Toshi Sushi
181 16th Avenue East,
Vancouver, BC
V5T 4R2, Canada
(604) 874-5173

Growing up in the interior I learned to love decent sushi. Maybe you’ve had decent sushi, it’s good stuff, fresh and generally tasty. Like having a good steak at The Keg, or a good hamburger at Fatburger you eat it and enjoy it but don’t really ever crave it. There’s loads of good sushi places in Vancouver, and when I moved down town I ate at quite a few.

Toshi’s is not good sushi. Toshi’s is not even great sushi. Toshi’s is fucking great sushi.

Away from the downtown core it does not get much of the tourist traffic that downtown places get, and yet it’s always busy. The fact that locals flock to it, line up for it and keep coming back is a sign of a great resturant. Any resturant can get tourists to pack themselves into seats during the summer, but a place that can get the locals to wait in line outside during the rain and snow of the winter months is truely special.

I don’t know what to say about Toshi’s other than it’s probably my favorite restaurant in Vancouver. It’s also not just a once in awhile place, saved only for special occasions and birthdays because of the price. Though not cheap, if you define cheap as what you’d spend at a McDonald’s or all-you-can-eat-sushi places, it’s not so much that you’ll need to take out a second mortage for the night, my fiancee and I tend to be able to eat there for around $40 and still have a bit to take home.

Now the thing to know about Toshi’s if you haven’t been, is that unless you’re there at opening there’s going to be a wait. Don’t bring a large group, anything over 6 people will probably get turned away unless you’re willing to split up. If there’s a line at the door send someone in and up to the front to put your name on the wait list. Don’t wait for someone to address you, just go to the front and fill it in yourself. Then wait to be called. Trust me, it’s worth the wait.

Don’t bother phoning in for reservations. Actually don’t bother phoning in at all during dinner hours.

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Well, I guess we have to take up the slack since the nice people at Overheard in Vancouver have stopped updating.

I was at Kobe Steak House on the weekend when one of the nice women sitting beside me told this anecdote to her friend:

“So we were in France, and I ordered the lasagna, and my friend ordered the cheeseburger…”

The story had a conclusion, but I think we’re done here.

As for Kobe? It was opened in 1968, and I believe the experience today, in terms of both decor and cooking, is as close as possible to opening day. If you can stomach spending $38 for a steak that isn’t actually Kobe beef, and if you are prepared for an exceedingly retro experience, you will have an excellent time, as did I.

One gentleman who came into the restaurant was wearing a burgundy velvet lounge jacket. I believe, paired with a ruffled dress shirt and no tie, that this is exactly what you should wear. Serious retro-heads will either go Mambo dancing or head over the Commodore bowling lanes afterwards.

Richmond Fruit Tree Farm, originally uploaded by Stephen Rees.

I was out cycling on the south dyke this morning and spotted a great blue heron. Now there is a flickr group just for gbhs, so of course I got his picture. He was all hunched up and static. Not a great shot really. But when I raised my eyes a bit this is what I saw. Now I have been writing recently about how we need to grow more food, and how homes in Richmond increasingly have no yard. So the home plot seems to be vanishing – and with it a useful source of physical activity. Back in England I used to work an allotment -and at first I thought that is what this is. But of course not. It is a brilliant idea of Mary Gazetas to get people to volunteer to grow food for the needy. It started off when they began collecting unwanted fruit from backyard trees that always produce a surplus to immediate requirements. Then they started growing vegetables here – and have also expanded to Terra Nova. And this will become an orchard.

No surprise here really. As the accompanying opinion pieces made clear, the general feeling was that they had no choice. But perhaps is more interesting, simply because it is so unusual is that Linda Reid, the local MLA is taking an independent view. She has always opposed lands being removed from the ALR and this site, which is in her constituency, is no different. She even points out that for many of the things the City wants to do like parks and community gardens, exclusion is not even necessary, although the ALC would still need to consent. The problem is that the deal does not allow for the lands to be split – so it is all or nothing as far as exclusion goes. The other two MLAs for Richmond are busy distancing themselves from Reid, but I admire her for stickling to her guns and representing the wishes of the people who live here.

Food security is going to be a big issue here, as oil prices rise and water shortages start to threaten the areas in the US where we currently get most of our vegetables from. And many people who have no real choice but to live in high density apartments and town houses would love to have a small plot they could work. Their health would really benefit from fresh air, exercise and fresh vegetables. In fact if people became more physically active we might even begin to tackle the frighteningly rapid rate of growth in our “healthcare” budget which is about treating diseases which are easily preventable.

Japa Dog!, originally uploaded by ajkinik.

From the Ceeb [cbc]:

Vancouver City Councilor Heather Deal says that we need more than hotdog carts on our city streets. So while we have one of North America’s best hotdog carts in Japa Dog, what other sorts of food would you like to see? Deal seems to think we’re all lusting for fresh fruit and veggies.

I’d like to see preogies myself.

My husband and I hopped over to the Rink on Renfrew today to watch the Vancouver Giants kick some Kamloops behind, 8-1. During the game we weren’t too hungry for any Triple O burgers but once that final buzzer rang, we needed nourishment before hopping on that bus back downtown.

What we came across the The Press Box, a newly re-opened establishment adjacent to the Holiday Inn Express on Hasting and Renfrew. Walking in we saw lovely photos of hockey heroes, brick walls, leather arm chairs and a lot of flat panel TV screens. We were probably two of 8 patrons at that time and the entire place was quiet and calm as Law and Order: SVU was playing on the big projection screen.

Shortly after we sat down the TVs flipped over to Sports Center and we ordered a few drinks while I soaked up some Holiday Inn (free) wifi with my iPhone. The menu is pretty diverse, from pub fare (club sandwiches and fish n’chips) to pastas and curries.

My husband said the ceasar (drink) that he ordered was one of the best he’s tasted and once our food arrived it was pretty good. Our minds weren’t blown but it was pretty tasty and I couldn’t even finish all of mine – I’ll enjoy it again for lunch tomorrow.

When the bill arrived the cost of our two meals plus two drinks was less than $30. Not too shabby. We’ll be back to try it again but next time it will be BEFORE a Giant’s game so that we can enjoy their specials and hopefully a little more ambiance.

The Press Box is located at 2889 Hastings Street East, Vancouver.

It was reported this morning that the best pie around can be found in Chilliwack.
Chilliwack Airport Pie – by Magnopere on Flickr

Upon reading that slice of news I thought back to a post here on Metblogs, that was all about pie. Checking the archives I found it: “The Best Pie in the World ” from September 2006. The pie in both cases has been confirmed as the variety you can find at the Chilliwack Airport.

I’m no pie connoisseur, but for this particular pie to make the blog circuit and mainstream media, it must leave quite the impression. It could be that I haven’t yet had breakfast, or that I just like a good rhubarb but if I didn’t have a reason to head to Chilliwack before, I have one now.

Montreal Smoked Meat Sandwich @ Kaplan’s

Originally uploaded by Jeffery Simpson.

Lydia and I were downtown looking for a place to grab lunch, and Lydia suggested Kaplan’s Star Deli [gm]. I’ve been a lover of Montreal smoked meat sandwiches since a trip to Schwartz’s back east, so I’ve always been on the lookout for a good one in Vancouver.

Kaplan’s smoked meat sandwich is leaner than Swartz’s, which means its not quite as flavorful, but also probably not as likely to result in instant heart attack. It’s definitely a good sandwich and their latkes are quite good too. Lydia loved her reuben, and now wants to try their matzo soup. It’s perhaps a little pricey for an everyday lunch place, but for a once in awhile treat between meetings.

The restaurant itself is modern, clean and comfortable.

Vanilla Frosty

Originally uploaded by sevenworlds16.

Maybe they’re going to be rolling them out across Canada, or maybe it’s just a Hail Mary Pass [wp] marketing promotion to try to save a location that’s getting the screws put to it by City Hall, but the Cambie Street Wendy’s is selling the Vanilla Frosty. Now granted its next to impossible to get to the Cambie location from downtown thanks to the Cambie-riffic traffic situation.

I haven’t been to a Wendy’s in a while, other than the Cambie one to sample the Vanilla Frosty, so I don’t know if they’re being sold at other locations but help if you’re curious about a treat that Americans have been enjoying for awhile then make plans to head on over.

While you’re there stop by some of the local stores and do some shopping. Let’s face it as much as the Skytrain needs expanding and as much of an investment in the future it is, they’re getting royally fucked over by the whole situation.

In 2006, I took my wife to Lumiere and blogged about it here on Metroblogging. [MB, MB and MB]I was really impressed with the quality of the food and how the food artists took the care and time to make something so beautiful and so tasty (well, except for the cow’s tongue). When I checked out the news today in the Vancouver sun, it turns out that Rob Feenie had essentially been “constructively dismissed” as executive chef at both Lumiere and Feenies since August. Today, he has terminated his partnership with Sidhoo, citing breach of contract due to his loss of position as executive chef.

Going to Lumiere for our anniversary was one of the most memorable experiences I’ve had with my wife – after all, the thrill of going to a restaurant run by the famous Iron Chef Rob Feenie was well…. cool. Now that he is gone, I think that the two restaurants will have to compete solely on the food, rather than Rob Feenie’s name. It remains to be seen whether Dale MacKay, the new executive chef, will continue the tradition of fine food, artistic quality and impeccable service that my wife and I received while we were there.

I expect that Rob Feenie will get another chance to start a new restaurant here soon. He is a mainstay in the Vancouver food industry here and helped put Vancouver on the map as one of North America’s capitals of cuisine. Good luck to him!