Wine Tasting at Marquis Wine Cellars

I just came back from the a wine tasting at Marquis Wine Cellars.

"Marquis Wine Cellars?"

You know, that wine shop on Davie Street at Burrard, next to Celebrities.


View Larger Map

Yup, you know the one.

Well, they threw the invite out on Twitter about a week ago (maybe longer - I only noticed it last week), advertising a blogger event.

"I'm a blogger!" I earnestly thought. So I RSVP'ed, and voila! I'm on the guest list for a social media wine tasting event amongst the city's foodies, sommeliers, bloggers, and Twitter hounds. Wine served by Marquis, cheese served by Benton Brothers Fine Cheeses, and scrumptious morsels of heavenly delight by Louis Gervais Fine Foods and Catering.

What a fine evening! Got to see a lot of familiar Twitter/Blogger faces, in addition to putting some faces to names (and real names to Twitter handles) - ha!

But the best part, of course, was the opportunity to taste an assortment of fine wines from around the world (Australia, Italy, Spain, and France, to name a few), high end artisan cheeses - both local and global, and an assortment of gourmet bite-sized treats (proscutto-wrapped prawns? Hi!) Needless to say, it was my kind of evening!

The event itself was held in Marquis' back room (as opposed to the store front where customers were shopping as we tasted the treats in the back). The room itself was rather small considering the large turnout. As a result, I found it rather hazardous to carry a wine glass and a plate of food in one hand while also snapping photos in another, and, if inclined, taking down notes. The reality was that it was either one or another. I chose, for the most part, to eat and drink.

Strangely, however, I managed to juggle my camera in such a way that I was able to snap a few shots. How they actually turned out the way they did? I don't know. Nevertheless, it'll give you a taste of my lovely Wednesday evening:

An assortment of cheese - all delicious!

Although this Stilton (from the oldest Stilton farm in England) was amazing!

The P'tit Basque was a lovely firm sheep's milk cheese, nutty like Manchego

Everyone loved this Pinos Gris

I was rather taken by this Barossa shiraz known as Spinifex - Bete Noir

And this? This was a scrumptious roast beef & Yorkshire pudding treat

This was my favourite of the night - a Sauvignon Blanc-ish wine of the Loire. Very smoky with distinct mineral flavours.  

Beautiful, huh? Believe it or not, these were beets!

But perhaps my most unexpected discovery was Marquis' curtain. It's covered with adorable Vancouver cliches... with wine!!! (I love this!)

Even the orca spouts wine!

The Benton Brothers are real people! Thank you Andrew and Jonah for the cheese!

And Kevin McKinnon, the manager of Marquis, humoured me throughout the night whenever I requested more wine (and when I took his photo). Thank you!

So cheers to Marquis Wine Cellars, Benton Brothers Fine Cheese, and Louis Gervais Fine Foods and Catering for your generosity and for hosting such a fantastic night for all of us!

Corner Suite Bistro closed? Yup. And Sweeney's and Fiasco.

Vancouver foodies were shocked to learn on Twitter yesterday that Corner Suite Bistro, a popular and hip French bistro in the West End, had closed its doors permanently without warning. This is just after many local journalists were touting it as one of Vancouver's best restaurants of 2010.

Rumours were spreading on Twitter that they had a failed negotiation with their landlord. Others speculated that it was simply due to them having the wrong location or inconsistent staff. It was even suggested that BC's tougher alcohol penalties have threatened the restaurant industry as a whole.

While people were speculating the closure, others were commiserating their Groupon and gift certificate losses. Groupon was active on Twitter today saying that once the closure has been confirmed,  they'll get in touch with people about reimbursement. I'm just glad I used mine when I did back in October but I feel bad for those who have to deal with this aftermath.

On a similar note, I was saddened to learn that Sweeney's of Yaletown - a gourmet, slow-food cafe where I ate many a delicious lunch this past summer - has closed its doors. Apparently they just weren't getting the dinner crowds, despite their popularity at lunch. Imagine a restaurant where the food is organic, most items are under $12, you can buy wine by the glass, and there's a new fresh feature every day - the pulled-beef tacos with mango and chipotle were to die for! The only catch is that you order at the counter, but they'll bring your food to the table. That's not really a catch for the Yaletown lunch crowd - most of us don't live in Yaletown, but we work here. The Yaletown dinner crowd? That's a different story. People come to Yaletown looking to be spoiled, to be wined and dined in luxury, and unfortunately, it seems that Yaletown wasn't the appropriate niche for Sweeney's. It's a shame, but at least they're spending the next few months finding a more appropriate location. May I make a suggestion to them? South Cambie needs you. So does Commercial Drive. So does Riley Park.

Unsurprisingly, Fiasco shut its doors the other week. "Fiasco? What's Fiasco?" Exactly. Formerly Amacord, they reopened as what I'm guessing was supposed to be a typical Yaletown loft space, but it was stark, dark, and lacked an inviting atmosphere. The tables, for example, were naked. The lights? The lights were lacking - the place looked closed from the outside. The bored-looking waitstaff didn't help. It simply felt unfinished from the get-go. Always empty at lunch, we decided to check out their $10 lunch specials regardless. The food was always tasty (steak sandwich with goat cheese and roma tomatos for $10?), but being served a lipstick stained water glass when we were the only patrons in the restaurant was, in retrospect, a bad omen. Upon the next visit, they told us they were changing chefs and menus - a new chef from NYC would be arriving soon. When we came back a few weeks later, gone were the $10 specials and the lunch menu consisted of overpriced pasta dishes. Two weeks later? They were closed. In this case it wasn't the closure that surprised me, but at the haste of which it was done. Wow.

We're 5 days into 2011. I wonder what other restaurant surprises lurk on the horizon?

July 25, 2009

July 25th will forever be etched in the minds of those who were lucky enough to be here.

Out of seemingly nowhere, on a hot and humid Saturday afternoon, a rogue thunder and lightning storm ambushed Greater Vancouver for hours and hours. It produced an apocalyptic blood red sunset never seen in this city before and continued to woo the 300,000 people awaiting the Celebration of Light. It was truly a battle of Mother Nature vs. the fireworks, and it was an obvious winner.

I was at Spanish Banks all Saturday, from about 3pm until about 9:30pm (hosting a BBQ with friends) when we witnessed what was the most spectacular natural event I've seen in my 29 years of living here.

My personal experiences and photos of Saturday will be posted in the next few days, but until then, I leave you with this. (Just mute the cheesy music).

Somewhere over the rainbow...

So I never made it to the fireworks on Wednesday night, but I certainly heard them! A former colleague of mine took some absolutely spectacular photos of the event. Needless to say, they capture the essense perfectly. Thanks Sam for giving me the permission to share them! :)

FYI - Canada's theme was "There's No Place Like Home". To see more of Sam Lin's photos of the Celebration of Light, visit his website, here.

Fireworks, 1st night: Canada

Tonight is the first night of HSBC Celebration of Light fireworks competition in Vancouver. Tonight's country is Canada.

Hundreds of thousands of people will be making their way downtown in a sort of organized chaos. West End roads like Denman and Davie will be closed to traffic right after rush hour. People will be setting blankets up on English Bay as early as 4pm. But honestly? If you don't need a massive picnic spot, you can probably just wander down there for 9pm and stake out a spot on the lawns in front of those ugly 1960's-style apartment towers on Beach Avenue by Gilford. That's what I've done in the past, even 10 minutes before they start (which is 10pm, by the way). Otherwise, it's usually best to get there no later than 8pm if you're looking for a comfortable spot to sit on the beach.

People who have never attended the fireworks before often ask where the best viewing location is. Personally I've always found that English Bay beach, right in front of the barge, is best. That's where you get the full effect of the music and the artistic display of the fireworks - the way they were meant to be experienced.

However, English Bay is only great if you're already downtown and don't have to fight traffic or the hordes via public transit. It's even worse leaving, as there's a mass exodus of what could possibly be 200,000+ people - don't expect to get anywhere quickly. Even better are the police helicopter spotlights dispersing the crowds. Fun times indeed.

But a few years ago we had a friend in town and brought him out to Granville Island's Bridges restaurant for dinner. It just happened to be the same night as the fireworks. We sat on the patio and had a beautiful view of the fireworks behind the Burrard Street Bridge. It was picture perfect.

Decades ago as a child growing up in Richmond, my Dad would drive me and my sister into Vancouver for the fireworks. We'd drive down Arbutus through Kerrisdale eventually entering Kitsilano. Somewhere, somehow, we'd find parking by Vanier Park and would perch ourselves on the path, straining our necks to watch the fireworks across English Bay. But it was so worth it in the end.

For information on tonight's fireworks, visit http://celebration-of-light.com/

English Bay and the West End in February

Instead of celebrating Valentine's Day on the 14th, my significant other and I made the following day - Sunday, February 15th - our special day. The weather cooperated. Sunday was glorious, sunny, and warm. It was 8 degrees Celsius (or 46 degrees for the Fahrenheit fans). There was no doubt about it - it truly felt like spring.

In the early afternoon we took a taxi 10 minutes down Pacific Blvd from Yaletown to the West End's English Bay. We had brunch reservations for 2pm at the Raincity Grill - a local favourite, famous for its local 100-mile radius cuisine. We arrived a little early so we took 15 minutes to go for a quick walk.

We first walked north along Denman Street - a relatively short street connecting English Bay to Coal Harbour - famous for its tiny hole-in-the-wall eateries and cafes. The sidewalks were packed with people as if awakening from the winter blahs for the first time this season.

Denman Street tends to portray the more human side to the downtown Vancouver peninsula.

You have green grocers selling fruit, flowers, and vegetables...

The cutest teddybear ever giving away free cupcakes!

Local neighbourhood haunts like Central (formerly the Brass Monkey), Legendary Noodle, and Nat's New York Pizzeria.

Local city buses (electric trolleys, really) make the rounds... a large percentage of people in the West End rely exclusively on walking/public transit.

There are cheap greasy diners and casual ethnic restaurants. You just stroll a few blocks and take your pick of cuisines: Greek, Malaysian, Ukrainian, Korean, Mexican, Japanese, Vietnamese, Chinese, North African, Italian, Middle Eastern, Indian, etc.

At its southern end, Denman intersects with Davie Street - the West End's major commercial strip also home to Davie Village - the core of Vancouver's gay community.

And because the area's the heart of a residential community, you have many out simply walking the dog.

We made our way back to the southern end of Denman Street, crossed Beach Avenue, and walked down to English Bay. English Bay is a favourite downtown waterfront of mine for a variety of reasons. Primarily, English Bay doesn't feel like downtown - it really doesn't feel like you're in a high density city at all despite being steps away from giant apartment towers. English Bay is where you have the city intersecting with the beach, the seawall, and the entrance to Stanley Park. With the restaurants, cafes, and general local community vibe happening just seconds away, it's hard not to like the area. And I haven't even talked about the sunsets or the view!

As always, when the sun shines, people are out at English Bay. They're found jogging, walking their dogs, rollerblading, longboarding, cycling around the seawall, and just enjoying the rare sunshine. Saying that, the sunshine hasn't really been so rare for us this February. I can only imagine what the world will think of next year when they arrive in Vancouver next February for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. I'm sure the great majority from elsewhere, possibly expecting the stereotypical cold arctic Canada winter, will instead stumble upon ... this?