A Lot of Concert, Dining Fun…

Another birthday rolled around in mid-month, and as I’ve posted before, it was time to celebrate another year of being alive, healthy, happy, looking forward  to more wine, food and travel adventures. No high end dining ops presented themselves, so I checked out the Cowichan Craft Beer & Food Festival on Vancouver Island at a little town called Chemainus, would have to do for the b-day’s main event. Web gal is not a fan of beer, so her participation was much appreciated. At least there was three local bands that provided some decent music, especially the last act, Quadra Sound that had a guitarist frontman Nick Fascione who looked exactly like Slash circa 1995, did a fine cover of one of Canada’s best bands the Tragically Hip’s New Orleans is Sinking.  Found a beer tent, Red Arrow, run by a guy whom I told looked like Rush’s Geddy Lee, which made him laugh and say, I usually get Kenny G. Told him that I once read a wine review where the guy wrote the wine was more cloying than a Kenny G song. One wonders what was more painful. In a similar vein, a local critic gave Michael Bolton’s opera album, zero stars,  My Secret Passion – Not kept secret enough! This would be the comedy album of the year if it wasn’t so painful to listen to. Sent him a fan note, saw him on one of those morning shows, so-called singing Ave Marie, like you wrote, it was laugh out loud funny for the first 30 seconds, then it got too painful, flipped the channel, thinking the host would have had his hands over his ears or be reaching for a gun.

Down the road a bit for a b-day dinner stop at a waterfront restaurant called Oliver’s Lounge and Grill on Cowichan Bay. Nothing too fancy, had a simple, but good menu, a refreshing cool breeze blowing thru the restaurant.

Had a nice roast leg of lamb that paired beautifully with Napa’s Biale Winery’s Hemingway Zin that I had been saving for a special occasion. A very low corkage fee was appreciated. To start the meal we had the Bread Basket and Crispy Calamari.  The Web gal enjoyed her Dungeness Crab & Prawn Linguini and for dessert we split a crispy Crème Brûlée .

Next weekend it was off to Vancouver’s PNE to see the reunited Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings,  playing under their old group name Guess Who, after finally winning back the rights to their band name after many years of legal limbo. Very inspiring to see Bachman at 82 and Cummings at 78, put on such a good show with a terrific backing band, playing all the hits with no teleprompters, or gadgets to makes them sound younger. Not a clunker in their set.  Web gal loved their first hit, These Eyes and Undun, where Cummings brought out his flute like he did on the record and play a 12 bar mid-song break that was perfect. Interesting side note, Bachman heard a Dylan song on the radio where he sang a line, she’s come undone. Took it and ran with it, brought it to the band with umpteen verses, a la Dylan, and Cummings told him it’s a great song but I’m not singing all those verses. Bachman wisely took his advice and cut it down to the three minute pop masterpiece that it is.   My favs were the encore tunes of Cummings’ Share The Land and Bachman’s Takin Care of Business. Interesting side note on Takin Care of Business. Bachman originally brought it to the Guess Who under the title, White Collar Worker, which they rightly brushed off as too much of a Beatle ripoff. So he put it on the backburner and one night he was driving to a gig for his new band BTO, when the DJ said, we’re taking care of business tonight, and bingo, there was his new song! Pays to listen to the radio. And when they had they had the track down at a recording studio in Seattle, the pizza delivery guy said, that song needs a piano, promptly sat down and banged out that great rhythm on the keys. They had to call around to pizza places the next night to track down his name to give him credit on the album. Cummings had the keys smokin and the crowd was roaring when they wound up their set with it.

Anyway, enuff about music, this site is supposed  to be about food, wine and travel, but can’t help bleeding a little rock n roll writing now and again. Night before the concert we dined at one of the finest Indian restaurants in the world: Vikram Vij’ Vij’s Restaurant. And a fine dining experience it was. Warm, sensual atmosphere and great service. We started with a Crispy Masala Prawns and Gun Powder Pork.  I enjoyed Vij’s Wine Marinated Lamb Popsicles and the webgal enjoyed her Red Wine Braised Beef Short Ribs.  Having Garlic and Ginger Tandoori Naan and Cumin Spiced Basmati Rice were perfect sides to accompany our dishes.   Really inspiring to see Vij going from table to table, non-stop, all night, up and down a lot of stairs from the terrace to the main dining room, totally loving what he was doing in his words below: making everyone feel loved and welcome. Enuff of my yakking, let’s turn it over to Vij who enjoyed doing the NSI quiz. Cheers…

What was last night’s dinner? Steak frites at home with a nice Pinot from the Okanagan.

What’s your fav music? Oh I love all genres, but I love, love Indian jazz.

What’s your fav drink? A Manhattan to start and a Sauvignon Blanc to finish. Wine is not a lubricant, but should be considered an ingredient, as part of a meal.

What’s your favorite Vancouver restaurant? Oh there’s so many… David Hawksworth has been cooking amazing for the last 10 years at his Hawksworth Restaurant. Tojo’s for Japanese, Pino’s for Italian. I could go on and on.. (side note check out Bourdain’s old No Reservations’ Vancouver show where the four chefs get  together over food and wine.)

What makes a great restaurant? If you make people feel loved and welcome, you won’t have anything to worry about from there.

Favorite thing about living and working in Vancouver? Everything. Scenery is unbelievable, mountains, ocean, parks, wildlife. Plus, all  the fresh produce we get brought to our restaurant from the fish to the meat. Just incredible.

Any brush with celebrity? Too many to mention, especially at our old location when everyone lined up the same. Mick Jagger was the best though. So smart, we talked everything from cricket to politics to food and music. Really friendly and smart.

Any wine, restaurant or trip on your bucket list? I’ve always wanted to go to Japan so much. So it looks like I got a little time next year to make the trip which I am really looking forward to.

Final thoughts? Just enjoy food and wine. It’s one of life’s great pleasures, combine the two in the right way and there’s nothing better.