HUNGRY GERALD

Jamie Sikorski is a big,handsome gourmand who lives, eats and drinks excellent wine in what may be the world’s best food city–Vancouver,British Columbia. Jamie is always planning to go to Paris with me for some non-stop fressing and guzzling. He never makes it. Excuses. Business pressures. Personnel problems. He lies. The stark truth is that he cannot
tear himself away from the Public Market on Granville Island.
This is the home of Oyama,the ultimate purveyor of charcuterie. Think pates,terrines,rillettes,duck confit and almost limitless variety of hams and sausages. There are superb steaks and legs of lamb at Lombardi’s. Fresh fish shops. A cheese purveyor with more than 100 varieties in peak condition. The next door Lobster Man with oysters,mussels,clams,shrimp and..you guessed it..lobsters.
Tons of fresh fruits and vegetables straight from the Fraser and Okonagan Valleys. Sometimes Jamie meanders over to Fourth Avenue in the Kitsilano neighborhood for marinated,spatchcocked free range chickens and succulent Berkshire pork chops. When not cooking you can find Jamie
at Chonquing Szechuan for dim sum and cool noodles in a fiery sesame sauce. He is a devoted patron of Tojo, best Japanese restaurant outside of Tokyo and Kyoto.He can be found at Vij’s,the deservedly famous Indian fusion restaurant where patrons line up at 5:30 PM in hopes of snaring a table. Jamie likes West and Cru and scores of other wonderful high and low cuisine restaurants. But,since he is a serious wine collector with a giant climate controlled wine cellar in his modernist condominium triplex, he likes to dine at home with the best of France,Napa and Okanagan at his fingertips.
His dining venue is his rooftop terrace—about the size of a rugby pitch–which overlooks the high rise spires of downtown Vancouver. It is a serious dining terrace. A special crane had to lift the state of the art Italian barbecue to its designated position. Jamie is a lavish host and his terrace dinners always include many attractive women. So,it is understandable when I say to Jamie: “How about a week in Paris this February?” he responds: “Absolutely.Positively. Surely…..but,but.”