carswell

Well, Darwin postulated the survival of the fittest, not the fattest...

Welcome to eGullet, Salomon, and thanks for the great description of the Table Tourigny experience. I love the wholly accurate line Mind if I steal it? Edit: Got Sal's name wrong. Sorry.

I don't know what she means by "pate," either. Is it an accentless pâté? Does Christophe use pâté de foie gras to make his crème brûlée au foie gras?! Agreed that "tasted too processed" is so vague as to be meaningless. She may be right about the wonton wrappers, though; the kitchen doesn't have space for a pasta machine.

Unibroue's self-styled old-fashioned La Bolduc is available only in stubbies. Maybe the beer will be distributed outside Quebec now that Sleeman's taken over Unibroue. Or maybe it'll be dropped from their line... Rightly or wrongly, I'm under the impression that one reason stubbies were popular with the breweries and retail outlets was their compactness, the fact that they take up less space. This was an issue in mid-1900s Quebec, where space was at a premium in dépanneur (convenience store) fridges and display racks and where the most common method of delivery was via bicycle (have head that Quebec is the only jurisdiction in North America where you can have cold beer delivered to your door).

Work will keep me from extended discussion of this for the rest of the day — unfortunately, because the questions raised are interesting ones — but I'll chime in now with the following. Poke around Yelena's website (hyperlinked at the end of all her reviews) and you'll find reviews of several Montreal restaurants as well as establishments in Boston, the Northeast U.S. and France. You'll also learn that she teaches cooking and that her husband is something of a wine geek. She is someone who knows a thing or two about food and wine. ABG, I agree that her basic complaint about Christophe and Anise is that they don't provide sufficient bang for the buck. But it's a big leap from saying Anise offers poor value to calling it a rip-off. The first is an opinion, the second verges on slander ("the utterance of false charges or misrepresentations which defame and damage another's reputation" –Webster's 11th). That's the crux of my problem with her posts. Lesley, I think her issue is not the price in comparison to U.S. restaurants but rather in comparison to other Montreal restaurants (Anise vs. Toqué!, Christophe vs. Le Poisson Rouge or Les Héritiers). Yes, we should all take everything we read with the proverbial grain of sodium chloride, especially when, as Lesley points out, there's a disconnect between the detail of the report (Anise: outstanding décor; good to excellent food; pricy wines; and, one assumes because she doesn't knock it, the usual polished service) and the bottom line (bitter disappointment; restrooms are the best thing about the place; it leaves you feeling ripped off). But, hey guys, not everybody does. Someone has already replied to Yelena's Chowhound posting of the Anise review by thanking her and saying that, despite hearing many good things about the restaurant, she's struck it from her list. Negative reviews resonate louder and longer than positive ones and they can do harm. That's why it's incumbent on negative reviewers to make sure they've got it right, especially when they're prone to hyperbole and generalizations and especially especially when they're going to publish the review widely (Yelena's are currently on two boards I'm aware of and presumably will be posted on her Montreal Restaurant Reviews site, which btw comes up pretty often in Google searches). The issue of reviewing on the basis of a single visit is a thorny one, since even the best places sometimes have off nights. (The converse — even some bad places have on nights — is probably true too, eh?) It's one of the reasons I don't post many reviews but limit myself to comments and reccos. Yelena's reports wouldn't have provoked such a strong reaction if she had got her facts straight, been a bit more circumspect and published them as, say, a single "how I spent my Montreal vacation" type post. But they're presented as reviews and pretty damning ones at that. As to scaring Yelena away, I hope not. I bit my tongue for two days before posting for fear of lashing out. But she's made some misleading statements, very harsh criticisms and sweeping claims that don't jibe with my experience, and I have no compunction about asking her to defend them.

That's not the only error yelenarennie has made, either. In the Anise review, she complains about a $58 "cheap bottle of Beaujolais." The bottle in question is the top cuvée (La Rochelle) from one of the top producers (Domaine de Vissoux) in the top Beaujolais appellation (Moulin-à-Vent). Given the standard 100% markup, that bottle would retail for $29 — right in line with what a top MàV goes for these days. When called on that gaffe on Chowhound, she said that Anise's list contains "almost no bottles under $60." Actually there are 12 (not counting half-bottles). She also claims that "most BYOs offer meals at around $30 per person." Maybe if you go to Casa Grec or L'Académie, but most decent BYOs are in the $35 to $45 range and it's plenty easy to break the $50 or even $60 mark. Her website says that Pâtisserie de Gascogne has two stores in Montreal, when it has four. Christophe's bread was a day old, she baldly states; no, it's bought fresh every day. Even more disturbing than the inaccuracies are the insinuations. Anise is a rip-off, when her only complaints were that she found the food uneven and the wines not to her liking? (Rip off per Webster's: rob, cheat, defraud, steal.) And that's some parting shot: if only their food and wine were as good as their restrooms. (What a great image to leave readers with, and such an accurate summary of the overall Anise experience.) Readers of the Christophe review could well be forgiven for coming away with the impression that the chef uses frozen, microwaved vegetables and has a haphazard approach ("as if 10 different ingredients were simmered in a pot until they turned into one big blah"), when in fact the vegetables are purchased fresh daily and the maligned sauce is nothing more than a reduction of the shells cooked with a vanilla bean and enriched with tomalley butter. Indeed, Christophe was one of the city's market-driven pioneers and his cooking is as pure as it is precise. My issue isn't with yelenarennie's opinions of the meals she ate but with the factual errors, insinuations and defamatory hyperbole. Moreover, she has seen fit to publicly trash two excellent restaurants on the basis of a single experience. And she's arranged it so that now, if an eGulleter wants to post a glowing report about a meal at Christophe, s/he'll have to do so under a thread subtitled "not worth the high prices." Do I sound POed? Guess I am. Have calmed down considerably since reading the reviews on Friday, though.

A now-defunct Montreal takeout counter served a tuna sandwich that was breathtaking in its simplicity: a six-inch length of baguette split lengthwise; the bottom half covered with the lightly drained contents of a can of Italian olive oil-packed tuna; the tuna topped with five pitted Moroccan black olives placed at one-inch intervals; the top half of the bread smeared with homemade harissa. (It was breathtaking, too, when they overdid the harissa.) Every other tuna sandwich now seems like overkill.

Here's a description from Palmer and Fowler's Fieldbook of Natural History: In Quebec, ground cherries are traditionally used to make jam and pies. They're also popular with chefs of the never-a-dull-moment variety, who use them in sauces (e.g. cream sauce for salmon) and salsas, a not-so-oblique reference to their relative, tomatillos (P. ixocarpa). P. peruviana is popularly known as the cape gooseberry. The SAQ sells a couple of ground cherry liqueurs (Liqu'Or, Amour en Cage) and mistelles (Passoion Dorée Enflamée). Amour en Cage, the only one I've tasted, is way sweet and, while tasty enough, doesn't catch the soul of the fruit the way framboise, poire williams, mirabelle or even a good applejack does (of course, those are brandies, not liqueurs). If I owned a bottle, I'd use it for sauces and desserts. Googling "ground cherries" or "cerises de terre" will turn up more than a few recipes.

Thanks for the lead, Kenk. Just heard back from Mariposa Farm's Ian Walker, who confirmed that their ducks are moulards. He says they are available at the farm or from merchants at the Atwater Market. I'll get on the blower on Friday and find out which merchants. Assuming they have the goods, I'll go shopping on Saturday. Will report here on what I find.

You don't specify how old your kids are, Haapdog. I occasionally take friends' kids off their hands for the day. Here are a few suggestions that have worked for picky eaters in the 7-12 age bracket. - Dim sum brunch at Kam Fung, Ruby Rouge, Furama or Tung Por, all of them in Chinatown - Dinner at Beijing (Chinatown), Zen (downtown), Kam Shing (Côte-des-Neiges near Plaza CDN, Van Horne near Victoria), Peking Garden (Queen Mary west of Décarie; quality ingredients but prepared Canadian/Jewish-Chinese style, which is probably why the kids like it) - Au Pied de Cochon, though I doubt they have high chairs or booster seats - Chuch, the casual, cafeteria-style BYO arm of vegetarian Thai ChuChai - Montreal "BBQ" chicken: Rôtisserie Laurier (Laurier west of Park), Fusée (Bernard St. in Outrement and in Central Station) - Food courts (usually on our way to a movie): second floor of Faubourg Ste-Catherine, Central Station, mall underneath the Paramount/Simons buliding The most successful outing was Sunday before last, when I took two kids to brunch (they also serve dinner) at Tour de Ville, the revolving restaurant atop the Delta Hotel on University Street. The glass-walled exterior elevator that zoomed past the hotel's swimming pool and broke through the roof, revealing more and more of downtown, elicited a "cool" from the hard-to-impress 12-year-old. It was an extremely clear day — we saw mountains in Vermont and New York, the St. Lawrence, Île Ste-Hélène, the Casino and the race track with VIP-filled helicopters flitting in and out, Old Montreal, the Mountain, much of downtown — and the constantly changing view provided many opportunities for conversation (like why does the neighbouring Tour de la Bourse bulge in the middle). The outside floor, where the tables are located, revolves while the inside floor, where most of the buffet stations are located, stays put, which proved a great source of amusement as we tried to figure out how to get from our table to a given station and back to our table. The buffet format worked well: the kids could see each dish and decide whether they wanted any of it and go back for seconds if they really liked it. And, of course, the dessert buffet was a huge hit. Toward the end, the nine-year-old, for whom every meal is a potential crisis situation, annouced that she really liked this restaurant. For my part, I found the food thoroughly mediocre and the cadre borderline tacky. But this outing wasn't about me, and that view is some consolation.

Last year, friends and I scoured Montreal in search of bitter almond extract, to no avail. Don't have official confirmation but I suspect the situation in Canada is similar to that in the U.S. In "The Mother of All Ice Cream" chapter of The Man Who Ate Everything, Jeffrey Steingarten writes: Steingarten suggests the following workaround, which produces an almond cream: Put five peach or apricot pits in a plastic bag and crack open with a hammer. Remove the kernels; you should have about 2 tablespoons' worth. Blanch the kernels in boiling water for 1 minute. Slip off the skins. Drain and toast in a preheated 300ºF oven for 10 or 15 minutes until light brown ("this procedure will eliminate the prussic acid while leaving much of the bitter almond taste"). Put in the bowl of a food processor with 2/3 cup raw blanched almonds and 1/2 cup granulated sugar and "grind to fine powder, alternating 30 seconds of pulsing with 30 seconds of steady power, for a total of 6 minutes or more, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl halfway through and at the end. Then, with the processor running, add 4 tablespoons of hot water, a tablespoon at a time, letting the machine run steadily for a minute after each addition." I've used the cream to flavour blancmanges; Steingarten dissolves it in a cup of hot water, adds 3 cups of spring water, covers, chills and freezes the mixture into an almond granita. Will have to try inquiring at an Italian pastry shop, though, as per PW's suggestion.

See Bun Bo Hue. Or, sticking closer to home, recipeGullet No. 295. Guess it's what I had at Phô 198...

Far be it from me to pronounce on your sanity, skunkbunny, but the raw duck legs I last saw at Maison du Rôti were pekin. I know for a fact that's what they use for their confit, which is one of the reasons it leaves much to be desired.

Thanks for the lead. Palmex is the breeder, not the breed, right?

Traditionally speaking, you're probably right. These days, however, do ducks know the seasons. And, since they're grown mainly for their foies, moulards wouldn't spend much time foraging, would they? Anyway my long-ripening batch won't be ready for months — just in time for a warming fall dinner.

Not that I'm an expert, but Phô Bac and Phô Lien are my standbys too. In March I had a great bowl of really spicy pho at Phô 198, a new place on Côte-des-Neiges between Queen Mary and Jean-Brillant in the premises formerly known as Aux Deux Gauloises. Unfortunately, the plastic decor, orange-tinted windows and deafening technopop soundtrack have discouraged me from investigating further. Would also be interested in hearing people's anti-recommendations, the places to avoid. Faux phô, anyone?

Wine aging is essentially a reductive (i.e. anerobic) process. The only risk to aging wine in screwcapped bottles would be if the caps failed before the wine matured, and the jury is still out on that. Anyway, even cork should be replaced after a few decades; IIRC Lafite-Rothschild recommends 30 years and even organizes recorking clinics for the purpose. For more info, see the recent if off-topic Twist cap wines... discussion on the Montreal, Quebec and Eastern Canada forum.

Hadn't forgot La Girondine, sf&m, though they list only whole ducks, not legs, on their website. Also, the legs would be frozen (not the end of the world but I'd prefer fresh). And there would be the inevitable delay, whereas I'd love to get started this weekend if possible. So, I'm keeping them as a fallback. Have definite plans to order a couple of their cuisses confites soon, however. Stay tuned.

Mallards aren't good for confit. Muscovy (aka barbary) ducks are OK. But moulards/mulards, a pekin and muscovy cross, are generally considered the best, both flavour and texturewise. They are also what my recipe (actually, Paula Wolfert's recipe) calls for. Don't think my landlord, let alone the municipal authorities, would look kindly on my raising ducks, though maybe I could get away with since moulards are dumb (i.e. they don't quack). In any case, the time frame is all wrong; the confit's happening this week or next.

ace must be spinning in his virtual grave: I've decided to try my hand at making duck confit. Am thinking of doing two batches, one for shorter-term ripening and one for longer-term. That would require eight fresh moulard (aka mulard) duck legs. In a pinch I can special-order four whole ducks but, with a tiny freezer, I wonder where the eventual duck stock and magrets would go. Can anyone point me to a local source for moulard duck legs and save me from having to call around or trying to convince Alain Loivel to sell me some of his raw materials? Thanks!

Your mind's not playing tricks on you, Anthony. And while I haven't been in the neighbourhood since the weather turned warm, doesn't Agapes have a streetside terrace too?

FWIW, I've heard Martin Picard call Au Pied de Cochon a bistro du peuple, a nod to the working-class origins of several of the flagship dishes (poutine, shepherd's pie, etc.). That's also why he named the place after humble pig's trotters. On the other hand, APDC's Parisian namesake considers itself more brasserie than bistro. And while the Larousse Gastro's definition of bistro is classic, there's no denying that the term is being used more loosely these days, and not just by Cocagne. So, more shades of gray than black and white, I'd say. I also wonder whether the alleged misnomer is worth getting one's knickers in a knot over. Am looking forward to dining there and making up my own mind.

LOL. Instead of "in the very affordable category" I'd originally written "when eating outside is more important than the food" but revised myself because it seemed unfair to Lafayette, which serves honest Greek food (everything made from scratch, including the bread) that's a cut above the standard Greek BYO fare.

Have never seen a bottle of this. FWIW, in La Terra Fortunata : The Splendid Food and Wine of Friuli–Venezia Giulia, Fred Plotkin writes "A sturdy native red grape that is little known in the region and unknown elsewhere. ... It comes from the peasant tradition and matches well with foods of that type. It is wonderful with bean soup, grilled or roasted chicken and game birds, and dishes flavored with ham or pork."

Yep, casual. Recall some men wearing sports jackets but no one wearing a tie. Both of my visits were during the cool months, so I don't know if shorts and sandals are frowned upon. I suspect they aren't but you can always ask when making your reservation.