VanEats

Saab Ken, one of our readers, sends this report in about his first visit to one of the Thai Ginger restaurants in the Seattle area!

Thanks, Ken!

I've finally enabled the awesome RSS Plugin for VanEats.

This allows you to fine tune your subscriptions to this site if you are using an RSS reader like NetNewsWire or NewsGator.

Every site should have an RSS file! Frankly, if a site doesn't have an RSS file, then I don't usually read it. Too much manual surfing work! Life's too short! Let the news come to you!

I subscribe to Mother Jones magazine. This month's issue features a good article on the Slow Food movement that began in Europe, and how the localized wild turkey market in the US is the latest to benefit from it.

Ken

[Editor's Note: Thanks to Ken for telling us about this! Going to have to check out this month's issue. Barb and I love the Slow Food Movement and we have written about this before.

Barb and I had a fine meal at The Real Jerk (709 Queen Street East,Toronto, 416 463 6055) in Toronto recently.

There are lots of other great Caribbean restaurants in Toronto I bet, but this one has a particular resonance for me because I ate there several times in the late 80s and the food was just as great.

I've updated our French Laundry Saga Part 3 to include information about reserving tables through OpenTable.com. WARNING: only a very limited number of tables are available through OpenTable and it's probably just as frustrating as trying to reserve by phone from out of the country or state. IMHO, the best way to successfully reserve a table is in person or (if you can afford it!) to stay in one of the expensive local hotels and get the concierge to do it for you.

In response to my query about which Terminal City Club restaurants are open to non-members, Jason Lloyd (executive sous chef of Terminal City Club and Master Chef of the Pacific Northwest 2003 aka "Iron Chef") wrote:

About the TCClub, it is a private club and the only outlet open to the public is the Lions Pub. There is, however, a 60 room hotel tower which is also part of the club and is open to the public.

Paradiso Italian Gelato (1520 Yew Street) is a wonderful diversion from the "scene" at Kits beach. Excellent gelato! Tonight, we each had two scoops for $4 including tax. Barb had creme caramel and chocolate and I had strawberry and amaretto (a killer combo suggested by the very helpful Italian gentleman who served us tonight). All were delicious but the best was the strawberry. We will be back!

VanEats will be on vacation until May 24. Updates (if any) will be sporadic!Happy Victoria Day!

It looks like Blitzen Break may be on a permanent hiatus rather than the temporary one we reported recently. I hope this isn't true, but it makes sense since the restaurant seems not to have opened after Easter.

Bev, the former cook of Blitzen Break, is now working at Little Mary's Diner in Kits at 2184 Cornwall Avenue.

Check out our mini-review of Hapa Izakaya and then go eat there! You won't be disappointed!