Curious No More - New Restaurant for Powell Street

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CURIOUS NO MORE

Everyone wondered who would buy the Curious restaurant space on Powell Street that had been listed on the Internet with an "optimistic" price tag, but it seemed that new prospects were not exactly battering down the doors to get at it. The place had been closed and quiet ever since restaurant patrons had decided they just weren't curious enough about the place, forcing the dining room to close its doors last summer. Come next month however, we should be seeing some renewed activity. That's because one Tyler Reimer, a former Vancouver chef, who plans to use the venue to create a restaurant with a "hip, nuevo Latin kind of groove", has purchased the space.

No decision has been made on the restaurant's name, but the chef will be Stuart Irving, who up till now, has been manning the top wok at Andrew Wong's Wild Rice restaurant in Vancouver's Crosstown area. Renovations are due to begin in early March with a projected opening date of May 2007.

Has Vancouver reached its saturation point for new restaurants yet? In some people's opinions, obviously not.


To be filed in RESTAURANTS/News and rumours



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WHEN RESTAURATEURS TAKE REVENGE

Yesterday the international food media was a-twitter over a move made by a well known New York restaurateur who was as mad as Hell and not going to take it any more.

Jeffrey Chodorow (you might remember him as chef Rocco di Spirito's grumpy partner in the ill fated Rocco's Restaurant/TV reality show) was so infuriated by New York Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni's less than enthusiastic review of his new steakhouse Kobe Club, he took out a full page ad in the Times to declare full scale war on Bruni and other restaurant critics who, in his opinion, are not qualified to know what they are talking about. His stated plan of attack -- visit every restaurant that Bruni reviews and use his Chod-o-blog to, in his words, "review Bruni's reviews".

Mr. Chodorow’s main argument against Mr. Bruni's credentials is that the restaurant critic has no background as a restaurateur. A complaint that is often made by restaurant owners, but somehow never seems to be an issue whenever the verdict on their restaurant's performance is a positive one. But then, one might just as well ask if the average diner who shells out his hard earned, after tax dollars (in the case of Kobe Club, $150 for a 10-oz steak), should also be required to possess such a qualification before making any public comments on whether or not they feel they got their monies' worth.

Not surprisingly, In the opening salvo of Chodorow's blog, the public response is more interesting than its blustery main text. It doesn't take too much reading to note that whereas the pro-Chodorow comments are long and thoughtful, those coming from spokespersons for the anti-side tend to come across as belligerent and redneck. One might wonder if they were thrown in to provide some suspicion blocking balance, but as there is no way to know how much editorial manipulation may be going on, the only thing to do is take it all at face value. Whether you agree or disagree with him, Chodorow's first hand experience as a restaurateur should have at least some measure of value for anyone interested in the business side of the equation.

Despite Chodorow's call for Bruni's dismissal on grounds of incompetence, Bruni's editor, Pete Wells, says he intends to do no such thing. Instead, he says "he has his writer's back." But then look at it from the newspaper's point of view. Not only did they get the buzz – the item that circulation managers live for, you also have to remember that the cost for a full page ad in the New York Times starts at a cool $30,000. When you consider that these days, newspapers are seeing an alarming slide in revenue, Wells may be tempted to encourage his critic to enrage as many deep-pocketed restaurant owners as possible.


Read more on this story here.




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ST PATRICK'S DAY SPECIALS

(Check the box in the top left hand index for St Pat's offers, menus and ideas.) Today we have...
Scantily clad lasses shake their shamrocks for kinky limericks






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TODAY'S PRESS RELEASES

Announcements and Special Menus for Provence's 10th Year

Vancouver Community College Wins CTS Challenge

A Culinary Marriage Creates Curry Pizza

Morton's Presents First Thursday Club

Chef Scott Jaeger Cooks Bocuse-style at Barbara-Jo's Books to Cooks

Everything's 15% Off at Les Amis du Fromage's Year End Sale

Capones Restaurant Announces First Annual Oscar Event

Davie Village Bars Host Mardi Gras in Vancouver

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ON THE NEWSSTAND TODAY

THE LOCAL INK

It's Jules at the bottom of the media dogpile this week as everyone put the accent on the new French bistro in Gastown. (See reviews in the Courier, Westender and Vancouver Sun.)


Tim Pawsey eats at Jules and declares it to be the most authentic "French bistro" to arrive in Vancouver since Cafe de Paris.

Mia Stainsby of the Vancouver Sun writes about the unsung best Chinese chefs of Vancouver, and in Thursday's edition she checks out Jules Bistro in Gastown (no link).

For the Globe and Mail, Alexandra Gill celebrates Chinese New Year with the three-course wild boar menu at Wild Rice.

Mark Laba reviews Finest at Sea Seafood Boutique and Bistro in the Province.

In the Georgia Straight, Angela Murrills reviews Jonker Street a new Malaysian restaurant on Pacific Boulevard, Jurgen Gothe lists the upcoming Wine Festivals for spring and Judith Lane tries out the sake produced on Granville Island.

Andrew Morrison also pens an early review of Jules, a new French Bistro in Gastown for the Westender.

Deana Lancaster of the North Shore News gets a yen for sushi and visits Fujiyama restaurant.

Over at Chowtimes, Ben and Suanne celebrate being Canadian with a Bloody Caesar.

Anthony Gismondi reviews French wines at gismondionwine.com

THE OUTSIDE WORLD


More big fish eats smaller fish. Whole Foods buys Capers.

The Washington Post conducts a Q and A with restaurateur Danny Meyer on what to do when you screw up the service.

The New York Times’ restaurant critic, Frank Bruni, weighs in on restaurants who asking for credit card numbers when taking reservations. Are some restaurants going too far?

Today marks the start of Montreal’s largest annual food event. "The Wine and Dine Experience" at this year's Montreal High Lights Festival (February 22nd through March 4th) showcases 18 visiting toques from NYC. Among the guest chefs are Kurt Gutenbrunner and Dan Barber at Decca 77, Gray Kunz at Nuances and the festival's Honorary President, Daniel Boulud, at Toqué. Other events include a culinary tour of Montreal, a cheese festival and specialty dinners.

More food weirdness from the country that brought us Tampopo – a cannibalistic themed sushi party.

Masters of the hotel business, the Swiss have created a one room mobile hotel room that can be placed by crane where ever you can get permission to drop it … the roof of a building, on a beach, etc.

Here’s a company that finds vintage hotel dishes, silver and other paraphernalia at flea markets in Europe and North America and sells them online.

These days the daily papers are full of pig – yesterday it was the LA Times
And the Seattle PI

Enter here for the links to these and other articles

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WHO'S HOT - OUR HEAT METER For February 21, 2007
(The most requested information on the site as measured by Google keyword counter)





PEOPLE:

1) Manjy Sidoo
2) Tom Doughty
3) Sean Sherwood
4) Scott Baechler
5) Rob Belcham

PLACES:

1) Fetch hot dog cart
2) Rocky Mountain Flatbread
3) White Goose Bistro, Prince George
4) Prima Taste
5) Bistro Paprika, Victoria

THINGS:

1) food festivals in Vancouver
2) cooking classes in Vancouver
3) restaurant industry trends
4) ham + canada customs
5) Empress afternoon tea


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TODAY'S BIG DEAL

It's Winterruption this weekend at Granville Island and Seedy Saturday at the Van Dusen Gardens.

Get all the details from the Daily Calendar Window here