Re: Fishworks Goes Local

Dear Editors of Metro News Vancouver,
For years now, I've wondered what kind of background a person needs to get published as a food and restaurant critic for a widely circulated periodical. After reading Anya Levyk's January 21st review of North Shore new kid on the block Fishworks, I'm starting to think it doesn't have anything to do with her knowledge of food and restaurants.
In the interest of full disclosure, you should know that I am a weekend bartender at the aforementioned Ocean-Wise bistro. But I do not write this on behalf of Fishworks – our dining room is full every night as a result of a small team of dedicated professionals living our passion, and Anya is fully entitled to her opinion of whether she likes what we do or not. I am writing this on behalf of food writing. As a restaurant industry professional, I am privy to information that Ms. Levyk is apparently unaware of. Most notably, the complete absence of raspberry vinaigrette, raspberry vinegar, or even raspberries in our kitchen (her review refers to a raspberry vinaigrette dressing twice in the article). Perhaps her last review was in the mid-90s when restaurants still used raspberry vinaigrette... or maybe she got the idea from watching an episode of Rachel Ray the night before.
Call me old fashioned, but I was always lead to believe that the opinion of a journalist should at least be informed. If she doesn't like our balsamic vinaigrette, fair enough, but printed ignorance can potentially mislead thousands of your trusting readers. Anya was also distressed by the speed at which her appetizer was prepared, deriding it as “pre-made.” An informed restaurant critic would know that cocktail prawns are always poached off and cooled before dinner service, and chefs add this dish to their menu because it is simply a matter of assembly during a busy dinner service. In the dozens of restaurants I've worked in my career (including Sequoia Grill, Feenie's, The Fish House, Watermark), prawns cocktail are prepared this way. I challenge you, Anya, to find a restaurant that poaches and subsequently chills your prawns to order. Would you rather wait 30 seconds or 30 minutes?
If you didn't like the table you were sat at, Anya, I'm sorry. And I can understand how having a less than perfect table can alter the enjoyment of a dining experience. It's reasonable if a diner makes up their mind to not enjoy their night because of substandard seating, but it is irresponsible for a supposed journalist to make up her mind to slag the food because her table made her grumpy. Many small restauranteurs pour their heart, and their life-savings, into opening a restaurant. To allow a gustatory neophyte, who can't tell the difference between the flavors of raspberry and balsamic vinegar, to tell the city of Vancouver that Fishworks doesn't prepare their food with care... is careless.
So in defense of good writing, I give you my critique of Anya's approach. Having the ability to send in a grammatically correct review before deadline simply isn't enough gastronomic experience for the food writer of such a widely circulated publication. If you want to read some real food writing, check out my blog.
Sincerely,
Shane Lobsinger
newgastronome@telus.net
http://newgastronome.blogger.com

El Susheria

I finally found a free night to get out and see Avatar!!! My friends couldn't make the 7:10 showing so I was forced to kill time downtown until the 10:30 screening... what to do??? I first thought I'd check out Guu, as I haven't been there for oh so long, but I should have known better than to expect to walk into that place unannounced at 8 o'clock. I definitely wasn't going to go to Le Crocodile by myself, so the nearest thing that tickled my fancy was Tsunami Sushi on Robson. I'd actually never been there before so I figured a solo mission was the best way to test the waters, in the event that I ever had to take a lady somewhere in the area. Naturally, I had a seat at the sushi bar, watching the ships roll in like the Otis Redding of Japanese cuisine. For those of you neophytes who haven't experienced this yet, here is the drill: you sit at the bar where little wooden boats pass in front of you, each one with a different plate of sushi and maybe some wasabi or ginger. There are four different plates, and each plate represents a different price point for that particular item. This is a very entertaining experience, and I imagine during a busy time when the boats are all full it would be so much more so. There are many nigiri sushi I haven't tried, and as I watched unidentified pieces of fish swim past me I pieced together which each one was. Without this system, I'd have to risk up to $4 a shot to even see what hamachi or unagi look like. If you don't want what's on the boats, there are waitresses patrolling the floor ready to take an order back to the kitchen.
I started off with a 650mL Kirin lager ($9) miso soup and an order of goma-ae. The presentation of the goma-ae showed a great attention to detail. Rather than being tossed in tahini and served in a roughshod ball, I was presented with lovingly stacked and pressed spinach doused in sweet sesame dressing. The goma-ae of Sakura Sushi at Lonsdale Quay is better, as you can see the hand-ground toasted sesame seeds in the sauce, but I did enjoy the caramelized sugar flavor in this one. It reminded me of the sesame snaps I used to have packed in my lunches as a child... I'm a fan of any dish that inspires nostalgia. After having savoured my goma-ae and speculated at great length about the floating delicacies at hand, I reached for a plate of inari (fried tofu pockets marinated in sweet sake lees and stuffed with sushi rice). I love this stuff. You can pick it up at TNT market, which is probably the same stuff Tsunami uses, and make these things yourself super easily. At $2.05, I'm happier than a pig in a turnip patch that they were so convenient to snatch. My bill is now pushing $20, so I've got to be judicious with my next choices. Halibut sushi with minced kimchi and green onion... why not? I've never had it this way. Unfortunately, its delicate flavor played second fiddle to the rockstar duo of wasabi-loaded soy and the colourful garnish. Not that I'm criticizing the dish construction or quality – I can't expect halibut to be at its best out of season and thawed from last year's catch. Let me note here, though, that I saw the same suspects in rotation on the sushiboat fleet for the entire 45 minutes I sat. I wasn't surprised that the rice stuck to the plates a little bit and that the fish had lost its “freshly cut” slickness, let alone the rainbow effect that can be observed on very freshly sliced tuna. But I'm sure if I had asked to be brought a more freshly made piece, they would have obliged me. But I'm foodie, not fussy.
And then – a prawn sushi. There were two different looking prawn sushis, on two different plates, indicating different prices ($3.05 and $4.25). Cross-reference the menu: ebi is cooked tiger prawn (WARNING! Farmed in India/Southeast Asia), and the more pricey ama-ebi is RAW BC SPOT PRAWN!! JACKPOT. These succulent prawns should be eaten raw, at their best, and thank god for Tsunami for carrying this product as part of its regular menu and for serving it in its most natural state, so very lovingly and minimally manicured. I will FOR SURE pay the extra 60 cents per prawn (there are 2 nigiri sushi in each order) to support local fishing, reject destructive and exploitative agroindustrial colonialism and redundant globalism... and, most importantly, enjoy top shelf produce.
This is a great example of why I love this town so much. You can sit down to any halfway decent sushi restaurant, and you will have wild local salmon, halibut, and maybe even prawns, as part of the regular rotation. Not as part of a trend or even socio-ethical imperative; it is simply because these local fruits der mer are the best on the planet, and Japanese food is such a minimalist affair that any decent susheria does not have room in its coolers for shitty produce. So here's a note to people who complain that BC spot prawns are too expensive, or you don't get enough of them, or their texture is different: steak tartare is smaller, more expensive, and mushier than a Big Mac. Exploitative wages, chemical enhancement, and unsustainable practices propel the Indean Ocean's aquacultured and super-pumped antibiotic pseudo-prawns to reach our tables at $8/lb. Perhaps it is in our best interest to get to know the smaller, more expensive, and “finer things” in life.
check this out... http://eatprawns.com/local-food/ama-ebi-spot-prawns-sushi-delicacy/
...only $2 each!!!!!!!!!

Flavor First!

Serving tables can be a very satisfying line of work. It all depends on one's attitude and knowledge. Every time I go into work dreading dealing with chronically unsatisfied people, or those who waste my precious dinner rush minutes giving me their “feedback” on how they would design the room better, I inevitably dwell on these unpleasantries and it can really ruin the job for me. But the more I consider myself a gastronomic ambassador, the more I'm likely to spend time with those who are interested in being educated about what is on their plate and in their glass, and to simply dismiss the ignorant blowhard with a smile and a wave as the door hits them on the way out. I had a four-top last night, people who were young professionals, there to have a good time but clearly appreciated good food and wine. This is the bread and butter of the new gastronome: people who put pleasure first, have the resources to pay for it, but are still socially conscious and also aware of the dining market.

Right off the bat, they ordered a bottle of Excelsior Cab-Sauv – my current pet bottle. Rather than be the server that reads you the tasting notes straight off the wine list, I like to have something unique and intelligent to say about what we're serving, so I make a point of trying a bottle of anything I can find on our list, and make it my pet for the weekend. And I really liked this wine: at $15 retail, it's a lush glass of plum and vanilla, with mocha finish and some very smooth tannins. And what's more, I looked into the owners of the winery, South Africa's deWet family (who have been cultivating their vines on the cape since the late 17^th century), and it turns out that they are one of the more socially progressive landowners in a region that remains tainted with injustice. Their estate employs over 100 families, and provides them with access to education and healthcare – they've actually built a school for their workers' children on their property. So when my friends ordered this bottle, I told them not only about their good choice from the perspective of the wine's great drinkability (flavor first!), but made a point to let them know that their decision is in support of some of the more conscious operators in the industry. Unsurprisingly, they were very pleased to have gained this knowledge from me. This is the kind of knowledge that makes your dining experience a deep-down pleasurable one. This knowledge takes your glass of wine beyond its superficial charms – this awareness buttresses the delight of flavor with the sound structure of good and fair production. This is now food for the soul.

A waiter can be so much more than an order-taker and bottle-opener. A waiter with good knowledge can not only encourage people to make more sustainable choices by championing programs such as Ocean-Wise (but never through guilt!!! the dining experience must always be a fulfilling one, and we must always be aware that our ethics are relative), but can actually add an priceless value to the diner's experience by providing knowledge about not only how his product tastes, but how it is cooked, how and from where it is produced, and who produces it. This awareness doesn't mean that we all have to become holier-than-thou vegans and foresake our right to pleasure, making every meal a mission to save the world. It just means that if our waiters can be gastronomic ambassadors, helping us feel good about making better choices and helping to educate us about the choices we have, we can become more conscious human beings with every bite we eat. Eating is about so much more than what goes into your mouth. It is about what goes into your soul.