carswell

Couldn't agree more, champ. The cooking is first rate and (hurrah!) more comforting than challenging, the welcome is warm and heartfelt, and the decor is cozy. The terrasse in front of the restaurant is great on warm evenings. Lunch (on Thursdays and Fridays only, I believe) is a good deal. The menu sometimes includes meat, by the way, but fish rules in more ways than one. All in all, Delfino is a feel-good kind of place as well as one of the city's value-for-money champions. Don't worry about its being overrun by hungry hoards, however. It may be only a short block north of bustling Bernard, but it's well off the beaten path, out of sight and out of mind, as far as the general public is concerned. I've recommended it on other boards, yet, as far as I know, no one has ever gone there on my advice. If anything, we should fret about the opposite problem, which was one of the things that made staying in business a dicey proposition for the restaurants that occupied that space before Delfino. Still, it has hung in there for -- what is it? -- five or six years now. (And about the Alois Lageder pinot: close but no cigar. It's Krafuss.)

1. Walnut or pinenut sauce (ground nuts, garlic, butter, lemon zest). Arugula pesto. 2. Horseradish cream or butter sauce. Dill cream sauce. Arugula pesto. 3. A toughy. Jerk chicken is traditiionally served with fried plantains. Maybe you could whip up a batch of those (with lime juice) and combine them with the cooked raviolis at the last minute. Or how about a Pickapeppa cream?

What can I say? We overlapped. Was busy tracking down recipes and composing my message while you posted. And, anyway, your version doesn't come with an annoying pop-under ad... Will remove the link if you ask nicely. :detestable smiley:

I second Chez Panisse Vegetables, which, besides being full of information on varieties and cultivation and having many good recipes, is beautifully typeset, bound and illustrated. (The other night, however, I was surprised to find narry a word on jerusalem artichokes in it.) Collectively, Marcella Hazan's various books are a veritable cornucopia of interesting vegetable recipes.

Not to steal unreserved's thunder, but here's the definition for agape (transliterated spelling) from Liddell and Scott's [Ancient] Greek-English Lexicon: Whaddyaknow, a classical education is good for something after all!

While waiting, you could check out the following: Cured salmon tartare with cilantro Salmon tartare wrapped with smoked salmon Or encourage your friend to play around a bit. For example, try marinating the salmon in gin, dicing it, mixing it with sour cream, lemon juice, diced red onion and chives.

Have never made it, so can't provide a recipe. Your friend might be interested in knowing about the tasty "two-salmon" tartare served at Montreal's Le P'tit Plateau. It's made with raw and smoked salmon, both diced. One tip I picked up from a sushi chef: freeze the fish for two or three days before using it in raw preparations. Apparently salmon, especially the farmed stuff, contains more parasites than many other fish commonly consumed raw, and freezing kills most of them.

It varies greatly according to the arrivages, so you never know until you sit down and ask. A few that stand out in my mind are a baby flounder (sweet, clean taste, impossibly flaky texture), a monkfish (taste and texture miles beyond those of any monkfish you'll find at a fishmonger's), a mackerel and an intensely flavoured crab. Not all the fish and shellfish offered at APDC come from the Magdalens, but the ones that do are in a league of their own. By the way, the Magdalen fish are available only in the summer months; the season ends in early September. And I think I was told that Tuesday and Thursday afternoons are the delivery days (you could call them up and ask).

Heading into fantasy territory here... - a self-contained ice-cream maker - one of the new La Marzocco Linea home espresso machines - a kitchen with enough counter space to hold both. So far I've resisted temptation. The price tags on the last two probably ensure I will continue doing so for a long time to come.

Your point is well taken, but there are plenty of wine lovers who contend that merlot is an inferior grape, not in the same league as pinot noir and cabernet sauvignon, and that the relatively few great wines made from it are the exceptions that prove the rule. "Merlot's plus points -- its fruitiness, its forwardness and its productivity -- are turned to its disadvantage in the eyes of wine drinkers. All over the world, the highest red varietal pedestal is reserved for Cabernet. Almost every wine region outside France is peopled by winemakers trying to prove they can give Château Latour a run for its money, yet hardly any of them take Bordeaux's other great red variety seriously" (Jancis Robinson in Vines, Grapes and Wines). I've heard many an experienced Bordeaux drinker argue that Pétrus, Angélus and kin are seriously overrated and overpriced wines, that merlot is a fine grape for blending but also one that shines less brightly on its own, especially compared with the "truly" noble varieties, cabernet sauvignon, pinot noir and (according to some) syrah. Melot's forwardness and fruitiness -- and maybe the fact that its name is easy to remember and pronounce -- are what make it popular with people who don't take wine seriously (the vast majority of wine buyers), and its productivity and salability endear it to wine growers. But these "plus points" are also the problem. To make great merlot, a wine with backbone and stuffing, requires suitable terroir, high quality, well-established vines, low yields, optimally ripe grapes and careful vinification. In places like California (and I'm generalizing here), the notion of terroir does not carry much weight; vines have been grafted over to merlot only recently in response to the wine's recent popularity; irrigation and greed encourage overproduction; blends of less than 75% merlot are shunned because they no longer qualify as varietals and lose the cachet of the name; grapes are often overripe and harvested mechanically; manipulation (acidification, oak chips, enzymes, commercial yeasts, etc.) is rampant; and so on. The result is an ocean of plonk. Unlike, say, cabernet sauvignon, great merlot is grown and made in very few places around the world. In fact, is there a noble red variety with a lower ratio of great wines to overall production? The parallels between merlot and chardonnay are intriguing. Compared with many other grapes (say cabernet sauvignon, pinot noir, syrah and zinfandel for merlot; riesling, gewurztraminer and sauvignon blanc for chardonnay) both are relatively bland, characterless. Both produce great wines in only a handful of locations and those mainly in France. Most of the wine made from both is insipid or worse. And yet they are the most popular varietals in North America.

I mentioned the pairing to encourage Jesse to think outside the box. As for its intrinsic worth, I'll reserve judgement until I can speak from personal experience. My mind's palate tells me the match would work. Also, the following testimonial carries considerable weight for me: By the way, Jesse, the menu for that all-Sauternes dinner was: - Sauternes-braised Virginia ham with prunes stuffed with green olives - Quenelles of salmon with crayfish butter - Entrecôte of beef with potatoes cooked in duck fat and butter with mushrooms - Green applies filled with berries and served with crème fraîche - Deep-dish fruit pie - Almond cream - Caramelized walnuts and coffee Busboy, the chicken stew you describe sounds very similar to the duck stew we made. We served it with sautéed local Golden Delicious apples.

APDC receives twice-weekly air shipments of seafood from the Magdalen Islands, where Picard has developed contacts. The quality is extraordinary and the seafood platters are indeed things of beauty. Why few (no?) other Montreal restaurants offer them is beyond me, especially as they're all the rage in Paris and NYC. I also wonder why so few restaurants feature local seafood beyond the ubiquitous Matane shrimp and Gulf of St. Lawrence snow crabs and lobster. Some of APDC's Magdalen fish are among the best I've ever eaten anywhere. Why do so many places ignore superb local produce in favour of fish sourced in NYC or the Mediterranean?

Usually at around 45°F (7°C), slightly warmer than average fridge temperature. When thinking about food pairings, bear in mind that, depending on the producer and vintage, Sauternes can range from hot and syrupy to tangy and not very sweet. Some people enjoy Sauternes as an aperitif. I don't, as I find it cuts rather than stimulates the appetite. The dryer wines make an acceptable pairing with melon and prosciutto and can accompany simple white fish and shellfish dishes. Jerimiah Tower famously pairs old Yquem with aged prime rib roasts of beef cooked rare. And, of course, you can serve Sauternes alongside any dish cooked in the wine; two I've enjoyed are a duck stew in Sauterenes and a dish of sweetbreads sliced, dredged, browned and braised in Sauternes and cream with green and black olives and grapes. For desserts, you're best off with something simple and not too sweet. Apple desserts often fill the bill: tarte Tatin, baked apples stuffed with nuts and golden raisins, "exploded" vanilla apples. Or try a white peach/nectarine cobbler or pie. Vanilla-scented crème brûlée is classic. Top wines in top vintages are usually best enjoyed on their own or maybe with a simple buttery cookie like a langue de chat.

In high school, a bunch of us kids would clandestinely spike melons and take them with us to no-adult "beach" parties at our favourite swimming hole, a cool, spring-fed pond well off the beaten path. This was the procedure we followed: 1. Float the melon in a tub and note which side is "up." 2. Cut a deep, inverted pyramid-shaped plug out of the centre of the up side. Remove and eat most of the flesh from the plug. If necessary, deepen the hole. 3. Fill the hole with whatever spirit you're using (our default was tequila). Reinsert the plug. Set melon aside and let the booze diffuse. 5. Repeat, if desired. 6. Reinsert the plug a final time. Secure with duct tape. 7. Refrigerate. 8. Float melon in pond until ready to eat. Pour off juice for drinking. Slice melon as usual and serve. The Larousse Gastro has a recipe I've always meant to try: pastèque à la provençale. Surprisingly similar to the above except you cut the plug out of the stem end (around the stalk), dig a deepish hole, fill the hole with Tavel rosé instead of hard stuff, and seal the reinserted plug with wax. Refrigerate at least 2 hours. To serve, remove the plug, pour off and strain the wine, cut the melon into slices, and serve with the wine. (Note that pastèques are generally smaller (6-11 lbs) and often rounder than North American watermelons.) More Euro- than white-trash but probably tasty, and a great potential use for an often hot and blowsy wine.

How many hundreds of thousands of Americans eat at McDonalds each week? Popularity does not indicate quality. Thanks for the lecture. I'll be sure to use one of those detestable smileys the next time I make a tongue-in-cheek comment. Edit: Add smiley...

You're right. As I recall, Francesco Illy's definition is 88-92°C water pushed through 7 g of tamped coffee at 9 bar for 20-30 seconds to produce 1 oz of espresso. However, I was talking about doubles, since caffe cremas/café-crèmes are typically made with them. I'll edit my original post to make that clear. Hundreds of thousands of Swiss, French and Germans can't all be wrong, now can they? As I said earlier, caffe cremas are a bit tricky to pull off, the main danger being overextraction. But, since they're made with a double basket, since the coffee is ground coarser (allowing the water to pass through more quickly than for a regular espresso) and since a different blend is often used, a well-made caffe crema is a perfectly acceptable cup that looks, smells and tastes different from an americano and has nothing to do with shitty North American espresso.

Caffe crema is especially popular in Switzerland. Basically it's an extra lungo, an espresso made with a very long pull (about 5 oz.; a standard double espresso is 1.5-2.5 oz.), although the grind is typically a bit coarser than for espresso and often a different blend is used. It takes some practice to get right but can be very good. It differs from an americano or allongé in that those are regular espressos to which hot water has been added.

In other words, spammers are welcome?! Right. And you eat out how many times a month? And it's often not your money you're forking over, is it? And, after all, even if the meal ends up a bust, it will still make for an "entertaining" article (we all love to read about bad experiences), won't it? But what about Joe Tourist who has to decide which restaurant he's going to dine at on his one free evening in Montreal? What about Jane Student who scrapes together enough cash to splurge on one big night a year? What about Mr. and Mrs. Petawawa, Ontario, who are assigned the unfortunate task of organizing a wedding reception in Old Montreal, a place they haven't been to in 14 years? They drop by a Montreal resto board and read a review (quite possibly posted serreptitiously by an employee of the restaurant or a friend of the owner) that says a restaurant is not only perfect but also the city's top jazz venue (you know, not long ago I contacted the hosts of the two most popular jazz programs on local radio to ask about venues, and neither mentioned Modavie). They believe the owner's hype that it's a "destination" restaurant, a "great place" that serves "great food," "great lunches" and "great dinners." And they head out expecting an "A1" experience, only to be served French onion soup that tastes like dishwater with plastic on top or -- to stick with comments from people I actually know who've eaten at Modavie (their comments being the main reason I haven't) -- food that is utterly banal, food that is (to quote grill-it) "not too bad -- espeically for tourists." Is a "feel free to plug your restaurant here" policy fair to Joe and Jane and the Petawawas? Yeah, the easy answer is "buyer beware." But as a food- and wine-lover who works his butt off and forgoes many things that others take for granted (a car, non-minimalist furniture, a more-than-bare-bones wardrobe, fancy vacations) in order to support his passion (addiction?), as a pleb who doesn't have the good fortune to be able to check out every new place he hears about and judge for himself, as someone who to some extent relies on input from third parties in making his dining decisions, I would like some assurance that what I read on restaurant fora is not spam, that the reviews here and elsewhere (including the newspapers) are not compromised by insider connections and fraternization with those who serve what the critic is to judge. Be aware that for some of us it hurts, it really hurts, to drop a C-note or two on a mediocre (or worse) meal. Most discussion fora (e.g. Chowhound, eRobertParker, West Coast Wine Board, Wine/Food Lovers' Discussion Group) have strong anti-spam policies for just the above reasons. Indeed, if anything, those boards err on the side of excessive vigilance. Am astounded and disappointed to learn that such a policy does not apply here.

Lessee. Breezer drops in from out of nowhere and makes his first post here within four minutes of joining, a rave review (no specifics, though; interesting, eh?) that sounds like ad copy and, gollygeewhiz, hits all the points emphasized on the Modavie website: "our specialty: lamb," attractive serveuses in blouses, "the best jazz house in town" (I'm sure Upstairs might have a thing or two to say about that), amazingly complete wine list, first-rate service and decor. Then, coincidence of coincidences, the restaurant's owner pops up an hour and a half later with still more ad copy and a link to his website. And what are we to make of the fact that both of them joined eGullet within minutes of each other? Walnuts' member number is 9535, Breezer's 9539. All this against a backdrop of less than positive reviews from acquaintances of mine who have eaten there and from particpants on other fora (Chowhound, for example). And, by the way, their wine list is merely correct, absolutely nothing you'd make a detour for. The resto has been around for awhile and yet has generated zero buzz; in fact, LC hadn't even heard of it. What does that tell you? Maybe I'm paranoid but this whole thread just reeks of spam. Nuke it?

The flavour's different. On first encounter, many people accustomed to corn-fed don't think grass-fed tastes much like beef.

Lobster salad: My standard is lobster boiled, shelled, chunked, chilled and served with boiled, sliced new potatoes in a fines herbes mayo. Great with viogniers and bubblies. Or opt for a horseradish dressing (riesling country) or a garlic dressing (white Rhônes, Cassis, etc.). Add cherry tomatoes, green beans, corn, artichokes or other vegetables as whim and availability dictate (lobster, basil, tomato and green beans make a great summer combo). Pasta: While your linguini cooks, sauté shredded or chunked lobster meat, chopped garlic and hot pepper (dried flakes or diced fresh) in olive oil. (You can add a small tomato, chopped, if you like.) Add dry white wine and reduce. Combine pasta and sauce, add freshly ground black pepper and some bread crumbs if so moved. Toss. Shower with basil chiffonade and serve. Might also be tempted to chop them in their shells and make a stir-fry (e.g. garlic, ginger, black beans and bell pepper).

Wonderful sounding menus, Jinmyo. But where in the Great White North do you find key limes? I've never seen the genuine article north of NYC, and there only rarely. The much ballyhooed Meyer lemons are equally scarce in my experience.

Off the top of my head, it has at least 147 pages to go. Get reading folks! There's a thread that's 301 pages long?! Where?

Forgot: The free-ranging A. Balic bio/chickenography. An ongoing project. After 18 days, I'm about halfway through. Is it eGullet's longest-ever thread?

Canada Day outdoors with friends: Seviche (wild striped bass, lime and grapefruit juice, thinly sliced red onion, cilantro and halved grape tomatoes) on mixed lettuces Jerk chicken (used davidscooking's recipe, eG #314 -- excellent) Grilled zucchini Rice with red kidney beans Pineapple and cherry clafoutis with coconut ice cream Washed down with cava and a couple of rosés, the better of which was from Château Morgues de Grès (Costières-de-Nîmes). The hot jerk (three habaneros) went best with beer. Befitting the holiday, a late-harvest riesling from Ontario's Château des Charmes accompanied the dessert -- superfluous but the thought was nice (the wine, too).