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Wednesday January 10, 2001
Back in business after almost a month off. I spent three weeks in the San Francisco Bay Area—quite a culture shock, even though I used to live there.
I was struck by the increased cost of living, although maybe it was always that way and I've just gotten used to Montreal. (Nah, I don't think so.) I was astonished to find that a bag of ordinary groceries came to almost CDN $50. Another surprise was that vegetables were so expensive! I paid US $3.89 for a lousy bag of Riviera salad. That's around CDN $5.64! And the craze for organic stuff is out of control. A small bunch of organic parsley was US $1.99. What bugs me is that it's all from California and it almost seems cheaper to import it to Montreal and then buy it here.
That wasn't the only expensive thing: for those interested, rents are through the roof. Studios start at US $1000 even in lousy areas. I hate to think what utility bills are, with the bizarre deregulated power shortages.
Although I didn't make it to too many restos (none in SFO this time) the scene seems to be rocking. One alien development that hasn't come to Montreal yet (but may) is the practice of the restaurant having the customer fax confirmations of reservations, including a signature and credit card number. A reader of the San Franciso Chronicle had this to say:
"I suggest that customers bring their own contracts to these restaurants. A few sample clauses in the contract could be: 1) Seating at the reserved time; no waiting at the bar. 2) Professional hosting; no automaton host(ess) who recites policies, but can't apply common sense and is rude 3) Freshly prepared martinis that are delivered immediately after mixing, not after sitting and warming up at the bar.
"I have experienced this faxing madness at Mecca and Elisabeth Daniel. If this turns into a trend, my lawyer will always be dining with me."
Hmm. a new fad: RestoRage.
My less conventional thoughts on my travels are in the Cooking section.
While I was gone, some local developments: Ashok Chandwani and Lesley Chesterman,restaurant critics at the Montreal Gazette, passed judgement on their best restaurant experiences of the past year. Chandwani picks the following: Lezvos, Le Grand Comptoir, Da Attilio, Casa Tapas and Malhi.
Lesley Chesterman's choices were Les Caprices de Nicolas, Le Passe-Partout, Ristorante DaVinci, Mediterraneo and Area.
Other news: a fake bomb was placed outside Schwartz's deli over the holidays. Some merchants thought this could be related to the Second Cup firebombings a few months ago.
Barry has been a busy bee, with a few more Flavourguy columns. He's assembling them and they should be up shortly. Also, he spent some time with Village Voice food critic Robert Sietsema in New York over the holidays, and I'm looking forward to seeing something about that.
More to come shortly.
Sunday January 14, 2001
A rather scary but interesting piece of news today: the Montreal Urban Community has a site upon which restos that have failed their inspections are listed. Among them, apparently, is Psarotaverna Faros, which has had rave reviews from various people around town, and Pâtisserie Belge . . . I won't be the judge of that, but you can see the list here. It's only in French, but the English version of the referring page is here. You can always go to the AltaVista translator if you need to know the meaning of "vermine."
Monday January 15, 2001
Added five new Flavourguy columns and a hilarious Backburner piece about eating at Costco. Also caught up with the letters section.
Thursday January 18, 2001
A few notes: according to the Gazette, there is a new chef to replace Nicolas Jongleux at the eponymous Jongleux Café. French chef Thierry Baron, 28, took over this week. Nicolas Jongleux died last November. Baron worked with Jongleux at Opus II and has recently been working at Café Ferreira. He is now the co-owner of Jongleux Café with Patricia Hovington.
Yesterday went to Jean-Talon Market to see what I could see, having never been there. As it turns out, it was no great loss, because apart from the vast abundance of vegetables, it's not nearly as comprehensive as Atwater Market. If you want perfect vegetables that look like they just came from a farm in the middle of summer, this is the place to go. It's basically one large building with about thirty stalls of vegetables and fruits, with the odd flower stand or maple syrup shop thrown in.
The periphery around the market, however, is more interesting. There are two bakeries (Pain Doré and Première Moisson), a gourmet coffee place and a nice bulk foods place called Merci Vrac, which tries but fails to offer the abundance of Douceurs du Marché at Atwater. It's a Scoops on steroids. According to Barry (although I didn't see it) there's a vegetable place called Chez Louis (Marché Jean Talon, 222 Place Marché du Nord) right around there, and apparently all the good restos buy from them.
A great place for Thai food, however, is on the corner of St. Denis and Jean-Talon (7130 St-Denis, tel.: 271-4469, on your way back to the Jean-Talon metro station.) It's called Thai Hour . . . ? . . . um, whatever. With all the possible names to choose from you'd think they'd choose something Thai or something French, but . . .
This place has everything Thai—spices, condiments, sauces, and it also sports a frozen section and a window-front mini-resto. The usual assortment of Vietnamese, Chinese and a small amount of Japanese goods is also available.
I grabbed a package of red curry paste (beats chopping all that galangal and lemongrass to make it myself).and ended up making a fiery but serviceable Mussamun Beef curry just before Hydro Québec cut my power.
Sunday January 21, 2001
After I wrote the below on Jean-Talon market, Lesley Chesterman, restaurant critic for the Gazette, checked in:
The big thing about Chez Louis is that all the best stuff is in the back. You have to ask for it. It's also one of the only places where you can find the produce of Pierre-Andre Daignault, Normand Laprise and other top chefs' organic farmer. You'll see his red and yellow carrots, salsify, Jerusalem artichokes, Chinese artichokes and in the summer mizuna and other greens. Chez Louis is a great place (it's near the Pain Doré) and the people are really friendly.
Also at the JT market: a great store called Capitol. Capitol has first-rate Italian stuff including imported buffalo ricotta, and a new store featuring only Quebec products which sells Quebec cheese for less than the great store Hamel.
I love both markets but the Jean-Talon is my favourite. It's a bit more gritty, far more interesting in the summer and there's a ethnic scene there that I don't get at Atwater. I do miss Les Douceurs du Marché but I tend to overspend at Les Douceurs so maybe it's a good thing I'm far away.
On the Horizon Dept.: The Montreal Highlights Festival is coming up in February. If I'm not mistaken, this is only the second time this extravaganza has been held. According to the press release, the Montreal Highlights Festival was "set up in association with the Montreal cultural and restaurants organisations" and "was born of a need to remind residents as well as foreign visitors to the metropolis that winter need not be synonymous with hibernation."
The underwriters are primarily Hydro-Québec, Via Rail and the SAQ; the latter is the one we're interested in, specifically the "SAQ Dining Experience, without a doubt one of the biggest adventures in gastronomy, food and wine tasting ever experienced by Montrealers."
The release goes on to say: "During two weeks and three weekends, the event will present the greatest chefs, wine stewards, teachers, producers, and artisans of the food industry of the metropolis. The public will be offered the opportunity of discovering many fine restaurants, and of tasting many menus prepared for them especially for the event, as well as learning the secrets of great chefs during culinary workshops and conferences, or discover unusual dishes in the great hotels of Montreal. There will be something for all tastes, all ages, and all budgets. In an effort to popularize the SAQ Culinary Arts component, the Festival has decided to present several events free of charge, or at affordable prices that can be found in no other major city in the world!
"And because the gastronomic reputation of the metropolis is appreciated far and wide, the Montreal Highlights Festival has invited some 30 chefs as well as many foreign specialists and food critics from around the world. They will hail from France, the United States, Argentina, Morocco, China, Egypt, Mexico, Japan, Portugal and Italy, bringing their talents to bear on our own Quebecois cuisine virtuosos. Under the theme “The Americas”, Montrealers and visitors to our fair city will be the great winners of the event. It was only fitting that Charlie Trotter, the emeritus chef from Chicago, and a universal symbol of American great cuisine renewal, should be designated as Honorary Chairman of the SAQ Culinary Arts component, taking the symbolic fork from the hands of Paul Bocuse, last year’s Honorary Chairman. The latter will give homage to the American chef during the Opening Banquet, February 10, at 7:30 pm, at the Queen Elisabeth Hotel."
You can go check out the fun at their site, which often has some hilarious, almost mystical translations that don't, I imagine, read quite the way they wanted them to.
I haven't decided what function I'll be attending, but you'll definitely see me somewhere around.
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