menu
Member Sign In
  • IWFS Homepage
  • Blog Home
  • Forums Home
  • Global Forum
  • Contact Us
Close
  • IWFS Homepage
  • Blog Home
  • Forums Home
  • Global Forum
  • Contact Us
    Member Sign In
  • Blog Home
  • Forum Home
  • Global Forum
FOLOW US

Recent Posts

  • SHAW + SMITH ARE EXPRESSING ADELAIDE HILLS IN AUSTRALIA WITH VIBRANT MODERN CLASSIC WINES
  • Ask Sid: What are smudge pots?
  • CHATEAU PAPE CLEMENT VINTAGES BY BERNARD MAGREZ SHOW MUCH IMPROVED PESSAC-LEOGNAN QUALITY
  • Ask Sid: Which wine did golfer Rory McIlroy drink to celebrate his 2025 Masters win?
  • SEVEN SAN FRANCISCO RESTAURANTS WORTH TRYING

Archives

  • June 2025
  • May 2025
  • April 2025
  • March 2025
  • February 2025
  • January 2025
  • December 2024
  • November 2024
  • October 2024
  • September 2024
  • August 2024
  • July 2024
  • June 2024
  • May 2024
  • April 2024
  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Archive for July, 2013

Older Entries
Newer Entries

RESTAURANTS: FORMAL vs. INFORMAL

July 12th, 2013 by Sidney Cross

It used to be easy to differentiate between what is a formal or an informal restaurant.  Dress code, tablecloths, service,  and decor were some of the important elements in making that determination.  Price often factored in too.

No more! Especially in Vancouver every place is now strictly informal!

For many years I have been on the panel deciding the Vancouver Magazine Restaurant Awards with our 25th Anniversary coming up  next year. We used to designate restaurants into best formal and best informal categories. It wasn’t totally semantics but last year because every place indicated they were informal we changed the categories to Upscale Dining & Casual Spot.

Best Upscale Restaurant was defined as “consistently offers the city’s very highest quality dining experience based on exemplary preparations, cooking, ingredient sourcing, desserts, service and wine selection in an accommodating environment where the average entree for one person is over $30, there is a strong  wine/sommelier program and reservations are accepted” .

Best Casual was similarly worded but drink selection substituted for wine, all for a reasonable price under $30 and may or may not have a wine/sommelier program and reservations may or may not be accepted.

Hawksworth cleaned up as Best Upscale, Best New, Chef of the Year and Restaurant of the Year in 2012. L’Abattoir won Best Casual.

Working now on our 2013 Awards we realize that all our Vancouver restaurants are really casual in nature.  What happened to formal and upscale?  Next year we may have to go to a different format completely and judge all restaurants together and separate them only by their geographic neighbourhoods.

It is a new dining era. Some restaurants discourage smart phone use but it’s hard to enforce bans. Tweets and immediately sharing photos of a dining experience on Istagram now is very widely spread.

Where are you in your city’s dining restaurant profiles? Please let everyone know what to expect when dining in your area.

CULINARY CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 11th, 2013 by Sidney Cross

The 14th edition of the Bocuse d’Or cooking competition started by Paul Bocuse in 1987 was held as always in Lyon France at the end of January 2013. Canada placed 9th (best ever finish 4th), USA 7th (best ever 6th) with the gold going to France (their 7th win – one out of every two years!), silver to Denmark and bronze to Japan.

In Canada we have Gold Medal Plates (GMP) www.goldmedalplates.com a culinary competition across Canada to raise funds for the charitable Canadian Olympic Foundation and over the nine years has raised more than 7 million dollars for donation to help Olympic athletes train on their Own the Podium program. All the regional GMP winners then compete in the Canadian Culinary Championships (CCC) to be named best chef in Canada. I am a judge for the Vancouver GMP competiton and I just returned from judging the 2013 CCC with 10 competing chefs this year – all champion regional GMP winners! The CCC is held over several days and has 3 main events on which the results are based:

1. The Wine Matching Challenge

The night before this event each chef is given a bottle of unmarked mystery wine and has 24 hours to shop for and develop a dish that will pair well with that wine all on a limited budget of $500 to serve 400 guests. The wine turned out to be 2010 Norman Hardie pinot noir from Prince Edward County in Ontario. Some chefs found good matches with local duck, cherries and even raspberry-strawberry tuilles in capturing the wine essence but others went to less successful matchings of ling cod and albacore tuna.

2. The Black Box Competition

Every year we have 6 ingredients in the box which each chef opens and then has one hour to prepare 2 dishes. The six catagories with this year’s selection were:

(a) Grain – Red Fife Wheat Flour

(b) Dairy – Goat Gruyere with firm strong flavours

(c) Fruit – Anjou Pear

(d) Vegetable – Black Kale ( or Tuscan Kale) – versatile use raw in a salad, in soups or pastas, sauteed, or my fav deep fried crisp kale chips!

(e) Fish – Northern Divine Sturgeon Caviar

(f) Meat – Bone in shoulder and neck of lamb – shows butchering skills but impossible to braise properly in the one hour time limit!

3. The Grande Finale

A glittering affair of a signature dish of each chef with their choice of Canadian wine for 700 guests.

The winning chef Marc St. Jacques of Toronto’s Auberge du Pommier featured a classy terrine of foie gras with lemon curd on black sesame financier.

Please post for our edification any comments you have on this or even a short note to make us aware of any of your own city or regional culinary competitions.

BEST WINE CELLAR INVENTORY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

July 10th, 2013 by Sidney Cross

Best Wine Cellar Inventory Mangement System

Longing for the good old days of a simple wine inventory cellar book with hand written entries?

I still cling to that antiquated system somewhat because it was so excitingly hands on and personal but as a computer nut I also like the additional features, valuations and organizational benefits of the many new on line alternatives.

Hard to believe that so many friends of mine now have each individual bottle in their wine cellar barcoded for easy management. Wow are they ever organized! But there are so many different software programs out there it is hard to choose how to even get started.

I really like what Eric LeVine has done with Cellar Tracker (www.cellartracker.com) redesigning to make constant improvements and they also now have posted nearly 4 million tasting notes for references and recommendations. Impressive work indeed!

Please let us know what you recommend as working for you based on your own wine cellar management system. Much appreciated.

SUSHI

July 8th, 2013 by Sidney Cross

Sushi

Sushi is becoming increasingly popular in Vancouver and almost everywhere else.

A big new 210 seat Miku Restaurant (www.mikurestaurant.com) opened here last week with wrap around patios outside, a magnificent Coal Harbour view and Japanese artist hand painted seafood murals. Owned by Aburi Restaurants Canada this joins their sister restaurant Minami here in Yaletown both featuring seafood. They are bringing an innovative new concept to the Canadian scene with Aburi (sear flamed with a blowtorch) sushi as well as more vegetarian and gluten-free choices. The act of applying fire directly to enhance the natural fish flavours was developed in Japan about a century ago. They are creating their own sauces using non traditional Japanese ingredients (usually soy and wasabi) trying to complement the unique taste of each fish. Some examples include Aburi Hamachi (yellowtail) with avocado sauce, Aburi Hotate (scallop) with cod roe mayo, and Aburi Salmon Oshi Sushi fused with jalapeno. For non fish lovers there is even thin Aburi Chicken cooked on a very hot plate over an open fire grill.

A media friend Mijune Pak has just written up a 3 part feature on Sushi: 1.Rolls (Maki) vs. Nigiri-Zushi (Nigiri); 2.The use of Condiments; and 3.How to Eat it. For those wanting more information on sushi I suggest you read these at www.followmefoodie.com or www.wevancouver.com under their Food & Drink tab.

Join in with your own thoughts on sushi or sashimi and whether you prefer traditional, Aburi style, both or neither.

BAROLO vs. BARBARESCO

July 8th, 2013 by Sidney Cross

Just enjoyed a fabulous dinner of some top nebbiolo served blind matched with quality dishes from Piedmont. Is there a better wine and food pairing than sliced fresh white truffle on Acquerello carnaroli risotto funghi with a mature Barolo or Barbaresco?

Top vintages were rarer in the old days with 58, 61, 64, 71, 78, 82 & 85 all memorable. Since the trio of 88, 89 & 90 there has been a pretty good run of better years starting with 96. I tend to prefer the classical balanced often late season vintages like 08, 04, 01, 98 & 96 – and even the colder more tannic years like 06 & 99. Certainly the three Barolo 1996 just tried (Cavallotto Bricco Boschis; Burlotto Monvigliero; and Claudio Alario) showed well that styling and no rush to drink up! Some North Americans often prefer the more forwardly, rounder, richer fruit of warmer vintages like 07, 00, & 97 – and even the over the top hot 03.

With global warming and final classifications still evolving a question can be asked whether the full facing south slopes in both Barolo and Barbaresco are still the best ones? Depends – another story!

Thought provoking comments by Bruno Giacosa’s daughter Bruna in a recent interview reported at www.thedrinksbusiness.com 2013/03/barolo-not-better-than-barbaresco. “It is wrong to suggest that Barolo makes better and more age-worthy wines than Barbaresco. Why do you say Barbaresco is more feminine? Maybe because you think it’s more elegant- and yes, in Barbaresco you find elegance, but you find it in Barolo too.”   Excellent point made!

What are your thoughts today on the old distinctions that used to be made between Barolo vs. Barbaresco? Are they still valid?

Older Entries
Newer Entries
The object of the Society is to bring together and serve all who believe that a right understanding of good food and wine is an essential part of personal contentment and health and that an intelligent approach to the pleasures and problems of the table offers far greater rewards than the mere satisfaction of appetite.
Andre Simon Wine & Food Society Founder (1933)
© 2025 The International Wine & Food Society (IW&FS) IW&FS
Credits | Privacy | Accessibility