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.

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

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.

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. 

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

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 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.

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 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.


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