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onionbreath

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  1. Yuzu- I have seen it at la mer but it can also be purchased for less money at the korean grocery store on Sherbrooke st. west, diagonally accross from Akhavan.
  2. Not quite India... but there are at least 5 decent Japanese Restuarants in Colombo, Sri Lanka. There is a lot of fresh tuna, and a big serving of sashimi is around $5.00. Nothing artistic or innovative, just authentic simple food. If you are travelling from the Americas stop in Tokyo on your way to India and go to the central fish market and have the world's best sashimi right there.
  3. Barbados is really small with great public transportation so you can eat anywhere at anytime. Sunday lunch buffets are great. Ask at your hotel for the current favourites. Friday nights there is a large gathering at Oistin's with about 25 stalls serving fresh fish. In a pinch there is an islandwide chain called Chefette's that makes good roti. Try a ham cutter, sliced ham on a hard roll with hot sauce @ the public market in Bridgetown.
  4. Could not agree more. I am a big fan of Union's coffee but their retail machine prices are over the top. I view it like a Software/Firmware/Hardware situation with the coffee as the software, the service as the firmware and the machine and grinder as the hardware. You often need different suppliers! So our hardware/firmware comes from the Daily Grind in Albany at great prices, our software from Union, Mocha Joe's in Brattelboro Vt. and occasional Gerard Van Houtte blends. Our Ranciliio Sylvia and Rocky are basic and very reliable. Am going to wait a year or 2 before buying new hardware.
  5. First of all we had eaten at the original Uigher Resto on Sherbrooke O. in NDG about 10 times. At the time there were appr. 30 Uighers in Montreal and they were there always, whole families looking straight out of a Genghis Khan photo shoot. They were really nice people, proud and independent and made insane homemade noodles served with broths and little stuffed raviolis served with yogurt. They lasted about 18 months I think and we were sad to see them go. We went to Arzou Express in May, 3 people with a bottle of premium sake. They let us drink it and we let the waitress (owner I think) order for us. The meal was just about everything on the menu served for three and culminating wiith a whole chicken fricasse with vegetables. We ran up a $120.00 bill which left us speechless but of course it was our fault. We ate an enormous amount of soups, noodles, salads, meat stuffed pasteries and the chicken. All was adequate, fresh ingredients and homemade. But the Uighers are herders and traders, not agrarian so there is it not a great variety of vegetables or seasonality to the cuisine. The food is not heavily seasoned but does have some nice flavours and textures. The restaurant has been Turkish, Tamil, Phillipino, Vietnamese over the past 10 years and this is the best food to come out of that kitchen. It is family owned and deserves community support.
  6. Food (3 courses/per person) $60- 70.00 Wine( 1/3-1/2 bottle per person) $ 20.00 Drink $ 10.00 Water $ 3.00 Tax and Tip $15.00 +$15.00= $ 123.00 to $133.00. This is with a lower end wine, of course you could splurge.
  7. Vinfidel, I am relieved to see a trend towards the smaller, less glitzy style of restaurant. The concept is terrific. That was why we chose to dine at JB in the first place. A restaurant on this model has to have a concise and appealing menu of what is fresh and outstanding in the market. That is the only way to offer value to the customer and to justify premium prices. The food can be elaborate or minimalist, modern or classic depending on the chef’s style, but flavors have to come through and ingredients must be of the highest standard. The ingredients were good, but of the many dishes we tried, all lacked the intense or subtle flavors of great food. I admit “cheap” was not the right choice of word but lets talk about value here. It was too easy to spend $64.00 and get 12 average oysters and 4 breaded scallops with fries. The chef’s input was to create sauces and quickly deep fry. Both the mignonette with the oysters and the tartar sauce with the scallops were tasteless. Does shucking oysters and serving up pre-cooked cold lobster plates define a chef’s cooking abilities? To praise the chefs at JB as trendsetting local heroes, “the best in the city” is a bit much at this stage. Menu prices are high and a very limited segment of the population can spend $125+/per person for dinner. At that price point comes expectations of excellence.
  8. Last weekend while walking along Notre Dame I stopped to admire the facade of newcomer Joe Beef. In the window there was an enormous squash resting on a butcher block, next to it a lovely vase of fresh flowers. It looked really inviting. Cozy, low key. I decided to make a reservation not having heard much about the place. We dined there last weekend. The place was jam packed. Service is super- friendly and gracious. Our waitress recommended the fresh watermelon martini which we found a bit too sweet and not that smooth, a surprising choice for a fall cocktail. We tried three appetizers: the beet fennel salad with chevre, fois gras chaud on ginger toast and the highly recommended cape breton oysters which were exclusive to the restaurant. The beet salad consisted of large quarters of golden beets, fennel shavings, topped off with a huge dollop of chevre. It was a very generous portion which unfortunately got pretty boring pretty fast. No inspired flavor, not even salt. The fois gras on ginger toast could have been great but also failed to please. The foie gras was massive, cool in the center but the problem was with the fried ginger toast, which left a bad aftertaste of gristle. The special import oysters were medium sized to large, fresh, served on a bed of ice and had a nice texture but there was no sparkle or sea salty briny taste, very strange. The appetizers are not cheap $12-$21, the oysters $31 a dozen. Our mains: (Halibut, Fried Scallops and Lamb) The halibut with marjoram was served piping hot in individual pottery bowls; it was perfectly cooked. The filet was in a broth I can’t recall (cream or yogurt base?) with a hint of marjoram. It was a tad bland and some of our crew found it surprisingly boney for a filet. Fried scallops and frites a la fish n’ chips were presented in a cute stainless steel mini bucket. The greaseless pale-looking batter did not adhere to the plump scallops, which meant you could eat either the batter or a naked scallop but you couldn’t eat a “fried scallop.” While the rack of lamb was tender and juicy it looked conventional next to its overly sweet fresh mint chutney. The chutney was really quite awful. The vegetable sides of romanesco and potatoes were plain looking and seemed an afterthought. The way in which they were presented, squished into small side plates, did not help. Dessert was so lame I’d rather not elaborate. The evening was not exactly a culinary experience and it was pretty expensive to boot. Again the staff are terrific, no complaints there but the food seems amateurish, almost institutional. Not sure who is in the kitchen. Perhaps its just growing pains, let’s hope so. It sure doesn’t leave one with the impression that there is a discerning chef at the wheel.
  9. Great! We are feeling much more confident setting off to dc demain with list in hand thanks to you all.
  10. Except for Malawry's post noone else has commented on Hank's. Wondering if its worthwhile. Also what is the scoop on jOHNNY'S hALF Shell,it seems very popular ? And, on an other foodie site there was mention of a mexican resto in Arlington called El Charito Caminante,anyone been there?
  11. Thanks Gullets!!! Have discovered that in between eats we must also sightsee and go to the Saturday Nat's game. This seriously limits chow time!! So Sunday Night @ Ray's has been booked and we will fill in with, Ebbitt's, Oohs and Aaghs( which sounds really special), Capital, one of the Andres' places for lunch. This probably leaves us some snacking room so keep the recs coming.
  12. We will be in DC for 8 or 9 meals this weekend. We live in Montreal and are adventurous eaters. What we can't get here are BBQ, TEX MEX,SOUTHERN , AFRICAN, REALLY GOOD GRILLED STEAK, CRAB/OYSTERS and Grits-Ham-Gravy type breakfasts. We are flying in, staying at Layayette Sq. and want to use public transportation as much as possible. Please Advice and consent.
  13. I don't understand the resistance. Have been to packed bars in L.A. and NYC that are smoke free and full of atmosphere and great cocktails. What's the problem?
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