How To Pick Up Hot Servers In A Restaurant, Courtesy Of 24Hrs

Woah, did I just read that? Yup, I did. In her feature this week, Kristen McKenzie of 24hrs newspaper starts explaining how to properly secure a patio table before suddenly, awesomely, segueing to deliver genuine, heartfelt, and totally sincere advice for especially classy restaurant patrons looking to tastefully score with the staff without looking too desperate… Read more

Don’t Tease The Cougars On City Council

Metro’s Anya Levykh goes nuts for Market in the Shangri-La, saying she’s finally found the restaurant to cater her wedding. Oh, honey… Read more

Jamie Maw On Drinking And Petty Thuggery

One or twice a week Scout poses 60 questions to a local who has made life in BC that much more interesting. They pick and choose which ones they’d prefer to answer, with a minimum response rate of 20. A Rorschach test, for sure…

Jamie Maw has spent the last year on sabbatical, but if his answers to all 60 of our questions are any indication, he’s revving up for more. Jamie will be inducted into the BC Restaurant Hall of Fame on March 30th at the new Convention Centre. He’ll join Chefs’ Table Society co-founder Sid Cross, and fellow directors Thomas Haas and Scott Jaeger at the podium. You pretty much know the rest–food editor of Vancouver magazine since the Crimean War and many places elsewhere in print and other media. In 2008, Jamie was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by Vancouver magazine. He was the founding editor of The Eating + Drinking Guide to British Columbia and co-editor of the bestselling cookbook, Vancouver Cooks.

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Scout Q&A

Three things about your neighbourhood that make you want to live there: Well, we live a few blocks north of ForMiCa (Fourth Avenue between Milestones + Capers), chiefly because Jason is the barman at Quattro, we can almost stick our toes in the bay without getting out of bed, and there are only two Starbucks within a one-kilometre radius. I regularly commute to Kelowna, where the reasons are essentially identical, except the barman is Hank and it’s a lake.

The thing that you eat that is bad for you that you will never stop eating: Cold cuts, which food snots now call charcuterie, which of course is baloney.

Default drink of choice: I forget. Seriously though, I’m switching teams as Official Brand Ambassador because Heineken have been unstintingly frugal with logo-wear and green patio umbrellas recently, and the fine folks at Grolsch gave me a lovely pen for Christmas and promise a lifetime supply of shapely salad dressing bottles.

Drink you’ll never have again: Anything tinctured Curaçao blue.

The one place you’d move to: Buenos Aires.

Favourite wine varietal: Lager, chased with Malbec (see above), if the company’s any good.

The person you can imitate: Michael Caine.

One thing you’d like to change about Vancouver: Excerable table manners, i.e. the dreaded Kitsilano ‘droop and scoop’.

Bartender who could sell you anything: David Wolowidnyk at West and Mark Brand at Boneta. David should name a drink after himself; no doubt it would tatse great but ordering it could double as a useful sobriety test.

Cheap place for dinner: Phnom Penh

Book you’re reading: ‘The Young Stalin’, by Simon Sebag-Montefiore. It’s about a highly successful bank robber.

Last place traveled: Los Angeles—to be a judge on Hell’s Kitchen last week.

Biggest fear: Charity Dinners, or anywhere excess cash flow is caught chasing social validation. Remember excess cash flow?

Cliches that you use too often: ‘You are an unmitigated and indeed unnecessary paroxysm of delight, dear heart.’ ‘Life should be of a seamless sensuality interrupted only by brief bouts of commerce.’ ‘Tip Top’. ‘Well done’. Etcetera. ‘Etcetera’.

Dead film actor you wish was still making pictures: Michael Caine

Best sneaker in the world: The aptly named Bernie Madoff.

Place in BC that you love escaping to: K-Town.

Under what circumstances would you join the army: Only if Rob Feenie were made Chief Menu Architect and Pamela Anderson redesigned the summer uniforms.

Your paternal grandfather’s personal story: Head of Pepsi Cola in Quebec between the wars—pretty solid branding there.

Best bar stool in the city: I suffer stools gladly. Even after that last, compelling salmonella attack—the bane of all food writers. So the short answer is the stool next to the love of my life, if not counter intuitive bi-valves just yet.

Dumbest purchase ever: A warmish beer on the evening of August 30th, 1979. I learned a good deal from this bitter experience and have worked tirelessly never to repeat it.

What are you proud of: Our daughters; the love of my life; our lovely, lively friends.

The thing that makes you the angriest: False sense of entitlement. I’ve always preferred benevolent dictators.

Saddest thing about Vancouver: Gangs that can’t shoot straight; the homeless.

Most challenging part of owning a business: Changing drill bits at minus 25 degrees.

Best fine dining restaurant in the city: I can only be candid in my silence. But take faith: There are many more good ones out there than there are good food writers.

Your nickname growing up: Jim-Bob and other Scottish diminutives.

Talent you wish you possessed: I often wish I could write. Especially after reading the John Updike retrospective in The New Yorker this week.

The trend you wish you never followed, but did: Mutton chop sideburns in the early 70s. I do recall having to be more respectful of the upper reaches of the nubility. Mind you, when you’re 19 but look like Sir John A. Macdonald, anything remotely nubile would scatter fairly quickly. Fortunately, most of us shave now, even if The Globe still wanes and waxes.

Musical instrument you long to play: Actually, I’d like to play that annoying alpenhorn on the Ricola cough drop ads—on foggy days from the Lions Gate Bridge.

Sport you gave up: Rugby, Extreme Curling

Foreign politician you most admire: Carla Bruni

The game you’re best at: Attentively ignoring my peer-demo extol their golf exploits

Best gallery in the city: The VAG/No. 5 Orange

Somewhere within an hour of Vancouver that is worth checking out: Pasley Island.

The number of fist fights you’ve been in: Countless (see No. 31, above); my right hand is essentially shattered, now held together by baling wire, which might explain this slow response tonight.

The scariest situation you’ve ever been in: Please see No. 38 ‘Cougar Night at the Hotel Eldorado’, immediately below.

Three things of no value that you will keep until you die:

Badges of Honour:

1. Several binders of letters from outraged restaurateurs, chefs, bus girls, neo-Nazi food punks et al, neatly divided into sections such as ‘Cease and Desist’, ‘Semi-Literate’, ‘Shocked and Appalled’, ‘Pre-Postal’ and my favourite category, ‘Post Nuclear—Over to You VPD!’—should I publish some of the better ones?
2. A T-shirt custom made for Friday (Cougar) nights at the Hotel Eldorado Bar in Kelowna that reads ‘I’m Broke and I’m Hung Like a Hamster’;
3. My fab collection of Duco cigarette lighters that just might reinvigorate The Festival of Light.

Local person you admire most: Shell Busey narrowly over Dr. Art Blister. I find Shell’s tips and techniques on home improvements and product referrals invaluable. Perhaps on second thought though, Vicki Gabereau, Barbara-jo McIntosh and Shannon Belkin, three of the wittiest observers and dining chums around.

The thing you’re ashamed of: Remaining chaste until I was 15.

Best concert experience ever: Long John Baldrey in our old barn—back when a thrill was a thrill, even in Paradise.

Aspect of your personality you wish you could change: Micro Management, a trait common to Virgos. I attend a weekly MM 12-Step program now, but it quickly morphed into a 96–step program.

How you waste time at work: Pretty much standard issue—drinking, petty thuggery, researching gout cures on the internet.

The thing you wished people cared more about: Offal.

The dish you’re most proud of: People tell me that my truffled scalloped potatoes are eerily reminiscent of the first time they made love properly.

The thing that makes you the most nervous: Nervous people. Decaffeinated coffee. They are not mutually exclusive.

Town you were born in: Vancouver. With the fuselage of an Airbus, they called me ‘The Miracle on the Fraser’. I was the better part of 11 pounds (‘turkey for four!’ shouted Linda Meinhardt), then Dad took me straight up to get my driver’s license but didn’t actually speak to me for several years.

Old television shows you can tolerate re-runs of: Leave it to Beaver, Californication (Season 1), The Red Shoe Diaries—sorry, but I’m sensing a theme here, Ward.

First memory: Age three, crossing Canada on ‘The Canadian’ streamliner with Dad.

Quality you admire most in yourself: Unusually shapely calves.

Album that first made you love music: Dionne Warwick helped me find my inner San Jose. More love: Ive Mendes – ‘Baby Please Don’t Go.’

Default junk food of choice: Curbside hot dogs. With snappy skins like Ive’s drummer.

The career path you considered but never followed: Advertising. ‘Mad Men’ hasn’t helped—January Jones please copy.

The one country that you have no interest in ever visiting: Mississauga.

Your top 3 films of all time: ‘Burnt by the Sun’, ‘La Grande Bouffe’, and ‘Willing Coeds 13’—they finally got it right.

The first three things you do every morning: Four, actually: Morning ablutions, check oxygen bottles, NYT, then French press coffee of a viscosity admiring the La Brea tar pits.

The thing you’re addicted to: Recently retired lingerie models, and for that matter, recently retired lingerie.

Biggest hope: Free beer, but as they say, only on days ending with the letter Y. But who, as they say, are ‘they’?

Luckiest moment of your life: Filling out this questionnaire.

Favourite book as a child: Stuart Little. The youngest Stalin.

Ten Excuses For Cooks To Dislike Writers

Our weekly distillation of who wrote what about food and drink in this week’s city print…

Alexandra Gill gets a drink poured for her by Chambar’s Wendy McGuinness before waxing glowingly on DB Bistro in the Globe and Mail:

I roll up for my first visit on a snowy Sunday night and the place is packed. Everyone on the floor – from the timid hostess who isn’t quite sure what to do with our coats to the restless manager who circles the room anxiously rubbing his hands – looks jumpy and nervous.

And they haven’t even recognized me yet.

If they had, I sincerely doubt that the woman seated beside me would still be waving a bill holder in the air as she tries to catch her waiter’s attention. Or that we would have to wait this long to order drinks.

We’re still waiting, quite thirstily, when executive chef Stephane Istel pops out of the kitchen and looks over. He probably spied me on the video monitor. (Mais oui, there are hidden cameras in the dining room with a view of every table so the cooks know when to start prepping the next course.)

Et voilà, the whole atmosphere changes. The reinforcements swoop in. The cocktails (spicy Bloody “Bulls” stirred with veal stock) arrive promptly. And the woman beside us has her credit card processed, tout de suite.

C’est la vie.

A most amusing story.

A Texas writer stays at the Wedgewood, dines at Bacchus, and leaves a great big puddle with her opening para:

Some say that the best city in the world is Vancouver. It’s beautiful, clean, green and hip. It gets nice and cold, but rarely snows. You can go from boating to golfing to snow skiing within hours. It has unbelievable scenery and trendy arts, clothing and music scenes. It’s also the starting point for thousands of cruises each year. Vancouver is worth a vacation of its own but throw in the winter Olympic Games 2010 and you’ve got a Destination!

In a different piece, she heads over to The Wick outside Tofino, where the gushing continues with good ‘ol Charles McDiarmid, the coolest hotelier I’ve ever met, playing along pitch perfectly.

Over dinner, McDairmid tells us about the best travelers – “Italians and Texans are the best groups to host. They travel to have a good time and they never forget they’re on a vacation.” While The Wick provides the ultimate in romance, comfort and attention to detail, McDiarmid’s eyebrow arches as he smiles and says, “Nature is still in charge here.” Thank goodness.

Oh Charlie, you devil.

In the Westender, I review Railtown’s new diner, Deacon’s Corner. It’s good. Go.

From Saltaire in West Van to the glory of James Beard House? Apparently so. Vancouver-schooled and trained Derek Myers, now plating in Bermuda, has been invited to cook at the JBH in New York.

In the Vancouver Sun, Mia Stainsby loves the food at Whistler’s Araxi. Not so much the stuff out front.

The service isn’t at the level of sister restaurant West, not surprising in a town dependent on a fairly transient, young staff, but one wishes for better when you’re paying for it.

From the normally generous Mia, that’s an ouch. Also in the Sun was a review of the Richmond location of Browns that I actually missed in the print edition. Happily, the link was sent in by a long-time reader. The subject line read “Are you fucking kidding me?”

Anya Levykh reviews Lumiere in Metro and kicks Rob Feenie in the balls.

Under the former direction of Chef Rob Feenie, it used to be one of the priciest menus in the city, in a room that smacked of nouveau institutional chill. The food was wildly inventive and often amazing, but untended farmland tends to go fallow, and the lack of presence of the main draw (Feenie himself) led to a slump in food and service. Fast-forward to today, and you have a hot New York chef (Daniel Boulud) stepping in and creating a menu that is now put out by an even hotter team.

Untended farmland tends to go fallow. And the Amish man said snap. For Feenie, however, the adoration quickly returns with some puffery in the Calgary Herald.

The Courier’s Tim Pawsey goes to San Francisco and drinks a lot of Zinfandel. Tim is awesome.

Former enRoute food writer Chris Johns and his girlfriend go from spending $300 to $50 a week on food with the help of some of Canada’s top chefs.

High end restaurateurs, meet your new customer: the Globe charts new rules for the bourgeoisie.

And finally, here’s a chef who doesn’t get enough press. Koji Zenimaru, the oddball funny man who runs the crazed kitchen at Kingyo in the West End, gets some profile action. If this guy spoke English, he’d be a star.

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Andrew Morrison is a west coast boy who studied history and classics at the Universities of Cape Town and Toronto after an adolescence spent riding skateboards and working in restaurants. He is the editor of Scout Magazine, the weekly food and restaurant columnist for the Westender newspaper, a contributor to Vancouver and Western Living magazines, and a proud board member of the Chef’s Table Society of BC. He lives and works by the beach in Vancouver.

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Food Media Omnibus: DB & Lumiere Love Fest

Our weekly distillation of who wrote what about food and drink in this week’s city print…

Read more

Food Media Omnibus #265

Our weekly distillation of who wrote what about food and drink in this week’s city print…

Alexandra Gill is besotted by the Chinese Restaurant Awards in the Globe and Mail (and for good reason). It’s interesting how Richmond’s Chinese restaurant community, after years of ho-hum participation in other, more multicultural restaurant awards that only pay their contributions to the local food scene lip service, finally just said fuck it, we’ll do our own and exclude every other cuisine.

Also in the Globe, a story on the economic downturn’s squeezing of gratuities.

Question: what’s the connection between steak houses and assholes?

Canwest’s Michael McCarthy goes to Richmond, finds Chinese restaurants.

Mia Stainsby reviews the modern Vietnamese fare at Robson’s new Chau.

Sue Frause of the Examiner (the what?) visits Campagnolo.

The Edmonton Journal previews next month’s Canadian Culinary Championships in Banff.

Nation Fong gets his Chinese New Years on in The Vancouver Sun.

So does Stephen Fong in the Georgia Straight.

Also in the Straight, Jurgen Gothe pours $10 wines.

In the Vancouver Courier, Tim Pawsey pens on Team Canada’s preps for Bocuse D’Or.

Deana Lancaster reviews The Village Taphouse in West Vancouver.

The Times considers Canadian cuisine (extra).

Unrelated: Victoria’s Times-Colonist (via the Montreal Gazette) tries to unravel the mysteries of Canadian food culture in less than a 1000 words.

The Westcoaster on how to retain staff.

So.cial at le Magasin’s Romy Prasad preps some veal for 24.

And in my Westender column this week, I check out Wild Rice twice during Dine Out.

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Andrew Morrison is a west coast boy who studied history and classics at the Universities of Cape Town and Toronto after an adolescence spent riding skateboards and working in restaurants. He is the editor of Scout Magazine, the weekly food and restaurant columnist for the Westender newspaper, a contributor to Vancouver and Western Living magazines, and a proud board member of the Chef’s Table Society of BC. He lives and works by the beach in Vancouver.

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Food Media: Wild Rice And All Things Nice

Our weekly distillation of who wrote what about food and drink in this week’s city print…

In the Georgia Straight, we learn that restaurant closures in Richmond have doubled (due to health infractions) and are on the rise in Vancouver. Who needs a bad economy to screw you over when you can’t run a clean ship? Also in the Straight, Matthew Burrows taps the old reliable – cheap breakfast joints – while Jurgen Gothe drinks Hungarian Tokaji.

Tim Pawsey loves Rielsing in the North Shore News, and Deana Lancaster breaks down the North Shore Dine Out options.

Malcolm Parry spares a paragraph for the first Chinese Restaurant Awards in the Vancouver Sun, and Joanne Sasvari reviews So.cial at Le Magasin.

Anya Levykh reviews DB Bistro Moderne for Metro, and Alexandra Gill writes up one of their drinks in the Globe and Mail.

Whistler’s Pique on the genius of James Barber.

Another Salt Tasting Room clone opens in Calgary. It’s called FARM.

In my Westender column, I gave six Dine Out recommendations broken down by price point. They were Wild Rice, Darby’s Pub, Cobre, Brau Latino, The William Tell, and Cru.

If you dig down deep in this story, you’ll find a new version of DineHere.ca is in the works.

And with that, I’m pretty confident that the end is almost upon us…

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Andrew Morrison is a west coast boy who studied history and classics at the Universities of Cape Town and Toronto after an adolescence spent riding skateboards and working in restaurants. He is the editor of Scout Magazine, the weekly food and restaurant columnist for the Westender newspaper, a contributor to Vancouver and Western Living magazines, and a proud board member of the Chef’s Table Society of BC. He lives and works by the beach in Vancouver.

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DB Bistro And The Dine Out Dogpile

Our weekly distillation of who wrote what about food and drink in city print…

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In the Georgia Straight, Carolyn Ali goes in search of Vancouver fast food that is both cheap and good for you; Judith Lane promotes Dine Out Vancouver; and Jurgen Gothe continues with his 2008 liquid picks.

Tim Pawsey also does the Dine Out dance in the Vancouver Courier. So does Bruce Stephen in the North Shore Outlook, and Kirsten Thompson in Metro (deep thought: If Wendy Underwood, Amber Sessions, and Emily Armstrong of Tourism Vancouver went into the PR business together, they’d clean up)

Linda Bates checks out one my Lonsdale faves, the Jagerhof, in the Vancouver Sun.

Vancouver Magazine canvases 13 local F&B personalities for their favourite meals of 2008.

Recession Watch: the CBC tries (and fails) to take the economic pulse of the restaurant scene. Psst! Asking the chef de cuisine at Joe Fortes how things are going does not a consensus make (it’s not even a snapshot).

Deana Lancaster visits Le Bistro Chez Michel in the North Shore News.

In the Globe and Mail, Alexandra Gill checked out Main’s Narrow Lounge in the Saturday paper, but what happened to her Wednesday column? Sniff.

In the Westender, I give DB Bistro high marks.

In Metro, Anya Levykh flirts with the saccharine opining on the future of Vancouver’s restaurant scene. Given the dark economic shit storm (that is only just beginning), optimism runs rife.

Recessions, shmessions, I say. We’re not standing in a bread line quite yet, and I’ll bet that if it ever comes to that, it will only be for an organic, yeast-free, artisan loaf from your local farmers’ market. Therefore, let us dine, dance, drink and be merry, for, thank G-d, there are more than a few good restaurants standing strong, and I, for one, plan to enjoy as many of them as possible.

You go girl.

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Andrew Morrison is a west coast boy who studied history and classics at the Universities of Cape Town and Toronto after an adolescence spent riding skateboards and working in restaurants. He is the editor of Scout Magazine, the weekly food and restaurant columnist for the Westender newspaper, and a contributor to Vancouver and Western Living magazines.

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Food Media Omnibus #263: Year In Review

Our weekly distillation of who wrote what about food and drink in city print and what’s being said on the local food blogs…

In Print…

Deep thought: when something gets a lot of press it can no longer be considered “unsung”. Judy Creighton on Blue Water Cafe’s fetish for red sea urchin in the Globe and Mail.

Cinda Chavich (or her copy editor) arbitrarily picks “Canada’s hottest cocktails” in the Globe and Mail. Brian Grant of Voya (whither Jay Jones?) and Seattle’s Jamie Boudreau (ex-Lumiere) mentioned.

Alexandra Gill recounts the restaurant year that was in the Globe and Mail.

So do I in the Westender.

Food writer Deana Lancaster also does a recap in the North Shore News.

Ditto Tim Pawsey in the Vancouver Courier.

Vancouver Magazine presents their 2009 Wine Awards.

Jurgen Gothe gives us his top imported wine picks for 2008 in the Georgia Straight.

The Vancouver Sun finds former Plan B chef Ryan Zuvich cooking at Steveston’s Tapenade Bistro.

Pique on Whistler’s Citta closure.

Banff gets lots of love in The New York Times. Saltlik, Bison, and Maple Leaf Grille all get mentions.

On The Blogs…

HKFoodie goes to Vij’s.

Chow Times visits Burnaby’s Lao Shan Dong.

Tiny Bites does a “year in preview”.

Butter On The Endive does Holiday Ham with friends (great photos).

Food Media Omnibus #262

Our weekly distillation of who wrote what about food and drink in city print and what’s being said on the local food blogs…

In Print…

Joanne Blaine’s lowdown on the Loden in the Vancouver Sun.

Mia Stainsby gives Campagnolo some love in the Vancouver Sun.

Ditto me in the Westender.

Where Alexandra Gill eats “when nobody’s footing the bill” – The Globe and Mail.

Jurgen Gothe picks his favourite spirits of 2008 in the Georgia Straight.

Tim Pawsey gives us a refresher on how to open bottles of champers in the Courier.

The Wedgewood and Bacchus get some major love in Texas’ Tribune.

High-end booze and the recession aren’t big buddies – The Canadian Press.

And On The Blogs…

The things you must eat in Manila by Tiny Bites.

A visit to Burnaby’s Saffron Indian Cuisine in Chow Times.

HK Foodie brings a camera into The Pear Tree.

Sherman’s Food Aventures goes ga-ga for Memphis Blues.

Restaurant scheduling according to Richmond’s Posh.

Eat, Snap, Repeat links to a .pdf file that details all the health-related shutdowns of GVRD restaurants.

Le Faux Bourgeois gets some attention in Doesn’t Tazte Like Chicken.

Food Media Omnibus #261

Get your food media crack with our weekly distillation of who wrote what in city print and what’s being said on the local blogs:

What’s being said in print

• Carolyn Ali visits Robson’s still newish Chau in the Georgia Straight.
• Craig Takeuchi goes searching for Japanese breakfasts in the Georgia Straight.
• Mia Stainsby gives good marks to the new Irish Heather in the Vancouver Sun.
• Patricia Best talks up the upcoming star chef-studded “Senza Frontiere” dinner being put on by The Chef’s Table Society at Cioppino’s in the Globe.
• Alexandra Gill is not too impressed with the recently opened Miku in the Globe.
• Kristen Thompson discusses the opening of Lumiere and db Bistro Moderne in Metro.
• Anya Levykh slams Piato in Metro.
• Holiday tips from sommelier/restaurateur Tom Doughty (Fuel, Campagnolo) in the National Post.
• Warren Geraghty, West, and the West cookbook get some action in the Canadian Press.
• Tim Pawsey is impressed by Voya in The Courier.
• Michael White asks local chefs what they’d want for Christmas dinner in the Westender.
• I visit Finch’s and scarf baguettes in the Westender.

What’s being said on the blogs

• Eat, Snap, Repeat dishes on Taiwanese cuisine.
• Vancouver Eats reviews Glowbal and visits Chambar.
• Vancouver Slop goes on a first date to Le Faux Bourgeois.
• Tiny Bites makes a list of places to enjoy high tea.
• Butter On The Endive gets into the holiday spirit and makes a holiday ham.
• Everybody Likes Sandwiches tells us how to make hot spiced tea.

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.

Food Media Omnibus #257

I’ve spent most of this early evening doing something I haven’t done in weeks, which is read what my colleagues in the local food media have been writing. It feels nice at long last to be have a few moments to skim lines that aren’t in CSS code, and better still to be able to start nailing down an actual editorial schedule (I love how launching in beta affords you the chance to mess around like that).

By request, we bring you the Food Media Omnibus, a weekly collection of the local food media stories that have made it onto the internets. Feast up, my lovelies, and don’t forget to tip your server…

“Jean-Georges readies to rumble with Boulud”
This week in the Globe and Mail, serial sensationalist Fiona Morrow tries to start a flame war between Jean Georges Vongerichten and Daniel Boulud. Giggle. What else can you do with neither restaurant open?

“This meaty baby was a long time coming”
Food writer Alexandra Gill falls for Davie’s simple and Euro-themed La Brasserie (couldn’t agree with her more). Their suckling pig is straight up awesome.

“Nuts About Sea Urchin”
The National Post’s Brian Hutchinson profiles two delicious Vancouver gems, sea urchin (uni) and the Blue Water Cafe’s executive chef Frank Pabst. Pabst, you’ll recall, won the Vancouver Gold Medal Plates competition last week plating urchin (the same dish photographed for the story). Very odd that his victory wasn’t even mentioned (Scout video here).

“Hawaiian Cuisine In Vancouver? Scarce But It’s Here”
In the Vancouver Sun, Mia Stainsby continues to seek out story threads better than anyone working the food beat. Hawaiian in Vancouver? Who’d have thunk it. Wait, that’s Burnaby and Maple Ridge! Sneaky Mia. She doubles down with another story on Hawaiian food here.

“Shaken, Not Stirred – A New Twist On A Bond Favourite”
No byline on this Vancouver Sun piece that details how Nu Restaurant makes their “Vesper” martini. Very handsome picture of Chad fingering the drink, though there’s no excuse for his bow tie (c’mon Chad – did Harry put you up to that?).

“I Went For The Food, But Found Whistler Instead”
Ever since she flew to New York to blog for the Vancouver Sun about Daniel Boulud and the coming of the new Lumiere, Shelley Fralic has been salivating so hard that I’m beginning to think an intervention of some kind might be in order. I’ve never tasted Boulud’s food, so I’m assuming she’s on to something rather just on something. Anyway, she’s back at it again, this time describing a Boulud meal while in Whistler during Cornucopia last weekend. I admit it sounded freakin’ awesome (everyone I spoke to were pleased), but the screen shot above of her blog’s “tag cloud” tonight suggests she may be in need of a restraining order…

“Poster Boy Documents Decade Of Getting Plastered”
In the Courier we discover that Rob Edmonds, kick-ass Aussie-born graphic designer and partner with David Nicolay in the award-winning interior design firm Evoke (think The Cascade Room, Habit, Glowbal, Sanafir, FigMint, and several other local restaurants), has published a book of his concert posters called “Plastered on the Street”.

“Family that wines together shines together”
Tim Pawsey introduces us to Stefanie and Bernd Schales of Summerlands’ 8th Generation Winery.

“Five Great Places For Malaysian Food”
I had no idea that there were that many, did you? The one and only Bag Head, Mr. Mark Laba, lists off Tamarind Hill, Orchid Delight, Jonker Street, Seri Malaysia Restaurant, and Banana Leaf in The Province.

“A Tasty Tale Of Two Dinners”
Deana Lancaster of the North Shore News details dinner at Araxi and The Bearfoot Bistro during Whistler’s Cornucopia. She was one of my dining companions at both dinners, so it’s nice to see we’re totally on the same page. Chefs Walt and Craig certainly outdid themselves, and the wines…egads…just amazing (Scout video here).

“Restaurateurs Bracing For Leaner Times”
Ontario’s Business Edge gets down to the brass tacks of how restaurateurs will have to adapt in order to survive the coming tough economic times. Shorter version: more comfort food.

“Vancouver Tofu Makers Give Soy A Fresh New Appeal”
Tara Lee (yay Tara Lee!) investigates the local tofu shops in The Georgia Straight, making mention of who supplies whom with the little white gelatinous blobs that I’ve never really been able to tolerate.

“Elixir As Sweet As Ever”
And last for the omnibus this week is my review of Elixir in The Westender. Loved it.