Cabbagetown cool: Winchester Kitchen and Bar

I've often found some of the most comfortable meals you can have are within your own neighbourhood.



There's nothing better than finding a gem of a restaurant around the corner from you. It doesn't have to be haute cuisine. It just has to be comfortable with good food, good drinks, good service, and a good atmosphere. It helps when it's located in the beautiful Winchester Hotel.

I also have a bit of a penchant for taking a walk after a meal out, just to explore the area. But it's even more fun when you can walk home, taking a different route than you do in your normal day-to-day activities, to discover more about your neighbourhood. I am notorious for stopping to read heritage plaques, and there are more than a few of them in glorious Cabbagetown. :)

Thus you can understand my excitement when we were invited to have dinner at Winchester Kitchen and Bar at the corner of Winchester and Parliament. The place bills itself as a spot for the "three Ds:" Dinner, dancing, and drinks. Indeed they had a live band that played after we finished our dinner, and indeed there was dinner and drinks to be had. The menu is divided by size of dish (small, big, etc) so that if you decide just to come for the music, you can order some drinks and small plates if you wish. We did a full-out dinner - I ordered from the $50 five-course prix fixe menu and Mark ordered from the main menu.

One thing I found more unique about this prix fixe compared to others was that an amuse bouche and a cheese course were built in. Lately when we've been out for prix fixes it's been app, main, dessert. Having a few extra bites was a welcome addition. I ordered the braised lamb ravioli, the roasted black cod, and the cherry cheese cake. Good value for $50.

In terms of the standouts, the Winchestacaesar was a neat take on a Caesar, which had a richer taste than a typical one and had a cute skewer of jerky, a pickle, a pickled bean, and olives lain across the rim of the glass. I do indeed love a good Caesar.

The "Three Little Pigs" started us off, with pork rillette, porchetta di testa, and a stand-in for the terrine as it wasn't available at the time. Very, very rich - we were already starting to feel a little full after having the Caesar and this "small" plate - they give you good value - was more of a "medium" plate.

Mark and I both had fish dishes (menus are in the slideshow - he had the BC sablefish and I had the black cod). Both were perfectly cooked with a crispy seasoned skin - but I can't say I loved my ravioli as much. I've made my own ravioli dough and had a disaster the first time around when I didn't make it thin enough. It took me another year or so to want to even tackle the damn task again, and this time I made it so thin I thought I'd rip a hole in it, but thankfully that didn't happen. I smiled, thinking back to my first ravioli attempt with the too-thick dough that was hard and uncooked no matter how long I left it boiling. I had the same issue here. It wasn't NEARLY as bad as my first attempt, but it could've been thinner - the corners were thick and chewy. The filling was good though. Nobody's perfect :)

As a stickler for details, I study a menu carefully and I get a bit thrown off if I don't get what's on it. I guess I have to realize this can't always happen (things run out, or maybe there is a supply issue, whatever the case may be) - I just couldn't find the bee pollen on my cheesecake. Mark searched too since he's had bee pollen before and had described how much he loves it, so I was excited to try it but had no such luck locating it within the dish.

Again, I'm kind of a stickler for details - we are who we are :) All that said, I had a really good time there, again loving the vibe of the neighbourhood and the building as well as the interior, which is really neat as you'll see in our pictures. I think I still dream of the perfectly-executed fish. If you are in the area you should stop in and try it for yourself - that prix fixe is quite a good value and the cocktail list is pretty extensive. I'll cheers to that!

Yours in food,

-Stacey

Valentine's at Sorrel

A Valentine's Day prix fixe dinner is kind of a tradition for Stacey and me. For some reason there didn't seem to be too many establishments with a Valentine's Day menu this year. It must be the economy. Even more difficult to find is a place that offers a high calibre meal at a decent price. Luckily we stumbled upon a 4 course $65 prix fixe at Sorrel.

Well I didn't exactly stumble upon Sorrel. I had occasioned to go there on an office Winterlicious lunch and was surprised at how far they stretched $20. At the time I was impressed with the quality and artfulness of their cornish hen wrapped in prosciutto, when many a Winterlicious restaurant would've peddled you some form of protein-free pasta.

When we arrived for Valentine's dinner, we were mightily impressed with the effort they took to celebrate the evening with candles visible from outside and rose petals all over the sidewalk and on every table inside.




ONE:


Prosciutto, warm figs & goat cheese, balsamic glaze



Grilled calamari, tomato black olive relish, grilled treviso


Warm figs and goat cheese have a similar consistency, and almost coat your tongue in a complimentary blanket of sweet and salty goodness. The grilled calamari was surprisingly tender with accents of crunchy char, and bathed in a fresh tomato relish with the perfect level of acidity to balance out the calamari. I was doubly surprised since although I knew it was going to be grilled, I had this image of deep fried and battered calamari rings in my head when I was ordering, as I had often been disappointed with most forms of calamari in a tomato base in the past. Ah, signs of the long work day were showing.


TWO:



Sweet pea & bufala ricotta ravioli, prosecco sage butter



Tagliatelle, black truffle mushroom pesto, basil, parmigiano


The ravioli was some of the best pasta we've ever had, ranking up there with Massimo Capra's wild boar and cherry ravioli and Matt Kantor's hazelnut ravioli. The richness of the sage butter opened up against the light creamy sweet peas and moist bufala ricotta. Sadly the tagliatelle was not so impressive. It tasted too healthy for me. More like some dry whole wheat thing Stacey would sneak onto my plate if I wasn't looking. Maybe morels would've added more punch to it rather than the sparse amount of black truffle flecks.


THREE:



Prosciutto wrapped cornish hen, sweet pea mash, natural reduction



Beef tenderloin, stilton, thyme jus, sautéed chanterelles, tomato confit


Chicken wrapped in bacon à la Bourgeoisie! The cornish hen was an outstanding haute extension of a culinary classic, richly flavoured with its natural juices and sitting on a fluffy bed of delicious sweet pea mash. I usually have a more flavourful cut than tenderloin since it's usually a choice between taste or tenderness. However this time, the supple specimen of meat was infused with the earthyness of thyme and chanterelles and lightened with the fresh acidity of tomato confit. Rounding the high and low notes was the rich creamy saltiness of stilton.


FOUR:



Chocolate mousse, vanilla bean crème brûlée, fresh local berries

To finish off the evening we totally polished off a dessert trio, leading the waiter to exclaim "You did very good!... You did very good."




Sorrel
www.sorrelrestaurant.ca
84 Yorkville Avenue Toronto, Ontario Canada M5R 1B9. Ph. 416.926.1010



Posted by: Mark Rodas

Prairie Girl Bakery, our local cupcakery!

You know a place is bound to be good when the lineup is out the door. It was also Valentine's Day so of course that had something to do with it. :)



My top two "beefs" with cupcakes in general are A) there is often not enough icing to go with the cake - I like the icing thick & B) that the cake can sometimes be a little dry - a moist cupcake with the right icing-to-cake ratio is crucial!

And I'm happy to report I think I've found cupcake ecstasy - where all my cupcake conditions are not just met, but exceeded - over at King / Victoria, just a short jaunt from our home. That's where you'll find our local cupcakery Prairie Girl Bakery (I believe there is also one in the First Canadian Place concourse BUT I heard a lady in line at our shop say the lineup there was three times longer since it was drawing in the work crowd, so keep in mind it'd be busier).

The chocolate cupcakes are made with dark cocoa - they were so rich and delicious. Mark especially loved them. We didn't get to try the chocolate cupcake with strawberry icing [they were out of all cupcakes with strawberry icing in fact - think it was due to Valentine's Day volume but I got there at about 11am and waited for 20-25 minutes in line, so I think the people ahead might have gotten their hands on some - CUPCAKE FIGHT TO THE DEATH! No. Well, I had to talk myself down LOL :)]

You can also select large or mini cupcakes, so if you only want a taste, try the minis. I'm sort of an "all or nothing" cupcake girl - I had to go big or go home!

Some are made with a butter icing, others with cream cheese icing - the most unique cupcake we had was peanut butter icing on a banana cupcake. I think it'd be better on a chocolate cupcake (the banana cupcake was a little drier than the vanilla and chocolate) but the peanut butter icing was TO DIE FOR!

If you've already tried each of their offerings, they also do a "treat of the week" - for Valentine's it was a cinnamon icing with cinnamon hearts on top on a golden vanilla cupcake.

Cupcake ecstasy will cost you $16.95 for half a dozen large cupcakes - but oh what a wonderful indulgence! It took Mark and I three glorious days to eat them.

Yours in food (and cupcakes, more specifically),

-Stacey

Do you remember the first thing you and your significant other ate together?

Think back - in any of your relationships, current or past, do you remember the first thing you and your significant other ate together?

Mark and I are coming up to six years this August since we began dating. We were set to meet each other in-person (we had chatted online, but never met) by the fountain at the Eaton's Centre and from there we were planning to go to the Chinese Lantern Festival. It was actually me who asked him on our first date because I didn't have any family or friends who were interested in coming to the festival and he seemed nice and we really enjoyed chatting to each other online, so what the heck - why not! Must say it was the best decision I've ever made! Upon meeting at the fountain, Mark surprised me with a lovely little bag of Monsieur Felix and Mr. Norton cookies which we munched on together while we rode the streetcar. I have a fond memory of that day, and also of those cookies - I had never had them before.

So when we heard from the folks at Monsieur Felix and Mr. Norton a couple weeks ago, we were thrilled because we hadn't really seen any of their storefronts in downtown Toronto anymore and we missed their soft, chewy cookies. We tried out their frozen cookie dough, available at Sobeys (check out this product locator to see exactly where you can get them). Actually, since you bake them yourselves, they work out to be cheaper than buying them from the storefront. There's also the convenience involved with having them on hand anytime, and you could tell the quality of the ingredients was good. They tasted exactly like the ones we remember (just make sure you don't overbake them).

I prefer the container packaging to the ubiquitous cookie dough tube packaging because the cookies are already pre-cut so there is no need to fuss with it.

The funniest part was all I wanted to do was eat the cookie dough, while Mark demanded continually that we bake cookies like normal human beings do :) I know eating cookie dough is not really considered safe and, as I recently learned, it's not necessarily the raw egg that can be an issue but it can also be the flour that poses a concern. As people in the comments of that article say, there are much riskier things we do everyday and the sheer joy we get from eating raw cookie dough is just something most of us are not willing to give up!

Yours in food,

-Stacey

Specialty cheeses, local produce, and more: Longo's Taste Ontario, Taste the World event

Ever been to a grocery store where it's more of an experience than a chore to shop at? Longo's at 15 York St. is one of those. Highlights: the cozy seating area (and fireplace!) where you can eat food from the freshly prepared section (which I did recently when I had lunch with a friend), and Corks Wine Bar right inside the Longo's (yes, there's a wine bar inside where you can have a drink and a bite to eat). They have a great cheese section (believe they will order cheese in for you if they don't have what you want on hand) and carry some really interesting salts.



We also visited the Longo's Loft for their Taste Ontario, Taste the World event, and with Chef Matt Kantor at the helm and Alexa Clark as our host, I knew the food and company would be good. I was not disappointed!

Matt's red curry with Ontario butternut squash was by far my favourite dish, and we also liked the Niagara Gold cheese that was served so much that we went back and bought a wedge (even though there was a free one in our media kit - we ate that in two seconds flat and needed MOAAAAAR! Ahem. More, I mean). Seriously good cheese, thank you Upper Canada Cheese Company! It was also a hit with friends who tried some when they came over later that week.

I have to give them major kudos on the wine and beer pairings with Matt's food - they were done by a very knowledgeable lady from Corks Wine Bar. A beer that I didn't really love on its own (Duggan's #9 India Pale Ale - not terrible by any means, and I think it's pretty cool that it's brewed over on Victoria St., but a bit bitter for my liking) was TRANSFORMED when I had it with the spicy red curry. We also had a killer late harvest Riesling (Cave Spring's Indian Summer Late Harvest Riesling 2009) which was, of course, not quite at icewine stage yet but was niiiiice and sweet. Yum!



Check it out if you're in the area - just wander the aisles and gawk at everything in complete wonderment like I tend to do whilst grocery shopping in a place like that! It's fun, and we all need to slow the hell down once in a while and smell the curry, so to speak. Try it, and look for Ontario meats and produce while you're at it!

Yours in food,
-Stacey

Brassaii holiday menu

Recently we were able to preview Brassaii's holiday menu. The 7-course (or 9 if you count the seafood tower and soup) spread demonstrated the wide gastronomic repertoire of Chef Chris Kalisperas, complemented with tableside cocktails by resident mixologist Jordan Stacey and desserts by Pastry Chef, Mark Cheese.



Our table started off with a seafood tower featuring Nova Scotia lobster, Alaskan king crab, shrimp, and oysters



The Amuse was Potato Leek Soup + whipped creme fraiche + caviar.
Keep in mind that some of the serving sizes in the photos below are smaller than individual portions you might order so that we could go through more items to sample.




Course 1: Burrata
Roasted beets + endive + walnut vinaigrette + basil

The mozzarella was so moist, with a dreamy, creamy centre; it's softness texturally complemented by the beets.




Course 2: Steak Tartare
housecut beef tenderloin + foie gras torchon + quail egg + pickled chanterelles + crostini

Some people are quite squeamish with the thought of eating raw meat, but this version of steak and egg was quite a treat. Oh and I love chanterelles!




Course 3: Gnocchi
housemade pasta + lamb ragu + ricotta salata + mint




Course 4: Scallops
Qualicom bay scallops + beluga lentils + Iberico chorizo + roasted pistachio vinaigrette

I'd have the crispy chorizo topped scallops over the bacon wrapped kind anytime.




Course 5: Duck
roasted breast + confit leg + braised cabbage + leek puree + chestnuts + grape mostarda




Course 6: Venison
peal barley + pomegranate + sweet potato




Course 7: Black Forest
crunchy black forest gift box + cherry red wine sauce + pistachio ice cream










Brassaii
461 King Street West Toronto, ON M5V 1K4
(416) 598-4730


Posted by: Mark Rodas

Gourmet Food and Wine Expo 2011

A couple of weeks ago we made our way down to the Metro Toronto Convention Centre South Building for the annual Gourmet Food & Wine Expo.

There we sampled delicious food and drink from all over the world including some paella, venison ribs and yummy desserts!
Our favourites were macarons from Ruelo Patisserie and petit fours from the Windsor Arms Hotel.


A "Ruelo" (chocolate praline) and a "Fleur de Sel Caramel" macaron from Ruelo Patisserie












petit fours from the Windsor Arms Hotel







Posted by: Mark Rodas