City Food Magazine - Glowbal's Next Italian Restaurant, UBC Farm Stand Sale, Colin Law, von Mandl's Vine Bud, Voga Wine, Yew Restaurant, Gourmet Instititue Calendar, Blockavores

Glowbal's Next Italian Restaurant, UBC Farm Stand Sale, Colin Law, von Mandl's Vine Bud, Voga Wine, Yew Restaurant, Gourmet Instititue Calendar, Blockavores

MEDIA HOUND - THE LOCAL INK
Sunday, November 25, 2007, 1 a.m.

Wikinomics, the creation of information content, goods and services by mass collaboration, is marketing's new pet theory and Wikipedia.com is a shining example of its force taking flight.

But just read the Wikipedia entry on Chef Rob Feenie and it's pretty clear which special interest group has invaded the editorial cockpit and is now flying the plane.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rob_Feenie.

[In case the content soon changes, here's the entry under "TV Appearances" as it read at the time of this posting.]

"Rob Feenie is well known for his lack of compassion when it comes to animal welfare. While head chef at Feenies and Lumiere he served the controversial dish foie gras, french for "fatty liver". Ducks and geese are caged and force fed unnatural amounts of food in order to disease their lives [sic] which grow up to 10 times their normal size. Many chefs, cities and countries have banned the sale or service of this cruel product. Amidst this controversy Feenie ignored animal welfare advocates and continued to serve this inhumane dish...."

[As you can see if you followed the link, it got changed pretty quickly]

Guess an old fashioned theory still holds: "Reader Beware", but perhaps the most ironic part is Wikipedia's own rating of the topic as "low importance" on the "Importance" scale.

Back to where the perspective may be different: Today's links to the local (and edited and fact checked) content is now updated at the CityFood newsstand.

Filed in MEDIA/Online.

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THE OUTSIDE WORLD
Sunday, November 25, 2007

in Sunday's New York Times:

The Sunday Magazine features a large full photo coverage of the bear problem at Whistler Resort. The Bears Among Us.

The Travel section give tips for a weekend trip to Seattle to spend those Loonies while the spending is good: Sampling the Best of the Northwest.

Americans discover Da Vinci's Inquest: CSI: Vancouver? Well, Not Exactly.

Filed in MEDIA/The Outside World.

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TASTY COMMERCIALS - What's better than a gingerbread house?

To see how they did it, click here.

Filed in MEDIA/Video.

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RESTAURANT NEWS
ITS A BABY BOOM ! - Glowbal Restaurant to Open Next Restaurant on West 4th Ave.
November 22, 2007, 2 p.m.

...and there are even more babies heading this way ... and this time the bundle has the Glowbal Restaurant Group's name on the label. No births yet, let's just say they are expecting. We hear that the Glowbal Group has just acquired the lease to the old Chianti's Restaurant space on West 4th Avenue, and this will become the site of their next restaurant in 2008. No details yet as to name or theme, but these are expected to be announced shortly. The rumour is that it will be similar to Italian Kitchen, only more rustic -- less cocktail trendy, more trattoria-style. Watch this space for more.

No one can say the company is not prolific. They opened their most recent restaurant, Italian Kitchen, late last summer, and its adjoining take out cafe, Italian To Go, is scheduled to open on December 3rd.

Filed in RESTAURANTS/News .... and DAILY NEWS/Dine and Dash.

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FARM MARKET REPORT
Thursday, November 22, 2007, 8 a.m.

A letter from Amy Frye of UBC Markets ...

As the weather transitions from fall to winter, we'd like to offer you one last chance to stock up on some of our late season produce. Visit the farm this Friday, November 23rd from 3:30-5:30 pm and see what we have in store.

We had a bumper crop of winter squash this year and would like to share the bounty, so we're offering you great prices on our remaining supplies. Squash will be only ... CONTINUE READING.

Filed in FOOD/Farmers Markets.

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DINE AND DASH - Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Happily they arrive ...
Cassandra Anderton reminds us that last Thursday, November 15, 2007, Kate and Chef Angus An of Gastropod welcomed their baby Aiden into the world. A heart felt congratulations to the happy family.

And so sadly they leave us ...
We reprint a letter from Kurt Larson on the untimely death of his good friend and colleague, Colin Law. .... CONTINUE READING ...

ADDED: A celebration of Colin's life is going to take place Sunday, November 25th, 2007, 6:00pm to 9:00pm at Boneta, 1 Cordova St Vancouver, BC.

All are welcome to come to raise a glass (or two), swap some stories and celebrate the life of an incredible man, Colin Law. Please feel free to contact me if you need anything else. I look forward to being with you all.

Kurt Larson
AFIC EXIM (Canada) Corp
Email: kurt@aficgroup.com

Filed in RESTAURANTS/Personnel Changes ...PEOPLE/Suppliers.

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DINE AND DASH - Tuesday, November 20, 2007
PELICAN BRIEFS

Hey, since when did pelicans get into the act? This wasn't meant to be baby talk day at CF Online, but it's turning out that way. The latest news to drift this way is that Anthony von Mandl of Mission Hill is about to become a father. Mr. von Mandl announced this himself at the recent Mission Hill employees' harvest party. Apparently the mother of the child is a homeopathic doctor with whom he has been in a close relationship for quite some time.

It may not be what some people expected, but then every empire needs an heir apparent. Or maybe Mr. von Mandl got tired of explaining where the family part was in the Mission Hill Family Estates. Perhaps the right time had just finally come. Regardless, congratulations are in order. Ring those bells, Anthony!

Filed in PEOPLE/Dine and Dash.

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In the photo: Speaking of marketing ... there has been an interesting reaction from some of our viewers with regards to this photo. Most of whom believe there is – beyond the overt sexual message – some other sort of kinky subliminal signaling going on connected with infant nursing. They bring up the container shape which is suggestive of baby bottles, the milk white colour of the logo, the model’s open neck dress and her positioning which is similar to that of a mother about to breast feed. Some people see a baby like form in the dark shape which blocks out her face, or even a touch of the sinister -- an Alfred Hitchcock-like shadow bending forward to touch her bosom. Hmmmm. All up to interpretation of course, but then there is also that offbeat theory on why Starbucks puts lids on their latte cups. It’s not really about the spill factor.

WINE OF THE WEEK
IS IT WINE OR A PERSONAL GROOMING PRODUCT?

Vancouver Courier Columnist Tim Pawsey sent us this link to a great article on the hidden side of the wine business written by Dan Berger, in which Mr. Berger states:

"At one time, decades ago, a winery needing a marketing executive would get one that knew about Champagne; today you get one that knows about shampoo. One wine maker calls it the Proctor & Gamble Strategy of wine marketing. One wine maker said, “Chances are he’ll be from Madison Avenue, not Davis.�?

I could laugh about the shampoo analogy except that in my own case, I've had some literal experience with that phenomenon. Take a look at the unconventional, tube-shaped packaging of the Italian wine Voga, as pictured above. Recently, my mother, (as mothers tend to do) wanted to make herself useful by straightening up my studio while she was supposed to be visiting. That night I found my press sample bottle of Voga in my shower stall. So now I understand why some people sing in the shower.

... CONTINUE READING ...

(Incidentally, the article quotes George Rose and Randy Ullum of Jackson-Triggs winery, both of whom were the guests of honour at a recent winemakers dinner hosted by Araxi restaurant during Cornucopia weekend.)

Filed in DRINK/Wine of the Week.

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TODAY'S PRESS RELEASES - Monday, November 19, 2007

Yew restaurant + bar in the Four Seasons Hotels announces a December 11th opening.

Chow Restaurant offers a fixed price holiday lunch to South Granville's Christmas shoppers.

Filed in DAILY NEWS/Press Releases. and RESTAURANT/Previews.

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GALLERY
REDUX

By popular request we have reposted the photo we ran last week of Chef David Hawksworth and his baby son Heston on our home page. But Hawksworth is not the only proud Papa to become a hit poster child.

Food Network star and book author Anthony Bourdain also stars this month in a fundraising calendar for the Gourmet Institute in which he poses with his own infant daughter Ariane by his Italian second wife, Ottavia Busia. For those of you who can't imagine the chain smoking, hard drinking, street wise Bourdain in the parental role ... this photo won't help. Bordain looks like he found the creature at the bottom of a beer cooler and doesn't quite know how the thing is supposed to work. Hmmm ... can't imagine that hangovers and wailing babies are a fun combination. Not to worry. Like any new tough guy father of a baby girl ... he's mush. Apparently, for the baby's sake, he's even quit smoking.

As for the rest of the calendar, don't expect shots of naked chefs with their blenders. Photographer Melanie Dunea has gone with a black and white theme depicting chefs in surreal tableaus that cross their fantasy lives with their real life circumstances. Chef Charlie Palmer, for example, appears in a hunting vest ready to gullet a stag. While Chef Masaharu Morimoto is shown as a baseball playing samurai.

Filed in MEDIA/The Outside World.

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BE A BLOCKAVORE
For dinner last night you ate a bag of cheese bops in front of your computer….go directly to jail and do not collect $200.

"LOCAVORE AT RAINCITY GRILL …. Press release, Part one

Vancouver, BC… The New Oxford American Dictionary is preparing for the holidays by making its biggest announcement of the year. The 2007 Word of the Year is "locavore", which describes the philosophy at Raincity Grill to a “T�?. “Locavore�? was coined two years ago by a group of four women in San Francisco who proposed that local residents should try to eat only food grown or produced within a 100-mile radius. Coincidentally, around the same time, Raincity Grill developed its 100 Mile Menu and became the first restaurant in Canada to embrace a truly local philosophy – working with both food items as well as wines. The “locavore�? movement encourages consumers to buy from farmers’ markets or even to grow or pick their own food, arguing that fresh, local products are more nutritious and taste better. Locavores also shun traditional supermarket offerings as an environmentally friendly measure, since shipping food over long distances often requires more fuel for transportation..."

Okay, all this running out to Abbotsford for carrots is fine, but it’s getting so been there, done that already. So we are proposing a new movement … become a BLOCKAVORE.

...CONTINUE READING...

Filed in FOOD/Trends and Issues.

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"LOCAVORE AT RAINCITY GRILL
... Press Release, Part Two

Raincity chef de cuisine Peter Robertson has been working hard on his end of the locavore movement. Earlier this week Robertson contacted Bob Duncan, owner of a citrus farm on Vancouver Island. While Duncan’s production is very small and not available until this coming spring, Robertson will tour the farm early this winter to see what will be available. Hopes are for Meyer lemons, kumquats, mandarins and grapefruit.

Says Robertson, “Having even a small amount of citrus available will be so refreshing. At Raincity we do not use any citrus in the kitchen as nothing is produced in our area, so this will give us a great amount of creativity to explore – all from within 100 miles of Raincity Grill.�?

Filed in DAILY NEWS/Greater Details.

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WHO'S GOT IT - THE BUZZ METER For - November 23 , 2007

(The most requested information on the site as measured
by Google keyword counter.)

PEOPLE:

1) Rob Feenie - Chef
2) Colin Law - Wine Agent (deceased)
3) Kristof Gillese - Chef, Capones
4) Linda Meinhardt - Grocer, Meinhardt's
5) Neil Ingram - Partner, Boneta

PLACES:

1) Pinky's Steakhouse - Future Restaurant, Yaletown, Vancouver
2) Steamworks-Transcontinental - Restaurant, Gastown, Vancouver
3) Plan B - Restaurant, Yaletown, Vancouver
4) Feenie's - Restaurant, West Side, Vancouver
5) Me and Julios - Restaurant, Commercial Drive, Vancouver
6) Pala Lago - Restaurant, Cultus Lake
7) Phoscao Cafe - Cafe, South Granville, Vancouver/ North Vancouver
8) Polderside Farms - Poultery Farm, Fraser Valley
9) Sutton Place Wine Merchant - Wine Store, Downtown, Vancouver
10) Okra Restaurant - Restaurant, North Vancouver

THINGS and Questions:

1) Gold Medal Plates
2) 100 Mile menus
3) Have Culinary Training
4) Taste BC 2008
5) what restaurants are near Robson and Bute?

MOST INEXPLICABLE CONNECTION:

none today

NUMBER OF COUNTRIES LOGGING IN (visiting during this year): 134
NUMBER OF CITIES WORLDWIDE (visiting yesterday): 90
Number 90, was Zagreb, Croatia.

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