champignon

I was there on Thursday and to clarify, in case any are confused by the previous hieroglyphic posts, this is an excellent food and drink destination at a genuinely sympatique cafe. The food is tapas-like. I ate fantastic grilled cheese sandwich (grilled bread, gruyere cheese, caramalized onions, with homeade ketchup on the side -- fantastic), and my friend had a plateau of sliced gianbonetto (cured pork) served with hummous, roasted tomato, olives, and delicious caponata. This was all splendid with a glass of DeLoach Zinfandel, reasonably priced. I didn't partake of the oysters, but I saw some other excellent food options, including an all vegatable plate with hunk of goat cheese, and pate with cornichons. All of this in a non-smoking atmosphere, great music and vibe. Why do I feel like this is going to be very very popular?

I'm a cook living in a Canadian city, and I've been interested in the growing trend towards gourmet foods provided to the busy yet descriminating foodie. I've seen the web site for the grocer on Elgin, and I wonder if anyone has tried their products and could comment on the quality, price and convenience of this service. It seems London is on the edge of food trends these days, and I want to start a similar service here in Canada. Any comments/ideas? Thanks, Champignon

I don't mean to pry into what seems like a private discussion, but where are these places? You're making me very hungry. I know where V.I.P. is so I guess I can find the place across the street, but this Ruby Rouge "Red" sounds very enticing. How about Tong Por, and Bejiing, and Mr. Ma's in PVM; it all sounds like some personals want ad. Well this MWM is looking for a good time with some quality Chinese food. Explicit directions would be very appreciated!

Cappuccino. Anyway, I've recently been going to Benelo on Crescent and I've been very pleased. Ask for a cappuccino in an Illy cup or you'll get a gigantic tall glass, perhaps to your taste but not mine. Included is a delicious milk chocalate square, and a very toasty warm space to huddle in. Cafe Italia is all about ambience, not coffee, which I find to be just acceptable. Far better is the coffee at Olive et Gourmando, especially if you avoid peak lunch period. Order a brownie alongside and put yourself into orbit. Also the cafe latte at Reservoir is super, especially when it comes with brunch.

I would like to recommend L'Oeuf Neuf on the corner of Gilford and Papineau, a wonderful patisserie run by a charming man from Belgium. It used to be on Ontario at Amherst, and reopened when he became bored of retirement. Very nice pastries using fresh real ingredients. Try the eclairs and mille-fuilles; nothing fancy, just the real thing, for a very reasonable price.

The never ending quest for breakfast has resulted in almost no winners in my experience. Many places that I felt were dependable end up slipping in quality. How difficult is it to make delicious fried potatoes anyway? Potatoes, lots of butter, lots of onions, and lots of salt. How hard is that? Why do I receive undercooked potatoes covered in paprika? This morning I had potatoes with mold. Along with cold eggs. I used to get good breakfast at Dusty's when the waitresses remembered a table of fours' orders, however different, told the cooks verbally and remembered who ordered what, and all of this on a packed Sunday. I recently returned and I won't be back. Place Milton has slipped. Chez Cora? At those prices you still have to pay extra for coffee!! My only constant is Restaurant Tous les Jours on Mont Royal at Papineau, where in a smoke-hazed old-school diner with a copy of le Journal de Montreal on every table you get hot eggs, deep-fried potato discs, meat, and drip-coffee galore for $3.95. The only problem is that I need to drink myself silly the night before so that I feel dirty enough in the morning to need a real dose of grease.

Patrice's desserts are certainly creative, but in a classic, and refined way. If you want delicious dessert, perfectly excecuted with subtle and refined flavours and beautiful presentation then Les Chevres is your best bet. For outlandish and boggling I think you'll have to head south.

A cook friend of mine who did work in Italy at La Chiusa in Tuscany, brought my attention to a CBC radio show about slow food, which apparently has a conversation between Ms. Rovera and Alice Waters. I've ordered the transcripts of that documentary.

Thank you for the very useful information. Piedmont is very high on my list of Italian destinations. I will definately contact these two restaurants, and if I have some success, I'll be very grateful for your advice. Bill, I might even drop by and cook supper!! Alice Waters of Italy...that put a great big smile on my face!!!

To be honest my experience is not vast, but I love all regional Italian food I've encountered. I suppose your comments are good ones for an idealist like myself. As far as visas are concerned, my plan would be to go for a fairly short period of time, perhaps 4-6 months. I am enrolled in an Italian language course beginning in September, and I'm just about to start working in an Italian kitchen, ie. with actual Italians, serving Italian influenced food. Your suggestion to just go to Italy and see what I can find is perhaps a bit too risky for me. I was hoping to find some people who had experienced working in Italy, who might actually know of some restaurants who have welcomed foreigners in the past.

Firstly, this is a masculine mushroom (thing King Eringii, not portabello)! As far as doing stages, that would be acceptable, though I prefer working for money. I'm looking for a family restaurant, perhaps in a small city or town, and working for room and board would be acceptable. The main thing is being in Italy, and cooking! Thanks, Champignon

I am champignon in Montreal. I wonder if anyone has worked in Italy and what that experience was like. I would like to go live and work in Italy next summer, somewhere where I will learn how to cook like an Italian momma. By next summer I will have two years of professional cooking experience, so not a lot, but I've got an inquiring mind and a hunger (and thirst) for all things Italian. thanks, champignon

Last night I dined at Au Pied de Cochon, after hearing numerous rave reviews. It was my second experience since they opened and was, for the most part, a positive one. The service was much improved from my first visit; we felt very well taken care of, though I suppose our location directly beside the server's station might have lent itself to that. The service was't very polished, or smooth, but it was sincere, and I didn't experience the snobby waiter attitude that has kept me away from PDC for so long. Situations, like being dripped upon by the air conditioner, were handled with humour. The wine list was quite enticing, though expensive. The usual 100% mark-up seemed to apply accross the board, so no deals; however I enjoyed a glass of okay white, and very good red with my meal. Foodwise our experience was good, not miraculous. The oysters were fantastic, as were the shrimp from Sept -Iles. The salad of greens, apples, blue cheese was very generous and tasty. The level of the meal dipped from there with cerf onglet, magret de canard, mussel soup and poutine. The duck was competantly prepared, the sauce flavourful, the mushrooms plentiful, but the flavours were a bit two dimensional; it just wasn't lip smacking good to the last bite. Sigh. The poutine was in fine form, though in retrospect I wish I'd ordered the fish. Or more oysters. Unfortunately, the mussel soup was brackish, and saltier than than sea-water. Was this prepared with the water from the mighty St.Laurence river?? I mean, I know I have high food expectations, but my date, who isn't even close to a food snob, couldn't eat it. They were very gracious about it however, and removed it from our bill. Overall it was enjoyable, and I will go back. The atmosphere is relaxed and comforting - no problem putting your elbows on the table. I would be interested to compare the level of cooking I experienced to that on a night when the chef is in the house.

I have high standards for coffee and there are very few places in Montreal where I'll risk a cappucino, and Second cup, starbucks or any other big franchise is simply not an option, although I've occasionally had a decent allonge in Al van Houtes. I've yet to see even a suggestion of crema on an espresso at a big-chain cafe, and they have no *!%(% clue how to steam milk to the proper temperature and texture. Indigo on SteCatherines comes close occasionally. Carswell, the roaster in question is Cafe Rico on Rachel at Lafontaine. I especially recommend the Kawa blend; its nutty, and rich, and a nice change from Illy. They have nice iced coffee, not cold enough but creamy and delicious. And they are fair trade or equitable as they say, and in these times, with coffee prices unnaturally low, and the farmers living in desperate poverty I think we all should try to do our little part against large multinationals (could I sound any more holier than thou??). Some equitable coffees are really not so good, but I can recomment Cafe Rico with great pleasure (and at half the price of Illy). You can find excellent cappuccinos and lattes at Olive et Gourmando, excellent lattes at Reservoir, decent cappuccino at Cafe Figaro, and of course Cafe Italia. I find the coffees at Olympico are strong enough to send me into orbit around Jupiter, which is useful if you want to fit in with the regulars there. Snob.

Since we are on the subject of fish, I'd like to recommend an excellent restaurant experience I had at DelFino on LaJoie which is west of Parc and one block south of VanHorne. This is a little neighborhood place where the husband is the chef and the wife is the maitre'd, so the concern for your pleasure is genuine and thoughtful. The fish is the freshest I've ever eaten at a restaurant except for Al Covo in Venice. The main courses are $25 plus or minus, but are very generous portions of fish. Fish is the only thing on the menu, and when I dined it included snapper, pompano and about 3 other choices, all prepared to order, from intact fresh fish to fillet, to supper. The other amazing element to this restaurant are the wine prices. All of you Globe- trotters and Rosalie -goers would drool at the mimimal mark- ups on Chianti Classicos and Brunellos, and other Italian gems. I almost regret posting this; I wouldn't want this place to get too popular. I drank a bottle of Alois Lagerer Pinot Nero Krakuss (I think that's the spelling) with supper for $65 and later found it at SAQ Signatures selling for $50. The other offerings are similarly marked up; ;this is a restaurant that encourages rather that discourages drinking better wine. There is very little in the way of white wine which is disturbing for a fish restaurant, (perhaps storage issues??) and the list is heavily Italian, but the pleasure in seeing these prices makes up for its narrowness of scope. The atmoshere is very cozy, and romantic; really like being in an antique boat, all of the walls wood panelled and mirrored. Okay the food isn't flashy. You won't find exotic micro-greens and towering verticality. You will find fresh fish, and honest preparations, for a fair price, and the best wine prices in Montreal.

Ahh, Limelight, that really takes me back down memory lane. Recently I've been pleasantly treated at Figaro, on the corner of Hutchison and Fairmount. I'm not sure if they make or buy the desserts but they were tasty and inexpensive. The coffee has been good and the service very gracious, plus the decor is really very original and romantique. The brownies and cookies at Olive and Gourmando are killer, and their coffee is probably the best I've had in Montreal, plus the ambiance is very special. What I'd like to know is where to find the best gelato in Montreal in the evening, other than the obvious Bilboquet on Bernard. MooMoo on St.Denis is expensive. I want the real gelato.

I guess when I posted I hadn't adequately read the info on Beckta, and now that I've seen their site, and read some reviews I'm excited. I suppose I sounded like one more chauvinistic Montrealer, but in actual fact I'm just one more jaded restaurant junkie looking for a supper with soul. Beckta sounds like the restaurant I wanted to open in Ottawa, and I'll take the next possible opportunity to dine there. I'm looking forward to hearing people's reviews.

Don't mean to offend any Ottawans, but I find the nations capitol to be a wasteland when it comes to eating out. I really hope something happens, but I'm prepared to rescue the city myself, just as soon as I become an accomplished chef! I've eaten at Domus, which was quite good if only the service weren't so hopelessly erratic, and Juniper, which was reasonably good. Actually I had an excellent New Year's supper at Juniper with some excellent wine pairings, so I suppose I would recommend it. When I'm in Ottawa I dine at only one place - Mi Fung, on Booth just south of Somerset. This Veitnamize restaurant is no secret in Ottawa, and it easily trounces any I've encountered in any other city. I almost always have the same thing, #136 beef, spicey beef satay soup. This is apparantly an import from Chinese immigrants in Vietnam, and is spicey, fragrant, rich, and sometimes almost stew like. Just talking about it is making my mouth water, and if I wasn't living in Montreal I'd go there right now. Go there right now (closed on Tuesdays) and have the spicey beef satay soup. Now. Follow with an iced coffee.

Salt is such a personal thing, but it has hampered, even ruined my enjoyment of many restaurant meals. My experiences at Au Petit Plateau, and lately at Les Infideles were affected by oversalting. Yet that is my opinion; one persons pleasantly tangy repas is another persons salt-lick. For instance, many smokers can find food bland, and even my dear old Dad pours the salt on his food, and frequently finds my cooking bland. I want to taste the ingredients of the dish, and having a beautiful piece of meat, or fish, or anything, in a pool of too salty sauce is tragic. Some restaurants have no problem providing this. I had a wonderful meal at Toque once, some wonderful fish at Delfino, and about two weeks ago, a suberb meal at Les Chevres. In each case the flavours were full and complex, without any over-saltiness. I've been looking forward to going to Brunoise; I sincerely hope they investigate their salt levels, particularly with such compelling sounding food, and interesting wines to match.

Place Milton has a very nice terrace, vine covered, beautiful view of the alley, and one of the best cheap breakfasts in town. Service is excellent if you have the good fortune to be served by Solange, who can not only single handedly serve the entire restaurant full of whiney Mcgill students, but can also undo a really stuck zipper on last night's party-dress. I look forward to the terrace of Resevoir. Did I mention what a fantastic brunch is being served there? Fantastic!! And very fine beers to boot.

I personally found Pizzeria Napolitana a great big disappointment, after much build up. It was salty-salt and the funky bunch. The service was substandard, and it was expensive for a micron thin crust and some scattered ingredients. Obviously I ordered the wrong one. Amelios on the other hand (corner of Milton and Ste.Famille) is stick to your ribs pizza. Lots o sauce, Lots o cheese, plus a free salad and bring your own wine. Eleven bucks feeds two hungry adults and the service is fast. Okay, they just want you to get the **** out so the line keeps moving.

I've now eaten two Reservoir brunches, and I don't know if its the Ambree du Ble talkin, but I think I'm in love. Not only is it not too smokey at 11:30 (as opposed to the blue haze at night), but the food is really delicious. Excellent cafe latte in a glass, great freshly squeezed, fantastic omelettes, with beautiful little grelots, and a tasty, tasty onglet. And for some reason I just love having beer with my breakfast -- makes me feel naughty.