Deana Lancaster Does Shrooms And Eats Horse at L’Altro Buca

by Deana Lancaster | It’s autumn. Curled and broken leaves layer the sidewalk like sodden paper mâché, and a cement sky is gray with rain. It’s my favourite season, but still, it weighs heavily. Time to pull the crock-pot from its hiding place behind the toaster and load it with browned meat, fistfuls of herbs, and wild mushrooms that taste of the forest they were found in.

Even better: to slip into the quiet, art deco elegance of L’Altro Buca in the West End to satisfy my craving for crispy-skinned meats and the lusty flavours of fungi at Andrey Durbach’s annual Game and Wild Mushroom Festival. The ingredients that Durbach sources – locally foraged morels, chanterelles, matsutake, porcini and field mushrooms – are more varied and pristine than what I can dig up (figuratively, if not literally), and his cooking is much more refined than I can accomplish (with crock-pot or not). Read more

So Your Kid Wants To Be A Restaurant Critic?

I’m not as appalled as the Slate magazine writer who complained about the emergence of the child foodie movement. Actually, the NY Times story about 12-year-old restaurant critic David Fishman is a gem. Clearly, he’ll have to get sorted on the note-taking while on the job — these days, most critics are using their smartphones — but otherwise he’s on the right track…especially by sampling the tripe. A chicken fingers-only diet won’t cut it if you want to be a food writer — you’ve got to be willing to sample the surprising, the intimidating…the downright unappetizing. So I’m not feeling threatened in my own food editor gig. The number of North American youngsters who will opt for offal over McMeat is infinitesimal, frankly. I am more befuddled by the magazine’s feature, Cooking with Dexter. Are we to believe that this four-year-old drinks “two ounces of good, strong coffee” every morning (after grinding his own beans, to boot)? His dad, and writer of the piece, Times dining editor Pete Wells, is obviously unhinged. Or at least, he soon will be, with a pre-schooler all hopped up on caffeine running amok.

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Deana Lancaster is an authentic pop culture vulture who will cop to an addiction to EW.com that is as insatiable as those she has for all things gourmet, great shoes, cool tunes and the Huffington Post. A 12-year staffer at the North Shore News, she serves as the paper’s food & wine editor, features editor, and dabbles in some selective freelancing. If she’s not at her computer, she’s likely hanging with her family — or depending on the season — surfing at Long Beach or snowboarding Cypress.

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Food Media Omnibus #259

Coming to Vancouver – a meal worthy of Barack Obama, courtesy chef Daniel Boulud – Mia Stainsby calls Boulud for the Vancouver Sun:

Surprisingly, this giant among restaurateurs is nervous about the Vancouver openings.

“I’m more intimidated opening in Vancouver than in New York. It’s not my home here and I’m going to have to work it out, make sure it’s coming together the way I want it to. You’d be surprised, for me, being from New York – certainly I’m globally exposed, but every time I talk about myself, I talk about Vancouver. People think very highly of Vancouver as a city. With all that, I want to live up to the reputation for the people of Vancouver.

“It’s part of me now.”

From fine dining casualty to casual dining royalty – Tim Pawsey on the Cactus Club in The Vancouver Courier.

Two Chefs’ Railtown dishes are comfy, but plain – Anya Levykh visits Two Chefs and a Table in Metro.

Leisurely lunch recommendations for the holidays – Judith Lane gets around in the Georgia Straight.

Celebrated chef Vikram Vij shares his holiday secrets – Mary Nersessian for CTV.

Party on for Christmas – Carla Wilson says companies are still booking for parties this holiday season despite the economic downturn in the Times-Colonist. Is that purely inertia or a last hurrah?

Friends of farming face the future – Glenda Luymes for The Province.

No fall hibernation for Uli’s – Michelle Hopkins goes to White Rock’s Uli’s for the Vancouver Sun.

We ordered seared calamari (I think) – Alexandra Gill harumphs at West Vancouver’s Matteo Modern Greek Kitchen in the Globe and Mail. I’ve heard the place sucks.

City restaurants offer the perfect holiday party venue – And lo, in my Westender column I ask Kurtis Kolt to sit on the communal table at the Salt Cellar.