Manolo

I've also had his food in the past and have loved it. That is why this came as such as shock as the food was unbearably bad, the salt made it impossible for us to even finish our dishes.

After reading many glowing reviews, and having JK cater an event for us a few years ago, I was eager to try his food again. I had made reservations for last night for my GF and her son. The first item was an amuse bouche of smoked pickerel on potatoes. We all though it was great and were excited for the food to come. We had had his fries at our event a few years back and wanted try them again, they were good, but the salt level was very high. For appetizers we ordered the Oyster & Clam chowder, Streets of Toronto (small Pork burger with cheese on fries, mushroom "pizza" on puff pastry and cuttle fish salad) and a Composed Fall Salad. The Oyster & Clam chowder was unbearably salty, we each took a sample of the broth and we all agreed, this is probably the saltiest thing I had ever tasted!! The "Streets of Toronto" was better, I really enjoyed the cuttlefish and the Puff Pastry Mushroom Pizza was very boring with very little going on, maybe a hint of Truffle oil in there somewhere. The Composed Fall salad was another terribly boring item, not much going on and not that memorable really. For our entrees we had Braised & Roast Pheasent, Fluke & Shrimp and Red Snapper. The Braised half of the Pheasent was great, but the roasted part was very dry and way too salty again, it was all served over top of potatoes and cracklings that were all way way WAY too salty. The Fluke & Shrimp was good, but again the sauce was WAY too salty. The Red Snapper was served Table side (this service method had issues of its own that I'll leave out) and was done in a salt crust, so we had great fears of yet another overly salty dish. The fish it self wasn't all too salty at all but the sauce that was poured over top made the entire dish unbearably salty again. We were all terribly disappointed with food, I could not believe it. We have heard nothing but great things from other friends that have gone. But there is no way I could ever recommend the food there based on the salt levels in our food. It made ever dish a challenge to eat. We didn't bother with desert and decided to go home. The only reason I can think of for this is that we were there on a Sunday night? Anyone else have as salty an experience??

Which reds did you end up picking up? I've heard great things about Tawse, I've tried some of the Stratus wines and enjoyed them but the $38 price tag for the red was a bit much for me, for that price there are much better wines out there.

Best example of overpriced Port is the Fonseca, the 03 Futures are $129 per bottle, and the the 2000's are still on the shelves at $99. Besides, who knows if I'll be around to enjoy a 2003 port at its peak in 25-30 years

The prices on some of the Ports are nuts as well. There are still some great 2000's on the shelves that are priced at $20-30 less than the 03 futures price. My money is going into grabbing a few more of the 2000's and older ports. As for the Bordeaux, I'll wait for thier regular release or pick up more while in the US. We get killed on Bordeaux prices here..

Hi CaliPoutine, If you use the Advanced Search Tool on the vintages.com website you can be more specific with your search. You can specifiy cost, type, size etc. I found a few ports in London are LCBO/Vintages that are under $20 that would be more than suitable for your dish: ALLESVERLOREN PORT 1998, Product # 650366, $ 17.95 (750ml) 71 YORK STREET - YORK & RIDOUT shows 19 bottles in stock GRAHAM'S SIX GRAPES PORT, Product # 208405, $ 18.95 (750ml) 109 FANSHAWE PARK ROAD - RICHMOND & FANSHAWE PK has 45 bottles FONSECA BIN 27 FINE RESERVE PORT, Product # 156877, $ 16.95 (750ml) 71 YORK STREET - YORK & RIDOUT shows 19 bottles 109 FANSHAWE PARK ROAD - RICHMOND & FANSHAWE PK shows 17 bottles I would go with the either the Graham's or the Fonseca as first choices. Hope this helps.

Yeah, pretty pricey stuff. I was moving out the door in droves though. I tried to get some of the Kilikanoon Oracle Shiraz and that was rationed down to 1 bottle per person. The Kim Crawford Sauv. Blanc was all going quick as well.

So anyone get run over today by a cart load of Cloudy Bay? Summerhill was nuts agian.

My pleasure, I use the PDF's all the time myself. Make for good shopping lists. The other thing that makes even more useful than the vintages catalog is the listing of "In store Discoveries" which sometimes aren't all in the book. There was a 2003 Forest Estate Botrytised Reisling (New Zealand) released back in March that was a real "95pts" in my book. It wasnt in the catalog as it was released as an "Instore" and I might have missed it. Great one if you like desert wines. (CSPC# 596965). As for the Chianti's on the last release I've been pointed in the direction of the Fontodi instead of the Cellole. Also the 1994 Umberto Fiore Gattinara might be interesting at $21.95 for 11 year old Nebbiolo? Cheers

If you ever need to find out the importer of a wine, try this site: http://www.vintageassessments.com (its down near the bottom left) They ususally post a PDF listing by Wine or Importer before the Vintages catalogs hit the stores or mail (not always accurate).

I think the fact that they published that 95pt score from Wine Spectator in the catalog made the demand nuts for the amount that they brought in (75 cases).

I tried Nectar a few weeks ago and had a great time there, the food was great and the decor was fantastic. The only problem I had was the very gimicky menu.. The apps. just have the main ingredient listed i.e. Duck and a one word description underneath it ie. Hot or Cold.. so you have to constanly ask the server what is what? Turned out that Duck/Hot was seared Fois Gras.. But for a table of 8 it made it very difficult to get in all the questions..

I got a gift certificate for Dish and I too found it to be bad. I also felt like it was more of a store, and my hands on class was barely hands on. The instructor was not prepared and the place was missing equipment required for some of the dishes, i.e. Strainers and non-stick pans. The dishes were split up into groups and I never really saw what was going on with other dishes. I really didn't walk away with much new knowledge. The only class i did enjoy was an Indian one. I've never really tried cooking Indian and found it to be a good introduction.

For Japanese stuff, I love Sanko on Queen (west of bathurst). Also like La Sulamarie on Yonge North of Davisville, for Itallian Deli and Cheeses.

I don't know if this place has the Magnum Plus but they do carry some of the other Unicorn Pepper Mills. Maybe give them a call Goldas Kitchen