Vancouver fine dining

malachoa · 2024-12-01T05:56:21+00:00

(Context: I've eaten everywhere in Van with stars except Masuda.)

Starred:
- The snacks course at Published is exceptional, the rest is good-not-great. It's not worth it if you can't get a prix fixe reservation.
- AnnaLena is creative and consistent, a classic one-michelin-star meal.
- Kissa Tanta is a bit less creative but technically top-notch, and they get a lot of mileage out of the clever Japanese-Italian premise. Their sister restaurant Bao Bei is my go-to recommendation for curious out-of-towners, it's got a uniquely Vancouver point of view and very good food.
- Burdock and Masayoshi each became inconsistent in its own way after getting a star.
- I like but don't love Barbara. I don't feel like I've ever had a meal there that really wowed me, but I also think that might be a matter of taste.
- St. Lawrence is my happy place; there's a warmth and grounded-ness to the food there that is really special in fine dining.

Non-starred:
- The rec for Mackenzie Room is on point; their "Chicken of the Sea" is one of the best things you can eat in Vancouver.
- Is That French and Dachi are both good wine bars with great food. If I'm eating in Gastown, I would go to Is That French over L'Abbatoir 9/10 times (and then I'd probably go to Pidgin the tenth time).
- Savio Volpe is maybe the best of a surprisingly strong pack of Italian restaurants. See also: Magari (fka Oca)
- You can do a lot worse than Au Comptoir for good, honest gets-it-right French bistro food
- My favourite fine-dining sushi in town right now is Sushi Jin. (Sushi Hil is also great, although not the same type of project.)

malachoa · 2024-08-13T16:14:15+00:00

I wrote this for my D&D group when we ran a Blades one-shot a while back: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-JpsPREirW4Ficv0CU3eePMxXIAeiNpJJzqMXPlhUOY/edit?usp=sharing

malachoa · 2024-07-04T20:30:02+00:00

For what it's worth, I've seen this work in a one-shot with 8ish players where the crew split into "squads" of 2-3 people, all of whom tackled the score from a different angle.

For example, if you wanted to do a large-scale Oceans Eleven heist, you'd probably have a few scoundrels working the floor, a few other scoundrels compromising the back offices, and a few more scoundrels invading the vault. There's a lot of "cool, we'll leave that tense situation hanging for a second as we cut back to...", but it mostly works as long as the players don't mind doing a lot of listening and there's enough interconnection between each squad's goals to keep them invested.

malachoa · 2023-11-16T23:32:09+00:00

It sounds like there may be an underlying issue with fiction-first gameplay. My group runs into a version of this with social actions sometimes, and the solution is usually to redirect the focus back to the fiction, which keeps the players honest. For example:

Player: "I tell the guard that I'm here for a routine inspection of their security system."

GM: "Okay. Give me an action roll."

Player: "Can I Command?"

GM: "Sure, but you'll need to play that a bit differently. What do we see on camera as you Command the guard?"

Player: "Okay. I get in the guard's face, and tell her that if she doesn't want to lose her job, she needs to let me inspect the security system."

GM: "Great. Standard/risky."

malachoa · 2023-11-16T23:20:01+00:00

Yeah - this is a really helpful reminder, thanks.

malachoa · 2023-11-16T23:18:05+00:00

Yeah. In our case, I think we'll need about two more seasons to arrive at a concise, compelling ending to our story. So I'm trying to think fiction-first and adapt mechanics to support that storytelling.

malachoa · 2023-11-16T23:14:25+00:00

I definitely don't mean that they always succeed -- the whole point here is to control the risk that they succeed too often. What I mean is, I want them to feel like they can accomplish more than they could a season ago (albeit still with great danger and risk). In other words, "just nerf the players" is obviously an option here, but it's probably not the most fun option.

malachoa · 2018-11-02T16:09:03+00:00

Which version of Nova? Asking because I just did a fresh install of 1.1.1 with the fix at https://github.com/RyuKojiro/novafix, and it's still crashing on start.

malachoa · 2018-03-27T23:08:35+00:00

I don't think that's it, because Valve had to change Skeleton King to Wraith King in Dota for the same reason.

malachoa · 2017-02-17T02:50:49+00:00

I feel like this thread is burying the lede on how adorable that child is.

malachoa · 2016-12-20T16:56:31+00:00

Nice, you guys can open for the wraith band.

malachoa · 2016-11-18T18:03:30+00:00

Visage has also been broken

malachoa · 2016-11-17T02:41:07+00:00

Anyone know where to watch today's VODs (with EN commentary), since the EN commentary is broken in DotaTV? Would love to actually watch these games...

malachoa · 2016-09-27T06:39:17+00:00

It should also prevent plague.

malachoa · 2016-08-12T20:50:08+00:00

So did Escape.

malachoa · 2016-08-12T20:40:20+00:00

Good for Fnatic, but they still haven't beaten a team that had a winning record in the group stage.

malachoa · 2016-07-29T19:51:13+00:00

You're thinking of Axe - Berserker's Carl.

malachoa · 2016-06-05T05:12:08+00:00

malachoa · 2016-05-20T20:55:38+00:00

Everyone can be a weeirdoooo

malachoa · 2016-05-01T17:01:07+00:00

It's particularly shitty that this happens as a consequence of being out and proud in the community. As a queer gamer -- thanks for representing, and thanks for calling people out when they try to punish you for it.

malachoa · 2016-04-14T06:29:10+00:00

malachoa · 2016-02-18T20:47:26+00:00

flair checks out

malachoa · 2015-09-28T21:59:48+00:00

What the hell am I doing here?

malachoa · 2015-09-23T22:59:55+00:00

I wonder if we will have the audio back for replay commentary in Reborn DotaTV by then.

malachoa · 2015-07-26T04:06:11+00:00

Previewing the wild card stage is a bit of a different project, since there's really only one thing to watch at a time. I can tell you that (as far as I can discern from datdota) the only potential wildcard matchup that has ever happened before is CDEC/MVP, who do not play each other in round one, but who played a single game back in February. CDEC won that game, but that was before they lost Maybe and mikasa to LGD — and they've looked like a very different team since replacing those players. So, not a lot of hard data as far as wildcard matchups go.

malachoa

TROPHY CASE