From the monthly archives:

May 2008

The poll in the next column over says 9% of UD readership over the last 2 days are kitchen staff working line positions (at least those who bothered to participate in the poll). The above movie clip is for 2% of them.

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Wishful Dining No.274

by admin 05.24.2008

The shittiest thing about being a restaurant critic is the actual writing. The dining part is easy. I’ve never been particularly good at food writing (see Mia Stainsby, Angela Murrills, and Jamie Maw for how it should be done), and it’s the soldiering through paragraphs on gorgeous evenings like this one that makes it even [...]

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The Story of Joie

by admin 05.24.2008

NW Winecast on Joie

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I’m Okanagan Bound

by admin 05.24.2008

I’m heading off to the Okanagan for a few days with a bunch of industry folks to participate in the 2nd annual Sommelier Bootcamp. Kicking things off will be a “cuisine de terroir” dinner at God’s Mountain Estate catered by Joy Road. The following day will see a tour of Penticton followed by lunch at [...]

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Soundtrack No.79

by admin 05.24.2008

Pinback | Byzantine

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Pet Peeve No. 827

by admin 05.24.2008

I know you’ve long suspected this to be the case, but UD can now confirm that ridiculously expensive burgers – those tricked out with black truffles, kobe beef, foie gras, cocaine mayonnaise, and gold flakes on the bun – are most often gobbled by gullible jackasses and “look at me” douchebags. The same people who [...]

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Electoral Disfunction

by admin 05.23.2008

Hillary Clinton Gets Roasted

I know this is best reserved for The Bastard Thread in our community forum (the one UD conversation that’s never about food, booze or restaurants), but political implosions like this just need to be seen. It’s a “special comment” by MSNBC News’ Keith Olbermann on Hillary Clinton’s referencing of Bobby Kennedy’s 1968 [...]

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Swag File No. 430

by admin 05.23.2008

Swag File No. 430

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3 Minutes With Voya Chef Marc-Andre

by admin 05.22.2008

An email exchange with Marc-Andre Choquette, executive chef at the soon to open Voya restaurant in the Loden Hotel.
Where did you train?

I did a three year culinary program in Montreal and did most of my training under Richard Bastien (Jeremy’s from Boneta’s dad) at le Mitoyen. Working with Richard I learned [...]

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Sneaking A Peek At West 4th’s Trattoria Italian Kitchen

by admin 05.22.2008

The boarded up frontage at the upcoming Trattoria Italian Kitchen on West 4th had a door ajar tonight. En route to a lovely meat and beer dinner at Fuel, I snapped the above pic.
It looks to be coming along nicely.
They also have a temporary website up, complete with a god awful techno soundtrack that says [...]

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