Vinnie Vidimangi's Profile
Thai One On, (Avenue Rd north of Wilson) Aw c'mon, I should have known though!
There is a remarkable variation in the dishes that Thai cooks produce even in the same kitchen with an owner struggling to maintain consistency. I don't mean variation flowing from differences in gastronomic aesthetic or region but just plain talent and desire. Just because a cook is Thai helps, but in the end doesn't mean all that much. The problems is that the cooks from other cooking traditions don't even have the leg up that Thai cooks have and the owner might as well be in chicken wing or garage business if he thought he could make a go of it so there is no desire to achieve a better standard.
Joanne Kates is leaving the Globe!
There is a restaurant in the middle of JK's list of 100 that was a couple weeks away from closing some months after it opened- and closing would not have been surprising given what it was serving. Then it got a vapid but glowing review in one paper and a stupid but glowing review in another a few weeks later. The reviews attracted custom and it became a success. Still going strong.
JK's review of Sado wasn't silly- it talked about the food - which is a surprise with JK. But she looked at the place and the food through glasses that made her not like anything. And it was transparently damning in a transparently unsuable way (to me anyway). She was entitled to see things this way and she was right for Japanese "traditionalists"- you know, the sort of people who lived near the place, near Bathurst and Eglinton. Who knows what would have happened without the review, or with a good review, but a bad review doesn't help a place.
I thought that she went out of the way to hoist the posters who criticized her on their own petard. It was Sado's misfortune to become a battleground. (mixed metaphor? what's a petard?) Maybe they deserved to fail anyway , but who gets their just desserts in the restaurant business in Toronto?
Joanne Kates is leaving the Globe!
I never said that life is fair, or that the restaurant business is fair, or that Toronto is a great restaurant town, or that the Globe & Mail is a good newspaper.
Joanne Kates is leaving the Globe!
The list
There are only so many "nice" places to choose from.
If you throw enough shit on the wall, some of it has to stick.
How would the list look from random selection, say like bingo numbers?
Joanne Kates is leaving the Globe!
To more or less quote myself from my posts in the midst of the CH Sado Sushi -plagiarism discussion.
In my opinion Joanne Kates can't write, can't think for herself and to say that all her taste is in her mouth is to compliment...........
If I had written some of the things that she had, ( eg. Eek! The restaurant gives portions too large; There are no good wines from Provence and the cooking is no good because butter isn't used; Why would any one want to live in Mississauga?) I would not only wear a hat to cover my face, I would get a sex change operation.
Furthermore, getting her ass kissed seemed to become more important than the food as the years went on.
JK's biggest fault is that she failed as a leader and educator. She set false standards and failed to promote many place that deserved publicity and success.
I thought that JK's review of Sado Sushi was directed to the CH posters criticizing her and I would have wanted to go and come to my own opinion. Compare JK's writing style in that review to her style elsewhere.
VVM
Burger's Priest vs. Holy Chuck vs. Stockyards
And the peanuts are getting worse and worse to the point that I can abstain, and that's saying a lot.
Gas vs Electric oven
In the USA, why not stifle the research desire and just buy a commercial South Bend and sleep in comfort knowing that parts are readily available and that you can talk to the manufacturer if there is a real problem?
This is a question, not hectoring.
Gas vs Electric oven
A lot depends on how consistent and accurate are the oven controls.. If they are no good , nothing else matters. After this what matters is design and fans so that the oven does not have hot spots.
When I looked at Consumers Reports, it showed that after a certain fairly low price point, that the more you paid for a range the worse the cooking quality and indeed sometimes the appliance just didn't work sometimes. Even after the parts came after waiting forever. Want something really special? Law requires suppliers to keep spare part for all of 7 seven years I think. Want to change your appliances thereafter in this era of planned obsolesc (SP?)ence?
I know someone with kosher kitchen- double of everything ( I don't know how my grandparents managed to stay Jewish with they had in Poland before the War). Everything with really fancy names. Nothing works properly, the ovens cannot be used at all except to store pots. As for burners they would be better off with $50 outdoor burner on a hose. But the stuff does go beautifully in their frum Hungarian queen kitchen so it stays in.
They generally use the plebian range in the basement that they bought when they got married and it works fine.
The two ranges we have now are SMEG, gas top and electric oven, 36 inch, one a six burner, the other a five with a big wok burner in the middle. We avoided the models with a fish burner. A big wok burner or two burners in lieu are much more useful. The controls are accurate and they work very nicely. SMEG seemed to be the brand that made the most sense in Israel. We got another in New Zealand. The Ms. is very happy with them. Her SMEGs are bigger than her sister's.
Also important. I just spent $5K getting rid of a Bosch cooktop and single wall oven set and replacing it with a 36 inch range The Ms hated the 24 inch oven , which after allowing for walls is of course even smaller. She can put in 2 to 3 times as much across in the 36 incher and then has a second rack. It was good for people who don't cook and she does and well.
Furthermore , it is more expensive new to put in the cook top - oven combo than a range. - granite, cabinetry. I cannot find a good reason to put in separates. Even making the oven higher is over stated. And try pricing a big wall oven! Or even finding one! Th eonly one I found in Israel ws some brand from Spain. Go get spare parts and take the Ms out to dinner while you are waiting!
Julia Child's range looks like something that I would imagine a 1950s lumberjack camp would use and she is a pretty good technical cook..
VVM
Where to go in Toronto for good Moroccan food?
radiopolitic, what places in Toronto do you like nowadays?
c.
Fat Phil's Marlee no more-R.I.P
May 4- Israel's Independence Day (1948,) my daughter's birthday and now the restoration of Fat Phil to Marlee! A sign! Hot damn!
Steakhouse with the family
Went for a big lunch one day to Wildfire. Everything tasted like reheated leftovers - and very left over.
As for Barberians , everything other that the steak was insultingly bad. But this was awhile ago.
Steakhouse with the family
Tulip is yuk unless you are a truck driver from Nova Scotia
DonDon NotNot NOW Now NoNo
One of my Japanese friends saw the glowing review of DonDon in this week's NOW and got excited. I went for Sunday lunch together with this another Japanese friend and other friend. My Japanese friends have spent their entire working careers in kitchens, including in Japanese restaurants.
After a couple of things I wrote on a napkin " If xxxxxxx-san cooked this, I would be surprised and disappointed". I wasn't stronger because I have very little experience with Japanese cooking, it was only the beginning and from respect for the two companions who did know. Also I am modest , polite and reserved.
But the food got on my nerves, or rather the unrelentingly consistent disparity between the review and the food, and I wrote "Good for the cafeteria at an elementary school"
Towards the end I scratched out "elementary school" and wrote in "kindergarten".
At the end of the meal I asked one of my Japanese friend's opinion and was told "I won't come again". This reserved statement was out of respect to the the third friend who was picking up the tab. I then showed my notes . I was told that the standard in a Japanese elementary school or kindergarten would be higher.
I cannot recall a review where there has been such a great disparity between the enthusiasm of the review and the quality of the food. I don't understand how such a disparity is possible.
So what was the food like? Sweet, overcooked, clumsy, oily, stingy, boring, talentless, left- over like. And something had a huge dose of MSG in it , probably the terror yukki sauce. Nothing, nothing was good. I had a grapefruit at home after.
Oh yes. The prices seem low, but there is so little on the plate that it is expensive even if you were to like the stuff. But here the Jackie Mason joke is wrong and dieting has never been so easy.
The good news is that the lunch menu is limited and what you thought that you would like which had been mentioned in the review is not available at lunch so these items won't disappoint you. But the booze menu is very long and available throughout the day.
VVM
Jonvince Steeprock way , way downhill
I meant the company being Canada's largest distributor.
It sounds like the same business strategy as with fish. You start as a fish wholesaler, then you add a restaurant to move the stuff that you don't dare wholesale because it is too old. But much of JV's store merchandise for me was unsaleable. But then again, I have seen a lot of pensionable fish in Toronto.
Addition to the complaints. The taste of chocolate confections is often flattened by too much salt. For me, great expectations turns into great expectorations.
Chowfind? Shahi Tiffin- Pakistani-Danforth and Dawes
I just go there fairly often for a good meal at a reasonable price. Also the waitress (the daughter) is really cute. If you were the couple who had been there before for Valentine's Day, it was you and you didn't notice me on the other side of the screen.
Look at that! We agree on the biryani rice at Raby's! I respect your opinion and bask in its glow. I chose it because I thought that this dish would be the test. Nowhere to hide.
I think that one reason that Raby's menu is eclectic is that the owner (?) had cooked for many years at Branksome Hall. He learned to cook out of his culture, and just kept going. The menu looks like ethnic night at the "English" club.
I think that there is business intelligence in his selection of menu items.
Jonvince Steeprock way , way downhill
And Canada's largest bulk food distributor I undderstand!
Chowfind? Shahi Tiffin- Pakistani-Danforth and Dawes
Don't know that one at all and if it is Jamaican, my few experiences with this kind cooking were not inspiring. I have better luck with the French influenced islands. I do heartily recommend the other one across the street. Put yourself in the chef's hands.
Chowfind? Shahi Tiffin- Pakistani-Danforth and Dawes
Hal 2010, No plot . Just enormous inconsistency. To add . My chana may have been good, but that it had far too much salt in it. Pakmode, Ah, so you two were the ones who came in for dessert! Great minds think alike so I followed your lead and went to Raby's tonight.. Solved the Lebanese- Mexican- Thai -Italian conundrum which ahd put me off before. They serve one or two simple items from the cuisine and that's it. So Lebanese means chicken shawarmara served different ways . You could make a cheese sandwich in Wonderbread with the salads. There was hummus, but it did not look inviting, at least not me. Anyone with some food sense, who wants to be honest with the customers, has some cooking experience and has turnover can do Raby's "international cuisine" to a decent standard. And the owner has all of that. Most of the dishes are "sub-continental". I had a biryani and beef kebab in a nan. I thought that the food was wholesome good grub , but nothing to make me want to return quickly. Shahi, however, when is it on, is special (I think). And when it is screwed up, as it is too often (I know), no one wants to return. I will return to Lawrence for the breads and to Danforth for the chicken biryani, the latter a good speculation at $2.99.
You all. I am sorry. At least it was cheap.
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Raby's
66 Overlea Blvd, Toronto, ON M4H 1C5, CA
Jonvince Steeprock way , way downhill
Today it had the stalest , most dried out, old and otherwise poor quality and disappointing selection that I have ever encountered there. And with the Canadian dollar holding so high!
All in time for the Passover , Easter cooking season.
A low were the stale cashews, Made pepper , garlic, chili or whatever flavour to mask. Even the peanuts were objectionable and they own Planter's.
Chowfind? Shahi Tiffin- Pakistani-Danforth and Dawes
Since my opening post, I went a few times , both locations. Quality varied widely and I had better luck on Lawrence. Once, everything had far too much salt, another time , no complexity , just heat. Keema nan was annointed without my request. Didn't have a fat problem. Lucky somewhere.
They gotta do something to maintain consistency.
Chowfind : Dr. Laffa -Middle -Eastern Veg - Duferin and Finch
It depends on what you mean by Israeli food. Israelis are from all over the world and you find their food in Israel. (I went to a wedding in Israel . The bridegroom was Indian and wore tzitzes outside, the women in his family wore saris and looked as if they had made Aliyah from Coxwell and Gerrard).
If you mean Ashkenazi, don't bother.
If you mean Lebanese style or influenced Arabic, this too is a problem notwithstanding the large Arab poluation in Toronto. I go to Aladdin's Palace, Victoria Park and Tempo for a veg (salads) combo plate or same with shawarma instead of labneh. Previous owners were from Lod , new owner is Sudanese, same food but has a nicer touch. Xenobia is Lebanese in Mississauga and is pretty good but became expensive (for my outlook on things. I had a big favourite for shawarma on Lawrence East , but he has become sloppy. and his cooked food was forget it. My Druze pizza place (zatar pizza!) was sold to an Indian and closed shortly thereafter.
As for Ashkenazied Arabic, it is just food and a disappointment. So Mo-Va-Me ( Turkish owned ) is a monument to their customer's undiscriminating taste
For Moroccan, Tagine closed, I lost touch with the Moroccan places on Danforth.
Ethiopian, I almost passed out as a reaction to the heat after my one visit to an Ethiopian restaurant (different kinds of mush) in 1987. I am sure that there are some good ones in Toronto according to their criteria and standard.
Russian, don't know and I am on a diet and am avoiding salt so won't be finding out.
Iraqui, Al Taboon where Tagine used to be on Lawrence east at Pharmacy. They had just started going when I was there in the summer. Their baker was inexperienced. Find out when the food comes out , it was 3 pm in the summer. No sabich I am told.
There are many excellent French restaurants in Israel. You name me one good one in Toronto.
The Egyptian place, Prince of Egypt , closed, but it wasn't very Egyptian.
One of the two best pitas that I have ever had comes from Arz Bakery on Lawrence and Pharmacy, even though they changed the flour a few years ago to make the pita more elastic. Whole wheat pita a treasure. Armenians from Lebannon.
For laffa , go to your favourite Pakistani or Indian place; they make their bread in a tandoor. I like Shai Karahi , particularly their home location on Lawrence and Markham.
However a recommendation from of an Indian or Pakistani place doesn't mean much except perhaps as to bread.
Arz does make a big thin pita, but it is a pita.
Recommedations would be appreciated.
For my recommendations in Israel, see the Middle East board and search by my CH name. Ramses (was recommended) in Haifa has closed. Same business problems re: customers as in Toronto.
Chowfind : Dr. Laffa -Middle -Eastern Veg - Duferin and Finch
The laffa wrapper, the filling and the sauce.
A sabich looks like a giant unfried spring roll. The wrapper is a flat bread about 14 inches across- a laffa. Laffa is cooked inside a tanoor (tandoor), a taboon (" wood fired (often) pizza oven") or on top of a heated dome. Dr. Laffa uses a tanoor. The filling is various "salads" supplemented as one wishes, often by a baked egg. There is a sauce, at request, of "amba" a curried mango pickle.
The laffa at the old place was good enough that I ate it eagerly, but bad enough that I regretted so doing later. The deficiencies in the dough were masked at first eating by the zatar or sesame topping and the bread was well cooked. Even though the zatar was mediocre. Almost any bread is pleasant when it is freshly baked.
Now the laffa at the new place. There is no longer the zatar or sesame topping. Leaving it out takes a real decision because such toppings are typical and a sign that the baker is trying to please. The bread is cooked less, sometimes still mushy in parts. Undercooking emphasizes the poor taste of the dough. All this speeds up production, avoids the problem of inadvertently overcooking and saves money. And there is now a sign that says a laffa is $2.00. The laffa is unacceptably bad and the worst laffa that I have ever had - tanoor , tandoor, taboon or dome. It is to laffa what Rakusen's is to matzo: hard to figure out something so simple can be so unpleasant..
The salads are unimaginative, use the cheapest ingredients and have a talentlessly simplistic dressing or marinade. Once they were mostly cabbage. The fried things are done a la Polannaise- overcooked dark brown and oily.
I don't like the style of the hummus. I don't know enough about hummus to say that it is inadequate, but I can say that only Israeli supermarket hummus is less pleasant to me .
Amba is so coarse and strong that I find it overwhelming and disgusting. It took
a couple of days to get rid of it when I inadvertently got it on my hands. I do understand that many like it. I am interested in learning how amba in this form came into Israeli cooking.
Quality has been deliberately lowered, prices have gone up, often twice, and there is the black BMW with the vanity plates parked outside. I felt that the operators think that I am the paradigm sucker- a stupid American.
Chowfind : Dr. Laffa -Middle -Eastern Veg - Duferin and Finch
Moved hootz l' industrial units to big shiny restaurant across the street. Been three times to this location. First two times large disappointment. I complained and left the plateof food the second time. Third time I walked out after look- around. Food in new location is prepared so expediently that there is no issue whether its character is a style; undisputably way down from something which could have been better in the first place but was quite OK and good for here. Prices way up, some raised twice. No soul, no honour. This is what happens in galut.
Not recommended.
No need to footnote me.
Anyone know where to buy Kaffir lime tree in GTA?
Do you think they have Bearss lime too?
semi-formal Afghan restaurants?
Pakmode, pick two that you would recommend. I think that you hav eto keep heat levels in mind.
As for going to a Persian restaurant , I have not been to one on Torotno that has been better than mediocre and overpriced at that level. Essentially with minimal talent.
There is a discussion with someone Persian in the threads who really knows and this is also his view. Basically , he says that the best that you can do is go to a place and if you are knowable and lucky, you can pick their one dish that usually is good and will be good that day.
Where is Raby's?
How is the heat level? I still have a headache from the night before at Shahi but my reaction is idiosyncratic. also it was OK until the last two bites.
semi-formal Afghan restaurants?
Pakmode, do you think that hey should try a good Pakistani restaurant instead? I am not impressed by by the prior recommendations of Afghani restaurants.
