identifiler

Choco: About the Kitchen Aid mixer. You will notice that this specific product is almost always price restricted by the manufacturer. Just like Sony products, they are forced to keep all pricing the same. You may see some potential The Baie pricing on the lower end models but when you investigate the motor power, bowl quart size and stand or flex lift mechanism, you will realise that it gets really confusing. Bottom line is, if you have more than one other person to feed or if you like to make bread or huge batches of cookies, don't even bother with the smaller motors, they will burn fast in this scenario. If you can, go for the big daddy. That being said, do check out Kitchen aid web site, they very often sell reconditionned units with proper warranties, they simply have the motors re-spin and new brushes.

Look I have nothing against Angelo, he entertains me (and my friend) but can you please tell him that his top 40 hip hop is tasteless (to me)... Nothing more, it just clashes with the total package. Without the Angelo's of this world, some of our (and probably yours) evenings could be boring (that and the viagra armed 50somethings paired up with their daughter's friend).

Bronte is on review in Voir I find Tastet makes really good reviews, he really gives a nice general picture, it's well balanced and when shit hits the fan, he doesn't give in (ex: Mere Michele review). I have no problems with the scene itself. I don't care much around me but if the price is high, if the ass crack is low, the class is mediocre and the service is bad, they better be able to stick a nice plate in front my face. If the food is good I don't say a word. I got my money's worth. If everything else is great, it makes it even better. Don't forget, I'm the guy dishing out the dineiro's, not cell phone Jonny with his martini, free olives and rent-a-car-for-the-night.

Carswell, A Belanger are the folks who I mentionned (across from 2 freres) they are my main butcher, I used to go to 2 freres for the ham but now A Belanger has Natural Ham that is quite nice. Half of their offering is from free run, certifed organic animals. Do you know if it was the case for your duck ? I'm not suprised one bit of your description, but this butcher works hard at the produce itself instead of the preparation, so the taste should be there. Their chicken is always very good and the difference of stock on an organic carcasse and a regular one is quite impressive. Another point is that we have a major duck producer in Quebec in Brome, Brome duck has invaded counters around the contry and have certainly gained the ranks of industrial producer of good quality meat (The Brome appelation was overstated in many retaurants of Canada and eastern US, maybe a tad too much in my opinion). Anybody who lives in Brome knows that it's not a mom and pop shop anymore and sometimes huge batches of ducks are shipped far away in true muslim certifed butcher techniques (as an example of large market). I'm fairly certain that Belanger has a smaller private producer for them, might even be their own farm... who knows.

God knows, come to think of it, it's an easy way to turn the fat trap in a usable product. Maybe they made soap from the extra lard...

But thanks for that Muscovado lead ! Well appreciated hahahaha

Ace, James is that you ? You got the wrong lad dude, you're replying to a punk looking father of three kids who makes a habit of crashing nice restaurants with kids... The trend-setting anti babies have never won a single battle against the prada wearing bitch that I can be.

I don't know why you folks are so uptight about the review. I've read it, it's not a big deal. Don't forget Molle writes for Le Devoir, his readers are different from other papers. I think he expressed himslef pretty clearly that he is always dubious of restaurant with a serious face lift like cavalli. This might be a cultural thing. I have noticed a serious divide between what the french community and the english community see in a good restaurant. And clearly, there was some stuff that was off that night, so be it. I disagree with Mollee on his orange fenoil story or the fact that his Italian friend is a Gnocci expert (that's such a cliche) On the other hand, what is this thing about sacro saints chefs that should receive rock and roll star status. I'm no groupie... Nobody deserves a perfect Carte Blanche in this world reguardless if they are the prime minister or a janitor... Give it a rest, every one has a job to do. The jongleux thing... I'm not sure exactly what that means. Are you saying that Jongleux was depressed from restaurant reviews ? The problem I see with Molle is that he is a traditionnal/practicing and he introduced his thoughts quite well when talking about Bocuse new trick pony... he obviously has a grippe about restaurant that have a high price tag with only the plate to contend for. That's the problem with larger places, they rely strictly on the plate but charge you for the full experience. I'm not critical of Cavalli because I know I could eat very well there. But I do want to bring a case in point, the super resto genre has seen a lot of growth in Montreal and I have noticed quite a degradation in services in those installations. For example, I love Rosalie, I go there all the time, my GF loves the food and the plates are always well made. However, almost every single time, I have had pretty bad service or atmosphere... I can live with that, but when you're paying for service and you ask questions and the waitress is "eeeehhhh maybe, let me check" and then gets back with a half ass answer with great tits, I figure... This isn't just about food. When I eat at the bar and I see Gino there, or whatever his name is (the coke dealer looking shareholder (sic) who keeps saying "fuck this fuck that and where is my fucking rap music and fuck I just stained my muscle shirt!", seriously...) You figure, it's not just about food... At the end of the evening, after a meal, you walk out and think, we had a great meal, the food was purfect and the service entertaining. Imagine if I get the exact same experience and there is sand in Dave's beautifull salads... I'm gonna be twice as pissed off as I should, because now I have to deal with the sand and the Gino and the price tag and the emphasis on cleavage. It's a double edge sword and I have noticed that these resto's have started to become quite complaisant about service in general, that as long as the butt and botox is on, then there should be no issues. That is very dangerous turn to take for a restaurant because the very last shelter that is left for you, is the decor and the plate, if the plate is messed up once, the frustration is all the worst. Quite honnestly, I love seeing beautifull women around me, but for some reason, it just doesn't do justice to the lack of service or the slease factor. I 'd rather get perfect service from an ugly old lady who knows her stuff (owners need to think about this). Stop doing buisness thinking that blind consumerism alone will keep things going. That's why the big threes are slowly going under after spitting out huge collections of SUV's just because "it sells". That's my two cents Everyone brought a lot of good points and Molle is sincerely an awfull reviewer- I agree with everything Culatello said but I think there is some reality in his review that needed to be stated. For the rest, comparing local chefs, what a dumb ass thing to write (that I think is where Molle is really out of order).

carswell, what other three spots have you tested. The lady at SOS has brought a lot of good products to Montreal over many years, but it seems that she is a bit overwelmed by variety now. They used to have a spot on St-Hubert street south of UQAM campus, made the best sandwich ever about 15 years ago. I've always been tempted by her soukraut but nothing beats making your own really... I'm sucha fan of that lacto fermented saurkraut that nothing else will do. SOS has also had the unfortunate experience of being cited in the food inspection section of the newspaper, nothing major... Quite curious to find out if you got one from the organic purveyor just across les 2 freres... not even sure if they duck confit. This is a great report. Have you checked out duck confit offered from Pied de Cochon or from Queue de cochon (laurier or St-Hubert) ?

Of course it's a marketing ploy ! We only bought it becuase my freind thought I should get some oxygen in my moronic brain cells. THC is not soluble in water, only in DMSO or Methanol. mouahahaha, we need to find something else to make our cool millions...

Don't get me started ! It's the weirdest thing... As a scientist, I know it doesn't make sense but it's just compressed I guess. Here is what I had: http://www.oxygizer.com/newsini.htm The bottle is compressed not carbonated, the water is actually flat, however it is interesting to serve, on opening it makes a fizz, on serving, the glass is full of bubbles and some remain after a minute or two. However, it is completely flat water, very odd and very funny.

Didn't really think about that... last night was 4 tables max at the same time, it was dead silence and no smoke. I also wanted to say that the music selection is very good. I am not super enthousiastic but I didn't see any serious flaws last night. There isn't a ton of details and some items could use more research but that'sabout it.

I have just got back from l"Os. I believe Leslie has been also since I have been told the photograph of the Gazette is stopping by for a couple of shoots. Everything I ate was very good. There's a bit of other restaurants at L'Os, the style is minimal but everything is of high quality down to the fleur de sel de guerande. Of our complete night, the only miss was the fondant au chocolat which was kept about 2 minutes too long in the oven, the center wasn't melting and the bottm was burnt but the tatse was still very acceptable. We had potage du jour, potage de legumes with a definite Courge Musque side (don't know what courge is in english...).We also had the salad of green which was a mix green in a vinaigrette, again, the mesclun was perfect, all ingredients were fresh. Most main course come with one starch so you want sides. We took the wild mushroom seletcion with a lamb jarret and filet mignon avec l'os. Both meats were very good, my jarret was slightly lackered ina sauce (I think it was lightly confit also), it came apart very nicely, the piece was lovely and came with cassoulet side, where does one get pretty cuts like this ?. The agneau with l'os was cooked perfectly and came with a reduction and some mashed garlic potatoes that lacked a bit of the truflle oil from the menu but nothing major. The same reduction was used for the wild mushroom. We had the oxygenated wather from the long water selection menu and I had the trio of creme brule (excellent) beside de fondant au chocolat. Again, I think esker water should be on that water list. All and all, very nice service. excellent food, nothing intricate but every single produce is tops. Came to 101 dollars before service and this is a bring your own wine restaurant. I have no clue where the place stands in this category since I don't usually go to BYOW restos but this seems reasonable to get away from the huge markup... Of that price, the fondant cake was removed and we did not have coffee.I know nothing about the chefs but they're in your face and they look like twins...

Sorry, we had to bail out, babysitter problems and the roads were nasty. However we did manage to get out to primi piatta in Saint Lambert, the pizz there is pretty decent but still, not mind blowing. L'Os apparently serves a filet mignon ina weird way, or witha bone on the side of the plate or something... I remember the reviewer talking about the plate being behind the name...

I am going to L'Os tonight, Francoise K had some very good words about them. On top of that, I got a lot of wine to consume after that 20% off boxing day sell. Will report back.

ya, and there is also the italian guy with the plasma screen just beside "Chi", Yoshi has been open for a while but I can never find the bloody place, apparently the take out is quite escellent, there is also mile end bar for brews and BU and SOY.

OK this is what I remember 9 courses: Intro amuse bouche, green apple spinach and maybe a dab of garlic. 1- Presented in an egg shell as in a shooter, Toffu, warm egg yolk, salted truffle caramel. This is a real power house, it sets the course for sure. 2- Beet juice marinated rabiole in a carpacio, micro fennel and truffles beet vinaigrette, miniature haricots. Nicely done, the micro fennel have that earthy flavor, this dish definitely requires every ingredient per bites to get to it's full potential. 3- Three fake celeriac ravioli with an inside of truffle puree, green celeri and pineapple mousse Excellent combination. Very ecclectic, all tatsebuds are demanded on this one. 4- asian truiffle tortolini with caramelised onion broth. 5- Tagliatel of salsify with Alba truffle butter The last two plates are excellent however, it was at this point that I would say that my only comment on the evening is that I might have expected the last two plates to get even stronger, was hoping for something sharp with maybe either asian/indian influences, but truffle is subtle I guess. 6- Truffle parmesan fondue 7- Pre dessert, roasted pinapple, sour cream coconut and apple grenadine in truffle oil. The desserts have as much devotion at Chevres than any other course, it's like seeing a great sequel to a movie, the fun starts over again. 8- Small olive oil and datte cup cake, marmelade of clementine and truffle and safran vanilla ice cream 9- Jivara chocolate creme with caramelised banana, pecan, mild truffle froth. I have had this before from the main menu, rich, woooof. Drank Arbois white 1989, the whole way, bio-dynamic organic wine, very mineral. Not an easy menu to pair with and could have easily gone with champane or bubbly the whole way but my guests weren't into it. 840$ whole in my pocket for 4. Service was impeccable, excellent. I could have rolled naked on that cheeze table but everyone was stuffed. My liver is in fifth gear this morning. One comment and I expressed that yesterday but got a poor excuse: It's a crime to be serving Fidji flat water when you can put the best terroir product on the table, Esker water, the best water on earth... brewed right here in Quebec. But I guess the nice square bottle holders only fit the fidji format (square). Esker should make a "designer" bottle to get more visibility. I believe there is a new sommelier now (where did the other one go ?). The sommelier yesterday was really nice and did a fine job, he was especially usefull when we told him that we were so wiped out that we didn't feel like making any choices, he made it easy for us by zoning in on something everyone agreed. Nitpicking: there a big gash of light coming out of the wall under patrice's laboratory window, the panels didn't glue together... a simple caulking joint fixes that.

I just got the menu. Looking good... very ecclectic.

Truffles ! (identifiler just fell off his chair !) I am blessed.

I'm going there this Thursday night, 24 hour before a once in a lifetime 5 weeks vacation. This is to basically start the holidays. Looks like the table has voted for the tasting mneu, however it is not the wild mushroom tasting menu anymore. Anyone know what we will get this month ? I'm guessing a root veggie theme ? My expctations are pretty high since we haven't been back since the opening month, hopefully the service will be better (that was a one off for sure) and the food just as good as it was. I'll try to report back if I ever open my laptop again...

too much information...

My friend went in beginning of November. The menu is pretty much the same, all the base is there. Smaller changes are made based on some special meats or fish available. I might be going on thursday and if I do I will report back.

There you go, wisky mentionned by one trend setter and one food specialist... say no more, run to SAQ before we move on to something else. I agree about the slow cooked meats. I also think that home made cured meats might become popular again, or did we have it before ? (thanks to the latest italian openings)

By the way, I was listening to Marie Helene Roy the other day, she was talking about an evening special with Denise Corneillier, she had a wiskey tinted dinner. Maybe wiskey soups are the next best things.

Foamy sauce are already gone... but I just had that the other day... I feel so backwards now. I've been seeing a lot of crumbles also. How can organic roots be overdone in November ? This might be one of the best root season in a long time, that rain has really given some lightness to many root veggies. My last crop was last week and it never looked better (Brussel sprout galor). How about those spoons appetizer that came and went so fast... It's a cycle, so we should start seeing some major piling up of food pretty soon.