review: au petit chavignol

Vancouver, being the big, blue-eyed toddler that it still is has remained sadly sparse in its offering of cheese & wine bars. The Salt Tasting Room, which finally opened its doors a couple of years ago, has since had a gradual following with the opening of UVA Wine Bar last year. But just a few months ago I was suddenly teased by a furious buzz of words that left me full of feverish excitement: a 36-seat cheese & wine bar to open in the somewhat stark area of Vancouver at 845 East Hastings Street. &, as if I needed another reason for my heart to suddenly stop beating, I then hear that the restaurant is set to open by Alice and Allison Spurrell, the owners of les Amis du Fromage, alongside with Joe Chaput: the Duke of cheese & salami in the city. oh, Vancouver – just when I instinctively begin to glance outside of our relationship in yearning to fill the void that you constantly leave me with, here you are drawing me back in at the brink of our collapse. You’re beautiful & all, but bless you for finally realizing that I can’t eat your mountains.

A few have criticized Au Petit Chavignol’s location, in saying that the area is gritty & the restaurant displaced. Personally, I’m drawn to the more desolate & disconnected part of the city, where conformity to a district does not yet exist, & the neutrality of its neighborhood provides its visitors with the chance to focus on the food away from the distraction of trends. From layout to lighting, the restaurant is intimate & diffused of pretention. There were booths hugging tight corners of the room but I sat at the bar to subtly spy on the swarm of passionate activity.

Everything is made fresh & in-house on a daily basis. Characteristically, the food menu consists mainly of cheese but also offers home-made terrines, Iberico Ham & Prosciutto di Parma. The pleasant difference between this particular cheese & wine bar & that of any others in the city is that here they also offer soups, salads, fondue & other cheese-infused meals. I ordered a selection of cheeses from the cow (comté de montagne), goat (marcella) & sheep (pecorino brillo). The cheese, fixed in its own presence of flavor ranging from wood to aged chalky saltiness & red wine, bode well with the adequate & diverse selection of wine (by bottle or glass), & was on par with the Riesling; the obvious pet in the room. As per recommendation, I had two glasses of the German Leitz Riesling & found that it was the ideal balance between all the varying flavors on my plate.

I had plans that night already & sadly could not linger, but am already planning on re-visiting again soon. For now I remain comforted with the evidence of effort that my city is displaying & plan on holding steady for.. at least another month.

studies in motion / eadweard muybridge

An old high school friend, who now works for the Playhouse Theatre Company, sent me an invitation to attend Studies in Motion: The Hauntings of Eadweard Muybridge. I’m not typically interested in the theatre, but was drawn to going after I found out that it was about photographic investigations into animal locomotion & human movement, at a time when photography was beginning to gain traction as a new & near spellbinding technology.

Although Muybridge was not a filmmaker, he was dubbed the “Father of Motion Picture”, for his inventive work & studies of visual phases in movement. Muybridge’s determination was initially driven by his obsession to prove that there is a moment in a horse’s gallop when all four hooves are off the ground. Although he considered himself an artist, his work has since been accepted as scientific research into the studies of movement. However ambitious, his commitment & looming madness with the documentation of his work was nearly swallowed by the dramatics of his personal life. An early stage accident and a resulting head injury forced him out of his early work in San Francisco & back to England for healing. Muybridge returned to San Francisco, accumulated appraisal & success in his work & fell in love, only to be betrayed by infidelity & left with a pregnant wife: identity of the father unknown. Muybridge shot & killed his wife’s lover, but was later acquitted for reasons of a “justifiable homicide”. Despite his lingering feelings of transgression, Muybridge carried on with his studies in motion, progressing the art of photography as if forever cursed by the creative demon of his conscience.

The play was created by Kevin Kerr & directed by Kim Collier of the Playhouse Theatre Company. The music, the somber & yet violent lighting aligned flawlessly with both the acting & choreography.

Despite the play’s ominous mood, it was still surprisingly hilarious & full of scandalous nudity.

review: rolf binder hales 2006 shiraz

Oenophiles, detain your disappointment as I proudly admit that I carry a consuming crush on full-bodied, fruit-bomb wines. The types that are so chock-full of complexity that the smell of these ball-busters consolidate my senses solely to the nose immediately after opening. This might have something to do with how I often times substitute dessert for wine & may subconsciously be yearning for a similarity in taste. You see, as much as I love gorgeous pastries & other such sweets, (see: sidebar links – David Lebovitz), I have a ridiculously slow metabolism & am forced to maintain some type of balance, (sometimes). It’s torturous. I have, however, been recently laying the palate-killer grapes to rest & diversifying my selection. Just, not so much with this bottle. Tomorrow, I promise.

Naturally, what I was initially looking for was a fruit-bomb but what I really got was an Australian Shiraz variety that lingered slightly off that path with the addition of Mouvedre & Grenache. That certainly does not exclude it from being tasty & thoroughly enjoyed. It’s quite floral & bodes cayenne-like spice with a citrus edge. What hit me the most above all were jammy, dark & delicious blueberries. Lovely. Finish was long but slightly acidic. Not the best balance for me but the structure may have shifted with an hour or two in the decanter. Something I don’t use often because I’m the most Impatient Person in the World.

It’s not a legendary value-wine, but for $22 CDN at the local LDB store, it’s certainly worth a go.

dirty librarian chains

Librarians everywhere rejoice for reason to riot against the stale stereotype of your supposed dry intellect, & elect to exhibit evidence of your sly, scholastic sexiness.

Dirty Librarian Chains. Vintage, awry & all a little different, these designs were made by Susan Domelsmith, who knotted, draped, clustered & classically created her pieces after claiming defeat in a crusade to find jewelry of similar iconoclastic style. All Domelsmith’s work is appropriately directed towards the bibliophile beauty by boasting such names as Poetry, Archive, Critique, Publication & Renewal.

As a writer & lover of books myself, I personally adore these erratically charming webs of chain. Come hither towards the full collection here.

Courtesy of Kaboodle.

Courtesy of Real Simple.

douglas coupland / mom & dad

Last night I attended Douglas Coupland’s opening reception for his most recent art exhibit, entitled Mom & Dad, & held at the Monte Clark Gallery in South Granville.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Coupland’s work, he is a Canadian novelist who is most notably known for his international bestseller, Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture. He’s since published twelve novels, seven non-fiction & has written work for both film & television. He’s also studied art & design in Canada, Japan & Italy.

In this solo exhibition, Coupland stands at the unavoidable intersection of Andy Warhol as he blends years of his own personal family experiences with his studies & work in pop-culture. The first visual component was a series of flat, framed wigs, made to represent the collection that Warhol use to wear. These were made out animal furs sourced from a taxidermist, which reflected Coupland’s family upbringing in British Columbia. The second part of the show was a vibrant & deeply disturbing re-work of Warhol’s Marilyn paintings & prints. Black, dripping eyes & cigarette foils were some of the peculiar materials used to define his own perception of Warhol. The last & certainly not least part of the show was tucked away on the gallery’s top floor & featured a series of graphic work displaying anime-style Japanese porn with a pop-culture touch. In my words, “pretty porn”.

As per the Coupland’s exhibit schedule, yesterday’s Mom & Dad show was the only one in Vancouver, but if you live in Toronto, do try & make an effort to catch this show there on June 18th. There will be free wine. Many a motivation.

Also, if you’re part of the twitter community like I am, follow Coupland’s tweets here.

| coupland.com