Life in the Lower Mainland (BC, Canada)

At Gotham Steakhouse, your steak comes with no sides. I'd heard all sorts of stories about Gotham, from how they had the audacity to charge you an arm and a leg for sides that normally show up on your plate alongside your steak; to how small the cuts were for your dollar. Not being huge on beef I only finally went last Saturday with the Greater Vancouver Fine Dining Meetup . It's dark in there! The high ceiling and single candlelights at each table make for a somewhat dimly lit room in the evening. If you are a larger group (6+) and at one of their larger round tables, across-the-table conversation may be tricky as it can be quite busy, contributing to ambient conversation noise. Not much artwork to be seen in the main dining room to the left of the hostess's station when you enter, but there's a very large and colourful piece at the lounge on the right. It's also one of those older style restaurants where you might be greeted by a female hostess, but all the b...

Lupo restaurant sits somewhere in between the Vancouver Public Library main downtown branch and Yaletown's Mainland / Hamilton Street dining hubs. It looks like a quiet house on the outside, but if you poke your head in, you'll probably find it pretty busy on the inside. It used to be Villa Del Lupo once upon a time. Ownership changed hands, and apparently the restaurant flopped. Then it was bought back by the original owners, redesigned on the inside, and had its name shortened to the trendier-sounding "Lupo" (though on your bill you will see "Lupo Restaurant and Vinoteca"). Sadly I'd passed by many a time but never did wander in until last Saturday, when I went with the Vancouver Fine Dining Meetup . The common spaces of the restaurant are a bit claustrophobic, starting with the very small waiting area. However, the table arrangements and space in between aren't cramped at all. The stairs can make it a bit tricky if you're in a wheelchai...

Last Friday I went back to the brown-rice-sushi and organic-everything Shizen Ya on Broadway to try more of their menu, this time with a friend who had said she was very impressed by them and their brown rice sushi. She was vegetarian and I wanted to order stuff to share, so most of the the Shizen Ya menu was out because of meat or seafood. I went with two appys and dessert, but sadly neither the Tofu Cookies nor the Tofu Cheese Mousse was not available that day (and since we were in shortly after Noon, it really surprised me). The waitress explained that the cookies were very popular and quick to be sold out. As for the Mousse, it was hard to keep the ingredients fresh, and without that quality assurance, they weren't willing to offer it to patrons. In fact, she said it would probably be dropped from the menu (and at the time I am writing this, it's gone on their online menu from under Green Tea Creme Brulee). Anyway, I was disappointed, but my dining companion was non-pl...

Yesterday I wrote a bit about my drop-in on XOXOLAT Chocolaterie , and I mentioned a chocolate with bacon in it. I finally unwrapped it today, and shared a chunk with my mom, who's notoriously difficult to impress with food. My mom secretly likes chocolate (even though she always complains I spend too much money buying it for her). But will she like funky chocolate? We'll see how much of it "disappears" over the next week, but initial impressions weren't promising. Neither was she impressed by the chocolate--versus-candy angle. The chili flavour is thoroughly mixed in with the chocolate, and appears as a surprisingly hot aftertaste. Not so hot that you're reaching for cold water or yogurt to put out a fire in your mouth, but there's definitely enough heat to give your tongue a good tingle. Any bitter spiciness from chili is offset by the chocolate. Can't say I detected the influence of expresso. Or maybe my attention was too focussed on the chil...

You walk into Superstore and there's a huge candy bar for less than a dollar. Maybe Nestle or Hershey or whatever. Then you wander into a "boutique" chocolate shop like XOXOLAT Chocolaterie on Burrard and a half-sized bar costs maybe 4 times as much! You might think, "WTF?" Is it because they're obscurely-named imports? That some are organic, or fair trade, or even raw? It turns out the main difference is apparently whether you're buying candy or chocolate. What you get as "Chocolate" in chocolate bars is mostly sugar. It has chocolate flavour, or a chocolate coating, or even just a chocolate flavoured coating. But the actual amount of real chocolate may be very small. There was even an international trade war over the use of the word "chocolate" when some manufacturers wanted to use cheap vegetable oil instead of pricey cocoa butter -- which they ultimately did to varying degrees . Visit msnbc.com for breaking news , w...

Somebody smack me upside the head if I go for authentic Italian-style pizza one more time. After The BiBo , I really am done. Really. I give up. So why'd I go? Two things. "Authentic Italian sandwich dessert" pizza, and the the fact that they won't cut it for you. That's "will not" -- according to their website: The BiBo offers a true Italian experience to please all ages... enjoy watching the master pizza maker, Salvatore create the pizzas in the wood burning oven. He insists the pizzas be served as they are in Italy – he will NOT cut your pizza to keep the flavours intact right to your table. The whole thing about "keep the flavours intact" puzzled me, and I quizzed our server about it. I got in just at 5pm literally right after they opened their doors for dinner. The person who handled my reservation for the Food Bloggers Meetup was stumped and passed me on to their lone female waitress, Ailana. I got the feeling that she fluffed it ...

I only heard about it tonight, but it's probably all over the blogosphere already: The city of Richmond is going to hire a full-time food blogger with their 365 Days of Dining promotion. Every food blogger's dream, right? Maybe, maybe not. Depends on how much time you want to devote to this, because it's an overtime every-day job. Let's look at the job description and break it down: ...  We are not looking for a food critic; rather, we are seeking someone who can share Richmond s story through its eateries —someone who understands that cuisine is an integral part of a community and a visitor s travel experience. ... Responsibilities in this role include, but are not limited to: at least one dining experience per day at one of Richmond s 800+ restaurants one blog post per day using photos and/or videos to support the messaging aggregation of content across personal social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc.) community management across socia...