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Dine Out Vancouver - The Topic (2002-2007)


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I have not been to Quattro, but Mrs Coop really liked the meal she had there last year. We liked Bacchus last year except for the table and the snooty waiter. I think we will end up at Bistro Pastis soon anyways. We ate there a few years ago when Frank Pabst was the chef. It was good but I found the food a little underwhelming. The owner/maitre'd John is a great host. Their new menu seems more interesting to me. I love bistro food.

Has anyone been to Maurya? I was also thinking of Rubina Tandoori.

We went to Feenie's yesterday for lunch. Everyone had the burger. It was very good. Nice room. Had a good laugh when I saw the RF towels in the washroom.

David Cooper

"I'm no friggin genius". Rob Dibble

http://www.starlinebyirion.com/

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Ling,

Quattro has always underwhelmed WRT food. I have been to both the 4th ave and Whistler locations. Havent been to Il Giardino in yrs.

Hope to hit Pastis at Xmas time (or Crocodile) to check it out. It used to be called just "Pastis". Any changes, or just trying to go with a "hipper" name?

Mark E

When it was Pastis, I was under the impression that it was a higher-class restaurant. I believe they did renovations and then reopened as Bistro Pastis, and changed some of their menu items to make it more casual. Now, they have a special each day (like bouillabaise--sp?) for 20 bucks at dinner.

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Btw: I cancelled my reservation at Bistro Pastis and made a reservation at Hermitage, since I thought it was a better deal. :wink: I looked at the regular menu at Hermitage, and Bistro Pastis is definitely more affordable, so I'll just go to Pastis sometime in the new year.

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Don't forget West is in the mix for DOV as well. Pastis has slid in my opinion but I do want to go back now that it seems they have finally straightened out which "direction" they wanted to go with the menu. BTW Frank Pabst is now Executive Chef at Blue Water in Yaletown.

Maurya was a disappointment to me, I would side towards Rubina for a more traditional approach to Indian Cuisine.

Since reservations are going to be so difficult to come by for DOV, I suggest everyone start booking soon.

"Expect nothing, be prepared for anything."

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I was wondering who would take over at Blue Water. I think Pabst will do very well there. The one time we ate his food a Pastis the theme seemed to be very good ingredients done simply. I just found it to be a little dull. This plan will probably work very well for fish and shellfood.

David Cooper

"I'm no friggin genius". Rob Dibble

http://www.starlinebyirion.com/

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I agree. In an arena of fresh seafood where the flavours are sometimes quite subtle and are not to be overwhelmed, I believe he will shine. I am waiting for him to have some time to settle into the place and come up with his own menu before exploring the dining experience there.

Has anyone been to Quattro's in Whistler? Curious as to how they are doing with the mountain location. I am also curious about anyone's experiences with Hermitage as I have never been there.

"Expect nothing, be prepared for anything."

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Hermitage did a good meal last year, our appetizer was veal cheeks served on a bed of lentil du puy, very nice. The entree was a single duck confit on potatoes and some veg, a bit meagre I thought. Dessert was a poached pear with a cassis ice cream, very nice.

Two things really caught my attention. On the positive side were the fabulous, and whimsical, painted plates. It was unique. On the negative side was the cieling. It was the standard 80's office, store type of large white (at one time) tiles supported by track. You could see this in any warehouse office or low rent store, I was just surprised to see it in a fairly upscale restaurant. It was also filthy from years of never being cleaned. Until they at least clean or replace the cieling, I am unlikely to go back.

Edited by Coop (log)

David Cooper

"I'm no friggin genius". Rob Dibble

http://www.starlinebyirion.com/

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Just wondering if it's really "worth it". I mean, I know it's a great chance to have a 3-course meal for $25 at a restaurant that usually serves entrees for about $25, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of choices(within a particular resturant). Beside, does quality suffer?

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No problem with quality at either Hermitage or Bacchus last year. Portion size at Bacchus was normal, at Hermitage a little light. I think it's worth it. We always ordered a bottle of wine which brought our bill into the $100.00 range, so it's not like going for Pho.

David Cooper

"I'm no friggin genius". Rob Dibble

http://www.starlinebyirion.com/

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  • 1 month later...

I just wanted to let everyone know that Parkside is doing a "secret" dine-out menu.

The standard 3 courses for $25. The menu looks fantastic with about 5 choices each for appetizer, entree, and dessert. I have the menu at home and will post it later for those who are interested.

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Here is the Parkside menu as promised:

Dine Out at Parkside Menu

January 23 to February 7, 2004

Your choice of:

Lobster bisque with chive crème fraiche

Roasted beet & arugula salad, goat cheese panna cotta & hazelnut vinaigrette

Terrine of chicken & smoked ham, creamed mustard, toasted brioche

Green salad, tomato fondue & basil vinaigrette

************

Crisp duck confit, potato gratin & blood orange jus

Braised beef shank with wild mushrooms & Madeira sauce

Pan roasted trout, melted leeks & red wine shallot reduction

Pumpkin and mascarpone ravioli, truffle sage beurre blanc & roasted pistachios

************

Sticky toffee pudding, vanilla bean ice cream

Lemon tart with raspberry sorbet

Chocolate pot de crème and port soaked cherries

Explorateur cheese with fruit & nut bread, kumquat marmalade

3 course dinner $25

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We are going to Bluewater and I am certainly looking forward to the experience. I always liked Pastis when Pabst was there, since then it just hasn't been the quite the same. Has anyone seen an improvement in the service at Bluewater lately? I heard a few service horror stories when it first opened, but I'm hoping that is now a thing of the past.

BTW I went back recently to experience the "new" "casual" Bistro Pastis and was amazed at how little it had changed. Aside from a few token moves downmarket, the menu and the price point hadn't changed that much. The food was very good as usual, but the service wasn't just chilly, it was frosty. Its hard to enjoy a casual, affordable bistro when there is no atmosphere.

Still trying to pick another couple of places to try, except of course for Quattro, which is on my never under any circumstances list.

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Last night Mrs Coop, Coop jr. and myself wenty to Parkside for their 3 courses for $25.00 meal. We had spent all day painting the kitchen and needed somewhere to eat, so why not drive 35 miles into the city, and search for parking just to eat. The effort was well worth it.

We were the first geusts to arrive (6:00) and were greeted by the chef. Andrey heard me asking the waiter about a Chianti on the menu and recomended we get the Trerose Vino Noble de Montepulciano. This was a great selection if you are a lover of sangiovese. Cedar, tobacco and rich plum flavours. The chef came by and discussed the menu with us and took our orders before disappearing into the kitchen for what turned into a very busy looking night.

Our appetizers were the Bisque, the Beet salad with goat cheese pannacotta and the terrine. The Bisque was very authentic, rich with the flavour of lobster with just a hint of cognac and cream. The beets were thinly sliced and topped with the pannacotta, the plate was garnished with pommegranette seeds and hazelnuts. This was very well executed, I love the light weight of the pannacotta, which still has the great goat cheese flavour. The terrine was also very good, it was served with a dollop of split pea purree.

Mrs Coop had the Confit which she would not share so... it looked great and she loved it. I did get a taste of the gratin, and it was very good. Coop jr had the ravioli which he kept to himself as well. I got a taste of the sauce and pistachio truffle butter, very nice. I had the shanks, which were braised and pulled from the bone and then finished in the brown sauce. The meat was then moulded and topped with shitake mushrooms and served with baby vegetables. I really enjoyed this dish, it had the flavours of braised meat but was not overly rich ( I hate the richness of beef stew generally).

For dessert the other two had the choclate pots, which were very nice, but nothing like the toffee pudding I had. I can't remember having a dessert so rich and tasty. This is a must have dessert.

I have to comment here about the size of the portions. This being a promotion I wasn't sure we would get the regular Parkside size portions. Of course I had nothing to worry about. The appetizers were very generous and the entrees were full size. The desserts were also generous and didn't dissapoint flavour wise. The service was on par with the food, very nice people doing a great job.

I urge everyone to put Parkside on their list for Dine Out Vancouver. Buy a bottle of wine or some drinks to help run up the bill, you won't be dissapointed.

Edited by Coop (log)

David Cooper

"I'm no friggin genius". Rob Dibble

http://www.starlinebyirion.com/

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Thanks for the review, Coop. This sounds like a great place!

We'll be going to Parkside for the Dine Out deal later this week. At least one of us will be sure to get the toffee pudding!!

I know a man who gave up smoking, drinking, sex, and rich food. He was healthy right up to the day he killed himself. - Johnny Carson
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Went to West last night. Pretty good. Venison Terrine was outstanding, flavourful and studded with pistachios served with a nice piece of grilled bread and a complementary chutney. Entree was Cod stacked on potatoes with chorizo and a scoop of tapenade. First Portugese fusion dish I've ever eaten. Desert was an average lemon rice pudding.

The food was good, service excellent. Portions were adequate.

My wife had the duck confit. Anyone else notice almost every restaurant serves duck confit for the Taste event? Probably tells you something about the profit margin on confit. Drank a nice Givry with dinner.

Great food, reasonable price, pretty damn good Monday night (sans babies too!)

Only complaint is the room itself looks like a loser in some decorating challenge show on TLC. That chrome cloud sculpture thing on the ceiling has got to go. I swear I've seen work from the same "artiste" on the roof of the ballroom of a suburban Holiday Inn. Marble floors! Leather walls! Chrome ceileing! Fortuneatly the kitchen has better focus than the designer.

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My boyfriend and I went to Hermitage tonight. We both ordered the veal cheeks and lentils (in red wine shallot vinegrette) for the appetizer, and then he had the duck confit and potato galette for the main course. I had the red snapper stuffed with shrimp mousse and a sour cream dill sauce. He had the red wine poached pear, raspberry sorbet, and lace cookie for dessert. I had the Opera cake.

All the portions were pretty stingy.

The veal cheeks were diced and mixed into the lentils. It was definitely over salted.

I had a bite of my bf's duck confit (portion size: 1 small drumstick), and it was just OK. My main course was good--the fish was very fresh, and the shrimp mousse and sauce was delicious. The little mound of rice (a whole 2 spoonfuls!) and the 1 spoon of steamed buttered veg on my plate were both pretty boring.

My bf's dessert was the big hit of the evening--absolutely delicious! I'm sorry I didn't order this. The pear was so soft and not too sweet. I loved the raspberry sorbet--cool and refreshing.

Hermitage billed my dessert as an Opera cake with lots of chocolate. Bottom layer was espresso-soaked sponge cake, then chocolate ganache on top of that, then plain sponge, then coffee buttercream. The sliver was topped with a white and dark chocolate cigar, and the plate was mapped with white and dark chocolate sauce. It was OK, but not an outstanding dessert. It's something that can be easily created at home, so I wasn't overly impressed but I'm not complaining either.

Overall, the meal was worth the price, but the portions were pretty small. I ate a lot of bread and then I ate something from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory before I was full. Oh yeah, and then I had a donut at home. Well, you get the point--if I wasn't full, I can't see a grown man being satisfied with the portion size either.

The service was really, really bad. The only words the server spoke to us all evening were: "Coffee or tea?" He didn't greet us, didn't talk to us, didn't even acknowledge us with a nod each time we thanked him for replacing our utensils or filling our glasses. I don't know why. He just pluncked our dishes down and removed them without a word. Did the same thing with the bill. :hmmm:

edit: spelling

Edited by Ling (log)
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Ling, I think these places are really stupid if they don't give you the best meal they can offer. The whole idea of the promotion should be to help people find new and exciting places to go. obviously it's unlikely you would ever go back.

We enjoyed our meal there last year, but I doubt we would go back anyways. What did you think of the china? What about that ceiling?

David Cooper

"I'm no friggin genius". Rob Dibble

http://www.starlinebyirion.com/

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Last Friday, I went to Aqua Riva with 3 of my friends. I went last year, with my family, & the menu was even better this year.

For starters this year, 2 of us had the pan-seared oysters w/enoki mushroom & green bean salad. The oysters were really good--not overcooked, moist, and not too floury. There were 5 of them, & underneath each oyster was a little dollop of garlic aioli. My other 2 friends had smoked salmon-wrapped scallops with asparagus salad. There were 2 scallops on the skewer, & one of my friends said the salmon was a bit too salty.

Next, I had the seaweed-encrusted salmon (I love salmon!) with shitake and scallion risotto. My friend also had this, & he felt that the salmon was a bit too dry at the top. I didn't like the fact that the skin was still attached to the salmon. I did like the seaweed on the top, though. Overall, the salmon was overcooked and could have been more flavoured, but was still tasty. I really loved the risotto & cucumber & citrus relish. The little citrus bits were really sweet (compared to the extreme sourness of the citrus wedges in my dessert at Death by Chocolate the previous night) and added a nice tartness to the relish.

One of my friends had the rack of prawns with roasted potatoes. There were about 5 prawns on the skewer. I don't know how good it was, but the portion was quite small--my friends cracked that the prawns were more like shrimp. :laugh:

Did anyone notice that some of the restaurants changed/added to their menu? Aqua Riva added a pasta to their menu--penne with portobello mushrooms, with my other friend had. She's a pasta-lover, so of course she really liked the dish.

By the time dessert came around, we were all extremely full--Aqua Riva had really good-sized portions. For dessert, there was a choice of white chocolate bread pudding or chocolate decadence cake.

2 of us tried the bread pudding (one of my friend's comments: "But this is just bread..." :blink: ) and 2 of us had the chocolate decadence cake, which was like a really rich brownie. Kinda like crumbly chocolate. There were 2 triangles of the cake, on which was drizzled chocolate sauce.

It was definitely a good experience and a really good deal--an entree alone costs around $25 at Aqua Riva. Maybe I'll go back again next year! :biggrin:

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Chocomoo: I'm glad to hear you had a good experience at Aqua Riva. We went for Dine-out last year and had a terrible experience. The food was dry, flavourless, and uninspired while the service was indifferent at best. It was definitely my worst Dine-out meal last year. I felt that this was one of the "stupid places" that Coop was describing, and I will definitely never go back.

In contrast, my Gotham dinner last year (and I'm sure Parkside tonight) was on the other side of the spectrum (I know there are a lot of people who have had bad experiences at Gotham, but ours was close to flawless...and an exceptional value as well in my opinion). It is a shame that not all of the Dine-out restaurants (or all restaurants for that matter)adhere to the same standard of value, seeking to squeeze every nickel out of diners rather than just giving us an enjoyable experience that would be repaid with loyalty and free advertising.

Enough of my ranting, there is a sticky toffee pudding calling my name...

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Ling, I think these places are really stupid if they don't give you the best meal they can offer. The whole idea of the promotion should be to help people find new and exciting places to go. obviously it's unlikely you would ever go back.

We enjoyed our meal there last year, but I doubt we would go back anyways. What did you think of the china? What about that ceiling?

I agree--I don't know why restaurants participate in Dine-Out if they don't want to give you a great deal on their food. They're just pushing away potential business.

I remembered your post about the ceiling at Hermitage so that's the first place I looked when I sat down! It was indeed quite disgusting...all brown and splotchy. :blink: I don't know much about china, but I can tell you that our meagre appetizer (perhaps 2 level tablespoons?) looked even more paltry on the 12" plate. I took digi pics of our food and when I was showing my mom what we ate, she thought the orange painted fish on the plate was our appetizer since she couldn't see the little mound of food on the camera screen.

The main course and desserts were plated on plain white dishes.

I'm going to Bacchus in four hours. Hope the food is better tonight! :)

Edited by Ling (log)
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My friends went to C Restaurant and Gotham so far. Apparently, the steaks were overcooked at Gotham and the portions were really small at C. My friend paid the $12 supplement for the lobster (with the steak entree) at C restaurant, and the entree came with 3 small slices of steak and 2 bites of lobster. They weren't impressed with either places.

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Went to Pastis last night with my wife and three others. All meals were excellent as well as the service.

I think service depends, whether this is right or wrong, on how you are dressed and if wine is ordered with the meal.

At our table most of us were dressed for the type of room we were eating in, eg suits, dresses etc and we were treated acordingly. Others I noticed came in wearing old jeans and ratty t shirts and drank ice water. I notice the staff had them in and out very quickly. Like I said earlier whether this type of service is right or wrong is up to the individual to decide.

Personally, I feel dressing up when dining out shows respect to the servers and to the chefs. They may be serving us but we are entering their house.

Edited by "T" (log)

slowfood/slowwine

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