Marlene

Thanks ms foodie. I actually did not know that. I don't mind Veuve, but since this is a fairly special occassion, I think the Pol Rogers would be fitting. It's not quite special enough for the Cristal that's down there.

It's an orangey label on the Veuve but it dosn't say anything else.

I used the one from the William Sonoma "American" book last week. Even my husband liked it and he hates mac and cheese.

I know nothing about champagne. The Pol Roger is a Reserve, - no date that I can see, and the Veuve is a Ponsardin whatever that means.

why not both ← Because I'd fall over?

I have two bottles of champagne to decide upon for a particularly sweet victory for us. Which should I choose? Pol Rogers or Veuve?

Richard I have a set of these and I love them. I use them for individual molten chocolate cakes, although you are correct, for the smaller appetite it would be a cake for two. I also use them for something called Garlic Peppercorn Cheesecake which is actually not a dessert. I'll likely make these for my dinner party this week, and will post pics when I do. I've never had any problem with them leaking either.

Duck breast is starting to sound like a possibility. Of course, I haven't done them before, but why let that stop me? That bread pudding sounds wonderful as well. Hmmm....

No, they are franchises. Both are owned by Lana Duke, a lifelong friend of Ruth Fertel. Lana's bio can be found here

Ronnie, I have a bucketful of Halloween candy. I'd be happy to share it with you. Very nicely done this week Ron

In addition, I'm pretty sure the Toronto chef went to the Mississauga location. That location has now been open for a year. It was right around this time last year that we went to their opening. Hanne is less involved in the daily operations these days. Both locations have their own General Managers, but yes, you can be sure I'll be mentioning the Mississauga location's problems to her next time I talk to her. It isn't just the second location here. If I recall, the New Orleans location (the first one), was great, Dallas was so so, and NY was lousy the first time and better the second time we went. There have been a few others that I've tried, but they aren't coming to mind at the moment.

Google is our friend! ← Tana, google is your friend. I'm technically challenged. Thank you

We'll be in Vegas in about three weeks for 7 nights. I'm thinking I need to put Bradley Ogden's on my list. Is it hard to get into? Should I make reservations now? Do they have a website?

Rack of lamb would be good if I could get my husband to eat lamb. In addition, I'm not a huge fish eater, so salmon or some such thing is out as well. But those potatoes sound good! Explain?

The problem with Ruths' is that they are not consistent from place to place. While I've rarely had a bad meal at the restaurant downtown, the one in Mississagua is a different story, as have been others I've dined in around the US. I don't think Ruth's makes the best steak in Toronto, but for us, the downtown location is consistently good.

Thatnk to Costco for allowing us to reproduce the article here for our members to read. Costco Article

So this weekend, we'll have a small dinner party for 4 on Friday, and on Saturday we'll be attending a formal function. The crown roast pork will be kept for the following Saturday's dinner party of 8. So I did a Prime Rib last week, and I'll do a crown roast pork next week, what on earth shall I serve for this dinner party? Help me with a menu. This meal is intended to impress, but be simple in it's elegance.

To the best of my knowlege, no, not at this time. However I will ask Hanne the next time I see her.

Hmmm. where to start. I still prefer USDA prime to Canadian Prime for the simple reason, Canadian Prime is too rich to eat too much of, unlike USDA prime. The two are not comparable for those purposes. I couldn't tell you what my favourite steak is in a non steakhouse in Toronto, because if I go to a non steakhouse, I'm not going there to eat steak. We continue to visit both Ruth's locations. We were at Ruth's in Toronto a couple of weeks ago, and we will be dining at the Mississagua location this evening. For your information, Hanne is now the Vice President of Operations for Ruth's Chris Canada. Just as we visit her husband's restaurant whenever we are on our way to Niagara Falls. It's been some time since I visited Montreal and thus Que de Cheval, but i's probably comparable to Ruth's steaks in taste and in size if nothing else.

For things in which the top crust can crack easily, such as Brownies and butter tart squares, the square springform pans can't be beat. And with the La Forme pans I can cut them right on the pan botoom I will never use a regular pan for those items ever again.

Even in Business class, United Air's food sucked at least on state to state flights. Air Canada is doing better with their business class meals, although they've now instituted a policy of paying for your meals in economy class on flights three hours or less. I still think my meal on British Airways first class was the best meal I've ever had on any airline.

All right Dave. We've all been waiting patiently for pictures of the new floor and task lighting. Did we say you could have a life till you got that done? come on, give up the pictures.

I did this tonight, although I neglected to take pictures. I had two hungry pre-teen boys breathing down my neck as I was taking them out of the oven. My son was quite dubious about this method of cooking steak. His only steak experiences have been grilled. However, since it was this way or Kraft dinner, we proceeded. I had two cast iron frying pans going because the three steaks wouldn't fit in one pan. The steaks were Rib Eyes, a pound and half each and 2 inches thick. My son picked them out yesterday at the butchers. I did the butter thing, and by the time I got the crust Iwanted, the steaks were almost cooked. I did not throw the cast iron pan into the oven, but instead placed the three steaks on a sheet pan and put them in a 350 convection roast oven. I only needed to leave them in there for 5 minutes or so and they were done. Rested, drizzled the juice that had collected in the pan over them and served. My son and his friend thought they were excellent. I'm not as convinced. It was good, but I like my higher heat method better I guess. Then again, I may not have done this the right way. I had a boyfriend once many many years ago, who made me one of the best steaks I've ever had, using a cast iron frying pan and coating the steaks with a thin layer of mustard paste before frying. I've never been able to duplicate that taste. But man, was it good.

No, I've always been able to get Canadian Prime from my butcher. It's always a special order so if I know I'm going to want some for a dinner party or something I make sure I order in lots of time. The 21 Restaurant in Casino Niagara has been using Canadian Prime for years. Outside the GTA, that's probably my favourite steakhouse, followed closely by the Omega here in Oakville. There's one other restaurant here outside Toronto that has always used Canadian Prime as well, but I'm not picking up on the name at the moment. I think we've had this discussion about Canadian Prime and USDA Prime Steve. As I recall, the bulk of our Canadian Prime beef is exported to Japan and Australia.

Yes, I'm talking NY Strips. I just about fell over at the price. I don't buy a lot of meat from Brunos though, and I occassionally get my butcher to get me Canadian Prime Rib eyes. Top 5 steakhouses in Toronto? 1.. Barberians 2. Harbour Sixty 3. Ruth's Chris 4. Carmen's for the garlic if for nothing else! 5 It's a tie between the Senator and Bardis