Received the following email:
Fuel Restaurant Closes
Award Wining Fuel Restaurant’s Final Service Sunday Nov 29th, 2009
(Vancouver BC, November 10, 2009) Fuel Restaurant will perform its final service on Sunday November 29th, 2009. Pushing the envelope with its almost fanatical quest for the best regional ingredients Fuel introduced Vancouver diners to house-made charcuterie, whole cuts and an open kitchen experience in a fine dining setting. Critically acclaimed and award winning from its inception, Fuel Restaurant raised the bar with customer satisfaction and its stalwart integrity in utilizing local ingredients.
Friends and fans of the Kitsilano restaurant are encouraged to join owners Tom Doughty and Chef Robert Belcham for one last Fuel dining experience during the month of November. Diners can enjoy the Third Annual Whole Hog menu, offered November 25th, 26th, and 27th and Fuel’s famous Fried Chicken Fridays will remain available for lunch until the end of the month.
Although Fuel is closing it is not over for owners Doughty and Belcham at their 1944 West 4th Avenue location. “Robert and I have been very fortunate to have run a successful restaurant in Kitsilano over the past 3 years. We have seen the landscape of the Vancouver dining scene change significantly and we are excited to change along with it” says Tom Doughty, Sommelier and Co-Owner of Fuel Restaurant.
This location will reopen on Dec 2, 2009 as a neighborhood restaurant and bar specializing in Casual Northwest Cuisine. “As restaurant owners we strive to give diners what they want. We feel we owe it to our guests to continue to provide them with quality ingredients & friendly service, in a casual atmosphere at a more affordable price” says Robert Belcham, Chef and Co-Owner of Fuel Restaurant.
Complete concept details for the new restaurant will be released soon. In the mean time Vancouver diners can be rest assured the philosophy behind Fuel Restaurant towards quality ingredients and impeccable service will remain.
On the one hand, I’m happy to hear that Rob, Tom, Ted and the gang will still be around, serving up some of the best plates in Vancouver. On the other hand, I’m kind of bummed because Fuel has been like a second home to me. I dropped by tonight and enjoyed a dinner for one at the bar where I chatted with Tom, Ted, and the lovely Brooke. According to Tom, I am their second most frequent diner at 56 visits (I assume not counting evenings I dined on somebody else’s reservation), only one behind the leader at 57. Well, with only weeks left before the changeover, I’ll make sure to put in a few more visits that should put me at the top of the leader board. I can’t help but think that if I hadn’t lost my culinary wingman Marty G., I would have had the title wrapped up months ago.
They’re all very excited about the concept change and the new menu that will offer several Fuel standbys in addition to many intriguing additions. By the time I get back from Tokyo, things should be in full swing.
Maximus gets his stitches out tomorrow. Thanks to everyone who asked about him. He seems to be doing alright. In fact, the entire gang is doing fine (although Jelly has been given to waking up at 5:00 a.m. and whimpering until I lower her off the bed and onto her doughnut pillow where she sleeps for another two hours before waking up and barking until I get up as well).
I’ve been in the office two days now but between the new Macbook and the troubles I’m experiencing with my Blackberry, I’ve made no progress on that outline.
Sigh. Okay, I’m done. I’ve spent the last hour trying to upload pics to no avail. Screw this. I’m going to bed.
Mailbag:
ZeroPointBatteries writes: “This also makes me think back to Air when the scientist lady points out the ancient crates. Do we find out whats in them soon?”
Answer: We WILL be making an interesting discovery in one of those crates later this season.
Stuart Blessman writes: “Can the Destiny just…slow down or stop next time it’s in the sun to super charge? Or would the shield immediately fail, meaning the refueling trick only works when they are gliding at a pre-set altitude and speed?”
Answer: There’s a difference between what the ship is capable of doing and what we are able to command the ship to do. The ship is essentially on auto-pilot and continues to recharge as its been doing for some time now. It’s more than likely that if the crew did happen to find a way to slow the ship down, it’s established protocols would have it jumping to FTL or clearing the dangerous area before it’s shields could fail.
Alfred writes: “You mentioned in yesterday’s blog entry comments that “Sheppard was a hero in the truest sense of the word – dashing, cool under pressure, and rarely if ever given to making mistakes”. I cant agree here. Part of what was appealing about SGA was that you guys explored character flaws and weaknesses in a way that did not detract from the story line. We got to see Ronan’s vulnerable side when Wier was dying or when he was reliving the death of his girlfriend. We got to see Rodney mature from a self centered, know-it-all to someone that was still self centered most of the time but that learned to play nice with others. Even Sheppard made his fair share of mistakes and the audience was “permitted” to forgive him his faults and liked the character all the more for it.”
Answer: But I think the difference is that those characters always set out to do the right thing and rare, if ever, slipped to “the dark side”. I think you’re confusing this with character depth which they all possessed, but they were all dependable and selfless individuals, “good” to a fault. The vulnerability that Ronon demonstrates at Weir’s bedside (and in an episode like Broken Ties) certainly humanizes the characters and elicits sympathy from the audience. Contrast this to a character like Rush who is motivated by self-interest, or Young who, we’ll come to learn, is capable of making some very suspect decisions both on a personal and professional level. As some have already pointed out, it was quite easy to like the SGA gang, but much harder to like some members of the Destiny crew.
Alfred also writes: “Please tell me that you guys are going somewhere soon. You are losing me and one of the few luxuries I took was “SciFi Friday”… “
Answer: As I’ve already said, I look forward to reading the comments on the final three episodes of this first half. These first seven have been a slow burn, setting up the premise, the many characters, and some complex elements like the stones – once we hit Time, I think we hit our stride. In fact, the next seven or so episodes offer up a terrific mid-season run.
Ian writes: “I know you said that you were spinning season 2 ideas, and that’s mine. (if it matters) and also I think a pregnancy on a ship with limited resources and no way to get back to earth would be more trouble to incorporate, than to just go around it. What do you think?”
Answer: I think I like trouble.
JYS writes: “Will the Destiny have its own shield or iris?”
Answer: It won’t.
Chevron7 writes: “1. Do you regret calling the SGA movie Extinction?
2. Will they be eating proper food aboard Destiny soon?
3. Do the stones work on certain frequencies? Is that why the ones on Destiny work with the ones on Earth?
4. At the moment Eli is showing up the other scientists. Do Volker & co get a chance to shine in the future?
5. How’s your Japanese going?”
Answers: 1) It’s apropos of the story. 2) They’ll be finding more off-world fruit and veggies soon and their hydroponics lab will finally yield tomatoes in an upcoming episode! 3) The stones operate through a subspace link. 4) Oh, they’ll get their chances to shine as well. 5) Ma ma desu.
Flappo writes: “i want to ask, do you read Mangas? If you do, what series do you read?”
Answer: I don’t read mangas but I do watch anime.
Flappo writes: “I’ve read that you are waiting for the call for the movies. So I’m asking myself, I really don’t wan’t to be offending or something else, why do you don’t call them?”
Answer: By “call”, I don’t mean a literal phone call but a decision.
Jeffoconnor writes: “In response to the ratings of last week’s episode here in the States, I’ve been doing a little research (or rather, others have and I’ve kept up with it) and it seems a lot of shows were down. It was a bad week for several gigs.”
Answer: True. It was an 11% drop (I believe) across the board. Also, while our same days +1 ratings have dipped, our +7 ratings have steadily increased suggesting that our audience is simply time shifting.
Jeff writes: “my question is, since the ship is fairly old, and even looks like to me has been inhabited or boarded at one point, will the crew discover any remains or evidence in the ship that suggests or proves they may not be the first ones to show up there?”
Answer: It’s possible.
Shadow Step writes: “Well its a bit like a bank robber going up to the teller an saying “I really respect you man” and then shoots him. The headline is still going to be “teller killed””
Answer: No, it’s more like someone going to the bank, encountering a rude teller, and admonishing said teller for their rude behavior. Though the headline would still be “teller killed”.
SciFan writes: “ What do you think of V and do you think it can be successful?”
Answer: In all fairness, I haven’t watched V yet (I’ve been busy and have to get around to it, three episodes of House, and The Bourne Ultimatum), but the reviews have been good and the numbers for the premiere great, so it certainly looks promising – which is great because, as a fan of genre television and Morena Baccarin (SG-1’s Adria), I would like to see it do well.
Belouchi writes: “1. What exactly powers the SGU stargates on the planets the cast visits, I figure there isnt a DHD or anything else?
2. Theoritically, the Destiny was supposed to carry how many people… that is if the Ancients did come aboard…. sorry let me pose the question again: What is the max capacity in terms of people of the Ship?
3. Concerning Atlantis…. if the movie gets done ( I pray to God every night for that by the way) how much time will it take you guys for production and post production… I assume the pre-production is done?”
Answers: 1. It’s powered by some internal source located either within the gate or the gate’s ramp. 2. No idea. 3. It would take us a couple of weeks to prep (we would need to build new sets for some new locations, costumes, props, guest cast), and another three weeks or so to shoot, then maybe 4-5 months of post.
Taylor writes: “ In your opinion, are the power reserves still below designed capacity because the Destiny is so old, and is no longer capable to storing as strong a charge as it once could? Or is it more likely because so many power conduits were damaged, as mentioned in Earth, resulting in reduced efficiency as we saw in SGA when the power conduits there were damaged as well.”
Answer: It could well “all of the above”. We’ll be shedding some light on these power issues in upcoming episodes.
Aaron writes: “Sorry Joe, but I gotta agree with Maureen Ryan’s recent comments about Stargate Universe… It’s just not doing it for me, and I don’t think that makes me stupid.”
Answer: Why would you assume I’d think it made you stupid?
Sharon Sigl writes: “If you read these comments please understand if we didn’t care about the success of the show we wouldn’t bother to comment.”
Answer: Thanks for taking the time to weigh in, Sharon. And, I’m curious – where did you get the impression that we don’t want to hear what you have to say? If it’s a response to my recent rant, please read the rant rather than the paraphrased summation of someone else before making any assumption on what it was I did or did not say. Thanks.
Ian writes: “Some people in a forum i am in are debating about destiny and atlantis. Destiny is first right? and we know that Atlantis has to be a few million years old, since they wiped out life in the milky way and then restarted it and left for pegasus. So would you be able to give a range of years like Destiny is 30-35 million years old and Atlantis is 10-15 million years old??”
Answer: I’d rather not put a specific date on either (I’ll leave that to Brad or Rob), but I will confirm that, yes, Destiny IS older.
Sherrold writes: “When someone calls a _character_ “Lieutenant Rack”, they’re not commenting on the actress — they’re commenting on the writing, film angles, and editing choices that keep a character from becoming fully realized, and instead makes her a sexist caricature.
It’s rude for someone to come here and make such a comment — but it’s wrong for you to mischaracterize their comments as insults to the actress.”
Answer: It’s also wrong for you to misrepresent what I actually said. I stated that by using sexist terms in a post in which you are arguing something is sexist, you are undermining your argument. I never said anything about the terms being insulting to the actress. Although, now that you mention it, yes, it is pretty insulting to the actress. It would be no different than a fan referring to a character as “Corporal Fatty” or “Major Big Ears“. Sure, they can argue they’re only referring to the character, but they’re also demeaning the individual playing said character.
Squall78 writes: “Also, why do you sell yourself short producing and showrunning SGA?”
Answer: How so? I said that SGA was a different show. I never said it was an inferior show.
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