Humour from the Darkside ... of the line. - Never ending game of Uno!

In 1997 / 1998 I moved in to a house with four chef friends of mine, Corey (aka Putzy), Blain (aka Blainer or Mel), amd Trevor (aka Gunner Bob or Leonard) my best friend / mentor chef/ current chef. We had some epic adventures and laughs, but one particular event on December 23 of '98 comes to mind. This evening was a rare occurence where we all had the evening off (I was the unfortunate one that had to work Christmas Eve) so we decided to play a game of Uno.

As we hunkered down in the living room we decided to pour some of our stash of Crown Royal, our drink of choice and we each had a bottle or two saved for the holidays. now I don't know whos brilliant idea it was but we decided to put 2 decks of Uno together and play. I had never played before but quickly came to the conclusion that it is basically like Crazy Eights and the game was on. 

 What none of us knew is that one hand would last all night as someone always had an 8 or a 4 or a 2 and the game just got ridiculous but we didnt care. We had the Christmas music playing and Trevor bartending and the jokes and sarcasm flying, a great night of male bonding, Now we started this game around 5 or 6 in the evening, had ordered some "Death Disk" as Blainer liked to call it and the drinks were flowing. 

Our drink of choice between all of us was Crown Royal and we could all handle our drinks pretty good and never paid attention to when around 10 or 11pm Trevor had said that we were running low on mix. We were all too wobbly to drive and get some coke / pepsi so we just carried on with the fun and merriment of the game. Around 1am Jackie, Trevor's girlfriend said she was going to bed and we kept playing, and drinking. When 5:30am came we decided to pack it in as I had to work at 8am, back then I could do that kind of self inflicted torture and not have it affect my work. 7am came around and jackie woke me up and we car pooled to work as she only worked a few blocks from where I did, that and I was in no shape to drive.

I get to work set up the line and knowing that we close at 3pm and that we are not open Christmas day and do not need to do any prep I decide to sit at the bar and have a quick nap. An hour goes by and Danuta (aka Dana, our Polish dishwasher / cleaner) wakes me up and says "Scott, you have to get ready for work."

I go upstairs to get changed and mid change I randomly lean over towards the toilet and empty the contents of my stomach. I had never had anything like that happen to me before after a night of drunken debauchery.  I felt fine, a wee bit wobbly but fine, so I continued to get ready to open and started my shift.  The day came and went, I got a bit hung over for a little bit until I snagged some lunch then continued on, I anxiously waited for the day to end though.

Around 2 pm the boys showed up to see how I was doing, drop off my vehicle and get a ride with Jackie back home. Blain and Putzy were rough but Trevor was down right hungover more so than all of us combined; "Ha, lightweight" I thought to myself. 

After shooting the shit for a few mins Trev comes over and says "Do you know how much we drank last night? 

" The 40 pounder?" I asked

"Nope, we drank between the 4 of us the 60 pounder (60 oz bottle) a 40 pounder (40 oz bottle) and two and a half 26ers of Crown.." he responds and I was aghast at the volume of booze but he continues to talk ".. with only 2 litres of mix!"  

"What the F***????? I knew they were strong but i thought you found more mix!" I exclaimed.

"No man, I just gradually made them stronger and when we were out of mix i just kept adding to your glass before it was empty so it had some color in it from the previous drink." Trevor proclaimed before crawling over to some benches in the lounge area of the open concet restaurant and laid down for a nap / passout session.

Sure enough later that night when I got home there were empty bottles all over the kitchen and only a 2 litre of Pepsi to show for it. And being the guy I was back then I believed in hare of dog so I poured myself a rye that night to "cure" any hangover I might still have. I had one sip and i was done and Christmas day at home with my family was no better, it was a no drinking few days I had as the smell just turned me off in the next few days after that episode. 

I have never played Uno since. Rye is still my friend but now it is a different brand, Forty Creek but Crown will always be my go to when out and about. 

The Christmas Party and the Goosh!

Back in the late 90's or early 2000 I was working as a sous chef in Kitsalano, a sub urb of Vancouver and during my days off I was the "chef" for my best bud/mentor chef's slow pitch team. All season I hung out with the boys and did up the BBQ eats agter the game while they were enjoying the wobbly pops after the game. Good times were had by all  through out the year.

Anyways this one December saturday night I was working for a closed door private event for a big global tech company ; we were catering a big buffet feast including carved beast and pizzas. For this event I was working the pizza station facing the front door and smiling / showing off to guests as they came in. Lo-and-behold one of the ball team guys walks in, takes a look at me and yells out "Scott what F%$# are you doing here?" The question is obviously rhetorical as I was clearly working on the meals about to commence.So I talked to him for a little bit and came to realize not only did he work for the company but he was actually the vice-president for western Canada.

So I went back to work as my friend went back to having his office holiday cheer party. Through out the night the general manager of my restaurant Brent mentioned to me a few times that my friend was doing him a favour by drinking up the port bottles that we had and were not selling. An expensive taste to have but as always we were happy to supply the product as long as the customer pays, win win for everyone.

So the night began to wind down and as I was due to work the next morning I headed off but first had to say good by to my friend known as Goosh. I walk up to the bar where he was sitting and said good night only to be told to sit my ass down and have a drink with him. Goosh then asks me "Have you ever drank port before?"

"No" came my response.

" Get my friend a port." Goosh asks Brent who was doing some bartending.
Brent brings over a glass of the sweet nectar and tells Goosh that it is the last bottle.
"Well you should go to the store and get some!"

After a brief conversation Brent went and got 4 bottles. The night progressed and as one of my co-workers went to leave he came and said good bye and Goosh made him sit down too and enjoy some of the sweet nectar. Long story short, we were the only ones drink port that night and ended up polishing off 6 bottles; apparently we only had 4 bottles in stock as they never sell. My buddy said I can crash on his floor instead of driving as he only lived 2 blocks away.

Working in restaurants you realize it is a small world and that you should never take someone for whom they seem to be as I would never would have guessed that Goosh was a VP of a multi milliion dollar company.

I found out a year or two later that he was offered a promotion which would have him move to New York to work at the World Trade Centre a couple months before 9/11. He ended up declining to make the move.

Be thankful for every moment you have with friends and family as you never know what fate has instore for you or them; especially thank them if they introduce you to some great port!

My Dinner was Fantastic .. but I am not paying for it!

Seriously this did happen, as crazy as it sounds some people just feel entitled.

So many moons ago I was working for an English family as thier head chef at a local pub. Together we built the foundations of a successful busy pub within the first year of business. We had loyal clientele and excellent food and with weekends being standing room only most times.. 

This delusional situation was on a friday night, about 2 months after we opened and towards the end of my 14 hour day when one of the owners, James, said that a table wanted to speak to me. I asked James if everything was okay and he said he believed so "they ate all thier plates clean." he said; Alicia, the customer's guest service engineer, said that they dont want to pay for thier prawns but had eaten them all. So after a quick change in apron and chef jacket I headed out to the table to see what is going on.

"Yes sir, how can I assist you?" I ask as I arrive to the table, curiuos as to what is going on.

"First of all I want to say what you are doing here is fantastic and the meal was excellent, but the problem I have is that these are shrimp and not prawns and will not pay for them." he says all smugly. I quickly glance at the table of guests, noting that they are embarassed by his actions then quickly glance at james whom is standing to my right. 

"I assure you they are prawns sir. The case which I order is Black Tiger Prawns which comes from the Indian Ocean. " I reply.

"No they are not! Besides The Keg serves bigger ones!" he replied while starting to give serious attitude.

"I am sorry sir, you ate it, said you liked it and you are going to pay for it." i said then turned and looked at James and went back to the kitchen. 

As I am walking away I hear James say "Pay your bill and get the fuck out"

I ignore what was going on because I was pissed at the audacity of the situation and the moron who is the cause of it. After about 10 minutes James comes back to the kitchen, "Did you hear that?"

"No, what?" 

'You walked away and he said something to the effect of "keep walking fat ass!" so I told him to pay his bill and get the fuck out" James told me as he was still amped up about it, 

I was pleased to see/hear that James had my back and stood up to the rudeness that buddy displayed.

I don't know why some people feel self entitled to act the way they do. The fact of the matter is that prawns and shrimp are interchangeable in the cooking world. 

When searching the difference on line this is what I found:

Prawns have claws on three of their five pairs of legs, shrimp have claws on two of their five pairs of legs. Their gills and body shape are different too. As far as cooking them goes, they are virtually identical and interchangeable.

Most chefs know this and 99% of the customers can't tell the difference as the taste and flavor are the same. Although this is a rare occurance for this situation there have been many times over the years that people have felt entitled to compensation of some sort, and most times it is warranted, to a certain degree; however there are too many people who are over zealous with making a scene and standing up and making it known to the room and world that they demand satisfaction. All i can say is when these people show up is that while you may be correct in your situation, being an ass and making a scene just makes you look like a dick. When you treat others with respect you will get better results as had he probably would have recieved a discount from me or I would have bought it for him out right had he not caused a scene or been rude. 

Being in kitchens and having pride in what you do you have to have thick skin.

The Love Affair with Food - Part 3 The Golden Age

I was now in Kitsalano at an open kitchen concept pub restaurant and in my mind this was one of the first gastro pub concepts in the Vancouver area. 

Fiascos (late changed to Mark's then Mark's Fiasco), sounds like a disaster already doesn't it? I won't lie there may have been times when it definitely fit that moniker but ovrall it was a great experience. The restaurant was attached to the Mark James Clothing Store a very high end clothing store selling Hugo Boss, Armani and the likes which garnered a high end clientele (more about that later).

I was brought in as the sous chef as the company was expanding to its 4th location, The Whistler Brewhouse in Whistler BC and the location I went to was losing its sous chef and pizza chef. This is where I learned the art and technique of pizza making and cooking in a wood oven. I was excited and nervous about this as it was quite a departure from the controlled environment of a gas guage that you can simply turn up or down. 

My second shift happened to be Tuesday's $6.99 price pizza night. Geez Louise! we prepped up 200 pizza doughs on top of what we already had and must have sold around 280 of them. Sink or swim time and I treaded water. I eventually came to know everything I could about making pizza dough, throwing the rolled dough and baking the pizza in the wood oven. I was a master at pizzas and had a great teacher, Mr Grumpy aka Todd aka Toddler.  I was so very happy when I finally knew how to throw the dough 20 feet in the air and catch it, how to recognize the right temperature of the wood oven by the glow of the embers. I hated Tuesdays with a passion but loved learning pizzas.

I eventually moved on to the other side of the open kitchen to the grill and pasta side. We made the pasta fresh from scratch and the quality was night and day difference from what I was used to.  I got to be apart of the seasoning and development of the stuffed pastas such as the Goat Cheese Ravioli and the Salmon Tortellini. I loved being apart of creating the flavor profiles, being apart of making a menu truly from scratch, I now realized that this was where my passion truly was. I was given free range by my best friend the head chef, to create specials and help with developing new menu items and recipes.  

To me working at Fiascos was the golden age of my cooking career; I was a salaried employee making the best money I had at this point. I truly felt that I was at the top of my game and I felt at this point I had the skills to prove it. 

The end of summer finally came and the true test had finally come, the Vancouver Molson Indy Party. The annual event that we hosted for the drivers, their wives, sponsors and all people related to the Indy race. This was heald on the Friday before the Indy race and it was a whos who of the Indy scene back in the 1990's. All the racers including Greg Moore, Dario Fanchitti and his wife movie star Ashley Judd, Trevor linden from the Vancouver Canucks, Jason Preistley and Luke Perry from that ever popular Beverly hills 90210 show, Daved Bennefield the all star linebacker for the BC Lions, members from the newly franchised Vancouver Grizzlies, everyone who was someone in Vancouver were there. 

We had gotten a special event liscence and permission to close up the street infront of the restaurant to help accomodate the 1200 guests that would essentially be there all at once. We closed for the day to the public and every one of us spent 8 to 10 hours prepping just to turn around and work the night serving up the creations. Every year was a different theme from Vegas then to a Variety show, a southern BBQ and then New Orelans Mardi Gras when I was there. It was intense prepping but we got it done and executed beautifully.  Schucking 500 pounds of oysters, fileting 400 pounds of salmon, prepping up 3000 canapes or just making 300 pizza doughs, Craziness!

Afterwards when all was said and done the staff had a make shift cleaning party; the sales reps left us extra beverages to sip and the left over food kept us going while we cleaned up. So much fun and hard work and great experience, 

I had many opprotunities meet the whos who of the entertainment world when working there. the clothing store brought in alot of famous people. Some of whom I met: Arnold Schwartzenegger when he was filming "the 6th day" ; Dwayne, The Rock, Johnson during the height of his WWE career; the wierdest of celebrity hang out buddies, Andy Dick and Cuba Gooding Jr who were hanging out together. and many more. I actually started taking a camera to work and leaving it in my work bag so i could snap some pics of course the one time i remember I have it the batteries are dead!

This photo I took of my buddy Irv who is blowing up a stack of Dr. Pepper shooters on Christmas Eve.

All the fun and cool things aside I had a chance to once again make soups and sauces from scratch as well. The creativity that was flowing within me was strong and my yearning to learn as much as I could was on point  with absorbing all I could; eventually though it was time to move on. I felt ready to take on the world, and soon I would after a brief stint as a cook for a friend who was running his first kitchen. Al needed help getting through the busy summer season at a top tourist destination. So I hleped Al out and at the end of the summer, and after 12 years in various cook jobs I took on my first chef role at the Silvertone Pub in Vancouver.

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Humor from the Darkside... of the line. - Delayed Surprise

It takes a crafty person to come up with different ways to pull pranks yet it takes no effort for me to be a jerk while doing it; they both seemed intertwined and I walk that line quite often.

To me I was always enthused about the anticipation of the prank; the scheming, the waiting and then the pulling off of the prank. Not much is better than the long delay of the actual prank, to the point you actually forget you did the prank, like an overnight prank.

To set the scene up: I was working night shift and apart of any great line cook is leaving your station set up and ready for success for the next shift and expecting the follow day shift to do the same for you. I always pride myself on leaving my station "Locked, Stocked and Ready to Rock" and when done I would put the items used to fill the line back in the walk in in their oppropriate spots, this is when my next devious prank came to me. 

I knew that the day shift during the Monday to Friday shifts made lots of Tuna melts that were on the menu to the point that you just couldnt make too much "Tuna mix"  to be prepared enough. The "Broil" guy Dave and the "Pantry" guy Christian both used Tuna mix on different items on the menu and both were short in stature, this is where things began. Now back in these days we portioned up everything and then for ease of space and lack of inserts we put these portions in empty 4 litre sour cream pails. The genius I am, I labelled one of these buckets as Tuna Mix in my best writing I could as i have terrible writing on a good day, then filled the pail 3/4 full of water and placed it on the top shelf of the the shelving in the cooler, label out of course. Then I took a large gallon measuring cup filled it with water and poured that water into the remainder of the pail on the shelf until it was just below the top, carefully I put on the lid on all but on side of the pail knowing that when a "vertically challenged" person grabs it the will tip it towards them as the pull it off the shelf releasing all the gloriously cold water on them.

The scene was set and the anticipation was high but time was now to sit back and wait. My shift ended and I went off to enjoy a beer and relax before starting agin the next day.

I was the first of the night crew to arrive that following evening; I waited for someone to say "Hey, do you know anything about ...?" or "Did you put the Tuna Mix on the shelf?" or "Did you hear what happened to...?", but none of these things happened. Dave and Christian just gave me a run down of what prep they had left and took off for the night and no one said a word.

I did my line set and temp checks for everything making sure I was set up the way I like for my shift and in doing so checking to see if the Tuna mix container was gone and that the prank happened; no tuna mix container was present. FYI: It always seems that the shift before yours, no matter day or night, never sets up "properly". I got the line set, the team was ready to rock. The night crew rolled on line and we geared up for the night ahead; then the chef wandered on to Expo and arranged his garnishes the way he likes when I asked him " Hey Darcy, did anyone have any issues with the close last night?", I tried to get a reaction to what I anticipated to be a great story. "No man, everything was fine." he answered back.

I was confused, I was thinking that someone caught on to my prank and it was a lame duck. "oh, I responded, I thought maybe someone had a shower in the walk in cooler." I bluntly said. 

"THAT WAS YOU?????" Chef Darcy exclaimed with a chuckle, "Dave saw it there and got a little wet and left it on the shelf then during the rush he asked Christian to get it!" (Christian is a little Phillapino guy who was maybe 5 feet tall ). I laughed  as Darcy continued ".. all of a sudden we hear Christian yelling from the cooler and Dave losing his shit with laughter. Christian came out of the walki in cooler drenched swearing up a storm! He thought it was Dave that did it and set him up even when Dave denied it!" 

And the legend of Scotty Mac pranks contiued...

The Love Affair with Food - Part Deux! - The Volume of What I Do

Finally after about a year doing dishes I finally earned my way out of the "pit" and up to an assistant line cook roll. I became the grunt of the kitchen.. a step slightly above a dishewasher but I still got to be apart of the "action". I was so proud of being an assistant line cook, I got to steam vegetables, cook beef ribs, make scalloped potatoes, cook "roasties" (deep fried tater tot type potatoes about the size of a child's fist) and other small tasks not to mention being the Prime Rib Chef's personal cleaning machine. While I do have some nagging memories of him going through everything with a fine tooth comb and white cloth I can honestly say that I learned alot from his dedication to cleanliness in the kitchen and his eye for detail. Sammy's station and Alto Sham roasting ovens were so clean they looked brand new, if i missed even a spec of dirt he was all over me to do it again.

This position lasted for 6 months before I moved into a line cook position then a prep cook and eventually brunch supervisor. I had recieved a scholarship bursaries from the BC Chefs' Association and from Konning's Wholesale (now Sysco Foods) to apply to my training course I was enrolled in however my chef said I would learn more on the job and that I should not go to school. What he said made sense at the time because why would learning from a book be better than real life? In retro spec this was my first real mistake I made as I agreed with him and withdrew from school just 3 days before class was to begin. By the time I had forasken at school I now was doing ordering and helping with inventory, doing prep charts and generally doing every position in the kitchen being the team player that was the "Go-To" guy for any issues that came up. I had a chef who encouraged my learning and gave me more and more responsibility, I may not have always had the training I required to do the tasks I was given but I did absorb everything I could in the way of information and dealing with the tasks I was given. I felt like king of the world, 

The learning eventually grew stagnant, a routine of daily activities developed and I was not feeling pushed to learn anymore so an opprotunity came to move on to a new place after three years at my first job. One of the chefs at my first job had moved to Milestones Restaurant and offered a position. At the time Milestones was a new concept company with 4 stores (now over 50) and it was a new experience that I was looking forward to, a new opprotunity to learn. I was king of the world in my eyes and could take on any task.. slap in the face and kick in the arse was about to come..

(This  above photo is the actual Milestones Restaurant I worked at in Burnaby)

Milestones was the first restaurant I experienced "high volume" in an upscale casual setting. 200 to 300 lunches between 11:30 am and 2pm and dinner time was much the same and both with 7 minutes and 12 minutes timing standards respectively. I was hired as a prep guy to start, this was a prep list 5 times bigger than my previous workload and most of it was a daily prep, needless to say I struggled. I was moved to saute during the day time, AKA "eggs".



OH MY GOD.

What an intense ride that was. There is a saying in kitchens, sink or swim, I drowned. I could not keep up with the timing of the kitchen, I could not keep the memory of all the ingredients in the 10 different omelts, the 10 different scrambles and the 15 different bennies all in my head and produce a quality product to sell. If I had not already prooved myself to the chef at a different job I was sure to be fired, instead he sent me to the dish pit again. I took the time to right out the breakfast items on flash cards and forced myself to memorize them knowing that someday I would have an opprotunity to bounce back.
 2 or 3 months later i had my chance. I was a changed person. I had a new fire and energy that first shift; it wasn't perfect but it was an improvement. From this experience I taught myself my biggest key to my future success: AFTER EVERY SHIFT MENTALLY REVIEW HOW THE NIGHT WENT AND THINK OF HOW I CAN MAKE THE SHIFT BETTER.



To be perfectly honest this was by far the biggest game changing thought that would follow me in life. I was now off to the races and determined to redeem myself and be the "Go-To" guy once again. This took time but four and a half years later I was in the situation again where I was growing stagnant and felt my career needed a new path.



The same chef I worked with at my first job once again called to me and offered me a sous chef position at a place in Kitsalano ("Kits"), a small suburb in Vancouver area close to the local University of BC.




For the record here are some of the breakfast items I still remember off the top of my head:

Ensenada Frittata : Sour cream, Guacamole, Salsa, Muchrooms, Cheddar, jack cheese, Green Onions,
Green Eggs and Ham: Pesto, ham, tomatos, onions topped with feta
Spin/Fet/Mush Omlet: Spinach feta Mushrooms (Spin/Fet/Mush Scram is same thing)
3 Cheese Omlet: Cheddar, Mozza, Parmesan and green onions
Greek Omlet: Tomato, olives, onions, feta
Breakfast Burrito: scrambled eggs and salsa in a whole wheat tortilla with sour cream, black bean puree and cheddar.
Huevos Rancheros: scrambled eggs and salsa served with a black bean and cheese quesadilla
Eggs Espresso: Scrambled eggs with hot water
Eggs Romero: benny with tomato and caviar
Eggs Neptune: cream cheese avocado, shrimp and crab
Eggs Milestones: Avocado and tomato
Basic Benny: Ham
Blackstone Benny; Tomato and ham

Not too shabby for a restaurant I worked at 20 years ago!

Humor from the Darkside...of the line.

I love to make people laugh and smile but when in the kitchen i can do it while being a real jerk at the same time.

One day in my younger years I remember working a very busy Sunday Brunch. The typical brunch where we go through roughly 3 cases of eggs (1 case = 30 dozen = 360 eggs which is roughly 1100 eggs or 500 Benny's). We were all in the weeds and called for all hands on deck; we had 2 people on Pantry (salads / snadwiches / desserts ) 2 on charbroiler (1 person just reading the bills and loading the grill and the other topping the burgers, making the breakfast hash ), a plates person (someone who runs the pass), myself doing omlets, scrambles, poaching eggs, another guy doing benny bottoms, making toast, toasting buns for burgers and a fry guy cooking breakfast potatoes and making appetizers. a busy busy production in the works when suddenly I realize I am running low on liquid egg and whole eggs (liquid eggs are used for the omlets and scrambles) so I run off line to the back fridge to grab what we need.

Being the jokster I am on the way to the fridge I see a line up of shaker cups all along the spice shelf ( we use metal shaker cups incase of spillage to prevent breakage in the kitchen) so I, in my infinite wisdom and humor decide to pour an ounce of soy sauce in random pepsi drinks then head on my way to the cooler to get what I need.

The rush was one of those rushes where we are all on the same page and execution was fantastic, we were pounding out the food in 10 mins or less for almost 90 minutes straight. finally the rush slowed down and the support for the line went back to doing thier prep. Out of no where I hear a scream "BLEGHHHH  ........ F%$# YOU SCOTTY MAC!!"  I had forgotten about the prank I played on the team with the soy sauce.

What made it more funny is that it was such a gutteral reaction to yell and scream from the back prep hall when poor Ricky discovered his drink was sabbotaged and the profanity flooded into part of the dining room that was closest to the kitchen. 

Others had pleged their vengance that afternoon and vowed to destroy me in their revenge. I laughed it off as everyone did including the ones who I got and we continued to celebrate the great team we had and the moments of levity that relieves us from the stress of what we go through on line.

REVIEW: The Village Taphouse - West Vancouver BC

November 12th,  2016

This is a place i used to work at roughly 7 years ago and have not returned since then. It used to be one of my favorite places to work at and eat at.  

Apart of the Cactus Club Cafe group and a one off concept with menu designed by Iron Chef Rob Feenie when I was employed there I thought I would return and see where they have progressed in the years since my days in the kitchen.

Over the years there have been some minor modifications as expected, a few new tables and chairs, some new signage and definitely some new staff. the energy and friendliness was still the same though; upbeat, friendly, and disarmingly comfortable much like hanging out with an old friend.

My wife and I sat in a booth where we could take in all that was and reminise of days gone by and the memories made, hoping that the standards once set were still upheld and that the days of Chef Feenie tweaked menu were still present. We noticed that the menu had changed but some of the menu that was familiar in my days were still there all be it slightly changed. 

We ordered some salt and pepper chicken wings  with celery, ranch and blue cheese dip to start from our lovely waitress. I reminiced with her on how I used to work there and how it was our favorite place to go for a relaxing time. She was familiar with some of the changes and had been there for a few years but not long enough where our paths had crossed.

Our wings arrived promptly, neatly stacked the wings were a bit small yet nice and evenly seasoned. The celery that the wings came with were fresh out of the water bath they were in and should have been drained better, the ranch dressing was generic and the blue cheese dressing was unremarkable.

For our second course to our lunch we each had the "Mac and Cheese" with a burger patty added to it. The burgers used to be Chef Feenie's recipe and bold in flavor but have since changed to just a plain patty but he opted for the ground beef anyways as it was so much apart of our memories. The Mac n Cheese came in its signature mini cast iron fry pan with a few noted changes, the once cavatappi noodles (Scoobi-doo noodles) now rigatoni, the double smoked back bacon switched out for regular bacon. the sauce remained rich but now the flavorful taste it once had. Minor things to some clearly to save on some costs and minimize differences in previous version but for a refined pallette who remembers what it once was it was a slight let down. The cast iron pan needed to be in the oven a bit longer to truly help the pasta stay warmer longer and the topping needs to less pre toasted and have it properly finish in the oven making all the ingredients come together. When you cut corners to save time and money sometimes you just get a lesser quality.

The Before

The after:

Looking back at the menu I see different variations of the same stuff, not just the stuff that they had in the past but what everyone in the Vancouver area does, the only difference is that The Village Taphouse does it better.

I give The Village Taphouse a solid 3.5 / 5 

The Village Taphouse is located at Park Royal Mall in West Vancouver

900 Main Street, Village @  Park Royal

West Vancouver BC

The Love Affair with Food - Part 1 The Beginning

To take simple ingredients then cut them, pound them, mash them, slice them then to apply seasoning and heat to create an amazing dish just seemed to easy to me. 

I was five or six at the time and loved the thought of creating meals in the kitchen. I saw my Granny throw bones in a pot with some vegetable and a package of soup mix (lentils, barley, peas and orzo) and I would have the most amazing lunch when I was little. Watching her in the kitchen was my favorite way to spend time with my grandmother Martha aka "Mattie".  I watched her cook, bake and create all with love and seeing her smile when she saw how much we enjoyed the meals. 

My mother hated cooking, she despised it with a passion and often said her ideal house is one without a kitchen but she made some amazing baked goods; butter tarts, mincemeat tarts, Matrimonial cake (aka date bars) cinnamon buns, baking powder biscuits, fresh bread. I saw how she hated being in the kitchen and just the tediousness of creating a mess and having to clean it up, spending all day over a hot stove.

My father although he did not cook much in my younger years was an amazing cook. He was always in charge of the big feast dinners such as Christmas turkey or Easter ham. As I grew older and took more of an interest in cooking we made roast rosemary chicken and roast prime ribs together. He encouraged me to experiment and explore my pallet, never hesitating to go get the ingredients I wanted to use for a new creation I had. Together we would go out each summer and source fresh fruits from the orchards for canning and consumption, we would can freshly caught salmon and he would give me free reign on trying out new ideas with what we gathered.

Over time I developed a real passion for food and creating and had decided fairly young that I wanted to be a chef, to have my own restaurant and create food and memories that pleased the masses. My school studies always focused on food; if there was a Social Studies project I always chose the food aspect of it, when it came time to take electives all food courses were my first choice including working in the school cafeteria. Some people chose this as an "easy" course to take but not me, I chose it with the intention of being a sponge and absorbing everything I could. I asked questions, I stayed late, I volunteered for every thing I could. I wanted to be the go to guy even when I was just a student, I felt that this was my calling and I was the one person who knew where they were going in their life. 

I started working in a professional kitchen at the age of 17 as a dishwasher at one of my favorite restaurants, Mother Tuckers Restaurant (now called Tuckers Marketplace), where they specialized in steaks and prime rib. I continued to show up early much like i did in Foods A/B class but this time I would sometimes show up 2 hours early just to peel carrots or help weigh prime rib roasts that just arrived on delivery. I was as green as I could be in a kitchen but my heart and desire was there. I didn't let being a dishwasher discourage me at all, I figured that I got my foot in the door and it was all on me to earn the opportunity to work my way up.  

My career had started and I was determined to see my goal through.