cybergod's Profile
Pick Your Own Strawberries Rec's in Niagara?
We're heading to Niagara for the weekend and I'm wondering if anyone has any recommendations on a pick your own strawberry farm in the Niagara area (near the Bench or NOTL). Our usual go-to (Koornneef's) has closed...
Feudi di San Gregorio in Ontario?!
The LCBO (our provincial liquor retail monopoly) usually has at least a bottle or two of Feudi di San Gregorio in stock in Vintages (their higher-end wine program), but they've been absent for a while. You can keep an eye out on the LCBO's website for FdSG: www.lcbo.com, including their online store @ www.vintagesshoponline.com.
Your other option may be to purchase the wine directly from the winery's Ontario importing agency. In Ontario members of the public are allowed to order directly from agents and have the wine delivered anywhere in Ontario, but only in case lots. I'm pretty sure this is the wine agency that still reps FdSG in Ontario: http://www.wineloversagency.com/
Otherwise you're screwed: it's either outright illegal and/or really difficult to order wine from anywhere outside of Ontario and have it shipped here (by law it must go through the LCBO first, so they can collect the provincial taxes and levies on it)!
Loic - how does it work?
Full disclosure: I know the owners... but fyi: Chalkboy is right, everything can be ordered fully prepared. Loic actually does quite a bit of their business this way during lunch time, doing catering for local businesses and people that work in the area.
If you do order out to take home for dinner I recommend giving the "finish it at home" approach a try. Given the quality level of the food it makes a big difference to actually finish the cooking process at home as opposed to reheating something that's already fully cooked. And I've found that the time difference between reheating and finishing really is just a matter of a few minutes anyway...
Ontario 2007 Vintages
Hey estufarian,
Besides the Charles Baker and the Flat Rock, what other wineries' Rieslings did you try?
Ontario 2007 Vintages
Damn. Checked the website, and it's sold out already! Thanks for the tip though.
Ontario 2007 Vintages
2007 is a fantastic vintage for Ontario, probably the best ever, overall. However, one possible anomaly in what otherwise is a stelllar vintage is the 2007 Rieslings, as the drought and heat of 2007 didn't necessarily suit Riesling as much as it did other varieties.
With the exception of Hidden Bench's 2007 Estate Riesling (which I think is superior to their very good but very austere 2006) and Norman Hardie's 2007 Riesling, many of the 2007 Ontario Rieslings I have tried haven't impressed me as much as those from cooler 2006 vintage. Most have been very good, and often have better fruit than their 2006 counterparts, but many have lacked the characteristic acidity and minerality that keeps Riesling interesting to me. Mind you, this is based on having tried around a dozen different 2007s to date, so I may yet prove to be wrong about this...
There's often a price-quality ratio issue when it comes to the best Ontario wines vs. global equivalents, but from first-hand experience in having had a hand in making some wines and having tasted many 2007s from barrel and bottle, I can say that 2007 is definitely a watershed year for Ontario, and will produce many great wines. I worked the 2007 harvest at both Norman Hardie and Le Clos Jordanne, and the grapes we saw coming into the wineries were just amazing, and the juice in the fermentation vats and wine in barrels were just bursting with flavour and complex aromatics.
In addition to the quality of the vintage, what I think you'll also see in many 2007 Ontario wines is the culmination of some serious investment in top quality viticulture and winemaking techniques. Frankly, a lot of Ontario wine (IMHO) has been and still is plagued by poor vineyard management and inept or indifferent handling of the grapes/wine in the winery. While the investment in quality is still limited to a short list of wineries (Hidden Bench, Le Clos Jordanne, Norman Hardie being my personal top three), those who have chosen to focus on growing great grapes and making good wine have really taken advantage of what 2007 gave them.
Some 2007 Ontario wines I've already tried, and/or am really looking forward to:
* The just released 2007 Norman Hardie Prince Edward County Chardonnay and Pinot Noir really show what "terroir" means. Despite very modest alcohol levels (under 12.5% in both wines, even given the "warm" year), the wines have great fruit and amazing minerality and acidity. In contrast, the Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from Niagara emphasize more dense, tropical (the Chardonnay) and dark fruit (the Pinot) characteristics. Norm and Ben also made a 2007 Pinot Noir from a section of their estate vineyard that was crop thinned to well under 2 tonnes per acre. The wine in barrel is really special.
* The 2007 white wines that Hidden Bench has released so far have been really good. I can't wait to try their Pinot Noir and the Sauvignon-Semillon white blend, Nuit Blanche (the 2006 Nuit Blanche was just released, and is terrific). In fact, I can't wait to try anything from their 2007 line-up! FYI: the just released 2005 La Brunante is the best Bordeaux blend red I've ever tasted from Ontario.
* All of the Clos Jordanne wines (the colour, smell and flavours of the wines in the vats last Fall were just unbelievable).
* Thirty Bench's Bordeaux varietal reds (the 2007 Rieslings, Gewurtz and Pinot Gris wines are already released, and are good)
* Malivoire's 2007 Pinot Noirs.
* Stratus White and Red.
* Tawse's wines (all of them, especially the Chardonnays and the Pinot Noir).
The common theme to all of these wines is that they're aren't inexpensive. All of them are above $20, and many are well into the $30 - $40 range (La Brunante is $70!). However, given the effort put into making these wines, the challenges of growing vinifera grapes in Ontario, and the lack of easy access to an inexpensive year-round pool of labour (no Eastern Europe or Mexico next door!), it doesn't surprise me to see these kinds of prices.
Tarbais Beans for Cassoulet
If you strike out at Rubes you might want to call Harvest Wagon. They do have some harder-to-find dried beans like real du Puy lentils.
All-Clad in Toronto
I bought a 15 piece set last year in upstate NY for nearly 35% less than the Canadian retail price (around $1,000, versus over $1,500 at the time). I think the Canadian prices have dropped a bit (Golda's kitchen has the 14 piece set now for $1,340: http://www.goldaskitchen.com/merchant.ihtml?id=195&pid=4052&step=4), so it might be worth just buying it locally now. I highly recommend The Cook's Place on the Danforth, from a customer service standpoint. Do check with them on pricing though, as unless they're doing a special sale their prices on All-Clad are basically MSRP.
I know we're supposed to keep this thread TO-centric, but for what it's worth: All-Clad is fantastic, by the way. I've been really, really happy with my pots and pans. I cook on a gas cooktop, and find that I get very even heat distribution with the All-Clads, and no burning of food or sauces on the sidewalls like you get with some other cookware.
Terroir la Cachette at Strewn
Treadwell's is fantastic. Best restaurant in the Niagara region (imho). If James Treadwell is in ask him to match your food courses with wine pairings: they have a great range of high-quality Ontario wines from small artisan producers. If you call ahead I'm sure they could accommodate any special dietary requirements, in case the regular or tasting menus don't have a range of vegetarian options.
The Bagel House: Reviews?
Based on the Bagel House bagel I'm eating right now, I'll still make a habit of stocking up on bagels whenever I'm in Montreal. It's a bit heavy, somewhat underdone (lacks that nice bit of char on the outside) and quite sweet.
A day-old or toasted from the freezer bagel from any of the best Montreal bagel places still kicks any Toronto-based version's butt. Of course, there's nothing like a bagel fresh from the oven at St. Viateur or Fairmount!
Amaya Express: the Emperor has no clothes...
I hate to post a negative review about a restaurant, since there are so many great places in TO to talk about, and slagging something that is the source of peoples' livelihoods isn't an act to be taken lightly. However, with all the hype over the "new wave" of high end Indian food in Toronto, and Amaya Express supposedly being part of this new movement, I have to say, WTF?
We ordered takeout from Amaya Express for the first time tonight and it was really mediocre. The flavours right across the board were disjointed, and despite a range of dishes ordered, there was a sameness to almost everything we ate.
The pakoras were like a bad facsimile of a New Orleans hush puppy, albeit one with some sub-continent spicing: all doughy and tasting of flour.
The chettinand chicken with coconut, curry leaves & red chillies was swimming in an unexciting sauce that tasted more of tomato and chili heat than anything else. The chicken in the dish consisted of dry chunks of white meat.
The halibut curry with cayenne, fenugreek , black mustard seeds was another sea of very similar-tasting sauce, with some chunks of somewhat fishy halibut.
Last but not least, the vegetable dishes were at best, acceptable: a rather grassy, dull palak paneer, and an eggplant bharta that was ok. The bharta had a nice smoky edge to it, but once again none of the flavours seemed to marry together: it just tasted like someone had stirred together a bunch of smoked eggplant, tomatoes and peas at the last minute and thrown it into a container.
The thing that really galls me is that Amaya Express' pricing is not cheap when it comes to takeout Indian in Toronto ($13 for the chettinand, $15 for the halibut). Compared to the food at Vij's take-out joint in Vancouver (Rangoli, with similar prices, and a similar reputation), this was a joke. I'd gladly pay extra for some really interesting, well-prepared Indian food (traditional or modern, just so long as it's good!), but this just didn't measure up. I've had much better Indian food at modest Gerrard Street and mom and pop-run Indian restaurants elsewhere in the city, for nearly half the price. And that's saying a lot, considering how mediocre some of the Gerrard St. places are.
What's the problem with Indian food in this city? Can't someone put together quality ingredients together with some conscientious cooking and make a go of it? Why do so many Indian restaurants think cooking a bunch of same-tasting sauces and dumping them on a bit of overcooked protein, and dropping a pile of mushy, been-on-the-stove-all-day vegetables on a plate, is acceptable? I've made better Indian meals at home out of Madhur Jaffrey's recipes and Vij's cookbooks than I've had anywhere in this town. This coming from someone who has probably only cooked "Indian" food less than a dozen times in his life...
And, just to clarify: my rant isn't about a traditionalist versus modernist thing (I know there are some people that think what Vikram Vij is doing isn't Indian food), it's really about what's on the plate being delicious, and having been made with a bit of love...
Grrr!
Ok. Rant over. Question: are Amaya and Bread Bar still a step significantly above Amaya Express? Is it worth checking them out?
notl wineries and eats
I highly recommend going to Hidden Bench, just north of 30 Bench off of Mountain Rd. Their wines are really outstanding, IMHO some of the best made in Canada. I should mention though that all of their red wines are sold out at the moment, so if you're not a white wine drinker then maybe wait till the Fall...
Thirty Bench is also worth checking out again. Their wines have improved immensely from the 2005 vintage onwards (the winery was sold and a talented new winemaker was hired to run the vineyards and make the wines). The Rieslings are great, and the 2005 Thirty Bench Red is very good, for a Niagara Bordeaux-based blend (and a decent buy at $22).
Both the Stratus Red and White 2005 bottlings are very good (tried them at the Somewhereness event a few weeks ago). I find the White tends to drink well in the first three to four years from the vintage date, whereas the Red tends to benefit from a good two to three in the cellar past the release date. The 2002 Red is drinking great now in fact!
And I second Treadwell's in St. Catharines. It's a great restaurant, with a great VQA-oriented wine list. More reasonably priced than some of the high-end places in NOTL, and much better food too! Stone Road Grille is good, if you are stuck in NOTL :-)
Globe Bistro Wine Dinner
Me too. Would be there tonight if it wasn't for a bad cold and allergies!
Was at Hidden Bench on Saturday for their Spring release. Every wine was at least very good, many were excellent. The 2007 Rosé (primarily Pinot-based, which bodes really, really well for their 2007 Pinot Noir) was amazing, but unfortunately is completely sold out. The 2006 Fumé Blanc, which will be released at Vintages this weekend, is very, very good.
This winery continues to deliver some of the best, most terroir-driven wines in Ontario.
Globe Bistro for Lunch . . . hmmm . . .
We had dinner last night at the Globe and it was excellent. The new Rock Hen dish with fresh peas, ramps and favas was bordering on incredible, and my wife's pickerel, pork belly and wild rice dish was very good. For $23 and $25 respectively I thought the portions sizes, while not huge, were more than reasonable (it was enough food for us without having had an appetizer dish). We drank a bottle of the 2005 Le Clos Jordanne Vineyard Pinot Noir (very good, similar to the 2004 but maybe a bit riper fruit). And, the service was very friendly and attentive.
I do sympathize though... I've often been disappointed in Toronto with many restaurants that on good nighs are great, but on the typically less busy evenings and/or lunch shifts, drop the level of their game a few notches. Not that it's an excuse, but I guess that's the reality of a market where a combination of spotty demand (in terms of neighbourhood lunch and/or early weekday dining), lot's of competition (Toronto does have a lot of restaurants!) and a lack of a large pool of labour (in terms of people who want to work in the service part of the restaurant trade as an actually profession, and/or large staff turnover) conspire to make it difficult to deliver a consistent product and experience every day/night of the week.
Nelson: out of curiosity, how busy was it at lunch?
Malaysian?
We ordered takeout from Matahari Grill last week and it was disappointing. Some of the dishes were quite bland (a mixed curry veg), others poorly executed or heavy-handed: the mango chili chicken tasted predominantly of burnt chilies; the Nasi Goreng was oddly both bland and over-salted. The Rendang Beef, which is normally one of my favourite dishes at Matahari, was also not on form: the meat was very tender, but it lacked the usual depth of flavour.
Was this just an off-night, or has there been a change in the kitchen recently (an in-restaurant meal several months ago was a much better experience)?
Mache greens (aka 'corn salad', 'lamb's lettuce', etc)
Harvest Wagon at Yonge and Summerhil carries it regularly, either near the front on the right-hand side of the store in a serve-yourself tray (near the parsley, green onions and carrots), or near the back-middle of the store in sealed Earthbound Farms containers (just mache, no other greens mixed in).
Best Dry-Aged Steak in GTA?
Starfish switched suppliers in the last few months apparently, due to "cost" issues with putting a Cumbrae steak on the menu for $30 (not surprising, but disappointing). However, I had the steak at Starfish again recently, and it was still very good (it's also dry aged, didn't get the name of the supplier).
In addition to their standard 30+ day aged steaks, Cumbrae's also often has some extra-aged (40+ days) beef in the back room. It's really, really good!
Toronto Chowhounder needs wine and small plates recs for larger group
Thanks everyone for your recommendations. Just got back from dinner tonight at Liverpool house, which was also excellent (favourites included grilled octopus salad with fava beans, foie gras mousse with brioche toasts, braised short ribs and a simple but very good deer with spring veg). The freaky thing was that the decor at LPH is pretty much identical to that of my house, which made me feel right at home :-) !
Last night we went to Pullman and had a great time. Very good wines (an excellent Barbera d'Asti, some nice wines by the glass), and a mix of tasty small plates.
Toronto Chowhounder needs wine and small plates recs for larger group
I'm an ex-Montrealer (10+ years now) who will be in town this Thursday and Friday for the Museums and the Web conference. On Thursday night (after 9pm) a group of us (between 6-8 people) will be going out on the town after an early evening event. I'm looking for a place with a good wine list (including by-the-glass choices) and an option for small plates dining for those in the group who want to eat more (and no attitude for those who just want to drink); somewhere that would accommodate a slightly larger group and be fun and funky for the group of out-of-towners to which I'll be showing my old hometown.
Montreal laces that I already have been to recently that I like quite a bit: comptoir à vin « bouchonné » , Bu, APDC (but obviously not for this instance!)... How about some of the tapas places like Tapeo or Pintxo? Would they be appropriate? Other ideas?
And for Friday, any opinions on Joe Beef (for a smaller group between 2-4 people) or the Liverpool House?
Thanks in advance...
NOTL - Your favourite wineries?
Here's a very lengthy thread from last summer that's still pretty current:
* http://www.chowhound.com/topics/432046
I would update my comments from August with the following:
* Hidden Bench: everything I've opened from my purchases last year there has indeed been great, including the reds (which had been sitting in the cellar up until recently). The 2005 Estate Pinot Noir is especially nice, really reminded me of a Volnay: delicate, floral, ripe and round cherry and strawberry flavours...
* The new 2005 Stratus wines are back on form (I liked the 2004 white, but wasn't a big fan of the 2004 red wines when I originally tasted them. For what it's worth, I did try the Stratus 2004 Red recently from a magnum at the winery at it had improved a lot from when I had tried it a couple of years ago). Charles Baker's 2006 Riesling is also very good.
* The new vintage of Thirty Bench's single vineyard and estate Rieslings are great, again (2006).
* Last week I tried some of the Tawse 2006 vintage wines, including the Estate Pinot Noir and the Echos Bistro Red and White wines. I was very, very pleasantly surprised with the quality of the wines, especially the Pinot Noir and the Echos Red (a primarily Cab Franc-based blend). For a really lousy year in Niagara (a cool, grey Summer, a wet, cold Fall), especially for red varietals, these wines were extremely well made. Pascal Marchand (a very well-known Burgundy winemaker who is now overseeing the winemaking at Tawse in a consulting role) is doing really good things here. The wines seem more in balance and more elegant than those made under Deb Paskus.
In fact, it's been really noticeable with the 2006 vintage how much many Niagara wineries have stepped up their game in recent years. In the past a year like 2006 would have been a complete disaster, but many wineries produced very good wines, despite the adverse growing season and rainy harvest.
* Malivoire's 2005 Pinot Noirs are very good as well, especially the 2005 Moira Vineyard.
* Le Clos Jordanne: these wines continue to be really, really impressive. The 2005 Chardonnays seem to have outshone the 2005 Pinot Noirs in the most recent vintage release, but all around, every wine they make is very good to great...
fusaro's italian kitchen
They make a decent arancini (sicilian fried rice ball, stuffed with mozzarella, served in an tomato sauce). The Chicken wrap is good, as are many of the panini sandwiches, although sometimes they go a bit over the top with the mayo (it's good, they just occasionally put way too much of it on the sandwich)... The pastas are decent, but not often great (avoid the gnocchi, they're pre-packaged; some of the pasta sauces can be a bit generic).
Peter/Richmond
Tutti Matti, on Adelaide, just west of Peter St.. The room is a bit blah (modern resto look and feel, somewhat generic, loud when full...), but the food is quite authentic and very decent. Lot's of home-made fresh pastas, braised meat sauces, ragus, nice salads....
Tabla vs. Amaya
Totally forgot to mention that! It's one of the weirdest, coolest things about Vij's. I mean, where else but Vij's would one not only tolerate but actually enjoy the typical 1+ hour wait for a table after 6-6:30? There have been several times where just hanging out in the lounge or on the patio while waiting for a table that we've had a great time drinking wine by the glass, chatting with total strangers, while Vij runs around with platters of free snacky bits to keep everyone rolling.
His nearly all-BC, all-the-time wine program is also great. I always get to try a glass or two of something local and interesting before we get seated, and then ask for the hard-to-find bottles of Blue Mountain sparkling wine (the rosé is fantastic) that they usually have off-list, but in the fridge...
Tabla vs. Amaya
Vij and his wife Meeru openly acknowledge that many of the dishes served at the restaurant are not "authentic" in the sense of adhering to traditional recipes or ingredients lists. Their philosophy is to use traditional Indian spices and cooking techniques from across the sub-continent, but to source local and seasonal meats, seafood and produce, and to continue to experiment and evolve their cuisine.
Just to clarify: when I made the comment about making a meal at home vs. eating out in Indian restaurants in T.O. I wasn't intending to pass any kind of judgement over the merits of authentic vs. fusion approaches, or to gloss over the considerable amount of work it takes to DYI ;-). Personal preferences obviously play a big part in what we all enjoy (and don't), and whether or not cooking for several hours to make dinner is something to look forward to (or avoid!).
I suppose I could sum up my feelings on the subject as follows: it would be great to be able to find an Indian restaurant in Toronto that, regardless of whether they have a modern or traditional approach, takes as much time and care to source the quality of ingredients and prepare their dishes as Vij's does, as consistently as they do (which is not to say that I haven't had a few things at Vij's that haven't missed the mark for me either), and that showcases such a wide range of dishes and flavours. You'd think from eating at most Toronto Indian restaurants that Indian cuisine was made up of less than a couple dozen "mother" recipes, when in actual fact Indian food is so vast in its variety and range of flavours.
Tabla vs. Amaya
I've eaten at Vij's several times and have cooked many recipes out of the cookbook, and haven't had any problems with the saltiness of any of the dishes. If anything, Vij's food comes off as much lighter and "brighter" in flavour than most Indian food we get here in Toronto. I think the big difference is the emphasis on using whole roasted and freshly ground spices, whenever possible making other building block elements yourself as opposed to buying them from the store (e.g., ghee, paneer, etc.) and using high quality ingredients (ideally, local and fresh produce and meats, even using non-traditional ones if fresh authentic ones aren't available). Relative to typical restaurant-made Indian cuisine in the GTA, I would also say there is much less dependence on butter to create richness in the dishes, and a much broader range of flavours.
If you can't make the trip to Vancouver ;-) , I highly recommend buying the cookbook and making a home-made meal from some of the recipes. Just make sure you stay faithful to the recommendations on sourcing and prepping your ingredients (it really does make a big difference) and you'll enjoy a better dinner at your house than anything you could get in a GTA Indian restaurant. The recipes may not always be purely authentic in their composition, but they're really delicious.
Chowfind: Ontario cold-pressed Canola oil
I posted about this a while back in a review of a dinner we had at Treadwell's in Niagara, but a recent thread about where to find pumpkin seed oil reminded me to post about this: if you haven't tried some of the cold-pressed vegetable oils being produced here in Canada, you should definitely seek them out.
After having been served a cold-pressed Canola oil at Treadwell's in Niagara and asking about it, I found Persall Naturals at Whole Foods in Toronto (it's sold under the Pristine Oils brand). It's phenomenal. It makes a fantastic salad dressing oil base, and is really cool as an olive oil alternative in an oil and vinegar dip to accompany the breads (when we had it at Treadwell's it was served as such with a Niagara Baco Noir vinegar, which was also awesome). It's so completely unlike any Canola oil (which normally I find rather disgusting actually) I've ever tasted: rich, nutty, grassy. Before trying this I couldn't see how I could live without olive oil in the pantry; now I could (almost) do the 100 mile diet thing ;-)
Austrian pumpkin oil
I have purchased a very good organic cold-pressed pumpkin seed oil from France on a couple of occasions at Whole Foods in Yorkville (Orpée is the brand). It's the same one as this: http://www.eco-natural.com/oils/seepumpkinoil.html
Can't find skate in Toronto restaurants!
Most seafood products from Alaska are on the healthy/sustainable fishery list. Alaska's been fairly far ahead of the curve in terms of fisheries management, and has a very good overall reputation for managing its fish stocks.
