Lesley C

Explorer, I don't understand. David Hawksworth is in Vancouver, as is Thomas Haas. Aren't we talking Toronto here? And isn't Haas doing boutique pastry work? I'm confused. Are you talking about Canada as a whole?

So true, Food Network Canada sucks so badly these days that Rob Feenie is starting to look good compared to all those candy-making shows.

Sorry Gordoncooks. Let's try again. OK Torontonians, speak up on the other thread!

Interesting topic emerging here. Let's start a new thread so this doesn't get lost.

Well then you can get unsmoked lardons. I've seen both sold in French supermarkets.

How about lardons fumés or poitrine fumé?

Yes, I agree. Right now, after very recent meals at Les Chèvres and Toqué!, I'd rank Les Chèvres as #1 in the city. The menu is innovative, the choice of ingredients is superb, service is seamless, and the meal is strong from the amuse to the fabulous desserts. Toque!'s desserts are pitiful these days. My one gripe with Les Chèvres is the wine list, which seems to be getting shorter and shorter with every visit. Les Halles has seen its heyday. I remember it being a real haute temple de gastronomie back in the early eighties. It was far more formal -- and expensive -- back then. I still find plenty to enjoy there, though I hear quality drops significantly when the restaurant is crowded.

I saw one of those Food Network specials on Eigensinn farm and it completely discouraged all interest I had in the place. The food looked semi-awful (the horrible camera work hardly helped) but what got me the most was the look behind the scenes in the kitchen. I remember Stadtlander was making a lemon mousse. He kept dipping his finger in the mousse and licking it clean. I'm usually not a stickler for hygiene, but that scene made me feel kind of sick. And it all looked so gloomy, with all these odd people mulling about drinking wine, watching people dancing in the forest, and talking about what a genius Stadtlander is. It was so pretentious and embarrassing. I blame the director of the program to a certain extent, but really, I didn't see anything to get excited about. And I thought Stadtlander's kitchen technique was sloppy. If you want to see a world-class chef at work, watch Susur Lee peel an apple. I’ve never tasted his food, but I know it would be brilliant just by the way he peels an apple.

You're going in January . Too bad, in summer you could get out to the fantastic beaches around Lake Winnipeg. I second the recommendation for Amici's. I was there years ago and it was excellent. I remember a particularly good dessert trolley.

Hi Jeff, Interesting. I like Les Halles, but it isn't for everyone. It's very classic old French. I was there in the spring for dinner. It was a tasting menu and all the portions were way too large and the food was lackluster. But when I reviewed the restaurant two and a half years ago (same chef) the food was quite perfect. I love the classic desserts at Les Halles and the service is excellent. I'm a sucker for the old world French decor as well. It can be a great restaurant -- a true restaurant -- but it's not for the branché crowd. I look forward to hearing more about your visit, especially restaurant S.

I remember making an excellent coconut cream pie from a Martha Stewart recipe last year that contained a custard made from coconut milk. It's definitely worth tracking down. I'll look and see what magazine it came from.

Your idea is commendable. It's just that soy milk, IMO, has an off-putting vegetable taste that could ruin your desserts. Maybe you should try a few brands to find the one with the most neutral flavour.

Michael, are you sure he longer sells the Cerise sur le Gateau cake?

I tasted a soy latte at Starbucks the other day. It was so awful I threw it in the garbage after two sips. Just imagine plain cooked white navy beans, pureed and mixed with espresso. Please don't ruin your good desserts with that stuff.

Yes, good point. The pastry shop should be owned operated by a world-class pastry chef with a unique vision. There are lots of good pastry chefs out there copying Herme and the like. But in the same way a good restaurant is about a chef's style, so is a patisserie. throw in all the usual suspects -- lemon tarts, eclairs etc -- but you also have to have a line of entermets that are original to the house.

That's a tough question but I would say yes. When I was at Payard a few years back he was certainly falling into that world-class group. Don't know how things have changed for better or worse since. However, I really have a tough time placing Payard in the American category. The guy is just so, so French. When I was at the his patisserie, he and a waiter were screaming insluts at each other across the shop. You just don't get more French than "Putain, ferme ta guele!" in my books, which is what they were screaming to each other. I wonder, is there a world-class pastry shop where there is an emphasis on American-style pastries? I don't know. Curious though. Maybe someone should define "world class."

I have news for you, Pierrie Herme is making French pastry. Who said it all came to a screeching halt 20 years ago?

One dimensional? Boring? You have got to be kidding. What, are brownies suddenly the height of sophistication? Pl-ease.

Sorry to come in on this so late, but... If you have the time in Avignon, take a cooking class at one of Avignon’s finest restaurants, La Mirande. They offer half-day lessons at their magnificent location just behind the Palais des Papes. Known as Le Marmiton, the cooking school is situated in a renovated 16th century kitchen featuring a wood burning oven, antique crockery, a large butcher-block work table, and copper pots of all shapes and sizes. Local chefs are invited to teach a three-hour course, which revolves around the preparation of an elaborate Provencal meal. The course I followed last June by Chef Robert Brunel demonstrated basic cooking techniques involved in the preparation of a lunch menu including croutons topped with three varieties of local goat’s cheese, baby artichokes stuffed with bacon and mushrooms, red snapper with pistou, tapenade and aubergines, and hazelnut soufflé for dessert. In the area, favourite restaurants include Le Grand Pré in Roaix, and Domaine de la Ponche in Vacqueras. Both are modern, casual, and offer good food at moderate prices. Le Grand Pré is a converted farmhouse owned and operated by Belgian chef Raoul Reichrath and his Mexican wife, Flora. Domaine de la Ponche is a 17th-century turreted château set in the vineyards of Vacqueyras. For lunch, try the Domaine de Cabasse in Séguret. Here are a few addresses: Hotel, Restaurant, Cooking School (Le Marmiton) La Mirande 4, Place de la Mirande 8400 Avignon Tel: 04 90 85 93 93 www.la-mirande.fr Hotel/Restaurant Domaine de Cabasse 84110 Séguret Tel: 04 90 46 91 12 Hotel/Restaurant Chateau de Rochegude (the only Relais & Chateau in the area) 26790, Rochegude Tel: 04 75 97 21 10 www.chateauderochegude.com Chambres d’hotes/Restaurant Domaine de la Ponche F-84190 Vacqueras Tel: 04 90 65 85 21 www.hotel-laponche.com (The web site includes a map) Restaurant Le Grand Pré Roaix 84110 Vaison la Romaine Tel: 04 90 46 18 12

Yes but Herme at Fauchon and Pelletier at the height of his powers seemed even more special to me. It was then that they were really breaking away from the old style. I found that more exciting. When Herme came out with his Cerise sur le Gateau cake with the custom made box, people were just swooning over the thing. Now I think a lot of the creative new stuff gets lost in the crowd.

It is Hevin. It's definitely a chocolaterie, but he does sell pastries. I love Hevin, more so than Chaudun. As for Aoki, cute store, but so so small. Nice packaging as well, and very sweet salesgirls. Lou, it's funny reading your comments. When I started as a pastry chef in 1988 I visited all those shops and my impressions were so different! Dalloyau was perfection and Laduree, only the Rue Royale location back then, was so boring and classic, but extremely classy. And Mulot was a find. I like Mulot's store; the chaos is so Parisian to me. Lucien Pelletier was still alive, and his pastry shop was la reference for many of us. He was much loved in pastry chefs circles, unlike LeNotre. Pelletier invented so many beautiful cakes! It was sad to see the store come apart after his death. All seems better now with Conticini, but I'm glad I got to see it as well during Pelletier's lifetime.

Hate to rain on your parade jschyun, but Senses is nowhere near places like Herme and Mulot. I couldn't even order a birthday cake there without running into problems. I'd have no trouble saying there is no world-class pastry shop in Canada, certainly nothing to compare with the top level French patisseries.

I had to go to the hospital the other day and brought along 6 issues of this year's Gourmets I hadn't really read through. Besides the Sterns (who I don't think are that interesting or belong in that magazine) I was completely taken with the articles. There's a good mix of features and a bunch of recipes I tagged. I enjoyed a vanilla story, that coffee story, and would love to see a Chilean sea bass story in there some day. I don't know why it takes a long wait at the hospital or a plane trip to sit down and read that magazine. I used to tear through it the minute it arrived. Hmm.. guess I was younger, thinner, and a bit more enthusiastic. But from now on I'll make time to read it cover to cover, not just skim through. (can't say I'm that taken with the TV issue though.... Pork chops and apple sauce from the Brady Bunch in Gourmet! )

Joe, isn't Kam Shing on Cote-des-Neiges below Van Horne?

I love L'Orchidee de Chine, and its sister restaurant Le Chrysantheme on Crescent St. These are the city's two upscale Chinese restaurants (another, Le Piment Rouge, is expensive and disappointing).