Great Dinner in Scarborough!

We went, over the weekend, to one of our very favourite spots for dinner. I guess you could say we're "regulars" there now, although we haven't visited as often as our hosts would like, I'm ashamed to admit!

It's tucked away in the eastern part of Scarborough in a quiet little residential area - West Hill, in fact. Just past the sketchy part of town, and just before the Rouge.

It's a smallish venue, but has a beautifully-laid table for the four of us with fresh flowers centre-piece, and perfectly-lit candles. That nice blue & white china, and antique-looking wine glasses, in a very private room.

We had started with a small appetizer platter of cheeses and crackers, and had a pre-dinner drink or two on the lovely private back garden patio. When it was time for the main course, we moved back inside to our previously mentioned dining area. Billie Holliday, Sarah Vaughan, Etta James and Molly Johnson's wonderful jazz music was playing softly but insistently in the background, and set just the right tone for our meal.

We opted for a bottle of one of my favourite Australian Red wines: a Shiraz/Cabernet blend called Jacob's Creek. It went very nicely with our dinner selection.

We skipped any further appetizers or pre-dinner items and went directly to the entree: beautifully pink-in-the-centre prime rib of beef, accompanied by roast potatoes and cauliflower with cheese sauce. A couple of croissants on the side, then over to dessert, which was another home made classic: warm Apple Crisp (or Apple-Brown-Betty as some people refer to it) with vanilla ice cream! Some mugs of steaming hot coffee and a glass (or three!) of Frangelico liquor, and some very entertaining conversation with our charming dinner companions capped off the experience.

All of a sudden it was close to 11:00 p.m., and we decided to head back into the city - totally satisfied and very happy with our dining experience. We've made plans to return soon!


p.s. this "hidden gem" is my Mom & Dad's place...thanks again folks. We had a great time!

"Kalendar" Restaurant on College Street

We went to this place on College Street just west of Bathurst last night. Just walking by, and looked in to find that this place is just the kind of place we like to go to....it's not huge, and has nicely-decorated exposed-brick walls with lots of different sizes and types of mirrors. Also a few old clocks and very artfully done touches throughout. Old original looking wood floors, interesting lighting and an intimate kind of feeling partially caused by the very comfy atmosphere/decor, and partly cause by the proximity to other diners...not usually a very good thing, but in this case it just added nicely to the "vibe". We weren't so close we were evesdropping, but we could have done so very comfortably if we had chosen to do so. Oh, and the food was great! Naan bread appetizers with hummus and another dip were perfect, my "scroll #3" was very nice, a kind of roti with chicken and some curry, including a very fresh organic-greens salad. Lamb chops were excellent I was told, as was the swordfish dinner and the pork medallions with apricot, etc.! Service was low-key but very attentive and friendly - just right! Desserts looked good, but we only managed to share one between four people - it was an excellent three-fudge pie. Yes, we'll be going back here soon : http://www.martiniboys.com/Toronto/Kalendar-review.html

Bonjour Brioche Restaurant, etc.

We went over to Bonjour Brioche today for a late-ish lunch (at the previous recommendations of both Lea and Mark).

It's a very cute little bakery/cafe/"French Restaurant"-type-of-place at 812 Queen Street East just east of Broadview.

Fantastic breads, soups, omelettes and pastries and desserts with great coffee!

Fran had the "rare roast beef sandwich on a baguette" with melted garlicy cheese on it, which was very tasty (though the baguette was just a bit too crunchy from toasting than we would have preferred).

I had a tortierre with organic greens, which was a "chalkboard" special. Delicious! We saw some other people's food, and particularly liked the looks of the omelette at the next table. We bought some of the restaurant's salad dressing to bring home - a very nice, subtle oil and vinegar and spice combo.

We'll try to go back again, but only if we can keep my car from stopping just west of there on Queen Street E. at Dangerous Dan's for his heart-attack hamburgers, fries and onion rings!

Then we drove over to the Danforth and bought some cheeses and some ground coffee at "Alex Farm" cheese shop, then had a coffee and a brownie at "mocha mocha" cafe/restaurant/coffee shop which also had some incredibly fresh-looking sandwich and wrap style lunches flying around to other tables. We'll have to remember this mocha-mocha place as well as the Il Fornello on the Danforth (which we walked past) which has a wonderful Monday-to-Friday buffet brunch from 11:00 to 2:00 p.m.

For more info, click on the names of the restaurants and shop I've underlined/linked above here.

Thes two places are at opposite ends of the spectrum, but we really like them both equally, but differently (much as a fella loves both of his kids equally but differently).

Bon appetit!

Aris Place Restaurant - on Roncesvalles

This place is a great find in a not-too-sketchy part of the city on 229 Roncesvalles, north of Queen. Great open kitchen serves up home-made burgers, great steak'n'eggs and all kinds of really good-looking "comfort foods". Clientele is very diverse and makes people-watching a great pass-time while waiting for your food to arrive. http://toronto.ibegin.com/restaurants/aris-place

Vesuvio's Pizza & Spaghetti Restaurant

This place is really terrific...excellent, fresh food, a clean, nice-looking place to dine, and good friendly service! http://www.dine.to/restaurants/vesuvios/gallery.php?establishmentid=4552
I personally like and prefer Vesuvio's but many people also love Terroni, which has a few locations around town (one within walking distance of here) : http://www.terroni.ca/menu.html
My advice is to try them both - you won't be disappointed either way...

Recently Sampled and Recommended

These are a few of our favourite places...some a bit eclectic, but all with really good, interesting food, and not-too-expensive. Go hungry, and go with an open mind:

Aunties and Uncles (in "Little Italy" College Street area): http://www.toronto.com/restaurants/article/506036
Easy (near Queensway and Roncesvalles): http://www.toronto.com/restaurants/article/restaurants/article/369527
Boom (in "Little Italy" College Street area): : http://www.toronto.com/restaurants/article/000-374-902
Over Easy (I like the one on Yonge and Wellington): http://www.toronto.com/restaurants/article/000-371-903
Mars (in "Little Italy" College Street area):
http://www.toronto.com/restaurants/article/000-369-526
Edward Levesque (in "Leslieville", Queen Street East): http://toronto.com/restaurants/article/000-377-387
Le Petit Dejeuner (King Street East):
http://www.toronto.com/restaurants/article/000-379-760
Maggie's (in "Little Italy" College Street area): : http://www.toronto.com/restaurants/article/000-379-761
Golden Star (in Thornhill, Yonge and Steeles): http://www.toronto.com/restaurants/listing/118981

Cucina Restaurant on College

We went to this newer place recently (four of us). Very nice-looking comfortable space. Attentive but not intrusive waitress. Great basket of bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar for dipping. Wonderful, huge spicy shrimp appetizer with an interesting mayo/aioli dip. Another assorted seafood appetizer including smoked salmon, calamari, sardines (?) and two more of those great shrimp diavolo! A drink each, then on to the mains: Two people had the individual pizzas, pronounced very good by one, and "not what I had in mind" by the other (while recognising that many people would enjoy it anyway - it being the "Rustica" pizza). Another had ribbon-sort-of pasta with mushrooms and italian sausage and parmesan cheese, which was rated very well, while I had the angel-hair pasta with grilled shrimp in a pesto cream sauce which was fantastic. We had a great bottle of red zinfandel wine called Ravenscroft or something like that...very nice...

All in it was just under $200 for the party of four. A very relaxing, tasty night out in one of our favourite neighbourhoods.

Cucina is on the North-East corner of College and Grace.


Cheers and Bon Appetit!

Another opinion:

http://www.torontolife.com/guide/restaurants/italian/cucina/

Basell's in Niagara Falls

I'm giving this place a 9 out of 10 only because I don't believe that anything's perfect (except, perhaps, for me!). This is a terrific throw-back diner (not done up in a faux "retro-style", but I just think it actually hasn't changed since the 60's). Anyway, we always go here when we visit the Falls, and always I get from nine to thirteen strips of bacon in my bacon'n'eggs order!! The home fries (ordered as an extra) are terrific, and are kinda-cheesy-tasting. Great value, great no-nonsense service. Good prices, too! Not "cheap", but excellent value.

http://www.restaurantica.com/restaurants/5715/