Vaughan

Thanks all for the help, that's wonderful. I actually know nothing about "eastern" palates and didn't intend to send that to you, so apologies. Looking forward to dining adventures in Toronto. Greyelf I will make sure to pronouce the "t"..... I'm also a wine collector and scotch drinker, what's the best wine/LCBO store? To doubly show my eastern ignorance, do you have private stores? Vaughan

I'm going to Toronto for a week for business/pleasure. I've been to TO one day before in my life and went to Susurs. Need recommendations in all price ranges, staying at the Royal York so downtown preferred but not necessary. Thanks! I guess I should put something on the Toronto discussion forum, but trust west coast palates more.

My experience with custom knives has been mixed. My 8" Kramer knife is probably the last knife I would give up if told I could only have one knife. But I have two other custom knives that MAC, Shun and now Yoshikane (which is certainly the best blade of the three) have surpassed in sharpness, balance, comfort and usability. Unless the Yoshikane chips when I'm cutting watermelon or gets dull after making dinner it is one hell of a knife from my preliminary tests. It's my only knife with SKD steel and it's impressive. The Blazen is a powdered tool steel and the Hattori is VG!0, but I'm told with a difference (not sure what that is, my Shun I believe is a VG10 and it's sharp). My Henkel, Wusthof and Sabatiers mostly sit in a drawer too now that I've discovered Japanese & custom knives, a couple of old Sabatiers are pretty sharp (an old 10" pineapple knife is like a breaker, is very sharp and has a nice curve to it).

Just got the Hiromoto AS, and it was sharp, after a few strokes on the extrafine HandAmerican ceramic steel and the glasssteel, it was ultrasharp. Did the armhair test with flying colours and my wife was really impressed ("YUK! You're turning into a weirdo.")...oh well, can't impress everyone I guess. Any comments about the Ryusen Blazen vs the Hattori FH, I'm thinking one of those'll be my next knife, probably a boning knife if & when Hattori comes out with one. Awaiting a Yoshikane, the Hiromoto came FAST....Korin has turned me down twice for using my wife's Paypal, no one else has, I guess I'll have to start spending my own money. Vaughan

That's good to hear as after much mental grunting and groaning I went with the 270 Hiromoto AS. Is there a standard where measuring is concerned, ie along the spine or along the blade? It sounds like it's measured wherever the maker decides.

The FH stuff looks like really good quality so I'll wait, thanks for the explanation, I think the Honesuki is for me. I already have a knife by George Tichbourne that is so robust it could break down a small herd of water buffalo with no problem, so don't need a garasuki. I don't have a deba, but see so many of them and so many people using them I'll have to figure out how and when I'd use one.

I'm not sure if you're supposed to reply to your own reply, but I forgot to comment on your Hattori FH recommendation. I've been thinking of getting one, and was also wondering if the VG10 Cobalt was different than other VG10s, so thanks for that. I'm actually thinking of getting the parer because I do use mine all the time (all three of them, and they're all crappy, mostly getting dull really quickly) and seeing how I like it. I'm considering getting a Honesuki, and was thinking of waiting to see if Hattori FH comes out with one. Currently looking at a Masamoto VC, Garasuki or Hattori HD. I have time, currently the kitchen is blown out, plywood floors, no cupboards, no appliances and 2 X 4s for walls, so not doing any cooking until it's finished about end-September. Also what's the diff. between a Honesuki and a Garasuki, they look the same, is the Garasuki slightly larger/thicker?

Thanks, really appreciate the info on the steels and the opinion on the 10" issue. As far as maintenance goes on the AS I should be OK, Bob K uses a tool steel on his knives, which takes some getting used to; esp. after, say, cutting tomatoes you don't leave it sitting around. But it's certainly worth the extra care.

I'm somewhat of a newbie (have no Japenese knives) but have been reading a lot on line and now actually thinking of getting one. I do have an 8" Kramer chef knife, which I LOVE, and thinking of trying a 10" Gyuto, considering a Hattori HD, Masamoto VC or Hiromoto AS. Any advice? And a possibly dumb question, 240mm is 9.4", 270 is 10.6", which one of them is considered a 10" knife? Thanks, Vaughan

Had business lunch on Monday, excellent food and service, love the room, very friendly and informative hostess (Stacey?). I'll be back for dinner and make up my own mind, AG reviews are semi-worthless to me, we often follow bad ones to the restaurant reviewed and wonder where she was eating and generally where she got her "taste."

Went last night and it was outstanding....large, bright well-designed room. Opener was locally farmed scallops with foie gras mousse, truffle shavings and a ribbon of marinated asparagus that was an excellent foil for the richness of the other ingredients. Local sardines a la planche with a tomato chutney was a flavour bomb (you have to like sardines, which I do), followed by a wonderful ling cod with a corn salsa and almond milk froth sabayon. Dessert was a brownie with a milk cappucino. Portions were reasonable for the prices, I had four courses, for normal, non-piggy people three would have done. Service professional, fast, very friendly and knowledgable, and when us foodies exhausted the servers with questions - bingo, the chef appeared (twice) to tell all. Neil Ingram was his usual charming and amusing self, his wines, a Macon white, Morellino di Scansano from Tuscany and a Nebbiolo were all good value, with the sangiovese for me an excellent wine and killer deal. A Lustau East India Solera reminded me what a fabulous deal good sherry is. Oh, and my wife had a Wolowydnyk (sp?) manhattan to open and said it was the best cocktail she's had in a long time. Bravo Neil and crew...six of us agreed we will definitely go back! Vaughan

Looks like my Grand Prix handle...good luck!

VERY exciting, but your dust looks clean in comparison to ours, I'll have to post some pics for a couple of reasons, 1. your old kitchen pics are almost exactly like the one we just demolished, and 2. our demolition will make you feel good, we're adding windows, putting in an all glass (sliding doors) wall at one end and several new windows, and the dust has made it to places I can't for the life of me figure how it got there. However, given the hot housing/reno market in Vancouver it took a year to get a designer and contractor to do the job...fun days ahead!

Congrats Joe & Allison, the Empire builds, see you tonight! V & M

Second Nats too, good by the slice variety.

Amadeus, and they do deliver...not too heavy on the cheese, which I like (sorry, Joe!).

Despite all the good reasons not to (budget, Mr. Bush not drinking, etc), I'm kind of shocked that there isn't a sommelier. I would think with all the entertaining that must go on, and assuming the size of the cellar is what I'm guessing, getting the right wine from various areas, serving diplomats you want to impress from wine-savvy countries, would be an important leg up. Shows that Canada is a more civilized society (tongue in cheek!).

I'm late on this, but have a great memory of my one visit there, Chicago, in 2005. I was so long my wife got on a first name basis with all the staff, I ran up a $50 cel bill talking to my friend Bob back in Vancouver, toyed with buying a 1990 Clos de Mesnil for $300, and in the end bought an Oregon Pinot and 2 bottles of tequilas we had the night before at Topalobompos, great Mexican resturant owned by Rick Bayless.

There are some excellent Languedoc wines, and some even getting expensive, but I'm afraid I hold with the view that the "way of life" they want to return to is the one the French people are getting tired of, ie the government being responsible for everything and supporting, against all odds and rationale, people and industries that wouldnt survive in any other country in the world. This is partly a political statement (the far "right" in France would be the far far "left" in, eg, Britain) but it also just smacks of a group of people trying to hold onto being subsidized up the ying yang (economic term) when there's no reason for it. Vaughan

Great reply Neil, can we get a reservation for tomorrow night (first timers even!)... Vaughan You know what. I was out of line. It was a weak attempt at humour at your expense. This forum has been accused of lots of things over the past little while and I have just added to the problem. The fly is an actual problem. There is no debating it or chalking it up to perception. There it was, staring back at you. We have been a little "clubby" or "chummy" and there is a perception that people are holding back some real and useful comments in order to not hurt someone's feelings or get their back up. I got a call from someone today that smashed a perception that I had about one of the people who worked for me. We all have an off day, but my staff's was a comedy of errors too numerous to mention. A little more honesty and perhaps being more open to these types of comments will get us back on track. Hats off to you for saying exactly how you perceived your experience to be. ←

I too like Katy love the O glasses for scotch, but my faves are the ones that come with some 15 year old Bruichladie (sp?), they're kind of thick and have a graceful thick wasted curve that allows you to swirl and get a great nose. Riedels are great for the palate but not great for nosing in my opinion. PS Love the Eagle Rare, possible my favourite Bourbon...

Yes, bought a bottle of the forty creek a few months ago as recommended by someone as great value for money. It is amazing for the price, but isn't sure whether it's a Canadian whisky or bourbon, ie a bit of the saltiness of almos a scotch whisky and some sweetness like bourbon. Overall a very good drink but I'm a bit of a purist (if not pure) when it comes to drinking the various whiskies.

Thank you, and I'll post our dining adventures for Walla Walla and Spokane in the appropriate place for anyone that's interested. Also after querying PCG I stumbled on it elsewhere in the article so my apologies. Looking forward to coming down. Vaughan

Hi all, Thanks for the great Tip Sheet, couple of questions. Have you considered a wine section, or is that somewhere else (I'm a newbie). Asking because I'm a wine collector, also because I called Wildwood for a reservation and asked about corkage and they said they'd waive it, so looking to get a good bottle of wine, Northwest probably preferred but very open. One more question, discussion around "PCG" looked interesting but don't know what it stands for. Thanks, Vaughan PS going on to Walla Walla for a couple of days and likely then Spokane for two or three days, any tips? PSS For the record, I helped the person at Wildwood out with something so they offered the corkage waiver, don't want to create erroneous expectations or get someone in trouble! Ciao.