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Red wine is poured with a shaky hand, almost to the top of the glass. The warm chocolate soufflé is soupy, the coffee is watery and the mistakes keep piling up.

If this were a regular fine-dining restaurant and we were paying full price, I would be screaming bloody murder.

Fortunately, we are at JJ's, a restaurant staffed by the culinary arts students at Vancouver Community College, where a three-course meal costs only $23.

We must keep in mind, as the menu kindly requests, that the servers and cooks are all chefs in training, taking their first baby steps. I am actually impressed that the students spend a full month waiting tables to appreciate how the front of the house operates.

But what will the rest of the world think when a team of these students make their debut in Beijing?

Vancouver's Culinary Capers Catering has been selected as the official caterer for the British Columbia-Canada Pavilion in Beijing, which opens later this month and runs until September. The company has offered to share the spotlight with 24 students from the community college who will earn course credits while feeding athletes, coaches, politicians and corporate sponsors at the non-stop parade of luncheons, dinners, parties and cocktail receptions that coincide with the Olympic Games.

Will the students go the distance and make Canada proud? It's time for a pop quiz.

So how is the duck prepared?

"It's cooked in two acts," our server explains.

Does that mean the dish is served with both breast and leg meat or is it cooked two ways?

"Yes, it's roasted."

The young waitress is clueless, but lovely and obviously trying her best. She says this stint on the floor has been the most gruelling part of her training.

The 12 aspiring chefs who have been selected to go to Beijing can relax. They will not be doing any serving. (Culinary Capers is sponsoring an additional 12 students from the hospitality program to greet guests, pour wine and pass out canapés.) Their co-op work schedule, however, will be far more demanding than it is here within the pampered confines of JJ's, which allows dinner reservations only from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., Monday to Friday.

And the food they will be cooking will probably be far more practical than some of the teacher-designed recipes on the JJ's menu that awkwardly straddle the line between classic and current.

Take the scallop saltimbocca with verjus vanilla beurre blanc and sweet pepper couscous, for instance. Let's hope that this mishmash of a main course was intentionally devised to squeeze as many techniques as possible into one dish. It certainly doesn't sound like it is meant to please the palate.

Among the appetizers, duck liver terrine is a smooth, full-flavoured parfait, sliced thick but with sloppy edges. It sits on a crisp pastry round filled with juicy rhubarb compote and is paired with two firmly poached spot prawns.

Sunnyside quail egg is just plain weird. The egg, lightly fried with a runny yolk, comes with a single slice of bacon and a pale-green asparagus flan, shaped into a jiggly pyramid, with more gelatin than flavour.

The main courses are a vast improvement. Seared lamb loin is bright pink on the inside and nicely charred with a mushroom duxelle crust. It's served with mushroom caps stuffed with blue cheese and a medley of vegetables finely diced into a confetti-like brunoise that must have been a killer to cut.

The duck is indeed roasted, to tender perfection. The slices of breast and crisped confit are arranged around a bed of tasty thyme risotto and topped with a tartly reduced Calvados jus.

Desserts are forgettable. The chocolate soufflé falls flat. Raspberry frangipane is a cake dense with eggs but no discernible trace of almond.

When in Beijing, the culinary students will work under chef de cuisine Jonathan Chovancek, who also ran the Culinary Capers kitchen at British Columbia-Canada Place in Turin, Italy, but will be supervised by four college instructors. Culinary Capers is covering the school's entire costs, including flights and accommodation.

J. C. Felicella, head of the culinary arts department at VCC, says he has received a lot of criticism about the trip from people who are concerned that the students will be overworked for no pay. But he argues that the experience will be invaluable.

"This is not a fixed-hour school day. They will be expected to work six days a week, maybe seven. This is a true test for any culinary student entering the profession. It will be one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of their lives."

I say send them to China and let them work their fingers to the bone. This isn't a career for wimps. The kids at JJ's, try as they might, could use all the help they can get.

JJ's, Vancouver Community

College, 250 West Pender St.,

third floor; 604-443-8479.

***

Side dish

FEENIE'S BIG REVEAL

Rob Feenie is ready to roll. The new food concept architect for Cactus Restaurants Ltd. has unveiled a number of his dishes, which include albacore tuna tataki with green papaya and mint salad, braised ribs, an upside-down chicken rocket salad, and his famous butternut squash ravioli (slightly tweaked with fried sage, pine nuts and amaretti cookie crumble).

His beef burger, barbecue duck clubhouse and short rib sandwich will soon be introduced company-wide and the full, Feenie-inspired menu will be launched at the new Bentall 5 location when it opens next month. For now, the items are being served only at the Cactus Club Café flagship: 575 West Broadway, 604-714-6000.

SPOT THE PRAWNS

Why eat frozen tiger shrimp when you can feast on sweet spot prawns caught locally? To kick off the season, the Chefs' Table Society of B.C. is throwing its second annual spot prawn festival, this Saturday afternoon at the False Creek Fishermen's Wharf (1505 West 1st Ave.). The family-friendly event will showcase dozens of dishes from Vancouver's top chefs and free cooking demonstrations at Granville Market. For the next six to eight weeks, you can buy the prawns straight from the fisherman at the docks for $12 a pound, from 2 to 6 p.m. daily. BISHOP HOSPITALIZED

John Bishop, owner of Bishop's restaurant, was hospitalized last weekend after suffering a minor stroke. A friend confirms that he is now at home, fully mobile and in great spirits while awaiting the results of his tests. Mr. Bishop is scheduled to be a guest chef at the Mission Hill Family Estate on Saturday, for a sold-out dinner during the Okanagan Spring Wine Festival. It is not yet certain whether he will be able to

attend.

Alexandra Gill