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The poached pear in caramel sauce stuffed with lemon rice pudding at Ferreira Café 1446 RUE PEEL (514) 848-0988 Any dessert at Restaurant Laloux 250 AVENUE DES PINS EST (514) 287-9127

Les Chocolats De Chloé 375 RUE ROY EST (514) 849-5550 Natas (egg custard tarts) at Rotisserie Romados 115 Rue Rachel Est The Polish plum donuts from Wawel at Jean Talon Market Wawel Patisserie 7070 AVENUE HENRI-JULIEN (514) 279-8289 Pastries from Premiere Moisson 895 RUE DE LA GAUCHETIÈRE OUEST and various other locations throughout the city The brownies, chocolate bread, and chocolate brioche at Olive et Gourmando 351 RUE SAINT-PAUL OUEST (514) 350-1083 The Panna Cotta at Brasserie Brunoise 1012 RUE DE LA MONTAGNE (514) 933-3885 Whippets http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whippet_cookie

Speaking of Daniel's trip, you might want to sample some of the local junk food and check out La Banquise, a fine 24 hour poutine place on the Plateau.

Le Grand Comptoir is an inexpensive bistro in Phillips Square just off Ste Catherine. Not a destination restaurant by any means, just decent food for a reasonable price. It's always packed at lunch time. Go for dinner when it's much more calm.

I've always thought of the Queue as a place for people with more money than sense. The wine list is criminally over-priced. The food is what I would expect of a luxury steak house, not very different from Morton's or Spark's or scores of other such places in the States. If it were to disappear from the Montreal dining scene tomorrow, I don't think I'd notice or care. There are far too many other interesting places to eat in Montreal to bother about it. I share ArtistSeries suspicions that Mr. M's "article" was, like his expensive ad in the Montreal issue of Gourmet, a bit of puffery to make his place seem more important than it really is.

Last weekend we had dinner at Toqué! The meal started well, and some of the dishes were good (scallop with ink), but if you have only one night in Montreal there must be better ways to spend your money. The service, although amiable, was very poor. ← Can you elaborate on the poor service?

Au Pied de Cochon is very fine indeed and a real experience. Other top restaurants are Toqué! on Place Jean-Paul-Riopelle, Le Club Chasse & Peche on Rue St-Claude in Old Montreal, and La Chronique on Ave. Laurier in Mile End. Nearer your hotel is Bronte on Rue Sherbroooke.

This is cool. I love renovated spaces like that for eateries. My condolences. ← Yeah, it was a pretty cool space. http://www.holysmokesbbq.com/

This is sad news, indeed. Everything was lost, the historic building, all the flying pig artwork, everything. They were, hands down, my favorite BBQ joint in New England. Here's hoping they rebuild. http://blog.masslive.com/breakingnews/2007...ld_restaur.html

My PDC seafood platter experience was a couple of years ago. My impression then was that all the platters varied greatly based on availability of product. Please know that there's an element of spontaneity if not downright chaos involved in dining at Au Pied. Picard once said "The fewer your expectations, the better your (dining) experience." Perhaps someone with a more recent experience could give you a better answer than this or perhaps your question would be best answered by your server at the restaurant.

The apple tart with foie gras is indeed fine. The Cochonnailles platter, with pate, terrine, cretons, sausages, pickled egg and sometimes pickled venison tongue is also very, very good. Getting back to seafood, the PDC monster lobster, stuffed with fresh vegetables and served with hollandaise enriched with tomalley and roe is fantastic. Also, if they've doing it this year, I can recommend the lobster poutine. Fries, cheese curds, lobster gravy, topped with lobster claw meat.

Plenty has been written about them already. Picard and staff go to heroic lengths to establish private supply lines for their seafood. The results are pricey but wonderful. The platters are huge multi-tiered affairs with raw and cooked seafood. Sweet and meaty clams, fresh like I haven't had in over 35 years, oysters plump and briny and tasting simply of the sea, oddities (to me anyway) like whelks and periwinkles, cooked mussels, crab legs, lobster claws, crayfish, raw shrimp, succulent soft shell crab tempura.

APdC has a new website featuring a current menu (more or less) with prices. Au Pied de Cochon Summer is the time for their magnificent seafood platters. If you get the Guédille (lobster roll), ask them not to melt any aged cheddar over it. IMO, the super sharp cheese overpowers the lobster and salt-cured foie gras.

Only if it can be grilled.

I for one, will certainly miss her wonderful tasting menus, but hey, maybe if the new concept flies, Bazaar Anise will become the Etxebarri of Montreal.

"Grills and Company" Looks like she's switching to a more casual dining concept.

I was referring to the opinions expressed on Chowhound by people who have eaten at Bofingers. I hadn't read any newspaper reviews. A smoke ring in the meat sounds promising. Is it also moist? Brisket is the hardest to get right because of the long smoking times required. The world of barbecue does not lack for people who like to brag. That's why it has contests. New Hampshire State Barbecue Championship Anheuser-Busch Brewery Merrimack, NH June 23-24 Harpoon BBQ Championship of New England Harpoon Brewery Windsor, VT July 28-29 Hudson Valley Ribfest New Paltz, NY August 17-19 and most importantly Canadian National BBQ Championships Whistler, B. C. August 4-5

I've always thought a distinctly northern style of barbecue, based on maple smoke, was a good idea. I agree that the most important ingredients for good Q, regardless of region, are a talented, dedicated pit boss and crew. But there seems to be an online body of opinion, particularly on that "other board", that the Q at Bofinger is very uneven. The ribs are not tender and suffer from too much dry rub, the pulled meat is not sufficiently smoky, and the sides are lousy. Also, I'm curious. Which of the sauces are "uniquely Quebec"? I understood they were supposed to mimic the table sauces used in various southern U. S. styles. I'm sure that with perseverance, the current problems can be fixed and a more consistent Q produced. I hope that the above post is not an attempt to stave off criticism by declaring mediocrity a style. I'm sure that the owners of Bofinger's, if they ascribe to the ideas expressed in fedelst's post, will be more than willing come down to the U. S. and pit their "style" against other regional Q's in some of our many barbecue cook-offs and contests. I hope to see them there.

Online, an excellent source of information about Montreal's mid-level and inexpensive restaurants and good ethnic groceries can be found on A. J. Kinik's and Michelle Marek's blog ...an endless banquet. http://endlessbanquet.blogspot.com/ Scroll down the home page a little. In the left column, below the archives, you'll see two links to the list, A-M and N-Z. Even without the list, the blog itself is worth a read.

Agreed. I'm done.

So doing what you said -- or clearly implied -- you would do is a "gift," not an obligation? I guess the whole "a man's word is his bond" thing is passe, as far as you're concerned. One assumes that similarly, if the restaurant decides to hold the table you have reserved until you arrive, that too is a gift, and not an obligation on their part. I trust that you follow up with a hand-written thank you note. Perhaps instead of reservationists, restaurants will begin retaining notary publics and we call all have our reservations signed and stamped and legal obligations clearly spelled out, until such time as people agree to act like grown-ups once again. ← That's funny because I can't recall even once in my life reserving a table with the words "I give you my solemn pledge, my wife and I will be there at 7:30", usually I just say that I would like a table for two at 7:30 and the reservationist tells me if that's possible. Busboy, I apologize if my opinions have made you angry. I think I understand your frustration. Restaurant owners have to extend trust to (and gamble resources on) people they can't control. I get that there's economic fallout when the customer doesn't show, but that is risk the restaurant owner assumes when they agree to take reservations. I understand that there are "serial reservationists" who abuse the system. But people see restaurants as a service and they show up or don't for reasons that have to do with their lives and not yours. Seeing that as malicious just seems pointless, unless the point is to make yourself crazy.

This over-simplifies the issue. They changed their mind, but waited until the moment of the reservation to call. Assuming they are anything like most people, they would have had to get ready for dinner. This in itself takes time, so at best they knew they would be cancelling an hour ahead (or however long it takes them to get ready and get to the restaurant). Why they waited until the minute of the rezz doesn't make sense... ← Putting down a tired and cranky child for the night could have easily captured the parents' attention until reservation time. Whenever friends with young children make plans to visit, I am never surprised, much less annoyed, if they are late or have to cancel. It's not that they're flakes or insincere, it's that parenting is tough and requires the ability to respond to emerging situations. Porthos: Apologies, I did not see your name in the thread. I plead over-tiredness when I posted. MaxH: I'm sorry, but no "reciprocal commitment" exists. That's not a rationalization, it's a fact. As has been stated before, reservations are a courtesy of the business. Restaurants do not have to take reservations. Likewise calling to cancel is a courtesy of the customer. The customer does not have to call. The customer does not owe the restaurant anything beyond money for services rendered. Call it a rationalization if you like, I call it having good boundaries. ← That's bogus. Everyone -- everyone -- has an obligation to make a good faith effort to keep obligations they voluntarily enter into. That includes showing up at restaurants (who have turned away others to hold a table for them) when they make a reservation. Cheap legalistic rationalizations not withstanding. (note: I am speaking generally and not specifically to this case. ← I don't intend to stiff a restaurant when I reserve a table, I'm booking an evening's entertainment. I alway call to cancel a reservation. I always call to confirm one as well. And I stand by my position that by calling I am extending a courtesy; giving a gift rather than fulfilling an obligation. I don't owe the restaurant.

This over-simplifies the issue. They changed their mind, but waited until the moment of the reservation to call. Assuming they are anything like most people, they would have had to get ready for dinner. This in itself takes time, so at best they knew they would be cancelling an hour ahead (or however long it takes them to get ready and get to the restaurant). Why they waited until the minute of the rezz doesn't make sense... ← Putting down a tired and cranky child for the night could have easily captured the parents' attention until reservation time. Whenever friends with young children make plans to visit, I am never surprised, much less annoyed, if they are late or have to cancel. It's not that they're flakes or insincere, it's that parenting is tough and requires the ability to respond to emerging situations. Porthos: Apologies, I did not see your name in the thread. I plead over-tiredness when I posted. MaxH: I'm sorry, but no "reciprocal commitment" exists. That's not a rationalization, it's a fact. As has been stated before, reservations are a courtesy of the business. Restaurants do not have to take reservations. Likewise calling to cancel is a courtesy of the customer. The customer does not have to call. The customer does not owe the restaurant anything beyond money for services rendered. Call it a rationalization if you like, I call it having good boundaries.

I haven't gotten the impression that the restaurateurs want their story considered by the general public. It would be in pretty poor taste for JB to start revealing the details of their interactions with their customers over the internet. ← Point taken, but hints through third parties that the customer was less than truthful are in equal poor taste. They should really just apologize and leave it at that.

But inactive, acording to an earlier post; therefore why repeat the point. No, we can only objectively assume we don't know. We assess the information we have. Do hints of "if you only knew what I knew" cut it for you? Because they don't for me. If the restaurateurs want their story considered, then they need to tell it. The name's Rich. The customer called and released the table. The customer had a child to consider. The owner had that information, yet chose to see the customer's action as a slight to his business and was rude to the customer. The owner was in the wrong and should apologize. That is the central issue.