Miscellaneous stuff is where you'll see me muse about anything, trends, chefs, restaurants, the food scene of the places I've visited in general.
We were treated to a dish of complementary rosemary bread with olives and butter. The bread was tasty and the olives were surprisingly good (although it hasn't converted me to become a lover of those little black pellets of bitterness). Over a bottle of very good petit syrah we shared the beef tartare, which was interestingly spicy and served with croutons and a dab of saffron aioli.
For mains we ordered the sweetbreads with turnips and the fazzoletti pasta. Both dishes were good, with the sweetbreads being creamy and browned nicely, though the accompanying squash puree and turnips weren't my favourite. The fazzoletti (which looked like parpardelle) was better, the sauce was infused with big bold flavours while the mushrooms were nice and firm in texture.
Well, for those who are it's fortunate that the waitstaff at Bison Mountain Bistro wear jeans, there is not a tablecloth to be found, though they don't go the extra mile and greet people with "How y'all doin'?" The menu features items from a variety of local sources, which they handily place in a giant appendix on the back of the menu... it all reads and sounds very impressive but as they say the proof is in the eating.
Being the gluttonous pig that I am I ordered three courses that amounted to me being stuffed beyond reason. I started off with the (clearly fished off the Bow River) crab and shrimp "taco", which ended up being an "Asian" take on the dish with three fried wonton skins in place of tortillas. Although there was a nice citrus note to the dish there is something extremely unpalatable I find about all the crab products I've found in various restaurants that make crab cakes or dishes with little pieces of minced up crab meat; now I don't expect many restaurants to be steaming their own crab and then forcing some poor dishwasher to pick it out of the shell but I find that usually reveals a meat with a nice sweet flavour and great texture, in this (and in other) case there is this strange fishiness that is an extreme turnoff (which citrus can only do so well a job of masking).
Next came the main course of pork with braised fennel and handmade noodles. The pork was done nicely, moist and flavourful and the pan sauce that came with it was light but rich in taste. The vegetable accompaniment was also generally done well (in that I mean it wasn't mushy, crunchy, or generally cooked poorly) but the rustic presentation of the fennel (which included the woodier stems and fronds) I could've done without. The least positive part of the dish were the noodles, which I found had a tough and very coarse texture, which is usually a symptom of not-so-well made noodles.
As expected, I succumbed to dessert which resulted in me ordering their take on a s'mores, a flourless chocolate cake (very nice), house-made marshmallow (okay), a graham tuile studded with lavender (like eating a flower-scented cookie) and a pool of creme anglaise (a little runny). Eating this dessert was like learning a harsh lesson on what not to do if I were to be a pastry chef and to always taste my creations before foisting it on the unsuspecting public.
I understand that this review probably sounds extremely harsh but I had high hopes for the place and perhaps with my job being the way it is it made me incredibly picky. But nonetheless I stand by my opinion and to be honest... I'd probably go there again one day.
Divino bills itself as a wine and cheese bistro, and judging by its wine and cheese list it has a pretty extensive collection (though I know only a meagre amount about wine beyond red and white). As usual, I took my casually ragged self to the bar and tried a relatively diverse sampling of dishes, a bison tartare, a tagliatelle with porcini and scallops and a couple of cheeses from its list.
The tartare was the best dish of the night, nicely presented with potato chips, frisee, and a quarter of goat cheese. Though it was very difficult to try and stack the ingredients together and eat it it was good nonetheless. The tartare was refreshing (hard to describe for a dish of raw beef) with a bit of heat that went well with all the other things on the plate. Unfortunately I can't say quite the same about the tagliatelle, which seemed to have the virtue of being made in house but the texture of the noodles was indelicate, having more the consistency of spaetzle than a refined pasta. The porcini stood out in the creamy sauce (flecked with what I believe to be parmeggiano) but I didn't feel the what appeared to be boiled scallops (without the virtues of it being either raw, delicately steamed or seared, though I could definitely see a hint of the browning that indicates it having hit a hot pan at one point in time) or spinach had a positive impact on the dish.
Not in the mood for dessert (added to the fact that it billed itself as a cheese bistro), I opted for a couple of selections of cheese at 6 dollars each. I was told that they came in 1.5 oz. portions, which after eating all that food before was more than enough for me. The Brillat-Savarin (a triple-cream cheese from Normandy) and the Morbier (another French selection, but made of sheep's milk and firm) were both good, the first one being artery-clogging rich and briny and the second being delicate but packing a late punch of flavour. Served with a tiny ramekin of fig preserves and more of the good complementary bread it ended the meal on a high note.
I ordered the BBQ pork ramen and a side order of gyoza. Service was over the counter and the first mark of disappointment was when I noticed that the gyoza were pulled out of the fridge, pre-cooked. I was asked if I wanted it heated up, at which point I stated the obvious answer (I didn't come to a restaurant to eat cold, pre-cooked food). In the end they were tasty and the filling was nice (not like the typical stuff you get in a bag from the freezer) but the wrapper themselves were irrevocably damaged by the pre-cooking and the subsequent reheating.
Soon after came the bowl of ramen, which suffered from similar highs and lows. The noodles were decent, a very yellow eggy kind (which was a little new to me), cooked to a good consistency for fresh noodles (not mushy or clumpy) but the soup tasted like powdered mix from an instant ramen package and the Japanese-style BBQ pork was exceptionally dry, almost like chewing on jerky. The prices being what they are here, I can't say I recommend this place... perhaps if the cook could cook more things from fresh and revamp a couple of the recipes then maybe I'd return... although I would still give some of the other menu items a try.
Japanese food is to sushi as Chinese food is to dim sum, there's a broad spectrum of fantastic foods that people are missing out on if they restrict themselves to that line of thought. Conversely, most of our Japanese choices in the area are limited to sushi, tempura and teriyaki so it's not surprising.
A party of four tried out Ematei on St. Patrick just off of the subway station that bears the same name. In addition to sushi (which my friend craved) I was particularly interested in trying out the yakitori items listed on the menu. We ordered a full on assault of food, ranging from gyoza to grilled hamachi to duck breast to the odd tuna and cheese maki. Dinner came to around 25 dollars per person after tax and tip.
The best dishes of the evening were the uni sushi (fresh uni and nicely seasoned rice), the previously mentioned duck breast stuffed with spinach (still pink in the centre with crisp skin), and the hamachi (also crisp skin, not cooked to dryness and delicious in its pure simplicity). Misses were the infamous tuna cheese roll (in my opinion if you're eating cooked tuna you might as well just have canned) and the dark meat chicken yakitori (cooked dry, unfortunately... which the dark meat is supposed to negate). The so-so items included the aforementioned gyoza (nice to see it pan fried but it resembled all the other ones that come frozen from a bag), tempura (competently done), tekka maki (never been a huge fan of it personally... difficult to gauge good tuna from excellent in that dish), and spider roll (tasty but found it could use some avocado or other ingredient besides soft shell crab).
So, what's my advice? Stick with the grilled slabs of meat and the more traditional sushi offerings. In the future I hope to return and sample their other offerings, including some of the more esoteric items one probably couldn't find in a Korean or Chinese owned establishment.
The Belmont Village on the border of K/W is now home to a new crepe place. Having heard various things about it I decided to go and give it a shot, afterall, how bad could it be? (Please read the review of the other Waterloo crepe place to find out). This restaurant prides itself on offering organic produce and foods of significant health benefits (think yuppie gratification), which I guess explains the sky high prices for brunch. 10 dollars bought me a single buckwheat crepe (used for various savoury applications), a single poached egg (touted on the menu as one of those Omega 3 eggs), a nape of good hollandaise sauce, a few slices of smoked salmon and an orange wedge garnish.
I won't go too much into the whole theory of restaurant economics but for me the final arbiter of a dish is taste and texture, not the provenance of the ingredients or how many hand massages the cow received before being knocked off or how many dolphins were saved in the fishing process (although that is not to say I don't support ecologically sustainable foods, which has always been a concern throughout history) and although this place delivered a good dish the cost did not justify the quality of the final dish I received. After my main dish and an additional tea my meal came to over 16 dollars, which seemed quite excessive. Service was adequate and the decor was nice for a neighbourhood restaurant but I honestly don't know how often I can go back there... I am certain an average man would leave there hungry eating what I ordered.
It's been some time I wrote about a restaurant so I guess I'll make an effort. Had a monthly chowmeet at Mengrai, touted by some as the best and authentic Thai restaurant in Toronto... and after eating there I'm not entirely sure what they were so enthusiastic about. Needless to say since I'm writing this two months after the dinner my memory isn't as good as it can be. As a result I'm just going to provide the brief points of my meal.
Plusses: The amuse of stir fry in a small nest, Red curry with lychee, Pumpkin soup
Minuses: Beef curry (nice smoky flavour but otherwise bland), Pad Thai (also a bit bland), Shrimp with avocado sauce (the sauce was nice but nothing special). I guess you can sum these dishes up with "blah".
From the outside it looks like a tacky homage to Teutonic beer and food but if you walk past the assorted barflies staring at the TV you'll discover a charming dining room with a large central fireplace.
My friend got a couple of pounds of dry cajun chicken wings and I went all out with the smoked pork chop with braised cabbage (I'm sure there was something else, like a vegetable but it's been nearly two months since I ate there). The cabbage was tasty, tender without being sludge with the sweet red wine braising liquid front and centre. The chop was of mammoth proportions, hot and smoky and tender. The chicken wings came with a pretty standard cajun spice, although it seemed oddly dark. Alas, like most other wings in the city I felt that they were overcooked, which means the meat was dry and stringy.
After that and a few nice bitter beers we left around sixty dollars poorer.
Janet Lynn's has been a Kitchener/Waterloo landmark for over twenty years and as the grand dame of fine dining in the area I felt it was appropriate that I go there once before either I leave or it leaves. I have to admit that it has a pretty intimidating exterior, partially because it has this appearance of a fortress and the shuttered up windows (even when it's open) doesn't really help.
The place has been in its current incarnation for about a decade, and it sure looks that way: floral wallpaper, impressionist art, tired patterned carpet interspersed with old-style tile, and old 80's style bar dominating the dining room. A fresh coat of paint, a few sleek paneled woods would make a world of difference to make the place seem less like a funeral home. Only the slightly loungey area by the street gave any semblance of something not quite so tired.
Unfortunately, the menu gave me a very similar impression to the one I got the dining room, filled with all manner of old soups (lobster bisque and the day's special, cream of mushroom), salads (including the eponymous Caesar salad), fried calamari (this day and age, in a place such as this?), and so forth while the mains did little to raise my spirits (although a couple of slightly interesting choices were offered), including a 3 (yes, three) oz. beef tenderloin... perhaps it was a menu item to appeal to the steak-eaters who wanted to show people they could afford tenderloin without forking over a lot of cash.
In the end I opted for bisque and sweetbreads special, upon which I was presented what I could only describe as the most pretentious bread plate I've ever seen: Three pieces of focaccia (unfortunately it had more of a dinner roll kind of texture than one I'd like to see in a proper focaccia) propped up this massive round piece of lavash like a couple of bookends propping up a world atlas. Needless to say, the lavash toppled with the slightest touch and sadly tasted much like a cracker.
My bisque (at nearly 14 dollars) came garnished with a single scallop and shrimp (cooked properly), which made me wonder I what exactly I was paying for (although the rest of the menu seemed to have no lobster options perhaps just expended entire lobsters in the creation of the soup). Having had that memorable bisque at Sandbar a couple of months ago this one failed to set off similar fireworks, it had a familiar lobster taste but with the lack of a stronger flavour or a glancing blow from another flavour it felt bland to me.
The sweetbreads came next, matched with plain grilled vegetables and toonie-sized potato latke facsimiles and a mustard-based sauce. The sweetbreads were decent enough (although a little overdone) and the sauce did manage to cut the richness of the offal (it had a taste that was strangely similar but I couldn't wrap my finger around) but the other two items (if relatively competently done) just didn't do anything for me; it felt like a dish that was assembled by throwing darts on a board of ingredients and as a result I got the above-mentioned composition.
Having already gone so far I felt it was only appropriate to go all the way with dessert. A "classic" selection of old standbys, including chocolate cake, cheesecake (oddly enough, the one I was offered also seemed to be offered four months ago from another review I read), ice creams, and pecan pie I was tempted not to order, but in the end gave myself to the "sinful" chocolate cake served with a nearly undetectable creme anglaise and slightly icy very very subtle vanilla ice cream. Much to its credit the cake wasn't dry from its stay in the refrigerator (unfortunately a lot of homemade cakes seem to suffer from this problem) but was otherwise unremarkable.
Before tip the meal came to just over fifty dollars, of which I could've used to buy a box of pep pills to wake me up in the middle of dinner.
At the expense of being cruel, all I can say is that please, let's put this "grand dame" out of her drooling misery, or at least give her a new lease on life.
I've always felt that Hong Kong style Western food was sweet revenge for the proliferation of American Chinese food: usually overcooked spaghetti, things that tastes like gravy or sauce mix, starchy cream soups, steaks and chops that seem like they've been marinading in a solution of baking soda (surely they don't use USDA Prime or Berkshire for those prices) and the only things I'd take Canadian friends to eat are French Toast and drink Milk Tea. However, I was persuaded to give Amigo (right across the street from Star Walk) a try and after having their very cheap lunch special ($4.99 on weekdays, $5.99 on weekends) I might actually consider taking people there.
I ordered the vegetarian curry with rice while my mother ordered the pork chop with onion gravy. The curry was what impressed me, it didn't taste of the standard curries you'd get at Chinese or Japanese places and really reminded me of the flavours of India. The depth of flavours really gave the vegetables the punch it needed.
My mother's chop came slightly overcooked and in a generous portion. Unlike most Chinese places, which would use copious amounts of sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) to tenderize the meat (and gives it this strange texture and taste I can recognize quite easily) this place stuck to its guns and delivered the goods. The pasta it was served with, unfortunately was less impressive and after our trip to Italy we haven't found pasta to match the stuff we had there. Lunch for two came to under fifteen dollars.
Off the beaten path of the most touristy part of San Antonio, Acenar is located on a quieter part of the Riverwalk district. It claims to serve a modern riff on Tex-Mex, which, if it simply means use of great ingredients and prep techniques then I'm all for it. I have to admit that I wished I was a little hungrier so I could try a couple more items since the food that was brought by my table looked promising.
The place was pretty busy and I was lucky to get a seat. Since I wasn't hungry, I ordered a "modest" meal of oyster tacos and a traditional margarita. The margarita was boozy and refreshing... which was fortunate since I'm not a huge fan of tequila so I was hoping it wouldn't be too dominant. While I downed my drink I also feasted on complementary tortilla chips and a spicy chipotle salsa (smoky and spicy, really nice... although it needed a bit more salt). As I sat there reading my book I noticed a feast of main courses pass by me, all of which looked really good. It's a shame that I wasn't really hungry, or I'd order them.
My oyster taco came soon after, served with the typical refried beans (although this one's garnished with queso fresco) and some rice. The tacos themselves were really great, there's the sweetness of pineapple and the mayo didn't make the dish overwhelming rich, considering the oysters were fried. I wish there were a couple more oysters in the taco, but overall really nice. The beans were a little bland (I think it could just be fixed with salt, but I guess it's not the tradition around here) and the rice was nicely cooked and full of flavour.
If I ever pass by San Antonio, this would certainly be a place I'd like to try again, just for the fantastic looking main courses.
Whenever I'm on a trip I like to treat myself to one meal where I'm surrounded by the finer things in life, and for my conference trip to San Antonio I chose to go to Le Reve, a classical French restaurant on Pecan, near the edge of the Riverwalk a few minutes away from the hustle and bustle of the tour boats and loud raucous restaurants. After a pretty exhaustive search for the place I managed to find it located opposite a closed BBQ joint and a pretty sketchy Greyhound bus terminal. Dressed like the veritable bum that I am, the imposing maitre'd stand (located outside the restaurant) and the locked door gave me a hint that I may not be able to get dinner there so I turned the corner and walked nervously into the depressingly empty Sandbar (I believe it's owned by the same people who own Le Reve) and threw myself at its mercy.
The Sandbar is a pretty stark looking place, with whitewashed walls, a stainless steel bar behind which the kitchen staff presides over their treasure of fresh seafood and a large blackboard hanging above the bar on which the menu is laid out.
Let me just preface my impressions of the food and service by admitting that I didn't really feel like eating cold food that night, I was hungry and it wasn't particularly warm outside. Perhaps that coloured my initial view of the place but that soon passed.
I started the evening with a glass of Riesling (at least I certainly hope it was) and read the menu from front to back and front again, looking at the hot choices on the menu. Not wishing to stuff myself too much I decided to get the fish ceviche and one of the hot fish specials that was available, the sable cooked sous-vide (in layman's terms vacuum sealed food in a bag and poached). The ceviche was delicious, fresh generous chunks of fish (tuna and some white fish) marinated in sharp lime, coriander and other flavours and served with croutons and expertly sliced avocado. As I feasted on the first course I noticed a person next to me trying a bowl of the roasted lobster bisque (I have to admit that it piqued my curiosity but I didn't want to order too much food) so I decided to follow suit and order a cup of it myself. It's difficult to describe the soup because I hadn't tasted anything quite like it anymore: the roasted lobster gave the soup a flavour that was out of this world, but it also added a slightly bitter note (combined with the pure rich decadence of it all) that made it increasingly difficult to eat. The parker house rolls that came with the soup were fantastic, warm and soft.
The one sour note of the evening came in the main course, where I quickly found out that the fish was still very uncooked on the inside. Having carefully informed the waiter and the chef (the hot kitchen seems to be located in the back, possibly the same one as the main restaurant kitchen) of the issue it was whisked away and I was asked if I wanted a slice of key lime pie on the house. When it came back a second time the fish was just leaning over the precipice of "done", and I was poured some more riesling (again on the house). After I given a chance to really eat the dish I have to admit that I like my fish just a little more cooked than that, as well I thought the vegetables and broth were nice but unremarkable for the price tag (32).
Finally, I was served my slice of complementary key lime pie. The curd was wickedly tart (but very refreshing) and the graham crust was neither too oily or too crumbly. A quenelle of lime whipped cream topped the dessert. With the restaurant having picked up during my dinner, my wallet relieved of some excess cash and feeling slightly flushed, I wandered outside, my stomach having been satisfied... until the next time it hungers (it also happens to be a pretty expensive battle).
Although I went to more than the three above-mentioned places while I was in San Antonio, I felt that these three places were the best places to write about since I remember their names and each place gave me a distinctly different experience.
The Original is located in the heart of San Antonio "Disneyland", the Riverwalk area. The menu consists of various Tex-Mex standbys such as enchiladas, tacos, chicken mole, and fajitas, including also a variety of other Mex favourites. I ordered the chile rellenos, which came as a gargantuan platter with two stuffed poblanos (one oozing with what looked like American cheese and one bursting with enough ground beef to give a squadron of monkeys hypertension and topped with a mound of melted cheese), a dollop of mashed beans, rice and another small ramekin of stewed beans. I have to admit that there were bright points to the meal, the stewed beans had a nice smoky bacon flavour and the meat-stuffed poblano satisfied my gluttonous urges for food... but a few bites later I was ready to surrender and toss it away before it would consume my soul. On the other hand, the refried beans were plain (on par) and the rice was a pretty gnarly mess of broken rice that looked like it was reheated pretty poorly. All in all I spent about twenty dollars to be stuffed for the entire day, the remains of the chile relleno having become my dinner (Word to the wise, eating yellowy brown congealed mass stuffed in a cold roasted chile is not good eats).
I admit it, I generally hate brunch. Very few line cooks like to work that shift (presumably they're all hung over) and it's always the same old menu. However, I have to admit that I have moments of weakness and a nice greasy American breakfast with starch, fat, and proteins can really hit the spot.
Eating out alone is something I enjoy doing: Not only does it satisfy my antisocial leanings, but it also gives me a chance to evaluate and inspect the food without the distraction of the "other people" (as much as I love my usual dining companions). At first I was pining for sushi, but I realized that I was sort of getting into a rut with regards to where I was eating, so I made my way to Queen Street West and the much talked about Rosebud (The owner is a fan of Citizen Kane).
The place was fully booked that night so I decided to sit at the "Bar" (it was more of a counter that was facing the wall... although through the mirror placed in front of me I could see the bar). For dinner, I decided to go "light" and "merely" order two items, the chicken liver pate and the seared scallops with braised oxtail and a frisee salad.
The pate came with a number of toasted croutons and tasted quite nice (faint liver taste, with primarily thyme overtones). A layer of clarified butter on top served to protect the cache inside.
The scallops came seared proficiently (luscious brown on the outside and tender moist on the inside), the oxtail was still moist and rich and the salad was perched prettily on top and dressed with a light hand.
The meal came to just under 35 after taxes.
It's been forever since I had a Korean, but at the suggestion of female maternal dining companion we decided to go to the Seoul House Restaurant, which specializes in Korean BBQ.
It was 4 in the afternoon when we arrived, so needless to say it was pretty much devoid of people. The maternal dining companion was torn between the Dolsot Bi Bim Bap and the BBQ, but since she wanted the Banchan (little side dishes) we ended up ordering the beef rib BBQ. The BBQ came with the rib meat, deboned and marinated, the bones themselves, the side dishes, a bowl of miso soup, slivered peppers and garlic, a bowl of red and white rice mix, a miso paste, and lettuce leaves for accompaniment.
Soon after we ordered our dinner, the server brought a small container, topped with five pieces of charcoal and placed it above the gas burner. On top of the brazier she then placed a stainless steel grate on top and began to grill our food. A few of special touches that made this meal better than the average Korean grill place included the special rice we were given, the lettuce leaves (I believe in Korea they use a different sort of vegetable leaf), the miso/garlic/chili accompaniment, the tenderness of the meat and the attention that was given to its presentation and service and the solid side dishes that were served. The banchan ranged from fair (such as the braised eggplant, which had the familiar firm texture, of which neither me nor maternal dining unit were particularly fond of) to very good (the potato in sauce, the stir fried peanuts with little fish) although my mother was disappointed not to get any of the mung bean noodle dish chap chae.
At the end of the meal we feasted on the grilled bones, tea, and a sixty dollar meal for two.
Here begins yet another review that would be old hat if you've read any of my other K/W ramblings, although the reasons for this little bout of silliness occurred for entirely different reasons.
In what seems to be a relatively shameless ripoff of a nearby Thai restaurant (by the name of Thai Sun) a friend and I decided to check out Viet Sun, a restaurant that was built upon the corpse of the old Viet Thai on Regina and Erb. Although the inside was definitely renovated from the previous incarnation (which looked like a seedy pub or pool hall circa 1970), it still retained a pretty unappealing (albeit clean) look to it. Approaching hunger point, we ordered the shrimp rolls to start followed by Vietnamese curry with rice and the vermicelli with grilled pork, cane shrimp and spring roll.
The first sign of trouble was that the restaurant was merely half-full, on a Friday night and it appeared that all the tables had to wait a substantial amount of time for their food. Apparently there was just one person cooking in the kitchen (while there appeared to be three very apologetic waitresses working the floor... a little disproportionate, no?), which I hope for their sake will fix in the future.
Our rolls came after about fifteen minutes, filled with too much noodles and not enough of the other goodies. It came in a pretty standard peanut garnished hoisin that, in my opinion is the wrong sauce to serve with this subtle-tasting dish, the nuoc cham or a thin chili and citrus-spiked peanut sauce would be better in my opinion.
My friend's vermicelli, which arrived another fifteen minutes later was alright, the pork wasn't particularly dry yet still nicely smoky from its treatment, although the spring roll was a little dense.
My curry dish (which came after another half hour, numerous apologies and empty promises) was unfortunately bland and one-dimensional. A good Vietnamese curry has a contrast of hot, sweet, rich, and savoury that wasn't particularly noticeable in this version. The rice that it was served with was served on a sad little dish that was to eat on without getting curry or rice on the table. At least the chicken wasn't dry (it was dark meat) and the potatoes were cooked well.
Unfortunately, there are better Vietnamese places to be had in Waterloo, and that combined with the serious staff shortage in the kitchen made for a restaurant that people will probably be loathe to visit a second time.
Before the onset of globalization people typically ate what was around them, only things that would survive a long journey without spoiling (like spices, dried fish, etc.) could be imported from far away. Xin Jiang Restaurant, mostly serving foods from the Xinjiang region (far western China) is a good example of this as their use of protein is heavily influenced by what is around (sheep) and their seasonings and cooking techniques resemble its neighbours (nearby Tibet, Nepal, India, the -istan countries).
Rugs and tapestries adorn the walls of the restaurant and staff are dressed in uniforms that I would interpret as indigineous clothing. Hoping not to stuff ourselves silly for the BBQ later that evening we got the cold noodles, lamb dumplings and the stewed lamb served atop nan.
The cold noodles, admittedly our least favourite dish was quite unlike what I had expected. Having the texture of almond jelly (a cantonese style dessert) in a chili-spiked sauce/broth that resembled the stuff served with small Szechuan style wontons, I would've preferred a noodle that was more similar to the traditional Chinese wheat noodle and a more aggressively seasoned broth. The lamb dumplings were tasty, with tender cumin-spiced minced lamb wrapped in a thin wheat skin, although I think my friend and I would've preferred it with a little more dimensionality than the hit of cumin. The stewed dish with nan was in our opinion the most successful dish. Richly flavoured with some chili (although judging from the waiter's warning we expected it to be spicier), and soy the lamb was tender and pleasant tasting, with the fried nan (that sort of resembled a pizza) soaked up the rich and balanced sauce well.
We left the restaurant with full bellies, an appreciation for the cuisine of the other ethnic groups of China and around thirty dollars poorer.
I have to admit, I'm not normally a fan of raw oysters, but there are times when a person faces a pretty significant revelation and finally understands why a particular food is so revered and potentially so delightful... and Starfish showed me how good oysters can be.
I sat at the oyster bar of Starfish, a lost and lonely soul just wanting to try out the oysters. Fortunately, a number of very open and friendly regulars managed to brighten up my night as I slurped down a number of really nice selection of oysters (all plump, meaty, and fresh-tasting, even the diminutive kumamoto oyster) and chomped down on a seared halibut (a touch overcooked but not shoe leather like in King Crap) with a tasty crab cake and a lobster-based sauce.
The restaurant's shucker (and owner) Patrick deftly opened oysters all night and regaled the regulars (I guess I was just eavesdropping) with various oyster stories all night. That, combined with a couple of drinks and whatever insidious drug oysters secrete to give them such a vaunted reputation loosened by wallet of seventy some-odd dollars, after tax and tip.
The place bills itself as a "Friterie de luxe", which I personally feel is a pretty cute descriptor for a hole-in-the-wall lunch box near Rachel and St. Laurent. Six hungry grad students, professor, and ex-grad students (including myself) marched hungrily around downtown Montreal looking for someplace that would satiate some of their poutine cravings.
We entered the small place and found it packed with takeout and eat-in orders, most of whom occupied the bar area around the open kitchen occupied by two burger and fry slingers. I got the burger (very much like a grilled slider) with fries and salad. The burger was pretty decent (although I do prefer a thick burger that's slightly pink on the inside) and came with a quality bun and the shoestring fries were pretty good in my opinion, but could've been crispier (many people preferred thicker fries to thinner ones).
A fellow grad student (girl) liked the BLT and enjoyed the place while others were less impressed by the poutine (comments ranging from the soft curds to the not-thick-enough gravy, although even I thought the olives as poutine garnish was a bit odd myself). Prices came to just over six dollars a person.
.
.
Sometimes the mental state/mood of a person has as much bearing on their perception of the restaurant as the food, service, and decor of the place, and I have to say that after wandering aimlessly in the downpour and finding myself dripping wet (again somewhat unknowingly) into the warm comforting space of Au Pied de Cochon that it set the perfect backdrop for a great experience.
The place was packed on a Sunday night and I could see a tank of seafood and a beautiful wood-burning oven from the entrance. The only free seat being at the kitchen bar, I took the chance to watch the kitchen at work, which was surprising and fantastic.
In addition to a glass of the Au Pied de Cochon (APD) beer, I sort of threw caution to the winds and ordered a number of items I'd either a) not tried before, or b) the place was famous for, which ended with me getting what I call "Shawn's Nightmare": An Omelette of calf brain and shrimp, Foie Gras Poutine, and the Boudin plate. The server warned me that it would be a lot of food (which I found later would be correct), but I had three days in the city and I couldn't care less if I was acting like a glutton pulled straight out of Imperial Rome.
The server was casual and charming (and cute, but should that really factor into things?) and did the smart thing by splitting my meal into three courses, starting from the light appetizer to the heavier boudin (although to be honest, if you're going to APD you're not going for lean cuisine). The omelette came after I helped myself to a few servings of their good complementary bread with butter. Drizzled with a generous amount of olive oil (which, I must admit it could've done without) and two toasted pieces of the bread, the omelette was pale and nicely cooked (not rubbery), dotted with visible pieces of brain (it was rich and creamy with a very subtle taste), brunoised potato and shrimp. Next came the signature foie gras poutine (they have an entire section on their menu dedicated to foie), which came with tasty house made fries atop a pile of firm (which is good) curds and topped with generous pieces of seared foie (served medium rare, which is uncommon here) and two sauces, one which seemed like it was mounted with chunks of foie gras. It was an extremely guilty pleasure and most likely I would've been happy and stuffed with just eating that one dish. The Boudin (blood sausage) came as I was still recovering from all the previous food and was served with a cabbage/vegetable stewed in wine and served atop some really rich and buttery potato puree. The Boudin was subtly spiced, crumbly and moist, whose richness was countered by the vegetable confit and heightened by the potato.
By the time I finished the boudin (I had to leave one uneaten), the server managed to seduce me with a "light" dessert, a panna cotta with rhubarb and chiffonade of basil... which certainly did deliver on his promises, it was a light-as-air "custard" (panna cotta is actually cream and buttermilk set with gelatin) dotted with tart pieces of stewed rhubarb and refreshing basil strands. However, I did have problems with the fact that it wasn't sweetened enough to my taste (if it was sweetened at all), and although sweetening it might've made it less refreshing, it would've tasted better, in my opinion and offset the extreme sour taste of rhubard.
So two hours later and a mountain of food later, I stumbled out of APD and into the dark wet streets of Montreal feeling like I had a stomach filled with lead, but happy lead.
Whenever I go to an unfamiliar city I like to explore and see what's around. Another thing I like to do when visiting an unfamiliar city is to try some of the "famous" places of that city, a mix of the random hole in the way to the more methodical "food lover's destination".
Incidentally, in this case I wanted to try one of the landmark smoked meat places, but didn't know where they were, so I considered myself lucky when I simply "ran into" the famous Schwartz's deli, one of the couple of places where Montreal Smoked Meat gets its reputation from.
It was a busy Sunday lunch service and I got myself a takeout smoked meat sandwich, plain with just a dab of deli mustard. Having had smoked meat and "Montreal-style smoked meat" at various places, I can't stress the difference between cold or reheated deli meat and a freshly warm piece of smoked meat, shaved and slathered between two slices of rye. All the elements of the sandwich, the moist meat, the peppery crust, the yellow mustard, the bits of fatty beef were just delicious and for far less than the pastrami sandwich I got at Katz's (nearly a third of the price, counting the exchange rate). I'd say that Schwartz's reputation for smoked meat is deserved.
Although the culinary profession is getting a lot more time in the limelight than it used to be and chefs (and people who pretend to know how to cook) are appearing more and more frequently on television, the majority of the industry is still a low wage, blue collar job that doesn't provide widespread glory or fame and full of hard work and a hell of a lot of standing (so be prepared to wear some good shoes) and heat.
As a result of this trend, we've seen a drastic increase in the enrollment of culinary school students (and subsequently an increase in the number of dropouts and cooks that continue soldiering in the profession in the long term), and those that do soldier on are burdened with massive debt.
In light of all this, what is my advice for a possible career-changer or someone who's just trying to get their feet wet in the culinary field? Go see the real world first, work in some restaurants and see if it's something you want to devote your life to in the future before you saddle yourself with so much debt. Some schools (such as George Brown) even have an apprenticeship program that confers a diploma at a fraction of the cost of the regular program. So go to work at a real place to pick up important restaurant experience and use culinary school as an opportunity to get a large breadth of skills and techniques and always expand your horizons.
I'm tired of eating disappointing food, especially complex or expensive food done poorly. The uni disaster at Nagano, the embarrassment at King Crap, and this most recent bit of strangeness at Sole solidified my current feelings on the matter. Greeted by good solid service, I was determined to try and enjoy the brunch items offered at Sole. With a short card of five items, I was sure that the ingredients used would be fresh and done well, as is usually the philosophy behind short menus (one that I fully embrace).
In the end I ordered quite possibly their most ambitious and hearty item, an eggs benedict with duck confit, asparagus, and bearnaise sauce. What I got instead was a credible, but too-softly poached egg perched atop microscopic shreds of duck leg on good toasted foccacia sandwiching three spears of crisp asparagus on a pool of "bearnaise" that resembled the consistency and flavour of skim milk. Having thought I misread the menu description, I decided to not send it back and choked the whole thing down. Dessert was a nice carrot cake with a caramel-based icing and sauce, although the icing was unpleasantly firm from refrigeration and possibly staleness while the cake was nicely dense and smooth. Brunch came to nearly 25 dollars after tax, and I left feeling somewhat ripped off, especially considering the benedict was tagged at a price of $14.90 before taxes.
Do you ever get that ominous feeling sometimes, the feeling that something very bad is going to happen to you... perhaps like being in Hiroshima a few minutes before they dropped the bomb? I did, at Nagano, a restaurant in Cambridge (at the corner of Hespeler near the 401). The restaurant serves Japanese and Korean food, including an "Omakase" meal for two or more. Since we didn't call ahead, we opted to simply try a lunch special and a couple of a la carte sushi choices to test the waters. We were greeted with miso soup and green salad, dressed with the ubiquitous "Japanese dressing", although I wish that some places tried to make something a little different but still in the spirit of the style of cuisine.
We didn't realize what were in for until our a la carte order arrived, two pieces of nigiri toro and uni each. The toro was meh and more than fridge cold, tasted fishy and there were a couple of unsavoury bits in there, possibly tendon related (toro and other fatty fish unfortunately can suffer easily from fishiness due to its oiliness and cannot be stored for a long time) while the uni tasted adequate at first, until the strange, bitter aftertaste set in, which lingered on our tongue for a good ten minutes. It was at that point we feared we ate something we shouldn't have or possibly ate a poisonous garnish not meant for human consumption.
Now that the bomb was dropped, we prayed for mercy and hoped the less esoteric sashimi choices (we got the sashimi lunch and chirashi sushi respectively) would prove to be safer, but alas, the "radiation poisoning" part of the meal set in. Bombarded continuously by slightly fishy whitefish, pallid, slightly frozen and flavourless maguro, not bad salmon (probably due to turnover), and decent imitation crab (it was the best part of the meal, in my opinion), we continued to eat our meal, knowing in the back of our minds that it may be our very last.
The sado-masochistic meal came to over 50 dollars for two after tax and tip and we left hoping that there was a deity out there watching us and that it would be merciful and not laugh mockingly at us, having made it a subject of our constant ridicule.
A really good roti (whether in the style of the east or west indies) is a beautiful thing, although I have to admit that I vastly prefer the east indies version, or maybe I simply haven't had a good caribbean roti. A fresh, piping hot piece of bread, fresh off the griddle or oven filled with a treasure trove of delicious fillings is unbeatable any time of the year.
In a desire not to break my bank too badly. I decided to have a more economical lunch consisting of a piping hot butter chicken roti (My old chef at the Indian restaurant noted, correctly so, that the whities enjoyed their Butter Chicken... I guess I'm more white than I'd hoped). After looking at the prices posted, I realized that my meal would cost 50% more than a roti at any decent caribbean place, which would definitely fit less into the whole "not breaking my bank account" thing I was trying to adhere to. The roti came as I had hoped, a beautifully hot and fresh piece of flat bread wrapped around a lot of sensual butter chicken, spiced medium. I have to admit that it wasn't the best butter chicken I've ever had, but it was a good rendition, good tomato, cream, and butter flavours with a good heat and spiciness, although I felt that the potatoes detracted from the richness of the filling.
With my tongue still tingling from the chilies, I decided to go cool it down with some refreshing gelato. Having seen the place from the outside, I decided to finally check out Solferino on Wellington. The place sells a variety of gelato in some nice flavours, a few sandwiches, and a number of baked goods courtesy of Dufflet's. Since I wanted to try out a couple of flavours, I opted for the medium (5 dollars after taxes) avocado and vanilla. The vanilla was pretty good, lots of vanilla aroma and visible specks of vanilla bean. However, the avocado was not quite as satisfying, since it seemed like the avocadoes used in the gelato were not ripe enough (and on top of that were there little pieces of debris, possibly from the pit) which, combined with the lack of sugar made it taste somewhat grassy and, for lack of better term raw.
And so with my stomach stuffed and my wallet emptied, I hoisted my backpack, turned my back to the dark little town and made my way home.
Although normally I'd start the segment with something to set the mood of the article and the circumstances of my visit to the eatery, I'm going to start this one with a single phrase that sums up my feelings: thank you, try again.
I've also realized that if I were a food writer for K/W, I would probably anger nearly every chef and owner in the area with my typically negative critcism of the food. Fortunately, I lack neither the writing ability nor the ambition to become a fiery thorn in the side of local restauranteurs. I don't do this to get a reaction, and I understand a small portion of the keys to running a successful restaurant, but I do express how I honestly feel about the places I write about.
I've yammered on enough about myself, now on to the restaurant. King Crab, operated by the King Street Trio people was once a Long John Silver and they did a decent job of hiding that fact. Studio lights, an open kitchen and dim light make the restaurant a reasonably nice one, although the chairs felt strangly... cheap. I also noticed that the restaurant was a small one, seating around 60 people.
In the mood to treat my friend to a nice dinner, we opted to spend big, starting off with a half liter of red (the wine list could use some less common and more interesting choices, IMO). A basket of decent (although strangely white-bread soft) complementary foccacia came with some olive oil and balsamic vinegar. For appetizers we started off with the chowder (my friend is a big chowderhead), and half a dozen oysters, which came to 15 dollars per six. I would gladly pay those sort of prices if they warranted it, but the oysters (of three different varieties) were small and the accompanying three condiments did not help (although the oysters themselves were decently briny). The clam chowder faced similar disappointment; although at first glance it appeared to contain a treasure trove of goodies, it tasted entirely bland to us. A very generous shake of the salt shaker and generous grinds of pepper did little to alleviate it.
Next in this review of horrors come the main courses. Considering that there were only six people in the dining room, and it appeared that the other four people had already gotten their food, I expected them to watch over the food like a hawk, since I would've done no less on the line. Alas, if they were watching it like a hawk, then perhaps they should've been watching over it like some other animal because their perception of a good dish was woefully off. The Lobster Risotto sounded good on paper, but came out as a porridge of mushy rice, decent mushrooms, many chunks of lobster (alas, I wish in this case quality trumped quantity) and a decently generous, although dry lobster tail from what appeared to be at least a 1 or 1.5 pound lobster. Like the chowder before, it really needed more seasoning. The prosciutto-wrapped halibut was massacred in a similar manner, the prosciutto had dried out to become exceptionally salty, and the halibut seemed like it was put through a dehydrator as opposed to an oven for a brief roast, although my friend enjoyed the vegetables and were probably the saving grace to a pretty lacklustre entree.
Throwing all caution into the wind, I decided to brave dessert, and through a process of random selection chose the pistachio white chocolate creme brulee. Amazingly, the dessert was the best part of the evening: Better than Hannah's version, the custard was less grainy, and less firm (both good things), although the flavour of pistachio and white chocolate didn't quite stand out (although white chocolate is very similar in flavour to vanilla, which is a primary ingredient in the manufacture of the confection). Our bill came to around 120 after tax, which seemed horribly high for the quality (although quantity for the most part was adequate, in my opinion). Due to very good service, I decided to give him a decent tip, after all, it seemed like it would be one of the few tips he'd get that night.
There's something about dining alone that gives one a different perspective about the whole experience. When you don't have the relative "distraction" of talking to people and enjoying their company, service, food, and the overall surroundings can be focused upon with much greater clarity (perhaps only the really lonely people will notice the little things).
Japango has always been one of my favourites for a casual lunch or dinner and today did not disappoint, prior to my dreaded dentist appointment. Although I typically order the more expensive sushi offerings from this place, in the interests of saving money (a.k.a. not spending as much), I opted for a lunch special of chirashi sushi and an order of uni nigiri. The uni was spectacular as usual, rich, and full of the flavours of fresh seafood. Although the Chirashi was a cheap lunch special, you could tell that they still prepared it with care. The obligatory salad was really nice, with a dressing that has a lovely gingery flavour, but not watery and so atypical from the usual dressings one seees in salads at other Japanese places. The Chirashi contained a selection of standard fishes and condiments, including cooked ebi, maguro, sake, crab stick, etc. but the fish, even the imitation crab stick are of good quality, the fish was tender and flavourful and the rice was properly seasoned and stuck together (which is important when you're eating rice out of a box and without a spoon) without being mushy.
Tea was complimentary and constantly refilled, but I couldn't help but overhear nearby conversation about a Japanese visitor and her friend, who complimented the place on a tempura udon dish she had and the salad dressing (which I agree with). I guess I can to agree with the two of them (even though I may not understand the full complexities of food in Japan), Japango serves good food.
Decided to go to Hannah's after deciding to treat myself for one reason or another (I don't quite remember why, but I don't think that's particularly relevant). So, after finding out that the tables would be occupied, I took seat at the bar (I didn't know they even had one!) and ordered myself a pretty decent sangria.
For a main I got the braised bison short ribs, potato puree and some vegetables. The veggies (in particular the zucchini) were a little crunchy, but the potato puree was nicely buttery and the ribs were tender and fall off the bone. The sauce that came with the dish was also nicely big on flavour, although the 33 dollar price tag for a sub-optimal cut of meat (the tenderloin cost 30 dollars... what, do they give customers 3 ounces of meat?) was a bit of a shock.
For dessert I got the strawberry creme brulee, which was a bit of a letdown: The custard was slightly grainy and a little too firm and the strawberry flavour was barely there. I don't normally like to compare what other people make to what I make, but I do make a superior custard (even the one I sort of messed up for the dinner since it was sitting too close to the top element).
A friend and I just happened to meet for "lunch" in the Queen West area, where we noticed the disturbing food trend (below) in full force. After searching for a place that would serve a true lunch in futility, we (at least I) decided to eat at the Gladstone. I've been feeling a bit white bread recently, so I decided to get the traditional breakfast with scrambled eggs and brown toast, all washed down with an approximately half-pint glass of Strongbow.
Although the toast was particularly unspectacular, the peameal and bacon were nicely charred and tasty, the beans were sweet and smoky, and the home fries were slightly raw on the inside, I have to admit that this place served one of the best scrambled eggs I've encountered at a brunch place, creamy, smooth and just perfectly cooked. Woe to those who whine and bitch that it's impossible to make good scrambled eggs in a commercial restaurant setting.
However, with only two slices of toast and a not particularly attractive presentation I wish they charged just a bit less than the 8.50 price they slapped on the menu... and although the eggs were nice, I'll prefer to find a place that offers the complete package.
Two big things are giving me a few reservations: Firstly, the whole brunch trend in Toronto. It appears that in lieu of a proper lunch, restaurants have decided to serve breakfast foods instead on weekend mornings. If I wanted to eat breakfast foods I'll make it at home or go eat in the morning. At least offer a couple of lunch items so I can have something substantial and not involving potatoes, eggs, and the standard protein. Secondly, the whole "tapas" trend has yet to die... and although I like to share dishes I've realized that I want more than two bites of food (even a tasting menu offers more than that) and by the time I've ordered enough to be satiated I've spend as much, if not more than for a regular appetizer/main course/dessert combo.
In an attempt to find a "Shawn friendly" restaurant, I decided to fulfill an urge for greasy spoon diner food and went to Mars, a diner in the Yonge and Eglinton area. The interior has a 50's diner feel to it, but pretty clean, and it was nice that they already had the menus by the tables on a rack.
The breakfast items were quite expensive (especially for a diner, but also taking into consideration the neighbourhood, with Centro and North 44 just a couple blocks north) and I ordered the corn beef hash, coming in at 7.50. The potatoes were like a minced potato patty, which was solid for a potato dish and the corn beef was a good hit of salt and cow, topped with a slightly overcooked over easy egg and alongside standard brown toast. My friend had the grilled chicken on a kaiser, which he seemed to like alright, with the exception of the bun that was overly large and seemed to slide around. In the end, I succumbed to my sweet craving and ordered a slice of their chocolate cream pie, which had the unfortunate taste of old refridgerator (meaning whatever was stored there prior to the pie and could've been prevented by simply covering the sucker) and a weak chocolate flavour. The crust was a sablee crust, which I never found extremely appealing, but was par for the course.
A desire to go to Vincenzo's, an Imprint review, and blow a wad of cash on ingredients led a friend and I to Checkerboard Restaurant, a small family-style diner inhabited by the geriatric society of K/W. Although the outside sign invoked old mafia hangout, the inside is far cleaner and polished.
My friend ordered the fish and chips, which consisted of crinkle fries (had that packaged taste but decent enough) and two pieces of battered fish (the heavy sodden kind with dryish fish). In a fit of madness I threw caution to the winds and ordered the hot beef sandwich with fries. The sandwich was decent, a generous portion of the tender beef between two slices of brown bread smothered with semi-homemade tasting gravy. With free-refill tea and coffee at a buck each, I immediately knew why this place reminded me of an old-folks home, it's a decent place to pick up a nice, inexpensive and hot lunch (cheaper than Zeller's).
In my own warped view of the universe I always felt department store restaurants had a sort of charm of its own. As a child, whenever I passed by the various department stores at Yorkville I had the urge to eat there, despite the potential culinary minefield of frozen foods. Therefore, it shocked me to finally find myself and a friend in a department store (Zeller's) restaurant, desperate for a quick lunch that didn't involve the food court.
The menu reads right out of one of those classic lunch boxes that still dot the cities of North America, including club sandwiches, liver and onions, breakfasts, burgers, etc. Always taking the easy way out whenever I go to a sketchy restaurant, I get the breakfast special with overcooked (as usual) scrambled eggs, breakfast sausage, a couple small slices of ham, crisp yet fluffy homefries and brown toast. Although the price tag was pretty hefty at nearly 6.50, I thought it was a very respectable breakfast, and my friend and I both agreed the homefries were really good. On the other hand, my photography-crazed friend dared the gods and ordered the chili special. Accompanied with some fried flour tortilla chips (tasty enough, but pretty greasy), the chili was a slop of bland meat, bland beans and even blander cheese, which kept my friend reeling all afternoon.
So after going the Zeller's diner have I learned any lessons? I think I have... don't order the "chili", and it's hard to screw up a good breakfast.
I admit my love for fried foods and grease. Maybe it's human nature to enjoy sugar and oil, a throwback when food was more scarce, or maybe it's my partial Shanghai ancestry, but a great fry or piece of battered fish just does it for me on so many levels. Apparently, a friend of mine told me the people at T&J's suggested this unassuming seafood fry restaurant located in a small strip mall to him and sold them much of their seafood. Being relatively close to it I decided to go.
It was a quiet and cold weeknight and I was the only one there, so I guess the cook and the server could lavish all their attention on me. I ordered the one piece cod (halibut having run out) with fries and a side of coleslaw. The fries were not my favourite (thick cut, too crunchy without being delicately crisp and fluffy on the inside) and the coleslaw wasn't anything special, but the star really was the fish, the batter was thin and light, unlike many other places I know and as a result made the fish feel less greasy and less hidden by the flavour of fried batter (not that I don't like fried batter).
I will definitely have to go another day for the fish, but I'd probably ditch the fries and see if I can get something else to go with it.
I don't know about anyone else, but I have this strange quirk where I usually feel pretty uncomfortable going to restaurants where I know the people who work there. Clearly, this quirk is pretty much isolated to me, since I rarely see this behaviour from other people I know and I felt exactly the same way when I went to Ali Baba's. Charcoal was packed to the rafters and I still wanted steak, so I decided to go to Ali Baba's to curb my appetite.
The steaks are claimed to be AAA Canadian beef dry aged for over a month and this is reflected in the high price of their meat (admittedly, they're not serving USDA prime, which would easily raise the price of a steak dinner by 50%). The 10 oz. NY strip is 26 dollars, compared to 25 dollars for a similar product at Charcoal.
My friend and I started with the smoked salmon canape, wrapped around a tip of asparagus and on a pita. Having never liked capers much, I do enjoy the fried versions, but the app itself was somewhat unimpressive, something you might serve as home to some very bored guests. The horseradish sour cream helped improve the product a bit. My friend and I both ordered the 12 oz. rib eye, medium rare with mashed potatoes and veg. The veg were inferior to the ones at charcoal, in need of more seasoning and interest. The mash were decent enough, but no garlic flavour that was advertised. Of course, in the end we're not quibbling about the sides (although I personally feel they're as important as the steak itself), we want to know how good the meat is. The rib eye was nicely markbled, steaked with bits of fat and tasty. It was done to satisfaction and although a nice jus wouldn't hurt the steak, eating it plain was perfectly fine as well.
In the end, one of the things I was considering was how the room and the menu felt, and I felt that it was old fashioned, and not in a particularly great way; we went on a Saturday and it had an air of defeat and quietude, interrupted by the occasional bursts of laughter by what looked like old timers. The menu itself felt nearly as staid, the presentation and flavours as old as the day the restaurant was opened. However, one thing that did intrigue me was the liquored coffees, presented tableside in a spectacular display as the server lights it up and juggles it between two glasses.
Perhaps I am not the target audience they are looking for, perhaps they are looking for the old timers, the people who would find solace in an old fashioned gentleman's club. However, even a gentleman's club is not a funeral home, and I have to admit that this is what it felt like.
In my not so humble opinion, Waterloo Town Square is a veritable wasteland of good food choices. All About Crepes (as I described further down) and Gourmet Pizza range from perfectly mediocre to perfectly awful.
So with great trepidation I went to Thai Sun. Billing itself as serving authentic Thai food, the room looks strangely similar to the other two places in the plaza (albeit with a different colour scheme), but I won't put that fact against it, as long as I can see the menu clearly and can see my dining partner.
My friend and I ordered the coconut shrimp, which was pretty decent in all of its deep fried battered goodness, but unfortunately there was no discernable coconut flavour. Next came the pad thai and the red curry with rice. The red curry wasn't particularly noteworthy, although I liked the thai eggplants embedded in the coconut infused broth (actually I would've preferred a stronger curry), but I enjoyed the pad thai. Unlike the gloopy red ketchup crap I had in Ben Tranh, this one tasted of elements different from the other places in town. However, I felt that it could still use more flavour, which seems to be the song of the day.
All in all I feel that Thai Sun is worth another visit, even for just the pad thai, but I would like to give the other entrees and appetizers a chance.
The concept of all-you-can-eat sushi usually brings a slight shiver down my spine, but swallowing my pride for a moment I look forward to any new place that will serve sushi. There are two reasons for this; first, there are a few AYCE places I've enjoyed over the years and also there aren't any contenders for good sushi (let alone Japanese) places around the K/W area.
One thing I've noticed is that sadly enough, Ye's is one of the better "Japanese" places in K/W... unfortunately, this is also a place that decided to serve mayonnaise on a piece of surf clam sushi, which admittedly was pretty disgusting. Some of the better items include the tempura, sushi pizza (I admit, not to everyone's taste), and the spicy salmon rolls. Unfortunately it seemed like with each subsequent visit the food slowly declined and orders were typically forgotten and not made (however, I've found that a frequent occurrence in many ACYE places), culminating in the surf clam and mayo abomination.
However, I admit that due to the sad state of affairs for Japanese food in this area, I won't mind going again, as long as they don't start putting mayo on uni.
The next branch in a series of restaurants in Cambridge and beyond, Ben Tranh is always packed during lunch and on weekends forget about going there for dinner.
Out of the several times I went there, I had the spring rolls (pretty good and not like the Chinese spring rolls, but damned expensive compared to elsewhere), the Typhoon rolls, which consist of sphrimp wrapped with cooked vermicelli then fried (way too much batter and vermicelli), pad thai (disappointed in the sheer ketchupiness of the dish and a little gloopy), the rare beef noodle (nice rich soup, generous portions of beef), and the vietnamese-style chicken curry (my personal favourite, slightly hot with hints of coconut and the armoa of herbs and lemongrass.
Also decorated with more aplomb than the average vietnamese place, it's very popular with families and I like it (for the most part) as well.
Having once lived near the area of Waterloo Town Square I went to Angie's often. Having been there for several decades, it seems to be an institution for the locals.
Having suffered expensive and mediocre breakfasts and lunches, I seem to be a huge glutton for punishment as I decided to go there yet again... and apart from divine intervention I will never voluntarily go there again.
The eggs were nothing special, the toast, despite being claimed to be homemade didn't taste much different from the stuff I could get from the grocery store, the jam comes in preciously small amounts and is actually decent, the potatoes are flavourless, and the sausage is nothing to call home about (although it's not the strange mushy texture of Dearborn sausages). With the prices of the breakfasts there, I will not cease to be amazed at how that place can draw in pack after pack of hungry breakfasters... perhaps the alcohol binge from the night before dulled their tastebuds and braincells.
A three-restaurant complex that includes a martini bar and an italian restaurant, Charcoal seems to be the place that milfs, cougars, and wallets hang out to drink, schmooze, and find a new significant other. I went on a weekday night, which was fortunate since I tried again on a weekend and it was going to be an incredibly long wait.
I got the ten ounce striploin with sweet potato fries and a side of bearnaise sauce. The plate came with some sauteed vegetables. The striploin was cooked to a correct medium-rare, though the bearnaise sauce tasted a little bland. The vegetables and sweet potato fries were pretty credible, though I wish they were a little crisper. After going to Ali Baba's later in the season, I would choose Charcoal for its superior sides over Ali's.
A somewhat unassuming place from the outside, the inside looks like a polished family-style place that serves mostly schnitzels and a couple of other eastern-European favourites.
I started off with the soup, which was classic in its chickeniness. Next came the schnitzel, fried to a light golden brown, served with spaetzle and vegetables. The spaetzle had good texture, but really needed more seasoning. The schnitzel was pretty good in flavour and was clearly freshly made, but due to the method in which it was breaded caused it to clearly separate from the meat when you cut into it. The vegetables were wholly unspectacular, which is unfortunate.
I finished dinner with a piece of apple strudel, which had good flaky pastry (I would certainly be impressed if they made strudel pastry by themselves), and good wholesome (if unimpressive) apple filling.
Would I come back again in the future? I don't know, but I won't mind going there to try some of their other non-schnitzel dishes.
Although not a high income neighbourhood, Kensington Market has slowly been hipsterized and a lot of interesting places has popped up next to the older vanguard of Chinese, Latin American, and other assorted "ethnic" places.
One such place is Torito, opened about a year ago, which serves small, Spanish inspired dishes. The interior is pretty casual and small, with pretty minimal wooden benches, tables and a bucket with cutlery and napkins. However, the colours and knick-nacks give the room a nice warmth.
Since I went with nine other people and we ordered almost everything off the menu, I won't go into any great detail describing everything but instead comment on the stuff that stood out, either positively or negatively. Standouts include the lamb loaf, a delicious thing (though not much taste of lamb, which is sort of a blessing in disguise) dressed with a really good sauce based on saffron, which was nice because the flavour of saffron isn't one that most chefs would attempt to highlight.
Another winner was the quail with mashed sweet potato/yam/some sort of root, the quails were juicy (albeit I would've liked it cooked just a little less), splayed open garnished with pomegranate seeds and an addictive slightly tangy, slightly sweet sauce. However, the biggest winner for me were the crab croquettes; crabby and deep fried, who could resist? Served with a greenish aioli, if I recall correctly. Less successful in my mind were the sweetbreads (a special of the day), which I felt were just slightly overcooked and therefore a bit mealy in texture. Also on the chopping block is the pan seared kingfish, first being that kingfish isn't high on my list of tasty fishes (the extremely firm texture being one of them), and the accompanying saute couldn't do a thing to help. In the dessert category I was extremely impressed with the chocolate flan, with a beautiful dark brown caramel top and a velvety texture. Dinner for ten came to around 370, including beverages, tax and the mandatory gratuity.
Have I sullied my reputation by deciding to review the local university bar? Well, if I had a reputation in the first place maybe I'd be worried, but who really cares? Anyways, the Bombshelter (Bomber) has always been a source of modestly priced alcohol, the "Bomber Mix", and pretty atrocious food; just because I used to eat cheez whiz out of the bottle doesn't mean it should be the single unifying force on a menu.
Flash forward a couple of years, half a million dollars and a pretty large overhaul and you have yourself a place that is at least worth having lunch at. Both times I went there was a pretty decent lunch crowd and I decided to order takeout. The first time I got the daily special, the tacos with large-cut fries which reminded me of the Belgian-style frites I got in some places in Ottawa and the second time a falafel pita.
The tacos were pretty much something you'd expect if you had a taco kit and was at home, though the beef could've been more seasoned. The fries were the better part of the deal, not greasy and in all its salty goodness... I won't wager on whether or not they're frozen or house made, but they were pretty good.
The thing that really sealed the deal was the falafel, light and fluffy, the falafel was a good deal better than the other ones I've found around the area (or maybe they're simply not cooked until they're hockey pucks), and the toasted pita was warm but not crispy. Granted, I could buy less expensive food in the C&D, but it's even cheaper and possibly more nutritious to simply dig a handful of dirt from outside and eat that... at least I'm not eating at Bhima's everyday.
Wow, this was a whopper of a meal, both price and quantity-wise. From the outside it looks like a pretty unimposing and to be perfectly honest sketchy place for a restaurant that serves forty dollar entrees, but I think that's how the owner wants it (and kudos to them, I might add, although I may now understand why my restaurant idea may not be the most feasible to entice passerbys). The interior looks like something I'd imagine from a resort in south Asia although I have to admit the legs of the bar chairs banged against the foot railing of the bar and so I couldn't scootch up closer to the bar surface, which made dining a little uncomfortable. The open kitchen is located right behind the bar, which provided ample entertainment and a little about how this kitchen operated in relation to the one I work in.
Now onto the food: I started with the quail appetizer, which consisted of a boned half-quail seared and on skewers with three pieces of maki roll filled with mango and bits of cooked quail. The rice for the sushi wasn't the traditional Japanese-style rice but a long grain sticky rice I've noticed at a couple of southeast Asian places (like at Vanipha's in Toronto), which I thought was a really nice rice to use for sushi, although I felt the rice could've used more seasoning than the black sesame seeds on the outside. The taste of the maki was quite pleasant despite that, though the nori was chewier than I had hoped since it was a challenge even for me to eat it in one bite (believe me, I have a jaw like a snake and read the Niko Niko review below). The quail was delicately season and was succulent and the hot and spicy dipping sauce that came with it could do no wrong.
My main course was the lamb chops with risotto, vegetables and a mint aioli. The lamb was done a little beyond my version of medium rare, although it had a good, non-gamey flavour and the aioli was a good compliment with the lamb, although a small nitpick I had was that the lamb was streaked with some large chunks of fat that made eating it just marginally more unpleasant. The veggies still had some crunch and were nicely smokey from the saute and the risotto (again using the untraditional long grain sticky rice also used in the maki) would've been good had it been salted more aggressively, although I think I would prefer carnaroli over this variety of rice for risotto.
I believe this is the longest analysis I've written yet and we're finally at the dessert course. I got myself the pumpkin "su mai" paired with thai basil and pandan leaf ice cream. I liked the ice cream, the "green" flavour of the herbs really add something to cold desserts, in my opinion. However, I liked the su mai less so. Basically a crab rangoon (from what I know of them, anyways) but with pumpkin in the place of crab, the fried wonton just didn't taste or feel right to me... I guess what I'm saying is that a pumpkin pie or pumpkin cheesecake taste better both texturally and flavour-wise to a pumpkin rangoon. In addition, it really didn't match up well with the ice cream at all.
The final bill (noting only food orders and not drinks, since it appeared that my pinot noir wasn't billed) came to just under $100 after tips, and perhaps the most important question when you're spending around a hundred dollars for a meal is, "did you enjoy it?". I have to admit that even with the missteps in the meal I felt that at least I was having something new and vaguely interesting that was executed decently. So I guess I would go again and spend another hundred dollars, although I won't be doing so for quite some time. Then maybe perhaps I'm too generous and I just like throwing money down my gullet.
There are a good many Indian restaurants in the Yonge/Eglinton area, although I admit that I've never been to any of them. Also, in reviewing Indian restaurants I've been mostly spoiled by my work experiences at Masala Bay in Waterloo and my picture of ideal Mughlai food has been coloured a bit in that respect.
The restaurant has a certain opulence that one would expect from a hotel dining room and service is quite involved, including the clearing of forks after the appetizer. Water was also filled at a good interval, which is usually my hallmark for good service, since I don't really care if they leave the diner to his own once food and drink orders are taken.
We started with the Tandoori fish (which the waiter tried to steer us away from and towards the shrimp). Perhaps I should've listened to his advice, the fish were little nuggets of decently cooked white fish that I wish there was a bit more of (it wasn't like they were selling black cod or sushi grade tuna) in the red tandoori meat marinade. Male friend had the Samosas which were served with some chana in sauce and yogurt and spice garnish (which I admit to have never seen before). I prefer chana cooked softer so I like them well enough.
For mains we got the Malak Kofta (fried cheese balls in sauce) and the Chicken Dhanshak. The Kofta was pretty good, although just a bit gummy and the sauce was good in the rich northern Indian style and while the Dhanshak was nicely hot, it lacked the sweet and sour notes it advertised to have. We ate this with pretty good ungreasy paratha and a pretty well-cooked and subtle cumin pulao.
Although known in KW as undeniably the best Chinese restaurant for dim sum (or morning tea, although such a laurel is, to be perfectly honest not too hard to achieve with the state of dim sum in the city), the dinner service is less lauded in the community and I was going to find out why.
I only went with one person so we had to limit our choices or suffer from a lot of uneaten food. We decided to get the spicy eggplant with ground pork, the crispy chicken, some white rice and some fried won tons.
I have to admit that I was in general pleased with the dishes, even though I can't say they've been the best I've ever had. The chicken was less dry than other incarnations I've encountered and the skin was nicely crisp, but the shrimp chips seemed a bit stale. The eggplant and sauce had the right hit of sweet, salt, and hot, though I would personally prefer it just a bit less firm in texture. The won tons were probably the most disappointing part of the meal, considering the more traditional fried wontons are large, light as air, crisp and shatters at the slightest bite and has a small amount of filling that is dipped in a sweet and sour sauce with a variety of seafood, sliced meats and vegetables mixed in. This one was obviously seemed like small commercially purchased wonton skins that wasn't as light as I'd hoped in a sweet and sour sauce with no ingredients within.
Dinner for two came to just under forty dollars with tax and tip.
Food at a typical North American mall or strip plaza can be a pretty depressing affair: McDonald's or Manchu Wok, anybody? However, they're also the source of pretty good surprises if you look hard enough and suffer a few setbacks along the way. I've had the gamut of good and bad Chinese, Korean, Persian, Pitas, and all sorts of other foods either in a plaza or in a mall food court. Unfortunately for Waterloo Town Square, I've had pretty universally blah food from all the food stalls, new and old.
The decor is reminsicent of attempted chic on a budget, then designed by a design college flunky, which I could care less if the food was good.
As you could guess, it wasn't. I ordered the "Mushroom and Sauce" Savoury crepe that came by itself, all rolled up on a plate with a half slice of tomato, a slice of cucumber cut in half and a small sprig of italian parsley. The "Mushroom and Sauce" seemed to be composed of Sliced button mushrooms of the most flavourless variety, cream, and dill, which turned to a not the prettiest shade of grayish-brown. The crepe itself was probably the most disappointing; it was at least twice as thick as any crepe I've seen and felt like it was made of rubber, let's just say I had a really hard time cutting into it even with a regular dinner knife. And the final insult? $8.25 before tax.
After a day of romping around in downtown Ottawa on my week off I met some friends at Royal Thai Restaurant on Dalhousie right near the Byward Market. I've been there a couple of times before, around four years ago and from what I remember of the food there I think the quality's slipped a bit.
The Menu consists mostly of stir-fried items in various incarnations of meat and vegetables, curries or stir-fried rices and noodles. We got the spring rolls and shared a seafood casserole, a pineapple fried rice and the pad thai. I have to admit that I wish there was a little more variety in preparation types and flavours listed, although I guess sometimes you need to cater to a customer base that seeks the familiar and less "unusual" foods and with a large menu there's bound to be repetition.
The spring rolls were decent enough, a cross between the Chinese and Vietnamese ones I've had. I enjoyed the pineapple rice most out of all the dishes, seasoned with cashews, yellow curry powder and various other items and served in a pineapple. The casserole is pretty good, with a good punch of thai basil and assorted seafood and vegetables. Unfortunately the pad thai was somewhat of a disappointment, having revealed to my friends that the redness of the dish was due to ketchup and unfortunately this version was no different, reminding me of the spaghetti sauce of my youth, flavoured with ketchup. Total for three came to around 65 after tips and taxes.
A small Japanese style cafe and sushi bar tucked in the corner of Pharmacy and Sheppard, it's a pretty unassuming place with an elegant room where the sushi chef practices his trade.
Myself and friend (girl) ordered the Omakase while friend (boy) ordered the chicken teriyaki rice bowl from the cafe menu.
I admit, I wanted to really like this place, and I did get a little bowed over by the hype... however, in the end there were a few disappointing notes. First, I guess I'll talk about the positives; the fish was fresh and delicious, not fishy tasting and of good texture. Secondly, the rice for sushi and maki was well seasoned, delicate but you can taste it when you eat the sushi (unlike below). You could also see that the sushi chef had good technique, not crushing the rice for nigiri. However, the experience was marred by a couple of points, for the sashimi, nigiri, maki, and rice dish we basically got the same fish presented slightly differently; the obligatory maguro, sake, and hamachi with some salmon roe, and ikura thrown in for good measure. I guess I expected a cooked dish or two or at least a little more variety for my 45 dollars. Secondly, the salad vinaigrette was lacking in the salad and it basically felt like I was eating greens and some assorted vegetables. Surprisingly (in the good way), we were also offered complementary coffee and dessert, which were pretty decent and in line with the quality in a good Japanese bakery. Friend (boy) said he enjoyed his chicken teriyaki and I admit it looked pretty good (though he eschewed his miso soup).
I guess the lesson learned here is that if I return I will simply order a la carte for a cheaper meal but still enjoying the rice and fish. The expections for a good omakase were too high and what was delivered wasn't quite enough (not quantity-wise, of course).
Situated just two stores down from my fave Colombian Bakery, this restaurant seems to have retained much of the decorative murals from the previous restaurant (who knew there were gondolas in Japan?).
I admit, my expections for the place weren't particularly high, and dropped proportionately lower when around half the menu real estate was flooded with all sorts of bizarre and pretty stupid-sounding maki rolls. I had the daily roll and 5 nigiri sushi lunch deal while my friend had the sashimi bento. The fish, as expected looked decent but simply couldn't pass muster, it simply didn't taste quite fresh and the texture was for the most part somewhat tough. The nigiri selection included maguro, sake, red snapper, unagi, and cooked ebi, all in all a pretty standard selection, which I don't mind if it's done well (which, alas it wasn't).
The enormous amount of rice for the rolls not only made it very hard to eat (and dare I say impossible to eat in one bite except for myself and some women of ill repute... you can connect your own dots), but it was too tightly compacted and the rice was flavourless, seemingly untouched by the delicate seasoning that usually graces it. I enjoyed my salad (though it seems my friend got a different and much blander vinaigrette), the miso soup was remarkably pedestrian, and perhaps the brightest spot in the whole experience was the waitress who pretty diligently filled our tea cups... however, if that's really the best I can say about the place, perhaps I should save some transportation and food money to just go to Mr. Sushi...
Refers to a corn flour that is treated with an alkaline (lime). An important ingredient in Central American cooking and the primary ingredient in tortillas, tamales, etc.
I have found that using Masa Harina in bread baking gives it a very cornbread-like (duh) texture, but at a ratio of about 50-50 bread flour/masa may be a bit much.
Throughout my breadmaking adventures I've encountered situations where the proofing step failed to yield a dough that increased in volume. There are several preventative measures you can take to ensure that it doesn't happen, such as not allowing the salt to get into contact with the yeast and using warm water to make your dough, or proofing the yeast in a small container before mixing.
However, if you realize after an hour of proofing that your dough isn't rising as it should be and don't want to start over and throw away your dough there's a little trick you can use to make it rise. First of all, mix another teaspoon of instant yeast with about two ounces of water and three of flour. Mix this little dough ball well and incorporate into the mother dough by kneading for an additional five minutes. When the new dough is incorporated, allow it to rest as per normal.
Although you will have changed the proportions of your dough a little bit due to the additional flour and water, if the yeast is alive it should multiply and create carbon dioxide as if good yeast was used from the start.