Restaurants? Even the most inspired and critically acclaimed fare is, at the end of the day, simply more sustenance to keep the body functioning -- getting you from A to B, as it were. Not so long ago, Vancouver was as appetizing to a foodie as Salisbury steak on a George Foreman Grill.

No offence to the White Spot, but when a burger joint is your region's culinary claim to fame, don't expect Michelin Guide writers to be beating a path to your kitchen door anytime soon.

Today though, Vancouver is home to a dizzying menu of dining opportunities, a veritable United Nations of noshing with a generous helping of fusion, haute and retro cuisine served on the side.

Restaurateur Harry Kambolis has been at the forefront of dragging the city's dining culture out of the dark ages, first in the... // Canada.com

He worked on that burgeoning philosophy for five years at Raincity Grill, and in 1997 opened C restaurant, regarded by critics as Vancouver's first contemporary seafood restaurant.

In 2001, Kambolis developed the first ever eco-culinary partnership with the David Suzuki Foundation. Named SEA (Sustainable, Environmental Awareness), it focused on C serving only responsibly managed and harvested fish species.

And in January 2007, C became the founding restaurant partner for Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre's Ocean Wise, a program that promotes sustainable harvested seafood through participating restaurants in Metro Vancouver.

Just as the city's restaurant landscape has changed since Harry Kambolis gave up studying invertebrates, so too has the traffic, and as we head back to his... // Canada.com

The car business and the restaurant business share the unique ability to constantly re-invent the wheel.

In the case of the former, not so long ago you could count on one hand the types of vehicles available in showrooms -- truck, coupe, sedan, station wagon, convertible. Pretty simple. But the last quarter century has wrought an onslaught of revolutionary configurations, all with breathless promises that they will change the way we drive. Economy cars, minivans, compacts, SUVs, luxury utilities, hybrids and crossovers to name just a few.

Strip away the marketing department hyperbole though, and you'll find the guts of a vehicle essentially unchanged in a century and still performing its basic task -- getting you from A to B.

Restaurants? Even the most inspired and critically... // Vancouver Sun