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Vinfidel

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  1. Given the sorry state of my last two meals there, maybe Toque can slink back into the primordial ooze from whence it came. And take Primadonna with them.
  2. Dunno about the wine in SC, nor do I know about the wine in Boise, Idaho or Des Moines, Iowa. All I know is that in a booze-loving, French-speaking city like this, we deserve better wine for our money. Also if you live in SC you can have wine shipped direct to you (SC is not reciprocal so you pay taxes but still...). What's the good stuff from France for $20? Please do share. Scouring the shelves of the SAQ in the Old Port this afternoon and I was even more afraid for the local wine drinkers. The only good thing about Little Penguin is that maybe it will herald the beginning of wine advertising in .QC. I notice that there is very little advertising locally. Hopefully the importers or producers will start using advertising to educate our numbed public into demanding better wine from our government.
  3. Accepted. After all, I've made more visits to Montreal than to London or Rome. I've been there more recently than to L.A. or Vienna. I have in fact, gone out of my way to get to Montreal, but never gone out of my way to avoid it. I'm in this thread more to learn than to advise. I think my best advice was that it's hard for any of us to second guess what someone else will like anyway. As little as I know about Montreal, I am less able to guess what will impress or please another New Yorker. But all these visits are before the new millenium? This is a new city compared to the cesspool this place was in the mid-90s .
  4. Yes, and New Yorkers do not consider Pastis and Gramercy Tavern or Bolo to be their best as well!
  5. I stopped by the big SAQ in Les Cours Montreal Royale today. Wow - what a selection of under $20 JUNK!! I guess the SAQ really specializes in low-end sh*t. Not to be an uneducated complainer, I picked up 3 cases of under $20 stuff that I had never tasted. Much of it is Chilean/Argentinian/Spanish. Nothing from the USA to be had under $20 that is not under $10 or under $5 from our neightbors to the south. Was physically nauseatued to see cases of LITTLE PENGIUN littering the store. My first sub $20 bottle is something called BORSAO from Spain for $11.45. Tastes like lemon-scented kool aid. My guess is new contender for PROVIGO wine of the year. Garbage but harmless. Also got the 2003 LA Cetto Petite Syrah and Cab Sauv. The Cab is raunchy like Crescent St. at 3:15 am. The Petite is all tannins no fruit. I bought the EXP Paso Roble Syrah, lovely at $19.95. Also some fine Canadian wines incl. a riesling from Joackson-Triggs, as welll as their Cab-Shiraz (over $20). What is the story with the SAQ and the SHITLOADS of junky cheap-ass wines?! WHo buys that crap? They have SEAS of plonk from Chile, France, Italy, Spain. I could not bear to see shite like Little Pengiun being sold on the monopoly's shelves! What I did see that was value - magnum of Dominus for $220! Other end of the spectrum but still a fair deal.
  6. Hmm... If Globe is to Pastis/Balthazar/Spice Market, as Montreal is to NYC, as Grand Prix Weekend in 514 is to any weekend night in NYC, I would expect that they can handle the rush. There are only so many tables at Globe and hence so many seatings, it's not like all the floozies at the bar are eating as well as downing 7 Cosmos on GP weekend?! I love how the Globe Wine List has every stereotypical 'cult' California Cab on their list at outrageous prices but all anyone is drinking is $20 Liberty School cab blends for $65!! That group needs to get their sh*t together, I hope that the pizzas at Buonna Notte are as great as they used to be! I enjoyed your review of L'Express in the Gazzagoogazoo today. My, how that paper has gone to pot! I suppose they have grade school children writing the news columns. Anywayss, I digress: Your columns are the last saving grace of a dim jewel in the Southam tiara. Btw, would you characterize the beef at Biftheque as anything as good as the aged beef at LOBELS in NYC? Have not been to Biftheque (where is Cote de Liesse?! Do they deliver?!) but I will be swinging by very soon to check them out. My brother tells me that some of the best 'black market' cheese in San Francisco is in fact Quebec cheese! He will send me some names and I'll post them here.
  7. Lesley, as for the claim that the "great" Montreal chefs are pure l'aine from here (Laprise, Claude Pelltetier, Picard. Godbout?! etc.) good for them - but I hope to g*d they have the time/money to travel elsewhere and see how it is done. Foie gras poutine and magret at Au Pied de Cochon were practically inedible but still looked good on the plate. Where is David McMillan these days? Dinner at Globe was a freaking joke this week, as was lunch at Rosalie... Does he still steer the oars of our greatest celeb-hangouts/NYC combatants? The girls that work there are gorgeous but the food has really fallen apart! I am eating at TIME tomorrow night and hope it turns out better.... I will say that RAPIDO on St. Denis still turns out the most lovely poutine at 3:30am! God bless Montreal!
  8. I agree that we have great foie gras and game, but we have substandard beef, pork, and chicken. I won't dismiss that NYC has a lot of style over substance but it also has a lot of style + substance. The truth is that Toque has a brand, and it is probably YUL's most famous resto but I loathe to take out of towners to the new place. Lesley is their last staunch defender, they have seriously gone down the drain. I hate to say it but Laprise is not as HUNGRY as he once was, and their service and food quality has slipped. Plus the prices have risen to pay the bills of the Caisse and that hurts the consumer in the end.
  9. I guess we need to define what we mean by "high-end." Just the food? The decor as well? Breadth of wine list? Silverware, stemware? Doc, not sure if you have been to the new Toque. I too had fond memories of the old one, but the new one simply sucks. Rude service. The room is cold (literally - freezing cold even on a warm summer day), acres of space b/w tables. Food was good but not as good as I remember it on the tiny space on St. Denis. The wine list is obscenely expensive and I was "pooh-poohed" because I was drinking by the glass (their half-bottle list is outrageous and since I often dine alone, it's all that makes sense for me). It's also become very VERY expensive but I peeked at their lunch menu and it does seem extremely reasonable especially in contrast to the awe-inspiring prices for dinner (for Montreal!)
  10. Having eaten at Bolo many times I can confirm that the service can be sloppy, but I've never had the experience that the food was anything but fabulous. More to the point: we have nothing even remotely similar to it in Montreal. I also love Gramercy Tavern, but I wouldn't classify it as one of NYC's best. Pastis, as with all of McNally's restaurants, is about consistency and see-and-be-seen. It's one of NYC's 50+ L'Expresses! La Chronique is awesome because it is uniquely Montrealais; hip but not standoffish, with all the $ on the plate (certainly not on the decor). I certainly wouldn't call it "high-end," certainly not if you are comparing to NYC's high-end. My point from my last comment was a four-day trip to NYC will reveal very little about the true depth of that city's gastro capabilities. I'm not just talking high-end, I also include the regular middle of the road eateries that are really incredible. The pizza, the bread, the markets, the fish, etc. Places like Casa Mono and Bar Jamon (200 bottles of wine on the list, all of them high QPR) don't exist here. For whatever reason: size, money, apathy we cannot compete with NYC on these fronts but we can compete with how much spirit and pride Montrealers have about our certainly more modest goodies. One thing that shocks me about Montreal is our crappy bakeries. Where can one get a real Parisian baguette here? I'm talking crispy on the outside, soft and ethereal on the inside... I tried Au Pain Dore on Peel St., Olive & Gourmando, the breadshop inside Atwater Market - all of them substandard. How come we don't have Le Pain Quotidien here?! If I were a restaurant entrepreneur, I would buy all the junky restaurants in and around Place Jacques Cartier and turn them into entry-level gastro-destinations that could be open year-round and would show the tourist masses just how much we love our food and wine in Montreal! And yes, I agree - we have the best bagels in the world here!
  11. Hmmm.. very dubious. The wine world is a market, like any other, and while in many years both the quality and price of the First Growths may be exceeded by lesser growths or even non-classified wines, overall they still have a lot of meaning when attempting to determine quality. Because wine is a market, and we have a lot of choice as to what we will drink and what we will cellar, if the classified growths produce poor wines, the market will not pay for them. There is an automatic incentive for them to make better wines since none of the classified growths lives alone - they have peers. If the owners of the Chateaux do not care, then they will allow crappy wines to be released, as is the case with some of the classified growths. But there is certainly no shortage of quality wine to buy on the market. Its true that there are glaring ommissions such as La Mission but as you can see from the price of the bottle - the market makes up its own mind! The same goes for Le Pin, Pétrus, Cheval Blanc, etc. I'm sure that Christian Moueix does not lose sleep at night, haranguing the INAO to get his grape juice onto the list of classified growths. The original list of first growths was based on market price at the time; those were the wines that consistently commanded the highest prices, and the market was limited to noblepersons and business people. As to whether or not there will another change to the classification, I think the idea is ridiculous, especially in the context of the 150th anniversary. France is nothing but for tradition, and to change a tradition on an important anniversary flies in the face of tradition itself. I wouldn't hold my breath.
  12. Just wondering if anyone knows where I can get the following items: 1. One of those diamond studded knife sharpners. They have long prong-like appendages that are studded with diamonds. You swipe you knife through them and it sharpens AND hones at the right angles automatically. 2. Hand-beaten (or simulated) copper serving pans similar to what you find in an Indian or Turkish restaurant. Ideally with contrasting tin/copper tones. These would be fairly small, suitable for a single-person serving for a main course. They are shallow pans traditionally used to cook AND serve but I only want it for serving. 3. Staub mini-cocottes, preferably round and in black Is there a good houseware store I can get this stuff downtown?
  13. Thank you for your smart ass response.... but the thread is about Version Laurent Godbout not Chez L'epicier. I am wondering where chef Godbout is spending his time or if he is spliting it between the two places. Lesley or Carswell? Any info? ← Since you asked about a website right after asking about Chez L'Epicier, anybody would assume you wanted their web site. Anyway, I shook the magic Google tree and this came out: Version Laurent Godbout
  14. Witness the wonders of Google: www.chezlepicier.com
  15. I noticed a very strange and potentially disturbing phenomenon while shopping at the SAQ on St. Denis near my place (this is the one right next door to Academie, on the corner of the Duluth). I bought a mixed case of vin, including some Saintsbury Pinot Noir, a Maculan dessert wine, some nice Hermitage, some Wolf Blass Premium Cab. I was having some friends over, so I skipped straight back to my apt (2 blocks away, which is well-cooled) and proceeded to open the bottles over the course of the evening. Something I noticed immediately is that corks were soaked in the Pinot. Soaked as in, the cork itself was squishy. The wine did not taste cooked but it was certainly warm. I wish I had my wine thermometer to measure a reading, but I can tell you that the bottle was warm as if it had been left in a car. The same, to a lesser degree, could be said of the Hermitage. Tasted fine, but definitely heated. This was amazingly obvious with the Blass, tasting super hot from the heat of the alcohol and the heat of the wine itself. Had any of the wine been bad, of course I would have returned it. But this is not the case - the wine was just warm. I am guessing that due to the heatwave many ACs were not functioning properly. This is also compounded by the fact that a busy SAQ like the one I am speaking of probably never has time to cool down due to the fact that the door is opening and closing constantly thanks to the traffic. Had I been planning on cellaring this stuff, then certainly I would have sought out a refund. My concern is how long the 'heat damaged' wine will be sitting on the shelves. Has anyone else noticed this problem? I also see lots of SAQ stores with big windows and lots of products on display (and for sale!) DIRECTLY in the window. What's the story with that? Has anyone bought what MUST be UV- and heat-damaged wine like this?
  16. Vinfidel

    Lebanese wines

    Had a '99 Kefraya and a '98 Musar tonight with a traditional Lebanese grilled dinner... sorry to say that both these wines pale in comparison to what is being done in Israel today. IMHO, young Israeli winemakers are at the top of their game making wines that are relevant today and will age well, whereas Musar and Kefraya are uninspiring. Also I can't confirm that anything but plonk comes out of Algeria, having been there several times in the last few years. Was really quite sorely disappointed to see that the best of their wines seemed to be the pink plonk served on the hotel terasses.
  17. Hey Dave- - aren't these the guys that pay your bills at Globe?! Hahaha. Don't bite the hand that feeds you. My $0.02 - Best 514 wine lists are Express (by far, both value and for breadth - who else in town carries Torbreck's Juvenile as well as Chateau La Croix de Gay?!), Globe (good for post deal-closing blowouts - but seriously, get rid of the Liberty School cab, you might as well sell Little Pengiun), Club Chasse (ecltetic, reasonably priced but rising, very food friendly, Hubert is the best sommelier-owner), Buona Notte (price aside, where else can you get the beautiful people with the overpriced but delectable super Tuscans?). Bistro Champlain has a sick wine list but the food is bland and boring.
  18. I just had dinner there tonight, a bit of a reunion with friends after a long-ish absence from Montreal. What a disappointment. I once used to cherish the seafood platter as much as I did the one at Balthazar in NYC. While some of the seafood was great, quite a bit smelled... fishy. As did the entrance to the resto with the raw bar. The oysters were sandy and still had a few gritty bits dangling from it, and the lobster was overcooked, the crab underdone. Lots of nice clams and cockels, too bad that they were ruined by sand and grit and lack of cleaning. Look at the aquariums in the front of the resto - they are filthy. The winelist has gone to shit. Despite the fact that there is nary a value to be found, some wines are just insane overpriced (Bonny Doon Cigare Volante at $230!!! It retails for $50 at the SAQ monopoly). While I was happy to see that the winelist is larger it certainly has fewer value items left on it. Nice to see Chateau St. Cosme Little James' Basket on the list, private import. Not nice to see that a decent Cali cab will set you back over $300. YQuem '98 by the glass for $48. The food was over-salted, service was slow, Picard was behind the bar scratching his crotch while pouring drinks for his friends... Not a pretty sight. Some idiot running around with a camera shooting a film disturbing the patrons and delaying already slow service. My magret with wild mushrooms was covered with a stack of oversalted junky button mushrooms as you'd expect to find on closeout sale at METRO for $0.,99 per boite. Nothing wild about these except the stacks of salt they were seasoned with. Magret was overdone and gray. The bathroom was filthy, sevice was sloppy (we had to pour our wine ourselves, despite having spent a shitload), some people at their table got their meals 15 minutes after others, the barmaid gave me a filthy look when I asked for a glass of water with my glass of overpriced wine (this was 20 minutes after our res when they still could not seat us). This place needs to get their act together. THey still own the prize for Quebecois atmosphere resto of the year but please - get your stuff together if you plan to be a DESTINATION resto.
  19. Just curious Alida - where did you eat in NYC? Having been a resident of NYC for many years and just returning to Montreal (for the summer!) I'm really curious to know how you can draw this conclusion.
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