With its large diverse Chinese community, Vancouver celebrates Chinese New Year in style. This year a group of us, 12 in all, took the Canada Line out to Richmond, for a Chinese New Year banquet at the Shanghai River Restaurant. Arranged by Susan, whose petite frame belies her formidable social organizational skills, the evening promised to be a veritable feast and it was.

The last time I visited this location  at its previous incarnation as Gastropod I enjoyed an excellent meal. Since chef Angus An renamed  it Maenam and changed the focus to Thai specialities  in May last year, I have not had an opportunity to revisit. But heading off to the Jericho Arts Centre to see The Vic, we decided to test our taste buds against some spicy Thai dishes.

For our pre-show dinner before seeing Beyond Eden at the Playhouse, we decided to visit Chambar Restaurant. I knew that it had been some time since I had last eaten there but was not sure how long. As we were led to our table in a section of the restaurant that had been added since my last vist - our server told me that it had been added more than a year and a half  ago. I hadn't realized it had been so long but I guess time flies faster and faster as we mature!

After a pleasant Sunday afternoon spent wandering around the neighbourhood of the new Simon Fraser University campus and the housing developments on the old Woodwards site, we decided to take in a movie at the Tinseltown cinema complex.

On an icy cold day, when the wind whipped against my skin till it burned red as if scalded, a friend and I rode the Skytrain out to New Westminster Quay. We had spent the morning riding the new Canada Line to the Airport and back to the Waterfront Station. Our plan was to enjoy a pleasant lunch and explore the Quay area.

Prior to heading off to the Stanley Theatre to see Mrs. Dexter & her Daily my theatre buddy and I opted to have dinner at Cru. Surprisingly I have not been there before although it is really convenient for pre-show dining if you are going to the Stanley Theatre. And even though it is a slightly longer walk, it is also quite convenient if you are going to the Pacific Theatre at 12th and Hemlock.

None of us had been to Fort Lauderdale before and we had one evening open for a nice dinner. Some research using food web sites on our I-Phones  led us to 3030 Restaurant featuring " modern American seafood"  by chef Dean James Max.

Of all the restaurants I have eaten at on this trip, this turned out to be the best surprise.

For my last Saturday night in New York, we had managed to get  tickets to Burn the Floor, the ballroom and Latin dance spectacular that so blew me away, that I had to see it again.

Perbacco, enoteca e cucina, describe themselves as a casual restaurant and wine bar in the East Village. When we arrived there close to nine pm on a Friday evening the place was crowded and we had to wait  a while for our table to be cleared.

I guess it is an excellent sign of restauranteur imperturbability when a guest arrives breathless at  your reception desk, announcing that she has a reservation for 6 pm and without blinking an eye, you take her to her table - although she is obviously blissfully unaware that it is 5 pm rather than 6 pm.  For how this particular guest managed this feat, check out  New York, New York 2009 – Seven Days of Theatre, Food and Dance:  PART  II.

As I was walking along West 42nd Street en route to my dance lesson and enjoying my  Seven Days of  Theatre, Food and Dance in  New York, I glanced in at  Aureole as I walked past. Something about the look of the place attracted my attention and on the spur of the moment, I reversed my steps and decided to see if I could still get lunch. The decor was inviting with warm copper tones and an usual lighting fixture. I took a seat in the outer Bar Room rather than the main restaurant. I liked the touch of the red-gold orchid on the table.

As mentioned in Part I of my  New York 2009 travelblogue our lunch visit to DBGB Kitchen and Bar was spur-of-the-moment as we walked by the restaurant en route to pick up our luggage before heading off to Brooklyn Terminal for a four night Labour Day Getaway Ballroom dancing cruise. On hearing that we had only a short time for lunch,  the staff seated us  at a comfortable table, promptly brought water, bread and the menu, and assured us that whatever we ordered would be right up.

My attention was caught by the name of this restaurant when I was deciding which of the many eateries I should sample in this too short 7 day theatre and food visit to New York. Braai is a South African term for barbecue, and just reading the name evoked pleasurable memories of my childhood. So how could I not try this? My reservation was for 6 pm and I was heading to the theatre for an 8 pm show. 

One of my missions on this 7 day theatre and food trip to New York was to find new restaurants in the theatre district that served contemporary fresh and light cuisine of the kind that is now everywhere in my home city of Vancouver, British Columbia. It was a pleasure to discover the Glass House Tavern just around the corner from the Longacre Theatre where I was going to see  Burn the Floor. According to their description, Chef Craig Cupani provides contemporary American cuisine, emphasizing fresh seasonal ingredients. Sounded just what I was looking for.

New York is one of my favorite cities – it has a unique buzz, an electric feel, that is unlike anywhere else I have visited. Each time I visit New York I feel like a humming bird, hovering just above the surface of culture and cuisine, dipping down for a taste, but never able to perch long enough to experience more than that brief and tantalizing taste.

One of the best kept secrets in Vancouver is a little gem of a restaurant that is located on the south side of Granville Street between Helmcken and Davie Street. It has a warm and welcoming ambience, great service and excellent food at reasonable prices. I have eaten here on two occasions now and both experiences have been great.

Vancouver is a truly a foodie's paradise. Top quality ingredients daily are sought out by innovative chefs to produce a bounty of fresh taste sensations. So much so that I rarely have a restaurant meal that I don't enjoy. But every now and then along comes a dining experience that stands head and shoulders above even the many excellent meals  I have recently enjoyed. Completely unexpectedly, last night I had such an experience, thanks to the "Chef's Table" concept at Goldfish Pacific Kitchen and the magic touch of  new Food Development Chef, Ryan Mah.

Day 3 in  Chicago- July 2009  was the only free evening I had to see a play. Fortunately we were able to get two tickets to Up at the Steppenwolf theatre. The show time was early - 7:30 - and my friend was driving in after work, so I would be dining alone. I decided to see if I could get a table at BOKA, across the street  and a little up (no pun intended) from the theatre. After an excellent dinner the night before at  Perennial, their sister restaurant  I had checked out the BOKA  web site and the menu of executive chef, Giuseppe Tentori, looked great.  

For our Monday night dinner, my friend chose Perennial on North Lincoln Avenue. We were delighted that it was open as it appears that, in the same way that most theatres are dark on Monday nights, many restaurants here chose not to open on Mondays.

Normally I wouldn't really bother to write up a burger cafe but I was so pleasantly surprised by my riverside lunch that I thought it warranted some comments. This was  Day 3 of my Chicago 2009 visit. I had checked into the Sheraton Hotel and  was wandering around the area. The Chicago Burger Company Cafe is located on the river side of the hotel, with tables on a patio, and more tables down on the river walk itself. 
 

For my last two nights of  this trip to Chicago I was booked into the Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers on E. North Water Street. The hotel is located on the north side of the branch of the Chicago River that once drained into Lake Michigan.  This was the headquarter hotel for the Canadian Society of Clinical Chemists and next day's Canada Party would be hosted in one of the Sheraton ballrooms. 

Before beginning our exploration of the new modern wing galleries of the Institute, we visited the new restaurant, Terzo Piano, a 160 seat restaurant with indoor dining and al fresco dining on a terrace that overlooks Millennium Park. The restaurant which opened in May 2009 when the Institute opened its Modern Wing, was designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano, for whom the restaurant is named.

As I noted in my  Chicago Diary 2009, this visit to Chicago  is brief,  essentially only four nights, so we wasted no time before setting out  to sample  some great food.  The first restaurant  my friends chose for me to check out was a Japanese cuisine and sushi restaurant, Takashi, in Bucktown on Chicago's North side. The restaurant takes its name from chef Takashi Yagihashi.

Not that one should need an excuse for dining out but out-of-town visitors provide a special opportunity to show off our superb Vancouver restaurants, our fresh and varied edibles and our fine BC wines.  For my guests from Arizona, I thought seafood was the way to start.  A pleasant ten minute walk through Yaletown got us to Blue Water Cafe right on time for our 6:15 reservation. Most of the tables on the outdoor patio were already full. We debated sitting outside but the overhead heaters were on whereas the interior of the restaurant felt pleasantly cool. So we opted for a comfortably spacious  booth inside. 

When the sun shines in Vancouver, there is little that can beat a leisurely lunch on a patio, looking out over sparkling water. This past week I took the opportunity to lunch with friends on two restaurant patios in Yaletown, on the north side of False Creek.

It is always great when you can get a recommendation for great food from a local resident. One of the ports of call on my recent  West Coast Ballroom Dancing Cruise was Astoria, Oregon. Rather than an organized tour, at this stop  I chose to take a drive with some new friends down the South Oregon coast to Tillamook.

On Saturday evening I was meeting a friend to see  "Top Girls" at the Vancouver Playhouse. I decided to extend my search range for pre-show restaurants  beyond the three block radius from the Queen Elizabeth/Playhouse complex, and came up with Lux at the Caprice, on Granville between Nelson and Smythe. There is major construction still going on along Granville and they have ripped up the sidewalks so by the time I walked along Granville from Georgia to the restaurant my shoes were coated with dust.  The entrance to Lux was also not well marked and I nearly walked right by it.This construction is really tough on the businesses on the streets affected.  Anyway to avoid the mess on the way back down to the theatre we crossed Granville and walked down Smythe thus avoiding two blocks of dust.

It is a while since I have been to West; certainly before the changing of the guard so to speak,  to executive chef Warren Geraghty. With tickets to Les Misérables at the nearby Stanley Theatre we decided to splurge a little and check out West. This was a first time eating there for my dining companion so I pointed out their wall wine storage system that I have always admired. The whole wall behind the bar is built like library shelves with  a sliding ladder that can be moved from end to end to access items on the higher shelves - only this shelving system is refrigerated and holds wine bottles instead of books. Since I first saw this system I wanted to build something similar for my books but having downsized - well, my apartment hardly has that amount of space and I would probably trip over the ladder, anyway. So my wine is in a small wine cabinet and my books on conventional shelving.

In the past I have enjoyed several great dinners at Lumiere and also enjoyed eating at the bistro a couple of times. However that was ages ago before the new incarrnation as db Bistro Moderne. So even before setting foot in the Bistro my mouth was watering in anticipation of an excellent meal.  Billing itself as a blend of " traditional French cuisine, New York Haute Cuisine and the bright flavours of the Pacific North West"  - the place has a lot to live up to.  The remodelled space is much larger and lighter than before.

Since this is my "hood" I felt it was time to re-explore more of Yaletown's fine restaurants. We were going  to the Arts Club at Granville Island to see The Real Thing but instead of re-visiting one of the places I have already reviewed and walking to the show, I decided to try  the "dine and dash". No, in my lingo that does not mean leave without paying - but eating more than a short walking distance away and then zipping over the Granville Street bridge to the theatre.
 

Continuing my exploration of the dining scene in the Kitsilano area I decided to check out The New Bohemian before going off to see The Idiots Karamazov at the Freddy Wood Theatre at UBC. It has been open about a year, I was told, in the location where Fiction had been previously. I appreciated that they opened up the wall between the lounge and bar area  - the place  seemed larger and more open than I remembered. We recognised scenes from The Graduate projected on the wall as we entered.
 

This review covers my latest two visits to Cassis Bistro although I have been there several times before. Cassis is about two blocks away from the Vancouver Playhouse so it is very convenient  for pre-show dining. On previous occasions at Cassis I always opted for their entree of Muscovy Duck braised with oranges, so I thought it was time to try their other dishes.

We decided that we should try to fit in a nice dinner out one night BBC (Before baby comes) and decided on OPAH Restaurant and Bar which was about 5 minutes away by car. Thinking that our party of three adults and a  4 year old would be better off  away from the bar area, we decided to try the patio. I was a bit sceptical at first but the  overhead heaters worked fine to take the slight chill out of the air and we were very comfortable.

For our second ladies' night out exploring the restaurants along 4th Avenue, we chose Trattoria. They don't take dinner reservations so we planned to arrive early, just after 6 pm.  We were seated promptly, and when one of our party asked to move away from the the proximity of the windows, we were rapidly relocated to a more central table.
 

When I really really really enjoy the first taste of  a dish, I sometimes spontaneously break into an odd little shoulder-jiggling dance accompanied by sounds of appreciation that I don't quite know how to spell. Sort of like - uhuhuhuh! Jiggle,jiggle, jiggle -uhuhuhuh. When I realized some time ago that I have this tendency I worked hard to control it - It's not very dignified to be making incoherent sounds of bliss when you are trying to be objective in your approach to evaluating your meal. Still every now and then I forget - the food is great- and the jiggle appears.

More than thirty years ago,the first time I sailed on the Aegean Sea, I fell under the spell of the Aegean islands. Much later when our oldest child was in his final high school year, as we planned a vacation in Europe with our children,the first component of the trip that we all agreed on was to go sailing among the Greek Islands. The image of white washed homes reflecting sunshine against cerulean waters has always stayed with me - and made me into an interior decorator's nightmare. In my home I always end up painting the interior walls stark white to recapture the sense of light and airiness.

Visit 1: Chilled by the icy wind and still stunned by the film we had just seen, (the Boy in the Striped Pyjamas) we settled gratefully into the comfortable booth we were offered  and began to thaw. It was not quite 5:30 and quiet so we had the opportunity to chat  to Tracey, our charming server, about the restaurant and menus.  Although I was tempted by many of the other a la carte items on the menu, the Prix Fixe special that offered a soup or salad, an entree from the fresh sheet, and a dessert or cheese plate, was too good value to pass up.  And it was a good choice too.

As we walked along Granville looking for Ouisi (with my "infallible" sense of direction,  I had turned right - south instead of north from our parking spot on 12th), we were speculating about the origin of the name.  Since it could be deconstructed as oui and si, we decided that it must mean  "yes, yes." Great name for a restaurant, we thought. But after we found the place and were seated, Catherine, our smiling server, said it came from the middle part of Louisiana.  We should have guessed since it serves Cajun and Creole food.

The restaurant has a spectacular location, high above the city with a great view. We were seated at a comfortable sized table. I took the banquette seat looking outwards. My companion faced into the restaurant where she could watch the tables rapidly filling up. They have a large open kitchen area where one can observe the action. Doug, our server, was knowledgeable and attentive without being intrusive. He had worked in Vancouver and we shared perspectives on the incredibly abundant restaurant scene in the city.

On my last visit to Toronto during another cold, snowy spell, we visited Omi Restaurant in its old location on Church Street and had our first introduction to their Omakase meal. Omakase essentially is a chef's selection of dishes based on high quality fresh ingredients available on that particular day. On that first visit we were so impressed that we actually went back a couple of days later to try it again. Then it closed.

I was recently invited to dinner at Villa del Lupo, an elegant Italian restaurant in a heritage building on Hamilton.  Although I have dined there several times, it has to be more than ten years since my last visit. It retains the old-world European  ambience with comfortably sized tables, spaced far enough apart  to allow quiet conversation. 

The Dockside Restaurant in the Granville Island Hotel is really convenient if you are going to see a play at Performance Works, about  1 minute walk from the hotel entrance. We were going to see Influence, a new play by BC writer, Janet Munsil, that was opening at Performance Works, so dinner at Dockside was an excellent choice. Whenever I have been there before it has been quite busy so I made a reservation for 6 pm. We were shown to  a window table with a beautiful view across False Creek. Vancouver is such a spectacular city. 

Shortly after 6, in good time for my reservation,  (see Gillian's Kitchen) I arrived at Cobre Restaurant which features "nuevo latino cucina" (which I hope translates into contemporary Latin American cooking ). I was seated at a nice spacious window table where I could look out onto Powell Street. I was cold and hungry, and my dining companion had called to say she may not get there until 6:30.

In the evening we were heading out to the Telus Studio Theatre on the Point Grey campus of University of British Columbia to see Billy Bishop Goes To War. So I thought we would check out Gastropod for an early supper. Our reservation was for 5:30 and despite heavy traffic, we got there shortly after 5:30. We were warmly greeted and shown to a nice table, that could comfortably seat four. It was in the elevated section so we could look out over the rest of the restaurant. The impression is of a light, airy and open space.

This will be the index of postings to the Travelblogue that documents my visit to London and Cape Town. The nature of blogging results in the latest posting appearing first on screen, so that later events appear first. This Travelblogue index will list the postings in chronological order from leaving Vancouver to the termination of the trip, as a guide to your reading. Until the index is complete note that the story commences with this post.