A Great Meal with Unique Touches at Table 17

It was a lovely long weekend to stay in town - fantastic weather made for some inspired outings.  We spent Sunday in the Beaches area, a nice getaway from our usual downtown life, walking along the boardwalk and strolling through the neighbourhood shops on Queen East.  After spending an entire day in the sun, we were ready for a nice meal to cap off our day and I immediately thought of Table 17 in Leslieville, on our way back into downtown.  Table 17 has an ever-changing menu, inspired by local and seasonal ingredients.  Sunday and Mondays feature table d'hote menu, a 3 course prix fix for $35 with 5 options each for appetizers and mains and 3 choices for dessert - plenty for any dining party!  Some items have additional cost but we were not swayed away and led our taste buds lead the way.  Not that the delicious 3 courses were not enough, but we also wanted to try the polenta with braised lamb shoulder, something for the table to share.  It was DELICIOUS, very fresh and not too creamy as is often my issue with polenta.  It was a nice way to start off our meal.

Now on to the prix fix:  to start, I had the pan roasted scallops served with fennel puree and candied orange.  Every bite was tasty, the scallops prepared just perfect, and the candied orange a surprisingly nice flavour accent.  Tony opted for an "off-menu" item, soft shell crab, fried in a light batter, seasoned and served in a fresh ramp soup/sauce (our server told us the ramps were picked at a local farm, picked and used at various restaurants in Leslieville!).  I thought my scallops were amazing but the special soft shell crab was definitely one of the highlights of the night!  It was prepared oh-so-lightly and I savoured every meaty bite.

For our mains, I was immediately sold on the trout served with Barrie farm asparagus with ricotta gnudi (I had never had gnudi before yesterday - it is like a "nude" ravioli, pasta filling without the pasta wrapping!  And sort of like a gnocchi but not so chewy and doughy...was GREAT!).  My trout was done well, and I loved the thick and delicious asparagus, it was a nice light meal for a hot day.  Tony had the cider braised pork with dijon spaetzle (another unique item, a soft egg noodle) which was also very satisfying, every bite was satisfying.  Our meals were incredibly well made and delicious.  Great food comes from simple flavours and fresh ingredients!

Dessert was also a treat, I opted for the apple bread pudding, served with this AMAZING apple butter.  I was extremely full but basically inhaled the dessert.  Tony was sold by the chocolate brownie served with a black sesame brittle.  It surprised us that the brownie was not too sweet, but very satisfying for a chocolate craving, and the sesame brittle was a unique touch.

We really enjoyed our meal at Table 17, it has been a little while since we've had such a great meal (hence the low posting activity...sorry!)  I have been following Table 17 for some time and regret not visiting earlier...but it's never too late to add a new favourite in the city.  It is a nice restaurant for a casual night out, intimate and warm with that neighbourly feel, or visit for a special occasion - the great food deserves some celebration, and you will be welcomed with great service.  The menu offers familiar favourites for a comfort meal along with some unique tastes and accompaniments.  Table 17 opened my eyes to several new foods and flavours, can't beat that for a good food experience.              

Table 17
782 Queen Street East
416-519-1851
www.table17.ca (reservations available on OpenTable)

Fancy Rolls at Blowfish on Bay

It's been at least a couple years since I've been to Blowfish - King and Bathurst was just a little far for us to stop by ad hoc...but we were happy to find a new location on Bay and decided to check it out.  I initially thought that Blowfish had simply moved - seemed odd to give up the great King/Bathurst building, but a quick look at the website today confirmed Bay is indeed just a second location.  Congrats to Blowfish on the expansion then!

Similar to the King/Bathurst location, Blowfish on Bay is very modern and chic.  We were seated by the giant window facing Bay, which was almost a little odd as it felt soo close to the sidewalk.  We browsed through the menu of assorted sushi/sashimi, cold and hot plates and various rolls.  If you have not been to Blowfish before then you need to know that the ebi shooter (giant hand roll served in a shooter glass) is FAMOUS - giant tiger prawn with mango, avocado, tobiko and a whole lot more all wrapped in a unique soy paper.  My first visit to Blowfish years ago was a stop at the bar just to have a drink and an ebi shooter.  The ebi shooter did not disappoint and was as tasty as I remembered.  It was so good we ended up ordering a 2nd, but also tried the Bob shooter, a slight variation with tempura tiger prawn instead and wrapped with sesame soy paper.  The "original" ebi shooter is still best, but I liked the sesame soy paper better.


Other rolls that tempted us were the golden king crab roll, which was tasty but the pine nuts sounded better in concept than in taste - overwhelmed the crab a bit, the truffle albacore tuna roll, which was our favourite although very little truffle oil taste, and finally the spicy tuna roll with rock shrimp, which was the Blowfish variation of typical ebi mayo.  Rolls are definitely the highlight at Blowfish, some unique combination of ingredients and flavours.  We also had the wagyu beef carpaccio, which was drowning a bit in ponzu sauce (a little less would have been better for the very thin beef) and the miso marinated lamb chops, and lobster and shrimp dumplings (kind of like expensive har gow for dim sum fans out there).  All the food was ok, but I'd stick with the rolls, which I think Blowfish does best.

Blowfish is a chic and sophisticated place to have Japanese fare, even if you're not interested in a full meal (it is a bit of a splurge), it's worth a stop by for some tasty saketinis and of course, an ebi shooter.

Blowfish Restaurant
Bay & Adelaide
416-860-0606
www.blowfishrestaurant.com (reservations available on OpenTable)       

WINTERLICIOUS: A Great Meal at Chiado!

There have been many instances where I searched for best Portuguese in Toronto on a night where we weren't sure where to eat, Chiado has always come up as the best but we had yet to make our way there - it is a fine dining establishment and I always found it a little pricy for just our average night out. I was happy to have made a reservation for Winterlicious, finally a chance to try it out and see if it's worth it!

For our $45 3-course dinner, we had a "bonus" amuse bouche, a fresh cheese served with balsamic and my preference, the honey with rosemary. The cheese was good, not very strong and served at the perfect cool temperature. Our mouths were "amused" indeed. For the first course, I had the lobster and shrimp bisque done with saffron and cognac. It was very tasty and the shell fish fresh in the soup. My friend Jen had the salad which was colourful and fresh looking - an enticing salad as any.

There were a lot of options for our second course but I decided on the pan seared skate fish on coriander risotto. It was AMAZING! The fish was perfectly flavoured and flakey, prepared just...well, perfect. I savoured every delicious bite. Tony had grilled squid, a popular dish in Portuguese restaurants, tossed simply with garlic and lemon. The thing with squid is not over-cooking and it was done just right, with just enough flavour. Needless to say we were both very happy with our dishes.

To finish off our meal, we had a white chocolate flan, which was tasty and not as sweet as I thought (since I'm not a fan of white chocolate). Flan is also traditional to Portuguese cuisine so I'm glad we had a taste of that. I tried molotoff for the first time, a traditional meringue dessert that was also well done.

We loved our meal at Chiado and can finally claim to know what all the buzz is about. We'd be happy to return to the restaurant at any time and can't wait to try out the regular menu.

Chiado

864 College St

416-538-1910

www.chiadorestaurant.com

WINTERLICIOUS: Fine Italian at Noce

Our 2nd Winterlicious adventure this year was at Noce, a fine Italian restaurant on Queen West. It was packed when we arrived last Saturday, filled with what looked more like regulars than just the Winterlicious crowd. Looks like Noce is an old favourite! We were warmly greeted by staff at the front and seated in one of the intimate dining rooms.

Although we normally try to taste as many different

dishes as possible, we both had the pappardelle with lamb ragout to start (the salad was not enticing and I'm not a fan of bean soup). Our food came quickly and well prepared, but the pappardelle was just warm and not quite hot enough.

My personal preference is also for fresh pappardelle vs egg noodles but it was still tasty and we finished it quickly. For mains, I had a perfectly seared trout on broccolini. This dish was an indication of the fine dining establishment Noce is, the fish was well prepared and the skin seared crispy and tasty. Tony had the braised veal cheeks, with mushrooms and leeks on mashed, a homey, saucy dish. Finally for dessert, we had gelato and a very frothy tiramisu that I could never finish on my own.

We had a nice meal at Noce but did not find it extraordinary or an exceptional value ($45 dinner menu - but perhaps a good deal vs regular menu prices). I appreciate that Noce did not skimp on the details for their Winterlicious menu and I have no doubt the restaurant has excellent standards and can live up to it's fine dining reputation for Italian lovers out there. This is the kind of restaurant to take your parents/in-laws to, solid performance.

Noce

875 Queen St W

416-504-3463

WINTERLICIOUS: Tender Kabobs at Banu

I had been meaning to check out Banu and was pleasantly surprised to find it on the Winterlicious list so I took the opportunity to make reservations. I don't profess to know much about Iranian food, but it was recommended by my friend Ata and I had trust he wouldn't steer me wrong.

We arrived to find Banu a casual chic restaurant on Queen West and greeted by an artsy cool server. I butchered the ordering of every item but he still encouraged me to try. We started with aash e reshteh, a potage (thick stew) of vegetables and buckwheat noodles nd a tasty spread made of olives and pomegranate molasses, which was surprisingly quite filling. Our main kabob choices were easy: koobideh, ground Angus sirloin, and the torsh, beef tenderloin marinated with pomegranate and and walnut. I love koobideh, the meat falls apart in your mouth. The torsh was prepared perfectly, each piece still a little pink in the middle. It was very tender and tasty! Our skewers were served with thin wraps on the side, to be combined with a light creamy garlic sauce and a turmeric powder on our meat. The desserts did not seem very exciting at first but I have to say, they were ultimately the perfect end to our meal - Soma dark chocolate with pomegranate pieces and Soma gelato in lemon sour cream flavour. Somehow the dark chocolate was just the right taste to wrap up our delicious dinner. The gelato was a little stronger than I had imagined, although I am still glad we tried the very unique flavour of gelato.

As I look through Banu's regular dinner menu, I'm intrigued by other kabobs like calf's liver and cornish hen with saffron. For the adventurous there is also cow's heart and lamb testicles marinated in vodka....do you dare? I just might when I return!

Banu

777 Queen St West

416-777-2268

www.banu.ca (click HERE for Winterlicious menu), reservations available on OpenTable

WINTERLICIOUS 2012

Winterlicious will be upon us soon again January 27th to Feb 9th...have you made your reservations? Trying out new restaurants (or old favourites) can motivate you to leave the house on cold Winter days, nights and weekends. Last year, we tried Auberge du Pommier for the first time and loved it, having since sent others there for special occasions. Some restaurants do Winterlicious well and others do not - Auberge and North 44 are two that I guarantee will be a good experience. Trevor Kitchen is another favourite worth visiting if you have not been before.

I always try to check out places we have not been before and use the opportunity to catch up with friends over a nice meal. This year, we will be trying out Banu, an Iranian restaurant recommended by a friend, Noce (Italian), and Chiado, a Portuguese restaurant I have always wanted to try but found the menu pricy....this will be an opportunity to see if it's worth it!

I've posted my Winterlicious tips in the past - look for good value, be flexible, take recommendations or try places you've been "meaning to," be social, and don't overbook! If you have trouble narrowing down from the list of hundreds, check out Toronto Life's 62 top recommendations.

I'd love to hear where you're going, where you've been and how you'll Winterlicious this year! Check out the full list of restaurants here (hint to navigating: browse restaurants letter by letter, it'll feel less intimidating!).

Jen

A Cozy Experience at Union Restaurant

The Ossington area is bustling with lots of options, but one we have not had a chance to not check out was Union. It was not top of mind, but as I scrolled through my Twitter for ideas this weekend, I noticed the daily menu posted on Thursday and was sold. Thankfully, we were able to secure a reservation for Saturday night!

We were a table of 5, but Tony and I opted to do a selection of the starters for our meal - we always opt to try more food than less :)

Elk Sliders - seeing elk on the initial menu sold me to call, and these sliders were delicious. Served as little meat balls on toast, was actually quite juicy.

Lobster Roll - perhaps odd to consider as a starter, but this creamy sandwich was tasty and sweet. It would have filled me up if I had it on my own as a starter.

Seared Scallops and Risotto - proportion of scallop to risotto was great, and although tasty overall and loved the scallops, I found the risotto a little hard.

Along with some starters, our friends ordered the pasta du jour to share, pappardelle with braised beef. It was nice to have something a little more substantial along with the assortment of starters. If we were to go again, I think we'd do 2 starters and one main to share - the trout sounded quite good, hopefully it will be on the menu again!

We also had two lovely desserts (be sure to save room for it): maple cherry bread pudding and apple walnut cake. I liked my bread pudding more but both were good, not too sweet and was just what we wanted to wrap up our meal.

Union was a great experience, and a perfect place for us to take visitors - unpretentious and cozy with good food selection championing "eat local." I could definitely feel the Parisian bistro inspiration, easily something found in Montmartre. This is a great restaurant to check out with friends or for date-night!

Union

72 Ossington

416-850-0093

www.union72.com

A Favourite in the City: North 44

We were in a celebratory mood and decided to splurge on dinner at North 44, one of our favourite restaurants in the city; truthfully, we have only ever been during Winterlicious/Summerlicious but it was always an AMAZING experience and we were certain regular dining would be fantastic as well. I always say, it's important for restaurants to do Winterlicious/Summerlicious well.

I was surprised when we arrived at North 44, although there was definitely room it was decently busy for a Tuesday night. Some looked like they were celebrating an occasion and others looked like "regulars." The table next to us had their bottle of wine opened for them before they even arrived...how's that for service!

STARTERS:

First to come was the medley of lobster, crab and prawns, served with creme fraiche. This was an amazing seafood salad and I can still taste the fresh and succulent shell fish, served at a perfect cool temperature. The creme fraiche added to the refreshing and clean tastes of this dish.

Next we opted for one of the specials of the night, beef tartar with toasted capers. I really like capers with my beef tartar in general and this was particularly tasty toasted.

MAINS:

Tony had the pappardelle with braised veal shank (also available in starter portions!). I die every time I take a bite of delicious, thick, FRESH pasta. This was delicious, with hearty chunks of braised veal, a perfect homey dish for the cold night it was. I have no doubt this is a classic favourite at North 44 (pictured above!)

The first thing I spotted on the menu was the miso glazed BC black cod...

but then my eye was drawn away to the house special, pan seared Dover sole with saute of roe, chanterelle mushroom, lemon and brown butter. How can I pass up that description? There is seriously an art to menu writing, key is creating expectation and delivering! Little did I know this special dish was $65...and in a quick irrational moment I said fine. Eek. True to its name, the Dover sole is only found in European waters, so I guess the flight overseas makes it expensive! The fish was quite good, very well done and delicious. The mushrooms, served on the side, I loved as well. I don't know if it was $65 good (sorry!!) but apparently it's a MUST HAVE dish says Chef Jean Joho so I guess I don't have to have it again :)

TO FINISH:

Normally, I would never do this, but after a week eating indulgently in Madrid, we decided to have the medley of fruit with sorbet, which was EXACTLY what I wanted by the way. It was refreshing and clean tasting, exactly what we needed after our big meal. Don't ever think of "dessert" in the narrow sense, it's whatever helps finish your taste experience and this was perfect for me.

North 44

2537 Yonge Street

416-487-4897

www.north44restaurant.com

Duck for Brunch at Prohibition Gastrohouse

When my friend Stella first told me about Prohibition and its menu full of confit, I knew I had to try it. Sunday brunch seemed like a good as time as any to indulge in flavourful, comfort foods on the menu at Prohibition Gastrohouse in Leslieville.

I had scanned the menu first thing in the morning before making our way to Queen East and had no doubt that I'd be having the benny canard, poached eggs with duck confit, served with potatoes and side of salad. If you weren't sure how eggs benedict could get better, it JUST did. Duck confit on my bennies was exactly the right mix amount of flavour and meat. There was plenty of duck confit piled on the delicious biscuit, poached eggs and hollandaise sauce. It was perfect and not as heavy as you might have imagined it to be. I'm admittedly not a big salad eater, but the salad was fresh and a nice flavour cut into my indulgent brunch. There were other things appealing on the menu, such as stuffed french toast, pulled pork sandwich, but ultimately, Tony opted for the grilled cheese with pulled pork. He added mushrooms to the grilled cheese (nice touch!), and upgraded the side to duck poutine. The grilled cheese was very good, delicious bread served with side of fruit compote. The duck poutine, like my benny, was piled high with duck confit. Fries, cheese, duck and lots of gravy...this was not a dish for the weak of heart!

Prohibition Gastrohouse was a delicious treat for Sunday brunch, definitely worth the trek to Leslieville if you're not in the area. Might I suggest a stop at Bobbette and Belle for some cupcakes for dessert after, mango passionfruit is my fave :)

Prohibition Gastrohouse

696 Queen Street East

416-406-2669

myprohibition.com

Sweet, Succulent Lobster at The Lobster Trap

I have always loved lobster, although since the discovery of curry crab at Saigon Star, my allegiance had slowly been diverting. We randomly treat ourselves to lobster, whether it's a full lobster served at Pier 4 down by the water, or lobster with e-fu noodles (yi mein) at Congee Wong. Not long ago, I came across an article about the long standing restaurant, The Lobster Trap, famous for the fresh shipments of lobsters from the East coast. With no dinner plan for Friday night, there was no better time to try out this Toronto favourite for the first time!

The Lobster Trap is a casual, friendly restaurant, complete with blue and white checkered table cloths, lobster nets adorning the walls and friendly live keyboard player for Friday night dinner (perhaps other nights as well?). We dined to the Entertainer, something from Phantom, Fur Elise and other "classics." It all added to the lovely, neighbourhood charm of The Lobster Trap. Despite the obviousness of what I would order, a moment of indecision came on deciding how BIG of a lobster I should have: The Lobster Trap serves by weight, starting at 1 lb. Our server recommended 1.5 lb dinner, which comes with soup, a side and a non-alcoholic drink. There was no doubt I was going to start with the lobster bisque (it's almost my life ambition to find the best in the world....Cannery I miss you!!), but I decided 1.5 lbs would be too ambitious and settled for 1 and a quarter :) Decision two was how the lobster would be prepared, steamed or broiled. Steamed was recommended by our server, broiled included bread crumbs in butter spread on the lobster halves and broiled. Naturally, we each chose one preparation so we could give the broiled a try.

I started with the lobster bisque, which was incredibly sweet and tasty.

Tony's clam chowder was stocked full of clams, every spoonful had plenty! Both were great but good clam chowder is easier had than good lobster bisque, so that I highly recommend. We had hot drawn butter with our lobster, which came whole but served in half. This was seriously some of the BEST lobster I have ever had - there was plenty of succulent meat (even in the legs and fin of the tail) and it was more flavourful than we expected, truly the definition of fresh, sweet lobster! And whether you like it or not, even the tamale had a deliciously sweet flavour. My steamed lobster (picture at top) was definitely preferred to Tony's broiled (pictured to the right), the bread crumbs were a bit greasy and took away from the delicious lobster meat on its own. We liked the fresh drawn butter, but really, the meat was sweet and flavourful on its own. We were in heaven!

The Lobster Trap is definitely an old neighbourhood gem, and a must-visit for family friendly service behind the delicious food. We were surrounded by other couples and families happily picking away at the lobster before them. Would anyone really order the 4 lb lobster available on the menu?? That just sounded insane!

The Lobster Trap

416-787-3211 (no reservations)

1962 Avenue Road

www.lobstertraptoronto.com

Great Casual Fare at O&B Canteen

I've posted about Oliver & Bonacini's Canteen in the TIFF Bell Lightbox before, we made a visit when they first opened. We were happy with our meal but only found it average - a good place to go but not some place I was actively recommending. For TIFF this year, we planned ahead for food (eating popcorn for dinner last year wasn't ideal!) and made a pit stop reservation at Canteen between movies. We were pleasantly surprised with a great meal, served quick and excellent service (thanks for taking care of us Joseph!).

Canteen has a wide variety of choices, We were still left with a great

selection of starters, standard mains like pasta, and quickie ones like sandwiches. To start, remembering how great the chicken liver pate was we had to have it, and it was WAY better than we both remembered. There wasn't enough crostini for us to lap it all up! Next, we had the seared scallops served on a bed of curried cauliflower and raisins, a delicious and unique mix of flavours. Yum! For mains, we decided to give the sandwiches a try, which are also available simply for the grab+go counter. I had the beef brisket croissant with havarti and sauerkraut. The croissant was buttery and the brisket was actually pretty lean...the sandwich was heavenly and every bite was a 10! Tony had the pulled pork sandwich with bbq chipotle. It was pretty good but I still think mine was tops!

I highly recommend a stop at Canteen, whether you're in the area because you're checking out TIFF over the next week or if you happen to be downtown and need a quick, inexpensive and delicious meal. This is a worthy place to stop in for something casual or for some simple, unique flavours!

O&B Canteen

330 King Street West (Bell TIFF Lightbox)

647-288-4710

www.oliverbonacini.com/Canteen.aspx (available on Open Table)

High-end Italian at Mistura

The Toronto International Film Festival is upon us again, one of my favourite times of the year here - the city is just buzzing with energy and celebrities! The funny thing when you eat out during TIFF is there is the notorious head swivel - everyone double takes to see if the next guest to walk in is someone famous. This really doesn't happen normally! I wonder if all the restaurants in Yorkville get a bump simply from people hoping to spot a celebrity?

We randomly went to Mistura for dinner tonight - if we're going to eat out, why not take our chances right?? The last time we were here was with our friend Merrill, and we had a fabulous meal. One very memorable dish was the beef carpaccio, so we just had to have that again. I truthfully can't tell you anything else we ate last time, but this is what we ended up with tonight:

Starters:

Beef carpaccio - although this was very very delicious, it was not exactly what I remembered and we could not figure out if we just confused the dish with another restaurant. What I recalled was a wonderful dish of beef carpaccio with truffle and lemon juice, but I don't remember it coming as a wrap around arugula. It was still very good but I aways vote more beef than veggies :P

Summer Fish Soup - something on the seasonal menu, this light yet flavourful soup was a great starter. I find fish soup often doesn't actually have much flavour, but this tasted like a nice slow boiled fish soup that had plenty of taste. Love that the chef isn't afraid of being a little fishy (in a great, fresh way of course!).

Mains:

I went for one of the "untouchables" on the menu, an appetizer size wild boar agnolotti. It was one of the first things that caught my eye and was just DIVINE! I savoured every bite and flavour of the stuffed pasta pockets, lapping up as much of the sour cherry and brown butter sauce as possible. I really didn't want to share with Tony...

Tony went with the pot roasted rabbit, which I was very glad for since it also looked enticing. It was a hearty, saucy dish served generously with two legs and a melange of vegetables. We were even given a spoon to lap up the sauce! It looked so incredibly delicious I couldn't wait to get a taste - every bit as delicious as expected, and although flavourful not overly heavy! That's the thing, good Italian food should not be heavy...

Dessert:

We managed to save a bit of room for dessert, deciding on the semifreddo (a kind of frozen dessert), served with hazelnuts. I'm not actually a huge dessert fan in general but found it a nice way to finish off dinner.

Mistura is a delicious, quality restaurant. It's a bit of a splurge but nothing outrageous and certainly worth it. It looked like the table behind us may have had a custom menu (Chef Massimo stopped by) but I can't be absolutely sure...it sure looked and smelled good! All the well heeled patrons looked like they had delicious meals on their plates and lovely wine accompaniments. I should mention we also had a glass of cab, which often is sub-par to selecting a nice bottle but this was really great!

Mistura

265 Davenport Road

416-515-0009 (available on OpenTable)

www.mistura.ca

Dinner by the Water at Lake House

On our way back from our first cross-border shopping trip last week, we made a quick decision to stop in the Lake House Restaurant. A friend had told us about it before, but being quite out of the way, we never made it out. A phone call on the way secured us a lovely window table and beat the rush that was soon to fill the restaurant.

Starters:

I had a GREAT clam chowder, exactly what I was craving - hearty, full of clams and corn. Tony had a good warm mushroom salad, served with goat cheese and balsamic. Our friend Stephen had some tiger shrimp to start that were prepared with garlic butter. We were all happy with our starters and the speed with which they came! Perfect for our post-shopping hunger.

Mains:

After reading over the menu, I settled on a delicious mushroom risotto,

topped with fried leaks, which was a really nice touch, and seared scallops. The risotto was amazing, although half the portion size would have been more than enough for me.

Tony had the prime rib, which is the dinner special for Saturdays and Sundays. It was HUGE and really good, perfectly prepared at medium rare. As true Albertans, we don't often find good steak, but you can't go too wrong with prime rib. The accompanying mashed potatoes are worth a mention as well, they were not your usual mashed...I hazard a guess that they were actually Yukon gold; in any case, they were very flavourful (no gravy required!).

Stephen also had good beef, the filet mignon recommended by the waitress, served on a bed of gnocchi. We were pleasantly surprised the meat was all very good, but still think my risotto was the highlight :)

Dessert:

I gave up dessert for Lent, in case you had not noticed that sweets have been lacking my posts of late, but Lake House offered up "mini-dessert," for just a taste of something sweet. Stephen opted for the shot glass of creme brulee, which had looked very enticing on the menu, and Tony had a single scoop of sour apple gelato. Both got their small taste of sweets before we were back on the road.

Lake House was the perfect stop, our food was all hot and fresh and we were lucky to have arrived before the restaurant really filled up around 6:30pm. You can tell it's an "old favourite" kind of place, with several groups celebrating birthdays with their families. A summer seat by the window with boats on the lake would certainly make a very nice, romantic dinner.

Lake House Restaurant

3100 North Service Road, Vineland, ON

905-462-6777

http://www.lakehouserestaurant.com/index.htm

Adventurous Eats at The Black Hoof

The Black Hoof has been well received and reviewed in Toronto since its inception 2+ years ago. Regrettably, we never made our way there because of the "no reservations" policy...I am not always keen to line-up, especially given there are so many options in the city. On the warmest weekend of the year yet, we decided to head out to Dundas West and try our luck. I should mention that driving there was probably a mistake - Dundas West is currently under some major road construction with parking at a super premium. It also kind of explained why the area seemed a bit quiet for a Saturday night. We love the neighbourhood and hope the businesses are not suffering too terribly under construction, like those on St. Clair have. But I digress! We walked into a full house around 7pm, not surprising since the restaurant opened at 6pm (parking seriously took some time!), but the hostess was quick to take our number and suggest a place for a drink down the street, The Press Club. I'd probably never walk into the Press Club on my own, but it's a dive'ish-neighbourhoody kind of place, I have no doubt some great times have been had there! Once we arrived, we were pretty sure the rest of the patrons were waiting for tables at the Hoof (we jokingly asked the bar tender if they open early just for those waiting for a table...I think it's true!). We were told it would take up to 45min for a table, but something opened up for us before I could even finish my drink, so back to the Hoof we went for our food adventure!

The Black Hoof's menu is found on a blackboard at the back end of the restaurant - simple sounding items, yet not for the unadventurous. A sample of the food offered can be found on the website, but it's just a sampling of what you might find in person. Although we don't really find the menu all that "adventurous" or crazy, it's definitely not your average restaurant!

No surprise that we tried to order as much as we possibly could (until the waitress tells us it is too much food...but we still find they generally underestimate how much we can eat!). Below is how our indulgent food adventure went:

House cured meats - a fantastic assortment of...well, house cured meats. I can't honestly recall all that came on the platter, but it was plentiful (bigger than I expected, enough for a table of 4+ really!) and we enjoyed all of it. The meat ranged from light to strong and was served with some good, grainy mustard. Loved this, and if you're going to visit a charcuterie, this really is a must have! There wasn't any meat on the board I didn't enjoy.

Bone marrow - served with sea salt and chimichurri. This was a small yet indulgent dish, even the bread that accompanied was indulgent, drenched in butter or oil of some sort. It was, however, quite delicious...the sea salt and chimichurri gave it just a hint of flavour to kick it up a notch.

Smoked beef tartar - this is a pretty standard dish for us to order, but it was not served standard at Black Hoof. It came with bread pressed with garlic and soaked in egg yolk. I am actually not a fan of egg yolk so it felt a bit much for me...but the beef tartar was really AMAZING. GREAT beef taste, and not at all mushy, which some tartars can be. This was very well prepared (minus the heavy bread in my opinion, but I can see how it could be enjoyed by others). I enjoyed it just in its simplicity.

Duck taligatelle - confit with current, brussel sprouts and almond chips, this dish was fantastic...nothing like FRESH pasta (it's a basic expectation from a good restaurant, right?). After the heavy egg-dipped bread from the tartar, I wasn't too thrilled the pasta hid an egg to be mixed, but on another day, I probably would have liked it. Overall though, the pasta was light and delicious, and was almost a pallet cleanser from our heavy, meaty meal.

Glazed pork belly - no doubt we HAD to order this. It was as good as expected (fatty of course, so don't be surprised!), and the accompanying apples were quite delicious. It was the perfect size for the 2 of us to share.

Beef heart and seared scallops -

this was our last dish, but boy, did we save the best for last! I'm glad we didn't sacrifice this in our long list of menu items. It came sort of like a deconstructed salad, but no salad this was (but there were greens!). The beef heart was perfectly seared, softly red in the middle...imagine perfect ahi tuna if you will for the preparation. The delicate, tender flavour was well matched with the seared scallops, seasoned cauliflower and puree. I was so stuffed by the time this dish came (with the pork belly) but I couldn't stop eating! This was definitely our favourite, and most outstanding dish, of the night.

We had a great time at The Black Hoof and were glad we finally made our way there (I'm sorry it took so long!). We have only heard good things from all of you who have stopped in; and yes, it is as good as they say :) It's worth a little adventure out to Dundas West!

The Black Hoof

928 Dundas Street West

416-551-8854

www.theblackhoof.com

Vive La Brunch at Bonjour Brioche

Brunch is very much a part of living in Toronto, there are options galore all over the city, and most are small, quaint little places that have unique offerings with varying specials week to week. Some of our favourite places include Saving Grace (amazing but I recommend visiting on a not-so-hot day!), Aunties and Uncles (the BEST waffles), and Queen and Beaver (this is a dinner post, but the brunch is something a little different and in a lovely setting). This weekend, my friend Julie and I stopped in Bonjour Brioche in Leslieville for a visit. Brunch is great because it's a chance to catch up with friends and enjoy some great comfort food. I often thing brunch could be one of the most unhealthy meals, but oh-so-good, right!? Like most other favourite brunch locations, there are no reservations and it's first come first served...and your whole party better be with you. This worked to our advantage this time, as Julie and I were the first in the line-up to be a "complete" party, and so we were quickly seated on the covered patio, intimately at our little table, ready for our meal! Bonjour Brioche offers daily specials for omlettes, quiches, and sandwiches. The asparagus, brie and apple quiche was very tempting...but I also couldn't resist the call of the croque madame for a savoury taste. I should mention at this point that we had just come from another GREAT place in Leslieville, Bobette & Belle, for cupcake tastings...that is definitely a MUST STOP in the area (try the mango-passionfruit, I guarantee you won't be disappointed, I don't even like cupcakes that much and I love!).

My croque madame was great, with a perfect fried egg on top, served with a healthy side of salad. Julie had the omlette with smoked salmon and caviar - the egg was actually a tad bland but I supposed you really had to mix up the caviar. Our highlight I think was the passionfruit juice - it was fresh and delicious; and best of all, no skimpy little juice glass which is often my pet peeve!

I think I will definitely have to give the quiche and sandwiches a try. There's always next time!

Modern Japanese/Korean Fare at KOKO! Share Bar

We were struggling where to have dinner on Saturday night on our way out from Holt on Bloor. First, I tried to make a last minute reservation at Sushi Couture for Omakase (no luck, need one day's advance notice); next, I tried Swish by Han, a Korean hot pot place near by, suggested by a friend....completely full. Finally, we decided to try One at the Hazelton. We've always wanted to go but never made it and partly wanted to save it for a special occasion. Well, we never made it there. As we were walking, I thought of KOKO Share Bar, which I had read about at some point, but I didn't know where it was...and right there, was the restaurant. We took a quick look at the menu and decided to give it a try.

KOKO Share Bar is a small restaurant, with only about 8-10 tables and one longer table for groups (fits only about 6). It is clean, simple and modern, but not pretentious. Our very personable waiter brought us our menus, gave us some time to look it over, and took us through some of the favourites by section - appetizers, mains, modern and traditional sushi. First, the cocktails were calling my name, some unique drinks mixed with soju. I had the honey ginseng martini - not for everyone but I like ginseng, and Tony had the citrus twist which was delicious in a very understated way - a drink that grows on you more and more one you could sip and drink all night!

We quickly made up our mind about dinner. We started with some modern sushi, the Maguro roll with yellowfin tuna and kimchee mayo. It came topped with okra and was delicious, not overly spicy or with too much mayo - simply delicious. We also had the butterfish sashimi, which was actually torched and served with ponzu, also quite good. For our mains,

Tony had the baked sea bass served with a sweet miso butter and king mushrooms. The fish was served whole and was baked with parchment paper just right, with the perfect firmness for the fish. A bowl of miso butter was served on the side to spread on the fish as you like. This was a nice healthy dish! I decided to have the spicy seafood boullaibaise hot pot.

I imagined some version of one of my favourite dishes, Korean tofu with seafood. The hot pot was a lovely modern version of what I was expecting, a spicy broth infused with seafood flavours and filled with black cod, prawns, scallops and mussels. It's not as spicy as you would get at a traditional Korean restaurant, but the milder taste combined with seafood flavour was just right for me. I slurped up the entire personal pot!

Around us, tables ordered the signature share dishes - you can choose between a Korean platter with pork belly, spicy chicken and Korean bbq or a Japanese platter with assorted sashimi, soft shell crab, and tempura. They looked plentiful and delicious, and with some friends, we'd love to try both out! Overall, we were happy to have stopped in KOKO Share Bar, we enjoyed the modern interpretations of traditional foods, done with respect to the clean, natural flavours of the food itself. The menu is diverse, a good place to visit whether you are normally adventurous or conservative with food -I'm sure you will find something to your liking.

KOKO! Share Bar

81 Yorkville Ave

416-850-6135

www.kokosharebar.com

(reservations available on OpenTable)

Valentine's Day: A Phenomenal Meal At Lee Lounge!

I wasn't sure where we were going for Valentine's Day...it was going to be a surprise! But I had a sneaking suspicion when by chance, I found Susur on twitter last weekend, and noticed that Lee Lounge was going to be open for the 14th, and I was right! Arriving at Lee, we quickly discovered Lee Lounge was really an extension of the always popular Lee, breaking through the East wall of the existing restaurant into a more laid back and open lounge/restaurant area. A case of mismatched expectations, we thought Lee Lounge would be a totally different restaurant like Susur and Madeline's had been in the past, but it actually shares the Lee menu. To be fair, we've always really liked Lee, it just wasn't what we were expecting for whatever reason. We were excited to see Susur in the house and knew we'd have a good meal ahead! There is a refreshed menu, which still boasts favourites like the Singapore slaw, braised beef, cod, orzo and others, but with some new items we were eager to try. Lee was also featuring a "double happiness" Valentine's special menu. We ultimately ended up with a phenomenal feast, a party for our pallets, and one of the best meals we've had in a long time. Susur, we've missed you!

We started with half a dozen oysters from the Valentine's feature menu, topped with a bit of salted chili, shallots and calamansi lime. It added just a hint of flavour to enhance the delicious oysters. And we were on our way for the food adventure! Next came something from the Lee menu, spicy tofu served on a thick honey glaze, coated with a secret mixed spice, aptly named "golden dust" and topped with mushroom and pepper compote. This tofu was AMAZING! You may read a lot of "amazing" in this post, but the tofu was one of the most surprising and enjoyable dishes we had all night. The firm tofu cubes was just loaded with flavour, and not actually too spicy. Every bite was exciting!

Then came the seared diver scallops, also from the regular menu. They were gigantic, seared just right of course, and boasted a familiar old school dim sum flavour while not being traditional at all. I can't tell you exactly what that familiar flavour was, but we felt like the scallops really embodied "modern" Chinese food with traditional influences. No one integrates flavours quite like Susur. We also had the peking duck from e Valentine's menu... served with a deliciously light foie gras mousse. This dish was so intricate and detailed, from the delicate rice wraps, to the exceptionally tender (and plentiful) duck, to the assortment of cucumbers, green onion and persimmon strips that accompanied. It was a fun course, making our fancy little duck wraps and topping it with foie gras, you really can't go wrong. It was light and just enhanced the taste perfectly! Could our meal get any betterr??

The answer is yes. Next came a new addition to the Lee menu, Susur's dish from Top Chef masters, where he scored the highest score on the show: green curry chicken with chili mint chutney and sun fried tomato jam. I don't exactly remember the episode to recall the judge's reactions, but simply this dish was WOW! I was expecting some normal curry dish (sauce like) with chicken; but instead, was served breaded chicken with a unique infusion of green curry flavour accented with other great Thai flavours scents. It tasted so amazing I felt obligated to tell the couple next to us they had to order it (they were already spying on our dishes, I might as well!). This is a MUST-HAVE if you are stopping by Lee, no over-rated dish here.

Needless to say, we were pretty full by the time we got through our dishes, but couldn't possibly pass up dessert. We had the combo platter with chocolate lava cake (always good and a favourite on the menu) with black sticky rice pudding (black barley), and also the new French and Chinese tong-yuen (glutinous rice balls filled with sesame, nuts and other goodies) served on individual spoons. Sooo good and totally worth stuffing our already stuffed bellies.

Lee did not disappoint us this Valentine's Day! We have found some V-Day menus to be sub-par in the past, but Lee's renewed menu along with the new, more luxe and spacious Lee Lounge was definitely a treat for us. Definitely one of the best meals we've had this year! Please stop by and eat the green curry chicken, the tofu and the tong yuen! My one recommendation for Lee Lounge is they need a bigger assortment of cocktails to live up to the lounge name :)

Lee/Lee Lounge

603 King Street West

416-603-2205

http://www.susur.com/lee/