winegeek

The best I've had in th OK is The Cellar Door Bistro at Sumac Ridge, although definately not the best patio. Last time I was there I had a large plate of wild mushroom risotto which was delicious and the cost was only$10.95!!! The most over rated in my opinion was the Sonora Room at Burrowing Owl. Although I think they produce some of the best wine in BC, I was less than impressed at our meal there last fall. Although not a winery, but in wine country, The Heritage Inn in Naramata is excellent. Another good spot is Old Vines at Quails Gate.

I can't believe I'm the only one that likes nachos....

One of my favourite summertime activiteis is sitting on a patio somewhere, eating nachos and drinkng beer. I don't believe I've ever seen this topic discussed here. The best nachos I've ever had were at The Buros Bar, which unfortunatley is too far to travel just for the nachos (Puerto Vallarta). That will have to wait another 6 months! The best I've had in the Lower Mainland were actually Northlands Golf Course in North Vancouver. Great nachos, tons of cheese and other fixin's. Great view also, although obviously not of the ocean. While the nachos themselves weren't the best I've ever had, the place down at Jericho (I can't for the life of me remember the name) had a huge platter that were relativley inexpensive and a great view, right on the water. I'm sure many of you have been there. What are your favourites and why?

Fortes does around 600 covers a night thurs-sat during the summer. 450 would be a quiet night during the summer. Dollar value ( and probably covers) it's definately more than anywhere else in the city.

Just thought I'd pass along that Joe fortes is offering hangar steak on their menu this week as part of a table d'aute. Digby scallops with truffle oil and reduced balsamic topped with pecorino to start, hangar steak with eggpalnt parmigiana, portellini mushrooms, asparagus and cab. jus. Dessert is chocolate pecan pie with tahitian vanilla ice cream. Yum! The only reason that this is being posted is because of the obsession with hangar steak from HSG!!

I'd have to say the location. Settebello was there for a long time and never offered anything for a truly great dining experience. There is a certain stigma to that location. I worked with Romy at Cin Cin (as a server) for 5 years. While he is not one of my "buddies" (to put it mildly), he is a very talented chef. The food he put out at Cin Cin's was fantastic. Don't think I'll go though :)

Gotta add the Oyster bar at Joe Fortes. In my opinion, better than rodneys. There is usually a selection of 6-10 different types and they change daily.

For all you Montrealers out there, if you are lucky enough to get a caffe Artigiano there, you will be truly blessed with the best coffee shop in the country. I live in Vancouver and frequent CA alot. There have the absolute BEST coffee and esspresso anywhere. Second cup and starbucks do not hold a candle to CA. (like comparing a KIA to a Mercedes). They also have a fantastic selection of incredible sandwiches on the most delicious bread. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you. By the way, is that you Vince??

Kalamatas. Best roasted lamb in the city. Voted best Greek, year in year out.

It's supposed to be www.leclub-mtl.ca but this does not work. You can email one of the owners (Hubert Marsolais) at hubert@leclub-mtl.ca for more information.

Wow, that was even worse than I imagined. NEVER seen a restaurant that operates even remotely like that. Even Ken Brooks would find that disfunctional.

Finally made it to le Club this past Saturday night. We had a bit of trouble actually getting there as our taxi drivier was not familiar with the restaurant OR the street name. Make sure you have the address when going; there are absolutely NO signs outside indicating what awaits you inside. As my wife and I usually spend 3-4 hours dining, we arrived early (7pm) to an almost empty restaurant. Not too much atmosphere at that hour but that changed once the room began to fill. We were having a hard time wrapping ourselves around the decor of the room. Our first impression was that of a meeting place for some sort of "cult". I have to say that my first impressions were not great but I did warm up to the room once it filled. I do prefer the lighting to be a bit more subdued. We began with a few cocktails and after noticing a bottle of Turley zinfandel on the wine list, immediately ordered a bottle of "Teffelinni vineyard Turley, 2001. Very nice bottle, much softer than previous Turley's I have tried in the past. Our server came over and described the specials, none of which were of huge interest to me. We had emailed M. Marsolais a few weeks earlier to explain that my wife is "boderline" vegetarian, and the server explained a few items that they could prepare for her. We were on our way :) For appetizers, I had the braised suckling pig risotto with foie gras and my wife had a mushroom tart. The risotto was the best I have ever had. Firm arborio rice and lots of suckling pig. The foie gras was slivered over top. A fair amount of stock (a mix of veal and chicken stock). around the bowl. Incredible!! My wives mushroom tart was filled with wild mushrooms and a bit of arugula in a crispy pastry shell and topped with old cheddar cheese. There is usaully veal stock in this dish and I'm not sure how they prepared this dish. They were very good at making a point that the dishes had no meat stock, although this would not bother her. I tried it and found it to be fabulous, she was even more complimentry. For mains my wife had a vegetable risotto with beets, carrot, and asparagus. I was a bit worried about the amount of flavour in this dish, which lasted as long as it took me to try it. It was incredible. My wife said it was easily the best risotto she has ever had, which is really saying something as she eats risotto in every fine dining restaurant that prepares it for her. As for my main coarse, I had Leg of lamb with "pommes boulangeres". The leg came sliced atop some pureed eggplant. On the other side of the rectangular plate was a pair of lamb ribs on top of very thinly sliced potato, lightly carmelised onion, chopped bacon and a delectable sauce. The sauce comes from the braised pork belly, which is then smoked in a light veal jus. The lamb ribs have been braised for 9 hours. I also ordered a vegetable plate, which consisted of some pureed sunchokes, spinach topped with baby red and yellow carrots and some celeriac, which was julienned and formed into a tower. They were without a dought the best vegetables I have ever had. Everything was such an astounding taste sensation. We were then offered a cheese plate, of which there are only 2 choices. We had a stilton and some aged gouda. Both went very well with an LBV port. For dessert my wife had "Paradiso", which was warm caramel drizzled over a puff pastry and chocolate ice cream and I think some ganache or mousse. Very good. I had "Mountain", which was chestnut puree, shaped liked spaghetti noodles, on top of pate a choux, filled with some type of cream and topped with some iced goats milk and sitting in a shallow bowl of creme anglais. Again, every bite was heavan. We were then invited to have a complimentry glass of French dessert wine at the bar, a great way to wind down an evening. In my opinion, one of the indicating factors of a great restaurant is when there is no S&P on the table and not being asked at what temperature (doneness) I want my meat. It's prepared the way the chef wants it prepared. Who am I to argue?? All in all a fabulous experience, one which I would like to repeat often but unfortunatley, Vancouver to Montreal can't be done weekly. M. Marsolais and his staff have it all together. There is also great reason Claude Pelletier is so highly regarded in your city. I have been in this industry for over 20 years and have dined out in many great restaurants and this was the best experience I have ever had.

60oz pichters are $6.99 at happy hour and I think $10.99 the rest of the time. Way back when on their anniversary, they were selling 8oz draft for 10CENTS. What a zoo!!

I have more than three so here goes.....By the way, these are all in Montreal, where I've been for the past week. Baton Rouge for baby back ribs. We go there every time we visit Montreal and the ribs are mouth watering. The bones pull right out of the meat they are so tender. Very good mash potatoes. Le Club Chasse et Peche. This is a new restaurant that opened up at the end of December. For those of you who are familiar with Cube, they are the same owners, although they have since sold Cube. They were reviewed in the Montreal Gazzette on Saturday and Lesley Chesterman gave them an amazing review, which I have heard is not a normal thing for her (very tough). If any of you would like a copy of her review, email or PM me and I will send you a copy. I'm back in vancouver on wednesday. I have to say that this was the best food experience I have ever had in my life. Better than both lumiere and west, which are my absolute favourties. I will be posting a full review in the Montreal section in the next 48 hours. DO NOT MISS OUT the next time you are in Montreal!!!! Modavie Wine Bar. This is owned by the same group as the place we stayed (Hotel Nelligan... another highly recommended boutique hotle in Old Montreal, fantastic place to stay). We went there more for the live Jazz but the food was pretty good also. I has Duck rilette to start, which to my surprise were served cold. They were topped with some cranberry coulis which was a nice compliment. My wife had a green salad. For mains I have a penne dish with italian sausage and black olives. Quite good. My wife had a portabello ravioli in a rose sauce. I didn't really like it but she said it was good. Couldn't taste the mushroom. We had a Rioja, the name escapes me. Very nice atmosphere, good light jazz and decent food. Smoke Meat Petes. This is a place that opened up in Ile Perot on the west island and has garnered comparisons to Schwartz's. Having been to schwartz's many times I was some what hesitant. Not anymore. I'm going back for lunch there in a few hours. Read comments here Peel Pub. This is the place where I started my restaurant career. Incredibly cheap place to eat, very popular with the college crowd at night and business people during the day. Both my wife and I had pizzagetti. Your choice of pizza with a half plate of meat or tomato sauce spaghetti. Cost? 6.99!! You can get a plate of pasta for $1.99. Certainly not goumet but really quite good. No where like this in Vancouver. Lafleurs. A Montreal Institution. Steamies for $1.15, Michigan hot dogs for $1.50 (steamed hot dog topped with meat sauce!!!) and the best fries on the planet B&M Pizza. When I lived in Montreal (27 years), this is where I ordered my pizza from. So incredibly cheesey!! I had my usual 14" pepperoni and my wife and sister split a 14" artichoke, olive, mushroom and onion. My favourite pizza spot in Montreal, altought my oldest sister thinks it's awful.

I just arrived from Vancouver a few hours ago and after a brief rest stop, headed to Smoke Meat Petes in, I think, Ile Perot. I have heard comparisons to Schwartz's and having lived in Montreal for 27 years and been a huge schwartz's fan, was anxious to check it out. The results are in.........fantastic!! Pete used to be a cutter at schwartz and has done himself proud. Very comparable to Schwartz's without the lineup and the fries were first rate. Maybe a local can chime in and give us some background on this spot. Well worth the visit! There is also live music on week ends. Not fancy by any means but we did get our own table .

Sorry if there is already a Thai topic but I coldn't find one. I'm in Montreal for 6 nights and would like to go out for Thai on Friday. Could anyone list their top few choices? I will be staying at Hotel Nelligan so something within a 15 minute taxi ride if possible. Thanks. Will be writing a review of Le Club Chasse et Peche shortly...will be dining there saturday night.

My 1st industry job was about 20 years ago. It was in Montreal at Peel Pub (the original) on St. Catherine st. I was a busser for 6 weeks and then was lucky (??) enough to have one of the breakfast servers quit, so I was promoted to server. I worked the breakfast and lunch shift (6am-4:15pm) for a while before moving back and forth from days to nights. For those of you not familiar with this Montreal landmark, Peel Pub was (and still is) home to cheap food and drink. Our breakfast special (2 eggs, toast and coffee) was 99cents. Let me tell ya, I was pretty excited with those 25% tips . Lunch specials were $3.25 and included items like rib steak, sheppards pie, cabbage rolls, ect. Draft beer was about 75cents, I think (8 ounce glass). It was a crazy place. Line up from noon until 2 pm, you were sat with other poeple during lunch ( and evenings and night). They filled EVERY seat. Nights were crazy with the college crowd. Pictures of beer (60 ounces) were $4.95 during happy hour and $8.95 the rest of the time. They were the busiest pub in the country. At one point, they had 3 locations (over 1000 seats total) within 1 1/2 blocks of each other. In spite of the cheap prices( they obviously worked on volume), I made a great amount of money, especially at night. I also managed to spend it all during those 5 crazy years. Alot of fun.

Great showing last night. It really does help put Canada on the map. Nice to see the media place him on the front page of the Vancouver Sun. Here the link Article Way to go Rob!!

Why is the sandwich so small ? That ain't no schwartz's smoked meat, although the fat looks about right!! It isn't a good sandwich unless the fat drips down your shirt .

Chef Fowke, thanks for the tip. Only 21 more days until I'm at Schwart's!!!!

The absolute best spot for fajitas is Fajita Republic. It's quite a ways to go though. Puerto Vallarta in Old town to be exact. By the way Chef Fawke, I still love fajitas and no, I don't wear t-shirts with my sports coat .

. Mussels, clams, snails, ect.

I can't believe that someone would get me started on this topic.....here goes! -Won't eat chicken -won't eat turkey -will only eat pork if it's well done (no fat) -beef only well done (has to be lean) -no meat that's ever been featured on "Wild Kingdom" -nothing that "lives in it's own house" -nothing that is always wet and moving (and I love fish!!) By the way, she is not a vegetarian, but would be if I was, which is not gonna happen . PS... I do all the cooking. How many times can we have risotto??

Best spot is Kaplans deli. One location on Oak and a new one open till 5 on West Pender, I believe. I'm from Montreal and it's the closet thing to Shwartz's that we have, although without Shwartz's great atmosphere.

Joe Fortes. Open everyday the restaurant is open. Usually the busiest spot, especially on week ends. No dogs, but you'd have to be the judge