docsconz

Tanzanie Chocolate from Cacao Barry. It has nice rich, complex, smoky flavor. I like it slightly better than the Cuba from the same company. The Tanzanie is 75% compared to 70% for the Cuba.

It has been discussed at length the effect Robert Parker has had on wine prices and wine buyers, and the Wine Spectator's practices and influence have been discussed in another recent thread. There are a lot of people offering wine advice via publication, online or through sales. I have personally developed an eclectic approach to buying and collecting wines. Ideally, I would like to have tried them first - store tastings or wine dinners are good sources for commercially available wines. Unfortunately, however, some of the more interesting and often more expensive wines are not available that way. For wines that I generally enjoy and collect, I will usually purchase at least a few bottles either from a mailing list offering or from a reliable retailer. For wines that I am not particularly familiar with, I will occassionally take a flier and purchase some on the recommendation of a source I have come to find reliably shares my taste (yes, at times it does include RP - though not for all wines). This particular forum with the new approach to Tasting Notes should become an interesting source for recommendations, but that will probably take time to synchronize palates to know which recommendations match tastes. Anyhow, how do you purchase wine?

It's fine with me if others continue to boycott French wines . If only Italy and Spain had joined the French Seriously it does seem easier and less expensive to buy fine French wines right now. While I do think Chirac and France were self-serving in their stance on Iraq, I also think a boycott on French products, especially wine and cheese is silly. We should, however, continue to boycott French weapons, biologic and chemical lab supplies and nuclear technology .

Talk about a restaurant doing a dinner as a bad investment... Phil Mihalski of Nell's in Seattle was scheduled and fully prepared to do his dinner there on the evening of September 11, 2001. He wound up donating it to the relief effort.

I would concur with the Bussola

Craig, Thanks for the reply. I'm in upstate NY, north of Albany. I'm in the process of planning a trip primarily to Campania in early November with my 12y/o son. i'm primarily interested in culinary treats, geneologic connections and sightseeing. we are planning on finishing the trip in Venice, but this sounds like it may be worth a little detour. I would be very interested in any suggestions you may have re: gastrotourism a al Slow Food in those areas - perhaps you could PM me if you feel it is more appropriate. I had a fabulous trip to Sicily with Peggy Markel's Culinary Adventures last November. I brought my other older son (then 12) on that trip with great results. I find that Italy is a very kid friendly place - both the people and the food. By the way, the article was again excellent as usual. Do you have any connection info regarding the people in the article?

does anyone know if these wines are being imported into the States and ifso, by whom? The wine and the place sound exciting and maybe worth adetour to get there. The couple looks fairly young. Anyone know anything else of particular interest in the area.? It is probably one of the areas of Italy I am least familiar with.

But man is it good!

I'll put my two cents in. I have a far better wine collection than most, but not all of my friends. If guests bring a wine that in my opinion will work with what I've planned, I will tend to serve it either in place of or alongside my planned wine. If not, I will simply set it aside for another time. When I'm invited over to a friend's house, depending on their level of interest and means I will either offer to bring a wine for dinner, as a gift or else bring something entirely different. Unless I'm bringing something particularly unique and special, I tend not to impose my selections for dinner or as a gift on my particularly wine-blessed friends.

We currently have: navel oranges canteloupe mango bananas grapes kiwis strawberries.. None of this is local

i don't ever find a situation where "cheap wine" is a reasonable alternative to something good or at the very least decent. as they say, life's too short to drink cheap wine. Tommy, "Cheap" wine isn't necessarily bad wine and "expensive" wine isn't necessarily good wine. It is just that "Life is too short to drink 'bad' wine" .

The cheese table was truly beautiful to behold, but it was not part of our tasting menu and by that time we were already so full that to even think about adding another course was in fact unthinkable. We did have tomatoes as our first course after the amuse. They were exquisite as described in the report. I don't get back to Montreal nearly as often as I would like. I am originally from Brooklyn. Right now my two favorite cities to visit in the eastern half of N.A. are New York and Montreal (I consider Chicago in the western half). Toronto, Philadelphia and Boston are runners-up.

David McMillan can flat out cook! He is also a very personable guy and runs at least one fine restaurant (I have never been to Globe). My wife and I had the pleasure of having David select our meal and cook lunch for us this past Wednesday on a brief food trip to Montreal. David’s cooking is not subtle. Instead it is packed with flavor and texture providing a gustatory orgy of commingling sensations. This was my second visit to Rosalie, both times for lunch with the meal selected for us by David. The first time was just over a month ago and was discussed in a previous post. The only relative negative for me then was the décor, which from my vantage point at one of the banquettes in the back was reminiscent of a 1960’2 cafeteria, albeit with nice chairs. This time we had a table in the back, against the wall. The difference was remarkable. While I’m still not crazy about the tables, the sensation we were left with was that of a hip space with great sight lines (and yes there are plenty of nice sights). David started us with half a crottin de chavignol, asparagus, pine nuts, thick carrot soup (as a sauce), white ham and pork loin dry-cured by his father. This was served with Manetou-Salon, Chatenoy 2001 from the Loire Valley. The pairing worked nicely and was an auspicious start to the meal. Next was a petit sale (belly back rib) with apple juice and honey, lentil salad and foie gras that while of French culinary extraction, nevertheless was reminiscent of the orient. This was paired with Chateau Tour Haut Caussan 2000. Once again the pairing worked beautifully. The wine continued with the next course, Kamouraska lamb (salt-marsh lamb from northeastern Quebec) roast with poached cabbage heart, salsify and king herring mushrooms. The intensity of flavors and textures in this dish were astounding. The lamb cooked on the rare side, was a perfect counterpoint to the tangy cabbage and the sultry mushrooms. My mouth is wet just thinking about this dish. Just when I thought I was spent, along came an incredible dessert to revitalize us. It was layers of perfectly caramelized apple with pine nuts and caramel ice cream served with Chateau Gravas sauternes from 1998. The sauterne was good, but totally overshadowed by the pie. An ice-cider might have made a more interesting pairing, although I am nit-picking here. David describes his cooking as classical French cuisine. I know a lot of the more common dishes of classical French cooking, but these come from a canon I am not particularly familiar with and their freshness is therefore particularly stunning to me. If this cooking is any indication, however, I will be more than happy to become very well acquainted with it indeed.

I’m sorry it has taken me so long to get this on here. Novelty for its own sake doesn’t last. For that to happen there must be substance behind it. Les Chevres in Montreal is a restaurant that combines novelty with substance. The novelty is the reliance on vegetables and fruit for the preponderance and direction of its cuisine. The substance is the taste and the satisfaction produced. My wife and I enjoyed a special 13 course tasting menu with wine pairings this past Wednesday evening. The pleasure started upon our entrance, where we were greeted by the wonderfully charming restauranteur and food visionary Claude Beausoleil amidst a setting resembling a tropical paradise. The décor uses texture and color to set a mood of relaxed elegance that captures the spirit immediately upon entering. It is certainly not the fanciest restaurant design I’ve ever seen, but it is one of the most successful at capturing the spirit of the food served there. We were started with an amuse of red pepper juice with a crouton that was simply and delightfully refreshing. The next course , fiddlehead fern and young radish salad with citrus reduction and tarragon oil provided nice contrasts of flavor and texture that were nicely balanced by a Vouvray Mousseux Brut “Le Hautlieu” by Huet. Yves Larose,, the sommelier, proved to be quite dexterous throughout the meal in finding superb matches with a cuisine notoriously difficult to match with wine. The following two courses were matched with Sauvignon de Touraine, Clos Roche Blanc, Roussel et Barouillet 2001. This was a mineral laden Loire valley wine that was reminiscent more of a premier cru Chablis. It worked quite nicely with both courses, the first of which was summery tangela and black plum tomatos with three textures. It is not uncommon to me for good food to be extremely representative of a place and to transport my spirit to that place. It is much more uncommon, however, for food to transport me in time. The tomatoes brought me to late August. These were no insipid, vacuous minter-spring tomatoes. No these harbored the essence of late summer. Simple, but outstanding. A sunchoke and vanilla soup with roasted cippolini onions and pecans followed with a marvelous balance of flavors. The vanilla was just enough to give depth and balance to the sunchoke with a tangy counterpoint from the onion and a crunch from the pecan. An amazingly generous piece of duck foie gras was presented next with parsnip puree and chocolate crumble. This was paired with a Banyuls Reserve from Domaine de la Tour Vielle. The banyuls picked up the chocolate notes without a hitch and smoothed the way nicely for the fabulous foie gras. It was at this point that my wife and I both began to feel somewhat full. Hah! The artichoke, potato and olive crumble served along with Coteaux de Languedoc Pic St. Loup, Chateau La Roque 2000, Jack Boutin kept us going while flying us to the Mediterranean in our mouths. A lesser cuisine would certainly have done us in by now, however, the next course proved to be the course of the dinner. It was asparagus crepes (made with asparagus juice instead of milk) with wild mushrooms, salsify and truffle ragout. This course captured the essence of both the asparagus and the mushrooms in a way I’ve rarely encountered before for either, let alone both. We had continued with the Pic St. Loup for this course a well as the next. By this time, we were getting so full that only a miracle would get us to enjoy another bite.The miracle did not come with the next course. While the swiss chard raviolis, fava beans, carrots and crosnes in curry sauce was good, it was not sufficiently good to get us to call forth the fit of superhuman gluttony that it would have taken to finish it. The miracle did come, however, when we began Patrice Demers desserts. They were all simply amazing – sweet and balanced without being cloying or harsh. We were started with avocado, lime and coconut milk foam served within an egg shell along with pineapple sorbet and carrot salad. The desserts were accompanied by Muscat de Rivesaltes 2000 from Domaine Cazes with light bubbles. Mango sorbet with cardamom flavored yogourt was served alongside a pistachio financier, that was perhaps the least memorable of the dessert courses. The financier was slightly dry and lacked a truly compelling flavor. It was the one dessert I could have done without. This was more than made up for by the next dessert, however. This was the jivara chocolate cream with caramelized banana and truffle flavored milk broth.Wow. At this point, I ws way over the top and too full to really notice or appreciate the mignardises. I cannot say enough about the friendly and consummately professional service of both the waitstaff and the sommelier. The level of consideration and attentiveness was simply perfect. Congratulations to Claude, Stelio, Patrice,Yves and the rest of the staff on an incredible team effort. Run, do not walk to your telephone to make a reservation!

I just picked up this issue over the weekend to find this article on my favorite local pork producer. Pretty cool. I have posted on them here and here. I just hope they can make it without too many compromises. Photos posted here.

I just purchased a case of futures of first growths Haut-Brion, Lafite and Mouton) for $100/bottle. I haven't seen them for so little since the early 90's. The reports I've heard are that while not 2000, it is still a very good year and generally better than 2001.

I just had some of the best bacon (if not the best) this past Sunday from Flying Pigs Farm in Shushan, N.Y. All their pork is from heritage breeds.

I must admit that I can't recall the last interesting under $20 California chard that I've had. Since I have not tried them all, Tommy, I must admit that some may yet exist .

You owe it to yourself to go to southern Italy, find a nice sheep farm and have some freshsheeps-milk ricotta - it is no wannabe.

For breakfast this morning I had bacon, eggs and a bagel. The egg was a fresh goose egg fried, the bacon was smoked heritage breed pork from Flying Pigs Farm in Shushan, NY and the bagel was sesame seed from St. Viateur in Montreal. Yum.

Gorgonzola Mozzarella di Bufala Aged Parmaggiano/Reggiano If I could only have three.

I have to concur with the opinions expressed re: the value of top-end food in Canada for an American. The most amazing meals I've ever had for the money and perhaps regardless of the money have been at Susur in Toronto and Toque in Montreal. Mexico is probably a close second, although I don't have as much personal experience with fine dining there. As Steve said the cost of getting places puts a crimp on value and makes Asia and Europe less value-oriented destinations for those of us from North America. For the Asians and Europeans it may be a different story .

Tommy, Forgive me if I misread the character and intent of your posts, but if I did, I'm not sure it was entirely my fault. I just went back through all your posts, and while you do say that not all chardonnays are the same, you do not say that about California chardonnays in particular. You do continually state throughout your posts how much you dislike California chardonnays and in the above quote you state "they are still all the 'same'". In fairness, you also mention stylistic "experiments" at least acknowleding that some are at least trying to achieve different styles. I'm not trying to convince you or anyone else to like any particular or even any chardonnay. I just have a hard time with over-broad generalizations. Once again, I apologize if i misinterpreted the tenor of your posts.

Many chardonnay wines made in the new world (indeed many whites the world over) do not undergo malolactic fermentation in order to preserve acidity. Craig, That is the main element of the point I'm trying to make - they cannot all be lumped together the way some posters are trying to do. The new world wine regions seem to be the weakest at producing really interesting mid-range wines. Burgundy has Macon but what does California or Australia have but industrial wine in this price range? It seems everyone wants to be Kendall Jackson or P. Michael without much in between. Craig, I do not disagree with you on this point.

Many chardonnay wines made in the new world (indeed many whites the world over) do not undergo malolactic fermentation in order to preserve acidity. Craig, That is the main element of the point I'm trying to make - they cannot all be lumped together the way some posters are trying to do.