The former NPA park board commissioner who once said families wanting a cheap meal on the beach should go eat McDonald’s believes the Cactus Club’s takeover of the English Bay concession is “not a bad choice” for beachgoers.

“It’s pretty middle-of-the-road and gives everybody an opportunity to have some good service, good food, for a pretty reasonable price,” Marty Zlotnik told the Straight by phone from his downtown Vancouver office on March 31. “I don’t go to Cactus Club a lot, but there’s one next door to our office here. I go there once in a while, if I could ever get in. It’s not easy to get in.”

Zlotnik added, “They are a quality operation from the point-of-view of the way they run their operation, so the public will be well served.”

Back in 2007, then-COPE park commissioner Spencer Herbert, now the NDP MLA for Vancouver-West End, was critical of Zlotnik’s comment about families going to fast-food outlets if they want cheap eats.

“I say Comm. Zlotnik is ”˜Marty Antoinette’, telling people without a lot of money, ”˜Go eat McDonald’s,’ not cake,” Herbert told the Straight at the time.

Herbert was referring to Archduchess of Austria (later Queen of France and Navarre) Marie Antoinette’s high-and-mighty treatment of the masses and her apocryphal entreaty to let them eat cake.

Will Vancouverites be able to afford the food at English Bay?

“I would imagine that they would try and have their menu, which is pretty generic, and should work pretty well in that location, I think,” Zlotnik said. “You want somebody that’s going to have lots of stability. You don’t want somebody that’s here today and gone tomorrow. They are a good-quality operation, and I think it should work well.”

Herbert, a political adversary of Zlotnik’s from 2005 to 2008, married partner Romi Chandra over the past weekend.

Zlotnik, about to head to Palm Springs for a round of golf, was delighted by the news.

“Good for him,” Zlotnik said. “I wish him all the best. It’s terrific for Spencer—he’s a super smart guy. I think he makes good, reasoned decisions. Even though we weren’t on the same side politically, I respected his approach to doing things. I’ve got lots of time for Spencer.”