Lesley C

OK, well, whatever. To each his own I guess. (sorry to disappoint you with that non-confrontational reply, but I'm tired today...)

Wow. Good news! Thanks.

The biggest strike against La Paryse is not the burger but the wait for a table. I used to not care, but I now have little kids, and waiting for a table in the drafty entranceway with children is a nightmare. I won't go to La Paryse for that reason alone. It's too bloody small! I also think they smother their burgers with way too many toppings. I far prefer m:brgr's burger and approach to toppings, though that mayo price does seem steep. I actually ate alot of my m:brgr Kobe burger without the bun. Don't know if I'd do that at La Paryse. As for Kobe beef, try Boucherie AGA on Jarry, but call first just to make sure they have some. They used to.

The root beer float is delicious, but the chocolate shake is better.

Drove past the Outremont fish restaurant Delfino last week and noticed it was closed. Called and discovered the phone was disconnected. Here's hoping this is only temporary...

What's that all about? They have been open for a month, so they are OPEN. Jeez...unlock the door and you're open for business.

That said, I would be a bit weary of European-trained chefs straying into something radically different like Indian, Chinese or sushi -- though Junichi Ikematsu of Jun-i did just that as his training is French. At least it is part of his palate, his culture.

The point here is that the guys at Liverpool are indeed chefs. Chefs should be able to mix it up. You're Italian, right? So it's pretty rich you saying these guys can't do Italian but it's ok for you to cook French. You can't have it both ways. When I worked as a pastry chef, a French pastry chef (and BTW, I worked for Thuries), if someone handed me a recipe for cassata or cannoli, I'll tell ya, I probably did a better job of it than a lot of pastry shops in St-Leonard. A good recipe goes a long way in skilled hands.

I do. Rents, taxes, traffic...I'm trying to understand why the other side of Laurier makes a difference.

Really? Where does Laurier become Mile End? East of Parc? I don't think it made a diff for La Chronique?

I don't agree (but I bet you figured I would say that ). The other day my husband cracked out the Babbo cookbook and made the recipe for gnocchi. Now I've had a lot of gnocchi (I even had the gnocchi at Babbo) and I gotta say, these were some pretty damn good gnocchi. Is he not allowed to make good gnocchi because he's French and he only made them once? Hell no! Good food is good food, no matter who makes it and for how long. Are an Italian grandmother's gnocchi automatically good because she's been making them for years? Hell no! I've had some pretty awful Italian food made by Italian grandmothers. Does one have to earn the right to cook outside one's realm? No way. FYI, last time I heard, the majority of the staff at Milos were far from Greek. Also, last time I had pizza at Bottega it was soggy. The pizza at my local pizzaoile is better. Does the pizza at bottega get an automatic pass because the oven was flown in from Naples? No. And wait a minute, Bottega is hardly struggling. As for doing my job unbiasly and the chou chous getting some come-uppance, you're talking to the person who gave Au Pied de Cochon two stars, dropped Toque! to three and a half when they changed locations, and gave Les Caprices two and a half stars before it closed. I sure didn't make any "friends" doing that. And as for Liverpool House, hell, I liked it. It's different. It's fun. My food was good. Was I supposed to say I didn't like it even though I did? And though I may be "friendly" with McMillan, he's not enough of a friend for me to compromise my integrity by saying his restaurant is good if it isn't. If you ask me, the La Presse review was more positive than mine. I could understand all this angst if Liverpool weren't a good restaurant. But it is, and it's doing very well (and was before I reviewed it), and that seems to be rubbing some people the wrong way.

Raza has a coupled lined up, as well as an event with Nuevo Latino master, Douglas Rodriguez.

Actually, there are some pretty cool chefs from Chile coming, definitely worth checking out.

Get an escali scale. They are accurate to 1g.

Who is the chef there now?

http://www.academieculinaire.com That's the web site for the academie culinaire. Check out the "cours grand public" section. There are English courses there as well, not cheap mind you. Eight courses of 3 hours each is close to $700! I would recommend you take a single course first, to see if the place suits your needs.

I used to teach at the Academie Culinaire about a decade ago. The basic cooking classes were very good and popular back then, and I would think now as well. The facilities are excellent. I don't know if they offer classes in English anymore, though they once did. ITHQ was also offering night courses at one point. That would be worth checking out.

OK, now this thread is getting interesting... I also have my limit of scallops. It seems three is the right number and five is too many. And I don't think they make a great main course because the first three are heavenly, and the ones that follow are merely filling. To me, scallops are for starters -- unless they are mixed with other seafood.

I would say the seared tuna trend is dying fast.

OK, yes, prepared that way at home, sure, I'll buy that. But when I started reviewing restaurant 8 years ago I would see them every so often. Now seared scallops are on almost every appetizer menu in the city. It is a craze, second only to tartares -- and molten chocolate cakes!

Actually it's an important topic. And yes, I know chefs that closed shop who straight out said they could cook but they couldn't manage their money. Then there are others who can manage money, but say the work is too hard for the little they make. I'll buy that. Chefs don't make a lot of money in this city so the question is, how long can the passion keep them going?

Actually, I would think most of them were broiled or poached back in the days of coquille St-Jacques.

I don't know what you mean by a "Gazoo feel"? If by that you mean English, why not start a French blog? Or maybe there is one, or several. (If that's a jab in my direction, so be it. But I always felt it made more sense for a restaurant critic to post on boards like this than remain silent in some Ivory Tower.) As for your post, I'm surprised to see your list. A lot of restaurants there aren't doing as well as you may think. I'm sure -- in fact I know -- a lot of Montreal chef owners aren't making a dime in this business.

Hey, get lost you guys. This is the Montreal board. Kidding... But seriously, I think a caveman was the first to sear a scallop. I'm just trying to understand how and when this dish became THE starter around here. Also, who right now is making the best. Is it as popular world-wide? We're usually talking three diver scallops here, now often only seared on one side.

On the Liverpool House thread we started discussing who started the seared scallop trend in Montreal. It's true. Those golden crusted babies are everywhere! Alexthecook thinks it might be Le Club Chasse et Peche, especially in the "a l'unilateral" style. Without checking back in my old reviews, just off the top of my head, the first seared scallops I recall wowing me were at Auberge Hatley in 1998, seared scallops with grapefruit beurre blanc was the dish. I also had some incredible scallops at Delfino ages ago. Any other fine scallop memories out there, or anyone willing to take a stab at who got this trend going so strong?