SYoung

Hmmm... interesting. Sorry for my ignorance, but how do you order through an agent? Do you just call them? Since LCBO has a monopoly, I assume you're going to pay a lot more than buying direct through LCBO, right?

I'm not sure I understand why good restaurant is in no way a matter of money? It's certainly not the only factor but it's right up there. If you want the best chefs using the best ingredients and best of everything, you have to pay for it and thus you'll have higher costs which translates to higher food prices for customers. Then you have to have enough people to come to your restaurant (the size, critical mass that malcolmjolly refers to above) as well as people with the deep pockets to pay for it. That's one reason why the top restaurants are in New York and LA and not Indianapolis or Milwaukee. Yes, there's homegrown talent and plenty of young chefs, but one would think that if they want to truly be the best, in the long run, they have to go where the money and good customer base is. I can't think of any industry outside the food industry where in the long run this is not the case.

What kind of planning ahead would you recommend in this case other than to be there to line up at least a couple of hours before store opening? I think LCBO knows pretty well in advance which wines will go fast at release date and so moving the product shouldn't be a concern in these cases. It would be unfair, IMO, for some stores to give preferential treatment to some customers by selling very high demand items in advance. I'm sure this kind of back door sale would be against some kind of LCBO policy.

So I get up early this past Saturday for the April 16th LCBO release hoping to get a couple of bottles of the 2001 Cellole Chianti Classco Reserva at Summerhill LCBO, got there at 9:00am sharp and it was already gone! It seems (!??) people started lining up way before 9am and all the 'tickets' for the chianti had already been given out and it was effectively sold out before store opening. This is nuts!! Since when did Toronto become this crazy for wine?! I've heard of people lining up overnight for concert tickets or even new movie releases, but for wine? Geez!!! I'm going to Canadian Tire to get some camping gear... not for camping in Muskoka or something, but for camping in front of LCBO on release day!

(Just a note that I've already posted this on the Toronto board)... OK, I have a friend who swears that Montreal has better restaurants by far compared to Toronto. On the other hand, I met a Francophone Montreal expatriate now living in TO who says very much the opposite. He supports his opinion by saying that chefs and restauranteurs go where the money is and the money left Montreal for Toronto in the Eighties, thus his vote is TO by a landslide. I haven't been to Montreal since I was a kid in the 70's, but I tend to believe the TO is better because it's got more money story. I say this because I think New York has some of the best restaurants in the world and there is a lot of money in NYC. So, to those in the know, what's your opinion? Should I go to Montreal to try their restaurants or would it just be a waste of time because TO is better?

Glad you enjoyed your stay in TO! There are so many good restaurants here that we hope you will come back soon and try the others! George is one of the newer restaurants in town and I agree that it's one of the better ones that's not priced in the stratosphere.

Sorry Sadistick but I too favour Susur and Perigee for best in TO. Yes, they're expensive but so are your suggestions of Splendido and North 44 both of which I would rate as merely average. Also worth consideration as top restaurant (& equally pricey!) is Bymark. Though not the best but also worth note are Ultra Supper Club and Monte Cristo both of which also have good ambiance, IMO. I was just at George last week and it was pretty good and not too expensive. I would compare George to Lee in terms of price and food quality.

There's a little known (except by word of mouth) Italian restaurant called Fieramosca on Prince Arthur (#36A just east of Bedford Rd) that serves fantastic pasta dishes. It's about a 5min walk from Park Hyatt and we've been going there for years and the food, ambiance and service is always great. Ask for Edwin and tell them Joyce and Steve sent you!!

We also went to Tetsuya during the Christmas Holiday period and found the food there to be absolutely outstanding. My wife and I both had the degustation set menu. I consider New York to have the best restaurants, but Tetsuya is as good as any NY restaurant. If you love good food, this is a can't miss when in Sydney. Incidentally, the person who started this thread asked if there was a website. Well, there is... http://www.tetsuyas.com/.

I second that. We just came back from a trip to Sydney and Melbourne and went to many restaruants and Tetsuya was defintely at least a step above the rest and a can't miss if you're in Sydney.

My brother-in-law inherited a Barolo and wanted to know if it's worth anything or should he just drink it. It's a 1974 vintage Manzone. The label also reads "Francesco & Figli" which he assumes is the producer and "Giardino Serena" and "Monforte d'Alba (Cunea - italia) which he take to mean the vineyard and location. Can anyone provide any insight as to whether he should drink or sell? On his behalf, thanks in advance! Regards, Steve Young