(Note: A month ago, I wrote this post but, upon further consideration and some external feedback, I chose not to publish it. Instead, I just hinted I had something to say. However, looking at how things have “evolved” in the last month or so… Well, let’s just say it ended up being a case of “I might as well”… Leaving with a bang??? Anyway, please keep in mind this was written over a month ago. Some dates might no longer be applicable…)

It has been a while since I have written a post of this type and I wonder if it is due. In the last couple of months, there has been quite a buzz in terms of popularity of Vancouver blogs, specially if we consider that major sites like Urbanspoon has targetted Vancouver itself as one of the places with the greates activity. But, what does that mean? Better restaurants? More food bloggers? Everybody has anything to say? So, in reference to Canadian’s government thoughts of removing the pennies, here are my $0.05′s worth… But, first an announcement as well…

When I first started blogging, I did it in part to have something to do, an activity of sorts. It was not a smooth trip: I had a couple of false starts which eventually molded into what it is today. Was there a target or a purpose? In a way, it was mostly for fun, something to keep myself busy. Furthermore, as it said, “it is not the destination, but the journey“. And, alas, I must announce that I have announced that this journey has reached what might be a long stop, if not the final stop. Yes, it has always been the journey; however, at the same time, I knew it would last only that long. After all, aside from revisiting the same places over and over, there are only that many restaurants worth visiting. And, have we mentioned that this activity is expensive (unrelated to HST and what not)? Regardless of why, once I flush the remaining pending posts (which includes a personal apology to a very dear friend of mine), I will call it quits.

I am sure a lot of people will be wondering why, not to mention some might be celebrating because this bastard will finally stop bashing everybody left and right. On the personal side, I was planning to “close shop” anyway by July this year. This is, to quote myself, by then, a life changing event would have taken place which would prevent me from blogging. Actually, that is not 100% true; rather, while I could continue blogging, I would rather not do so. However, looking at things around me, specially as mentioned as the subject of this post, it is my perception of the state of food blogs in Vancouver. To be more specific: It sucks and I don’t feel I want to play this game anymore.

Back when an Urbanspoon mention came out, an Urbanspoon Prime member blurbed in the Prime forums that quantity does not mean quality. After all, that’s not the lesson we have learned from all-you-can-eat and/or buffet places? However, I defended the quantity perspective in the sense that with more people voicing their opinion, readers will benefit. While I still stand by that opinion, there have been several a truckload of problems with Vancouver’s picture. I will point several of them here.

I am going to start with, once again, pointing the amount of food bloggers (according to Urbanspoon, over 300). But, wait, I don’t necessarily have issues with the amount of food bloggers per se but the quality of the posts. To me, blogging is more than just saying I went to restaurant X or Y and ordered dish A or B. Then, may be, whether you liked it yes or no. Actually, if you were to read my posts in the past, specially those from two years ago, they actually felt in those lines. However, there was a learning curve and, after some sort of false starts, my writing style changed. In fact, some people have mentioned my harsher attitude has changed (whether for good or bad is to be determined, but given the announcement above, who cares?). What has changed? I don’t only describe what I order, at times why I ordered it, but also a description of the dish and why I liked/disliked it. Furthermore, if I have some background about those dishes (specially Latin American ones), I am more than willing to provide those details. Then, based on my thoughts, I will mention if it is worth my moola to return or not. Granted, I am no food critic and I only order one or two dishes. However, I look at it at the perspective of a John Doe visiting a restaurant and said restaurant has only one chance to wow me. After all, with so many in restaurants in town, if you can’t deliver and provide a good impression, I can easily go to the next one. Unless, of course, somebody can prove me wrong which, at times, I am willing to do a revisit.

However, here is the core problem I perceive with a lot of the new blogs: lack of depth. While I will accept that I haven’t visited every single new blog and do find some of them actually “interesting”, for the most part, it seems they are taking pictures and then write something short out of it. Content? Oh, I went to such and such restaurant and had such and such dish. Every thing was great! (More often than not). You know what? If that’s what is being written, why I waste my time checking those sites? I might as well go to Yelp (which has its own issues) or DineHere (likewise, has its own issues). At least, it is a one stop shop.

If I have to wonder where or how all this started, I would guess social media has become so popular, where everybody can do it, so why not? If that’s the case, I don’t care. I started over two years ago before social media was as commonplace as nowadays. And, while it has its own good points, the problem is that such there is too much carelessness makes me want to stay away from it. In other words and, once again, I don’t want to play that game. Take for example, what Diana Chan who writes Foodology wrote in her personal blog.

After 4 months of food blogging, Foodology.ca is number 13 on their Vancouver leader board of blogs. This is a major achievement because my goal was to be top 20 by Christmas, but clearly we have surpassed this amount. There are about 260 blogs about food in Vancouver! 13/ 260, thats pretty amazing!

That sounds good, a young woman like her should have high ideals. However, when a site she is part of, called Nocturnal Vancouver (link won’t be provided but you can easily Google it), start stealing pictures from known sites without given proper credit (rectified “after being notified”), that’s when we have issues.

To further “complicate” things, are the blaggers, specially those who have been for some extended period of time. I have mentioned them before and, once again, I will call them out. People like Richard Wolak (aka vanfoodster aka Vancouver Foodster) and Erin Ireland [oddly, food editor columnist for MetroNews Metro Vancouver (corrected by appropriate sources)] is what makes me cringe in pain and disbelief. On one side, Richard is known not to eat a lot of things and, in Erin’s case, she does not eat dishes with carbohydrates (to quote herself. Also, when we met for the first time and she wanted to go to Samurai Sushi; I convinced her to meet at Miko Sushi instead and she ended up eating mostly sashimi). So, you wonder yourself… If that’s the case, how can you write about this subject if you don’t/can’t actually eat said dishes??? Worst of all, why people actually read/listen to them?

To those who had to spend a bit too much time back in high school or university in their class(es) of logic or discrete mathematics, will have heard of argumentum ad verecundiam or argumentum ad potentiam, also known as fallacy by authority. In other words, somebody who is a well known public figure suddenly has (or believe to have) the knowledge and power, plus can make a judgement “just because he/she says so”. In Richard’s case, it is said he wrote a book about coffee (don’t drink much coffee so I don’t care) and, as for Erin, well… You can visit her site and decide yourself. But, wait, how about I do the homework for you? Take, for example, a visit by Mijune and Richard to the same place the same night: Mijune’s post vs Richard’s post (will open a new window). Seriously, tell me which one you prefer… In Erin’s case, this is a quote from her article on Lin’s Chinese Cuisine:

“(In reference to xiao long bao) … earn them an easy diagnosis of Asian comfort food, and of course, perfect delicacy for ringing in the Year of the Rabbit.”

Let me dissect that for you: XLB is Shanghainese and while it is in China, hence Asia, it does not automatically mean all Asian people will eat it.

This, of course, can be extended to people like Andrew Morrison of Scout Magazine, whom, I will admit, having worked in the front of the house does give him some insight of restaurant operation; but, you have to wonder his impartiality when he has been directly involved with the restaurants.

Can anybody possess all knowledge? Good luck at that. That’s why I am always open to criticism. In fact, I expect people to tell me I am wrong! It is not an issue of knowing it all but, if you don’t know, do some digging and due diligence before writing it down. If not, it becomes a case of a blind guiding the blind and, next thing we “know”, Mexican food represents all Latin American food. Oh, shoot… >_< Anyway, the killer part from these blaggers is that, aside from the fact they are clueless, they organize events for profit. In Richard’s case, one too many event to count. Notice that I am not necessarily against food bloggers organizing events. If there are good cause(s) behind it and there is disclosure, I believe it is kosher. After all, if the intend is to bring the two groups together, why not? But, when it is for $$$, you are doing PR work. If so, can you really be impartial and/or honest?

And, now, this brings the worst of all cases… Whenever you read written colums from local newspapers, i.e., The Globe and Mail or Vancouver Sun, you expect a level of quality as well as a code of ethics. That’s why these writers are usually the first ones hit when an economic downturn occurs. I mean, they need to have a huge expense account to eat at restaurants at least twice at different times of the day or on different days of the week to have a better grasp of what is going on. Me? Ha, again, I only have that much $$$. I am certain that restaurants have identified these writters and I am not surprised that dining anonymously is not easy for them. At the same time, though, I am certain they try their best to be impartial. However, what happens when that impartiality is brought to question? Since these writers write for the printed media, they have some level of control over it. Of course, editors, probably due to pressure from advertisers (including some of those restaurants) might axe those articles to save face. That might not occur with bloggers. While some of us stick with a well defined code of ethics, it is not something we all are bound to. So, would it be ethical if somebody shouts aloud a “will blog for food” and invite readers along? If you are scratching your head, that’s what just happened with Ben of Chowtimes (link not provided but I am sure you will find it).

Before anybody jumps ahead and tells me I am a hater or jealous of his popularity, don’t bother. Aside from the fact I have an extremely thick skin (“I am rubber, you are glue”), not to mention this might be one of many parting shots, my dislike for his behaviour is known and documented. To bring you down to memory lane, I wrote a post (will open a new window) called “Blogging, Perks and Accountability” almost 20 months ago, in which I called him out on the spot. And, guess what? Ever since, other than in one dinner, we haven’t seen each other face to face. Do I care? Absolutely not, as I have no respect for him. Of course, he will say that he discloses everything and what not. Believe me, ladies and gentlemen, that is pure BS. See, just like him right now, I was also part of FoodBuzz, a network of food blogs. Some time ago, they required all their members to do full disclosure as part of their community guidelines (you can check them here). That begs the question: if it wasn’t because of such changes, would they have *really* initiated their disclosures? And, if you look at the post before that said disclosure, would you have been able to tell it was (partially or fully) comped?

So, why bring him out of the sudden? Because I was made aware of a post where he writes:

I am proposing:

* A win for the restaurant
* A win for the lucky chowtimes readers
* A win for chowtimes

You see… it seems to us that restaurants spends big bucks advertising their AKC (Alaska King Crab) offerings in the papers. I am suggesting that the restaurant save the money for advertising one less time. Instead use the money for even greater exposure for your restaurant.

The restaurant need to think about this unique situation too. The Chinese restaurants advertises in the Chinese papers targeting Chinese customers. There are a lot of English speaking readers out there who would love to try this and chowtimes can deliver a whole new demographics to the restaurant.

So, what I am proposing is this. Any restaurant interested, to give chowtimes a table of 10 serving a feast centered around the Alaskan King Crab. For free of course with the cost coming out from not advertising on the papers for one day only.

For chowtimes, we will invite 8 lucky readers (chosen by random draw) to join us in the feast. I am sure this will be much appreciated by readers and will also draw much attention to your restaurant.

In return, we will blog about the AKC feast but of course the food and service better be good. This is because we will write honestly about our experiences and we will draw on the feedback of the other guest diners.

Does anybody want me to spell “sell out” for you? How the $#%^!#@$!@# can a claim be made about impartiality and honestly when you are already calling the food and service better be good? What makes you different from a PR person like Richard Wolak? Worst of all? When I checked that post, there were only a handful questioning the intent. The rest? Free food!

Alas, that really disappoints me. People have descended into our primeval stages and just think on free food rather than looking at the broader picture of the meaning behind it. I still remember going to events like Eat! Vancouver, where people queue up for samples at times almost elbowing others. However, even when they have some samples, they might not consume the portion served and toss the rest. Or, as I was told, in an open house of a certain restaurant where people were like vultures when plates of food came out.

Am I criticizing my readers? May be, may be not. I personally know some of them and, for the most part, they are good and knowledgeable folks. It is those who just follows the hype that makes me shake my head. You are intelligent people and you should know better…

With that said, how about some highlights? If you were to ask me whom you should read, who would I suggest? Again, there are fine folks out there still writing and can provide good perspective of things. Of course, this is not an all-inclusive list and it is based on those I frequent. So, without further ado…

• Mijune (Follow Me Foodie) and Sherman (Sherman’s Food Adventures). I have known both of them for a long time and I admire both of them. In both cases, they are knowledgeable and, while I do have some differences (more Mijune than Sherman), they are honest about their thoughts. And this is despite they have participated in events (including the only one instance I have participated and where I have witness how they do things). I would like to believe they have influenced me for the better in some aspects.
• The Foodosophy team, specially shokutsu and gastronomydomine (who goes around under other aliases as well!). Alas, I have never met them and, if I do have an opportunity to do so, I would certainly like to buy them a round. Not only their posts are well written but also knowledgeable. One of the post that have really inspired me was a conversation they had between the team members called Foodosophy of Sushi. Believe me, it is worth your time.
• Chris – OK, I am cheating here. Chris is a fellow blogger from Edmonton but, if you read the way he writes his posts, it conveys simplicity yet delivers the message. Granted, our perspectives are at times but it does reflect what I would expect from a blog.
• Matt and Joe from Vancouverslop. They are now closer to the media business side of things but they are still entertaining.
• Other “older” (as in time blogging) bloggers, including Kevin, Gloria, Ann and Dee, Joyce, Victoria, Karl and (the still MIA) Jessica. While they might not be as descriptive as Mijune, Sherman or Foodosophy, they still provide good reads. In some cases, they do participate in media events (for example, Joyce) but they do provide disclosure.
• Some general which just happens to swing (the same way I started) into food blogs or cooking, including Parker Pages, Doesn’t Tazte Like Chicken (who has gone MIA), Gratinee and TS/JS [eatingclub]Vancouver. Likewise, some oldies whom have gone inactive…

“Wait, what about the rest of the people in your blogroll?” Well, some of them do not necessarily apply from a Vancouver standard. For example, monchichi, whom I really like her style, is in the UK; and Mimi whom I have “met” recently. But, for the rest, it is in part, blogroll courtesy (Yes, Jenny, that includes you! ) and, well, just starting blogs.

And, just for fun, how about some final parting shots?

To Grayelf: If you know how bouncing light works, you will realize that, in the setting we were in, it didn’t really “bother” anybody – unless you were looking directly at the flash. Plus, don’t dare to criticize my end results when your own pictures suck.
To Raul: You a foodie? Despite I hate that word, you calling yourself that makes me choke. Why say you don’t like caesar salads when you don’t eat cheese? Attending all events and claim everything is good and, supposedly, willing to pay for it? Give me a break. The day you actually do it the same way most of us do it, THEN, maybe then… You might be popular but that’s about it.
To Melody: Don’t give me BS. You say you won’t write anything negative but only on the positive. That means your opinions are biased. Likewise, because of your tour company, you work closely to some restaurants. Would you bite that hand that feeds you?

So, that’s all for now. It was a long post. Probably too long. In the end, I hope it describes why I am uninterested in continuing and cut it short sooner than expected. But, if you got all the way down here, my only question for you is… What are your thoughts about the state of Vancouver food blogs?

Update: While I don’t mind/care people attacking me, attacking each other(s) will not be condone. From now on, all comments will be moderated. As you have seen, there has been attacks to me and I have approved it regardless, despite I have had the choice not to do so. If your comment does not appear, feel free to guess why.

I have mentioned previously that I am not a big of desserts: If I am by myself, chances are I will skip it. However, when I am with others and they want it, I might as well tag along. Out of all forms of sweet treats, pies falls in sort of an in-between. Of course, I like the savoury applications: pot pies, pocket pies (empanadas, et al) and so on. Sweet versions? Well, I have made blueberry pie myself, so I would certainly eat it. But, a recent experience gave me the most bitter sweet one of all: a slice of humble pie.

Recently, I asked a friend, OCDGirl, if I could cook for her and her friends. There was one caveat: for other reasons, it couldn’t be in my kitchen, plus she would be along for all the ingredients purchasing. The day of the cooking, we had lunch first and then I presented the ingredients list. At that point, OCDGirl’s jaw literally dropped. But, before I go there, here is the original menu I had in mind:

Green beans in pesto (5 ingredients)
Sauteed rapini with garlic and chili flakes (3 ingredients)
Mashed sweet potatoes and yams (3 ingredients)
Braised short ribs (7 ingredients)
Salmon en papillote (7 ingredients)
Poached pears (6 ingredients)

That begs question #1, why???? I mean, why did I want to cook for others to begin with? Truth is that while I have cooked for myself, I haven’t done so for others, not to mention for more than 3 people at a time. Cooking for others would be in part a test for myself. That brings of course, question #2, have I tried these dishes before? Yup, I have tried all of them and the one that takes the longest is the short ribs (3.5+ hours; with an hour tops for cooking, the rest is spent in the oven). However, the one problem with this list is that it does require a lot of prep time. But, while that might be in my mind, for OCDGirl, such a long list made things appear complicated, as one thing she kept insisting while shopping for ingredients was that her friends like “simple” cooking. But, given I was the person cooking, I sort of overlooked her thoughts.

Unfortunately, what followed would be considered a nightmare in terms of cooking. I will spare you all the grainy details, but among things that happened includes me triggering the alarm not once but twice and the oven was full of grease at the end of the day. Some dishes had to be salvaged because of things that happened in between and so on. Let’s just say that several people weren’t happy with what was going on (especially OCDGirl). At the end of the day, they seem to enjoy the meal; however, I wasn’t sure if that part of it was said out of courtesy. The worst was yet to come, of course, during the next day or so, I was feeling extremely disappointed at myself and that sense of failure.

A couple of nights afterwards, I was invited to tag along for dinner and, that night, we had hot pot. There were only two things that were actually done at home: slicing the beef and prepping the vegetables. The rest where bought from the supermarket. In other words, that was their definition of simplicity. And, despite I am not the biggest fan of hot pot, I will have to say, that night, it tasted really good, plus their company was great.

At this point, some of you have to wonder what is the point of the whole story? As mentioned originally, it is a story of humility. At times, I have spent countless hours in the kitchen cooking because, truth is, I like to be there. However, I am also carried away with what I like. When you cook for others, you can show your “love” in what ends up on the plate; however, there is something else in the bigger scheme of things: people. If you are spending a lot of time in the kitchen, you are not spending time with them. I have mentioned a lot of times that, when I go out to restaurants, it is the company that makes the dinner better. Even when food is average at best, the fact you have somebody whom you are enjoying the meal with will raise your experience. It does not necessarily matter if the beef you are serving happens to be wagyu flown from Japan or a cheap cut of meat. And while you do have to cater to some special needs (allergy, restrictions), it is you cooking. You can show what you like, that “love”, but probably not at the expense of not being able to enjoy things. In this case, by me overlooking that “simplicity” warning, triggered a set of events that I still regret.

So, to all of the people involved here, my sincerest apologies. You have indeed taught me a lesson that I won’t forget (and, if I do, they have been “authorized” to kick my butt). And, to OCDGirl, thanks a lot for your patience…

Originally, I had scheduled a rant about my perspective of the state of Vancouver food blogs, specially due to some things that have happened lately. However, the content itself was proving a bit too… Incensive and provoking (confirmed by some people whom I have sent a draft version). As a result, I have put that post on hold until further consideration. However, I do have an announcement…

(Update (20110314): This post has been made “sticky”. For the most recent post, please, scroll down or click on next post at the very bottom left of the page).

Due to personal reasons, I will be “closing shop” in the next coming weeks. Once I have flushed my remaining pending posts, including a personal apology to a very dear friend, I will stop blogging. Whether this is permanent or not, I haven’t decided but, as of now, it is leaning towards the former. If I were to start blogging again, chances are it will not be food related. But, who knows, I might do some guest blogging! I am sure some will be curious as to why; alas, sorry, at this point, I would rather not disclose my reasons. What I will say is that it was fun while it lasted and thankful for what I have accomplished at a personal level. So, enjoy those remaining posts!

It is almost Christmas already and, with it, end of the calendar year. I will have to admit that this year have has its oddities and challenges but, regardless, it has been a good year. Or, as I tell people, it is what you make out of it.

One thing people say about me is that I am opinionated and, at times, I don’t hold back. While I do admit I always have my $0.02 cents worth (which might eventually be a nickel considering there are plans to scrap pennies), at the same time people have noticed I have toned down since I first started blogging. I guess time changes people. Anyway, for this random post, I wanted to look back at this year in perspective and some random thoughts about 2011!

We have to, of course, start with the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games. It was crazy but it has some big flops, with the biggest one being some restaurants charging mandatory gratuity just because visitors from another countries might not have the same tipping mentality as us here. I can go on and on again on that one (or read what I thought about it on that post) but, instead, I am just going to say “what a shame”… And, during the Olympics, going to restaurants were a bit crazy as well and, in some cases, I was able to go to restaurants and take pictures of food and could have easily slipped through some radars under the guise of me being a tourist… “Waaaa? Me not speak Engrish!” However, the strangest experience of all was the failed attempt to visit Gyuu-Don-Ya, a rice bowl restaurant near the centre of all action. To compound the epic fail effects, when they finally opened, they had to close almost right away and, after revisits, the restaurant still didn’t deliver.

And, afterwards, of course, the Harmonized Sales Tax, aka, the HST (plus my thoughts from last year). Somethings dubbed the “Hated Sales Tax”, it has been slammed left and right by most people, even speculated to be the reason why then premier Gordon Campbell resigned. However, my thoughts were different; in fact, I had little issues with the implementation of the HST over PST and GST. And, as usual, people called foul, specially the restaurant industry fearing loss of customers due to increase of costs. Well, sorry to break these old news to you: if you don’t know yet, restaurant business is one where you would only go into if you are crazy. Slim margins, long hours, why would a sane person get into it? Regardless, at least that made people more conscious about their decisions and spending habits so, even if we will end up switching back, it will (hopefully) raised some awareness to regular people.

And, about the same time, there was the food carts, specifically, outside of the usual hot dogs and chestnuts. My thoughts were really low about it, considering my expectations of what street food should be. I visited most of them located in Downtown Vancouver and, for the most part, they suffer from two issues: trying to deliver restaurant level food on the streets (which, to me is a bit of an oxymoron) and, the key piece, in some cases, charging restaurant level prices (which is the killer in the overall picture). Added to that, there is Vancouver Coastal Health implementing restaurant level conditions to food carts. Can it be better? Absolutely; however, until people finally grasp the concept of street food, we will get what we deserve…

And while I didn’t touch this subject at all, recently, there was the implementation of a lower alcohol limit for drivers. Of course there is a reason why I made no comment: I seldom drink and, if I do, at most it would be at home. But, as usual, me being opinionated…. Here is the one detail where a lot of restaurants I believe failed at an opportunity: Rather than offering services to customers who drink, they shut it down. For example, except for a handful fancy/trendy restaurant where they would cover the cab fare, I didn’t read any news report about working on alternatives to deal with the issue with drinking patrons (call a cab for the party, encourage designated drivers by giving them free pop/soda and/or some freebie). Similar to the HST issue, I believe it is more on the lines of be creative…

Restaurants aside, how about we food bloggers? There have been bloggers who have disappeared, some others who have barely written the whole year (they know who they are!) and those who blog on a frequent basis. And, on that note, I am sure some of my peers will agree: Writing daily can be quite exhausting. Remember, it is not only a matter of writing the post down: there is also that process of thinking *where* to go, as well. When you have other things to do, such planning takes a toll and, well, starts to wear you out. Unfortunately, in my case, I have reached that plateau. Don’t get me wrong, I really appreciate what blogging has given me: I have met a lot of people, some interesting, others whom I would like to kick their asses. I just have to remember this is a hobby and be grateful for what it has giving me.

And, on that note, there has been that explosion of bloggers, specially those who contribute to Urbanspoon. Have you people noticed that Vancouver literally dominates their worldwide leaderboard? But, to quote certain movie, with great powers, comes great responsibilities: readers trust us and restaurant PR people tries to use us. After all, inviting us for opening can easily be cheaper than ads in traditional media. So, in a twist, I broke my no-attendance to events policy and, in an odd way, that resulted in the example of why I choose not to participate. To quote my post on Prestons (the opening I attended):

While standing there and sampling some of these dishes, I overheard some other (not necessarily food) bloggers really excited about the dishes served. To those who have known me personally long enough shouldn’t be surprised by what followed: I turned around, interrupted their conversation and asked (not the exact same question but on the lines of): “But would you be willing to pay for it?” Of course, that completely caught them off guard. The argument was on the lines of how much $$ and portion size and what not. Regardless, the end question was still the same: had you had to fork the $$, would you pay for what was served? At that point, there was the attempt of changing subjects so I just let it go.

Of course, there is what I call the biggest fiasco in terms of abusing social media from a Canadian food related organization (or, at least, from a Canadian perspective): Maple Leaf. Back in summer, they launched a contest where food bloggers would cook a recipe featuring their products (which, in some cases, couldn’t be easily found) and then ask people to vote for their recipe (not to mention have it “feature” in their blogs and so on). The contest ran for almost three months and, rather than an actual competition of what was best, it ended up short of being a popularity contest. Of course, the winning recipe, that of fellow blogger Sherman, indeed looked good, the endless request from blogging might have caused some Facebook friends to cut off relationship due to the constant request to vote. (On that note, despite my close relation to both Sherman and Mijune, who was the runner-up, I decided to stay away from it and chose not to vote for anybody).

Finally, on a personal level, I didn’t travel as much as I did in 2009. For business, I only went to a handful of places, including Seattle and Portland; but, on the personal side I went to Panama, Edmonton and San Francisco. And during this trip to Edmonton, I was able to personally meet Chris of Eating is the Hard Part, one of the most down to earth bloggers on that part of Canada!

Of course, there are even other things that happened on a personal level thanks to blogging; however, those are beyond the scope of this post. But, still, they part is that it was a good… No, great year and, despite the new post schedule, I hope the next will be even better!

To my Canadian readers, I hope you already had your share of turkey! To my non-Canadian readers, as an FYI, today, as the subject suggests, is Thanksgiving!

This time last year it was about time for my one year anniversary. While I did have thoughts in my mind to organize something for my second anniversary, life in the last couple of months have taken a couple of wacky twists and turns and, in a way, I have neglected my blog slightly. Yes, that is despite there are posts every weekday and still some posts here are there on weekends…

But, this is not about complaining but about giving thanks for all that has happened. So, to my readers, thanks for dropping by: It is your comments what keep this blog running! To my fellow bloggers, thanks for your support and keeping up with me and my whimsical/crazy nature! And to one particular person (*)… Thanks!

(*) You know who you are!

It was a dark and stormy night when I got called to one of my project manager’s offices. Ever since my long projects during the beginning of the year, I have been “stranded” in the office and have asked for customer on-site work for a change of settings. Having this meeting was a glimpse of hope for me to be out of the office for one week.

“Kim, two weeks from now, do you have anything scheduled or planned?”

“I have a dentist appointment but I am sure I can have that rescheduled”

“OK, in that case, are you good to go to Location G?”

Such was my excitement on leaving the office that I didn’t think much and just said “Sure, why not!”. However, after going back to my cube I did a Google Maps of Location G and…

At first, I noticed I had to travel first to its closest major city; however, the problem was the actual final location: it was over an hour drive to that major city. Normally that won’t have been an issue, as I would have had something to do or places to eat. No, it wasn’t the case here: Location G was, literally, in the middle of nowhere. Aside from some offices, the only food and beverage option, other than a 30+ minutes ride to the nearest “town”, was a hotel/casino, which was also the place I would be staying… For a whole week. My jaw dropped. A whole week eating casino food? Worst of all, I found out the night I arrived there was no fitness centre at the hotel. “We want our customers at the gaming floor instead” was the concierge answer…

“You got to be fucking kidding me by sending me to Location G. There is nothing there! I asked for a on-site, not to be bored to death!”

“You could go to the casino…”

“Other than the occasional 6/49, I don’t gamble…”

“Sorry, you are the only person who has the specific skills the customer need. It is you or you.”

At that point, I had to resign myself to the worst: dealing one full week of hotel/casino food and try to see if I would live to tell the tale…

Two weeks later, I stopped at that mentioned major city. Getting there already took several hours and was already tired and groggy; however, with over an another 90+ minutes to go, I decided to take a break. I stretched for a couple of minutes and had to weight the options: cut that break short or stay a little bit long and drive in the dark Not willing to take any chances, I got inside the car and starting driving to that final destination.

When I finally arrived, I was surprised the parking lot of the casino was full. That was despite it is located in the middle of nowhere! I guess that “middle” of nowhere was actually a strategic location; otherwise, why would it be built there? I wasn’t in the mood of investigating and, after dropping my stuff at my room after checking in, I just wanted to eat something and go to sleep.

Looking around, I found out there had four “restaurants”: a buffet, a sports bar, a sit down restaurant and a food court – this last one open 23 hours a day. Because I arrived relatively late, I had no other option than going to the food court. As I wanted to eat and go to sleep, I chose something relatively “light” and that ended up being

(Due to privacy, I can’t name my customer or organization directly. Sorry if this make the post a bit ambiguous at times. Also, some pictures were taken with my iPhone and some with my SLR. No surprise given that cameras aren’t really allowed in the gaming floor).

A corned beef sandwich, with a small split pea sandwich and a side salad. Supposedly it was sourdough but it looked more like regular white bread. Again, I didn’t want to think too much and munched it and went back to my room. I was hoping the following day would be better…

When I woke up the following morning, I panicked: what about breakfast?! Since I went to bed as soon as I went back to my room, I didn’t know how to proceed. Going for breakfast at the food court for the following days?! Fortunately, I found out the was a free breakfast for hotel guest. Sure, it was only cereal, oatmeal, yogurt and some pastries but, at least, it was something I could live with…

After breakfast, it was time to meet the customer and it was then “business as usual”. But, eventually, it would be lunch time and, alas, to the casino it was… Along with my customer, we ended up going for the sit down restaurant. Probably because they go there so often, the staff seemed to know them quite well.There wasn’t much of them looking at the menu and, as for me, I went for the first thing that I noticed, which was:

A salad (with raspberry vinaigrette on the side) and a club sandwich. Well, given I wasn’t going to be able to hit a gym, I thought I should try to eat “healthier”. Yeah, right, with some bacon in the club sandwich, what are the chances! Still, I wasn’t completely comfortable so I ended up eating only half the sandwich. “Do you want this to go?”, I was asked. Hmmmmm… I really wished I could have said yes because I wasn’t sure what to expect that night but, in the end, I didn’t. I wondered if that was a mistake, as later that night, I faced with the horrors of horrors… The buffet.

Of course there were more items options available, including made to order pasta, a dessert station, salad station and so on. But, as any good Chinese, I knew I had to tackle that *one* section: seafood. There was fried oyster, salmon, crab and so on. Quality was dubious in some cases and decent in others. And, as usual in these places, I ended up overeating. Would I end up paying for it afterwards???

The following day, it was about lunchtime again and asked my customers for options. That’s when they explained to me all the dining options. This time, I went solo for lunch and by then, I was explained the different options at the casino. Since I have been to three out of four, I thought to tackle the remaining option: the sports bar….

I was actually surprised options like a salmon sandwich was available there! I was thinking more on the lines of fried food so this was actually an interesting surprise. For the first time, I thought things might be looking quite good… So, at this point, I thought I should try the other restaurants a second time, starting with the sit-down restaurant:

Yes, the same salad as the previous lunch there and, for the main, I ordered the prime rib + prawns. Doesn’t that prime rib look quite familiar? Yes, in fact, that prime rib looked quite similar to the one in the buffet, down to the done-ness and texture. Based on the price paid, it sounded like going back to the buffet would have been a better option…

At that point, I decided to go back to the “fail safe”, i.e., that one place that, so far, hasn’t been that bad: the Sports bar. This time, I went for something that shouldn’t be OK: Fish and Chips. Alas, the uniformity of those pieces of fish sort of detracted me: Mass produced? I don’t want to know. However, despite those wacky thoughts, the fish was decent. Granted, it wasn’t salmon but, still a good option. As for dinner that night… Well, I was so hungry I didn’t really take pictures so no comments.

By day four, I was already looking forward to leave this place. I mean, I had to admit that food was still edible with mixed quality level. However, what really disturbed me was some of the customers: In some cases, they were so obese that I was willing to bet (OK, not a good idea in a casino…) some of them could easily double my weight! (And I am “heavy” to begin with!). Now, I don’t mean to disrespect obese people; instead, it is about the mentality. If you know there is something wrong, just go ahead and try to find a solution. However, if you choose to sulk (and, worst of all, eat excessive amount), it will not solve anything. On that note, I have a person I can call a friend whom have lost over 80 pounds in the last year or so. My congratulations for her efforts!

Anyway, back to the food. Because it was already the fourth day of the engagement, things were starting to get busier and busier so I chose to have a light(er?) lunch. Out of all the options that meant the food court. Oh, well, I had to go back so…

A Reuben sandwich with a clam chowder and, once again, a side salad. Yes, that sandwich was a bit sloppy but, otherwise, it was decent. Not the best, greasy (as expected?), but, when in a hurry, it worked fine.

That night, I was sick already of the casino/hotel food so I chose to drive those 30+ minutes and, based on the suggestions of my customers, I ended up going to a fish and chips place. It was actually decent but, again, coming from Vancouver, I had to draw some comparison… At least, it wasn’t hotel food…

Alas, on Friday, for lunch, I ended up going to the food court for the same reason as Thursday and I ended up going for the burger this time. I mean, how can they go wrong? Unfortunately, it did. The bacon was actually good; however, the burger was bland. C’mon! Still, similar to the previous day, it was just a matter of keeping myself busy until that night. In fact, due to my positive experience that previous night, I was willing to drive those 30+ minutes for something outside of the casino/hotel. Wishful thinking that was, as I ended up finishing later than expected and that left me without any other alternative but the restaurants on-site… At that point, I didn’t really care but just fill up my stomach and go to sleep.

The following morning, after packing and putting everything into the car, I had to look back for a moment. Was it that bad? Did this week take away something from me??? I wasn’t sure if I wanted to answer that question so, instead, I just started the ignition and wandered what I was going to have for dinner once I was back in Vancouver…

I had another post set up for today but, instead, since it is Labour Day, I thought to write something different: My thoughts of the state of restaurants in Vancouver as of September 2010… See, with some many changes this year (compared to the previous years), I thought there should be enough material to write something! Material like what? Well, if we go sequentially, we have…

1) The Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games: During those two weeks in February, the world (or at least those that have winter/snows) we looking at us and what we had to show for this “celebration”. For the most part, I think people enjoyed it, though there are things that went sideways as well. From the food perspective, I got a lot of emails about it so I ended up writing a long post about places to eat during the Olympics; however, in the end, I had to self-ban myself from some restaurants because of a practice they had on those two weeks: that of increasing the price and, in some cases, a “mandatory” gratuity. The question is if that has changed since. As of today, from that list, I have gone only to one restaurant but it was mostly for investigation purpose (as a heads up, that restaurant sucked in the end anyway). Instead, the question is somewhat related to point #2…

2) Implementation of the HST. as you know, HST was implemented in BC on July 1st, 2010. Currently, the legality of this tax is in the courts but, until that is sorted out, we are paying for that tax. In the case of the restaurant industry, that means an increase on the amount paid, not necessarily due to the restaurant itself but taxes. Interestingly, some restaurants seized the opportunity and, on summer, lowered their prices to attract customers. Talk about good practice! Now that summer is (almost) gone and HST has hit full force, not to mention claims that restaurants have taken a heavy hit due to the HST, I would like to bring back this post I wrote some time ago. I still believe what I wrote is true: Eating out is a privilege, not a right. So, in this competitive business, it is a matter of evolution. If you can’t cater the change of environment and, as a result, force to close shop, well, that’s part of business…

3) Proliferation of one-deal-a-day sites. I won’t name them but I am sure you all have a good idea of who they are. As the name suggests, these sites provide a deal per day but there is one caveat: the deal is only applicable if the minimum amount of people purchasing that deal is achieved. As a result, it serves both as a promotion and coupon for restaurants. But that begs the question of how good they are and how that affects the restaurant experience. I.e., assuming you have to produce the coupon in advance, does the restaurant treat customer differently? What about portion size? What if you want to get a similar coupon in the future (i.e., want to go again)? I guess like any of such promos, it is a matter of assessing the restaurant by itself so that, when you want to revisit it (and have to pay full price), do not be surprised if the experience is completely different. As for this blog, since the intent is that of a “regular” experience, I will not visit a restaurant using such coupon…

4) Food carts… Finally? As you have noticed, in the last couple of weeks, there has been a lot of noise made regarding street food in Vancouver. I have had my share of thoughts about street food when I wrote about Roaming Dragon; however, “for comparison” purposes, I went to several food carts while in Portland (check here, here and here) – the one place comparison is usually drawn. Now, after visiting Roaming Dragon, I have also visited Re-Up. I will jump ahead from that post and say that it was quite interesting and, if that is representative of what is to come, then good things will keep on going, though it won’t achieve the same environment/amount what is in Portland for a long time. Do I want that to happen? In a way is a wait and see. I still need to visit a lot more of other places first…

5) Bloggers as marketing tool. Here is a somewhat dirty secret: lately a lot of PR group of restaurants have invited food bloggers for some sort of opening/special dinner, et al, in hopes they will blog about that meal/lunch/dinner. Cost of inviting the bloggers? Chances are < $50 per head but the exposure is exponential. This is not new; instead, it is the frequency which have happened. For the most part, I trust the blogger itself. For example, Sherman and Mijune always make note it is such event and, even then, both bash the restaurant in the case the offering is not up to par. When you can’t find something negative (remember, for such events, they are well aware of who you are, not to mention the menu is prepared specially for the diners – As a result, you can be pickier than usual), either your palate is easily satisfied or you are blagger (despite claims of impartiality). Will this change? Unlikely. “Social media” is a powerful weapon. The key is to find who you can trust; just don’t fall in the fallacy by authority argument.

6) Food tours. One of the new type of “business” that have popped recently is that of food tours, where a local guide will take you to some well-known (or unknown) restaurants in an area. Is that good or bad? I would lean towards the bad. The reason is that it focus in specific areas and takes away from gems that exists outside of those geographical boundaries, not to mention I can go there by myself. But, then again, I am considered “local”, not to mention savvy enough, so that does not really apply to me. If you are a tourist, out of towner or not as adventurous, by all means! Just remind yourself it is somewhat scripted and might not provide a full picture of the restaurant…

I don’t think I have any words to close up this post; however, I do appreciate comments on what you believe are future trends!

If you live in Canada or are Canadian, yes, it is that time of the year…. If you are NOT from Canada or do not have a Canadian connection, today is Canada Day! Despite some crazy things that have occured in the last 365 days, some great, like the Winter Olympic Games, some embarrasing, like what happened during the G8/G20 (though I wonder how/why those who incited these “riots” can love this country… Assuming, that is, if they are Canadian to being with), I will have to say I love this country.

My last year post, I made reference to a hilarious song called “Canadian Please” and, today, it is as funny as it was last year. For this year, I was thinking what is most appropriate… While several things came to my head, I think this song fits the best… Young Artists For Haiti – Wavin’ Flag

(As for runner up, I was thinking on food, specifically, what dish represents Canada – with poutine being the front runner. So, just in case, if you are not Canadian, you might want to check this video blog series by fellow blogger Mijune of Follow Me Foodie about exactly that, poutine in Davie Street in Vancouver!)

“One of the most “interesting” food related news in Vancouver is that of rumours/hearsay/almost certain that Vancouver City Hall will be allowing street food vendors to expand their menu by allowing other dishes (aside from the current chestnut and hot dogs menu). So far, pretty much every body sounds excited about this… Probably except me. See, Toronto tried it some time ago and, as somebody mentioned, it was doomed to failure. While I haven’t read the full details yet whether restrictions that plagued Toronto will happen also in Vancouver, some entrepreneurs are almost ready to go ahead. So, why I am not as optimistic as them?

See, after living in Vancouver for all these years, there are things I have learned, things I have observed and, then again, things I have experienced first hand when you live in a city where there is actual street food. In the case of Vancouver, I believe there is a combination of issues that creates a scenario it will fail. Here are some reasons why I believe that will happen (some of these reasons suggested to me by Sherman in a series of conversations we had):

1) Location… It is needless to say that Vancouver, for the most part, is really segregated into commercial, residential and industrial areas. Sure, you have your strip malls here and there but, except for minor cases where they are partially mixed (like the West End), it is quite evident you are in one or the other. This creates several problems:

• Street vendors must go where business is, which translates into commercial areas (on weekdays) and leisure areas (on weekends) and, in the case of Vancouver, during weekdays there are only a handful of pockets places for this, namely, Downtown Vancouver and parts of the Broadway corridor. One of the issues in these areas is that there are already established restaurants and chances are they won’t want a huge concentration, as it is almost a direct competition to their business. After all, chances are they pay way more taxes than street vendors…
• Even if there is an adequate location for them to establish, there is only that much space available before they run into green areas and/or there is enough critical mass to support their business (specially if there are several ones next to each other). Take for example, English Bay. Currently, there are some hot dog stands which, by themselves, cause no problem to pedestrian traffic. If you were to increase these, to a certain extent, it is still doable. However, one or two swallows don’t make summer so by the time you have “enough”, it will cause problems to pedestrian traffic.
• If the option is go mobile, i.e., inside a truck, you can only stay in one spot before their (free?) parking time runs out. While that might be part of the “fun” trying to find that particular truck, it also adds to frustration if I want to have a fix of such food.
• A workaround that has been mentioned is that of using parking lots, similar to what Tenku Bakudanyaki do/did. True, that is technically possible but, at the same time, you run into two issues: parking spots in Vancouver are limited and where? I mean, if they put that in the middle of nowhere, how many customers will be willing to go there (in my opinion, Vancouver does not have the driving mentality as in the US).

2) Acceptance of street vendors. I will put it bluntly: most people in Vancouver aren’t that used to eating street food in a street environment – and that is despite all the Japadog hype. Similar to point #1 above, there are several reasons.

• Weather. Let’s face it, this is Vancouver. In a way, we are the laughing stock when it comes to our weather. If temperature hits 30C, we complain it is too hot. If a couple of centimetre of snow falls, the city is semi-paralyzed. A small shower and people complain it is “raining”. With this weather mentality, do you really want to be queueing up for street food, when it rains, is too sunny (OK, probably you might for this) or it snows?
• “Cleanliness”. In the end of the movie Demolition Man, John Spartan (Sylvester Stallone’s character), tells one of the characters “why don’t you get a little dirty” and another of the characters “you a lot clean“. I will make no apologies and say that a lot of people here are clean freaks and, well, guess which side of that dialogue they are? If you are such person (like most North Americans), do you think street food is clean? Take, for example, New York, which is sort of a mecca for street food has cleanliness issues of its own (check here, of course, with the caveat it is American “investigative” news and might be an exception rather than the general rule). But, then again, a lot of people override those thoughts when there is (cheap? good?) food in front of them… And, since we are in the movies motif, “You’ve got to ask yourself one question: ‘Do I feel lucky?’ Well, do ya, punk?” As for me, having had my fare share of such food type, I dare to say that getting sick is part of the experience.
• $$$. To put it bluntly, how much are you willing to pay? What is the threshold where you draw the line and say street food is expensive? After all, in certain parts of the world, there is a correlation that street food is cheap. Given the cost of setting up such business in Vancouver, there is a thin line where suddenly your goods might be too expensive. Currently, my threshold is ~CDN $5 (probably add an additional $1). If it is more, I might as well go to a restaurant and order takeout.
• Cuisine. This might be sort of an odd one. What cuisine would be workable in a Vancouver environment? After all, you want something different (i.e., not something you can go to a restaurant) yet something that can attract customers plus something you can eat on the streets. Most people are asking tacos but, c’mon!

Now, here is the odd thing… While I mentioned I am pessimistic, that pessimism has an O’toole’s commentary (Murphy is an optimist) side attached to it, i.e., I actually want to see this type of food in Vancouver. But, in my opinion, for this to be successful, I believe a hawker centre like environment rather than a street food environment is the way to go. For example, during the Olympics, there was such place near Plaza of Nations. And, currently, we have Richmond’s/Summer Night Market. Why? Because instead of having them going around town, have one dedicated place solely for this purpose. Unfortunately, I can’t think of a good place for this in Vancouver per se (as mentioned in one of the points above), other than Granville Street, since they are sections closed for traffic, not to mention there are plans by Vancouver City Hall to close it completely on weekends during summer. Possible? Yes. Willing? Who knows…

In the end, time will tell if these are really crazy thoughts. Will it change the food panorama of Vancouver? Unless there is sort of an earth shattering offering, a lot of cultures are well represented already so I don’t think that will happen. But, hey, this is an opportunity for change and it is now up to the applicants…

Those who know me personally can vouch for what I going to say: At times, I could need a disclaimer simliar to the one you see at the beginning of South Park. Haven’t watched South Park? It goes something like this:

All characters and events in this show—even those based on real people—are entirely fictional. All celebrity voices are impersonated…..poorly. The following program contains coarse language and due to its content it should not be viewed by anyone.

Yes, a lot of times, I don’t hold back and profanity/vulgarity is used every other word if necessary. Furthermore, I can be *really* sarcastic. While I won’t match Salam (of Le Charcuterie), I can piss a lot of people off if I want to (even at times, I do it un-intentionally!). Anyway, the reason I mention this is because this post is a tongue-in-cheek one I wrote some time ago but chose not to publish it. However, for some reason, I though “why not?”. That is despite I know it might… No, it WILL offend some people (even alienating some of my own readers, not to mention some food bloggers). As a result, proceed at your risk! (If you have a thick skin or sick sense of humour, of course, go ahead!).

So, what it is about? This is a twits of a couple of articles I read long time ago about the seven levels of artists and surfers. In this case, my twist is that of food bloggers (though, it can easily be extended into “social media”… Darn, I hate that term!). Without further ado…

Level 7: The equivalent of heaven. Those who are in this level have achieved the perfection… They are paid to eat/talk/write about food and people enjoy that. Their might be a detractor or two but it is mainly because of their jealousy and the fact they will never be able to achieve this level. Anthony Bourdain is among the few who have achieved this.

Level 6: Food critics, aka, professionals. These are writers who are trying to do what Anthony Bourdain does for a living but are not there yet. More often than not, they are happy with what they do; after all, they are still getting paid to eat! The denizens of this level might not be willing to try anything; however, enough encouragement can push them to do it. Their writing style is, of course, professional. They will have their set of detractors, as other sometimes believe they have not been fair. In fact, sometimes it is considered they are a bit too critical. Their souls have not been corrupted yet by the lure of endorsements of restaurants or, to put it bluntly, “bribes”, as they know how to detect them and how to address them accordingly. It is really difficult for them to become anonymous – after all, they are public figures; however, those who can stay “hidden” are almost impossible to distinguish them from a regular patron.

Level 5: PR people: These are the writers, sometimes bloggers, who do this for a living; however, unlike food critics, who are paid by a publication (newspaper, magazine, et al), they are paid by a restaurant/corporation to do publicity/generate awareness. Needless to say, their souls have been corrupted by the $$$. Sometimes, a professional can fall into this level without knowing (or doing it knowingly without their readers knowing). They will be present at almost any public relationship event where food is involved because, well, they do almost the same as the professionals. Their writing style follows the same lines as those from a higher level, except they don’t have a similar code of ethics. Likewise, they are excessively enthusiastic about the food of the restaurants of their customers. They can be seen in the restaurants who acquire their services. They usually do not take pictures of the restaurants: they hire somebody else to do it.

Level 4: Hobbyists. Those in this level write about food just because they like/love food. Frequency of their posts is irrelevant, they write because it is a labour of love; however, after they are aware that long periods of time without anything new posts, they risk falling down from this level. Because they do this as a hobby, they might not necessarily follow the same rules as the food critics, yet, they try not to be skewed either. Writing style might reflect the fact they are not professionals but they try to improve over time. Those who are in this level might try every type of food but, due to other reasons, there will be personal preferences. Hobbyists do not write for the monetary compensation, though if they get something to recover costs of blogging (hosting/domain fees, etc), they will be happy about it. While some will be happy to stay at this level, some have desires to move “up” – in fact, some do eventually. There are detractors but more often than not it is because they are being compared against those a higher level (namely, food critics). Their souls are in harmony with their being, but constantly being tested. Hobbyists can be found in almost any restaurants, from high end to dives to street vendors taking pictures of anything with their P&S or dSLR, and sometimes will go to the extent of taking plates of food to another table with better lightning/natural lightning just to take a better picture.

Level 3: (Media) whores – those writers/bloggers who are not professional, yet try to extract any benefit/perk associated to the activity, like invitations from the PR people for a free event. Some of those who have fallen into this category might not even be food writers/bloggers full time; their area of “expertise” might be something else and, once in a while, drop a post on food/restaurant. The content might be skewed, too: since it is “free”, they don’t seem to be able to write anything negative; as a result, everything sounds/looks good. At other times, they can be hobbyists who are narcissists and, in they search for attention, do almost anything just to create that attention. Detractors don’t take them seriously, as they have no souls (it was sold long time ago). They are usually seen in restaurants, usually invited by the PR people, for a free meal and, at times, they might even deny the “free” part under the cover of “independence”. They usually use P&S; however, depending on their area of expertise, it is possible they might be using camcorders instead.

Level 2: Amateurs, or those who start a blog just because. The frequency of their posts is extremely erratic; might post back-to-back posts in a couple of days and suddenly you might not hear/read from them for a full month. The topic might go from their grandmother’s recipe to an obscure hole-in-the-wall restaurant. Unless there is something catastrophic, they always look at the bright side of things. They don’t care about ratings, though to them replies/follow-up/comments are always nice. Their souls have not been exposed yet to the corruption of the web. However, the inhabitants of this level seldom stay here for long: They soon either fall down or rise through the other levels. An amateur can easily be spotted in a restaurant (which can be pretty much any restaurant), either because of they are nervous while taking the pictures of the food or they are extremely enthusiastic about it.

Level 1: Commenters. The inhabitants of this level are those who don’t write a blog themselves but rather prefer to frequent boards, forums or other blogs. While their comments might sometimes be out of hand, some others are quite insightful. Writers from other levels might fall into this category because they are not active anymore or have moved to other activates. It does not mean those who are in this level are not as good as any of those in a “higher” level; instead, they choose to stay on the sidelines. Just as some might fall to this level, some of them might also rise to be an amateur and even a professional. Fortunately, they still have a soul. You can’t distinguish a commenter from a regular restaurant patron.

Level 0: This level is dedicated to those in eternal damnation. It might be a customer, it might be a restaurant owner, it might be a relative of such restaurant owner. Despite this seemingly “different” group of people, they do have one thing in common: They use resources like DineHere.ca, Yelp.com and Urbanspoon, to either (a) bitch and complain about a restaurant (specially if they had a really bad experience) or (b) laud about the restaurant (in a hope to attract customers). Regardless of which one it is, once they write such post, they are usually never heard of again. Because of this, they have no soul.