eatrustic

I've never seen Menton lemons here and I doubt they would be imported this far but you never know. They appear to be a thick skinned variety whereas the Meyers are thin skinned and have the slightly sweeter, mandarin taste. I would do a 50/50 mix with regular lemons and Meyers so that you would have the flavour from the Meyers and the tartness from the regular lemons. For the Griottes or Amerenas (similar?) try Meinhardts and be ready to pay dearly. They are usually in brandy, is that what you want? They used to carry them at Far Met Importers (wholesale) on W. 7th. If you can't buy them there perhaps they know who has them. Good hunting.

I understand that the upstairs restaurant opened last week, any word yet?

Cobbs is going Trans Canada. They will be opening a location in Edmonton in part of the former Urban Fare space along with a couple of other businesses -one being a higher end burger place. In this case there is no Safeway or Starbucks to feed off of. Edmontonians, grab your children and run and whatever you do don't look back!!

Sigh!........In addition to Red Burritos I have to report that Hola Churros which has recently opened on Broadway near Parthenon doesn't look much better. The selection is more than just churros with Burritos, Quesadillas, Tortas etc. I tried a little sampler plate and although it's still early the quality of the ingredients is just not authentic enough, lacks flavour and freshness in the salsas etc. The space is fairly large and decorated in that overexuberant romantic mexican style. They do have a great space in the back though for kids to play, with toys and a flat screen tv playing Disney videos. The sense is one of dumbed down Mexican in the hope that there will be wide appeal. The beverage board features Mexican juices called Aquas Frescas, but worried that no one will know what that means they have changed the name to Fresh Water. When asked what I thought of the food I did make the suggestion that they should try to be more authentic as there are tons of people on the West Side who would patronize. I'll check back a couple more times to see if they evolve. They deserve the chance.

Warming bread creates labor issues as well as equipment issues. I don't recall having warm bread in any of the European restaurants that I have eaten in. (Although I've mainly dined in Italy and almost never in 3 star places). As nice as warm bread is it's not good for digestion and we always eat more than we should. (Another reason restaurants don't like to heat the free stuff.) Any good quality bread that comes from a place like Sullivan St., Amy's etc. should be quite acceptable 12 hours later (unless you want squishy soft). Sure if it's presliced and left to sit in the open air it will stale fairly quickly but unless the restaurateurs are paying lip service to their bread offering it isn't that hard to preslice a certain amount of bread and keep it covered. Of course we can always go the route of the coperto (Italy) which is an automatic charge on your bill (for what better be damn good bread).

Speaking of Kelowna any rec's on a decent place just off the highway (97) for a quick lunch? I'm transporting the folks for their annual stay in Vancouver and if I have to eat at another Montanas or Tims I'll slit my wrists. While I'm at it (and this is a really long shot) are there any recommendations for dinner in Clearwater?

Despite the comments above that Cake and Pastry flour are different all the brands that I have found available here (Vancouver) are called "Cake and Pastry Flour". I would have to check the protein content as they must be blending to split the difference figuring there is not much of a home market for individual varieties here. I'll soldier on with my adjusted AP flour as I prefer a slightly denser, moister crumb anyway.

Are you differentiating between cake and pastry flour? I thought they were the same. Otherwise why use the AP if you have the cake flour already?

Comedy of errors! I decided to make my cake with the cornstarch version and divided the usual recipe by 4 so that any poor results wouldn't be around long. Then I realized that the box of constarch in the back of my cupboard was actually a box of arborio rice!...so no problem I go with the two tablespoons of flour removed a la the other version. Everything gets mixed up, into the buttered, floured rings and into the oven only to realize that my egg is sitting on the counter staring me in the face !!! So I quickly remove the batter beat the egg and fold it back into the batter. I know...this ain't gonna be any kind of controlled test, but I've got two more batches prepped and ready to go with cornstarch tomorrow. (The cake has risen well so far so who knows.) Next time I won't watch 24 while doing a recipe for the first time!!

I'm in the process of trying an old fashioned cake recipe that calls for pastry flour. As I have lots of unbleached and untreated All Purpose on hand I would rather use this than buy a bag of pastry flour that I probably won't finish. There appears to be two ways to substitute for Pastry flour. One way is to deduct 2 Tablespoons of all purpose flour for every cup called for. The other way is to replace the missing 2 Tablespoons with the same amount of cornstarch. Has anyone tried these variations and how do they compare to regular pastry flour in the final product ?

Just to temper the dissapointment that any local artisans might feel at being left off this exclusive list : number 25 on the Saveur list is Costco's slab Birthday Cake (white version).

La Femme du Boulanger (The Baker's Wife). A very and old and beloved French film about a great village baker (the only one in town) who refuses to bake when his wife leaves him for the local hunk. The town bands together to reunite the two so that they can get their bread back.

Might I suggest that at least one of the fortunate six drops by CC for an incognito version of the same burger as a reference point before the special night. ....just to see the difference between the burger made by a $10hr guy vs a six figure exec. chef bent on impressing. Is seems that there has been a fair amount of up and down in the quality of the new burger since Jamie first waxed poetic about it and I wonder if they have managed to straighten things out a bit. This goes to the heart of the discussion about training and more training that is supposed to be the hallmark of CC, Earls etc.

Another new but experienced caterer is Andrea the owner of Quince (former Lesley Stowe location). They do a fair amount of catering already from what I've heard. Of course your desire for "reasonably priced" is pretty subjective so not sure if your idea of reasonable fits in with what is probably a pretty standard pricing scale in the city.

Sorry about the inclusion of Joe's in this. I knew Bud had moved away from Fish House and Cannery but thought that he had somewhere along the line taken them back. The new owners have sure got quite the hotel porfolio. Everything from Deltas to Ramadas and Coast Hotels with a few more chains thrown in. It will be interesting to see how such a corporate structure handles two stand alone restaurants. Personally I can't see them getting any better as fine dining doesn't seem to be a high priority for most of their properties. Stan Fuller might make a bit of a difference but both places already are above the Earls level (if not the decor).

I heard in passing today that a Canadian Hotel chain had purchased Joe's, Fish House and the Cannery, I would assume, from Mr. Kanke and company last week. Anyone have the skinny on this?

I actually was making half the recipe so since it called for 3 oz. of t. paste I backed that off (after the above comments) to 2 oz. and the final result seems just fine, not overly tomatoed. The question still remains though since it may be a case of cutting back on Mario vs. the Dopio Concentrato being stronger. (I also have some triplo!). Anyone with a definitive answer or do I have to jump to the Italy forum??

I'm in the middle of making Mario's Ragu Bolognese and his recipe calls for 6 oz of tomato paste. I have the Doppio Concentrato in the tube. Does this mean that I should use half as much (Doppio meaning double)? I would hate to overkill all that veal, pancetta and pork with too much tomato. Thanks

The old Trumps space on 2480 Vine (just off Broadway) opened today with a cute little coffee/home made soup and sammich place called Heartattack and Vine. The owner is a former chef from the Waterstreet Cafe.

I have to agree with Derek on this. When I made the original "seriously comped" comment I may have been a bit emphatic but DOV aside any modern restaurant that will not respond to situations (with an automatic policy in place so that a busy manager does not allow this to slip through the cracks) where customers are inconvenienced at the level of a couple of glasses of water being slopped in their laps and on their purse etc. will ultimately lose market share. Personally that would make for an uncomfortable evening (since the last time a wet lap in a restaurant didn't bother me, I believe, was when I was 4 years old). Even the most token of gestures such as a little glass of dessert wine or in the case of a non drinker a small dessert sampler would be insurance against bad word of mouth. I too am disgusted with people who expect to be compensated for the most trivial perceived "errors" in food or service (especially when they are not paying at that level) but the story Elizabeth R layed out seemed to put the responsibility squarely on the house for the way the tables were set up. I purposely did not respond further to the original Pastis thread as I had no interest in fanning the flames of a "gang up" as has been felt around here before but for my two cents there is a point at which some form of diplomatic compensation, although perhaps not to be expected, should be forthcoming.

Capers always has it in stock. They used to call it dinosaur kale.

Elizabeth, please tell me that you were seriously comped by Pastis for the damage to your person and your pride?

Thanks to this thread I too discovered Michelle's and I have to say that the Portuguese Egg tart is way better than the regular (football shaped) egg tart (easily one of the best things I have had in a long time - especially when they're warm)! The cocktail/coconut bun on the other hand is kind of boring even if it does get the fancy packaging.

Man, I didn't think to see this thread again for about 11 months. I only bought 5-6 Stollens, one of which I tossed. Normally I woud buy one or two but this was a crusade. When they're good they get eaten real fast. I found a decent one in Edmonton at La Favorite Bakery just after Christmas and Ling's mention of the Stollens at La Baguette had me checking them out with not a lot of enthusiasm as the time had passed. Just as well 'cause they were pretty hard. My only regret was not hearing about Marco Ropke's Stollen in time to try it. Apparently the absolute best Stollen came from a limited production that Cliff Leir the former inspiration behind Wild Fire Bakery had made. The boys at Elysian Room got a hold of one over the holidays and I trust their judgement that it was incredible to the point of making grown men weep.

I hear you on the rain Kitchenmage, we're on the same weatherfront in Vancouver. (Supposed to set a record for consecutive days of rain -28- soon.) I doubt that it's Florida as it doesn't quite look the same and has never flowered. So, yes, I'll buy a new plant in the Spring and try again.