The evidence: Zin and tenderloin at the ZAP luncheon at the Pacific Pallisades.

What an excellent way to end the week! The ZAP folks (that’s the California-based group Zinfandel Advocates & Producers) hosted a lunch today in the penthouse of the Pacific Palisades Hotel on Vancouver’s Robson Street. Along with the steak and chocolate mousse, we got to enjoy lashings of the teeth-staining vino, along with some great conversations with the people who make it.

This, along with a series of tastings this week, was the first ZAP event in Vancouver — their big gig is the annual Zinfadnel Festival held each February in San Francisco — and judging by the local enthusiasm for Zin, it won’t be the last.

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I love visiting Victoria, B.C., especially now that its food scene has taken off so dramatically, but it is still not exactly a mecca for great cocktails. I mean, when I was there for the Taste festival last weekend, people could only tell me about two great places to go for cocktails — Solomon’s in the old Herald Street Cafe location and Clive’s at the Chateau Vic. Still, I guess that’s not bad for the population base.

Anyway, I expect the whole cocktail scene is about to get a bit crazier over there thanks to an ambitious cocktail fest planned for this fall. Art of the Cocktail will be held Nov. 7 and 8, and will feature workshops, molecular demos, presentations on historic cocktails, discussions about bitters, and plenty of great cocktails to sample. There will be cocktail pairing dinners, a competition for the best mixologist in the Pacific Northwest and in something of a blast from the past, a Flair bartending demo. Hmm.

It’s all a fundraiser for the Victoria Film Festival, so it’s a good cause as well, and makes it worth the ferry ride. Heck, any excuse for a cocktail, I say!

Tasting tent at Kirkland Uncorked.

I’m ashamed to admit that, until a couple of days ago, I didn’t even know where, exactly, Kirkland was. But now I’ve found it and, boy, am I glad.

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The Taste festival's Main Event at Victoria's Crystal Palace.

So last weekend was the inaugural Taste festival in Victoria, and what a fest it was! Organized by Kathy MacAree (of Travels with Taste Tours) and her impressive team and industry partners, this was a hugely ambitious project, especially for its first year. And while not every event came together quite as planned, those that did were impressive indeed.

There were lunches, dinners and workshops all weekend, but the main event was, well, the Main Event, a giant public tasting held last Thursday at the Crystal Palace in downtown Victoria.

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The Four Seasons' Sam Geer enjoys the restaurant's new mocktails.

Even those of us who drink for a living (not much of a living, mind you, but still) occasionally have to go to a social occasion and actually not consume alcohol. I know, I know, but there are plenty of reasons why you may choose to go dry — you’re the designated driver, perhaps, or you’re on a diet, trying to save money or hoping to stay sober for an important meeting. And there are plenty of people who never drink, for health or religious reasons, or, like my friend Sam Geer, director of public relations at the Four Seasons hotel in Vancouver, because they’re pregnant.

And when you’re not drinking it comes as a bit of a shock to realize just how grim the choice of beverages can be. Grownup, beverages, that is — of course, you could always have a Sprite or a glass of milk if you really had to. But if you want something serious, your choices seem to boil down to Pellegrino or cranberry-soda. Yawn.

Luckily for Sam, the restaurant manager at the hotels’ Yew Restaurant + Bar, Jeff Hanson, decided to do something about it. And so he challenged his bar staff to come up with non-alcoholic cocktails that grownups could order without getting pitying looks from their dining companions.

They came up with six great, refreshing drinks including the Cinnamon Girl (Giffard cinnamon syrup, Giffard apple syrup, lemon juice and soda), the Peach Pie (peach puree, lemon juice, cinnamon syrup, peach bitters and soda) and the Guava Mist (guava juice, lemon juice, iced tea).  Not only are they delicious and food-friendly, they’re also cheap — about $5 each — and you order them off the wine/cocktail list just like any proper drink.

Definitely well worth checking out. Besides, you don’t actually have to enjoy them sans alcohol — each drink description also includes a suggested shot of something stronger to spice it up.

Am thrilled to learn that at last we have a decent wine, cheese, charcuterie and small plates joint here in North Vancouver. The place is called LoLo — short for Lower Lonsdale, how cute is that? — which is a much, much nicer name than its last incarnation, Smiles, or even before that, when it was Fiction.

It’s not much on decor, with terracotta walls, pretty basic furniture and a minimalistic patio. On the other hand, there is a piano, and live music every night, and it’s bright and cheery and fun.

More importantly, the food and wine are not only good, but cheap, especially right now that they have a deal on where guests can try three small plates for only $15. The menu features artisanal cheeses as well as charcuterie from Mocchia Meats and JN&Z and spreads such as the spicy spinach and white bean & artichoke. And then there are the yummy flatbreads — love the ’Zola (radicchio, gorgonzola, figs, honey and truffle oil) and the blow-your-diet-to-bits Tarti, with mashed potatoes, bacon lardons and melted cheese.

And best of all, there’s the wine. Stems start at $6, and the most expensive glass is the $9.95 Valdespino Pedro Ximenez El Candado Sherry. Take that, Brown’s and Deuce! These are interesting wines, too, not the  typical Penfolds and Yellowtail you get everywhere else. There is, for istance, a Tokaji Late Harvest Muscat, a Balthasar Ress Riesling from germany, a Primula Nero d’Avola and the Pascual Toso Malbec from Argentina. All more than decent wines, but deliciously affordable, too.

LoLo is right near the SeaBus terminal and Lonsdale Quay, so who knows, some downtowners may even make the arduous trip across the water. Until then, it’s the hood’s newest hangout. If you’re looking for it, it’s located at 100 East 2nd St., North Vancouver, 778-340-6655, www.lolonorthvan.com. Note that it’s only open 4:30 to 10 pm (10:30 Fridays and Saturdays) and closed Mondays.

Went to a preview of Julie & Julia last night — doesn’t open until Aug. 7, so yay, lucky me — and all I can say is, if you love food, and if you love words, and if you love words about food, you have GOT to go to this movie.

To be honest, I was a bit nervous going in. The movie, directed by Nora Ephron, weaves together two books: Julia Child’s memoir of the time she spent in Paris alongside her husband, the cultural attaché Paul Child, which is when and where she learned how to cook; and Julie Powell’s memoir of her year-long blog during which she made every recipe in Julia’s seminal cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. The movie stars a towering, quavering Meryl Streep as Julia and a mousy, emerging-from-her-miserable-shell Amy Adams as Julie. Like any foodie, I revere Julia, and was ridiculously worried that this would be a crushing disappointment.

Well, I needn’t have fretted because this was, quite frankly, the most enjoyable movie experience I have had in years. It was so good I didn’t even mind that the people behind me kept talking during the movie. At least they were talking about the movie; in fact, they were so into it, they were practically giddy. Pretty funny, actually.

Adams is, as she always is, utterly charming on screen. She has these crazy-huge blue eyes that are so dynamic that you can’t take your own eyes off her even when she’s doing something as tedious as typing. And the supporting cast, including a low-key Stanley Tucci as Paul Child, is terrific.

But everyone is overshadowed — as seems perfectly appropriate — by the gigantic personality of Julia, and by Streep, who is at her very best here. Julia would be very easy to cariacture (see: Dan Aykroyd), but Streep manages to nail her trademark oddities, starting with that peculiarly quavering voice, without ever truning her into a figure of fun.

As you’d expect from Ephron, there’s great insights to be had over women’s friendships, nice period details, especially when it comes to clothing, and some really great use of music. (I especially loved the way they had Talking Heads’ Psycho Killer playing in the scene where Julie has to kill a crustacean or two for Lobster Thermidor. Hi-larious.)

Ephron is always a great writer, but not always a great director, but here she’s really found her style. The movie was laugh-out-loud funny in spots, poignant in others. The food scenes were delicious. And even though Julia died in 2004, this movie has kept her alive, for now and forever. As she herself would say, bon appétit!

The Box Trifecta and the vintage room at The Diamond.

It’s been a couple of weeks now since The Diamond opened, and I think it’s safe to say that it’s the hottest place on the menu right for Vancouver’s roving bands of connoisseurs, or at least those of us who aren’t dedicated to spending every waking moment possible on a patio somewhere.

The team of Mark Brand, Josh Pape and Sophie Taverner have created a really great room in one of Vancouver’s oldest (and most scandalous) buildings. (No. 6 Powell St. was not only the city’s first brothel, but also its first speakeasy and a series of notorious nightclubs. Can’t imagine why they had so much trouble getting licensing approved . . . ) Somehow, they’ve managed to preserve the past without being weighed down by it; the place feels fresh and funky, not at all like a museum.

The petite menu features great Asian snack foods including the best gyoza I’ve tasted, as well as noodle dishes, Vietnamese subs and these truly addictive spicy peanuts. The food is fresh, flavourful and made with high-quality local ingredients like Sloping Hill pork. And it’s cheap — everything is around 10 bucks.

The classic daiquiri and addictive nuts at The Diamond.

But the best thing here is the drinks, which are certainly among the best in the city. The drinks list features a few well-though-out classics like the Penicillin, Pegu Club and a proper Daiquiri, but most of the drinks were created by the Brad-Pape-Taverner team. This is an awesome team behind the bar, and the cocktails sure show it. I personally loved something called the Box Trifecta (brandy, amaro and kirsch) though the Kingston Daisy (amber rum, raspberry syrup and lemon juice) was also pretty fine.

Yep, I’m loving The Diamond, and also loving that it’s just one more delicious reason to visit Gastown, which is pretty much the only really authentic part of Vancouver left.

Jay Jones lines ’em up on the newly placed Pourhouse bar.

It’s always exciting to see a new joint come to life. It’s even more exciting if you get to play a part in it, however small. And that’s what about 30 of us got to do yesterday, as we — literally — lowered the bar at Pourhouse, Jay Jones’ promising new venture in Gastown.

He’d scored a massive hunk of 100-year-old fir at a barn on the Vista d’Oro property and after cleaning, planning and sanding it it to a velvety finish, transformed it into a 38-foot-long bar. But when it came time to put it in place, he and his partners knew they couldn’t do it themselves, so they called on about 30 friends and colleagues to help out.

The massive hunk of wood was propped up with a network of supports; what we had to so was lift it slightly as a couple of guys removed the supports, then place it very, very gently onto the base of the bar. Well, clearly, many hands make light work even of heavy objects, since it only took a couple of minutes. And then Jay poured us shots of Maker’s Mark bourbon to celebrate. Sweet!

It was a promising beginning to this newest Gastown project. Pourhouse located at 162 Water St., in the old Flux location. There are still a few remnants of the old Flux generic club hideousness hanging around, but those will all be replaced by dark wood, burgundy leather, natural brick and a mood that promises to pay homage to the past without copying it in a kitschy sort of way. Look for Pourhouse to open late summer.

A good beginning for Gastown's next hotspot.