NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 1 Aug 2004 01:05:38 +0000 (UTC) Xref: usenet.INS.cwru.edu chi.eats:26196 We've been driving around Newfoundland and enjoying wonderful scenery, food, and the Newfoundlanders. Newfoundlanders have to be the most friendly and engaging people on the earth. It's extraordinary. One of the most enjoyable meals was breakfast at O Gentilleries in Riviere-du-Loup, Quebec. O Gentillieres specializes in breakfasts but is not an especially upscale restaurant. Nothing fancy about the building or ambience. I ordered a skillet breakfast called the Pistoloise. The skillet was about four inches across, but filled with scrambled eggs cooked to the perfect and most delightful texture. In the eggs were perfectly cooked broccoli and cauliflower florets, Bell pepper, and sweet onion. On top of the eggs and vegetables was cheese, "seasoned with the sweet herbs of the Basques". On top of the cheese were two asparagus tips rolled in thin ham slices (prosciutto?). All of this was accompanied by fried potatoes (decent), fresh fruit slices, and a chocolatine, or small chocolate-filled pastry. Dorothy had a crepe filled with bananas, chocolate and nuts. Even the crepe itself was totally delectable with the most wonderful texture and flavor. At the server's suggestion, we order the juice, which turned out to be a combination of orange, honeydew, and cantaloupe, with sugar on the rim of the glass, a la salt on a Margarita glass. Everything was absolutely scrumptious and showed an attention to flavors and preparation that I've seldom seen. The price for the Pistoloise was maybe a dollar or two (Canadian) more than many breakfasts. It was worth it. About five years ago we and Dorothy's brother and SIL had spent a few days in Quebec City sampling the cuisine. This breakfast reminded me of meals there. If you haven't done the Quebec City thing, give it some serious consideration. We've been eating mostly downhome Newfoundland - lots of salmon, cod, and halibut, plus cod tongues, a ragout of caribou, etc. Everything has been very well prepared and served. Newfoundland servers really engage with you and will talk with you about anything with no provocation at all. The result is that they forget things and need reminding, and meals aren't always served with the ruthless efficiency found in the Chicago area. The friendliness and warmth more than make up for any glitches. The cultural pattern is that meals in restaurants are meant to be relaxing affairs. We spent almost two hours at dinner in St. John's last night - partly because one overworked young woman was being hostess and server to everyone on the restaurant's two floors. Luckily they weren't very busy. Salads were delicious. At one point she realized she had failed to relay our orders to the chef, so she whipped up some juice drinks for us just to be nice - they were delicious. The food (cod with scruncheons and ragout of caribou) when it arrived was absolutely delicious. We usually take a newspaper to dinner, so we can read it and talk about the day's news in between courses. It's all very relaxing. Newfoundland is home to the partridge berry (also called lingonberry?) and the bakeapple berry (which has nothing whatever to do with apples). Partridge berries tasty much like a combination of cherry and raspberry. Bakeapple berry taste is essentially indescribable, and there are always lots of not-too-hard seeds in it. There's nothing like a piece of good partridge berry (or partchberry) pie with ice cream! Until last night we were in remote villages which had no roads or electricity until maybe 30 years ago. They are still remote, with the effect on food being that almost everything is home-made. We've had home-made bread for toast for about ten days now and are definitely getting spoiled. Glad to hear that Bobak's in Naperville is open! Dave
Quebec, Canada