Rosalie Restaurant

[jpps1]

I've just been wondering what dinner for two runs at Rosalie's...Any other info on the menu would be appreciated too. Thanks.

By the way, I love The Globe.

[Lesley C]

Price range: Lunch, $9-$14; main courses $14-$23; desserts $4-$8. Dinner, starters $8-$18; main courses, $24-$42; desserts $8.

For more information about the menu, you can check out my review for the Montreal Gazette at:

www.canada.com/montreal/features/at/dining/story.html?id={8AB4C2A7-06F7-4B40-8AA0-561C691506CC}

[eat2much]

Welcome jpps

While the menus are different, prices, portions, and quality are on a par with what you would expect at Globe....

[Steve Klc]

David--one inexpensive, low-tech noise reducer I've seen is to put foam rubber under the table tops. May or may not be able to be concealed with your look.

[riboflavinjoe]

just wanted to drop a note to say that i ate at rosalie on friday. after spending a few months working at the place, i decided to go try out the place myself. me and a friend of mine dropped in without a reservation around 6pm, and we were seated no problem.

what we ordered:

bowl of olives

frisée lardons salad, pork tenderloin (me)

salad with chevres, tendron de veau (friend)

warm chocolate cake (one for the two of us)

a glass of wine each.

well, my friend claims it was the best meal she's ever eaten. and of course, it is not hard to believe! we had a great meal, my salad was outstanding, with some wonderful mushrooms and so on.

the pork tenderloin was of the highest quality. very tasty sauce, and good accompanying apples and cauliflower. i like the way the pork is done now, more than the way it was done when i was working there (cauliflower lyonnaise) i think it looks better and probably tastes better now, too.

my friend was pleased with the salad, and was just in heaven with the tendron... so tender! as lesely said in her review,the veal "tender" is so tender, you can pull it apart with a fork. and the sauce was marvellously rich.

the chocolate cake... it had us both floored, and my friend claimed it got better with each bite.

small qualm: service. perhaps our waitress was brand new on the job or something (i hadnt seen her before, but i've been away from rosalie for over a month now, too). perhaps it was the first job she had in a restaurant. she was extremely hesitant in everything she did, lacked confidence and knowledge... but she was pleasant enough.

my friend leaned over to me later on and said, "someone tell her that her shirt is falling off!" later my friend said that she had never seen waitresses with shirts buttoned that low... and proceeded to say that you would never see that in ottawa (where she lives now). the ottawa comment is not hard to believe at all ( i had to get a jab at ottawa in there somewhere )

a visit to the kitchen to see the wonderful men who cooked our food was pleasant. nice to see those guys again, too. kind of miss them now... but im sure i will drop by again sometime within the not too distant future to get a late bite to eat and get out for a brew with the old gang.

thanks to everyone at rosalie for the wonderful evening, and the equally wonderful food.

ribojoe

[Lesley C]

Almost everyone who I've talked to about Rosalie has mentioned the unbuttoned blouse bit.

Even my accountant mentioned it the other day while discussing taxes! They all think it's ridiculous.

To be perfectly honest, I never noticed. But I did notice a male waiter I had at lunch was a lot more solid than those pretty girls.

[riboflavinjoe]

denis is wicked. and to see dave going around to the tables was good to see, too. xuan is right on. and marc wins the war, too.

my friend said that the blouse was unbuttoned "down below the place where they normally separate"

and to tell the god's honest truth, i didnt notice either. whenever the waitresses walked in the kitchen at mediterraneo, though, i had to put down my knife, or avert my eyes, or else say bye bye to a finger.

[mcmillan]

gimee a break,what are you guys quakers?the uniform is fine,its the girls who un button the tops abit,i love the female figure ....loosen up

[riboflavinjoe]

well, I DO eat quaker oats from time to time. hee hee.

EDIT:

and the qualm i had with the service was not with the waitress's uniform. it was her lack of knowledge, confidence, and know how. she could dress the same way and give me great service, i'd be just as happy as if she dressed like an amish, so long as the service is good.

Edited April 7, 2003 by riboflavinjoe (log)

[eat2much]

Had a great meal last night..the hangar steak is wonderful. Note to self: try something other than the frisee salad with egg.

As to the unbuttoned blouses, I really didn't notice anything when we were seated. I didn't notice anything when we were given the menus. Again, I noticed nothing when we were read the daily specials, nor did I see anything when the wine was poured etc.

Sure the view was nice, but what really counts was that the food was great.

[eat2much]

An interesting note on Rosalie's wine list. I was just speaking with a friend who was there on the weekend and he is one of the people who has a moral problem with buying French wine. As a result of the French-only list he was unable (read unwilling) to have wine with his meal.

I know that this is a political issue which has been dealt with on the Wine board, but it is interesting to note. I have not stopped buying or drinking French wine but one wonders whether it mightn't be an idea (at least in the short term) to have some New World options.

Edited April 8, 2003 by eat2much (log)

[raspoutine]

I don't want to get into this whole issue because i think it's ridiculous. Let me just say that if Dave chose to carry only French wines, it's because it was part of his concept, and he should not have to change this for a handful of people who probably don't even know why they're boycotting French wines to begin with. Let them drink cake er i mean coke.

[eat2much]

I agree that boycotting French wine is a little silly, I was thinking more of the restaurants' bottom line. If much of the profit comes from the sale of wine then isn't a restaurant the loser in this case. Why not a few "Rhone Rangers" or something in the spirit of compromise?

[raspoutine]

I see what you 're saying, but as i mentionned, i don't think these people amount to much more than a handful. And because of the absurdity of it's reasonning, i think this whole boycot thing will blow over fairly quickly. Also, the likes of us should not worry about Moneybags Mcmillan's bottom line!

[Lesley C]

Oh that is precious!

Doesn't your friend know that Canada is in the dog house with the U.S. over the war as well? If Canadian wine were sold in the U.S they would boycott that also. If it weren't for the fact they have their own maple syrup, they'd be pouring that down the toilets as well.

I spoke to an American journalist the other day who told me she wouldn't be writing about Montreal as a destination for American tourists because we speak French here and we booed the American anthem at a hockey game.

Tell you friend to wake up and smell the Beaujolais!

[eat2much]

Lesley, in this particular case it has nothing to do with my friend being upset about the French position on the war in Iraq. Without going into too much detail let us just say that certain people have their own reasons to be upset with the French.

Many Montrealers will suffer (or are already suffering) from Americans deciding not to visit our fair city. I am just saying that while is nice to have a vision of what you want it is only "good business" to be flexible enough to cater to your clientelle.

[mcmillan]

moneybags?if you only new,i have no money....ive heard the french wine thing several times now and have even had 1 cancellation over it ,i couldnt help laughing out loud ,ive had a few customers complain about the all french wine list only ,i magine because they couldnt find any" point de repere"the grape varietals on new world wines are for the most part stated on the label,i.e rosemount shiraz,mondavi zin,niagara chard,pinot grigio bella vita,and so on and so on,the problem in north america with a french wine list will be ,that apart from pays doc wines wich are all most new world and do state varietal types on labels ,that a chardonnay drinker does not know that meaursault,macon ,chablis s of all denominations ,and so on are all chards,and a pinot noir drinker will not know that gevrey chambertin or nuits st georges is pinot,it gets even weirder in bordeaux where wines are mostly cab ,and some are mostly merlot,........then what about weirder appelations like limoux,or saumur, vouvray the south of france is confusing for experts ,one guy does syrah the other grenache ,the other mourvedre,and the fourty all three, so i understand the problems with the list but,i love them all,after being in charge of the wine program at globe for 6 years,doing a very international wine list,i have learned more at rosalie in three months,because you have to hunt for good producers ...i could go on for hours on this subject, but i will finish with this....i recently went on a little trip to toronto ,nyc,and boston,i noticed that in all the restaurants i ate in were all clearly different,but there wine lists were all the same,they all had mondavi,beringer ,antinori,rosemount,penfolds,or wine spec top 100 wines,and all the other hot wines of the week,its a shame a bit,that we all write the same list,sommeliers are not to creative,there even sheepish,why not an all bc list or all california or all burgundy,i hope les chevres has the best sancerre list in the city,if we are to be writting excitng menus we should push for exciting lists,where are your favorite lists people,lexpress doesnt count(best list in the city in my opinion)

[fullabeans2002]

Regardless of origin, I liked the Rosalie list because it had a lot to offer at a medium price range [$55]. I agree with the post below re: "concept" - it's the restaurant's choice and hopefully has been thought through along side the menu. If you want to experiment, go the byob route....?

Having said that :-) I am always interested in regional offerings; wines, iced ciders, liqueurs. etc. A few bars make a point of highlighting these, not sure about restaurants.

[chopper]

But is it not the restaurateur's, sommelier's, even waiter's responsability to sell and make these exciting wine lists work.

I am all for exciting this and that, and I agree that french wine "labelling" is not the most user friendly, but I also don't think that most diners have Robert Parker's "Wine Advocate" as bed side reading. That's possibly why certain restaurants have put forward what is refered to as "progressive" wine lists, whatever those are worth...

It's all about being true to your concept or vision or epiphany, but it's also about "servicing" your clients, creating an atmosphere where different wine labels and food stuffs should not be working against you...

[raspoutine]

,where are your favorite lists people,lexpress doesnt count(best list in the city in my opinion)

If someone wanted to answer this question, it might be fun to do so in a new thread. Suggested title:Most exciting wine lists. I'd start it myself, but if i can't vote for l'express, i'll abstain altogether. Well, for now at least.

Dave, as you probably have guessed, the "moneybags" crack wasn't meant to be taken seriously.Just wanted that to be clear.

All the best.

[cook-em-all]

....i recently went on a little trip to toronto ,nyc,and boston,i noticed that in all the restaurants i ate in were all clearly different,but there wine lists were all the same,they all had mondavi,beringer ,antinori,rosemount,penfolds,or wine spec top 100 wines,and all the other hot wines of the week,its a shame a bit,that we all write the same list,sommeliers are not to creative

The reason why a lot of the restaurants have the same wine lists is the reason why a lot of restos have filet mignon, saulmon, tuna, creme brulee-it sells. After all the last time I checked all these restos are businesses.

People (the mass market) like what they know.

That's pop culture.

[Lesley C]

Maybe so, but thank heavens for people like David who take risks. I admire his selection and his stance towards formuliac lists.

Cook-em-all I think the chefs who stick to salmon, filet mignon and creme brulee show little imagination. If everyone here were serving Toque! food, I'd have nothing to write about. Cooking at the highest level calls for innovation. I see David's list as innovative and gutsy. I noticed it, and read through it with interest. I can't say that about 99% of the dreary wine lists in this city.

I'm going to start a new thread on wine lists.

[mcmillan]

but you cant win the war that way,i give up, your right ,im going to get the new justin timberlake cd and a copy of the brittany spears movie and curl up on the couch with some dirty bird kfc and a large pepsi bottle,its the begining of the end...........

[cook-em-all]

I think you are missing my point. For a lot of restos it is not about innovation it is about following the trend. I applaud the trailblazers, but I do not fault the others. There can only be so many Generals in the war( which I am not aware of, maybe Dave can give me more info )

[raspoutine]

Ribo's beloved war on drugs?