Once again we present our weekly Food Media Omnibus, a collection of all our local food writer’s most recent works in print. Get clicking…

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The Georgia Strait dished its annual Golden Plate nods in this thick issue, with Angus An of Maenam getting his props on the cover. Quote of the century comes from Tyson Reimer, co-owner of Cobre and big cheese at Deacon’s Corner, on delivering pancakes (pancakes!) to Snoop Dogg’s hotel room:

“When we got in the elevator you could already smell the dope, and by the time we got to their floor it just reeked…the room looked like my basement in high school, it was so thick full of pot smoke….He [Snoop Dogg] had this big fucking canon joint in his hand, and he handed it to me. And I hadn’t smoked in like, 15 years, but it’s like if Keith Richards hands you a bottle, you take a pull—it doesn’t matter, it’s just something you have to do. So we took it and we stood there for a little bit looking a bit awkward and very, very white.”

There’s also a good article on the Chambar alumni by the one and only Tara Lee.

In the Westender, I recall some recent Cactus Club eats and make a short argument for the company’s 2011 invasion of the beach at English Bay. I also slurp pig testicles (so plump and juicy).

In the Vancouver Sun, Mia Stainsby reports that Vikram and Meeru are moving Vij’s to Cambie and opening a new concept in the original space. This quote gave me pause: “Yes, rumours that the much-celebrated Vij’s restaurant is moving are true.” If by “rumours” she refers to our reporting of this truth two weeks beforehand, we must have been unconvincing. Either that or she doesn’t read Scout. She does a better job, anyway. She’s more thorough and provides more info. In other news, Mia is apparently rumoured to have made a trip to the Four Seasons in Whistler to sample some infra-red cow fleiss, and supposedly dishes on the exits of West chef Warren Geraghty and Market chef David Foot. There were also some unconfirmed reports that she ate a couple of cupcakes. We could find no witnesses to corroborate her side of the story, so we ate cupcakes as well. Sadly, they proved nothing.

In Maclean’s, we learn that the Japanese fishing lobby sucks very, very hard, and probably slept with the most irregular of Tiger Woods’ mistresses.

In the Globe and Mail, Alexandra Gill reviews Corner Suite and uses the word Lilliputian to describe the soup (and now I love her more than ever).

Tim Pawsey drinks sustainably for The Province and weighs in on the future of blended BC wines in the North Shore News. Also in the NSN, Deana Lancaster drinks Hester Creek at La Regalade (and is momentarily lost for words).

Last but not least, Metro’s Anya Levykh reviews The Poor Italian, journeyman chef Gianni Picci’s new digs on East 1st.

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Once again we present our weekly Food Media Omnibus, a collection of all our local food writer’s most recent works in print. Get clicking…

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The Vancouver Sun, CBC, Province, and CTV all report on Cactus Club winning the bid for the Parks Board restaurant space at English Bay.

In the Globe & Mail, Alexandra Gill reviews The Urban Tea Merchant on West Georgia and then Oru in the Pacific Rim.

In the Westender, I go on a search for great Neapolitan pizza (much harder than I thought).

In the Georgia Straight, Tara Lee writes about the growing family-style dining trend while Jurgen Gothe previews the Wine Festival.

In the North Shore News, Deana Lancaster goes on soup safari at Burgoo.

In the Vancouver Courier, Tim Pawsey investigates claims of Malbec being the new Shiraz.

In the Vancouver Sun, Anthony Gismondi gets ready to speed date wines at the Wine Festival while Mia Stainsby remembers 16 years of Dining Out For Life and reviews Oru (very positively).

Anya Levykh also dines at Oru in the new Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel and loves it as well (mental note: go to Oru).

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.

Anthony Gismondi writes about BC wine competing globally in Whistler’s Pique.

Anya Levykh reviews Lupo in Metro.

From the Vancouver Courier: Cheryl Rossi checks in on how restaurants/bars are doing in different Vancouver neighbourhoods; Tim Pawsey reviews Corner Suite, and is not altogether impressed.

Maenam and more get some love from Tim Zagat in Budget Travel.

More of the same in The New York Times, which parachutes Denny Lee in to give Refuel, Maenam, Bao Bei, Alibi, Salt and Vij’s a once-over whirl.

LA Times’ Chris Erksine gives his readers a pretty weak take on our food scene. Floata? Fritz? The Elbow Room? What the hell is that about?

The Richmond Review sees the appeal of Chinatown’s Bao Bei (so does Mia Stainsby in the Sun).

Refuel catches the attention of the National Post.

The Philadelphia Enquirer discovers our Dungeness crab.

MSNBC goes gaga for Chambar’s mussels.

Lastly, in the Westender, I calibrate my calendar for after the Olympics.

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The lip-smackingly delicious "Chicken Lupo" at the very well-received (and reincarnated) Lupo in Yaletown

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.

Once again we present our weekly Food Media Omnibus, a collection of all the local food writer’s most recent works in print. Enjoy…

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They’re loving the Cactus Club in Edmonton.

In the Georgia Straight, Carolyn Ali does takeout turkey and Jurgen Gothe recommends the best local reds of 2009.

Elephant & Castle will open in Whistler’s old Milestone’s location. Run for your lives.

With the Olympics on the immediate horizon, news outlets around the world have been making mention of Zagat’s well-timed launch of their new restaurant guide to Vancouver. Special congrats to local food writer Tim Pawsey, aka the Hired Belly, who (if I’m not mistaken) once again supplied the word meat on the page bone. It”s just too bad ABC News can’t spell Araxi.

And speaking of Araxi, a jolly big clap for Top Table maestro Jack Evrensel, winner of the Whistler Chamber of Commerce nod for businessperson of the year.

And speaking of Tim Pawsey, he suggests we go on a Richmond scarfing safari via the Canada Line in the Vancouver Courier and recommends several Rieslings in the North Shore News.

And speaking of the North Shore News, Deana Lancaster reviews Park Royal’s new Red Door location.

Hugo Martin of the Los Angeles Times is a bit of a scaredy-pants wanker with touristy restaurant taste.

In the Globe and Mail, Alexandra Gill gives the amateur floor staff at The Observatory the merciless what for.

In the Vancouver Sun, Linda Bates checks out the recently rebranded Quattro on Fourth (now just Q4), while Mia Stainsby sees the restaurant recession through the prism of the Gastropod/Maenam and Fuel/Refuel switcheroos (bonus: Mia also talks Angus An out of his Pad Thai recipe).

And lastly, for the WE cover story this week (see above image) I compiled a list of my top ten best new restaurants. You can read the brief write ups on the paper’s website here, but the Cole’s notes version is as follows:

10: Pourhouse
9: Mis Trucos
8: Habit Lounge
7: The Diamond
6: L’Altro Buca
5: Refuel
4: Latitude
3: Au Petit Chavignol
2: Market
1: Maenam

That’s not a bad haul. For a year plagued by financial woes, I think 2009 kinda rocked. Let’s hope 2010 is even better. See you on the other side.

All Anticipated Openings

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