Last year was the inaugural year of Dine Out Vancouver, Tourism Vancouver's foray into city-wide promotion of local restaurants during the seasonal downtime. From what I read last year, this event is popular in American cities such as New York and San Francisco, under different names such as 25 for 25 (25 restaurants for $25). It's based on a 3-course meal, usually with two or three appetizer and entrée options. It doesn't include drinks, but it's still a fantastic deal because the restaurants are generally upscale (read: way out of my preferred price range).
It was so popular last year it was a bugger just trying to make reservations, since a lot of them either didn't take reservations or were sold out... it's like the airlines, though -- these places don't want a restaurant full of patrons on a deal card -- but hey, they make a killing on the beverage mark-ups...
Last year I did eat my fair share around the city on this Dine Out promotion, at places I'd been meaning to check out like Wild Rice and places I probably would be too frugal to try out otherwise, like Vistas, the revolving restaurant at the top of the Renaissance Hotel. One time there were NINE of us, and trying to get nine people in a restaurant for this event was like trying to find a parking spot during a hockey night in Vancouver -- not easy!! Eventually I got us all into Brix in Yaletown, and everybody was happy... although if anyone was unhappy after all that phoning around I did, I would've throttled --well, you get the idea...
This year there are more more restaurants participating -- 111, compared to last year, which was around 60 (?) or so, and this year it's running for two weeks, a few days longer. This year there are hardly any restaurants on the $15 list, and many of them are outside of Vancouver, like North Vancouver, Bowen Island (!), and lots of pubs like Doolin's (Granville St.) and Irish Heather (Gastown). I noticed some of the restaurants, like Wild Rice, have migrated over to the $25 list -- which is to be expected, I guess, but I also made note that their menu offering is almost exactly the same as last year. Hmmm... not such a great deal, after all, then.
Tonight a bunch of us are off to my choice of Manhattan, in the Delta Suites Hotel. I've been meaning to go there since a while back, when they were kind enough to donate a dinner certificate for a World AIDS Day Luncheon I was involved in co-ordinating for A Loving Spoonful. Also, since my early travelling days and working in tourist hubs I've become quite bullish towards hotel restaurants. At least, the upmarket ones.
I'm nearly off to get my annual haircut. Yes, I said annual. I really can't be bothered to go more than once or twice a year. I can't remember the last time I went three times in one year. It's not that I pay a lot of money each time -- I go to a Japanese lady's home way out in South Vancouver who charges $14 and is more meticulous than a lot of the hoity-toity salon folk. In fact, she used to work in Suki's, which is a high-end salon, and I hate going to those... I don't find the experience particularly satisfying. For one thing, parting with the kind of money they charge is not easy for the likes of me, who would much rather cut my own hair if I could manage to climb out of my body to do the back part. I know they are professionals, ar-TEESTS, and therefore charge prices commensurate with their training (and I realize neither their equipment nor training is cheap), but.... still... I hate the feeling of being trapped in one of those chairs and forced to make conversation with someone who also feels forced to make conversation all the live long day. Plus, since they are supposed to be the creative professional, a lot of the time it's a case of making excuses for why your hair is the way it is. It means slinking into the salon, getting scrutinized, and bracing yourself for the assessment of "(tsk tsk) Oh dear, we do have our work cut out for us now, don't we?? (some of them can get extremely condescending) or, "Hmmm, tried to cut our own hair, have we?" Then they ask you what you want, only to have them override everything you've just said for something they've had in mind all along.
