sochow's Profile
Hopgood's Foodliner?
Went this past weekend. The space is a nice warm up of Brad's. First off, the flavours of everything we had were were excellent - subtle but delicious. The donairs - well let's just say i could have eaten several more orders of those they were so good. In fact one of our party had three orders of them, in quick succession. Which is a good segue to my chief, um, beef. The portions are quite small for the price. We left a bit hungry. The vibe is nice but I would prefer it if the music was just a little quieter - ok, ok the place is full of hipsters, but don't hipsters like to converse over dinner? I also found the extremely short menu to be just a bit limited. As mentioned everything was executed very well and service was pretty good and certainly friendly. But it would be nice to have - if not a vegetarian option (I know the chef's roots) - at least a way to incorporate a few more interesting veg options into the overall experience. I'm sure a couple of hipsters like vegetables :) Nice to have the addition to the 'hood and hope they continue to evolve as there's lots of great potential.
Cheen Huaye, Yucatecan in N. Miami - Report
Does Cheen Huaye have some vegetarian options? Thanks!
Wood Oven Pizza on Roncesvalles!
I can't comment on the food. We didn't make it that far. Went for dinner Friday night and there was one person in front of us in the line. There was an empty uncleared table - it sat uncleared for the 10 minutes we were waiting and during this time no one a) cleared the table or b) acknowledged the person waiting in front of us - didn't even make eye contact - although a waiter passed so close to this "guest" they might have knocked her over. No friendly hello, sorry, we'll get that table cleared as soon as possible" ... etc. She turned to us and commented "that was pretty bad." We couldn't agree more. We all turned and left. I hope the owners/managers read these posts. There's just no excuse for treating customers willing to leave their money on your tables like that.
Bakeries, Patisseries, etc open bright and early.
Not sure how far you're prepared to run, but I would consider running to this place: Gerard Mulot in the 6th on Rue de Seine - open every morning at 6:45 a.m, except Wednesdays (closed all day). Best croissants and pain au chocolat I have ever eaten. Closest metro, odeon. We went every day, sometimes, twice, on our recent trip. No coffee - just patisserie.
My Place - Canadian Pub in BWV
Went there last night, will not go again. Sorry to the kitchen because I think the intention and culinary skill are both there. They were short staffed by one waiter, but it was like the lights were on and no one was home. No cutlery, no drinks for ages after ordering, no promised bread with the mussels, when it came it was totally stale, as were the burger buns, harried serving staff carrying around orders but not knowing where to take them, no condiments - basically customers getting up and serving themselves. It was a gong show in terms of service. We had mussels (not bad but not wow, a little too salty from the bacon;) portobello burger, ok. Burger, great potential but a little overdone, best dish of the night was an appetizer of buttered asparagus with a nicely poached egg and pancetta - very good. oh and excellent fries. It seems to me if they just found some real estate about 90% smaller they'd stand a chance of doing things well and could be a really nice addition to the 'hood. I think it is just too big to run efficienctly and serve quality food if the staff is either insuffiecient or not properly trained.
What's your most disappointing dining experience?
Foxley - ditto. What's all the fuss about? I also found Nota Bene rated a fair bit less than the hype wouold suggest,
Hostess gift shopping
All of these sound very enticing - but just for a different take, if you're shopping on a limited budget you should check out Home Sense. They often have on-offs of nice sea salts, fleur de sel, olive oils and balsamic vinegars, and european jams and marmalades. - you need to dig a bit to find the good stuff, but I rarely leave empty handed. Another "budget" stop is costco where they have some astonishingly good olive oils at excellent prices, and I notice around this time of year the bottles get a little more gift-like in their presentation. I also recently picked up fleur de sel there - i don't know what it's like yet as I haven't tried it but if it is good, that's a nice little gift.
Queen of Tarts
It's not whipped cream - it's creme fraiche which would withstand that.
Greg Argent's new Resto, Forte - Review
Had dinner there last night. Space is nice - lots of noise buffering - don't know how they will fill up all those tables and lounge in this economy...
A lot of really enticing things on the menu so it was difficult to choose. Both of us had the fish soup starter and it was boring, except for the little croustades on top. It was pureed and seemed fairly potato-y but not much hint of fish - had expected a few chunks of fish or shellfish. Mains were fantastic. I had black cod served over scalloped potato with really lovely baby carrots. It was sitting in a beautiful broth. My companion had rabbit papardelle which also got rave reviews. Too full for dessert....
Service was attentive and polite and helpful at the door. Our waiter needed to brush up a bit on menu knowledge - also forgot to give us bread, and gave us the bar snacks menu instead of dessert menu - a bit of wine splashing. but pretty minor stuff that I'm sure will iron out.
Great Experience at "Homebake" Pizza on Roncy
Sorry for the delinquent response. Here's a link. I had a nice combination of goat cheese, spinach, pesto, carmelized onions and roasted mushrooms - delicious. I had to spread the pesto a bit during baking.
http://homebakepizza.ca/
Great Experience at "Homebake" Pizza on Roncy
Just had my first experience with the new "Homebake Pizza co." on Roncy and was very pleased. I have a great pizza chef right here at home, but when he doesn't feel like making a pie I will definitely go here again - nice fresh ingredients - many organic, excellent thin crisp crust options, a clean and attractive shopfront (no sit down as you take home the pizza and bake it yourself) and very nice people to boot. They give you the uncooked pizza on a piece of parchment paper (on top of a carboard tray) and you simply slide it off directly into the oven. I couldn't cook mine right away so I froze it for 24 hours and it was still fantastic. a large was $24 which lasted over two nights and I think the value for the quality is definitely there.
Best Costco buys for cottage? [moved from Ontario board]
These have been really great suggestions and I've got my go-to list now! I can tell from many of your posts that mention wine that we're a mixed bunch of Canadian and US CHers - as we can't get wine in Canadian Costos. I wonder how much the offerings differ at Costo Canada.
For Canadian posters, a friend told me last night that you can get a Lesley Stowe raincoast crisp knock-off in the bakery department. I hate to not give business to a small Canadian company that makes a delicious product, but at $7 a box maybe, just maybe, I'll try those Costco ones next time.
Best Costco buys for cottage? [moved from Ontario board]
When a few of you mention burgers do you mean pre-fab? or ground hamburger meat? Sorry if that's a stunned question!
Best Costco buys for cottage? [moved from Ontario board]
This is a great list - thanks everyone. One other question. Any recommendations on which brie is the best - they seem to carry quite a few different brands.
Best Costco buys for cottage? [moved from Ontario board]
These are great - thanks. Would like to hear which other cheeses people find good. Also all those enormous sacks of pita and bagel chips and any cracker-like things you'd recommend? Many thanks,
Best Costco buys for cottage? [moved from Ontario board]
So I went out and bought a Costco membership because I was told it's a great place to stock up on staples (and more) when you're cottage bound. I have to admit to being a bit overwhelmed by the gargantuan containers and industrial size packages of meats etc. But I know there must be some great options there - plus I just forked over $55 and I have to justify this memership. So do CHers have some favourite Costco buys worth picking up? Thanks!
Cross-border grocery shopping picks... (moved from Ontario board)
I like to go to Walgreens for their candied/spiced pecans - can't even recall the brand name - in a green foil bag - they're great for tossing into pear/blue cheese/greens salad. I also like to pick up some Choxie bars at Target - I'm pretty sure it's the packaging because the chocolate is just ok, but the packaging is so great it gets me every time!
Queen of Tarts
I have to disagree. I think Q of T flavours, quality and presentation are outstanding. I also don't buy the stabilizer comment. This has not been my experience here at all.
The Dizzy Gastro Sports Pub
The chef/owner used to be at Boho down the street: he does a great job with meats on the grill, and this is definitely far more creative fare than most sports bars. Thursday is steak night and it's a very nice steak for the price. The overstimulation factor of noise and TV screens can be a bit much - pretty much impossible to hear yourself think, let alone converse.
how about the worst burgers in T.O?
Just noticing that the current posting on best burgers has a lot of reference to the worst ones too!
So here's one to consider for that title: Gabby's. Went to the Roncy location with some friends to watch the end of the Masters and most of us decided to have a burger because they were having a burger fest - limited time only. Well they sounded promising - and that's where it ended. We weren't expecting outstanding - we know we're in a basic sports pub, but these had to rank up there with the worst burgers ever. The sirloin burger and prime rib burger, talked up by the waitress and the menu, were pre-fab carboard burgers, cooked to the petrified point, served on dried out, clearly frozen and thawed wonderbuns, some burnt to hardcover point. Burgers and fries, to a person at our table, were stone cold - and the order had taken over half an hour to make it to the table - we figured they must be out chasing down the cow, but I'm pretty sure a cardboard cow wouldn't take that long to catch. Good caesars (the drink) though.
Where to find an inexpensive cast iron grill pan in T.O.?
Oh we have the same kitchen desires moi moi! I've been haunting ebay recently looking at the same pan - that's funny. I have NO pictures - some even of food - quite the detective you are!
Reporting Back - with thanks
oh and forgot to mention we got the last Muffaletta at central grocery Sat. afternoon, shoved it in the luggage and ate it on Sunday night back in toronto - nicely stinky and marinated by then!
Reporting Back - with thanks
Hi there - thanks for all the help from CHers with recommendations for our recent weekend in NO. I promised to report back so here we go:
First of all - loved loved loved your city - we will be back. Completely dug the great music scene.
- We lost a full day and evening sitting in Chicago airport in a snowstorm so there went our Thursday night plan to go to coops. We never actually made it there at all. Next time!
- Fri. breakfast - Cafe du Monde was way too crowded with a long line-up, so, starving, we went to Cafe Beignet - having nothing to compare it to, we thought the Beignet and coffee were fine - period.
- For lunch we hit the French Market Restuarant (not Bistro) because we wanted to try a crawfish boil - enjoyed those with a big tall glass of Abita and a small bowl of gumbo. That was an experience - we're used to big ol' Canadian Atlantic Lobsters so were probably working the poor devils over a bit too hard instead of focusing on the tails alone! Service there was distracted - not unpleasant just not quite present.
- Dinner at Cochon - we loved the whole vibe of the resto - sat at the bar and had a great ginger-based cocktail and chatted with a few locals. Service was excellent. I had the pig cheeks and corncake appetizer - excellent. My husband had alligator strip things - he was a little underwhelmed. Our mains were grilled fish - done to perfection, with smothered greens on the side (sorry not to our taste we discovered!) and the bouchon dish on the regular menu - again unfortunately my husband was a little disappointed, finding this quite bland. Too bad - can't honestly say we'd rush back here, despite all the glowing reviews - maybe we didn't order well! Spent rest of the evening dancing and enjoying the music on Frenchman's.
Saturday breakfast we went to Pentunias - big line up - appreciated the Bloody Marys while we waited. husband had a special - corned beef hash and poached eggs which he really enoyed. I had the Cajun sausage breakfast and eggs. sorry, didn't love this - most of it was cold, and what is with the skinny wimpy wonder bread toast - barely toasted and cold to boot? great, friendly service, but was it worth the wait? hmmmm.
skipped lunch and had dinner at Bristgens. Loved our entire evening here - the food was fantastic and the staff were incredibly friendly and helpful in directing us out for music and dancing after (mid city rock and bowl - what a great experience!) Appetizers were crawfish chowder, excellent, and artichoke oyster gratin, again excellent. Mains - seafood platter and rabbit - wonderful. Awesome dessert of banana bread pudding. We'll be back here for sure. Oy yeah, we started the evening with a cocktail at Court of Two sisters - for no particular reason - just wanted to sit in a courtyard. The courtyard was lovely. But because we were having just drinks they kinda stuffed us into a back corner. We had tried to go to Napolean House but it was closed.
Sunday we managed to get to Cafe du monde, just for the must-do tourist experience - their beignet are much better than cafe beignet. Don't go expecting service - just enjoy the deep fried dough and waddle along!
What a fantastic city. Thanks again for all the advice - we feel we've only scratched the surface.
Cochon on Fri., Brigsten's on Sat. Help on Thursday?
Thanks everyone - lots of great options here. I promise to report back.
Cochon on Fri., Brigsten's on Sat. Help on Thursday?
Thanks Hungry Celeste - that sounded perfect - until I checked their hours - only serving food until 5:30 :(
any other thoughts??
Cochon on Fri., Brigsten's on Sat. Help on Thursday?
My husband and I are coming to NOLA on Thursday for a food/music/childless weekend- flight from Toronto gets in around 5 and we're staying at the Richelieu in the FQ. We've made reservations at Cochon and Brigstens for Fri/Sat but want to go somewhere in walking distance from our hotel on thurs. Does not need to be high end - in fact after several airports and airplanes that day, casual and local - but GOOD! - would be more our speed that first night. any suggestions? Have read a dizzying number of threads but just got dizzier so thought I'd post anew! Many thanks - and I'll report back.
Brad's Takeout + Eatery - Roncesvalles
5andman - I haven't had dinner there, and evening hours are very early so don't know how this will play. I had a takeout beet salad with chevre and pitachios the other day - very nice. Menu Dinner options appear to be mainly sandwiches, roast chicken, burgers, salmon and several salads of the day. This isn't trying to be haute dining - so one needs to go with the appropriate expectations. Ditto on Freshwood - such a disappointment after a promising start a few years back. anyone on Roncy tried abstract tree yet - guess that's a separate post.
Brad's Takeout + Eatery - Roncesvalles
Had a simply great brunch here on Sunday. Big beautiful plates of breakfast food - four of us had - eggs benny with smoked salmon on potato rosti - nice lemony hollandaise; buttermilk pancakes with (rea//wild) blueberry compote; challah french toast with walnuts and blueberries; and three eggs, bacon, homefries, toast plate (I usually hate homefries - these were nice crunchy red spuds with smoked paprika. good low-key efficient service, good coffee, good fresh OJ, nice space. Check it out - let's help this good one last!!! (Plan to try it for some takout sometime soon. Early evening hours may prove challenging for them but time will tell.)
Tour of the nieghbourhood - the good the bad the ugly - so who's done one?
Boho has recently changed ownership. I think one of its long time waiters (and a good one at that) bought it along with some other backers. Early changes seemed a bit off-putting - lounge-y music was too loud and there was a bit too much chummy stuff going on with staff one night which led to some inattentiveness, and forget the grilled flatbread stuff - bring back the nice baguette and unsalted butter. I do hope that they'll get it together again: they never aspired to be fine dining - just a friendly neighbourhood bistro and we need more of those not less.
Who is Greg and what will he cook for Roncy?
There's a new place going in on Roncy where cookery-do used to be, called Greg's take-out. Windows are papered over and no promo posted, although the sign is up. Anyone know what this might be?
Love to see a few more go-to places on Roncy.
Speaking of Roncy, BOHO is now under new ownership. One of the long time waiters has taken over, but the most recent chef is still there so changes aren't radical, except for a bit of overkill on the folk art that's now all over the walls.
Also further north on Roncy still there's been a sign in a window saying wood-oven pizza place opening soon.... and that sign's been there for a few months now it seems.
