carswell

Hey, Joe, please report back if you do. I know several people looking for a sharpener they can trust their knives with.

Not true. It's just that it's a dish I don't recall ever seeing on a Montreal menu. One suggestion if no one comes through: try contacting one of the better Italian eateries and arranging for them to prepare it to order on the evening of your celebration.

It's beginning to seem like a trend: self-styled "ultimate" home espresso machines custom designed for leading coffee equipment retailers. For example, Chris' Coffee Service's Andreja Premium and Whole Latte Love's Brewtus. The latest entry appears to be 1st Line's Project E1, with a pretty impressive list of specs once you get past the hype. Any word/thoughts on this machine? (I like the built-in PID and have often wondered why Rancilio doesn't offer a Silvia with one.)

It's beginning to come back to me. The producer is Clos du Tue-Boeuf, which is owned by the two Puzelat brothers. Am still racking my brain for the wine's name. Olivier's wines are non-AOC? I could have sworn I'd seen Muscadet printed on his labels, which would mean they were AOC, wouldn't it? Three more producers for the list: - Zind-Humbrect's Zind, a still blend of auxerrois, pinot blanc and chardonnay, is a vin de table (vin de pays aren't allowed in Alsace) because chardonnay is authorized only for sparkling Crémant d'Alsace. - In the Languedoc, Mas Julien's white is a VDP de l'Hérault because it contains unauthorized chenin blanc. - In Corsica, Antoine Arena's wines are often non-AOC because he flouts AOC regulations (overly long fermentations, higher than allowed alcohol levels, etc.).

It's always the third Thursday in November. This year that's the 17th.

Lacking a rock, a local psarotaverna repeatedly runs its raw octopi through an old washing machine wringer. There's no arguing with the results: marinated then grilled and dressed with olive oil and vinegar and served with onions and capers, it is meltingly tender and hauntingly delicious.

For relatively staightforward — though more modern than traditional — French in an elegant and subdued setting, Les caprices de Nicolas should be high on your list. You'll want a table in the Garden Room.

Thanks for the tip; I stopped reading the Mirror years ago. Here's the link: Let us eat cake.

Thanks for the reports, folks. I dropped by last weekend in the hopes of finding a tarte Tatin or other apple pie, which our celebrant had requested for his birthday dinner. I didn't expect they'd have one (I was getting desperate after trips to several other pastry shops, including Pâtisserie de Gascogne, whose TT looked like something from Provigo), and sure enough they didn't. In fact, the self-styled boutique gâteau doesn't carry any tarts except a lemon-ginger number from time to time. That said, the cakes, cupcakes and cookies looked delightful. As I recall, the cakes were all Bundt style [edit: The Mirror article linked to below says only the large cakes are Bundts]. All were frosted and some were beautifully decorated with flower petals. Flavours ranged from traditional (chocolate) to unusual (olive oil and lemon). Taking a leaf out of Mr. Trout's book (I won't say which), I sampled a brownie — usually $3 but Reema knocked off a buck because it was small. Incredibly moist, gooily frosted, richly flavoured and with a peppery kick, just like Kilgore describes. The furthest thing from commercial: homey, yes, but like only-in-the-movies homey. Reema is a real sweetie. She says business has been very good. It deserves to be. You can tell Cocoa Locale is a labour of love. And what the world needs now is love, sweet love.

in paris a "5 a 7" means only one thing -- still, i guess you could call it a happy hour (champagne, cheri?). ← Never having lived in the city of light, I bow to your greater knowledge of Parisian argot. But here's an interesting data point: while cinq-à-sept isn't listed in Le Petit Robert, the Robert-Collins or the Grand Larousse Bilingue, it does appear in the 1980 edition of the two-volume Harap's Standard, which defines it as a reception or party. So, 25 years ago, the then-leading French-English dictionary, which was notorious for mostly ignoring Canadian French, listed only the "non-Parisian" sense. Will have to ask more French French word nerds for input. And now you've got me wondering about another word whose "Parisian" meaning I only recently learned: croque-monsieur.

Great post, Vin. I like how you totally don't address ID or Lambretta76's points yet manage to work in a number of put-downs and insults. I always thought this forum was about civil, intelligent, good-humoured discourse, but it's taken a newcomer to set me straight. Thanks!

In France (as opposed to, say, Italy), this seems to be the rule more than the exception. One example that springs to mind is Domaine de Trévallon. Under pressure from Bordeaux producers, the rules for the Coteaux d'Aix en Provence AOC were changed to allow only a small amount of cabernet sauvignon in the wines; Trévallon refused to comply and as a result its red, a 50-50 blend of syrah and cabernet, is now a vin de pays des Bouchées du Rhône. As I recall, something similar happened with Puzelat in the Loire: too much chardonnay in one of the blends (a Cherverny?). My memory is vague but it was marketed with a screed printed on the label and maybe a flippant name (like "Je m'en fiche"). edit: only one z in Puzelat...

There is no great food in Montreal. Nada. Rien. Zilch. Zippo. Plus none of us have ever travelled or eaten in even half-decent restaurants, so we wouldn't know good food if we were served it. Though, of course, we won't be. Really, you shouldn't bother coming here ever again. Trust me on this. Don't listen to anyone else.

It's not a place but a thing: Québécois for happy hour or a cocktail party, and it can take place any day of the week. On orgainse un petit 5 à 7 pour souligner son arrivée. Ce bar a des maudits bons 5 à 7 ! I've never heard the expression used in its "Parisian" sense in Quebec (or in France, for that matter), and two Québécois word nerds I just asked say they haven't either.

So many good choices. In New York, my favourite is probably the Macoun; don't know why they aren't grown in Quebec. A local early apple I really enjoy is the Lobo, though only within hours of picking. Delightful for eating out of hand and cooking is the locally grown Yellow Delicious, which is nothing like the bland mass-market imported YDs. (For years I wondered why French chefs often specified YDs in their recipes; now I understand.) Here in Quebec, Northern Spy and Winesap are rare but welcome treats, and that goes double for Cox's Orange Pippin. edit: spelling, clarity

According to its updated website, Le Bleu Raisin has gone back to being a BYOB.

While I can see a white Bordeaux working, I'd incline toward a light-bodied, supple red, like a Beaujolais or a Bourgueil. Southwest wines that would fill the bill include various Gaillac, Côtes-du-Frontonnais, Pécharmant, Graves and Fronsac, especially those done in a fruity style, second labels and wines from "weak" vintages.

Sorry, I cannot help. I used regular loose black tea leaves. Maybe a Linden/black leaves mixture is what she meant? ← A lapin agile informs me that linden tisane (herb tea) is the preferred choice but that orange pekoe or other dark tea will do in a pinch.

Marcella's lasange are wonderful, if labour-intensive, but here's a vote for Patricia Wells' Celery Root Lasagna, in which the pasta is replaced by thin slices of celeriac.

This was discussed back in the summer of 2003; I doubt the situation has changed much in the interim, however. See here. Me, I usually buy cooking chocolate (Valrhona in bulk) at Gourmet Laurier, but that's mainly because I'm often in the area.

I was looking at the recipe for the Compote of Rabbit With Prunes last night and one thing had me scratching my head: the prunes are to be soaked in "1 cup brewed black tea, preferably linden." The only linden "tea" I know is made from the flowers of the linden tree (Tilia europea, I believe), but it's a pale yellow-green tisane, not a black tea. Can anyone provide clarification?

While I have nothing of substance to add, this thread reminded me of a funny story. A friend and I went to one of Montreal's Chinese restaurants, an honest Cantonese place that had bowed to popular pressure and added a few Szechuan-style dishes to their menu. When we gave the waiter our order, we stressed that ours were not the typical Canadian palates and that we had a high tolerance for heat. The spiciest dish we ordered was a sizzling platter. When the waiter brought our food, he set the platter on a serving table that was closer to other diners than to us. He caught our eyes, held up a vial, checked one last time by asking "really spicy?" and, on seeing our nods, dumped the entire contents onto the sizzling platter. A veritable mushroom cloud of steam rose from the dish. Within seconds, the waiter was coughing violently. Then the four diners at the table nearest him started coughing. They were soon joined by the diners at the next table. Then the next. And the next. Before long, everyone seated at our end of the restaurant was coughing, blowing their noses and wiping tears from their eyes. Everyone except us, that is; our table was directly under an air-conditioner vent. Still coughing, one of the men in a nearby party stood up, shot us a dirty look and announced "Let's get out of here before they serve something else!" Moral of the story: Cantonese sizzling platter good; Szechuan sizzling platter bad.

While the LBCO website lists two cachaças PITÚ CACHACA DO BRASIL Brazil | UNDERBERG AG LCBO 600833 | 750 mL | $ 24.95 PRATA CACHACA (YPIOCA) Brazil | Ypioca Agroindustrial Ltda. VINTAGES 923896 | 1000 mL | $ 30.30 both appear to be sold out. How strange is that? Maybe the Brazilian community should protest. All they'd have to do is claim ethnic discrimination. The media would jump on it and the odds are good that the LCBO and SAQ would scramble to cover their asses.

Close. Tony Massarelli. Performer of "Aimer et mentir", "Bambina Bambina" and other 1960s pop hits. Sold more than 1 million 45 rpms. Not quite the image of Pavarotti or Gino Quilico I had dancing in my head, but then again you didn't say primo uomo, now did you? Thanks for checking. Rétro jeunesse 60 His latest record Quelli Della Notte website QDN appears not to be his first restaurant venture, either: Da Tony Massarelli

Shalmanese's very French approach is the one I most often use, and it does produce a nice crust (maybe it's the butter, not the heat). It's hard to fit more than one or two steaks into a skillet, however, so if you're cooking for a crowd, your only option might be to finish the steaks in the oven. One advantage of the French approach is that it gives you the basis for a tasty sauce: while the steaks are resting, pour out most of the fat in the skillet; then, in the remaining fat and over medium low heat, soften some finely chopped shallot; pour in a half cup or so of white wine, raise the heat, and reduce while scraping the skillet to free any "caramelized adherences" (an Olneyism); when the wine is reduced to a syrupy spoonful or two, remove the skillet from the heat and stir in small pieces of cold butter; spoon the sauce over the generously seasoned steaks and serve.