lambretta76

When I was in Marrakech I was surprised at the quality of the red wines made in Morocco. (I was somewhat underwhelmed by the whites I had.) They seem to really bring out the flavors of the food and helped to tame the gaminess of the omnipresent lamb. On a side note - I was surprised at the number of tequilas made in Morocco. Very odd.

You can rent a cart from someone with the license. I guess the license can transfer from a particular cart to another one - i.e. - a hot dog vendor with a hot dog cart can rent their permit to someone who would like to sell falafel witha grill/fryer cart. As long as the cart meets code, they're OK. My landlord has a number of permits and has rented them out - he only has one hot dog cart that he runs now. For the most part, renting them out is a very lucrative business - these permits go for upwards of a thousand/month from what I've heard.

If there are Spanish stores in Montreal, I would highly recommend Nunez de Prado from Spain. I especially like their unfiltered version - an amazing complexity with lots of citrus notes. It's about 6 euros per 500 mL in Spain, and about $15-$20 here in the US. Again, I wouldn't use this for cooking - I like Zoe organic for that. But it's great for dipping - one of my favorites is a bowl of this with a squirt of Moroccan harissa in the middle - great for sopping with good crusty bread.

Reviewed today by Josh Ozersky in Newsday Jour et Nuit - NY Newsday I had a very good meal here at the beginning of the summer - the mixed grill presented several loosely-stuffed links of merguez, some amazing grilled chicken, and gamey, yet good, lamb kofta. My friend had a lamb tagine that was as good as the genre gets over here and would have been memorable in MArrakech. Very nice prices - tagines are in the $11-$12 range, IIRC. May be BYO, but there is no liquor sold... Moroccans tend to be open about drinking - a nice bottle of Casablanca lager would go well with this food. (Sold at many places, including Eagle Provisions in Park Slope.)

Ah, Lesley C, I agree with you on most accounts. However, I can think of one instance where "garbage" is required to describe a food item, and is done so with the utmost of respect. Nick Tahou's "Garbage Plate" in Rochester, NY, USA. It makes poutine look like health food.

Yes - they said that that was yesterday's menu, and that the fixed price menu changes daily.

I just received the lunch menu from DECCA 77: E N T R É E S tomato salad with goat cheese & eggplant terrine, dried olive vinaigrette 13 crispy veal feet, gribiche of baby leeks with an egg croquette 15 braised rabbit ‘en gelée’, artichokes, preserved lemon, marinated pearl onions and purple mustard 14 pressed foie gras with figs, fennel chip and a toasted kalonji brioche 20 P L A T S grilled beef strip loin, french fries potatoes, herb salad and beef jus 35 grilled duck magret, Swiss chard, fingerling potatoes, porcini mushrooms and corn froth 34 bucatini & calamari in a chorizo and celery jus 28 P R I X F I X E E N T R É E S oysters on half shells in a progression of flavors chilled celery milk, with confied tomato oil piglet terrine, with sweet onions and pancetta PLATS chicken breast, fingerling potatoes, turnips with garlic flower pan seared salmon with spinach and green beans salad linguini, cherry tomatoes, proscuitto and arugula D E S S E R T S melon soup with a lime sorbet strawberry tart with vanilla ice cream chocolate risotto 25 $ F R O M A G E S portion de 60 g (2 choix) 15 portion de 90 g (3 choix) 18 D E S S E R T S 10 basque cake, goat cheese, roasted figs and banyuls lemon savarin, apricot compote and tonka ice cream nectarine tart, vanilla ice cream, bergamot syrup a variation on cherries jelly, mousse, compote, with a chocolate macaroon strawberries on flaky pastry and crumble, with szechuan caramel and strawberry milk shake

Well, despite the bad press here, this hotel has gotten quite favorable reviews over at TripAdvisor.com. Any word on the restaurants or bar being open yet? I have seen rumors stating yes and no, but have yet to see a proper review of anything...

Rumor has it that the food here has drastically improved in the past few months? (Seems odd, since it doesn't seem that there has been a regime change in the kitchen, but I could be wrong...) Any truth to this?

Is it still possible to go and have apps and wine at the bar? Are reservations rquired for this? I've left an e-mail for this at the address posted, but have yet to hear back.

I'd imagine any of the Argentine butchers in Jackson Heights would carry it, and perhaps the Colombian places, too. Most Dominican and Puerto Rican lunch counters usually have it as a steam table option. Where did you try it from so we can help you find a good match? Most Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries have a version of this...

What are the prices like at CCeP? I've seen anywhere from $60 a head to $160... In other words, what would two apps, two entrees, a dessert, and a bottle of wine run? Thanks!

Any new reports? Too early for a "fall" menu - I'll be up in October and am looking for some soul-warming cuisine...

This article hasn't been used in a while, but I was wondering if APdC was still the great restaurant it has been in the past. Service was always slow and somewhat maddening, but the food that came out of that wood-fired oven had been sublime. I've been about a half-dozen times, but haven't been in Montreal in about two years - any new standouts on the menu? Any failures? Also, since it appears that their website is gone - do they serve lunch? If so, is it markedly less expensive than the dinner menu?

I'm on my way up to Montreal and I was wondering if anyone could recommend perhaps one of the better preparations of bavette de chevaux in the city. It sounds like Frite Alors could be a great place, but is it too "fast-foody"? Thanks for your recs!

This is a Filipino dish, and, as such, I'd imagine that some of the places along ROosevelt Ave in the 60s in Woodside/Jackson Heights would do these well. That said, I had a very nice rendition of one at Dragonfly on 7th Ave. S in the Village. (They also have decent chicken adobo as a lunch special priced very reasonably - $4.95 it used to be I believe.)

Below is my review of the new Restaurant Sorrell that I originally posted on chowhound... Had a late dinner at this new joint on Carlton at St. Marks in Prospect Heights. It's located in an old bodega, but the room is clean (perhaps too much so) and airy. Air conditioner had a hard time keeping up with the heat, but whose didn't? My fiancée opted for the $25 fixed price, while I chose three appetizers. I started with the summer corn soup served cold ($5). It was very refreshing, very chilled, and perfectly captured the essence of corn. When I saw it, I feared that it would taste too much like creamed corn, but the cream base, while very heavy, carried itself well. She had the sautéed snails with spaetzle, which was like the classic escargot re-constructed. Wonderfully plump snails, a garlic/olive oil pesto, and the spaetzel, which took the place of the bread normally used to sop up that extra garlic butter. Her main was a roast chicken breast with Israeli couscous and baby bok choy. Very tasty, but much more of a fall dish than a summer one. I had the pickled herring with potatoes and watermelon ($6), which was outstanding. The sweet, sour, and starchy all worked very well together in this dish. I would order this again in a heartbeat. I also ordered the beef tartare ($7), which was a rather large serving of good quality beef. A nice touch was the use of togarishi pepper to give it a good kick. However, it was a bit heavy on the capers, which made it a little too much. It was served with three toast points (griddled with olive oil) and a caperberry on top. A lighter hand with the capers and this dish would be very good. For dessert I had a couple spoonfuls of her cold melon soup, which was a beautiful presentation of honeydew "soup" on one side, canteloupe "soup" on the other, with a sprinkling of blueberries in the middle. Perfectly captured the essence of the melons, and it was served not too cold so it didn't seem like melted sorbet. All of this, plus a glass of the Gruner Veltliner and a forgotten French varietal (which was really nice), came to about $70 with tax and tip. It wasn't quite as good as 360, where the chef had previously worked, but I can see the promise in this place. And since the menu changes daily, and a nice meal can be constructed from two or three apps and a glass of wine, I'll definitely be returning.

A new restaurant called Sorrel opened up in Prospect Heights - on Carlton and St. Marks. $25 for three courses ala 360, with a couple of off PF options... Initial reviews have been positive. If you're sticking to Prospect Heights, Beast, Amorina (the Pizza Rustica joint), and Aliseo are all good bets.

In today's Village Voice, Robert Sietsema reviews World Tong. The verdict - dim sum-ptuous. World Tong Dim Sum review - Village Voice

Earlier in this thread I extolled the virtues of Peardrax from Trinidad. I tried its sister drink, Cydrax, and, I'm sad to report, that it's awful. One wif and I knew something was off. Looked at the ingredients and, yup, there it was. Apple cider vinegar. In a soft drink. It doesn't taste nearly as bad as it smells, but it's still pretty awful. Avoid this one.

They were indeed fava beans. It's crazy, in all of my culinary adventures, I've never been served a whole fava bean. Bizarre! Well, the salad was quite tasty. Thanks!

Had a surprisingly good meal at Jour et Nuit, the new Moroccan joint on Steinway Street just south of 29th Ave. (I believe the address is 29-04, but I may be mistaken.) Zaalouk salad to start was nice and peppery, with just a kick of harissa. A little preserved lemon flavor, too, which was nice. Served with a half lemon and some warm Moroccan bread. (The bread was fine, but Maison du Couscous is much better.) For entrees, I had the mixed grill (merguez, kofta, and chicken) and my friend the lamb tagine. The merguez was very loosely filled and had a great flavor - a fell it may have been homemade. The kofta was nicely grilled, but had a little gaminess from the lamb - however, these were also quite enjoyable - I was just hoping for some sauce or something for this. The chicken was cubed and perfectly grilled over what tasted like charcoal, but I didn't notice a charcoal grill in there. It was accompanied by a sie of so-so fries and an addictive bean salad of which I couldn't identify anything, including the beans. The lamb tagine was excellent - perfectly cooked, moist and flavorful, lamb surrounded by a mountain of peas, with some other vegetables (potatoes, onions, a preserved lemon or two, etc.) All of this came to $27 including tax, but not tip. Stopped at Laziza afterwards for tasty dessert. We shot down a hookah at Eastern Nights and instead ended up getting a six-pack of Tecate and watching Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle - a fantastic culinary-themed movie. Sort of.

I've found that the Vietnamese food served at Pho Tay Ho, in Bath Beach, Brooklyn, compares favorably to the ones I've had in the DC/Richmond-area. Much better than most in NYC, if not all. (Save banh mi - NYC has the best banh mi anywhere, save for Saigon I imagine.) Very nice, nuanced pho broth and it's not too sweet. It was reviewed favorably in the Times a while back: The Soul of the Vietnamese Kitchen - Pho Tay Ho NY Times review One thing that I might add is that the food here seems to be cooked to the Vietnamese palate, versus the ones off of Canal St and in Flushing that seem to be geared towards a Southern Chinese palate. The ones alojng 7th Ave. in Sunset Park also stand out for their more traditional interpretations of the cuisine (and some really friggin' good banh mis, too.)

Tried this place with five friends last night and I was quite impressed, though not blown away. First off, the room is HUGE, with 20+ foot ceilings but yet a nice, warm feeling. (A central pond with bar-type seating around it helps break up the room.) The service was fine, but a little pushy on the amount of food to order. He kept saying that we'd need to order more food, we didn't - we were all pretty stuffed by the time we left. We ordered: 2 orders of the fresh tofu (it's made every half hour) - it was fantastic. Served with a healthy dose of warm soy milk and a soy-based sauce (though not soy sauce) for pouring over top, it's warm, custardy texture and delicate flavor won over the carnivores in our group, even an Argentine who "hated" tofu. Our edamame was very nicely done, as well - it had been cooked in a bonito-based broth and served ice cold. Very tasty. The beef tataki was eight pieces of thinly sliced, slightly seared beef served with scallions and a miso-based dipping sauce. The beef was nicely cooked filet mignon, and this dish was quite tasty, but rather smallish for being $18. (It was the most expensive item we ordered.) Other dishes we really enjoyed were the ebi shinjo (very dense shrimp croquettes), tuna and avocado salad (nice large hunks of raw tuna in a wasabi dressing), and the age dashi yuba (yuba-wrapped eel with grated mountain yam in a soy-based sauce). For entrees (served in a sharable, but small portions) we had the miso-grilled black cod (perfect), kakuni - Berkshire pork belly with potatoes in a miso sauce (mmm... bacony and fatty and good), the special of duck wrapped in seaweed and baked in salt (anything that requires a hammer to serve it is OK in my book - not very salty, but slightly tough - good flavor though). The only disappointment was the pork shoulder, which was tough, stringy, and not very flvorful. The food was all very competently prepared, served at the right temperatures, and well presented, but nothing - aside from the fresh tofu - really knocked my socks off... It's hard to imagine that it had come out of the same kitchen. With two 720 mL bottles of a Miyu Zakura junmai sake (I had just recently spent a night in Gifu, where this sake was produced - the sake was very mild and bright, just as I like 'em...) the bill for the six of us came to $305 including tax and the added tip (for parties of six or more).

Sethro - your post reminds me that I need to get up to Montreal to try the horse tartare at Aux Deux Canailles. Anyways, I just got back from Japan a couple of months back (where I was also unable to try the horse sashimi found at so many izakayas, but I did have lamb sashimi) and ate in similar restaurants there. I'm hoping for the best, but fearing the mediocre.