Sorry that we allowed this weekly feature to go to pasture in January. To make it up to you, we’ll try and start from where we left off with an extended omnibus mix of the month’s local food writing, with a few add-ons from global scribes at large. Enjoy.

In the Globe and Mail, Alexandra Gill wrote how the Glowbal Group’s new Society restaurant in Yaletown downright awful. “Society wasn’t just the worst dining experience I’ve encountered within the Glowbal Group chain of restaurants.” she remarked. “It was my worst dining experience – period – over the last few years.” She followed that up with a glowing review of Lupo, just a couple of blocks to the north (I couldn’t agree more) before spending an evening under the watchful eye of Pino Posteraro while serving tables at Cioppino’s.

In Vancouver Magazine, I write a year in review sort of feature called The Next Course. It details all the new mentionable restaurants, the ones that are currently in the pipe, and the ones that fell victim to the recession. For the Westender, I penned a very positive review of Lupo last week (Julio makes a mean pomodoro), while this morning’s paper features my take on Chinatown’s recently opened Bao Bei.

In the Georgia Straight, Carolyn Ali checks out the ethically-minded Controversial Kitchen on Commercial Drive and Jurgen Gothe finds “satisfying sippers under $15”.

A travel writer from Conde Nast thinks Vancouver has the best Chinese food in the world.

In the Vancouver Sun, Mia Stainsby follows up her positive review of Refuel with a similar treatment of Eight ½, the off-Main replacement of Soma. Prior to these, she’d been dining on the down low, underground, after being disappointed by Yaletown’s Society.

The National Post loves the Opus Hotel.

In the Courier, Tim Pawsey goes in search of deals despite Dine Out’s Olympic delay.

In the North Shore News, Deana Lancaster recounts how the staff at West Van’s Fraiche got their shit together during a power outage. Bravo.

In the Toronto Star, Richard Ouzounian writes up his picks for Vancouver restaurants during the Olympics and doubles down on Lumiere and db bistro. Ditto Nancy Leson in the Seattle Times, Matthew Hague in Toronto Life, and Kathy Arnold in the Telegraph.

The New York Times spends 36 hours in Whistler. Incidentally, this story was pulled up on screen during Steve Job’s presentation of the new iPad yesterday. Win!

Post script: Remember Dave, the much-balley-hooed winner of Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen? He’s started on the line at Araxi.