We closed the Zuni Cafe last night

I suppose pedants would argue that the couple who came in while we were still eating dinner, and managed to suck back two bottles of champagne while we had dessert, were really the last out the door but they'd already paid and were fawning over one another while we were haggling over the bill.

We went with a friend from Montréal who is in town on business and lingered over every step of the meal; a nice reminder of home. My dinner, pork stew with meat balls and cannoli beans, was good but underwhelming - the bottom of the pot, I imagine - but I will definitely go back. M. and A. both enjoyed their choices, some small gamey bird whose name I've already forgotten [squab] and halibut cheek respectively, and we all started with a dozen oysters quickly followed by another dozen.

Speaking of oysters, we finally managed to go to Rodney's oyster house on our very last night in Vancouver. I had been threatening to do it from day I arrived but somehow always managed not to. We had the entire team up for most of our last week in town and on the last night E. wondered aloud what people were doing for dinner. Which led, finally, to Rodney's.

When the waiter arrived I told him that we wanted some oysters but wasn't really sure how it all worked so he said Okay, how about I start you with a nice variety, maybe a dozen? To which E. replied, aghast, No. Why don't you just bring three dozen. He and I also have a date to go eat brain at a little restaurant he frequents in Astoria. I'm not actually that excited to eat brain, for all the usual reasons, but I've always held that if D. ate brain I would at least have to try and a guy who can readily recommend the dish is not an opportunity to pass up.

Anyway, now that I think of it we finished the first bottle of wine over the oysters which probably explains why this morning is so rough. We had the second over dinner and then moved on to corn-fed American sized aperitifs while we giggled over the cheese menu. I'm sure most were very good but what madness possesses a person to serve Monterey Jack after dinner?

#zuni

Spotted, recently

#spotted-20050612

Freedom's People — The Cheese Heads

Say what you want about Americans and cheese, because most of it is true. Making it all the more refreshing when one of them says : I met Chapu. He's crazy.

#cheese

Alors, Vancouver

Since Things I have learned eating in Vancouver for two weeks was widely viewed as a bitch-fest (it wasn't) let me take a moment to highlight some of the food I learned to enjoy just shy of five months in Vancouver. In no particular order (and subject to revision) :

The oysters at Tojo's.
The sushi at Shima, on Denman. I am not an expert on sushi and I could have been eating the dregs, for all I know. Tasty delicious dregs.
The scallops at Guu, on Thurlow, and the grilled pork cheek at Guu, on Robson. The salted yellow tail cheek was fantastic the first time I tried it and underwhelming the second.
The chocolate truffles and the Concorde Vanille at Ganache. I never learned to love Yaletown but these helped.
The bathroom at Rangoli and everything at Vij's. Vij's is one of the few hot-shot restaurants that gets written up in the must see lists that hasn't disappointed. I was lucky enough to eat there on a night where we ordered, literally, everything on the menu. It is good food the way it should be, rather than punch you in the face flavour-packs. The kind of the food that tastes good at first and then, a moment later, tastes very very good and just gets better as you take the time to savour it.
The octopus carppacio at Chambar. You would think that the mussels would also be good, being a Belgian restaurant. They were terrible. Small and dry, a victim of neglect in their selection and their preparation since I saw the pot sitting on the counter waiting for my dinner companion's meals to be plated.

I am guessing that bison was chosen to replace the traditional horse dish, which is probably as good a reason, as any, to hope that West Coast French meets the same fate as French risotto.
Mussels, then : Rodney's or the restaurant at the French Cultural Center on 7th.
The oysters at Rodney's. If you're going to order oysters at Rodney's, don't be a spineless prude about it. If not for you, then for me. Just suck it up and start with an order of three dozen.
The poutine at Zizanie.

The music can be, well, trying at moments but it would also be my first choice for a watering hole since it is the closest you'll find to a kitchen party in Vancouver.
The walnut baclava at the Greek place on Commercial Drive.

Also, sold at the same store, a Persian (?) flat bread which is excellent when eaten in chunks topped with a slice of calabrese and a fig.
The fresh ricotta from the Grotto del Formaggio, on Commercial Drive. If you get there and find yourself haggling with the counter people for half a piece or the skim milk version save us all and go have a soy-drink or something.
Cafe Prado, even though the coffee is nothing more than serviceable and the muffins are awful. It is a nice place to have a cup of coffee and read and, perhaps, more importantly, people-watch.

While, we're on the subject of coffee joints can someone please tell me why I need to know how many liquid ounces I am ordering? Presumably it is for the getting things done weirdos who have worked out the optimal forumla for the amount of caffeine needed for 10% more perfect penmanship. Please, someone sedate these people.
Vera's burgers, in Kitsilano. Boris is right; the one on Davie over-cooks and burns their burgers.

You might think that going for a burger and then walking up Burrard to the nearby Fifth Avenue cinema would make a pleasant outing. It is but be warned the cinema-goers of Kitsilano are born of barbarian stock. It is the only way to explain how the people sitting on both my left and right were able to talk and laugh through the length of a film like Hotel Rwanda.
The ribs at Wild Rice.

I'm told they were inspired by a similar dish at fusion-tapas place called Bin 941. I have no end of bad things to say about fusion-tapas but this dish might be reason enough to give the restaurant a shot.
The ribs at the Cellar, mostly because it's pretty much the only thing on the menu that is tolerable and you should go anyway because they have great live jazz.
The agedashi tofu at Zakkushi on Denman, near Robson. The cow tongue yakitori is good too.
Nat's pizza.
The crunchy, whole-grain hippy eggs that cost 800$ a dozen. It's not quite that bad but it feels like it every time. On the other hand, they are fantastic eggs.

#alors

Adventures in the Kingdom of Freedom — prologue

'Didn't notice, I replied when she asked if my pee smelled like oysters. The only thing I was aware of, this morning, was the momumental effort required to stay awake.

#notice