23 replies to this topic

[D.L.]

Where can you recommend for good home made soup?

[G-Man]

Pag's for sure and you can't beat their all you can eat lunch for 5 bucks!

[Jada]

You can get some good Vietnames Pho at Pho Hoa on Fort. Yum!

[Willa]

I had a very tasty peanut/sweet potato soup at the Parsonage Cafe. Yum.

[Mike K.]

You can get some good Vietnames Pho at Pho Hoa on Fort. Yum!

Word.

[Photogirl]

The Blue Carrot cafe/restaurant in Bastion Square serves excellent homemade soup. There was a write up about the owner in the paper last year. I seem to remember something about maybe being voted best soup in the city, but I could be wrong so don't quote me on that

[G-Man]

The Blue Carrot cafe... voted best soup in the city...

Sorry couldn't help myself

[D.L.]

sounds good i'll try them out sometime. thanks

[gumgum]

The Blue Carrot has good everything.

[Holden West]

There's a soup place in the St. Andrew's mall but I don't know if it's homemade.

Speaking of "homemade" restaurant food, I always think it's funny to see menus that say "home style" and supermarket items that say "restaurant style".

Most restaurant food in Victoria comes from [url=http://www.northdouglas.com/about/:63253]North Douglas[/url:63253], a Sysco company that serves 400,000 restaurants from here to [url=http://www.slate.com/id/2083612/:63253]Guantanamo Bay[/url:63253] (where the suspected terrorists are gaining weight).

Slightly scary [url=http://www.slate.com/id/2160284?nav=tap3:63253]article[/url:63253] about the Sysco empire.

[Mike K.]

^you got that right. Anyone remember that place on Government Street called Cheesecake Cafe? Their "specialty, unique and delicious" cakes were shipped directly from North Doug.

Holden's right, much of the foods we consume in our restaurants are processed and re-processed by manufacturers -- not chefs. So much for the whole entre orgasm marketing thingy.

[Jada]

You have to understand that 100% of restaurants get their produce and dry goods from wholesalers such as Sysco, North Doug, Trimpac, Konigs etc.

It's not a secret, nor is it a coverup that has just been discovered. It's the way the trade works.

Chef's and kitchen managers don't spend their time wandering the produce isles. They order all their food over the phone, and it comes usually the same day, delivered to their back door. It's a great system that works, and as everything is wholesale, it makes the food affordable for everyone.

The thing about Cheesecake Factory is that yes, they may be getting their Cheesecake's from Sysco or whomever. But those Cheesecakes are not produced by Sysco. The Cheesecakes would have been produced by a bakery that is either owned or has a contract with the Cheesecake factory. The bakery then would ship their Cheesecakes to a central location like Sysco (instead of having warehouses in every city of their own), and Sysco charges the Cheesecake factory for the refridgeration and delivery of their goods.

This still means that the cheesecake at the Cheesecake factory was produced by the company. The fact that they led us all to believe that the cakes were made "in house" is another issue altogether.

[Mike K.]

I have no problem with restaurants ordering ingredients from Sysco/North Doug, but ordering prepared meals produced by large-scale manufacturers and selling them under the guise of in-house meals is what bugs me.

This is why I think the whole "culinary orgasm" marketing gimmick is a bit of a crock. The food available in many of our "world class" restaurants is exactly the same stuff you can order in a suburb of Idaho.

[VicHockeyFan]

There's a soup place in the St. Andrew's mall but I don't know if it's homemade.

That's supposed to be good.

[VicHockeyFan]

Slightly scary [url=http://www.slate.com/id/2160284?nav=tap3:17c7c]article[/url:17c7c] about the Sysco empire.

There is nothing scary about that. Sysco runs a very efficient operation, IMO.

If people want "home-made" stuff, they should ask for it, but be prepared to pay more for it. Most won't pay the extra cost. That's just the way it is.

[gumgum]

Can someone list me restaurants that don't use pre-prepared meals? I'm willing to bet these are the favourites in the city.

[G-Man]

The Temple gets most of its stuff from the higher end suppliers but the bottom line is that everything has to come from a supplier except for the few places that have their own little herb gardens...

[Caramia]

Daidako Japanese Restaurant near the bug zoo uses a local organic farm for much of their ingredients. But I think a lot of restaurants make their food in house even if they get the raw ingredients through North Douglas.

[G-Man]

There are good organic local suppliers but that is still a supplier. I thought everyone was getting all anti-corporate. The reality is you just can't shop at Lifestyles for your restaurant and make a profit.

[Jada]

Can someone list me restaurants that don't use pre-prepared meals? I'm willing to bet these are the favourites in the city.

Gumgum.. most restaurants don't use prepared meals. I would reckon that all the restaurants that aren't corporate.. (meaning not restaurants like the Med Grill, Cactus Club etc), create all their meals from scratch. I'm a professional cook with 10+ years of experience, and I can guarantee you this. I spent many a year peeling onions and cooking everything from scratch.

But every single restaurant in Victoria uses a supplier like Sysco to get their ingredients. Sysco supplies both raw ingredients like fresh herbs and uncut vegetables, all the way to boxed foods like Kraft dinner. It's really up to the restaurant what they order and how they prepare their meals. Sysco is just the grocery service for restaurants.

Because a restaurant orders from a wholesale supplier does not mean that they do not create their food from scratch. There is nothing wrong with a supplier at all, and restaurants could not exist without them. This isn't a big coverup or anything. Wholesale suppliers alo have organic ingredients, and specialize in local produce, meats, fish and milk products. They know that restaurants have picky guests to serve, and so they aim to provide the best for their clients.

Keep in mind these are the same wholesale suppliers that also supply our grocery stores with virtually everything. So when you shop at Thrifties or some other such place, you're getting food that once was supplied by a company like Sysco to your local grocery store.