A couple years ago, Umami hit the Vancouver restaurant scene and changed this city forever. The idea of creating an Izakaya for mainstream consumption in Downtown Vancouver hadn’t been done before with such elegance and style.

Today, you have a myriad of choices, Shiru Bay in Yaletown, Kingyo and Zakkushi on Denman, the Guu restaurants on Robson, Thurlow and Water Street, Alpha on Richards, which are a notable few.

Umami definitely stood out on it’s own, combining inventive Izakaya-style fusion cuisine and look of a Napa Valley-inspired wine bar.

In 2005, Umami’s chef, Hiro Shintaku, left to take on other endeavours (he’s recently resurfaced at Kingyo). Umami changed their name to Kei’s. The restaurant retained most of the original menu including the world-famous Unagi on daikon in a dashi broth, topped with foie gras. Also, the bar kept it’s strong focus on being a wine bar, having some great wine (and champagne) accessible to all by-the-glass.

Yesterday during my visit (I needed a champagne fix), I was informed that they are not moving forward in 2007 and December 30th, 2006 was their last day.

I look forward to seeing what becomes of the space. Cheers!

A photo from Umami, taken September, 2005.

Good bye Kei’s thanks for all the great food, and marvelous Champagne and the use of your pomponnes!

See all photos tagged Kei’s in my Flickrspace, HERE.

The Nokia E61 is probably the most sophisticated smart phone on the market. It’s packed full of features including the ability to connect to Microsoft Exchange and Blackberry Enterprise servers.

One of the features which have been promised (but never really worked) since the release of the phone was the ability to connect to SIP servers or in more lay-terms, VOIP.

Well, with the latest Firmware update from Nokia, they’ve done it! I’ve now successfully registered my phone to both Vonage (using the Vonage softphone service) as well as Sipphones.

I can’t reccomend Sipphones, their service doesn’t seem to work with calling PSTN phones in North America (trouble ticket currently open) but Vonage works like a gem. Finally, I can do away with all the expensive long distance when I’m travelling and use Vonage, so long as there’s a WiFi access point nearby.

So what does all this mean? Cheap long distance while on the road! BTW – the phone itself is behind the NAT so a normal home connection with no tweaks to the firewall is okay to use.

[read more…]

During my last trip to Calgary, I drove by the former location of Mescalero’s on 1st Street SE and thought what a fun place Crazy Horse was for an NYE location. That and the Banke on 8th where a pinstriped suit, some good friends and a black Russian Sobranie to puff on were de rigeur.

A sign is affixed to the soon-to-be demolished building at the old Mescalero’s location reads:

NEW YEARS EVE AT CRAZY HORSE LIMITED TICK[E]TS AVA[IL]ABLE P[H]O[N]E 266-1133.

They’re long gone and the number’s out of service. Soon, it’s just going to be condos.

SO. What are your plans for New Year’s? The two hot tickets in the city are the sold out Thomas Lynch Ministry of Sound event and the NYE 007 event at Mynt which will be their very last NYE event at their current location before being demolished.

Calgary is growing up quickly. Mynt goes down at the end of January. Ceilis and Cowboys have been granted an extension until the end of Stampede. Yee haw!

Word on the street is that Joey’s (not to be confused with Joey’s Only Seafood House), which recently opened up a beautiful restaurant on Broadway Street, and is famous for their Bellini, is opening two new locations in Downtown Vancouver.

The first location is confirmed. Located at 818 Burrard Street, close to Robson Street, Joey’s will take up what used to be Caffe Sette. Ali, owner of Caffe Sette, informed me that the offer from Joey’s was quite generous.

The second location, which is still under negotiation, is the old office space where DHM used to be. The corner of Nelson Street and Hamilton Street. I’ll update you in the new year as more information becomes available.

Update, January 3rd, 2007:

Joey’s plans on doing catering from their Yaletown location and their Burrard location will feature a winebar similar to what you would experience at Salt.

Find out more about Joey’s Restaurants here: joeysrestaurants.com

Gastropods, better known as being the largest and most successful class of mollusks (source: Wikipedia), can also be referred to as a great restaurant on West 4th in Vancouver.

Gastropod
1938 West 4th Avenue, Vancouver (MAP)
TEL: 604-730-5579
FAX: 604-730-5675
WEB: gastropod.ca

Chef Angus An sure has his work cut out for him. FCI graduate at the top of his class, he’s worked for some of the world’s finest chefs (including at Nahm, the world’s only Michelin starred restaurant).

Things to check out at Gastropod:

• The decor – it’s minimalist and elegant
• The Gastropod drinks – they were delicious and a good start to the evening
• The beef cheeks (if they’re still on the menu, it might be beef ribs)
• The pork …

I still haven’t had a chance to check out the restaurant thoroughly. It was only a light grazing. The fennel risotto was not to my taste (or anyone at the table for that matter) and there was a mixup with menus at the start of the meal (we only got drink and dessert menus, some people had beef shortribs on their menu, others had beef cheeks). Overall, the food and the drinks that we did get in the end really made up for it.

Fuel Restaurant on 4th officially opens on January 3rd, 2007 (for both lunch and dinner) but for the inside scoop, read on, below.

Fuel is located next to Gastropod at 1944 West 4th Ave. which seems to be a strange place to put nice restaurants, but let’s see what the upcoming year does for fine dining in the area. (Word is that more restaurants are coming to the area.)

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to dine at Fuel and thoroughly enjoyed it. The food was so good that in some cases, that I forgot to take photos of the food, and in others, I ruined the presentation first by taking a nibble.

Here’s some photos from the evening…

Mona’s Dinner:

• Fresh made bread, some butter and salt
• Caramelized Onion Consomme, smoked Spanish paprika, manchego cheese
• ‘Sloping Hills’ Organic Pork, crispy shoulder, poached loin, braised fennel, russian garlic, blood orange
• Apple Cake, apple puree, hazelnuts

Raj’s Dinner:

• Fresh Local Pumpkin Soup, seared weathervane scallop, crystallized sunflower seeds paired with the Hawke’s Bay Sauvignon Blanc
• Warm Matsutake & Chantrelle Mushroom Salad, poached egg, fresh thyme, aged sherry vinegar (I destroyed this one before taking a picture… It was just so tempting to take a bite!) paired with a lovely French Gewurztraminer
• Duck Confit & Foie Gras Mousse Terrine, toasted brioche, warm shallot confiture (I forgot to take a picture of thisone, it got inhaled, so what you see are remnants) paired with a beautiful Riesling (I was so stunned by her beauty, that I didn’t listen properly when she told me her name)
• Crispy Rainbow Trout, roasted local organic baby beets, swiss chard, buttered potatoes, hazelnut brown butter emulsion paired with the Calina Chardonnay from Chile
• Slow Cooked Organic Beef Shin & Seared Weathervane Scallop, wilted arrowleaf spinach, fingerling potato vinaigrette paired with the 2004 Burrowing Owl Merlot
• Apple Cake, apple puree, hazelnuts

Overall, a great demonstration of Robert Belcham’s talent for food and Tom Doughty’s talent for pairing that food with great wine.

At the end of dinner, Robert was eager to present his all-star lineup of staff including Ted Anderson, former sous-chef at Figmint.

FUEL Restaurant
1944 West 4th Avenue, Vancouver (MAP)
TEL: 604-288-7905
FAX: 604-288-2700
WEB: fuelrestaurant.ca

sugarandsugar in Gastown is now Canvas Lounge

CANVAS Lounge
99 Powell Street Vancouver, BC, V6A 1E9 (MAP)

WEB: www.canvaslounge.ca

Apparently, Nettwerk will be holding Sync there, sponsored by Citizens Bank, in February 2007.

Find out more about SYNC, HERE and on MySpace HERE.

Fine dining located in the 2000 block of Granville Street. Lots of controversy on Waiter Forum, so who is this Connor Butler, anyways?

You’ll have to visit to find out. Lorraine says he’s a fun guy, btw.

Here’s the menu from a recent visit:

Click on the link to enlarge. Check out Connor’s restaurant HERE.

Restaurant Connor Butler
2145 Granville Street, Vancouver V6H 3E9 (MAP)
PHONE: 604-734-2145

Only a month late, here’s what we’ve got:

MEDIA RELEASE
For Immediate Release

November 20, 2006

Skyjar Designs Inc.

SKYJAR DESIGNS LAUNCHES NEW MARKET INNOVATION – METAL TILES

LANGLEY – Skyjar Designs is manufacturing metal tiles at their studio in Langley. The tiles are available in various colour options including silver, gold, titanium and copper. The strength and versatility of these textured or polished tiles allows for many different applications and uses.

One of Skyjar Designs newest creations, THE FLOW TABLE is on display at Melange (ED: this is now dated information as SkyJar has delivered it to a customer) ~ gifts of distinction at Ocean Park, 1677 – 128th Street, South Surrey.

For more information about the metal tiles and custom design furniture, contact their Langley showroom to arrange an appointment.

Contact:

Jill Sinclair
Skyjar Designs Inc.

1-778-688-2455
admin@skyjardesigns.com
www.skyjardesigns.com

Check ‘em out, here:

“Mission Control is an exciting new approach to corporate productivity that provides a dramatic increase in the productivity and effectiveness of your team, while reducing workplace stress.” (Source: leadershipinc.com)

Checked out the Mission Control two-day workshop courtesy Paul Gossen last week and I can definitely say that the time is well spent. I’ve already recouped a great chunk of the time spent at the workshop (and it’s only been a couple days).

Mission Control is a system that allows you to effectively take control of your time and get more accomplished, meet your commitments and gain peace of mind.

At the course, you learn a system – a way to interact with with standard tools such as Microsoft Outlook.

My mailbox only has six items in it, I sleep better and will be sending all my staff to learn about it soon.