*Deborah*

PM her and ask !

Thanks for that, cm.

Today....Canadian Split Pea and a Bacon Dog.

echocolate, it works nicely to have the cheese before the dessert because you can finish up your wine with the cheese, then you can serve coffee/liqueurs/what have you with the dessert, if you like.

Well said, Karole! Chef Quang is a remarkable person, and fits right in with the unbridled enthusiasm and enjoyment that the whole place embodies, FOH and BOH. It's so nice to see. I fervently hope that they all get all the success they can handle.

Oooooh, and of course I had the foam and hazelnut (really delicious and invites lascivious displays whilst eating to boot) Sorry, Brian, I hadn't seen an actual dessert menu, and wasn't aware of the other dishes! Your kumquats are pretty special though, and I enjoyed the cheeses I tasted (I never think of cheese as dessert ). The terrine will be my next dessert, I think. I cannot wait to see what you do with local berries and fruits, either

Lovely hedgehog mushroom ravioli with truffle foam; startling and delicious blood orange seltzer; those little truffly baked cracker things (WHOA!), and the squab, maestro, the squab...still rosy within, crispy skin, with a verjus, served with roasted fennel. Oh, and also served with some squab confit with dates...unbelievably good. Really. Just wonderful. I also tasted some of the pheasant rillette and the rabbit pâté, very nicely done indeed. (Most of the others had the tasting menu with paired wines; in between packing and moving and unpacking, I have been eating up such a storm of late that I thought I would do better with a bit less food. I did, however, treat myself to a Brunello di Montalcino that opened up beautifully. Oh, and started with a Sazerac, a very nice, not sweet but not wicked strong cocktail, indeed.) I look forward to trying Rare again; I will likely wait until there is dessert on the menu

I don't entertain often, so I have to remember how each time. For your students, Malawry, I would suggest maybe a theme. My last dinner party was to share some nice Shiraz I had. I ended up getting a sparkling Shiraz to begin with, and put a little Shiraz in the dessert, as well. Or if there's a particular dish they want to do, they should revolve the rest of the dinner around it, to make sure that it all works together. Well, that's just common sense. It's nice to fix on one theme or idea, and let it inspire the rest of the meal. While it really doesn't matter if you have fancy, expensive china (well I hope it doesn't! ), it helps to cook things that will look attractive on what you do have. Plan your shopping as much as your cooking. If you are using special ingredients, figure out where you want to buy them and plan your route, so you don't end up driving back and forth and up hill and down dale the day of or day before. I usually cook at least one new dish for dinner parties, but always something that I am confident I can pull off. Anything I'm nervous about, I make ahead so that there's time to re-do it or substitute if necessary. Plating and garnishing can make a huge difference for a party: you don't have to go all Jackson Pollack or anything, but the plating, the colours of the food, and even simple garnishes like lemon wheels or chopped parsley or the ubiquitous thyme and rosemary stalks can dress up an everyday dish, and that's easy for a new cook to accomplish. I add to the voices of prep your table early, but not too early if you have nosy pets who are likely to walk all over your settings or smash your glasses. :ermm: Warm your plates. Don't worry about it when you forget the bread in the oven (in the paper bag, run under the tap, keeps it from drying out), I always do. Put butter on the table, it might remind you.

That sounds like a worthwhile burger club expedition to me...

I have to get this in, although I am packing madly! Last night, I took my dad to Parkside to celebrate closing on my new house. Blood orange Negroni (of course! the only gin I ever drink). 1999 G.A. Rossi di Medelena Lupicaia, Michel decanted it an hour before we arrived. It was dry it was rich, it was flavourful. My dad and I enjoyed it, but it didn't have a lot of finish, so it's not among our very favourites. I wouldn't say no to more, though! Start: I had a Tain of Dungeness, avocado, pink grapefruit, saffron potato, and a mayonnaise-based pink chili-lime sauce, superlative. Howard had a green and white asparagus wrapped in Holstein ham, with frisée salad with an egg. He didn’t see the point of the egg but loved the rest. Extra course of foie gras seared, on sliced golden delicious sautéed in Calvados on toasted brioche, and the jus was exceptional. Served with a little Trockenbeerenauslese. Main of me: seared venison tenderloin, cranberry black pepper sauce, braised red cabbage with cinnamon that Howard ate more of than I did! some pomme quelque chose and some turnip. Excellent. Howard had the gorgeous, crispy-skinned deboned roasted Cornish hen which he simply adored, with purée of Jerusalem artichoke. It was all wonderful, flavourful, rich but not too rich. We were happy but not dead with food even after four courses. Very well paced. Chef is in Montréal, but the kitchen did not miss a step. Intermezzo: scoop of mascarpone sorbet served on top of huckleberries and port sauce, drizzled with aged balsamic. Boy, that was good. “How do you like being treated like a rock star, Dude?” Dessert: chocolate tart with spiced poached pear and fromage frais ice cream sooo smooth and nice, cornstarch? not eggy. And he had the Vanilla and Grand Marnier panna cotta, also really excellent. Served with a Banyuls (the chocolate tart) and a little glass of Lillet rocks with an orange zest, which he liked quite a bit. Four hours of really good dinner, outstanding service (of course), yadda yadda yadda. I will be taking my mother there next time she comes to town, too lucky me.

Samasutra, I haven't heard that anyone who took the class feels "cheated" as though we paid for something that others are getting for free; as Arne said, there's nothing to compare with being there. I would say, however, that I personally think it's not necessarily fair to Chef to share too much, only because I wouldn't want anyone to think that they are getting the whole schmear and thus not take the class, which is worth taking, IMO, even if you have to scrimp and save to do it. That is just my personal opinion, though: not a matter of trying to keep people in the dark so much as not giving away something that isn't ours to give, if you see what I mean. Kind of like my opinion on ...bootlegging DVDs. Good luck on that Super 7! Edited to correct the spelling of my emoticon!

← I really have to remember to check my spelling! ← Wasn't for your spelling, was for the possibility of a Currywurst right there on Main Street! I will make my way there one day soon. Edited to spell out my emoticon

I fell in love with Currywurst in West Berlin and Hamburg, lo these many years ago. (It was still West Berlin.) I can't see trying it at home, but I'd encourage someone to start a little Imbiss!

Even double-baked ones are less than tooth-breakingly hard, if they're fresh.

Boxes of them in my kitchen. ← Does this mean you're making me some pistachio gelato?

P wouldn't fit the bill, somehow...

Oh yeah, the tourtière will be part of my lunch tomorrow

Sliced into squares or thin-ish strips, sautéed Add that puréed tomato in a carton (smooth! and v fresh-tasting) Freshly-ground dried rosemary (works better than fresh in this application because it's smooth) Finish with half-and-half or heavy cream Serve with gnocchi

I am just curious to know exactly what spurred this; I doubt they all woke up one morning and said "hey, let's embarass the hell out of the boss!" I am assuming that, childish or not, the response was in some measure appropriate to the stimulus.

Chef, last time I offered you my card (for menu and website proofreading of your old site) your house was evacuated for a mudslide, so I have been shy of doing it again...but you can click on the link in my sig if you like

I guess if Earl's is your step up from ...White Spot, it feels pretty swank. Yeah, the Gullet is not the home of the usual Earl's denizen. (Personally, I have eaten at Earl's three times, none of which was satisfactory, let alone good. Milestone's I used to like and will still go for a "Bellini" now and then but the food went down the drain after the Cara buy in my über-hood. Service is still good, but the food is now less than meh, sadly. Cactus Club...OK but overpriced; I'd always rather go somewhere else. I agree, however, that familiarity can be a mitigating factor when you're somewhere outside your usual dining area.) ETA: I couldn't understand when the Cactus Club opened up in Yaletown, and had line-ups. I'd as soon line up for a firing squad. I wonder where those queuers came from?

You mention Chef Jeff and brunch, and you don't include the duck bacon??? For shame!! I'm a big fan of Chef's too, as he knows, and I would certainly buy a cookbook were he to produce one. Andrey Durbach and Frank Pabst are the other two unbooked local chefs whose tips, tricks, and recipes I'd love to pore over.

I'm with you on all of that, but IIRC, you swoon for the washrooms at the Cactus Club...

How Bourdain of him.