over the next 12 months ~ Tina and the children's heart fund and next year we will be part of Citydine and Dineout Vancouver.

If the public will support, we will be involved helping St Paul’s.

Is this the best contribution of our time and money? Which of these events are embraced by the local public and industry as being worthwhile?

Any comments from other industry people/customers would be appreciated? Tim and I will be donating more then the average company to charity, because of our values ~ where/how should that money be spent?

This is a little off the original topic ~ hopefully we can merge this into a better titled thread.

[nwyles]

Taste of Yaletown started out and will remain a dining event that highlights the great diversity of restaurants that we have in Yaletown. We lost a couple of restaurants this year, Blue Water and Cioppino's. That is a shame as they are two major players in our restaurant scene in Yaletown but it just did not fit what they wanted to do. We managed to pick up Rodney's and Diner, so that adds some interesting flavour to the mix. We also had to exclude a couple of restaurants as they fell outside of the Yaletown boundaries. They are actually part of the DVBIA area.

With the great success of the Dine Out event from TVan, the format seemed a natural to follow. Everybody knew what they were in for.

That being said..............

with events like the Pellegrino City Dine and possibly others coming into play, the power of the set menu format might be diluted and possibly confuse people. We will assess the successes and shortcomings of this event later in the year to see how we fared. Initial information is that lots of the restaurants are experiencing higher than normal pre bookings, even compared to Dineout Vancouver, so we are encouraged. I am not saying that this will compare to Dineout Vancouver in it's impact, just that people are learning to book early so they are not left out in the cold without reservations

Unlike Dineout Vancouver, we try and tie ourselves to a charity so that our city and it's programs see some benefit from the event. Yaletown has been very lucky to be in such a strong economic upswing while other areas of town are experiencing difficulties. It is only natural that we want to give back. The goal this year to help the Food Bank of Greater Vancouver is over $10,000.

Anyways, I should get off the computer as I have some menu tweaking to do for my Taste of Yaletown offering. I was so busy trying to get things organized for the whole event, I did not really spend any time on my own menu. I should have something new up before the weekend so..........

check out

Taste of Yaletown

[fud]

Organic greens with toasted pecans, english Stilton and sliced pears

with a grainy Dijon vinaigrette

mmmm.

I also noticed OpenTable is offering 1000 dining points to select restaurants during the ToY period.

[PaoPao]

...... and look forward to trying 5 NEW restaurants at a less then market price!!! COOL FOR ME ~ the consumer.

←

You know I was thinking about this statement and it reminded me of a conversation I was having with a group of friends about the ToY. Most of us live in Yaletown or close proximity so that may bias the consensus but no one really seemed excited about the event. As evidence, not one person had reserved for it. Most seemed to agree that they had favorite dishes in certain restaurants and just were not interested in the menu offerings especially having to pay $25 / $35 / $45 for alot more food than they would want or order usually. It really does not seem to be much of a deal for them, charity or otherwise.

I was trying to think of things that would be enticing for myself and the others - maybe if the restaurants would be willing to offer smaller tapas dish's on a variety of their menu items so the individual could pick and pair what they wanted, that would be interesting. An offering that would really let you taste multiple samplings from the restaurant that you want but on a smaller scale than the entree portion's.

Now I'm quite sure ToY will be a raging success without our pickiness, but I just thought Neil and the others behind the event would care to know a different opinion of some the Yaletown locals.

[urbandiner]

I was trying to think of things that would be enticing for myself and the others - maybe if the restaurants would be willing to offer smaller tapas dish's on a variety of their menu items so the individual could pick and pair what they wanted, that would be interesting. An offering that would really let you taste multiple samplings from the restaurant that you want but on a smaller scale than the entree portion's.

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I think this is a fantastic idea. I've supported many dine out events over the past few years and have enjoyed them immensely. The one complaint is too much food than one small girl could possibly eat (and we'd feel too cheap to share with a friend).

There are many items on a menu that I would not normally order but would be interested in trying and a sampling would allow us to do that. And, entice me to visit more than one restaurant per Dine Out cause.

I've often found that my girlfriends and I will order a couple of main dishes and some appies to share (as we did at HSG just yesterday -- tenderloin was fantastic, btw). Makes for greater diversity on those casual eat out nights.

[nwyles]

Josh................

It was the easiest thing to do in order to get everybody to participate, and keep the price points similar.

You could imagine how it would look if you left the restaurants to their own devices.................a few of them did something like small plates last year and they were not busy. People understand the three course thing and so do the restaurants.

[PaoPao]

^ Thats cool. As a patron of restaurants versus an operator, it's pretty easy for me to say this stuff. The ToY or any other group event i'm sure is a logistical nightmare and my hats is off to you for managing it. I'm surprised to hear that the small plates menu was not popular, just out of curiosity which restaurants did this?

[Claudiak]

I was driving home today when I heard a beautiful voice come out of my radio.  Rich barritone gravelly with manliness - why it was Neil Wyles talking about a Taste of Yaletown on News1130.  I almost pulled over as the deep gentle voice was so soothing - I felt myself being lulled to sleep.

2006 Taste of Yaletown

Running Oct 13-29 - some of the menus look very good.  I guess Pino is not taking part this year.  Too bad.

←

Hey, after seeing Neil making fun of people who "have faces for radio" before, I had to put him and ToY in the spotlight!