To be or not to be...(Sommeliers)

Alas, poor Ingram. We know him well.



RESTAURANT SPECIALS
F&*# OFF LIKE ROYALTY

To be or nut to be .... a little bird told us that wine guy about town, Neil Ingram, once had ambitions to play the Prince of Denmark -- and that he almost achieved this goal some moons back during a Lord Byng Secondary School's presentation of the Shakespeare pre-Prosac era drama, with author/journalist Hadani Ditmars (Dancing in the No-Fly Zone) cast opposite him as Ophelia.

Alas, t'was not to be. Contrary to the popular saying, the show didn't go on. Thanks to someone's quarellous appendix (Ingram's?), Hamlet never made it to the auditorium. Ditmars got herself to Iraq instead of a nunnery, and after a stint at National Theatre School, Ingram entered the hospitality industry.

Why are we not surprised.

Brevity being the soul of wit, and all that, Ingram, whose expressive eyebrows give a better rating of a wine than all the flourishing adjectives Wine Access can muster, has to be the most entertaining sommelier in the business. And he knows his wine, even if his taste for obscure little wines from obscure little global cellars has driven his former employers and their cost accountants ready to brandish arms.

Though this be madness, yet there was method in 't. Fortunately for Ingram and some of his likewise food and wine-passionate buddies, he now has his own show going in the form of Boneta, a hip new restaurant in newly hip Gastown. The partners offer a "F&*# Off Lunch" deal every Friday, catering to people who like to play hookey from the office at lunchtime and never go back.

And what better time to take your leave than on the Friday before the last weekend of the summer. Check out Boneta at 1 West Cordova St., Vancouver. 604-684-1844.

Remember though: "Neither a borrower nor a lender be; For loan oft loses both itself and friend, and borrowing on Visa dulls the edge of husbandry". It also may not pass on your expense account. Better cough up some cash.