Food Media Omnibus #537: World Press Dogpile Our Restaurants

From the Vancouver Sun: Team Canada carbo-loads at DB Bistro Moderne, with Sid the Kid scarfing two bowls of pasta and a glass or two of red (Macleans writes the same story); the opening of The Keefer gets noticed; Mia Stainsby serves up 25 must-do foodie observances and welcomes back Daniel Boulud;

From the Province: Earls gets bad press about autograts and price hikes. They aren’t alone. As we noted last week, it’s been pretty horrific at some places. I heard one Yaletown restaurateur had a bit of a defensive meltdown on the news when confronted about it. Anyone see that?

From the Straight: Pieta Wooley on our culinary icons changing with the times; Carolyn Ali loves Local Public Eatery in Kits.

From the Globe & Mail: Alexandra Gill nails a few price hikers/autogratters. My favourite part of the piece?

Is the short-term gain really worth the long-term pain these practices may incite? Greedy restaurateurs may want to consider this warning tweeted by Raul Pacheco (@hummingbird604): “2 those in food industry jacking up $ during Olympics. Others may forget I won’t & I have a popular blog,”

How awesome is that? Local restaurateurs better watch out for that Raul dude, whoever he is. His “popular blog” will break your fucking legs, bro. For real. Snap. Read more

“Cork & Fin” Coming Together Swimmingly In Heart Of Gastown

A dozen new shots of the soon-to-open Gastown joint, Cork & Fin, brought to us by Francis Regio, long of Tapastree. Take a look after the jump… Read more

The Corner Suite Bistro De Luxe Opens For Friends And Family…

A pal of mine and I were about town last night and were happily surprised to find The Corner Suite Bistro De Luxe with the paper off the windows and some friends and family in, finally. So we snuck in for a first sip, taste, and look at what the long awaited new restaurant had to offer. It’s a cool-looking space. See for yourselves. They’re closed Monday, but they might open for real this Tuesday once they get their final piece of paper from the city. Take a look in the video below and scroll even further down for a few dozen photos of the exterior and interior, as well as the few plates of food that we sampled… Read more

Food Media Omnibus #536: Local And Foreign Gastro-Scribbles…

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. Read more

Gastown’s Old Paris Block Soon To Welcome The Acme Cafe

I mentioned a bunch of new restaurants in the pipe in my Urban Rush appearance yesterday. One of them, which we’d yet to mention on this site, was the very buzzworthy Acme Cafe.  It’s slated to slip into the main floor of the redeveloped Paris Block at 51 West Hastings off Abbott in Gastown this March (next to a rather charming store where one can pick up outfits for one’s nurse or maid). It’s coming to us courtesy of Peggy Hoffman, a front-of-house lifer (past 6 years at Bishop’s) and her well known photographer husband, Alan. I’m told we can expect an old-school neighborhood diner with great coffee, comfort food a la meatball sandwich, and lots and lots of very good pie. Opening day is slated for mid-March.

ALL ANTICIPATED OPENINGS

Gastown To Land Likely Keeper With The Upcoming Cork & Fin…

Francis Regio, formerly (and long) a fixture at the West End’s much loved Tapastree, has taken over the old Blake’s location at 221 Carrall St. (corner of Blood Alley next to the original Irish Heather). He plans to open a new seafood and wine bar called Cork & Fin by the middle of February. I caught up with Francis yesterday at the location with the restaurant’s chef, Elliott Hashimoto (ex-Brix, Tapastree), and took the nickel tour. It’s a small, two level spot with an open raw bar and dining room on the main floor and some more seating up the short and very beautiful set of stairs. From what I was told, it sounds like we can expect something akin to a hip and considerably more casual Blue Water Café. A few snaps below… Read more

Chinatown’s Hotly Anticipated “Bao Bei” Looking Marvellous…

It’s possibly only a matter of a day or two (again, crossing my fingers and knocking on wood) before Vancouver gets treated to Bao Bei. I checked it out again last night in its final construction phase, and I can say without any reservation that’s really looking beautiful (see for yourself below). For those of our newer readers who’ve never heard of the place before, the Chinatown restaurant is widely acknowledged in trade circles to be the city’s most highly anticipated room. Here’s what we wrote about it when we first broke the news of its coming last May… Read more

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