Cat Cora Houston Bush International Airport

This is a new (2 week old) resto at Terminal E in IAH airport. The service was awkward but friendly. It looks like they are slowly getting the hang of things. The food was a delightful, innovative and healthy style of new cuisine. Great spicy tomato soup, excellent beet salad, and fresh baked-while-you-wait chocolate fondant cake. Oh yes and some interesting micro-brew. A really find in airport-land!

Totally Loved it! Easygoing, unimposing service, great views, interesting and tasty food choices, appropriate pricing (not cheap, but ok). A lot of subtle exotic spicing and a local flair.

I wonder if it was Yemen Cuisine at 145 Court Street. I walked by there last year and it was full of happy looking diners.

Any news on this place? I am coming to Mtl soon and hoping it will be in business and open during the first coupled days of January.

I thought it was pretty good. Tasty, well spiced. No surprises here, just Moroccan standards. Very friendly owner. Fair pricing. I liked it better than Walima or Djerba La Douce. No Shisha (thank goodness!).

-----
Djerba la Douce
1475 Danforth Ave, Toronto, ON M4J1N5, CA

Walima Cafe
1450 Danforth Ave, Toronto, ON M4J, CA

Moroccan Tagine
1993 Lawrence Ave E, Toronto, ON M1R 2Z2, CA

The food was tasty, but the service was quite bad. Not nasty, just poor. We waited a very long time, other people go their food before us, and after we ordered desert and asked for it four more times, it never came. The waitress finally admitted that they had run out. We were mainly served by one waitress, but another greeter-waitress also served us a bit. When it came time to pay, we got tired of waiting for the check so we went to the counter and asked the greeter-waitress to pay. The whole experience was extremely slow. We left a small tip -exactly 10 % and walked outside. To my amazement the hostess called after me and informed me that "service is not included". I said, "yes, I know." She held out the tip on the tray and looked me in the eyes. I was speechless at first and then confirmed that she was trying to tell me that the tip was too small. I said that the tip was small because we didn't get what we ordered. She just stood there, tip tray in hand. I said "I think you are pushing it". She apologised and walked back inside.

-----
Supercore
305 Bedford Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11211

I had a great time at Le Select on Wellington recently. Two great patios, reliable bistro classics, moderately good pricing, and good service.

-----
Le Select
432 Wellington St W, Toronto, ON M5V1E3, CA

HOT POT - last time I walked by there, there were installing restaurant equipment up front. It looked like they were aiming for an open grill concept. Anybody know more?

I understand they just opened the day I walked in last week. The owner told me the seating and counters were coming ASAP. The decor, despite being incomplete, looked asthetically impressive to me, so Is suspect the limited seating will be nice too when it arrives. Ricardo also told me that more ingredient selection is coming eventually too. TIme will tell.

Just for the record, Morocco has a wine industry, some pretty decent reds and roses, and many of the better restaurants in scenic locations serve wine and beer.

A tiny little new crepe joint opened on the north side of Danforth, less than half a block from Donlands. It is called Tripas. The owner explained that tripas were a kind of crepe from Spain. The texture is a bit different, almost like a very thin waffle. I tried one and it was very tasty. The prices are modest and they have an espresso machine, but I haven't tried the coffee yet. It looks like it could be a nice addition to the neighbourhood. Apparently they are open afternoon and evening. Unusual.

Just to round the circle on this discussion. I had 47 people in my party at Melanie's Bistor lastt month and the service, vaule, food quality and overall experience were excellent. I'm really glad I did it there.

There is a new place on the north side of Queen Street in the Beaches. It used to be a Sushi place and now it is a brand new Libya restaurant called Shakshouka. West of the Fox Cinema by a couple blocks. I can't wait to try it out. Anyone else been there yet?

Well, after checking out a half dozen places, I settled on Melanie's Bistro on Danforth. She is all on one floor (including bathrooms), great food, and accommodating attitude. My close second choice was Sauvignon on Queen East, but it was a bit small for my group. Select sounded ok, but a bit too corporate. Ditto for Globe and Grano. These last 2 were also more expensive. I like family run businesses.

Treadwell is outstanding! In Port Dalhousie (the St. Catherines waterfront)

I had couscous, pastry and tea at this little decor store/cafe yesterday. The food was really good. Just like a better than usual meal in Morocco would taste. She only had two choices - vegetable couscous and bastilla. I had the couscous, which was definitely steamed and not made instant-style. Great spicing and inexpensive. Pastries were also finely done.

Mmmm!

Marrakech Colors & Cafe 170 Bedford Rd, Toronto Bus:416 920 CAFE(2233

I liked Tree Tree. Erin is really friendly with everyone and her baking is different than anything I've seen in other similar places. Like clementine cake, and chocolate black bean cake. Good teas, good prices. Not so crazy about the coffee, but then hey, its a tea house. My wife liked the soup. I didn't try it.

I like Tree Tree a lot. Erin is really friendly with everyone and her baking is different than anything I've seen in other similar places. Like clementine cake, and chocolate black bean cake. Good teas, good prices. Not so crazy about the coffee, but then hey, its a tea house. My wife liked the soup. I didn't try it.

Thanks hounds. those are some intriguing ideas. I am going to follow up on them. Any more suggestions, still appreciated.

I am looking for a restaurant to do a private party for a Sunday afternoon. In Toronto. Prefer bistro but open to other ideas. Would love to hear some ideas.

Manic Organic of Australia has it.

Address: Shop 1 / 409 - 411 Princes Highway Woonona NSW 2517

Phone: (02) 42-859-875
Fax: (02) 42-859-850

Email: info@manicorganic.com.au

The only place to get the real thing is at Dinah's cupboard in Yorkville. The ones from lebanon in the big jars in the Arab food stores are not so good. They taste of vinegar, which is just wrong for moroccan cooking. It is not hard to make, just takes patience. Lots of simple recipes on the web. Its just salt, lemon juice, and lemons. Don't bother spicing them, although soaking the lemons in water for a few days first is a good idea.

There is a new Moroccan restaurant that recently opened up just east of the Hot Pot. The new place is called Marrakesh. It is on the north side of Danforth just a couple blocks east of Greenwood. I haven't eaten there yet, but I talked to the owner, who was friendly. They also had a women working there. Anyone try the food yet?

Anywhere you go in Morocco, the couscous is always served with the meat and vegetables on top. It should never be soggy. I have been to a few Algerian restos in France where they serve the couscous in a separate vessel. Algerian food is never as flavorful or interesting as Moroccan. Tunisian tends to be more piquant.

I don't know what issue Vinnie has with kosher North African food. He seems to think whatever it is is self evident. Go figure?

There are lots of North African restos with big portions and moderate prices near the Menilmontant and Belleville Metro stations.

The coffee is quite strong and good. They do it Moroccan style or any other way you want it. The service is friendly and the decor, salon maroccain. Really clean and fresh look. They only do food on the weekend. I haven't tried it yet. Apparently they do couscous and tajine.

I've eaten a lot of good Arabic food in a lot of places, including some pretty refined ones, but I've never tasted more original or tasty food than this place. He borrows ideas from a lot of regions, uses fresher spiced that you will find elsewhere, and he even goes to Fes to teach cooking classes, which is pretty impressive when you consider that he is from Bethlehem. I've been there twice this month.

I recently has a good meal, but with abrasive service by a female server. All 4 of us felt kind on on edge for half of the evening, not the way you want to be in a restaurant. I also felt that she was making things up as she went along, as far as answering questions about wine were concerned. My guess is that she hasn't done much waitressing before. Even though the food was good, It will be a little while before I go back. To answer the question of why this resto is busy, is that it is new and it recently got an excellent review by Joanne Kates of the Globe & Mail.