Life in the Lower Mainland (BC, Canada)

Chinois was a year old in the final week of the Taste of Yaletown. As it coincided with the weekend before Halloween, they also had Heaven & Hell Halloween night on Saturday, October 27th. The restaurant opened to some buzz last year, although mainly what I heard was a lot of whining about the price. And as some of these tapas plates do come in at the $20-$30 range, that's not unjustified. The room is rather dimly lit, but if you want a bit more light you can sit against the wall on the right side, which has lower-hanging lights. Decor is interesting and how they do the Chinese theme is definitely worth a look. Far in the back is a cocktail lounge (Pierre's) where they completely drop the Chinese theme in favour of a curious classic-artwork-meets-irreverent-additions pieces of art on the wall. You'll understand what I mean when you see it. Servers are all friendly hotties in tight black dresses. Our two servers, Jessica and Rebecca (Becky) were super, super nice...

EDIT (2012-Oct-22) - Corrected various details in the post after hearing from the owner. Gosh, someone actually reads my posts?! O_O  I went to Bistro Sakana last year for the Taste of Yaletown , and was very pleasantly surprised, so well ahead of time I made a reservation for this busy restaurant. Like Miku , they do the "aburi" style box-pressed and blow-torched. Here, they use a stick of charcoal (imported from Japan) to deflect the flame onto the sushi instead of using the direct flame jet, to reduce the chances of the sushi smelling/tasting like fuel. There are three seating areas -- reservations go in the main dining room, walk-ins go to the covered and heated patio, or to the bar. Our party was to dine at 6pm, but two dropped out at the last moment, two no-showed, and two were stuck behind traffic in Surrey after a wine tour. So there was just two of us and we decided to move to the bar. Which doesn't sound so great, unless you like watching the chefs roll a...

Chocolate cake with stinky goat cheese! Yuck! But Heirloom Vegetarian does have inventive fare, if you're not just vegetarian-curious / committed-vegan / gluten-free-mandatory, but also an adventurous diner. It hadn't been open long at where Primo's Mexican Grill used to be when my chicken-permissible-vegetarian friend and I walked in on Friday. (No reservations, but supposedly has a fast turnover; no lineup at 6pm, either, unlike the smaller roomed Acorn ). Inside, it's high ceilings, white walls, vintage farm decor, and noise noise noise from conversation. The left side has taller tables and bar seats, and is a bit quieter. For reasons unclear to me, I settled on the raw cauliflower risotto, one of the two raw items on the dinner menu . I'm not hardcore raw vegan, so I really don't know why I did that. I think it was because I ran into my vegan friend Emma Smith (of Zimt fame) and she had mentioned she'd had it and it was good. Now that I've ha...

I got this shocking letter from Elizabeth May, the MP for the Saanich-Gulf Islands, after putting my name on an online petition against the CCIT (Canada-China Investment Treaty). It basically echoes what the petition was about, and confirms that http://www.greenparty.ca/stop-the-sellout weren't crazy. What *is* crazy is that this treaty will go into effect without anyone really knowing about it. I have highlighted some key sections... Who the heck thought up this ludicrous treaty? From: Elizabeth.May@parl.gc.ca Sent: October-17-12 3:54:46 AM To: <masked> Thank you for your interest in the Canada-China Investment Treaty. Although Stephen Harper prefers to keep Canadians in the dark about this Agreement’s grave implications for our sovereignty, security, and democracy, I am hopeful that we can force the issue into daylight. Your letter proves that you recognize the seriousness and urgency of what is about to take place behind our backs. Whil...

Wildebeest recently started their "Premeditated Gluttony" option in September, and with menu picks there for parties of 4-10, they were obviously extensions of their buy-to-share dining style. The regular menu is generally small sharing plates, and depending on who you end up speaking with, they can come across as rather pushy about this sharing stuff. Anyway, the idea of Wildebeest appears to be marketed as a Bin 941  tapas-for-sharing style establishment, and the Premeditated Gluttony menu is basically the same idea, but you're ordering much, much, larger plates. Some special requests can be accomodated. For example, our party included one person with a dairy allergy, and although most persons with that are okay with trace amounts we went with the better-safe-than-sorry no-dairy-at-all option. Didn't really miss anything with what came to the table, happy to say. No exotic meats here like alligator , for example, but it was mentioned to me that in the fall the...

Before you go to Dark Table , you should really STOP ASKING QUESTIONS about the experience. Really. Here's why: Have you ever asked a friend about a movie you're thinking of going to see? How would you feel if they gave away the ending to, say, a murder mystery? Asking someone what they thought of their experience at Dark Table; or worse, asking detailed questions about what happens or how the dinner is conducted; or even worse still, asking how they coped in the dark -- ALL THIS CAN SPOIL YOUR EXPERIENCE. I say "can spoil your experience" but it's probably closer to " will diminish your experience". Maybe you'll feel more competent and less anxious about dining at Dark Table, but think about it: This could be an adventure. A "safe", non-life-threatening, interesting adventure. It's one thing to go skydiving and want to know what to do once they throw you out of the plane. That's life-threatening and you need information on w...

I've seen this place, walked by it many times, and even heard about it once or twice. It's hotel dining, and that often carries a stigma of being overpriced. Bacchus Restaurant and Lounge is the older places in Vancouver, a city known as being a tough place to start a restaurant, and I figured it was time to go before it gets renovated into something unrecognizable. The lounge half of the restaurant has comfortable seats that invite you to linger with intimate company, and the generous spacing means despite the somewhat loud buzz of conversation, there's still a degree of privacy. A live pianist adds to the old school vibe of this place. The ambiance is more than just the decor -- the overall vibe is one where you are invited to stay and enjoy your time with whoever you came (or came to meet). As opposed to a more open layout where eyes are cast outward people watching or where you are on display. Which isn't necessarily bad -- it's just a different sort of loun...

My vegetarian friend had gone to Turkey earlier this year and talked about having done well there without meat. The Culture Sponges dining group had had a good omnivorous experience at Anatolia's Gate Restaurant , so I dragged her there to rekindle memories of Turkey and show me the veggie way. She did the ordering, except for the "Sahlep Tea". Normally it's sort-of cheap to eat here, but somehow our bill ended up being $44.70 before tax and tip and we ended up with a meal's worth of leftovers. Large Mixed Plate with Lavash Bread ($16.95) What you see in the glass counter when you walk in the door is pretty much what you get. There were nine different things on the full-loaded plate, including stuffed grape leaves, mixed olives, hummus, chemen (tomato paste with spices and walnuts), and baba ghanoush. It's like everything on their cold starters menu except leafy salads. Comes with one of their fresh fire-oven lavash breads. This thing is the size of tw...

Everything here is made in-house, which usually means stricter quality control for better quality. If it's made in-house and still inferior to mass-produced shipped-in cakes, you're in trouble. So happily, Sweet Revenge Pâtisserie did not disappoint on this point. We walked in probably shortly before 8pm on Saturday, which turned out very fortunately because maybe a half hour later, the place was full and the lineup was beginning outside (and, annoyingly, just inside the door, meaning outgoing patrons were sandwiched between people waiting). The price for what you got was between okay to slightly expensive. My guess is that the neighbourhood doesn't have many options for a late-night café with pâtisserie offerings, which in turn means you get a clashing vibe for a café sort of place (yes, a café and a pâtisserie are not strictly the same, but if you run the latter like the former...). But that later. We had just finished at The Acorn Restaurant  wher...

Late last year I picked up a Groupon for a Nine-Course Tasting Menu at C Restaurant  at half price. We'd had a good time slowly savouring the food, so when it showed up again this year as a 10-course, I snapped it up. Familiar at the table was black volcanic ash salt (sea salt-like chips instead of fine ash this time) on the butter that accompanied your bread. And the bread was a mix of plain and some with a bit of seaweed in it. Gone were the chairs with the funny covers; they were replaced by something more unremarkable and very restaurant-typical. The "Chef's Grand Tasting Menu" was this year featured the basic line-up, five optional subsitutions ($12-$22, $78 if you did all five substitutions), and two sets of wine pairings ($65, or a "sommelier's choice pairing" for $95). At $125 regular price ($125 for two Groupon price), it's tempting to divide it into 10 and call each dish $12.50, but that's not exactly right since you start with app...

Last Friday I dragged a bunch of omnivores down to the new-ish vegetarian/vegan place, The Acorn Restaurant . Strangely, it's like a Yaletown restaurant with diner ambiance, complete with beautiful food, downtown prices, and hot waitresses; but no skimpy outfits or uniform per se. Table spacing is also pretty tight. The line-up starts at around 5pm (even though they open at 5:30pm), and shortly after you can expect the restaurant to be full. You can reserve a "family table" tucked in the back. Minimum 6 persons, maximum around 14 but you're quite sandwiched and they probably have to pull over the nearby table. Reservations have a strict 2-hour seating. Our party was on time, done and paid around 7:15pm -- and we hashed out a single bill instead of asking for separate bills, which would have been complicated by the fact that we split five desserts. Our orders did come out quite quickly considering the restaurant was packed. Lots of orders at the table, including e...