One of the reasons I accepted Van Houtte’s invite to fly a Foodist to Montreal last month was so that I can see, first-hand, what the bagel fuss is all about. I came home armed with 2 dozen samples from St-Viateur, whose bagels are rumoured to be quintessentially Montrealesque.

Not convinced, I called Foodsters to pick up contenders at a couple of bagel shops for a good ol’ fashioned Bagel Smackdown.

We then served the remainder to our Foodists guests when we invited them chez nous for a Montreal-themed potluck. The results? Our local bagel purveyors stood up quite well to the benchmark from Montreal, to the point where our guests couldn’t identify the supposedly superlative ones from St-Viateur.

Here’s where to start if you’re looking for Montreal-style bagels in town.

Solly’s: eat ‘em au naturel

Look at the photo above and decide which you’d pick up first. We thought that the bagel in the upper-right corner satisfied the hunger in our eyes best, and our readers on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagr.am heartily agreed. The cake-like interior was moist and springy; this translated to the most enjoyable chew before bagel met toaster. If you like to eat your bagel fresh from the shop and without dressings, head on over to Solly’s.

Siegel’s: lover of cream cheese

Siegel’s was our top pick for a toasty treat. The bagels were a little too bland and yeasty to eat straight out of the bag, but get them crispy and slathered with cream cheese and they couldn’t be beat. The smoked salmon cream cheese that you can grab at the shop was pretty memorable, too.

PHAT Deli: smoked meat and benny bagel delights

PHAT Deli wasn’t part of Bagel Smackdown but it gets honorary mention here. It’s the first place I wrote about when Tiny Bites began nearly 4 years ago, and it’s the first place that made me fall in love with the bagel. I’m still drawn in every now and then for an Everything bagel with freshly made dill cream cheese.

It’s is also the first place that comes to mind when I’m in the mood for a bagel-style Eggs Benedict. My favourite style of benny at PHAT is chock full of tomato and avocado. The replacement of bagel for biscuit makes this dish a lot more filling than usual, so split it with a friend if you’re a small eater like me.

Where do you go for a bagel fix?

From December 10-22nd, I’m a media sponsor for Foodsters’ 12 Days of Christmas Food Drive. Follow along as I share what my top 12 food and restaurant cravings are this season (with some poetic license to boot).

The Chinese way of making meat-filled pastries are so assorted and delicious that I’ve decided to put my Top Three variations under the same umbrella of craving. Here we go!

New Town Bakery: the king of steamed buns

You can find  steamed buns in nearly every dim sum restaurant in this city. Those tiny, snow-white puffs of sweet, steamed bread hugging a rich core of stewed BBQ pork appeal to many a dim sum enthusiast…but not me. I much prefer what Chinatown’s New Town Bakery has been hawking for years: steamed buns of various meat and vegetable incarnations, as massive as the size of  your fist.

New Town Bakery is a Filipino’s steamed bun mecca, so I’ve been a patron since I was a kid. My latest favourite is the $1.70 chicken steamed bun. Unlike the best-selling $1.50 pork asado, which I loved as a kid and whose centre oozes with meat glaze much like its dim sum counterpart, the chicken bun is filled simply with chicken, fine and minimally spiced, allowing the airy sweetness of its freshly steamed bun to be on equal footing in your mouth.

I popped into New Town this week with my daughter and Tiny Bites contributor, Bruce. They’ve recently moved to a new location–2 doors west of their old digs–and are slashing 10% off their entire menu from now until December 18th. Come in and grab lunch for as little as $3, order a dozen to go, or save even more by choosing bags of frozen buns by the half-dozen for your leisurely enjoyment at home.

Peaceful Restaurant: for pan-fried pork bun lovers

Photo courtesy © Melody of Gourmet Fury

When I’m not in a steamy mood, I stop by Peaceful Restaurant for their Huang Jing pan-fried buns. Pan frying the bun adds a layer of colour and crisp that contrasts wonderfully with the chew of its wrapper and the delicacy of its pork and scallion filling. You can also ask for steamed pork buns–the salted pork interior is similarly mild and I find that it’s a hit with the kids…especially mine.

I once had to commute outside of downtown to satisfy my pan-fried bun cravings at their Broadway and Cambie location, but the opening of their second restaurant on Davie and Seymour has turned the occasional foray into nearly weekly visits. Sadly, there is no Peaceful Restaurant within walking distance when we move to Marpole next month, so I will rely on Foodsters to get their fare to my doorstep.

Lin’s: the best xiao long bao in the world?

If neither of the bun varieties above are floating your boat, then surely xiao long bao will. They can be found at Peaceful Restaurant and most Shanghainese eateries too, but I believe that they’re best experienced in Vancouver at Lin’s Chinese Cuisine and Tea House. There, you’ll find that the sheer flour wrapper, hot bursts of pork stock, and ethereal dumpling meat will intersect in mouthfuls of bliss.

And according to some–*cough* Condé Nast *cough*–Lin’s might just be serving the best xiao long bao on Earth.

What kind of bun are you craving today, and how are you getting it to your door?

From December 10-22nd, I’m a media sponsor for Foodsters’ 12 Days of Christmas Food Drive. Follow along as I share what my top 12 food and restaurant cravings are this season (with some poetic license to boot).

This is what I’d rather get – and give – to my favourite people with a sweet tooth on Valentine’s Day.

Heart-shaped gelato cake from Bella Gelateria

Haven’t had the time for a public outpouring of adoration for Coal Harbour’s kick-ass gelato stop, but hopefully that will follow on Tiny Bites before summer hits. What you need to know for Valentine’s Day is that heart-shaped gelato cakes, customizable with up to 3 gelato flavours, custom messages or decorations, and ribbon, are available for pick-up as long as you give them at least 24 hours’ notice. 8″ and 10″ are the standard sizes regardless of whether you choose a circle or a square. If you don’t have enough people or willpower to down an 8″ serving, you can opt for these individual-sized gelato cakes instead.

Bella Gelateria
1001 West Cordova Street | Coal Harbour
(604) 569-1010
www.bellagelateria.com

Hazelnut love from Ganache Patisserie

My favourite cake shop has crafted a seasonal cake for Valentine’s Day. The $25 Saint Valentin Noisette Passion 2011 is a hazelnut-in-hazelnut tart that gives me a chocolate thrill just from hearing the description: hazelnut ganache speckled with toasted hazelnut pieces inside a choco-hazelnut shell, topped with dark chocolate mousse containing a passionfruit creme brulee centre. After all that, Ganache decides to ring it with raspberries and pink chocolate hearts, too. I hope none of you are allergic to hazelnuts!

The regular line-up offers plenty to choose from in terms of group and individual servings. You could go with layers of red and white with a Coco Velours Rouge: a red velvet cake with dark chocolate ganache, coconut cream cheese mousseline, and vanilla chantilly (pictured right). Cranberry lovers would love the Chocolat-Canneberge: white chocolate cranberry parfait, milk chocolate mousse, and a praline crunch (centre). Those wanting something lighter might like the bestselling Blanc Frasier better: vanilla cake, vanilla sablé Breton, white chocolate black pepper mousseline, strawberries, and passionfruit meringue (left).

Ganache Patisserie
1262 Homer Street | Yaletown
(604) 899-1098
www.ganacheyaletown.com

3 special afternoon tea services at The Urban Tea Merchant

My favourite tea house is putting on several special tea services during the month of February. The signature service is the Sweetheart Afternoon Tea: $48 per person and inclusive of a $30 tin of tea to take home for cozy evenings together. If the idea of a $96 tea for two is too much for your pocket book, they are also putting on a $16 Tea and Chocolate Fondue service daily between 2-6pm.

Fondue for two is a lot more my style, but I know my tea-indifferent husband wouldn’t go for that either. If only my daughter was old enough to appreciate the $24 Mad Hatter’s Tea: a children’s tea service with nutella sandwiches and PB&J plus other kid-friendly goodies. The roiboos or fruit tisane tea is served in the most precious line of tea glassware! I’d buy a set for my household in a heartbeat if my husband would indulge the spend (a not-so-subtle hint for him for a Valentine’s Day gift for me).

The Urban Tea Merchant
1070 West Georgia Street | Downtown | (604) 692-0071
825 Main St | West Vancouver | (604) 926-3392
www.urbantea.com

Whatever you choose for your Valentine, make it count, and make it delicious!

Joe Fortes and its Pacific Kiss Platter

Paula from the BC Shellfish Growers Association (BCSGA) emailed me last week about a BC oyster sampler that Monk McQueens and Joe Fortes were offering for the duration of the Olympics. As I hadn’t applied for accreditation for the Games, I missed the official media tasting. But that was fine with me – at an affordable $25, I was able to make a lunch reservation at Joe Fortes and experience this Pacific Kiss platter as a normal diner.

Armed with a handy trifold showing the map and tasting notes above, I slurped my way across 12 regions of BC oysters, with almost all of them on or neighbouring Vancouver Island. Amongst my favourites were the smaller varieties: the Kusshi, the Pacific Rim Petites, and the Effingham. Clear winner for me was the larger Fanny Bay oyster, pictured below. Guess there is a reason this baby is popular at my other oyster haunt, Rodney’s Oyster House.

Service at Joe Fortes was terrific. The hostesses reserved us a table by the Oyster Bar that allowed room for a stroller and our server gave tasting glasses of the wines we were trying to decide between.

We also witnessed her cater to a table of tourists with a Pacific Kiss platter. She returned to said table with 12 cleansed shells – now souvenirs for their niece’s shell collection. It was funny to note at the time, as I had mentioned to my friend at how tempted I was to take home the aesthetically pleasing exterior of my Chef’s Creek oyster (above).

Joe Fortes Seafood & Chop House
777 Thurlow St | Downtown Vancouver
(604) 669-1940

Alpha’s Olympic lunch combos

My five-year love affair with Alpha is well documented, but one long-standing complaint is that they’re not open for lunch. I literally squealed with delight when they told me at one evening that they were offering lunch service during the Winter Games: 1-4pm Wednesday through Sunday until Feb 28th. We made reservations for lunch the next day, where I just had to order the $20.10 Olympic Combo, featuring three kinds of sushi and sashimi, mackerel, meatball stew, fish cakes, and other goodies. Next time I’ll try the $18 Vancouver Combo: chicken kara-age, breaded ebi mayo, pumpkin croquettes, three kinds of sushi, tuna garlic pepper and more.

Again, the stroller containing the little one was welcome during this less frenzied meal time, and our servers gushed over her newness as we ate.

If you are a fan of Alpha’s dinner menu, you won’t be disappointed at how many of the regular items are still available at lunch time. The only glaring omissions (to the chagrin of my lunch date) are the Grilled Toro Pork and the Miso Teriyaki Beef.

Alpha Global Sushi & Bar
1099 Richards St | Yaletown
(604) 633-0355

Hapa Izakaya’s Olympic lunch menu

Yaletown’s newest izakaya entrant normally has post-5pm service, but they similarly decided to be open for lunch during the Olympics. 11am-2pm Sunday through Thursday, for them.

Unlike the wide selection they have during regular service, Hapa’s lunch menu tallies at six mains. It wasn’t a problem for my dining companion, who had ordered the $12 tekka donburi combo like I had, but if you have a discerning palate you may be disappointed by the limited choice during the day.

If, however, you come equipped with a baby in a carrier or stroller – like I have on several occasions, both lunch and dinner – be assured that your family will not be turned away. Even if a Canada hockey game is on and you have to navigate said stroller to the back booth through a sea of people belting out our national anthem.

One word of warning: don’t come here if you are avoiding restaurants that have added auto gratuities for the Olympics. Hapa Yaletown has an 18% rate. I for one have had consistently attentive service at this location worth at least 18%, so I don’t mind. But you might.

Hapa Izakaya
1193 Hamilton Street | Yaletown
(604) 681-4272

]]> http://tinybites.ca/2010/02/22/a-trio-of-baby-friendly-lunch-spots-during-the-vancouver-2010-olympic-winter-games/feed/ 1 http://tinybites.ca/2009/09/25/what-does-a-vancouver-progressive-dinner-look-like/ http://tinybites.ca/2009/09/25/what-does-a-vancouver-progressive-dinner-look-like/#comments Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:36:23 +0000 Karen Hamilton http://tinybites.ca/?p=3964 The closest I’ve gotten to experience a progressive restaurant dinner was the Phantom Culinary Experience at the 2009 Culinary Tourism Conference. Our breakout group had jumped on a chartered Vancouver Trolley to explore 5 different venues around Granville Island, sipping and snacking on the edibles available at each.

As much fun as that was, I am nowhere near as fortunate or generous as Victor (Pick) Tang, who this July won our Top Donor challenge during Blogathon 2009. His $180 individual donation was rewarded with a 3-restaurant progressive dinner with Top Table.

Name doesn’t ring a bell? They’re the group that operates Blue Water Cafe, CinCin, West, and Whistler’s Araxi (which impressed chef Gordon Ramsay enough to sing its praises on The Hour and make it the focal point of this season’s Hell’s Kitchen).

I asked Victor to let me know how his dinner went. He went a step further and took Gigi as his +1.  You may already know Gigi; she’s a Vancouver food blogger and the woman behind Ho Yummy. This week, she and Victor shared the highlights of their evening over a series of three posts.

1. Top Table Progressive Dinner Part 1 – Blue Water Cafe
2. Top Table Progressive Dinner Part 2 – West
3. Top Table Progressive Dinner Part 3 – CinCin Ristorante + Bar

Check out her recaps and photos and drool along with me.

First, an update: Andrea came through with a $134.99 post-Blogathon donation to push our collection to an even $2500. We made our revised fundraising goal – hooray!

The Tiny Bites Top Donor Prize

For donating a cool $180 to be this year’s top individual donor, Victor won a unique progressive dinner experience for 2 at the Vancouver restaurants of the Top Table family. Here’s what he and his +1 might experience that night:

Amuses bouches and appetizers at Blue Water Cafe + Raw Bar

Mains and more at West

Dessert and petit fours at CinCin

I am green with envy that Victor gets to sample these stellar restaurants in a single evening of chef collaboration. I hope he is willing to indulge us all in a recap of his dinner with Top Table. Having recently crafted a fantasy progressive dinner for Tourism Vancouver, I’d certainly be curious to see how a real progressive dinner plays out.

The Tiny Bites Grand Prize

Our Gold, Silver, and Bronze sponsors have contributed to this amazing prize package worth $450 $500. Jason, you’re a lucky son of a gun.

Alpha Global Sushi & Bar: bottle of Dan Dan shochu

My favourite izakaya called shortly after Blogathon to belatedly confirm their contribution to the Tiny Bites Grand Prize. I’ve discussed their bar menu in last year’s Blogathon and am so pleased that they were able to participate as a sponsor this year. 

Artisan Sakemaker: bottles of Osake junmai nama and Artisan Kasu products

I had the privilege of trying local sakemaker Masa Shiroki’s new line of sakekasu a few months past. If you’re not already a fan of Artisan Sakemaker’s sake, perhaps the new citrus dressing and hot sauce – along with Masa’s suggested recipes - will give you cause to try them this year.

ChristaHoops: custom-fit rainbow hoop

ChristaHoops will custom fit Jason (or his friend of choice) with a beautiful rainbow hoop. Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it – it’s a fun and energetic workout!

Farmstead Wines: bottle of Renato Fenocchio extra virgin olive oil

You may have already tried the beautiful artisan wines that Farmstead Wines imports to our fair city…but have you tried Renato Fenocchio’s exquisite olive oil yet?

Qoola Yogurt + Fruit: $100 gift card for Qoola 

This gift card is the equivalent of 20 Qoolalas with 2 toppings or however else you’d like to spend the $100 credit. If you get addicted like I have, it can be reloaded to continue enjoying Qoola till your tummy is done with frozen yogurt.

Rouxbe: 1 year premium membership to Rouxbe’s Online Cooking School

Jason is already a loyal Rouxbe Lifetime member ($199) so he asked me to raffle away the $99 Annual Membership that was in his Grand Prize package (which George F. wound up winning).

Sebastian & Co: $35 butcher shop credit

Jason met me in West Vancouver to pick up 6 different types of artisan sausage plus a smoked applewood cheddar with his Sebastian & Co store credit. I think I’ll be inviting myself over to his house for dinner soon…

Social Bites: 10% off discount passes to future Social Bites dinner excursions

I’ve already said my piece about how fun Social Bites is, both as dinner guest and Hobby Chef. Jason has yet to experience it in either capacity so I hope he takes this opportunity to do so.

Tiny Bites Consulting: Winnipeg Folk Fest cookies

These are the cookies I had with me at The Workspace for fellow Blogathoners to satiate hunger pangs at 3am. Chock full of flax, oats, sunflower seeds, coconut with a little chocolate chip and brown sugar thrown in. Here’s the recipe.

Uva Wine Bar: bottle of 2006 Speri Valipolicella Ripasso

Below are Uva General Manager and sommelier Sebastien Le Goff’s tasting notes on this Venetian wine:

Rich, spicy, black cherry, brooding.

Intense, elegant style, pure and persistent. Fine acidity, balanced. Good length. Drink from 2010.

Speri uses only grapes from the Valpolicella zone to make its wines. In addition to the three traditional grape varieties, Corvina, Rondinella and Molinara, small quantities of other lesser known but long-standing varieties are used like Oseleta, Rossanella, Pelara, and Cabrosina.

The Corvina is considered the most important vine variety due to its tannin content and pigments. It imparts fruity aromas, particularly when it is cultivated on the hills. 

The Rondinella is able to adapt to many types of terrain, to withstand drought and lends itself quite well to drying. It is vigorous and very prolific.
The Molinara is mainly used for the distinctive flavour and crispness it gives the wine.

Bigger than a Valpolicella but smaller than an Amarone, the ’06 Speri “ripasso” has been re-fermented over the spent skins of Amarone. There’s a floral earthy scorched earth nose with bits of red fruit and spice and a warm, acidic, alcoholic finish. Best with a piece of Reggiano or Manchego cheese. The fruit comes off family-owned sites in the heart of Valpolicella Classico.

Why am I taunting those of you aren’t getting these prizes? Because I hope that you realize that Tiny Bites will be participating in Blogathon next year, and we certainly plan on rewarding you with prizes like these in 2010!

So mark your calendars and earmark some of your dollars for the last weekend of July for Blogathon 2010.

Uva’s got a split personality, so I will divvy this post up into two parts: what to expect before 2pm and what to expect as 2am approaches.

Uva by night – wine bar extraordinaire

This is the Uva that most people know: a cool lounge with Warhol lights and one of the better cocktail lists in the downtown core.

The wine is no laughing matter. GM and sommelier Sebastien Le Goff makes sure that the list you see continues to impress. There’s a good selection of wines by the glass if you can’t commit to a bottle.

Food selection consists of Uva-specific nibbles with the option of ordering from Cibo’s menu should you so prefer.

Uva by day – espresso bar and soup heaven

This is the Uva that I have come to know. From 7am till 2pm, Michele mans the espresso counter and serves all manner of coffee concoctions. Once he knows your tastes, you’ll probably find that you’ll no longer need to remind him.

It’s my favourite meeting place for work discussions that require Wifi and good eats. I almost always get the soup of the day: a little pricey at $8.50 but it’s a meal-sized serving that is often hearty enough when accompanied by a plateful of their delicious caramelized onion foccacia.

As of July 18th, Uva expanded their day menu to provide a selection of brunch options. I’ve tried the smoked salmon benny, the fritatta, and the scrambled eggs thus far; one of these days, I will starve a little the night before so I can order the skirt steak and double-fried eggs.

Have you tried both sides of Uva yet? If you haven’t…you’re missing out.

This article contains the second of several Early Bird Blogathon 2009 prize giveaways.

Don’t miss this opportunity to support the Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society. Read on or skip to the contest details.

Blue Water Cafe has always been one of those restaurants that I love going to if I’m not footing the bill. Terrific seafood, yummy wines, lovely surroundings…but at a price tag that my husband and I usually have to save up for. I’ve been lucky these past few years to have been privy to several jaunts at Blue Water – nibbles of dessert and drinks whenever my husband’s yearly tax party comes along and a couple of invites to special events, such as the annual Red Cross fundraiser and the launch of Blue Water’s seafood cookbook.

The cookbook launch was a swank affair. We were ushered into the Wine Room that flanks the main dining room. Under the blue glass ceiling that evoked a sea of undulating waves, we snacked on towers of oysters and clinked glasses of wine as we milled around a table groaning with the weight of dozens of the new book.

Executive Chef and cookbook author Frank Pabst and Raw Bar Chef Yoshi Tabo joined us in due time for an autograph session. Each guest picked up a book from the table and lined up for a chat and signing; some even had the presence of mind to find the pages with Pabst and Tabo’s photographs in order to get their dedications in an appropriate spot. (For your reference, they are pages 3 and 165, respectively.)

Following the autographs, I focussed myself on the tasting spoons that were being served to the crowd: samples of the recipes to be found in the cookbook.

Everything tasted divine, as to be expected of Blue Water, but I was still skeptical of my ability to replicate these results at home.

Blue Water Cafe chez nous

Back home, staring at the two copies of the cookbook on my shelf: the signed one for one of you, and an unsigned one for my personal use. Staring at them with dread, to be completely honest.

Why the anxiety? Perhaps it’s because I’m a perfectionist. Perhaps it’s because I’ve eaten the fare at Blue Water and know just how far my cooking can fall from that benchmark. But most likely, it’s because I’ve seen how most cookbooks hailing from professional kitchens go. They’re involved; they use exotic ingredients; they use expensive ingredients; they almost always require impeccable culinary techniques, assuming (usually incorrectly) that you don’t need to be taught it. Don’t believe me? Trawl through the archives of French Laundry at Home and prove that you can do better than Carol.

Now, I am not saying that the Blue Water cookbook necessarily subscribes to an impossible standard. I’m merely stating that most restaurant cookbooks are not for the beginner cook. Foodists would probably love the challenge of these recipes, of sourcing the more unusual of ingredients, and of putting their cooking skills to the test. Just don’t expect to buy your first set of kitchenware on the same day that you pick up a cookbook like this.

Putting a recipe to the test

Despite my perfomance anxiety, I selected a recipe to try out in our kitchen and serve to our foursome of dinner guinea pigs: halibut cheeks poached in olive oil with bouillabaisse and saffron potatoes (page 26).

This recipe had instructions for 5 separate components: the bouillabaisse, the halibut cheeks, the saffron potatoes, garlic croutons, and a smidgeon of rouille that worked off the listed bouillabaisse. After I read the 16 ingredients required for the bouillabaisse and determining that halibut trim and 12 cups of fish stock was out of my budget and timeframe, I scratched off it plus the rouille from my list of to-dos and decided to cut down the dish just to the fish and potatoes.

Once I did that, the rest of the recipe became reasonably affordable for a gourmet dinner at home. As much as the halibut cheeks were difficult to source, even when halibut was in season, we paid less than I expected to for it: just under $5/lb to provide 2-3 cheeks per person. We already had saffron on hand – another pricey ingredient – but the meal calls for just over a tablespoon (and if you exclude what we excluded, you only actually use just a pinch).

And cooking it was even easier. The halibut is poached for 6 minutes in olive oil infused with less than a dozen ingredients found in a typical pantry. The potatoes are sliced like you would scalloped potatoes, and this was the hardest part of its process. The rest of the cooking is a simmer in another handful of spices, with saffron and star anise being the only atypical ingredients. And I suppose if you cheated a little and picked up some bouillabaisse from Granville Island, you could have the full deal, with a quick whip of rouille, for a total timeframe of 1-2 hours. Closer to 1 if you are better organized than I!

The verdict at the dinner table

I did cut corners with this recipe, but my guests didn’t notice a thing. I just made sure that they didn’t see the gorgeous photo on page 25 of the cookbook so they didn’t know about the bouillabaisse and rouille that they were missing out on.

My husband and I were personally quite pleased with the results and the minimal mess it had made in our kitchen. Our guests wolfed down their plates and commented on the lovely seasoning – curing the halibut cheeks in salt for 10 minutes did a lot to battle the blandness of white fish, it seems. They told us with enthusiasm that this recipe  should be marked as a keeper…so our personal variation was noted down in our Hamilton family cookbook for future use.

Other items of note

Even if you aren’t a seafood fan and have picked up this cookbook simply to support this restaurant, I suggest that you keep this one on your coffee table rather than on your bookshelf. The photos are breathtaking, the recipes enticingly written and enhanced with wine pairing notes, and each section is prefaced with Ocean Wise notes on the various marine life that is featured in the book.

Other nice touches: organization of recipes from spring -> winter availability; Unsung Heroes section that suggests that you try sardines, mackerel, herring, and periwinkles; Raw Bar selection of quick amuses (even though some of the ingredients could be a challenge to source in your average grocery).

Win a signed copy of the Blue Water Cafe Seafood cookbook

Anyone that helps us give to the Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society for Blogathon 2009 has the opportunity to win the copy of the cookbook that I got Chefs Pabst and Tabo to sign at the launch. See full rules and eligibility below.

1. By day’s end on July 24, 2009, every $10 that you donate towards Tiny Bites’ Blogathon drive for the Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society grants you 1 entry to the draw. If you donate $50, that equals 5 entries for you and $50 x 3 = $150 worth of food for the people that the Food Bank helps. 
2. Please contact us about your donation and/or bookings before July 25th so that we can make sure you get all the entries that you deserve.
3. The winner will be announced at 7pm on July 25, 2009, while Degan is on shift for Blogathon 2009.

Good luck and happy cooking!

I’m marking the occasion with a topic that has caught my attention over the past year — GMOs — and what some people in Vancouver are doing about it.

What’s a GMO, you ask?

It’s any living thing that has been exposed to genetic modification. I’m not talking Mendel here. More like Mutant X.

If you’re thinking, like I once did, that there was no way I was going to let shady organisms like that into my diet…well, sorry folks.  It’s already in your diet…unless you have abstained from soy, corn, canola, vegetable oil, and honey in the past decade, which few people can say for sure.

When I first met Nigel Tunnacliffe of GE-Free Solutions at EPIC 2008, finding out that I was already eating GMO foods scared the living daylights out of me.  However, the skeptic in me required further research, so for the following 2 months, I read up on the issue, from Monsanto’s point of view to the non-GMO extremists.  My verdict? Crap, I wish I knew which foods were untainted, to be safe!

Unfortunately for North America, there isn’t a regulated infrastructure of labelling foodstuffs as genetically modified (in Europe, this practice is widespread).  This is what organizations like GE-Free Solutions and GE-Free BC have been attempting to improve. Both are actively working to raise consumer awareness about the suspect stuff we’ve been ingesting and approaching government and business to be forthcoming.

An Ocean Wise for GMOs

Nigel has enlisted 7 restaurants in the Lower Mainland to participate in a pilot program for genetic engineering (GE) verification, which is similar in concept to Ocean Wise.

By participating in the GE-Free pilot, these restaurants are required to develop at least five verified non-GE items on their menu by working with local, organic suppliers.  

“We all have the right to know what’s in our food,” said Nigel at the launch of the pilot program at Great Bear Pub.  And with genetically engineered ingredients present in more than 70% of processed food, the push for a change in the way we eat is starting to gain legs.

Below, you’ll find an intro to each of the participating restaurants, whose GE-Free menu items will be featured for the next 3 months. On each successive menu launch, participants will contribute up to 25% of their GE-Free menu sales to a charity dear to them.

GE-Free Pilot Program Participants

Agro Café
1207 Hamilton Street, Yaletown
1363 Railspur Alley, Granville Island

Agro Café grows and roasts their own beans and offer their fair trade, certified organic coffee in their Yaletown and Granville Island locations. It’s my go-to place for roast beef paninis and Cloverized brew, as I have mentioned before.

Launch day TBA.

babyeats 
143-1233 Lynn Valley Road, North Vancouver

Babyeats offers delicious breakfast, lunch and dessert for you to enjoy while they take care of your kids. 

On their launch day on April 10th, babyeats donated 25% of sales to the Make a Wish Foundation.

Current Coffee 
4737 Victory Street, Burnaby

Current Coffee works to provide the best coffee in conjunction with 49th Parallel Roasters while choosing environmental friendly methods for their coffee deliveries. Current Coffee offers barista training, coffee catering as well as weekly coffee delivery service to your office.

Launch day TBA.

The Great Bear Pub 
175-5665 Kingsway, Burnaby

The Great Bear Pub offers West Coast style pub food and entertainment and they aim to be the “greenest pub” in BC. Great Bear Pub is also the only Ocean Wise pub in Greater Vancouver.

Launch Day: April 26th

During their new GE-Free menu launch, Great Bear Pub will donate 25% of their sales to the Ride to Conquer Cancer, which benefits the BC Cancer Foundation.

Nature’s Garden Organic Deli 
8969 University High Street, Burnaby

Located in the SFU campus, Nature’s Garden is committed to providing local and organic produce to the customers.
All of their items have been verified – way to go!

On their launch date on April 9th, Nature’s Garden  donated a portion of their sales to the Union Gospel Mission.

Peake of Catering
4501 Main Street, Vancouver

Peake of Catering is dedicated to using locally sourced products and sustaining a green environment in Vancouver.  They’re working with GE-Free Solutions to provide breakfast, lunch and dinner menu to suit your next catering needs.

Launch day TBA.

Qoola Yogurt and Fruit 
1116 Denman Street, West End

Qoola is a new “fresh frozen” yogurt shop in the West End that also serves wholegrain waffles and crepes, both made from scratch. I’ve written about them before.

On their launch day on April 20th, Qoola donated 25% of its sales from GE-Free verified items to the Ride to Conquer Cancer as well.

More GE-Free pilot coverage to come

Tiny Bites will take a closer look at each of these restaurants throughout the pilot period, so for now, take note of who is taking action and check them out if you can.

* Thanks again to Jessica Funk for assisting in the research and roundup.

I do not describe Kaide as a sushi restaurant lightly. Do not come to this place expecting anything else. Menu options are plentiful, varied, and delicious, but deliberately lacking the usual Japanese cooked dishes that Vancouverites expect to find – no teriyaki, no motoyaki, no gyoza.  The only items I noticed that were served in any hot style of preparation were the hot sake, the miso soup, and the unagi (which is, in my experience, always in BBQ form).  Nearly none of the fish they offer has known the caress of heat.  If you don’t like your seafood raw, go somewhere else for dinner.

Small hot sake for $4. Love the mushroom visual and the bow of paper napkin to keep my fingers from being scorched.

Inventive ebi sunomono for $4. The lotus root was marinated in sesame. You can’t see it here, but the noodles were tied into pretty bows – 4 bunches in all, which made it easy for me to pick each one up for a clean mouthful. I wasn’t wowed by the vinaigrette, which was bland and flat for what I expected from this presentation. Still the highlight dish of the evening.

Heaping pile of spicy tuna sashimi for $12.95. Spice level was beyond nonexistent but the dish hit the spot regardless.  They probably won me over with all that avocado.

Marinated tuna sashimi for $12. Clean, fresh, and again, in so much abundance that $12 seemed almost a steal. Both the spicy and marinated tuna are available as donburis for approximately $14.

Rising Sun roll for $12.50.  Fresh Dungeness crab, salmon, ebi, tobiko, and other fillings I wish I had jotted down. Wrapped unusually in something that is not seaweed. Sorry folks; will update you on what is actually in this dish when I visit Kaide again.  Would I re-order this? Probably not. High on fantasy but relatively mediocre in result. Perhaps the diversity of ingredients made this dish a little too scattered in focus.

Special Chop roll: scallops, tobiko, and mayo for $4.25. You get a lot for the price and there’s no denying the freshness of the scallops. No fishy essence or slime that can sometimes accompany this ingredient.

Kaide Sushi Bar
1375 Richards Street | Yaletown
(604) 681-5886

Tangent Time – The Vancouver Sushi Throwdown

Darren of Timing and Delivery started a thread on Urbanspoon Vancouver called the Vancouver Sushi Throwdown.  I’ve submitted Kaide as one of my 3 sushi picks (if I had thought about it more carefully, The Eatery would have made the grade over Bay Sushi Cafe).  Join in on the conversation with your sushi favourites!