In this episode we spoke with bartender Grant Sceney of Vancouver’s Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel. Grant’s been one of the few guests we’ve had shortlisted to have on for some time now as we were eager to hear his story, how he came to Canada by way of his native Australia and what it was like winning the Diageo World Class Canadian final in 2014. His win, a crowning achievement for a bartender, helped propel his ascension to being one of the worlds best as he would end up placing 4th at the Diageo Global final a few months later. Achievements such as this one, as well as running bar programs for the award winning Botanist restaurant and the Pac Rim’s Lobby Bar have given Grant a skill set and set of experiences we were excited to hear him discuss. It was a sunny Monday when we met and Grant delighted us with a bottle of batched Don Julio margaritas, which were we more than happy to indulge in. We hope you enjoy this fun and lively conversation. 

Welcome to season 4 of the podcast. I'm delighted to be back after a short break.

What a guest to land to begin this new season. Extremely thankful I was able to chat with food journalist and author, Mark Schatzker about his new book, The End of Craving: Recovering the Lost Wisdom of Eating Well.

Leaning on research from the fields of food science, psychology, neuroscience, and behavioral economics (he references work from Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman, two of my personal faves), Mark weaves a masterful story that questions our decades long struggles with hedonic eating and diet. He urges one to rethink our lifestyle eating choices by aligning these with science-based facts. His book is illuminating, insightful, brilliantly written and compassionate. I read it in 30 hours and loved every bit. 

We run through his book in detail as Mark gives a thorough and candid interview. He's provocative, yet optimistic in his approach. I no doubt believe you'll come away with a better sense of what food should mean to you and why you should eat well. 

Do buy this book. You won't regret it. 



Scout is one of Vancouver’s leading food and culture magazines. If you’re wanting to learn more about the city’s food and cultural sphere with regards to community news, new restaurant openings, essential guides to some of the city’s best offerings as well as who’s hiring, Scout is where you should go. We’re proud to have Scout as our presenting sponsor as we believe what they “Scout out” is an excellent compliment to what we’re offering here with Track and Food. Do check them out. scoutmagazine.ca

The best part of doing a podcast (sometimes, not all the time) is when you get to interview your buddies and chat with them about the cool shit they're doing.

Case in point: This chat with Simon Fallick and Patryk Drozd of Hero's Welcome.

Our talk has been in the works for sometime now and, well, I'm honestly happy we waited because they both had plenty to say.

Having already experienced the ups and downs of opening, and then running a bar together (they co-own The American), listening to their journey about why and how they took over the once extremely popular Taurus Veterans Club on Main Street left me elated. They each have a role to provide within their partnership and you certainly get a sense of how each fills it during this conversation. It's a big fun space with plenty of history and pedigree. It's in good hands now and should become a fixture in that part of Mount Pleasant for a long time to come. This discussion will give you all the goods you'll want to know about Hero's Welcome. Another small independent establishment run by two excellent fellows, exactly what Vancouver needs more of. I'm all for it and I hope you enjoy this one.



Scout is one of Vancouver’s leading food and culture magazines. If you’re wanting to learn more about the city’s food and cultural sphere with regards to community news, new restaurant openings, essential guides to some of the city’s best offerings as well as who’s hiring, Scout is where you should go. We’re proud to have Scout as our presenting sponsor as we believe what they “Scout out” is an excellent compliment to what we’re offering here with Track and Food. Do check them out. scoutmagazine.ca

I’ve been lucky enough to have interviewed some truly brilliant individuals in the past, especially those who’ve written timely and insightful books. As a bookworm at heart, I just love delving into these stories and piecing them out. My interview with BBC Radio food journalist, Dan Saladino, is no exception.

His new book (which is receiving glowing reviews) tells a personal narrative of the diversity of food we risk losing if we’re not careful. In Eating to Extinction: The World’s Rarest Foods and Why We Need to Save Them, Saladino takes you on a global journey from Tanzania to Australia, to Colorado and the Faroe Islands. Along the way, we learn about the precariousness of kavilca wheat in Turkey, the importance of the Tian Shan forests in Kazakhstan for apple diversity, and the sheer will of Atlantic salmon when returning to their place of origin to spawn. Each story is meticulously researched, with Saladino occasionally offering up his own empathetic and curious viewpoint. This book is not only an important work for our time, but an enjoyable ride through our past and present food ecosystems.

In this interview, Dan digs into the nitty gritty of things in detail. I’m confident you’ll come away with a fuller understanding of our food biodiversity but more importantly, a hungry desire to grab a copy of Eating to Extinction to sink your teeth into.

Dan Saladino is a renowned food journalist who has worked at the BBC for twenty-five years. For more than a decade he has traveled the world recording stories of foods at risk of extinction — from cheeses made in the foothills of a remote Balkan mountain range to unique varieties of rice grown in southern China. His work has been recognized by the James Beard Foundation, the Guild of Food Writers, and the Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink Awards.

Scout is one of Vancouver’s leading food and culture magazines. If you’re wanting to learn more about the city’s food and cultural sphere with regards to community news, new restaurant openings, essential guides to some of the city’s best offerings as well as who’s hiring, Scout is where you should go. We’re proud to have Scout as our presenting sponsor as we believe what they “Scout out” is an excellent compliment to what we’re offering here with Track and Food. Do check them out. scoutmagazine.ca

In this episode we finally sit down and do Book Club #2.

Mickey's choice this time around was the amazing book written by Jonathan Safran Foer, titled Eating Animals. The book's topic is centred around the way in which animal agriculture has changed for the worse over the past 70 years. Heavily researched, Safran Foer takes you on a wild and often sad journey as he explores the food choices of his youth and how animal agriculture is now being done in the United States.

We explore this theme and discuss how reading this book affected us and why the choices Safran Foer brings up have been made to keep the market status quo. As a vegan, Mickey had his own thoughts on the matter, especially with regards to the idea of eating meat in general, a topic he's come to share many times on previous episodes.

As an added bonus, Eating Animals was also made into a documentary in which we were delighted to see. You can check it now as it is currently streaming on Netflix.

This was a fun discussion for the two of us as many questions were posed with regards to how we eat, the future of animal agriculture and the rise and growing prominence of plant and cell based meat options, a topic Jamie recently wrote about, which you can find here. 

We hope you enjoy this one as well as possibly learn a thing or two. 

Trends in the food industry happen all the time. We can usually spot them a mile away. Ten years ago, craft beer took Vancouver and British Columbia by storm, when the market saw an opening and took full advantage of what was needed and desired. 

I believe we’re on the cusp of another big movement – this time, with the non-alcoholic sector. New entrants are emerging regularly and consumers have taken notice. They want quality and variety. 

With that being said, I wanted to find out who’s doing what, and there’s no better way to do that than by speaking with two new upstarts in the field: Nick Devine, from Edna’s Non-Alcoholic Cocktail Company, and Lane Matkovich, co-founder (with his brother, Leigh Matkovich) of Nonny Beer. Both businesses have just gotten off the ground (Edna’s, literally the day of airing) and I only predict big things ahead for them both. In this episode I seek to learn about their process, their brands, and how they see this market evolving with them in it. 

I also recently caught wind of The Flipside a new publication from wine pro/sommelier/journalist Kurtis Kolt, about his low-booze/no-booze journey to understanding the non-alcoholic sphere. With his background in reviewing wines and spirits, Kolt brings a curious bent to the conversation. 

With all three of them on board, the resulting conversation is informative, at times funny and, in my opinion, definitely worth your time!

Scout is one of Vancouver’s leading food and culture magazines. If you’re wanting to learn more about the city’s food and cultural sphere with regards to community news, new restaurant openings, essential guides to some of the city’s best offerings as well as who’s hiring, Scout is where you should go. We’re proud to have Scout as our presenting sponsor as we believe what they “Scout out” is an excellent compliment to what we’re offering here with Track and Food. Do check them out. scoutmagazine.ca

A bit of inside Baseball fun today with this episode as I bring on two close friends in James Iranzad of Gooseneck Hospitality and James Langford-Smith of Bodega Ridge on Galiano Island to talk shop about all things restaurants and bars. While sipping some of James Langford's new wine, Pamplemousse Jus, we run through the gamut of topics from what's going on in their lives currently, to government policy, new restaurants openings, fave cocktail spots and plenty of other issues. This is truly a fun one as the boys dish on why they care about this industry so much and how those feelings of genuine love have given way to successful careers. 

If you're up for a fun listen and want to know more about the nitty gritty of the Vancouver hospitality scene, this is the episode for you. 


**Apologies to Lightning Rock winemaker Jordan Kubek for mispronouncing her last name. 

Scout is one of Vancouver’s leading food and culture magazines. If you’re wanting to learn more about the city’s food and cultural sphere with regards to community news, new restaurant openings, essential guides to some of the city’s best offerings as well as who’s hiring, Scout is where you should go. We’re proud to have Scout as our presenting sponsor as we believe what they “Scout out” is an excellent compliment to what we’re offering here with Track and Food. Do check them out. scoutmagazine.ca

In this episode we spoke with our good friend Chef Daniel Williams of Dachi.

A new 40 seat upstart located in the Hastings-Sunrise area of Vancouver, Dachi is the sort of small neighbourhood restaurant a community often craves but rarely gets.

With a vibrant beverage program and a focused food menu set to the concept of locality and what’s in season, we were eager to hear Dan speak about his journey in kitchens and what it’s been like to open and be apart of this popular restaurant.

We also discussed his recent years cooking in Scotland, how he and Jamie became friends (a popular Scottish rock band sealed the deal) some current events and much more.

**If you'd like to visit or learn more about Dachi, please check out our good friend Tracy  Giesz-Ramsay's excellent write up on them. 

A deep dive and fun chat for this one with the co-owners of Greta, Gastown's newest Arcade Bar. Taking over in the old Bourbon on Cordova Street, Chris Decock  and Casey Greabeiel reimagine the close to 9,000 square feet of space with a bustling high energy concept of arcade games, cocktails and signature fare. Taking cues from their two previous Greta iterations in both Calgary and Edmonton, Chris and Casey have helped to revitalize a dormant space while giving Vancouver a fun bar for everyone to enjoy.

I spoke with the two of them recently to learn more of why they came to Vancouver, what their concept was, how they got it off the ground and how they hoped to establish themselves within the community. If you're one of the few who has yet to check out Greta, you're sure to enjoy this chat as both Chris and Casey give plenty of insights and enthusiasm.


Do check out their website and head on down. I've been several times and it's a lot of fun.
https://www.gretabar.com

In this episode we chat with local business owner and tea ninja Pedro Villalon on starting a now thriving business in the heart of Kitsilano. 

Pedro is the co-founder of O5 Rare Tea Bar, a staple in the Vancouver landscape with their excellent selection of small batch teas. It’s a place where you can go to learn a heck of a lot about the history of tea, take komboucha making classes or just have a great chat with a fun tea bartender in a beautiful atmosphere. 

Pedro shares the story of the origins of O5 and how he came to love the culture of tea and the countries that produce it. This guy was super knowledgeable and dropped some serious, serious fun facts.

Jamie had fun time learning the ins and out of this vast universe, which oddly enough relates very closely to one of his favourite worlds, wait for it….wine. 

Mick already knew some stuff as he’s a legit tea snob. Enjoy!

Presented by Scout Magazine.

The book Healing Grounds – Climate, Justice, and the Deep Roots of Regenerative Farming came onto my radar while reading an interview with its author, Liz Carlisle, published last March by Civil Eats, an American news source focused on sustainable food systems. Carlisle, an Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies, teaches food and farming at UC Santa Barbara.

Healing Grounds, her third book, tells stories of Indigenous, Black, Latinx, and Asian American farmers who are reviving their ancestors’ methods of growing food — techniques long suppressed by the industrial food system. These farmers are restoring native prairies, nurturing beneficial fungi, and enriching soil health. Through feeding their communities and revitalizing cultural ties to the land, they are also steadily stitching ecosystems back together and repairing the natural carbon cycle. According to Carlisle, this is the true regenerative agriculture – not merely a set of technical tricks, but a holistic approach that values diversity in both plants and people.

Having recently discovered the regenerative farming movement via another book, Eating to Extinction (author Dan Saladino was a Track & Food guest in February), I wondered where Carlisle’s narratives fell within its scope. In this episode, we dig deep into each chapter of Healing Grounds, to discuss how they unfolded, what she learned along the way, and how she came to adopt her book title’s double entendre. This is definitely one of my favourite interviews, so far, and I’m confident you’ll enjoy listening to it also.

Liz Carlisle is an Assistant Professor in the Environmental Studies Program at UC Santa Barbara, where she teaches courses on food and farming. Born and raised in Montana, she got hooked on agriculture while working as an aide to organic farmer and U.S. Senator Jon Tester, which led to a decade of research and writing collaborations with farmers in her home state. She has written three books about regenerative farming and agroecology: Lentil Underground (2015), Grain by Grain (2019, with co-author Bob Quinn), and most recently, Healing Grounds: Climate, Justice, and the Deep Roots of Regenerative Farming (2022). She is also a frequent contributor to both academic journals and popular media outlets, focusing on food and farm policy, incentivizing soil health practices, and supporting new entry farmers. She holds a Ph.D. in Geography, from UC Berkeley, and a B.A. in Folklore and Mythology, from Harvard University. Prior to her career as a writer and academic, she spent several years touring rural America as a country singer.

In this latest episode James, James and I gather together to draft our ideal restaurant lineup. Influenced by The Ringer’s, The Rewatchables, and the NBA’s all star draft format, we choose from a random selection of Vancouver’s top hospitality veterans to round out our ideal restaurant teams.

The rules were simple.

1. Come up with a name and concept
2. Ten member teams with two additional wild cards
3. Snake draft format

This episode is hilarious, silly and a complete waste of time, which is why it’s so awesome. Who's picked first? What roles will they fill? What type of teams did we want?

Each person on this list is someone we highly respect and those we might have missed, we apologize. Lighthearted fun you won’t want to miss.

To help you follow along, here’s the list of characters we had to choose from.

James Iranzad is a co-owner of Gooseneck Hospitality. James Langford-Smith is a co-owner of Pamplemousse Jus. 

In this episode we bring on past guests of the pod, bartender Mike Shum of the Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel and Mamie Taylor's Owner, Ron Oliver.

We brought them on to talk about the recent array of food lists to hit the internet, most notably, Canada's Top 100 restaurants and the Vancouver Magazine Awards.

In discussing these lists, we argue about their validity, who was left off and why some of the choices don't make any sense. Mike throws out a few hot takes and Jamie is left puzzled by the whole affair a few times over. Oh and Mickey rants about a certain restaurant he dislikes.

We then wax on the whole David Hawksworth saga and a few other things. This was a fun and spicy chat. Enjoy!

Can life get any better for chef and restaurateur, JC Poirier? His restaurant, the Québécois inspired, St. Lawrence, just won its third straight Restaurant of the Year Award from Vancouver Magazine, right on the heels of a third place finish in Canada's Top 100. With Michelin on the way at the end of October, a star is certainly in his sights - whether it will be one or two remains to be seen.

Moreover, in addition to all of these accolades, Poirier's new cookbook is dropping next month (November 8th). A loving homage to his home province of Québec, Where the River Narrows is a personal and entertaining journey tracing Poirier's childhood, up to nights spent at home with his own two daughters, with delicious and detailed recipes dispersed throughout, perfected for all to enjoy. (FYI I'm an especially big fan of his pork chop recipe.)

Poirier and I recently spoke at length about his career, his cooking philosophy, how Where the River Narrows came about, and what he hopes readers will take away from it. Honest, humble, candid and soft-spoken, he is surely a joy to listen to...

Another episode with James Iranzad and James Langford-Smith is here! In this latest instalment, we discuss Michelin coming to Vancouver, and make our picks as to who will gain a star. We then shift gears to weigh in on our personal favourite Vancouver restaurant dishes. This episode has all the hallmarks of our classic “triple J” banter. Do enjoy.

In this episode we spoke with Top Drop Wine Festival co-founder Kurtis Kolt.

Kurtis gives us the goods on the genesis of the festival, its aim, where he sees it going and why those who love wine should definitely check it out.

The festival, now in its sixth year, takes place in Calgary on May 21st and in Vancouver on May 23rd and 24th.

Jamie was excited to pick Kurtis’ brain about some of the producers his group chooses for the event, his favourite wine regions and his thoughts on the BC wine industry as a whole, plus much much more. The two of them dig deep, while Mickey does his best to keep up.

If you’re a fan of wine this is the episode for you.

The Top Drop main event is sold out for this year, but do check their website for the myriad of dinner events happening over the week at some of Vancouver’s finest restaurants. They sure look like a good time.

https://topdrop.ca/

After reading Corey Mintz’s NBC News column, ‘Outrage at Starbucks tipping prompt shows people don’t get how the tipping con works‘, I brought on the prominent food journalist to get his unique insights and perspective on the “tip creep”: what is it actually, and what does it mean for the hospitality and business industries moving forwards?

For more Mintz, be sure to check out my previous podcast with him (originally aired November 30th, 2021) where we dig into his book, The Next Supper: The End of Restaurants as We Knew Them, and What Comes After – fantastic stuff.

Corey Mintz is a freelance food reporter (New York Times, Globe and Mail, Eater, and others), focusing on the intersection between what we eat with business, politics, farming, ethics, land use, labor (or labour, as it’s spelled in Canada), education and culture. He has been a cook and a restaurant critic. For his long-running column Fed, he hosted 192 dinner parties, featuring politicians, refugees, criminals, artists, academics, acupuncturists, high-rise window washers, competitive barbecuers, and one monkey. He is the author of two and a half books. He lives in Winnipeg with his wife, Victoria, and their daughter, Cookie Puss.

The boys are back with their insights and predictions for 2023. Recorded a few days before the new year, James Iranzad and James Langford-Smith give the goods on where and how they see the restaurant community evolving this coming year. Yet another classic "triple J episode. Do enjoy!

Prominent food journalist, Corey Mintz, jumps on once again to help break down the news of Noma's impending closure at the end of 2024. If you are unfamiliar, the New York Times dropped the story this past Monday with a fully detailed exposé regarding the context and timing of this announcement. Issues with unpaid labour and what this signifies for chef and owner, René Redzepi, and his team moving forward as well as how this affects global fine dining in the future. The former world number one has made an indelible mark within the food economy. There's a lot to unpack here. Enjoy!

Famed New York Times food critic, Pete Wells, shared his thoughts regarding this announcement and why it's so significant.

Here's the link to Corey's Eater feature from 2017. 

Back for another fun conversation, Alex Black of Laowai joins to talk about his new bar, Bagheera. Located just around the corner, we run through the concept, how things came about, branding, ice machine difficulties and much more. Alex is always candid and insightful. Enjoy!

Recently, I was lucky enough to have Maude Renaud-Brisson (Founder, Apéro Mode), Kelcie Jones (GM, Elephant) and Jenna Briscoe (GM, Café Medina) on to discuss their new endeavour, 'This is Wine School', launching in Chinatown (265 East Pender) this week. 

These three ladies have already brought much vigour and enthusiasm regarding wine and wine education to Vancouver. With 'This is Wine School' they will collectively continue their trajectory by offering Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) accreditation classes for hospitality career-minded folks, as well as a slate of their own personally stylized 'alternative' wine courses designed for the general wine-loving public. In this episode, we chat about how this project took shape, what they hope to accomplish with it, and more. It's not all serious wine talk, though - prepare yourself for a lot of laughs throughout!

While reading The Tyee back in late January, a story by labour economist, David Fairey (who is also a research associate of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives) and Associate Professor of Sociology at UVic, Anelyse Weiler, caught my eye… In “It’s 2023. BC Farm Workers Deserve Basic Minimum Wage Guarantees”, the authors reveal how our current piece rate system for agricultural workers is fraught with low wages, exploitation, classism, and racism. I decided to bring the duo on in order to gain a better understanding of the topic and narrative and to share their candid perspectives and insightful solutions. Do enjoy!

Mentioned:

"It’s 2023. BC Farm Workers Deserve Basic Minimum Wage Guarantees" by David Fairey and Anelyse Weiler

"Farmworkers Finally Won Overtime Pay. Now the Industry Wants to Repeal It" by Grey Moran

"Legislated Wage Suppression" by David Fairey

"Government wrong to exclude farm workers from basic minimum wage protection" by David Fairey and Anelyse Weiler

"BC Pickers: A Report on Piece Rates in Agriculture" by Mark Thompson

"Temporary Foreign Workers Hit Record Levels in BC" by Zak Vescara

In this episode, we spoke with Parkside Brewery co-owner Sam Payne. He gave us the goods on his start in hospitality, opening and starting the brewery, challenges he’s faced along the way and much much more.

We also waxed on about the current state of the B.C. craft beer industry and there was plenty of hoops talk to get us started. Sam used to play!

This definitely got us going.

This was one of our favourite chats of the year as Sam brought Mickey to life with some delicious beer. This made Jamie very happy.

If you wanna understand more about the nuances of the beer industry, this is the episode for you.

theparksidebrewery.com

The boys are back for another “triple J” episode, chockfull with their in-depth insights and immeasurable humour… This time around, James Iranzad (Gooseneck Hospitality) and James Langford-Smith (Pamplemousse Jus) share their opinions on the Vancouver Magazine 2023 Restaurant Awards finalists, and break down Vancouver’s restaurant scene as a whole. Enjoy!

In this episode, Jacob Richler, founder and publisher of Canada's most diverse and influential restaurant ranking, Canada's 100 Best, discusses his years as a food critic, why he created this list in the first place, how the judging process unfolds, and where he sees things evolving in the year ahead... Enjoy!

Canada's 100 Best launched in 2015. Last year, Vancouver's own Published on Main was ranked Canada's "Best Restaurant" for 2022. See the full 2023 list here.

To get a more comprehensive perspective of what’s happening in Kelowna, I reached out to a few local entrepreneurs who’ve helped revitalize the community with many of their brands: David Paterson (Tantalus Vineyards, Vice & Virtue Brewing); Kyle Nixon (BNA Brewing Co., Skinny Duke’s Glorious Emporium, Bernie’s Supper Club and Cinema); and Casey Greabeiel (Greta Vancouver, Salt & Brick, Jack’s Kelowna, Diner Deluxe, Pretty Not Bad).

Among other things, we discuss labour and migrant worker issues, minimum wage hikes, the proliferation of corporate chains, and how they’re dealing with consistent forest fire threats. Their respective – and collective – passion for the hospitality industry is evident and infectious. They want Kelowna to thrive. This chat has all the goods.

Special mention goes out to Ria Kitsch (Kitsch Winery), who was supposed to join this chat but had to drop out at the last minute due to scheduling constraints. She was invaluable in getting us all together.

Two years ago, I was fortunate enough to speak with UBC Professor Edward Slingerland regarding his then-new book, Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization (take a listen to the June 16th, 2021 episode here). If you haven’t already read it, Drunk is a fantastic and sometimes hilarious examination of drunkenness, how being drunk enables us to trust and cooperate, and how alcohol consumption has influenced human development over the course of history.

Since then, Health Canada has developed new drinking guidelines for Canadians, amounting to a complete shift from their previous recommendations. For many (myself included), this has caused confusion, apathy, and rigorous discourse – including from Professor Slingerland, who recently published the article Making the Case for (Moderate) Alcohol Consumption (Medium). In it, he argues that Health Canada’s new guidelines overlook many of the causal benefits (moderate) drinking provides and how it factors into the hospitality industry. With the help of James Iranzad (Gooseneck Hospitality), we revisit Professor Slingerland’s book and column to give our thoughts on how the hospitality industry should respond moving forward.

In this episode, award-winning freelance journalist, Rachel Nuwer, discusses her fantastic and revelatory new book, I Feel Love: MDMA and the Quest for Connection in a Fractured World. Featuring the real life stories of many intriguing characters, from ravers to PTSD sufferers, Nuwer's book covers a lot of ground: from how MDMA (aka Ectasy or "Molly") accidentally came to be (in a German lab for pharmaceutical company, Merck), to its use by the US government as a potential 'truth serum' circa the 1950s (spoiler: this never took off), and subsequently by prominent biochemists and pharmacologists as a (legal) treatment for trauma and addiction in the mid-1970s. I Feel Love is at times maddening and disheartening, but also captivating, enlightening and an overall pleasurable read - in the similar vein of Dr. Gabor Maté and Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, who also explore the concept of 'best practice' for those who are suffering trauma. A must-read for those seeking a compassionate journey.

Rachel Nuwer is an award-winning freelance journalist who reports about science, travel, food and adventure for the New York Times, National Geographic, Scientific American and more. Her multi-award winning first book, Poached: Inside the Dark World of Wildlife Trafficking, was published in 2018 with Da Capo Press. Her second book, I Feel Love: MDMA and the Quest for Connection in a Fractured World, was published in June 2023 with Bloomsbury. 

In this episode we reflect on over a year and a half ( 30 episodes) of the Track and Food Podcast. It's been a super fun and therapeutic experience for both of us and we wax on show themes moving forward.

As usual barbs are thrown, rambling occurs and things get opinionated. We Talk a bit of NBA and Mickey get's a chance to "do the dishes". We also discuss our new website venture Midrange. Its a content website that aims to highlight music, culture, food, film and art in our lovely city. 

Finally we get shout out crazy and go through all the wonderful guests we've had on the podcast so if you've been on,  you'll be mentioned! (Shout out Ron Oliver, friend of the show)

Heres to 30 more!!

In 2018, Vancouver non-profit Foundations for Social Change, along with researchers from UBC, set out to do a small experiment: a one-year trial where they gave a lump sum of $7,500 cash, no strings attached, directly to people experiencing homelessness to see whether the direct cash method would provide them with a leg up finding stable housing, or if they would instead spend it on temptation goods (drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, etc.). Several local shelters were enlisted to help them find suitable candidates for their study, which was led by Dr. Jiaying Zhao (PhD, Associate Professor, Canada Research Chair, UBC). The results – published only a few weeks ago – shed light on how the homeless actually spend their money while also providing clues for what they need to succeed moving forward.

For further reading on this study, check out the links below...

A B.C. research project gave homeless people $7,500 each — the results were 'beautifully surprising' - CBC

A Canadian study gave $7,500 to homeless people. Here’s how they spent it. - Vox

A Study Showed Giving Money to Homeless People Changes Lives. What’s Next? - The Tyee

In this newest edition of the triple(J) - H series, prominent former winemaker Heidi Noble joins alongside James Iranzad (Gooseneck Hospitality) and James Langford-Smith (Pamplemousse Jus) to help predict who will win, keep, and possibly move up in year two of Vancouver's Michelin guide. Enjoy!

This year's announcement is on October 5th. 

In this episode we did another group chat as we brought on two Vancouver industry legends, Ron Oliver of Mamie Taylor’s and Josh Pape of Gooseneck Hospitality. 

We wanted to wax everything hospitality as we discussed The Diamond 10 year anniversary and how the past decade has changed things for Josh, as he co-owns The Diamond with his partner Mark Brand. 

Ron chimes in as he was one of The Diamond’s first bartenders. They each swap stories as we delve into how The Diamond helped shepherd a cocktail revolution of sorts for the city. 

We go on to further discuss cocktail culture in general, the state of restaurants in Vancouver, glass shakers vs tins and much much more. A bit of Coldplay referencing came up once again by Jamie, which pissed Mickey off, to the delight of Josh and Ron. 

If you’re eager to learn more about the inner workings of the Vancouver hospitality scene, this is the episode for you. 

**Gooseneck Hospitality is a group of local restaurants owned and run by Josh Pape and his partner James Iranzad. Check out their website or visit one of their establishments. They do wicked stuff. 

Wildebeest
Lucky Taco
Bells and Whistles 
Bufala
Bufala (North Van, opening soon)
gooseneck.ca

Jamie also did a great interview with James and Josh recently for Scout Magazine. Do check it if you want to learn more about their story. 

https://scoutmagazine.ca/2019/05/15/understanding-the-dynamic-partnership-that-drives-two-prolific-restaurateurs/

Mamie Taylor’s is owned and run by Ron Oliver. It’s Mickey and Jamie’s favourite restaurant to hang out at. You can find it in Chinatown. Do hit it up. Best burger in town! 

mamietaylors.ca

If you had asked me what I thought ‘craft beer’ was when I first moved to Vancouver, back in 2009, my answer would have been something vague about its ‘higher quality’. Fast forward to today, and layers of experiences, flavours and perspectives add nuance and understanding to what the beer sector signifies.

Market capitalization and interest usually peak when something new captures the scene, with entrepreneurs racing to make their mark and carve out their niches. In BC, R&B, Storm, Red Truck, Phillips, and Driftwood are a handful of the early success stories; then came 33 Acres, Strange Fellows, Parkside, and Brassneck (to name a few), who shepherded an exciting crew of businesses with exceptional beers and inviting tasting rooms. The people came, and a new way of socializing formed: fewer corner pubs and more family affairs. Kids and dogs littered patios as parents sipped on unique IPA styles.

Soon, there were upwards of over 200 craft breweries in the province. Craft beer seemed here to stay… Then came a pandemic, rising interest rates, changing consumer habits, and the rise of non-alcoholics and RTDs – each a new challenge for breweries. As of late 2023, the news wasn’t good: some are closing, and others may follow suit; reports from the CBC and Global News paint a possible stark environment for 2024.

To gain a better comprehension of the situation from the inside, I’ve rounded up three friends and prominent brewery owners – Sam Payne (co-owner and operator of Parkside and Rewind ), Nick Black (co-owner and operator of Strange Fellows), and Adam Henderson (owner of Superflux) – to share their knowledge and personal narratives, and discuss the state of the craft brewery market today, how they see it evolving, and the challenges ahead…

Trouble brewing? Canadian beermakers foresee closures amid economic challenges - CBC

Beer industry says looming tax increase latest blow to tapped out sector - CBC

COVID loan repayments a brewing crisis for B.C. craft beer sector, industry warns - Global News

A Missed Opportunity— Did The Craft Beer Industry Lose Their One Chance To Grow Their Market Share? - Track and Food



If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email at trackandfoodpod@gmail.com

Whether at work or with friends, one of the more common questions posed to me is: “Where do you recommend going for dinner?” In a city as varied and culturally diverse as Vancouver, options for delicious fare seem endless. But despite the abundance of intrigue and hard-to-book tables, the local sector is in peril (much like the beer industry featured in my previous episode). This is largely (still) owing to the hard-hitting pandemic, which left thousands of small businesses scrambling nationwide. In today’s episode, we hone in on the Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA), a $60,000 government assistance loan with a string attached: $20,000 in forgiveness if paid back by a specific date. That date passed in 2022 and was extended once more to January 18th, 2024. More than 885,000 small businesses and not-for-profits took out CEBA loans, totalling more than $48 billion.

According to a Restaurants Canada report from late October 2023, the Canadian food service industry was on track to reach a remarkable milestone, with a value of $110 billion in 2023. It is Canada’s fourth largest private employer, serving 22 million people per day – yet over 50 percent of restaurants and food service businesses are either operating at a loss or barely breaking even.

To better understand what is happening on the ground here in Vancouver, I’ve rounded up a few friends who also work in the industry: Shira Blustein (owner of Acorn and The Arbor), Shaun Layton (co-owner of ¿CóMO? Tapería), and James Iranzad (co-founder and operator of Gooseneck Hospitality, and a fixture on this podcast). We debate where restaurants are headed in 2024 and what can be done to help an industry on the brink.

Businesses need to pay CEBA loans or lose free money — because the deadline isn't changing - CBC

Restaurants Canada Supports Growth and Stability of the Canadian Foodservice Industry - Restaurants Canada

New pilot project supports restaurant industry’s workforce development - B.C. Government


If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email at trackandfoodpod@gmail.com

Back in the fall, I received some good intel, via text, about a peculiar issue brewing up along Main Street, regarding the Mount Pleasant Business Improvement Association(BIA). The problem was a proposed expansion of where the BIA lines fell, with the Main and 19-29th Street areas considered a new addition. The text suggested a lot of pushback from business owners in this proposed expansion area who did not want a BIA.

Fast forward to moments after recording my last episode when guest, Shira Blustein (owner of The Acorn and The Arbor), pulled me aside to let me know that the BIA story was still on the table, and that a vote with the Mount Pleasant board members to decide the fate of the expansion would be happening on February 27th. If I wanted to cover this story, now was the time.

Vancouver has 22 Business Improvement Associations – nonprofits funded by their jurisdiction through tax dollars collected by the City. Their roles within their respective communities vary, with some being more prominent than others (for example, Gastown has a potent BIA). The Mount Pleasant BIA expansion is unique, as most business owners in this area are small operators with prolonged exposure to the area.

In this episode, we hear from Mount Pleasant BIA Executive Director, Neil Wyles, on why he’s pushed so hard for this expansion and what that process has entailed so far, as well as from those in opposition, including business owners Erin Boniferro (Collage Collage), Kildare Curtis (Eugene Choo), and the aforementioned Blustein. A small, dynamic interview with David Duprey – board member of the Mount Pleasant BIA and owner of The Narrow Group (Uncle Abe’s, The Narrow, Slim’s BBQ, Key Party) – has also been added.

Will poverty always be a systemic issue? This is the question at the heart of Tracy Smith-Carrier’s article, “Implementing a basic income means overcoming myths about the ‘undeserving poor’”, published in The Conversation last December – and the focus of today’s interview with its author.

Smith-Carrier has studied poverty for over 25 years, and is currently an Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair, with a focus on Advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals, at Royal Roads University in Victoria, BC. As such, she brings a candid and humanistic lens to an issue affecting so many in our society, by breaking down the myths hindering our progress towards the elimination of poverty and (hopefully) helping us to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the issue from a macro level.

If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email at trackandfoodpod@gmail.com

Welcome to the Episode 100 extravaganza! In honour of this milestone, we catch up with former Track & Food podcast co-host, Mickey McLeod, and friend of the podcast, Tristan Young, of The Keefer Bar. Then, with the help of industry vets Shira Blustein (Acorn, Lila), James Langford-Smith (Pamplemousse Jus), James Iranzad (Gooseneck Hospitality), and Michelle Sproule (Scout Magazine), we embark on a lengthy and raucous discussion beginning with whether Vancouver has a defining food image, and veering into myriad other hospitality-related topics. Get ready for a two-and-a-half-hour-long, fun-filled, and bubbles-fuelled episode of insider knowledge and laughter.

For additional context, check out my recent article for Midrange, "Is McDonald's the Defining Food Image of Our Time?" You can read it here.



If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email at trackandfoodpod@gmail.com 

Corey Mintz is a distinguished food journalist hailing from Winnipeg, Manitoba. He has contributed to several prominent publications, such as The New York Times, Eater, and The Globe and Mail, and is the author of The Next Supper: The End of Restaurants as We Knew Them, and What Comes After. 

In this episode, Corey and I delve into a range of topics, from tipping and restaurant pricing, to the Michelin awards and the role of migrant workers in Canada’s food industry. His extensive expertise, sharp cultural insight and thought-provoking perspectives make for an engaging and lively discussion.

Some of the columns we go over are as follows:

Restaurant Math Isn’t Working - Eater

Feast of riches - The Globe and Mail

‘We are the farmer’s property’: A former migrant worker on his fight for justice - TVO

Michelin removes stars from two Toronto restaurants - blogTO


If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email at trackandfoodpod@gmail.com 

"If you've ever dreamed of moving to Europe to cook and learn from the best, then The Rise and Fall of Magic Wolf might feel familiar. The new novel from Vancouver author (-slash-journalist-slash-UBC-Professor-of-Creative-Writing) Timothy Taylor follows the life of Teo, an inexperienced kid from Vancouver pursuing his culinary fantasy in Paris. There, he meets Frankie, a confident Quebecois who chances to show Teo the ropes in the kitchen. Through the day-to-day grind and late night struggles, Taylor's protagonist slowly emerges as a competent chef, eventually returning home to Vancouver to begin his own restaurant empire.

The Rise and Fall of Magic Wolf explores the many challenges of restaurant life - from the long hours spent in the kitchen to the resultant personal tolls outside of it. At the heart of it all is Taylor's ability to capture the humanity of his characters as they search for meaning in such a notoriously exacting industry. In this conversation with Taylor - an avid eater and once occasional food writer, himself - he shares the thoughts and ideas driving his latest literary invention."


Timothy Taylor is a bestselling and award winning author of six book-length works of fiction and nonfiction. He emerged on the writing scene in 2000, when three of his short stories were selected for a single edition of the Journey Prize Anthology. His story Doves of Townsend won the Journey Prize that same year and was included in his collection of short fiction Silent Cruise, which was itself later named runner-up to the Danuta Gleed Award. Taylor’s first novel Stanley Park was released to critical acclaim in 2001 and was nominated for a Giller Prize, a Rogers Writers Trust Fiction Prize as well as both a Vancouver and BC Book Award. His 2011 novel, The Blue Light Project, was a bestseller in Canada and went on to win the CBC Bookie Prize in fiction. His most recent novel is The Rule of Stephens and was released in 2017.

Taylor has also been a prolific journalist and creative nonfiction writer over this same period. He has published hundreds of feature articles in the past 15 years in such publications as The New York Times, EnRoute, Walrus, 18 Bridges, The Report on Business Magazine, Hakai and many others. He has won or been nominated for over two dozen magazine awards, been widely anthologized, and seen his work appear in both the US and France. His most recent nonfiction book, published by Nonvella in Vancouver, is Foodville, a food memoire and meditation on foodie obsessions in western consumer culture. In addition to his writing and teaching at UBC, Taylor travels widely, having in recent years spent time on assignment in China, Tibet, Japan, Dubai, Brazil, the Canadian arctic and other places. He lives in Point Grey Vancouver with his wife, his son, and a Brittany Spaniel named Keaton.

With the year-end comes a fun-filled year-end list! Who better to join in ranking B.C.'s top 15 restaurants than my good friends, local industry vets, and frequent collaborative cohorts, James Iranzad (Gooseneck Hospitality) and James Langford-Smith (Pamplemousse Jus). In addition to comparing this year's top experiences from some of our favourite restaurants, in this final episode of 2024, we also riff off of two hot topics recently featured in Eater and Food & Wine magazines: the great sparkling water debate ("We Deserve Free Sparkling Water") and restaurant reservation time limits ("Should a Restaurant Be Able to Tell Me When I Have to Leave My Table?"), yielding some of our best discussions to date. Enjoy!

Happy New Year! 


If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email at trackandfoodpod@gmail.com 

Continuing with last year’s end-of-year episode, James Iranzad (Gooseneck Hospitality) and James Langford-Smith (Pamplemousse Jus) join me once again to discuss their top 10 favourite bars in British Columbia. Additionally, the pair share their thoughts on ‘Dry January’ to begin our discussion. Happy New Year!




If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email at trackandfoodpod@gmail.com 

In December of 2023, Adam Henderson (Superflux Beer Company), Sam Payne (The Parkside Brewery, Rewind Beer Co.), and Nick Black (Strange Fellows Brewing) joined me to discuss the (seemingly dire) state of the beer industry. Now, just over a year later, the trio of local brewery pros have returned to drink a few beers and discuss the changes, adaptations and growth the industry has seen since we last spoke. Tune into an insightful, humorous, and overall fun-filled episode all about a possible new era for B.C.'s craft beer industry.

The Great Craft Beer Reckoning is Here - The Growler

If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email at trackandfoodpod@gmail.com 

...And we’re back!!!

After a nice summer hiatus, we’re back today with a great one. Meet bartender/consultant Max Borrowman. He’s set to dig in and open his new bar for Heather Hospitality, ‘Open Outcry’ and we’re delighted he stopped by to give us the goods. 

In this one we wax on cocktail culture, the process of getting a bar open, concepts and much much more. Tennis talk ensues as both Jamie and Max correctly pick the US Open champion. Mickey details his summer of hibernation and then Jamie rapid fires a series of fun questions for Max near the end. 

If you’re into cocktail culture and restaurants in general, you’re going to enjoy this one. 

In this episode we chat with Gooseneck Hospitality co-owner and overall awesome dude James Iranzad. We got him to wax on his newest restaurant, a spin off of their wildly successful pizzeria Bufala. Set to open in late October in North Vancouver, James gives us the goods on what they're aiming to provide and why this has been such an exciting process. 

Throughout we also talk about James' career in hospitality, Vancouver restaurant culture, food delivery and much much more. 

As a podcast which aims to discuss the nuances of the Vancouver food and culture scene, bringing someone like James on was a treat for us as his knowledge and experience within this city has few peers. This is a great chat and we hope you enjoy it. 

Do make sure you check out some of Gooseneck's fine establishments. Look for Wildebeest, Bufala, Bells and Whistles and Lucky Taco throughout the city. They're all excellent. 

In this episode we were very fortunate to bring on a guest who needs little introduction, Vancouver Magazine Food Editor, Neal McLennan. 

This was such a fun chat as Neal gave us the goods on his time at Van Mag, the state of food journalism, how they approach their awards selection criteria, the evolution of the restaurant critic, restaurant politics and much much more. 

Neal graciously brought us some delicious Ardbeg 19yr Scotch to sample so he’s definitely always welcome back. 

If you love Vancouver and the restaurant community, this is definitely the episode for you. 

Look for Neal’s work on vanmag.com

In this episode, we brought on our good friend and overall great guy, Bar Manager Jeff Savage of Botanist. 

We’d like to say that Jeff’s definitely had himself a year as he was not only part of the winning team that took home the Bols Around the World Global Title but that he was also crowned the Diageo World Class Canadian Champion. 

To top both of these achievements, Jeff just arrived back from Glasgow where he was runner up in the Diageo World Class Global Final. 

We repeat, he came 2nd in the world!! 

What an accomplishment for himself, Team Canada, Vancouver and his Botanist team. With that, we were thrilled that he accepted our invitation to come on the pod and discuss his achievements, his process and much much more. 

If you enjoy cocktail culture, this is the episode for you. We also wax on the Vancouver restaurant scene and bit of current events. We hope you enjoy this one as much as we enjoyed recording it. 

FYI: You can find Jeff most days manning the bar of Botanist in The Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel. If you’ve never been, go say hello. It’s fantastic. 

botanistrestaurant.com

In this episode, we couldn’t help but bring on for a second time our good friend Shaun Layton. Shaun sat with us a little over a year ago to discuss the imminent launch of his new restaurant, Como Taperia. It thrilled us back then that he wanted to chat and talk about what he had in store for us as a city as we no doubt knew his venture would be fantastic. 

Well one year in, we can confidently say that we were not wrong in our initial assessment. Como came out with a bang and we love it. Beautiful room. Delicious food. Excellent atmosphere. They’ve hooked us since day one. 

Also, let’s just say we haven’t been the only ones to feel this sentiment as Como was recently awarded runner up status on EnRoute’s coveted Best New Restaurant list. Amazing stuff! 

For this one we wax on what a year it’s been for Shaun and his team, the experience of EnRoute, goals for the coming year, restaurant philosophies and a bit of Vancouver dining culture. This was a fun time. Shaun is endearing and very candid. We hope you enjoy it. 

** If you’ve never heard of Shaun, you might have seen him in the past behind the bar at either Juniper or L’Abattoir. He’s a past recipient of Vancouver Magazine’s Bartender of the Year Award. 

Como Taperia is located in Mount Pleasant. They’re open nightly seven days a week. They have an excellent happy hour. We recommend that you try the Bamboo Martini. 

www.comotaperia.com

In this episode, we brought on our good friend and bartender extraordinaire, Max Curzon-Price of Botanist in the Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel. We were excited to chat with him about his latest project, Hive of Apiarists, which he’s launched in conjunction with his award-winning cocktail, Plight of the Bumblebee. This project started after Max recently won the Bacardi Legacy Canadian title this past fall and as such he will be competing in the global finals in Puerto Rico in January. 

With an emphasis on sustainability as well as a desire to give back, Hive of Apiarists is an initiative of which we are firmly behind as Max wants to raise awareness for our troubled bee stocks. We let him wax on about this as there was plenty we did not know. From there we chatted plenty about the Vancouver community, a bit of current events, and then we hit Max with a few speed round questions. 

This was a fun one as Max has himself a fantastic sense of humour, something Mickey immediately took to. Some locker room talk definitely took place. We hope you enjoy this one as much as we did. 

Max is also the last of the triumvirate to come on the pod from the award-winning team behind the Bols Around the World Global title, as we’ve already had on Grant Sceney and Jeff Savage. Have a listen to their episodes if you haven't already. 

If you want to find and try his cocktail, Plight of the Bumblebee is now being served at various cocktail bars around Vancouver and around the world. Do check out their website to find out more.

You can find Max most nights behind the bar at Botanist. Go visit him. It's fantastic.

botanistrestaurant.com

In our final episode of 2019 we were thrilled to bring on current Mackenzie Room Wine Director and soon to be General Manager of the Mackenzie group’s second restaurant, Say Mercy, one Mr. Cody Dodds. 

A good friend of Jamie’s, Cody gave us the goods on what diners should expect from Say Mercy as we cover the restaurant’s philosophy, style and what they aim to produce. Trust us, it looks to be fantastic. 

From there, we were excited to pick his brain on his love of wine, restaurant reservations ideas and much much more. 

This was by far one of our best chats this year and a great one to end the year and decade on. We hope you enjoy it. 

Say Mercy will be located up on Fraser Street. They aim to open by mid to late January. Scout Magazine did a feature on them. Have a read to learn more. 

https://scoutmagazine.ca/2019/12/09/say-mercy-opening-soon-on-fraser-street/

Cody also did a wine feature for Jamie on Scout as well. Do check it if you’re looking for delicious BC wines to try. 

https://scoutmagazine.ca/2019/10/02/picking-grapes-with-cody-dodds-of-powell-streets-mackenzie-room/

Also, if you’ve never been to The Mackenzie Room, do go! It’s the best. Make sure you try The Chicken of the Sea. Delicious! 

http://www.themackenzieroom.com

https://instagram.com/saymercyyvr?igshid=18wgsg7afjcpv

https://instagram.com/themackenzieroom?igshid=1uxv7fk5ryqqx

In this episode, Jamie and Mickey chat with Peter Van de Reep of Campagnolo Upstairs. Recently crowned BC's Best Sommelier, they were excited to discuss his win, how it unfolded and what his thoughts are about competing at Nationals next fall. 

Peter also dishes on his start in the industry, his love for hospitality and much much more. 

Gracious, with a calm demeanour, it was fun having Peter on as he’s definitely become a large fixture within Vancouver’s hospitality industry. 

If you love wine, this is the episode for you. Do enjoy! 

**Campagnolo Upstairs is located just outside Chinatown, on Main Street. Definitely check it out. They’re currently shortlisted as a finalist for Vancouver Magazines Best Bar of the year.

https://www.campagnolorestaurant.ca/upstairs-campagnolo/

Now brought to you by Scout Magazine.

In this episode, it thrilled us to bring on winemaker Tyler Harlton of Summerland’s TH Wines and GM James Langford-Smith of Chinatown staples Bao Bei and Kissa Tanto. We waxed on all things hospitality, running small businesses, natural wine and its ethos and much much more.

Jamie was excited to delve deep into Tyler’s wine style as he quickly realized that his inspiration as a winemaker was rooted from a deep appreciation for all things Loire, which happens to be Jamie’s favourite wine region. Think delicious Cabernet Franc, Pinot Noir, and Rose.

James brought a unique perspective we were game to explore as we wondered how he balanced the dual role of running two of Vancouver’s best restaurants. His passion for hospitality really shone through as he maintained steadfast that his approach was built upon those of whom he employs as they are the foundation for everything they’ve been able to build and succeed with.

This was a fun episode with many laughs. James and Tyler were great. We hope you enjoy it.



**TH Wines can be found at Kissa Tanto, Bao Bei, Wildebeest, Kits Wine Cellar and a few other spots around Vancouver. Check their website for more info.
thwines.com
Tyler is from Saskatchewan. People from Saskatchewan are rad.

**Bao Bei just celebrated their 10-year anniversary. It’s one of Vancouver’s best restaurants. Think beautiful cocktails and delicious Chinese fare. We highly recommend it. Plus you can get a Pina Colada there all year round. Win Win!
bao-bei.ca

**Kissa Tanto is just around the corner from Bao Bei. It’s one of the most beautiful rooms in Vancouver. Their theme is 60s Tokyo bar with a Japanese/Italian menu. The food is unreal. Jamie especially loves their Organic Half Chicken. Again, we highly recommend it.
kissatanto.com


***Scout is one of Vancouver’s leading food and culture magazines. If you’re wanting to learn more about the city’s food and cultural sphere with regards to community news, new restaurant openings, essential guides to some of the city’s best offerings as well as who’s hiring, Scout is where you should go. They also have a sister website they just launched this past year called Islandist. Same type of content only Island driven. That’s Islandist.ca.
We’re proud to have Scout as our presenting sponsor as we believe what they “Scout out” is an excellent compliment to what we’re offering here with Track and Food. Do check them out.
scoutmagazine.ca

Now brought to you by Scout Magazine.

We were originally going to push this episode due to the current global pandemic of Covid-19. We thought it seemed trivial to release this now, with so many of us facing personal and economic uncertainties. However, we've had a few of you (thanks for your support) inquire if we had an episode coming soon. This has led us to believe that you're either bored and in need of something to listen to or that you really enjoy our show. We're going to go ahead and assume it's the latter.

Therefore, with that in mind, we've decided to release this episode. It's a beautiful day and well you might just need something to keep you occupied as you clean your house for the 10th time in the past two days and luckily for you, this is a fantastic episode. We recorded it a few weeks back. Chef Angus An is someone we've wanted on for sometime now. He has a new cookbook coming out soon, 'Maenam, A Fresh Approach To Thai Cooking', out on May 5th to be exact, and we wanted to talk about it, how it came about and why you should look to purchase it.

We also waxed on his career as a chef, from his days in Europe and Montreal to opening Gastropod back in 2006. Angus was very open about that experience and how it led to the opening of Maenam and his subsequent restaurants afterwards, with Fat Mao being one of our favourites.

If you love food, hospitality and want to learn more about owning and running a restaurant, this episode is for you as Chef Angus distills plenty of insight. We hope you enjoy it.

We'll be back with more content over the coming days as we look to begin recording remotely via phone. We have some excellent guests lined up who are itching to discuss this global pandemic and what it means for us as a society and our restaurant industry as a whole. Do keep an eye out.


**The link below will give you all the details on Angus' new cookbook, 'Maenam, A Fresh Approach To Thai Cooking.'


http://chefangusan.com


***Scout is one of Vancouver’s leading food and culture magazines. If you’re wanting to learn more about the city’s food and cultural sphere with regards to community news, new restaurant openings, essential guides to some of the city’s best offerings as well as who’s hiring, Scout is where you should go. They also have a sister website they just launched this past year called Islandist. Same type of content only Island driven. That’s Islandist.ca.
We’re proud to have Scout as our presenting sponsor as we believe what they “Scout out” is an excellent compliment to what we’re offering here with Track and Food. Do check them out.
scoutmagazine.ca

Brought to you by Scout Magazine.

In light of our current social and economic circumstances due to the Covid-19 virus, we wanted to reach out to our close friends in the community and chat with them on how they are dealing with this pandemic.

First up today is our loyal friend James Iranzad of Gooseneck Hospitality. If you don't know James, you probably know of his restaurants. Think Wildebeest, Bufala (Kerrisdale and Edgemont), Lucky Taco and Bells & Whistles.

With his knowledge and intimate proximity to the restaurant industry as a restaurateur, his insights were ones we wanted to hear from. We waxed on our own personal experiences so far, government response, community engagement, what we should do next and much much more.

Have a listen as we hope, if anything, this episode may give you some answers, a reprieve from any anxiety you may be feeling or just something to listen to. 

Below are some links to a few of the things/topics we discuss.

Stay healthy everyone. We'll be back with more soon.



The New York Times article Jamie brings up.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/20/opinion/coronavirus-pandemic-social-distancing.html

The F&B Community Relief Fund James brings up.
https://www.vanfbc.com/?fbclid=IwAR1oFHbOg6ZBuJbPerPeKrR16tOfW4Gp9TSE5fSHjosCko7S4dJrw7M6r18

https://breakingbreadnow.com
http://mindthebar.com

**http://www.gooseneck.ca


***Scout is one of Vancouver’s leading food and culture magazines. If you’re wanting to learn more about the city’s food and cultural sphere with regards to community news, new restaurant openings, essential guides to some of the city’s best offerings as well as who’s hiring, Scout is where you should go. They also have a sister website they just launched this past year called Islandist. Same type of content only Island driven. That’s Islandist.ca.
We’re proud to have Scout as our presenting sponsor as we believe what they “Scout out” is an excellent compliment to what we’re offering here with Track and Food. Do check them out.
scoutmagazine.ca

Hello fellow isolators and welcome to the Midrange Group Chat. Today, some of the members of the Midrange team got together remotely to talk about pretty much whatever came to mind. This round we are joined by Mickey, Jamie, Dan, and Tristan. While there is some unavoidable speculation regarding what will come from this new way of life, the team tries to focus on some potential silver linings of what the world will look like on the end of the quarantine. How will we behave around each other, what standards will we hold our leaders to, how will we view the role and context of the economy? Elsewhere the team discusses the joys of making mixtapes, our ideal dream team of fellow quarantine buddies, and Dan's plants. They are great. find the episode on the Apple Music and Spotify pages for both Beats on Repeat and Track and Food, as well as on Midrange. Thanks friends!

Now brought to you by Scout Magazine.

In this special Covid-19 episode we brought on Abdallah (Dallah) El Chami of Victoria's Superbaba to discuss the Vancouver Food and Beverage Relief Fund he and couple of his friends recently started.

With so many of us in the industry struggling with this current way of life, we were eager to hear Dallah's thoughts on how he and his fellow local restaurateurs were and are handling this pandemic. We waxed on the stresses of paying rent, keeping and maintaining staff, what their relief fund has set out to achieve, insights into those who've been affected and much much more.

Whether you're a restaurant owner or employed in this industry, we urge you to listen if you're searching for answers, as we touch on a broad spectrum of topics relating to this pandemic. Dallah was very candid and open about the struggles restaurants are now facing.

If you are in need of assistance, applications for the Vancouver Food and Beverage Relief Fund are now open. Please do apply.
https://www.vanfbc.com

There's also a Slack thread you can join as well if you'd like to stay up to date and connected with other restaurateurs in the community. The link is on the website.

Superbaba is an excellent Mediterranean restaurant in Victoria. Do look to support them once they re-open.
https://eatsuperbaba.com/restaurant-menu

***Scout is one of Vancouver’s leading food and culture magazines. If you’re wanting to learn more about the city’s food and cultural sphere with regards to community news, new restaurant openings, essential guides to some of the city’s best offerings as well as who’s hiring, Scout is where you should go. They also have a sister website they just launched this past year called Islandist. Same type of content only Island driven. That’s Islandist.ca.
We’re proud to have Scout as our presenting sponsor as we believe what they “Scout out” is an excellent compliment to what we’re offering here with Track and Food. Do check them out.
scoutmagazine.ca

Now presented by Scout Magazine.

In this weeks episode it thrilled us to bring on highly respected restaurateur Brandon Grossutti. Owner and operator of Gastown staple Pidgin, we were eager to discuss a new venture he’s been developing, a new “at cost” delivery service called FROMTO.  

With so many restaurants struggling to keep their heads above water during this trying time, we wanted to learn more about this new app, how he’s been developing it, when is it slated to be released and much much more. We also waxed about his career in hospitality, running Pidgin for the last seven years, his thoughts on the current climate for restaurateurs and life at home with family. 

In addition, we also discussed the fantastic New York Times Magazine essay by Gabrielle Hamilton, in which she details at length the struggle she’s gone through to keep her restaurant Prune open during this pandemic. It’s an engrossing article, one we couldn’t recommend enough as she illustrates the brevity of her situation in heartbreaking fashion. Her plight is one we are certain restaurateurs all over the globe can relate too and we wanted to hear Brandon’s thoughts on it as we knew he was probably feeling many of the same emotions she was. 

We hope you enjoy this episode, Brandon is wicked smart and we cannot wait until his new app is available. Do look for it sometime in mid May. 

Support local restaurants. Support local businesses. 

If you’ve never been to Pidgin before, we highly recommend you do once this is over. It’s a gem of a place with a wonderful atmosphere. Think Asian/French cuisine with a Pacific Northwest twist. What’s not to love? In the meantime, do check out their takeout menu as they are offering some delicious fare right now.


**If you want to learn even more about Brandon, here's a great interview he recently gave to Michelle Sproule of Scout Magazine.



***Scout is one of Vancouver’s leading food and culture magazines. If you’re wanting to learn more about the city’s food and cultural sphere with regards to community news, new restaurant openings, essential guides to some of the city’s best offerings as well as who’s hiring, Scout is where you should go. They also have a sister website called Islandist. Same type of content only Island driven. That’s Islandist.ca.
We’re proud to have Scout as our presenting sponsor as we believe what they “Scout out” is an excellent compliment to what we’re offering here with Track and Food. Do check them out.
scoutmagazine.ca

Now presented by Scout Magazine.

In this special COVID-19 episode it thrilled us to have on Chambar co-owner Karri Green-Schuermans and our old friend James Iranzad of Gooseneck Hospitality. We wanted to hear them speak about what’s happening on the front lines regarding how the British Columbia government is looking to reopen the restaurant community. As the two lone independent restaurateurs from Vancouver on the 60 something panel of restaurateurs tasked at making this happen, their insights were ones we wanted to hear.

In addition, we also wanted Karri to discuss the new Food Coalition initiative she recently started. With an aim of “feeding those with the greatest need, using local food, made by local restaurants,” we wanted to learn more of how this first came about, who it’s intended for and how she hopes to keep it growing.

James and Karri discuss this in detail as his restaurant Wildebeest has also jumped on board to help. We also wax on rent assistance for restaurants, government action, taking on more responsibility and life at home during this time.

If you’re looking for some clarity to where we currently stand during this pandemic, James and Karri provide plenty of answers here.


If you’d like to learn more about the Food Coalition or if you have the means to donate, please visit their website. They hope to keep this going long term, so every little bit helps.

foodcoalition.ca

Chambar is one of Vancouver’s most established and respected restaurants. Opened in 2004, it has been a staple on Beatty Street ever since. Think Belgian fare and one of the best beer and wine lists in the city. Do check out their website if you’re looking to grab some delicious food today. We highly recommend the Paella. Yum!

chambar.com

Gooseneck Hospitality is one of Vancouver’s most diverse and respected independent restaurant groups. Headed by James and his partner Josh Pape, they have 5 excellent restaurants we love. Think Bufala (Kerrisdale and Edgemont Village), Wildebeest, Lucky Taco and Bells & Whistles. Currently both Bufala’s and Lucky Taco are available for takeout and delivery, with Bells & Whistles joining the fray this coming Friday May 8th. Do check out their website if you’re hungry for some pizza or burritos today. We cannot recommend the Calabria pizza anymore. It’s the best!

gooseneck.ca


***Scout is one of Vancouver’s leading food and culture magazines. If you’re wanting to learn more about the city’s food and cultural sphere with regards to community news, new restaurant openings, essential guides to some of the city’s best offerings as well as who’s hiring, Scout is where you should go. They also have a sister website called Islandist. Same type of content only Island driven. That’s Islandist.ca.
We’re proud to have Scout as our presenting sponsor as we believe what they “Scout out” is an excellent compliment to what we’re offering here with Track and Food. Do check them out.scoutmagazine.ca

Now brought to you by Scout Magazine.

In this episode it delighted us to bring on two prominent hospitality veterans in Paul Grunberg and Romano Castillo. You might recognize these two as the former faces of Gastown’s L’Abattoir, where they helped distinguish that restaurant as being one of Vancouver’s best for many years. 

However, a few years back, Paul and his partners ventured out on their own to open a trio of new restaurants. First up was Osteria Savio Volpe, an upscale Italian joint with one of the most beautiful dining rooms in the city. Next came Pepino’s Spaghetti House and its sister grocery and coffee bar, Caffe La Tana. All three have emerged as classic representations of old school family dining with the added bonus of top-notch hospitality. Assisting to provide this ideal for Paul and his team is his lead man, General Manager, Romano Castillo, who has help shepherd all three establishments. 

Because of their longstanding working relationship, we wanted to talk to them about how they’ve dealt with the COVID — 19 pandemic, shifting to delivery and takeout and how they plan to reopen their restaurants to the dining public. We also waxed on the state of the restaurant community as a whole, thoughts on what can be improved, wholesale liquor pricing, patio expansions, past experiences and much much more. 

This was a fun chat as both men highlight that even though times may seem dour for our restaurant community at present, there’s still space for much optimism. It was refreshing to hear their insights and much needed candor. We hope you enjoy this one as much as we did. 

**Side note: Mickey was having microphone issues on this one, so he’s barely in this episode. We apologize if hearing Mickey’s witty comments is partly why you tuned in. We’ve sourced the problem and it won’t happen again. 

Osteria Savio Volpe is located just off Fraser Street and Kingsway. It’s fantastic. We highly recommend you check it out. The restaurant opens to the public today, June 1st. They will continue to offer pick up via Tock to go and delivery via DoorDash. Jamie is super stoked about their Cynar spritz to go bottles. 

http://www.saviovolpe.com

Pepino’s Spaghetti House is located on Commercial Drive close to Hastings Street. Dine in is still closed for the time being. However, pick up via Tock to go and delivery via DoorDash are available. Get the Pork Chop!

https://pepinos.ca

Caffe La Tana is located just next door to Pepino’s. It is still closed for dine in service. They are offering grocery delivery on their website. We haven’t tried it yet, but the pizza kit looks delicious and fun. 

https://caffelatana.ca



***Scout is one of Vancouver’s leading food and culture magazines. If you’re wanting to learn more about the city’s food and cultural sphere with regards to community news, new restaurant openings, essential guides to some of the city’s best offerings as well as who’s hiring, Scout is where you should go. They also have a sister website called Islandist. Same type of content only Island driven. That’s Islandist.ca.
We’re proud to have Scout as our presenting sponsor as we believe what they “Scout out” is an excellent compliment to what we’re offering here with Track and Food. Do check them out.scoutmagazine.ca

Now brought to you by Scout Magazine.

In this episode it thrilled us to bring on the Editor-in-Chief of our presenting sponsor, Andrew Morrison of Scout Magazine. This is Andrew’s second time joining us on the pod and well similar to his first go around, he didn’t disappoint. We waxed on the state of dining here in Vancouver, his thoughts on the how the pandemic has changed the way restaurateurs have been forced to operate, patio expansions, Vancouver city council letting us down once again and much much more.

With his wealth of knowledge and intimate understanding of the local restaurant community, Andrew gave us the goods on a host of topics, especially his fondness for old school rap and hip hop, something he and Mickey discussed in detail.

We know you’ll enjoy this one as much as we did.


***Scout is one of Vancouver’s leading food and culture magazines. If you’re wanting to learn more about the city’s food and cultural sphere with regards to community news, new restaurant openings, essential guides to some of the city’s best offerings as well as who’s hiring, Scout is where you should go. They also have a sister website called Islandist. Same type of content only Island driven. That’s Islandist.ca.
We’re proud to have Scout as our presenting sponsor as we believe what they “Scout out” is an excellent compliment to what we’re offering here with Track and Food. Do check them out.scoutmagazine.ca

Now brought to you by Scout Magazine.

In this emergency episode, we brought on two of the owners of Mount Pleasant’s Como Taperia, Shaun Layton and Frankie Harrington to discuss all the hoopla surrounding their patio expansion. In a desperate Hail Mary attempt to garner some attention to their plight, they wrote a detailed Instagram post of why they had been turned down by the city of Vancouver.

Surprisingly for them, this action received an enormous amount of anger and support from their supporters. This reaction eventually got the city’s attention, where a swift meeting was set up to discuss their situation.

This whirlwind of events eventually garnered them what they were looking for. A summer patio license is on the way. Yeah!!

We hope you enjoy this episode as Shaun and Frankie detail all these events with much candor and honesty. It’s a lesson to never give up.


**Como Taperia is a beautiful Spanish Tapas Bar on Main Street. Go for the food but stay for the Sherry and Cocktails. Patio should be up in the coming weeks.

https://www.comotaperia.com



***Scout is one of Vancouver’s leading food and culture magazines. If you’re wanting to learn more about the city’s food and cultural sphere with regards to community news, new restaurant openings, essential guides to some of the city’s best offerings as well as who’s hiring, Scout is where you should go. They also have a sister website called Islandist. Same type of content only Island driven. That’s Islandist.ca.
We’re proud to have Scout as our presenting sponsor as we believe what they “Scout out” is an excellent compliment to what we’re offering here with Track and Food. Do check them out.scoutmagazine.ca

Now brought to you by Scout Magazine.

Today’s episode is big for us as we were beyond thrilled to have British Columbia’s Attorney General David Eby on the podcast to discuss the new restaurant and bar wholesale pricing parameters his office released last week. This new pricing, with restaurants and bars receiving 20-25% off what they currently pay, is something the industry has been clamouring for a long time now. Eby expounds on what the specifics are, how long they will be implemented, how this process unfolded and much, much more.

This is big news for a restaurant community which has had a rough go of things because of COVID - 19. We cannot underscore how massive this is. These new pricing measures should help many establishments moving forward. July 31st will be a monumental day for the industry. Kudos to David and his team for getting this done.

We hope you enjoy this one. David is fantastic.

Also, we apologize for the kettle hissing with David's audio. The joys of virtual recording are never perfect. Sadly, we weren't able to fix this.

***Just a note. Jamie accidentally says that the Juneteenth march was on the 17th, when it was in fact the 19th. We apologize for this error.

**Here's a link to the press release from last week if you'd like to read more on it.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/liquor-wholsesale-bc-covid-19-1.5614708

Here's a link to David's office. He mentions at the end that if you have any questions for his office, that he's more than happy to answer them. We love this.

https://www.leg.bc.ca/learn-about-us/members/41st-Parliament/Eby-David


***Scout is one of Vancouver’s leading food and culture magazines. If you’re wanting to learn more about the city’s food and cultural sphere with regards to community news, new restaurant openings, essential guides to some of the city’s best offerings as well as who’s hiring, Scout is where you should go. They also have a sister website called Islandist. Same type of content only Island driven. That’s Islandist.ca.
We’re proud to have Scout as our presenting sponsor as we believe what they “Scout out” is an excellent compliment to what we’re offering here with Track and Food. Do check them out.scoutmagazine.ca

Now brought to you by Scout Magazine.


In this episode, our 50th, it thrilled us to bring on one of the most respected and hard working hospitality veterans in Vancouver, General Manager Leticia Castro of The Diamond. 

We waxed on all things COVID, reopening her bar, how she’s managed these weird times, staff expectations, her managerial philosophy, stories from the past and much much more. 

We also dived into some politics of the day, the Black Lives Matter movement and treating others with respect. 

This was by far one of our funnest chats as Leticia brought much candour and honesty to the conversation. We no doubt expect that you’ll love this one.


**The Diamond is one of Vancouver's and Canada's best cocktail bars. If you've never been, do check it out. It sits high above Gassy Jack square in the heart of Gastown. The room is beautiful. You'll no doubt see Leticia's smiling face upon arrival. We recommend ordering a Paper Plane. Delicious.


***Scout is one of Vancouver’s leading food and culture magazines. If you’re wanting to learn more about the city’s food and cultural sphere with regards to community news, new restaurant openings, essential guides to some of the city’s best offerings as well as who’s hiring, Scout is where you should go. They also have a sister website called Islandist. Same type of content only Island driven. That’s Islandist.ca.
We’re proud to have Scout as our presenting sponsor as we believe what they “Scout out” is an excellent compliment to what we’re offering here with Track and Food. Do check them out.scoutmagazine.ca

Now brought to you by Scout Magazine.

There are few people on this planet who understand viruses and pandemics more than Dr. Bonnie Henry. As BC’s top health officer, her years of experience in dealing with past crises such as Ebola in 2001, SARS in 2003 or H1N1 in 2009 gave her the knowledge to help guide us during COVID-19. With a low transmission rate and an even lower death toll, her efforts have been nothing short of remarkable.

We say this knowing full well how important it is to have a unified and stable leader during such a time. What we’ve seen down south in the United States is a cautionary tale of what you don’t want. A clear and consistent voice is not only critical to maintaining public confidence and expectations, but vital when dealing with life and death.

With that, we were beyond thrilled that she was free to join us on the podcast to discuss how she’s faring personally, how BC has handled the pandemic so far, thoughts on the restaurant community and their response efforts, expectations moving forward and much much more.

We were tight on time as she only had thirty minutes for us so we weren’t able to dig as deep as we might have liked with some topics, but nevertheless, there’s some great stuff here. She’s extremely candid and honest. We’re confident you’ll enjoy this conversation.

Additionally, she’s written a fun and timely book that we couldn’t recommend more. It’s titled, ‘Soap and Water & Common Sense: The Definitive Guide to Viruses, Bacteria, Parasites, and Disease.’

Do check it out. 

Stay safe, everyone. Wash your hands and be nice to each other. Enjoy!

***Scout is one of Vancouver’s leading food and culture magazines. If you’re wanting to learn more about the city’s food and cultural sphere with regards to community news, new restaurant openings, essential guides to some of the city’s best offerings as well as who’s hiring, Scout is where you should go. They also have a sister website called Islandist. Same type of content only Island driven. That’s Islandist.ca.
We’re proud to have Scout as our presenting sponsor as we believe what they “Scout out” is an excellent compliment to what we’re offering here with Track and Food. Do check them out.scoutmagazine.ca

Now brought to you by Scout Magazine.

It’s a dream we have all wanted at some point or another. Whether you work in the restaurant industry currently or have always wanted to. To open your very own, small, independent restaurant, where you’ll get to connect with your community, local farmers and become a hub for your friends and family is something we all covet. For some of us, this concept remains a dream left untouched, only to be reminded that maybe one day we’ll get there. While for others, those brave enough to attempt the task, this dream can become a reality and even more. Regarding our guest today, as co-owner of Dachi with her partner Stephen Whiteside, Miki Ellis has proven that youthful exuberance, a love of excellent hospitality and a passion for building a community is worth the risk of realizing that dream.

We were beyond thrilled that she was game to join us on the podcast today to discuss life at Dachi during COVID-19, how she’s fared personally, adapting to patio life, expectations on where they hope to go, her passion for all things sake and much much more. This was a fun chat, serious at some points, so we hope you enjoy and gain some perspective from this excellent restaurateur. We have so much respect for small independents like Dachi. This city needs more of them.

**We apologize for the audio on this one. Virtual recording has its drawbacks. We appreciate your patience and understanding.


If you’ve never been to Dachi, we highly recommend you do, especially while the patio is still open. The food is delicious and you’ll find one of the best and most eclectic wine and sake lists in the city. Patio is open Friday - Monday from 12pm - 9pm. They also have great take away, bottle shop and grocer programs set up online. You can order anytime and pickup is available Friday - Monday from 11:30am - 6:30pm. Check out their website for more information.

https://dachivancouver.com

***Scout is one of Vancouver’s leading food and culture magazines. If you’re wanting to learn more about the city’s food and cultural sphere with regards to community news, new restaurant openings, essential guides to some of the city’s best offerings as well as who’s hiring, Scout is where you should go. They also have a sister website called Islandist. Same type of content only Island driven. That’s Islandist.ca.
We’re proud to have Scout as our presenting sponsor as we believe what they “Scout out” is an excellent compliment to what we’re offering here with Track and Food. Do check them out.scoutmagazine.ca

Now brought to by Scout Magazine.

In this fun split episode it thrilled us to bring back on two of our most inspiring previous guests in Max Curzon-Price of Botanist and The Diamond and Dallah El Chami of Superbaba and the Vancouver Food and Beverage Community Relief Fund. 

We were excited to check in on Max’s new cocktail giving back initiative, Pine and Palm, where he’s engaged the local bartending community into making delicious cocktails for a cause. The first event took place a few weeks back at The Diamond, with a dollar from each cocktail sold being donated to the local downtown Eastside women’s shelter. They raised just over $5000 dollars at this single event. Props to Max and all those who helped make this happened. In seeing the results of his labour, we wanted to discuss with Max where the idea came from, how he sees it developing and when can we look forward to the next night. 

• FYI: It’s Monday, November 2nd at The Diamond. Bartenders Carolyn Yu of OldBird and Nicole Cote of Published will be behind the stick for this one. 

Follow the Pine and Palm Instagram feed for more information on how you can support this noble cause. Make your reservations now.


With Dallah El Chami, we were very excited to chat with him on how the Vancouver Food and Beverage Community Relief Fund was going since the last time we spoke. He dished on their plans for the future, how they plan to give away their funds and much much more.

As well, with the imminent arrival of Superbaba on Main Street, we wanted to know more of what was in store for his widely popular middle eastern restaurant. With an aim to open for early November, for take away only to start, Dallah shared with us his philosophies on opening a restaurant, the struggles of COVID-19 and his managerial style.

If you work in the hospitality industry in BC and need some financial support, do check out the Van FBC Fund as it’s a resource for you. Act now. That money is there for you.

https://www.vanfbc.com

Also, keep your eyes peeled for Superbaba on Main Street. We look forward to sampling an array of their offerings. Follow them on Instagram for all the latest details. 

***Scout is one of Vancouver’s leading food and culture magazines. If you’re wanting to learn more about the city’s food and cultural sphere with regards to community news, new restaurant openings, essential guides to some of the city’s best offerings as well as who’s hiring, Scout is where you should go. They also have a sister website called Islandist. Same type of content only Island driven. That’s Islandist.ca.
We’re proud to have Scout as our presenting sponsor as we believe what they “Scout out” is an excellent compliment to what we’re offering here with Track and Food. Do check them out. scoutmagazine.ca

Now brought to you by Scout Magazine.

In this episode we were thrilled to not only record again but excited to chat with Tacofino's head of Talent and Culture Taylor Chobotiuk about their Shift Change series on diversity in restaurants.

Shift Change began back in 2019 as a new thought experiment by the team at Tacofino.

"Shift Change aims to encourage dialogue about issues prevalent in the hospitality industry like gender, diversity and inclusion, mental health and substance dependency in an effort to find meaningful and lasting solutions. At its core, Shift Change looks to support positive and sustainable change for our industry by inspiring people to take action."

With a new world order altering how we interact, the series shifted this past fall to a four part webinar series. The first two centred on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion for Racialized Groups Within the Industry and Queer Competency for the Hospitality Industry. This coming Tuesday, January 12th will be third instalment in the series. The focus this time around will be on Inclusive Hiring for Food and Beverage Workers on the Autism Spectrum.
Registration is free. The talk will be from 3:00pm - 4:30pm PST. You can sign up here.

This chat was a lot of fun for us. Taylor's candid and endearing. You can tell he cares. We like that. We need more of this in our society. 2020 sucked. Talks such as these are excellent for our community. Hopefully they have more in the pipeline. We urge you to check out next week's episode. Looks to be a good one.

As always, we thank you for all the support this past year. We have plenty on the docket for this year, so stay tuned for more. Enjoy the episode.


**What can we say about Tacofino. We adore what they do. They have locations all over Vancouver. Do check them out. We recommend the nachos with a side of several margaritas. We also have a soft spot for their original Vancouver location up on Hastings. The light show there is killer.





***Scout is one of Vancouver’s leading food and culture magazines. If you’re wanting to learn more about the city’s food and cultural sphere with regards to community news, new restaurant openings, essential guides to some of the city’s best offerings as well as who’s hiring, Scout is where you should go. They also have a sister website called Islandist. Same type of content only Island driven. That’s Islandist.ca.
We’re proud to have Scout as our presenting sponsor as we believe what they “Scout out” is an excellent compliment to what we’re offering here with Track and Food. Do check them out. scoutmagazine.ca

Now brought to you by Scout Magazine. 

In this episode we were excited to finally record again (Jamie got sick with Covid for 3 weeks - wank!) as well as chat with Grace Kennedy, the owner of Livlite, Vancouver’s newest zero waste grocery delivery company. 

Having only been around since August of 2020, we were curious to discuss with Grace why she’d open during this period, how she got Livlite off the ground, the logistics of running a zero waste business, dealing with suppliers, ethics of her decision and much much more. 

This was a really fun chat, Grace was honest, funny and candid. We learned plenty and loved exploring her business concept but also the ethics of our consumer driven choices. 

If you’re interested in learning more about the vagaries of going zero waste, but more importantly this great new company, do have a listen. We promise you’ll enjoy it.


If you're pressed for time or just want to support a really rad local company, start shopping with Livlite. It's an easy process. They have a great selection of products. CSA bags!!
You can find them at livlite.co


***Scout is one of Vancouver’s leading food and culture magazines. If you’re wanting to learn more about the city’s food and cultural sphere with regards to community news, new restaurant openings, essential guides to some of the city’s best offerings as well as who’s hiring, Scout is where you should go. They also have a sister website called Islandist. Same type of content only Island driven. That’s Islandist.ca.
We’re proud to have Scout as our presenting sponsor as we believe what they “Scout out” is an excellent compliment to what we’re offering here with Track and Food. Do check them out. scoutmagazine.ca

In this episode we sit down with the fellas behind the emerging catering/consulting company Ono Vancouver. Chefs TJ Conwi and Bruce Nollert dish the goods on their latest project, ‘Chefs in the Hood’, a pop dinner featuring chefs from various Vancouver restaurants who will look to showcase their talents from the hoods they represent. With an emphasis on high quality food, and a farm to table objective, the dinner looks to be a great opportunity for anyone seeking a unique dining experience. Happening on Oct 20th, with tickets selling for $75.00. Aside from this great project, we discussed: food waste, giving back to the community and Dan’s charity, which the guys are very passionate about. This is one of our more laidback episodes, if they can get any more relaxed. Tea was drunk and unfortunately hits to Jamie’s basketball ego were thrown. 

Now brought to you by Scout Magazine.

This episode is also brought to you by Tullamore Dew Irish Whisky. We partnered with them to help bring awareness for their O'Everyone campaign. You can learn more about it here.

Tullamore D.E.W. invites you to create your very own personalized O' Lastname T‑Shirt & Bottle label bundle. 100% of proceeds from merchandise sales on this site are donated to the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion. Unlock the power of your O' Lastname below, put your T‑shirt on, apply your bottle label and raise a glass in support of powerful CCDI initiatives across Canada!

Money raised for a good cause. Please drink responsibly.

In this episode we were thrilled to bring on two good friends in Conner Joseph of The Diamond and Brandon Frederick of 33 Acres Brewing. Their energy together delighted us as they shared candid insights about life as bartender and chef during a pandemic. How they coped early last year when things shut down, to how they've adapted along the way. Both are passionate about their industry and love what they do. Jamie stands by his ascension that Conner is by far the best bartender in Vancouver. The guy is a machine. Do go watch him.

This episode is fun, extremely frank and an overall great listen. Enjoy!


The Diamond is a cocktail bar in Gastown. It's been around since 2009. The room is killer. Fun. Energetic. Some of the best cocktails around. We recommend trying their Sidecar.

33 Acres is a brewery in Mount Pleasant. It opened in 2013. The room is chic and minimalist. It's extremely busy. All their beers are delicious. They have a fun side patio. Do try their Darkness. It's a dark lager style of beer. Delicious!


***Scout is one of Vancouver’s leading food and culture magazines. If you’re wanting to learn more about the city’s food and cultural sphere with regards to community news, new restaurant openings, essential guides to some of the city’s best offerings as well as who’s hiring, Scout is where you should go. They also have a sister website called Islandist. Same type of content only Island driven. That’s Islandist.ca.
We’re proud to have Scout as our presenting sponsor as we believe what they “Scout out” is an excellent compliment to what we’re offering here with Track and Food. Do check them out. scoutmagazine.ca

Now brought to you by Scout Magazine.

There isn't much to explain here. Indoor dining has been shelved for three weeks. Probably longer. It sucks. This is going to hurt a lot of restaurants. The boys dispel their feelings.

Sadly, co-host Mickey McLeod wasn't able to join due to work commitments. His presence was missed in so many ways. But never fear, this chat has a plethora of commentary and even some healthy banter.

It's a great listen. Enjoy!


***Scout is one of Vancouver’s leading food and culture magazines. If you’re wanting to learn more about the city’s food and cultural sphere with regards to community news, new restaurant openings, essential guides to some of the city’s best offerings as well as who’s hiring, Scout is where you should go. They also have a sister website called Islandist. Same type of content only Island driven. That’s Islandist.ca.
We’re proud to have Scout as our presenting sponsor as we believe what they “Scout out” is an excellent compliment to what we’re offering here with Track and Food. Do check them out. scoutmagazine.ca

Now brought to you by Scout Magazine.

It's been just over a year since the pandemic upended everyone's lives. Some more than others, none probably more so than Chef Alex Sandoval of Le Crocodile. Jamie was intrigued to bring her on today so she could tell her story. As someone who was living her best life, cooking under world renowned Chef Ignacio Mattos at eponymous restaurant Estela in New York City, Sandoval looked to have it all. Then March 15th, 2020 hit and everything changed. Two days later she was on a flight back to Vancouver. Just like that, a dream stolen. A life forever altered.

As dour as all that sounds, this conversation is fun and lively as Alex recounts her memories of that time with frankness and honesty. An opportunity was lost but time heals all wounds and she's a Chef at heart. You can feel how much she loves her work and that passion is what drives this industry. Much respect.

We hope you enjoy this one!


Here's the link to the column Jamie reference's about Alex and Estela.

From Grubstreet: 

When the Restaurants Closed, They Cooked for Each Other

Chef Ignacio Mattos had just earned a Michelin star. Now he’s struggling to feed his staff.

(Sadly, still no Mickey. Le sigh)


***Scout is one of Vancouver’s leading food and culture magazines. If you’re wanting to learn more about the city’s food and cultural sphere with regards to community news, new restaurant openings, essential guides to some of the city’s best offerings as well as who’s hiring, Scout is where you should go. They also have a sister website called Islandist. Same type of content only Island driven. That’s Islandist.ca.
We’re proud to have Scout as our presenting sponsor as we believe what they “Scout out” is an excellent compliment to what we’re offering here with Track and Food. Do check them out. scoutmagazine.ca

In the first of our monthly book club series, we tackle the book that put famed Chef and TV personality Anthony Bourdain on the map, Kitchen Confidential. A rousing and fun read, we discuss how the book relates to some our own experiences working in hospitality, how Anthony's personality was fuelled by some of the choices he made and what the significance of the book has come to be 18 years after it was first published. 

We talk about some the books most entertaining moments, from how he witnessed a bride cheating on her husband during their wedding dinner (gulp!) to Anthony's awkward recount of waiting to be interviewed for a job he desperately needed. Sex, drugs and alcohol fuel this journey and it's a ride we highly recommend. 

This was a fun exercise. Stay tuned to the end as we announce book 2 in the series.  

Now brought to you by Scout Magazine.

What an excellent chat. For this one we were very thrilled to have on the President and CEO of the BC Restaurants And Food Services Association, Ian Tostenson, to talk about what his group has done to help the restaurant community during the pandemic. As someone who is at the forefront of communication with the government, Tostenson has a unique perspective and influence over small and large issues regarding restaurant policy and aid. We wanted to learn more of how things get done, what his association aims to do moving forward, his own thoughts on the Corduroy saga from a few weeks back and much much more.

Mickey is back and it definitely makes for one of our best episodes. We run through plenty, and we're certain you'll enjoy it.


https://www.bcrfa.com
"The BCRFA is one of the most respected business organizations in the province. We are your voice to the government, your source for real-time information about key issues facing your business and your resource for excellent value and cost savings. By joining the BCRFA you will become part of the province’s leading business organization. Our programs and industry partnerships are designed to create growth and success for operators like you.

As restaurant and food services professionals, we know you are constantly searching for ways to build your bottom line. Our team can introduce you to professional advisors, ideas, and products to strengthen your business while suggesting strategies to deal with existing issues."

***Scout is one of Vancouver’s leading food and culture magazines. If you’re wanting to learn more about the city’s food and cultural sphere with regards to community news, new restaurant openings, essential guides to some of the city’s best offerings as well as who’s hiring, Scout is where you should go. They also have a sister website called Islandist. Same type of content only Island driven. That’s Islandist.ca.
We’re proud to have Scout as our presenting sponsor as we believe what they “Scout out” is an excellent compliment to what we’re offering here with Track and Food. Do check them out. scoutmagazine.ca

Now brought to you by Scout Magazine. 

Now here’s a fun one. Two Chef heavyweights talking collaboration, life during the pandemic, staying upbeat, frustrations with third-party delivery apps and why they both love Chef Peter Ho. 

First, let’s just call it what it is, Chef and entrepreneur Doug Stephen has been killing it these past few years with his Downlow Chicken brand. Don’t believe me? Just drive on up to Commercial Drive at any time of the day and look for the massive crowd waiting outside for their orders. 

They’re always busy!!!

Doug has been doing just so for years now with his love for this city and the food he wants to provide. Downlow Chicken and Downlow Burgers at The American are gems of the highest order. We’re really stoked he jumped on for this episode. He doesn’t disappoint. 

Then there’s Chef and Culinary Director Phil Scarfone of Osteria Savio Volpe, Pepino’s Spaghetti House and Cafe La Tana. Don’t sleep on this man and his talent. Jamie has tasted his food numerous times in the past, back when he was at Hawksworth and then at Nightingale and lately at his new homes. The man can cook and from what we learned today, he’s a calm leader who wants to do right by his profession and team. You’d be remiss to think he’d have an ego the size of a three Michelin star chef after coming in second in Top Chef Canada a few years back, but as you’ll quickly see during this interview, he’s laidback and chill. Our kind of guy. Plus he’s a big forager. What’s not to like about that?

This episode is great and the boys deliver. We hope you enjoy. 

**Technical note: When the boys jump on, we had a bit of sound difficulty at the beginning, so the conversation jumps about 30 seconds to Doug explaining his basketball shoe collection after having just purchased a home basketball net. We apologize for this. Life via Zoom? Not ideal but it’ll have to do for now.

***Scout is one of Vancouver’s leading food and culture magazines. If you’re wanting to learn more about the city’s food and cultural sphere with regards to community news, new restaurant openings, essential guides to some of the city’s best offerings as well as who’s hiring, Scout is where you should go. They also have a sister website called Islandist. Same type of content only Island driven. That’s Islandist.ca.
We’re proud to have Scout as our presenting sponsor as we believe what they “Scout out” is an excellent compliment to what we’re offering here with Track and Food. Do check them out. scoutmagazine.ca

Now brought to you by Scout Magazine.

There are those who talk and those who do. Tristan Jagger is in the latter camp and Vancouver is better for it. Having launched Vancouver Food Runners at the beginning of the pandemic last year, her charity has helped address and bridge the gap of food waste in the community using innovative app technology. With a roster of over 1,200 volunteers, Vancouver Food Runners has rescued over 275,000 pounds of food, which is equivalent to over 229,000 meals. This is an amazing accomplishment and we were thrilled to chat with her on how this idea came to be, how it works and what's it's been like navigating things during the pandemic along with raising four young children. Tristan is great and delivers with plenty of heart and candidness.  We're confident you'll love this one. 

If you'd like to become a volunteer for Vancouver Food Runners, just download the app and sign up. It's easy and takes only a few minutes. They'll even send you a free t shirt if you do over 20 deliveries.


***Scout is one of Vancouver’s leading food and culture magazines. If you’re wanting to learn more about the city’s food and cultural sphere with regards to community news, new restaurant openings, essential guides to some of the city’s best offerings as well as who’s hiring, Scout is where you should go. They also have a sister website called Islandist. Same type of content only Island driven. That’s Islandist.ca.
We’re proud to have Scout as our presenting sponsor as we believe what they “Scout out” is an excellent compliment to what we’re offering here with Track and Food. Do check them out. scoutmagazine.ca

Altruism is the belief in or practice of disinterested and selfless concern for the well-being of others. It’s a concept of shared happiness at the expense of self.

In this episode we discuss this concept and how it relates to the wine world. This reference comes from Jamie's latest column, "Would A Small Bit Of Altruism Be A Saving Grace For A Wine Industry Obsessed With Competition And Status?" This idea is one he tackled from the narrative of a few wine related stories which came to his purview recently. We touch on the Court of Master Sommelier scandal, old Romanee-Conti fetching for two million dollars and the release of Somm III.

We later discuss subscription services for restaurants, Opentable and the sale of Reserve to Resy and much more. Stories of Krug Champagne are told, one of which is rather sad and brunch once again found its way into the conversation. 

Now brought to you by Scout Magazine.

It's always wonderful to chat with individuals who are happy and fulfilled. Today's talk with bartender and budding entrepreneur Alex Black of imminent Blnd Tger was no exception. I've known Alex for many years now as a prominent fixture within the Vancouver hospitality industry. He's worked for some exceptional people and businesses. Most notably Wildebeest, Hawksworth and Nightingale just to name a few.

We got on the line the other day to discuss his newest venture, a dumpling shop that will be the front of what used to be Mamie Taylor's. I say front because the back part of the space is still under construction for a different concept all together.

Hoping to pay homage to the neighbourhood and their fondness for Chinese dumplings, Black and his team are coming this way with a small 7 dumpling menu with a focused, but fun beverage program.  From what I've gathered, they've done the research and are excited to soon showcase what they've come up with. Can't wait.

This chat was fun, informative and completely PG, something he and I often lack when speaking. Enjoy!

Sadly, no Mickey. School demands his attention. He apologizes.

blndtgerdumplings

In this episode we chat with Hawksworth sommelier and over all great guy Jayton Paul. Jayton regales us with some pretty hilarious tails of his experiences in the Vancouver hospitality scene and flexes his vast knowledge on not only fine wines but wine culture overall. Jamie and Jayton geek out super hard while Mick tries to keep up, It's a real insight in to world of the Sommelier and vancouver hospitality in general and way more basketball talk goes on than expected.....Jayton is 6ft six so don't ask...

Now brought to you by Scout Magazine.

What luck it is for me today to discuss today's topic with UBC Professor Edward Slingerland. His latest book which came out on June 1st delves into the world of imbibing and how its purveyance within our world and history has helped shape our modern civilization. The book in question is titled, Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced and Stumbled Our Way To Civilization.

It's a fantastic read and often hilarious in it's scope as Professor Slingerland examines our tendency to want to get drunk, how this act has enabled us to trust and cooperate and why this engagement with alcohol has fostered human development. Not to ignore some of drinking's pitfalls and how one ought to be cautious with the negative aspects of drinking too much, especially with regards to distillation, Professor Slingerland details a unique perspective of our fondness for altering our mental state.

This is a fantastic chat with plenty of insight. I hope you enjoy.

Do buy his book. You won't regret it.

https://www.edwardslingerland.com

Edward Slingerland is Distinguished University Scholar and Professor of Philosophy at the University of British Columbia, where he also holds appointments in the Departments of Psychology and Asian Studies. Educated at Princeton, Stanford and UC Berkeley, he has taught at the University of Colorado, Boulder, the University of Southern California and the University of British Columbia. Dr. Slingerland is an expert on early Chinese thought, comparative religion and cognitive science of religion, big data approaches to cultural analysis, cognitive linguistics, digital humanities and humanities-science integration. He is the author of several academic monographs and edited volumes from Oxford and Cambridge University Press, a major translation of the Analects of Confucius, and approximately fifty book chapters, reviews, and articles in top academic journals in a wide range of fields, from psychology, cognitive science and linguistics to Asian studies, philosophy, religious studies and international relations. He is the recipient of several book, research innovation and teaching awards. Dr. Slingerland’s broad research goals involve exploring the potential of novel digital humanities techniques, introducing more psychological realism and evolutionary perspectives to cultural studies and philosophy, and getting scientists to understand the importance and value of humanistic expertise—especially when it comes to research areas such as literature, ethics or religion.

 His first trade book, Trying Not to Try: Ancient China, Modern Science and the Power of Spontaneity (Crown 2014), ties together insights from early Chinese thought and modern psychological research. His second, Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization (Little, Brown Spark June 2021), targets the standard scientific view of our taste for intoxicants as an evolutionary accident, arguing instead that alcohol and other drugs have played a crucial role in helping humans to be more creative, trusting and prosocial, thereby easing the transition from small-scale to large-scale societies.  

Dr. Slingerland is also Director of the Database of Religious History (DRH), an online, quantitative and qualitative encyclopedia of religious cultural history, based at UBC and  involving a large international network of postdocs, editors and contributors. As primary investigator, he has received over $11 million in grants to support projects exploring the origins of religion and their role in supporting large-scale societies or developing innovative digital humanities techniques and platforms. Dr. Slingerland also teaches two popular MOOCs on the edX platform on “Chinese Thought: Ancient Wisdom Meets Modern Science” and “The Science of Religion.”

In this episode we chat with local up and coming writer Tracy Giesz-Ramsay about addiction, its root causes and how society has come to recognize many of its symptoms. Drawing on some of her well researched knowledge, Tracy gives us the goods of why this issue is one worth discussing.

We highly recommend you read her latest feature from Ricochet Magazine “The Underlying Causes Of An Escalating Crisis.” It’s a vivid and eye opening piece that will give you full insight into a growing epidemic.

This was a fun and insightful episode for us. Definitely one of our favourites.

You can also find more of Tracy’s work on her website, ReframingAddiction. 

Now brought to you by Scout Magazine.

Well this was a fun one. 

James Grant, the newly crowned 2021 World Class Global Bartender Of The Year and his good friend and mentor, Jeff Savage, who himself came second at the 2019 World Class Global Finals distill at length their passion and adoration for what they do for a living and why they continue to pursue careers in this fickle industry. Essentially, they share a common ethos, a love of people.  Their words ring true and genuine in this conversation and it is wonderful to hear them dispense of their processes, secrets, pet peeves and common goals. You'll definitely gain plenty of insight throughout and most certainly a laugh or two.

Hospitality isn't for everyone, but when you encounter and get to talk with those who truly love being apart of it, it is inspiring. Most people spend their lives searching for that one thing they really enjoy doing, and from those, only a select few get to do it for a living. These two fine men have achieved both so I hope you enjoy what they have to say.  I know I certainly did.



You can find James Grant behind his bar Little Hong Kong (the bar inside the bar Baijiu) in Edmonton on Fridays and Saturdays. Go find him and get him to make you something special. Preferably stirred.

You can find Jeff Savage behind his bar, Botanist, on the second floor of The Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel in Vancouver. He's there Wednesday thru Saturday evenings. He leads with impeccable service and his drinks are second to none. Go say hello and get cozy. You won't be disappointed.


***Scout is one of Vancouver’s leading food and culture magazines. If you’re wanting to learn more about the city’s food and cultural sphere with regards to community news, new restaurant openings, essential guides to some of the city’s best offerings as well as who’s hiring, Scout is where you should go. They also have a sister website called Islandist. Same type of content only Island driven. That’s Islandist.ca.
We’re proud to have Scout as our presenting sponsor as we believe what they “Scout out” is an excellent compliment to what we’re offering here with Track and Food. Do check them out. scoutmagazine.ca

 

Now brought to you by Scout Magazine.


Marijuana was legalized in Canada just a few years back and we are certain there are not many who are upset with this. Psilocybin, the chemical altering compound found in "magic mushrooms" is still illegal. It has been since 1974. This needs to change. Enter in Spencer Hawkswell. He's the CEO of a new Victoria based non-profit called TheraPsil. He helped co-found this venture with his friend and mentor Dr. Bruce Tobin who is a psychotherapist. Together they've helped a small group of Canadians in times of need, specifically end of life treatment. In doing so they've given those individuals at this time a new medicine with which to work with, one that isn't addictive and completely natural.  The results have been life changing. But they want to help all Canadians and until Health Canada changes the law regarding the manufacture, production and use of psilocybin, their hands are limited.

Enter a few weeks ago where they submitted a 165 page proposal detailing how psilocybin should be legalized. In this interview Spencer goes through this document, how he sees this process unfolding and what psilocybin access and treatment will look like.

You can hear it in his voice, he wants to help and we appreciate his candour and empathy for this cause. We're confident you'll enjoy this one. I say we, because Mickey is back!


therapsil.ca

TheraPsil is a non-profit coalition dedicated to helping Canadians in medical need access legal, psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy to treat end-of-life distress.

TheraPsil was formed in 2019 and is made up of healthcare professionals, patients, community members, and advocates. To meet our team, click here.

After over 100 days of advocating, TheraPsil facilitated precedent-setting and tangible progress in the fight for compassionate access to psilocybin therapy when it helped 4 Canadians suffering from end-of-life distress, due to a terminal illness, access approved 'section 56 exemptions' from the Minister of Health, on August 4th 2020. This was the first time section 56 exemptions for psilocybin had been approved for patients since psilocybin was made a controlled substance in 1974, in Canada.

As of March 2021, TheraPsil has now supported 27 patients in 5 different provinces access legal, psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy.



***Scout is one of Vancouver’s leading food and culture magazines. If you’re wanting to learn more about the city’s food and cultural sphere with regards to community news, new restaurant openings, essential guides to some of the city’s best offerings as well as who’s hiring, Scout is where you should go. They also have a sister website called Islandist. Same type of content only Island driven. That’s Islandist.ca.
We’re proud to have Scout as our presenting sponsor as we believe what they “Scout out” is an excellent compliment to what we’re offering here with Track and Food. Do check them out. scoutmagazine.ca

In this episode we spoke with Shoel Davidson and Mackenzie Chilton, who are two of the main drivers behind the new hospitality driven non-profit Mind The Bar. As an excellent follow up to our last episode which featured Tracy Giesz-Ramsay speaking about addiction, this episode we delve into what Mind The Bar is and how they're trying to bring awareness and resources for those who suffer from suicide, depression, anxiety and workplace harassment. 

Part of doing the podcast for us was to have episodes such as this one, where thoughtful discussion would emerge when an important topic needed a platform. Shoel and Mackenzie showed us that there are people out there who can and are willing to help anyone in need. It was important to us that we hear their story so as to help break down walls and stereotypes which surround mental health. 

We urge you all to have a listen to this episode. You or someone you know may be struggling with something. Associations such as Mind The Bar are here to help. 


**This will also be our last episode of 2018. We want to thank all of you for listening. Your support is much appreciated. We'll be back soon with some great guests so please stay tuned. Pass us along to your friends and please rate us. See ya in 2019! 

Jamie and Mick

Now brought to you by Scout Magazine.

What a treat it was to discuss all things BC wine with this trio of professionals. Two of the more prominent and distinguished winemakers in the Okanagan Valley in Alan Dickinson of Synchromesh Winery and Richard Kanazawa of Bench 1775 Winery came on to talk about what they've been up to so far with this years harvest, navigating another long season of heat and forest fires, global warming, where they see things headed and their own personal philosophies with regards to sustainable winemaking. It was a thrilling to hear them gush about work they genuinely love and enjoy.

Then there's one of the most respected and established sommeliers in Vancouver dishing on what she's seeing in her restaurant, Annalena, but also with regards to guest preferences and how this aspect of the BC wine market is evolving. Christina Hartigan brings a wealth of experience and knowledge few have in this part of the world, it was exciting to hear her thoughts alongside Alan and Richard.

If you love wine and are curious to hear some of the best share their thoughts, this is the episode for you. Plenty of insights and behind the curtains info shared.


Synchromesh Winery is located just above Okanagan Falls. Family owned, the Dickinson's grow and source wine from various vineyards all across the Okanagan Valley. They specialize in Riesling, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Franc. They’re wines are delicious and they sell out fast.

Bench 1775 is located on the southern shore of Lake Okanagan. It's a stunning winery which crafts an array of delicious wines to meet anyones palate. You will not be disappointed. Do check them out.

Annalena is one of the best and most consistent restaurants in Vancouver. Located in Kitsilano, this neighbourhood joint is bustling, intimate, delicious and always a great spot to dine at. Christina's spin on their wine menu is surely not to be missed.




***Scout is one of Vancouver’s leading food and culture magazines. If you’re wanting to learn more about the city’s food and cultural sphere with regards to community news, new restaurant openings, essential guides to some of the city’s best offerings as well as who’s hiring, Scout is where you should go. They also have a sister website called Islandist. Same type of content only Island driven. That’s Islandist.ca.
We’re proud to have Scout as our presenting sponsor as we believe what they “Scout out” is an excellent compliment to what we’re offering here with Track and Food. Do check them out. scoutmagazine.ca

We’re back!

In this episode we discuss news of possible changes to BC’s liquor laws as well as some trending topics the restaurant industry will be facing in 2019.

We reference proposals brought forth from the Mark Hicken report, a lawyer who was hired by the BC government to asses how to improve the efficiency and outcomes for business and government and all those who deal with the BCL.

Lastly we touch on the four topics Jamie wrote about in his most recent column, The State of Vancouver Restaurants at the Beginning of 2019.

Basketball talk ensues, emotions bubble up and Pete the Cat says hello. 

We’re delighted to be back. Thanks again for listening. We have plenty planned for the year, so please stay tuned. 

Now brought to you by Scout Magazine.

It's in the news everywhere. Restaurants are hurting for workers. This issue isn't new. It's been a problem for years now. The pandemic only exacerbated things to an even more dire state. And what better way to discuss this issue than to bring on my good friend James Iranzad of Gooseneck Hospitality as well as one of my favourite guests from this past spring, the head of the BC Restaurants Association, Ian Tostenson.

Their expertise in this area with regards to government, policy, and as a restaurant owner in James' case, real world specifics, gave them the type of working knowledge I was looking for. This conversation isn't fun per se, but needed nonetheless. Both men provide candid thoughts and views on this matter, ones I'm confident you'll definitely appreciate, regardless if you work in this industry or not.  A worker shortage in the restaurant sector affects everyone. Solving this issue, if that is possible, will take big ideas and a change in perception. With this conversation we tried to tackle a few of them. I hope you enjoy.


***This conversation leans heavily on a column I wrote in late September. To get a clearer understanding of my thoughts on this matter as to better guide you through this interview, I recommend giving it a read. It's titled: A New Reality For The Restaurant Industry.


Do check out some of James' restaurants, they're all fantastic. There's Bufala Kerrisdale, Bufala Edgemont, Bells & Whistles Fraser, Bells & Whistles Dunbar, Lucky Taco and his newest venture, Oh Carolina.

Here's a link to the BC Restaurants Association.


***Scout is one of Vancouver’s leading food and culture magazines. If you’re wanting to learn more about the city’s food and cultural sphere with regards to community news, new restaurant openings, essential guides to some of the city’s best offerings as well as who’s hiring, Scout is where you should go. They also have a sister website called Islandist. Same type of content only Island driven. That’s Islandist.ca.
We’re proud to have Scout as our presenting sponsor as we believe what they “Scout out” is an excellent compliment to what we’re offering here with Track and Food. Do check them out. scoutmagazine.ca

In memory of Andrew Morrison of Scout Magazine.


Well for all of you who've followed this podcast since its inception, you'll have no doubt heard me talk about Scout Magazine numerous times over the years.  Not only are they our presenting sponsor, but I've also been a contributor of theirs since 2016. This episode has a bit of a twist to it in that my friend and editor at Scout, Andrew Morrison, recently passed away from a short battle with cancer. He is survived by his wife Michelle and two sons, James and Pip. Fittingly and somewhat bittersweet, this episode is the last directive Andrew gave to me before his passing, and with a loving tone and big heart, the person I have interviewed is not only someone he admired, but also a close family friend. Cancer sucks and death at any age is never easy. Our love goes out to Michelle and the boys and their family during this time. Much love.

Now for this episode, what a delight it was to chat with Shira Blustein. She's been a prominent figurehead in the Vancouver restaurant community since the inception her acclaimed restaurant Acorn first opened. Awards, accolades and praise locally and globally have come to her and her team for the excellent food and drink they continue to provide. My co-host of this podcast,  Mickey, is even an employee now and he's really enjoyed every second being on the team. But, not to just discuss her restaurant, Shira has a new cookbook on the horizon. It's dropping at all bookstores near you on November 9th. Aptly titled: Acorn - Vegetables Re-Imagined: Seasonal Recipes from Root to Stem. With this exciting development, we discussed how this book came about, the process of getting it off the ground, what's in it and who this book is for. We also chatted about animal welfare practises and the rise of vegetarian restaurants. This a fun and really informative interview. Shira brings a wonderful candid energy. You're sure to laugh a few times as well. I hope you enjoy.


If you want delicious vegetarian or vegan fare, the kind that is impeccably creative as well as comforting, do hit up The Acorn. You will not be disappointed. Also, say hi to Mickey while you're there as well. He'll be behind the bar. Tell him you're a fan of the podcast, it'll make him blush.

Here's the link to the gofundme I mention at the top of this episode for Michelle and the kids. If you'd like to donate, that would be lovely. They've heavily exceeded their goal, which says a lot about how people viewed Andrew. Beautiful to see.


***Scout is one of Vancouver’s leading food and culture magazines. If you’re wanting to learn more about the city’s food and cultural sphere with regards to community news, new restaurant openings, essential guides to some of the city’s best offerings as well as who’s hiring, Scout is where you should go. They also have a sister website called Islandist. Same type of content only Island driven. That’s Islandist.ca.
We’re proud to have Scout as our presenting sponsor as we believe what they “Scout out” is an excellent compliment to what we’re offering here with Track and Food. Do check them out. scoutmagazine.ca