Re: BYO in Canada

Liquor laws are a provincial matter in Canada. In Ontario BYO is not allowed. I don't know of any provinces besides Quebec where BYO is allowed.

The only exception in Ontario is at resorts/hotels which do NOT have a liquor licence. Since the resort is considered to be your residence you can bring your own anywhere the management will allow. I'm on my way to such a resort for a week next Sunday, and I always bring along a box of assorted wine so I can pick and choose according to the day's menu. However their dining room is not open to the public.

My feeling, based mainly on many Summer visits to Nova Scotia, is that Canada should post a large sign at the border saying "We Do Not Want You to Drink Alcohol."

This would make matters much clearer and explain why Glen Ellen Chardonnay and equivalent wines sell for about $15 Cdn. I suggest you drink a lot of Canadian beer when visiting Canada.

Sounds like you must have done something we'd (speaking as a Canadian and a Nova Scotian) consider dumb, like walking around town with a beer in your hand...

I've found that it is easy to get wine in restaurants, even in remote outports in Newfoundland. The selection may be both small and modest, but it was available and the servers knew how to present the bottle, open and pour.

No, you're not going to find a very wide selection in a liquor store in town on the east coast. Other than 2-3 months in the summer when tourist season peaks, many of those store serve a local population than numbers only in the hundreds.

I've found that a lot of restuarants in the US you get treated like you are nuts if you ask for anything but a "Bud" with your meal.

Glen Ellen Chardonnay sells for $11.75 at the LCBO (Ontario), which works out to $8.55US at today's exchange rate. California wines tend to be higher priced in Canada than other imports, and the low end tends to be POOR value. The best value wines available here (Ontario) come from South America and Ontario.

In general, the tax structure on alcohol in Canada tends to push up prices on the low end, while favouring the higher end. That's because some (not all) of the taxes are based on the volume of alcohol sold, and not it's price. So, those taxes would be the same on a $8 bottle of wine as on a $80 bottle.

Thanks for confirming that it is not worthwile to carry some Luxembourg Aïswein to the Niagara area... While I am bothering you guys... would you have any restaurant recommandations (preferably with a decent wine list) for the following areas:

- Canmore, AB

- Port Hardy

- Prince Rupert

- Port Hardy

- Vancouver

Thanks, eh!

Yves

With regards to BYO, I took some friends of mine out for dinner a number of years ago and they had called ahead to ask about bringing in a bottle. The restaurant was fine with it, so you may give it a try. (The restaurant was called Star Anise, not sure whether it is still in business).

The embarrassing part was that the wine was on their wine list!

Tim

Although I'm not local, I think Vancouver has some really good Chinese food. It used to be that the Chinese population there was the largest outside of China. I suspect it still is. It's also a good place for Indian food. I've heard a number of times that Vancouver, BC and San Jose were the two best places for Indian in North America. But I'm into Indian less.

So........if we forget about wine for a minute, I like the Shanghai Bistro in downtown. It caters a little more to the downtown crowd. The other place I have liked is Sun Sui Wah. This is definately the local Chinese crowd and not businessmen in town for the week.

Have a good trip.

John

Agreed - and after being in Port Hardy, he'll NEED a decent meal.

I'd add my favourite Le Gavroche, Le Crocodile, and La Cucina in North Van.