Jump to content

identifiler

participating member
  • Posts

    510
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by identifiler

  1. Tons of places haven't shown up here. This is the new offering from la Montee de Lait. Kicthen Gallery is another one that should have its own thread...
  2. At 3AM, I don't take anything for granted.
  3. Mile end is part of the Plateau and not a separate section. Mile end in itself is one borough of plateau and Laurier is very much part of the Mile End, the none official limits of mile end are from Parc to St Laurent (runing south to north) and Mont Royal to the Van Horn train pass. I can walk between St-Laurent and Parc. The current site of Bazaar is owned by the restaurant so if you call them, they might explain to you that it is better suited to lease to someone else who wants to have a shop, spa, or what not and move closer to the Outremont condo and dwellings (since the mile enders might want more Wilenskies than coriander red snapper). Taxes, I don't see a difference, rents, I am not sure, I have no real information of their 401 K plan. Traffic, well, I don't know, talking about 3 blocks here... Give them a call, maybe they can open up their 5 year business plan books for a article in the business section...
  4. who cares, what does mile end have to do with any of this ?
  5. yes, just on the other side of Parc on Laurier, apparently it makes a difference.
  6. I like my salter scale because i can store it ina few second and is a single block. Precision, however, is also dependant of resolution. A scale that can take a big weight doesn't usually fair great in the resolution (or linearity towards small weight). As with all, zeroing down a 1 gram weight using a big pyrex dish would be counter productive. http://www.salteronline.com/kitchen/205253/
  7. That was not a jab in your direction one bit. As for the list, I may not know half of the folks who own some of these restos but I know the other half and on average, all of them are complaining, some of them while driving import race cars. I, myself, claim to not be making a dime, after sending my 4 kids to private school. Maybe I am like the half you know, we just can't balance a budget if our life counted on it (god knows there are tons of owners like that). I have a collegue who just returned from Calgary this week. I am sure owners there are millionaires, the menu was high priced, the food was sub par, the wine list was outrageous and they sold 600$ bottles often... Thank god this is not the scene I want to see. I`ll stop blabbering on about the restaurant and start having some food like I did before. From memory, the very day this site got a huge drop was because of this type of thread.
  8. Large scallops have been part of north est fishing since the advent of home freezers, only the giant or auturier scallop is present enough to fish. The intro of Coquille St-Jacques must have been similar in times with oysters Rockefeller and probably a style that reflected the rococo-kitsh techniques of back. People had raw oysters before that, people must have had seared scallops before that. My dad seared them all the time, I would say he even seared them more than any restaurants, who put enough oil at the bottom of the pan that unilateral seared is more like unilateral fried. He used an old heavy duty cast iron pan. I am sure old coastal fishermen had it all the time, then on to the cities as migration occured, my mom had family in Gaspe, it was normal to sear scallops.
  9. Seared scallops must have been around for ages, my dad used to make them, they were just like seared foie steak, any old french resto would have done it... I am sure it was served at Citrus, les Halles, so on... but really, I can't imagine seared scallops being something new.
  10. First of all, I am not sure if you would appreciate that my money was on you to loose your business. Second of all, you are speaking like a tourist, who claims to embrace the city but seem to rely on Zagat entries (y'en a une criss de gang qui se foutent de Zagat, honnêtement)... Furthermore, on same numbers, you blabber on about the business going down... Again, not sure. If toursists came to Montreal so much for food, they'd be less crap restos around major hotels (and less peep shows for that matter). I'm sorry, but tourists walking est of St-Denis are a few, most because they have seen Bourdain going to APDC, that's about it. Now because I only have time to go out on week nights I can tell you that: Always packed, M on Masson, Laloux for lunch at full dinner price, Cafe Feirrera 24-7, Decca, Bistro Biainvile, Les Trois Petits Cochon, La Montee de Lait, le guarde manger. New in town, Stellio has opened les conserves, where you can take out a Mason jar and a private import in a bag... Bistro Beaver Hall from the fun folks of Europea, le bistro... Trinity (cashland), Madre, Fauvert, Le Diner, Le Vallier, La Porte is indeed pretty nice (was it in Zagat ?), Duel should be interesting, it is after all the kid from Yuzu, Le Valois, Daniel Vezina will be working at the Z in the Germain just like Gonzales works at Sainte James, Anise is now Bazar and it was almost full on a Tuesday, Wilson looks like it's gold plated... Of course the dollar might be an issue, quite frankly I rarely have the chance to have private dinner at Toqué, I can see why they would adapt to a more touristic cleintele and lower their pricing, why not, everybody wins. There is a lack of fine dinning posts in this site because most posts have this Gazoo feel to them, there is some flaw about having English only boards in a French speaking city. So be it.
  11. zagat raitings... enough said. There has been a nice list of openings.
  12. The same should be said of the moine echansson, un petit bui bui, a small almost coffe shop like room. Two guys, lots of wine by the glass, cheese, soup, cured meats, two mains. Wonderful find for Quebec. Une boite a vin.
  13. The Queue sucks, always did, probably always will. I am now at peace with my decision to refrain from throwing corporate money at it. For the rest, who cares.
  14. Someone who believe their cell phone is a human appendage... and feel that they should use it 24-7
  15. Speakin of. I get to see Laurent Godbout prepare his new Area take over with Yuzu chef, our kids play sports together. He's a cell phone maniac right now.
  16. Lesley, my understanding is that her and her staff were pretty tired of foffering a snow white velvet atmosphere where widpering was almost needed. I believed that they were getting tired of this sterilised perfection and wanted to have a more relxed laid back atmosphere. I think delicate was maybe what they were tired of and wanted some gusto now. I could understand that and certainly there could be more fun doing your job all week like that. I mean refined is great but refined 24-7 could make me tired for sure.
  17. Let me rephrase this for geo-social reasons: And what are the rules in Quebec about children eating at a bar? Answer: None, we do not care, we do not worry about this and please remember to put a bit of water in that kid's wine...
  18. After a class of spinning, I like to mix it with core salt and massage my freshly shaved legs with it !
  19. Where will it be ? this is good news !
  20. Ribo, this is interesting as I always have lunch and coffee at Kriegoff but certainly cannot put in the same league as anything close to CCP. I think I know the waiter you mention (same guy who worked temp at BU for a while)... Must be the night shift. They have a good solid staff there but the kitchen could use some direction. On the same block of street of Kriegof, I also suggest La Noce, they make the best seared bavette (barely cooked) there, very good. I went for lunch and it was scarily empty so I did not return but the food was very well prepared. jtphjl, oh ya, go to Paillard, they make a great kamut baguette. All the flour and oven, technicalities is directly imported from France. Le Champlain is a classical hotel type restaurant. I am sure they are some great nights there. It's touristy, in the castle, staff is dressed up like the old days, not my cup of tea. The head chef there is very restraint and focuses on product a lot. But it's also the kind of chef who may need to make sure that all 1000 people banquet upstairs are well fed (the man has a very tight control over banquet food, I will give him that)... it's a big place and even a small resto in a big hotel is subject to some loss of focus. For example, I do not sleep at the Chateau, there's just to much draperies everywhere, it's too old world and anonymous for me. I went to Marie Clarisse about 2 months ago, I did not like it. It was overdone, the oysters were crappy and the veggies fell short, the actual fish was OK but it was lotte, very hard to screw up, and not the nicest lotte in town. I have herd good things about poisson d'avril but never been. If you are from New York, Marie Clarisse will not blow you away at all. Service is crap also. Temporel will be good for croissant. Paillard is more of a production house, it`s quite big. I know that there is a good chocolatier in St-Rock quarters but I do not know where or the name. Maybe I will find out next week.
  21. Laurie Raphael, Toast and Initiale are in the same area. Peronnally, I would go to Initiale... but then again, I would not stay at the Chateau so... Initiale is somewhat more traditionnal than Laurie but Laurie Raphale will have crazier mixes and flavors, not for everyone. Tast is more intimate and less grande. They all have their own style. These three are all in the petit Champlain area, that is basically down the steep hill below the Chateau. You can walk, take the funiculaire or cab it down and back up. Funiculaire is a good mid way solution (it's a cable elevator, outside, like in europe). I would also highly recommend Utopie but it is in the newly revamped St-Rock quarters, you will need to cab to go there. It's not a historic district and on a weekday, Utopie can be a bit boring as with any of the above. Because you will be spending more than one night there, I highly suggest Cafe de Clocher Penché, it is not a fancy resto, a bistro but everything is prepared spotless, from the organic salad down to the valrohna chocolate molten. They have private wine imports and the staff has been working there for a long time, the best service in town. They also offer great brunch and lunch (I also highly recommend Toast for lunch). This resto is close to the Utopie resto. It`s always lively there and a local fav. Ang again, as in another post, you can walk to St-Jean street from the Chateau to go have a croissant and cafe and any hundreds of pastries, macaron and whatnot at Paillard boulangerie.
  22. wow, my friend has been bugging me for weeks to go have a bite at le chou. Very sad indeed.
  23. It could be, personnally, I do not go there. However, I have seen some evening during the holiday where the tasting menu was rather affordable, I think it could be a lot worst, especially around the Chateau. Probably similar to St-Amour, I find that place uninspired with sky high prices.
  24. Tom, I spend 50% of my time between Montreal and QC. It is quite different. Quebec City is small, a full week there might be overkill. The character of the old city is beyond anything else in NA. It is much more French than Montreal but less cosmopolitain (painfully lacking in the department). The choice of Auberge St-Antoine is excellent, best hotel in the city. Also, Hotel 71, it is very quiet and comfy, much less amenities than st Antoine that is a relaix and chateau and just a beautifull place to the eyes. The panache restaurant on the premise is excellent. There is also Dominion Hotel all three hotels are footsteps away. If you want a condo room, you can also rent a suite at hotel A Priori (that has Toast! restaurant in the lobby). The problem with food in Quebec city is that...well... -confis de canar, tartare de saumon, jarret d'agneau, foie gras, cassoulet, etc... A lot of the menus are similar but only a very few will handle such classics properly. My list: All around great neighborhood bistro and great wine pairing and staff (great brunch, great lunch): Cafe du Clocher Penché Classic bistro: Echaudé Best ecclectic, great wine list: Utopie, Toast also but beware of to much mixes of flavors and butter, great place for lunch... I would put Laurie Raphael in that group also. Upscale French: Panache, Initiale Old World French: Champlain in the chateau Frontenac I also suggest getting some pastries and bread at Pouillard on St-Jean street. Quebec City is way more relaxing and way more romantic... perfect for a two nighter. Montreal has it's advantages, it`s bigger, more ecclectic, more of a people city than historic city, trendier (if I can use the word in a good way). You will have 100x more choices of restaurants and hotels in Montreal, no question about it.
  25. You will be able to get his porcelet risotto, foie gras copeau and apple chips recipee in La Presse of 2 weeks ago. He also has his Kouing Aman.
×
×
  • Create New...