150953 Fri Mar 04 08:58:11 -0800 2005 6 12 Boston Area 0 809787 Finally got back to Troquet after a long absence (I haven't been back since the expansion), and I'm happy to report the food is still exceptional: excellent rolls and butter, foie gras two ways (especially loved the exquisite pate'), a plate of six cheeses (favorite: a golden, aged Gouda), crispy duck confit, a cannelloni of short ribs, a frisee salad with a fried egg on top, a sticky toffee pudding (good, but not Caffe Umbra good). I was a bit dismayed to see how the wine prices have swollen, however. A lot of two-ounce pours in the $7-10 range, many four-ounce pours in the high teens. I'm familiar with a few of these wines, and my sense is that Trouquet is now wine-gouging. Really pumped up the bill, just sampling a few mouthfuls of wine with each course, though I'm still grateful for the very useful pairings of wines with specific dishes. Excellent service, a fabulous view of the Common from the upstairs dining room, a luxurious meal, but the price tag was still a bit of a shock. Fri Mar 04 08:58:11 -0800 2005 0 MC Slim JB 1 809875 Hmm... we went to Troquet on Friday night and enjoyed a nice bottle of wine and dinner - delicious! After reading your post, I took a closer look at the wine prices by the 2 oz and 4 oz pour and felt they were in line with the quality offered. But hey, if you know of another place that offers this quality of wine at a lower price, by all means, please share! I always love to drink cheaper! We frequent Silvertone's alot for their prices by the bottle, but have not yet found a place with the price/ quality ratio of Troquet for wines by the glass and aged wines by the bottle. Sun Mar 06 13:03:41 -0800 2005 809787 0 epoisse 2 809903 I believe Trouquet's wines used to be a better value, or that it at least sought to offer more good wines at the low end. I have a hard time believing that many of the wines on the current list would be worth $18-25 for a 6-oz glass. Sure, there's some premium associated with service and stemware for many small tastes versus a bottle and two glasses, but that premium seems to have ballooned since Troquet's early days. The list of bottles seems to have more good, value-priced wines. A counterexample that comes immediately to mind is Les Zyg, which has a similar emphasis on encouraging wine enjoyment with meals, but at the moment appears to put more effort into offering interesting wines at less-shocking prices. Of course, the food isn't quite as ambitious as Troquet's, either. Mon Mar 07 11:13:12 -0800 2005 809875 0 MC Slim JB 3 809943 Ahhh... I see your point more clearly. Next time I go, I'll have to take a closer look. It's been awhile since I visited Les Zygs - and was more interested in cocktails at the time than wine - so will have to schedule a trip there again to see what's new with them. Thanks !! Mon Mar 07 17:39:32 -0800 2005 809903 0 epoisse 4 810163 next time i suggest taking a close look at the wines by the bottle. Some of the prices for the better wines are so low its hard to understand how they can stay in business. Even the mixed drinka are under-priced. Thu Mar 10 02:52:06 -0800 2005 809943 0 charlie 1 809966 They have 8-9 wines (out of 45 or so) that are more than $7 for 2 ounces. A '96 d'Yquem and a '83 vintage port (Dow's?) are two of them. Mon Mar 07 23:41:36 -0800 2005 809787 0 Limster 2 809981 For me, the problem is not just that there are a lot of expensive pours, but that the markup across the board seems a lot higher than it used to be, close to 3X retail. That '96 d'Yquem is actually one of the better deals: I see it at retail for anywhere from $9-15/oz by the half-bottle, and they get $33 for a 2-oz pour here. (I went for a much more modest Sauternes with my foie gras duo). At Uva (the chef-owners' prior restaurant), and in the early Troquet days, wines were priced at a very modest markup over retail (often only $5-10/bottle). In the long gap since my prior visit to Troquet, the markup on 2- and 4-oz pours seems to have ballooned, even on the lower-end wines. Bottles are a better deal, but not nearly the values they once were. Perhaps Troquet's cost basis has gone up since the expansion. I suspect it's more like what has happened at Bricco: prices keep going up because they've established a following that is willing to keep paying more. Whatever the reason, I'm disappointed. There are so few places in town that don't gouge on wine, and I used to count Troquet among them. Tue Mar 08 09:44:52 -0800 2005 809966 0 MC Slim JB