Los Brasilenos Versus Les Quebecois

Last night I met some of my old friends from my days at Mainframe Entertainment. Animation directors Andrew "The Monkey" Duncan and George Samilski, production designer Casey Kwan, and Uber Technical Director Steve "Grapes" Sauers. The occasion was that Mr. Sauers was visiting Vancouver from San Francisco (where he does some dodgey work for some dude named Lucas) and George thought that it might be a good idea to meet at this Brasilian place called "Samba." I knew something was up with the place when I arrived ahead of the other guys and took a seat at the bar. I was greeted by three gorgeous women with over-the-top carnival outfits featuring all the feathers and what not. Let's just say that there was a whole lot of shaking going on!!! They were accompanied by this cheesey DJ with a thin felt marker mustache and eye-liner. He was saying things like "here's one for all you beach mommas ready to strut your stuff!!!" And then he played this crazy samba music so loud you could hear it on the moon! When the boys showed up we dug into the salad bar and all-you-can-eat Brasilian meat barbeque. Basically what happens is the waiters come around with huge skewers with all manner of grilled meats. Organic beef, ostrich, lamb, venison, etc. You name it, they had it! I kept wondering what my Brasilian friends Andre "El Camaro" De Souza and Roberto "The Hunk 'O Burnin' Love" Hradec would think of the place. I decided they'd love it! how could they not! So we proceeded to geek out talking all about "the good old days" at Mainframe, and pig out on Brasilian barbeque! When we left I couldn't help yelling "falou tchau!" at the tops of my lungs! Later on, I met up with Megcita and her friends Carmen and Silvana at a Quebecois Cafe called La Zidanie where they were soaking up a little live music and Maudite. In fact, by the time I got there they were looking like they'd had a healthy sampling of all manner of the fine Quebecois ales that they have available at the cafe. Not to mention a helping of "poutine!" Fortunately for me, I didn't arrive too late for the desert! Tarte du sucre and crepes avec le sirop d'erable and coffee. Amazing! I was thinking that this was what I should have mentioned as an answer to that frequent question while I was in Europe: but, what is Canadian food anyway? Adding to the amazing atmosphere were a couple of crazy Quebecois improvisational musicians who were playing some great tunes on an acoustic guitar and totally rocking the house! As we left I thought to myself that this kind of night was a great example of what is so amazing about Vancouver. Where else in the world can you pig out on Brasilian barbeque and follow up with tarte du sucre?