Casa Imperial - Riz North

Recently we tried two Asian restaurants where the food was just average but the decor was quite unique for the style of dining that we were having.

The first was Casa Imperial at Warden Ave and Steeles Ave which was formerly a steak house, but has since been converted into a Chinese dim sum restaurant.  The new owners did not change much of the wall fixtures, china or even the wait staff's uniforms, making it an interesting juxtaposition in styles.   Elaborate chandeliers adorn the ceilings.  Baroque style paintings depicting Louis XIV courtesans hang alongside red and gold Chinese symbols indicating "Double Happiness".

On the tables, European looking plates and gilded teapots are placed next to chopsticks and bamboo baskets of traditional Chinese dim sum brought in by waitresses in black and white French maid uniforms and waiters in black frilly shirts.  The portions were decent size but we found the food a bit bland and since you ordered off a menu rather than from push carts, all the dishes came at once causing them to be cold by the time we could eat them all.  You can get better dim sum for less money at the more traditional places up in Markham but this was an experience to dine in this setting.

Similarly a Asian fusion restaurant Riz North up in Midtown Toronto was decorated in what seemed like a wedding chapel with more chandeliers, white lattice on the walls and a room with an "altar".

For around $19, you can order from an all you can eat menu consisting of a combination of Thai, Japanese and Chinese food.  Choices include sushi, spring rolls, satays, dim sum, pad thai, curries, stir fried meats and vegetables, rice and noodle dishes.

These are two restaurants more interesting for their ambiance than for stellar food.  While they were pleasant enough, I think I'm ready to eat an awesome meal in a dive somewhere.

Casa Imperial - 4125 Steeles Ave East
Riz North - 3321 Yonge St.

La Société

Stepping into La Société is like being transported to Paris.  Taking over the 2nd floor location on the Mink Mile formerly occupied by Dynasty Chinese Cuisine, everything about this  restaurant exudes the air of a Parisian Bistro - from the decor to the menu to the prices.

 The stunning stained glass ceiling reminds us of the restaurant Bofinger in the Marais district or the tea room within Au Printemps department store in the Opera district.  The flooring consists of decorative mosaic tiles, artsy French fashion posters line the walls and if you are lucky enough to score a window seat, you get a great view of Yorkville while seated on plush brown leather banquet benches surrounded by brass railings.

The menu contains the usual suspects for a French bistro - Duck Confit, Steak Frites, Croque Monsieur.

We dropped by to try out the French onion soup ($11), which was ranked by Marc Thuet as one of the best in Toronto in the Toronto Post magazine.  While it was good with a thick seared layer of Gruyère and Emmenthal cheese and a sweet broth, it did not unseat our current reigning favourite from Jacques Bistro du Parc.

The side of frites ($6) were exactly as we liked them - thinly sliced, crispy, not oily, lightly salted and served with a flavourful garlic aioli sauce.  My only complaint is that there could have been more sauce, but then, I always want more sauce.

La Société is worth a visit just to experience the beautiful decor.  We didn't really taste enough of the food to determine whether it is worth the steeper Yorkville prices.  If we come back, I would like to try the Salade Niçoise made with seared rare tuna and french beans.  Rich was eyeing the butter poached PEI lobster benedict that was being devoured at the table next to us.

La Société
131 Bloor St. West

Eating at the AGO

We spend alot of time at the Art Gallery of Ontario now that we're members and have tried the various dining or snacking experiences that they have to offer.

 The espresso bar on the 5th floor (Contemporary Art) is a great place for a quick coffee and muffin.  If you snag a seat by the floor to ceiling windows, you get a beautiful view of Grange Park.  Their muffins are wonderfully moist and flavourful.  I especially like the pumpkin orange with the crunchy pumpkin seeds on top. 

 For a relatively brief but more substantial fare, the AGO cafeteria in the basement does the trick.  There are always hot hearty soups ($5) such as carrot ginger, potato truffle fennel, sausage chili.  A full serving can just about serve as a meal on its own, or can be purchased as a side along with a salad or sandwich for $2 more.  Currently they are serving Russian inspired soups in honour of the Chagall and Russian Avante Garde exhibit so we had tomato based soup with ground beef, barley and vegetables.  We also had Russian baked pirishke pastries filled with beef and veal or mushroom herb, as well as a rice krispie treat shaped like a pumpkin for Halloween (not Russian!?!).  This is a great place to rest your feet, fill your stomach while viewing art that is available for sale or possibly short term rental.

Finally if you have the time and the money for a fancier meal, there is the Frank restaurant on the main floor.  We've only been there for lunch so far, so we still have not experienced the full potential of their menu.  However I did have one of my favourite appetizers there that I've been searching for ever since.  It was a deep fried mushroom risotto croquette served with wild mushrooms in a truffled herb sauce.  It was so good I decided I was going to come back and get two orders for this alone as my lunch, but alas, I have not seen it on the menu since.

I also had a Jerusalem artichoke salad and a chocolate pecan tart with bourbon pecan ice cream for dessert.  These were both really good but pale in my memory compared to my mushroom croquette.  Hopefully one day we meet again!

As members we get 10% off food at all the dining locations, which is a nice perk.  We also have the opportunity to eat at the Members only lounge in the Grange, connected to the AGO.  However you seem to get similar food at a premium price so we're happy just to eat in the regular locations.

Swish by Han - OUT OF BUSINESS

Looking for somewhere to dine in between seeing Private Lives at the Royal Alex, and attending Nuit Blanche later that night (both to be written about in my Toronto events blog), we picked the modern Korean fusion restaurant "Swish" by Han, which we learned about in the free weekly "Grid" newspaper.   The Grid has been a great source of information for restaurants and interesting events in Toronto.

Swish offers dinner sized "set" meals of hotpot where you cook ingredients in steaming broth, table top barbeque where you grill your own food, and Ssam set which was described to us pre-cooked meats wrapped in lettuce leaf.  However what interested us more were their wide variety of innovative "dishes" which you order like Spanish tapas.  There were so many great sounding choices that we were glad there were four of us so we could try a large assortment.

We started off with the Silken Tofu which was the featured dish recommended by The Grid.  It consisted of a large piece of tofu covered and deep fried in tempura batter, sliced and topped with homemade spicy sauteed kimchi (fermented cabbage), nori, green onions, red chili flakes and drizzled with a sauce containing ginger, sugar, lemon rinds, chili flakes, sesame oil cooking wine and soy sauce.  The combination of sweet, spicy, salty tastes and both crunchy and soft textures of the tempura and tofu was a delight to savour.  It was so good we were tempted to order another dish, but there were so many other options to try that we held off until next time.

We ordered the sweet chili and garlic prawns but what I think we got instead were the tempura prawns with tobiko, chive and kelp salad.  Regardless of which one we ended up with, what we got was delicious.  The large shrimp were again coated with a crunchy  batter and covered with a chipotle mayo-like sauce and the kelp salad provided just the right mix of healthy vegetables to make us feel less guilty about all the fried food so far.

We continued on the salad trend by having the wild mushroom salad that included shitake, enoki, oyster and cremini mushrooms mixed in a bed of greens and served a beautiful wooden tray that I admired immensely as I fought for my share of mushrooms.

The fried capelin (little smelt-like fishes) with a ponzo sauce (citrus based vinegar and soy mixture) was a special of the day and was a bit bland after the explosions of tastes we had encountered so far.

Our final two choices were two different types of pork buns - the spicy pork belly on a grilled onion bun, which was part of the regular menu, and a steamed pork bun that was a special of the day.  Both contained tender pieces of pork in a flavourful sauce mixed with celery, carrrots, etc.  While both pork fillings were good, we liked the grilled bun much more than the steamed bun.

When it came to dessert, Swish made the mistake of trying to be too true to the Asian culture and offered "Korean hand-shaven ice topped with sweet red beans and ice cream".  They lost me at red bean which is not my idea of a dessert.  So instead, we picked a dessert-like dish off the appetizer menu - "Kimchi-eed asian pears with stilton cheese".  This seemed like the epitome of fusion and the one of the most interesting dishes on the menu.  Still not my idea of "dessert" but it was an adventure to try.

There were many other choices that we didn't get to so I'm looking forward to returning to try those, and get another dose of the silken tofu.  By the way, make reservations - maybe it was due to it being Nuit Blanche night but we showed up at 5:30pm and every table was already reserved and they kept turning people away.

Swish by Han
38 Wellington St

Table 17 on Queen St. East

Queen St east of Broadview Ave is starting to go through the same type of gentrification that Queen West has experienced since the 80s.  The area, previously occupied by run down, low income housing and stores, is now sprouting art galleries, higher end shops and trendy restaurants including Ruby Watchco (and its associated grocery store Ruby Eats), Picnic, and Table 17 where we dined recently.

Table 17 features some interesting starters under its "sharing" section. First is their creamy polenta with featured slow-cooked sugo (Italian for sauce) of the day ($14).  Our sugo consisted of ground sausage and sweet peppers, accompanied with extra spices.  The polenta is presented unadorned on a wooden plank.  The chef comes out with a small pot of sauce which he spoons onto the polenta right at your table.  This is followed by the waiter bearing freshly shredded cheese and ground pepper.  This was a fun little ritual that made the course seem extra special.  This delicious dish is mean to be shared by the table.  Since there was just the two of us, Rich and I ate it right off the plank, although I'm not sure whether this was the proper etiquette.

Next we shared a trio of deep fried risotto "hot balls" which came in small (3 balls for $6) and large (6 balls for $11.50) sizes.  Each ball comes with a different stuffing and sauce.  There is a mushroom and Fontina cheese ball with a tomato sauce, a spiced lamb with mint sauce and one with goat cheese and wildflower honey.  We debated over the size and settled on a small since we were also getting the polenta, but regretted it as soon as we saw them.  We begrudgingly split the balls but vowed to get the large on our next visit.

For the main course we both had Ontario roasted leg of lamb with spicy merguez sausage, roasted carrots and beans and tiny pieces of lobster mushroom ($29).  Leg of lamb is usually served well done or else the cut of meat can be tough.  Our slices were closer to medium rare which is how I usually like my meat cooked, but indeed I found them to be chewy. 

We found the desserts to just be average - the chocolate cake with ricotta mousse and hazelnut cream and sticky toffee cake were both rather bland and a bit dry.

As we have found with many restaurants, the appetizers and starters are the most impressive and memorable and dishes I would definitely want to try again. The main course was tasty and well portioned but nothing special, and I would pass on the dessert.


Table 17
782 Queen St East

Smores Hot Chocolate at the Blackberry Lounge in Bell Lightbox

I have officially found Heaven in a cup!  Imagine a warm mug of SOMA malted hot chocolate (from SOMA Chocolates in the Distillery?  Have to find me some!), mixed with Baileys and Frangelico, topped with a homemade semi-melted marshmallow and a sprinkling of graham cracker crumbs to complete the smores theme.

This is what I found on the menu of the Blackberry lounge at the Bell Lightbox where we were in search of a quick dessert.  Sipping this delight while enjoying the views of King St. from our window seat was a perfect prelude before heading off to our TIFF movie. 

In terms of the actual desserts, the lemon "tart" with sour cream ice cream and blueberries is a winner.  This was not a pastry tart but more of a lemon custard with creme brulee topping.  However it did have a wonderfully tart yet sweet taste, so maybe it was a play on words.

Blackberry Lounge. Luma, Bell Lightbox
350 King St. W.

RaviSoups

Our new favourite place for a quick cheap bite before a show in the Entertainment District is RaviSoups on Adelaide St. The soups and wraps are both delicious and cost around $8-10 or you can get a combo of half-sized soup and wrap for $11. The hot hearty soups are perfect for a cold day, or in the summer, they sometimes have chilled soup options.

Given my partiality for mushrooms, my "go-to" soup is the porcini mushroom with wild rice bisque topped with crispy shallots and truffle oil.  My favourite wrap is the grilled flank steak with mushrooms, spinach, yams, caramelized onion, brie and light sauce. 

The soups change regularly but some regulars include the butternut squash with Asian pear and lemon grass, curried apricot and red lentil w cilantro and lime fraiche, and Ravi stew with chicken, wild rice, edamame beans, spinach.  Most of the soups have a bit of a spicy zip to it because of the spices and herbs used.  Instead of crackers, you can order a cheddar cheese biscuit with red pepper jelly for $1.50. Other wrap choices include grilled chicken, lamb, pork shoulder or grilled veggies.

The food is ordered at the front counter, cafeteria style and then brought to you when ready. There are only a few individual tables along with a large communal table made of a beautiful single slab of wood.  In the summer, there is a pretty sheltered patio in the back for outdoor dining. 

Ravisoups
322 Adelaide St W

Bohemian Gastropub

Traditional English pubs used to serve basic hearty food catered for the common worker, such as shepherd's pie which consisted of leftover meat lined with mash potato, steak and ale pie, or a ploughman's lunch which is basically a cold sandwich.

The term "gastropub" originated in England in the 1990s and refers to pairing beer with high end dining. The gastropub has now come to Toronto with the opening of The Bohemian Gastropub on Queen St. West.  The prices were reasonable with appetizers from  $7-10, sandwiches from $10-12 and mains fomr $17-21.

 There are some very unique appetizer choices on the menu.  Relatively large, fleshy smelts are breaded with wheat flour, deep fried and served with caper mayonnaise.  A crunchy salad of endive and celeriac mixed with tart granny smith apple slices and salty roasted pumpkin seeds is mixed with a slightly sweet pumpkin seed dressing.  In every bite all the various flavours can be discerned.  Fried pig ears come with a  smoked paprika tartar sauce and can be snacked on like exotic potato chips with the taste of bacon.  Other options that we didn't get a chance to try this time but sounded very interesting included the fried cheddar zucchini dumplings with grape chutney and spaetzle poutine covered with cheddar and bratwurst gravy .. maybe next time!

For main course, I had pan seared trout with a chive dumplings, chunks of ham, covered with a pea sauce.  Rich had the beef oxtail and mushroom stew cooked until tender in a tiny dutch oven with a layer of pastry surrounding the lid, served with sauteed pearl onion, baby carrots, potato and celery.  The portions were not overly large which allowed us to try multiple appetizers while still each having a main (although we were really hungry which helped).

The beer choices were also unique with options from various local breweries including Steam Whistle Brewery, and Rich's choice, which was Augusta Ale, a local ale brewed in Kensington Market.   This is a welcome variation from the traditional English pubs and provides a new dining experience.  Hopefully more will follow.

Bohemian Gastropub
571 Queen St. West

Chiado - Groupon Tasting Menu

Rich and I were recently discussing how it had been quite a while since we had dined at our favourite high-end Portuguese restaurant. Chiado is known for its vast and varied selection of seafood, having a fresh batch of fish flown in daily from Portugal.  The server brings out the daily choices on a platter and describes each one in great detail.

It seemed quite serendipitous that the very next day, I spotted a Groupon offering a five course tasting menu for two at Chiado for a mere $79.  The tasting menu was created specifically for the Groupon special since there was no equivalent offering on the menu.  This was a great way to try a variety of dishes and was too good a deal to pass up.

The first course was a moist slab of cheese made of cow's milk, served with a drop of honey and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and rosemary.

The next three courses offered a choice and it was hard to select since they all sounded so good.  For our second course, I chose a delicious grouper carpacio with white asparagus and pine nuts, while Rich picked the grilled sardines with bell peppers and red onion.

 Rich's third course consisted of pan roasted monk fish in piri-piri sauce sitting on a bed of navy beans.  I was tempted by the monk fish but really don't like hard beans so I chose instead the seared scallop on a puree of celeriac and a port wine reduction.  My scallop was tasty but nothing I hadn't had before.. Rich's fish was delicious and I regretted not getting this - I guess could have just left the beans.

Our fourth course was another tough decision between pan-roasted skate with a lemon coriander risotto and tyle fish, which was described to us as the wing of a sting ray served on garlic mash with a tomato/jalapeno salsa on a bed of garlic mash potato and crisply steamed vegetables.  Both main courses were perfectly cooked and flavourful.  I would have preferred the risotto that came with Rich's skate but enjoyed having vegetables with my more exotic tyle fish.

Our dessert course was an assorted sampler which included a tangy blueberry cheesecake, a chocolate fudge cake, and an interesting Portuguese specialty called a "molotov" made with sugar and egg white, with the consistency of a wet meringue.

Rich selected the wine pairing option which was surprisingly inexpensive at $5 per glass.  His final drink to accompany dessert was a special Portuguese tawny port that cannot be found at the LCBO.  It was so delicious that I ordered a glass for myself.

A great meal at a great price ... who could ask for anything more!  I will be on the lookout for other Groupon opportunities.



Chiado
864 College St West

Lobster & Chips at Toca in the Ritz Carlton Hotel

The Ritz Carlton Hotel is one of the oldest and most prestigious chains of high-end luxury hotels in the world, so getting one in Toronto elevates our status as a city.  That in itself seemed like a good enough reason to try its signature restaurant "Toca - by Tom Brodi".  So when we read about an item on their menu that was a fusion of two of my favourite foods - lobster, and fish and chips - it seemed like a special way to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary.

Our favourite way to eat lobster is simply to boil or steam it and then dip it in clarified butter.  Lobster does not need any other spice or flavouring to mask its natural sweet succulent taste.

We find that the Chinese style of cooking lobster which is to chop it up into pieces and then stir fry it with ingredients like green onion, ginger or garlic does just this.  You mainly taste the extra ingredients instead of the lobster itself.

At Toca, the "Fancy Fish and Chips" consisted of sizable chunks of beer battered lobster, frites sprinkled with Parmesan cheese and accompanied by spicy tartar sauce.  Unfortunately this sounded much better than it tasted as the batter overwhelmed the flavour of the lobster.  Again this confirmed that the tried and true method of eating lobster unadorned is still the best.  In addition, the fries were not very crispy and tasted a bit bland.

Despite the prestige and upscaleness of the Ritz and the rather pretentious name of "Toca - by Tom Brodi", we found the food only average for a high-end pricey restaurant.  Ready to be impressed, we admired the beautiful bread basket and butter, which we thought had the name TOCA colourfully etched into it.  It was a bit of a letdown to know that the "engraving" was just printing on a piece of wax paper.

Our salad appetizers - heirloom tomatoes, gouda cheese and greens with a pesto vinagrette, and BC prawns with romaine hearts, celery salt, bacon tuile and horseradish dressing were good, but nothing special.

I hate to be "putting down the Ritz", but it was a bit disappointing that this spectacular looking hotel did not have a more impressive restaurant.

Family Style Dining at Ruby Watchco

Ruby Watchco is the restaurant recently opened by celebrity chef Lynn Crawford (host of Restaurant Makeover).  The unusual name was inspired by the former resident of the building, the Ruby Watch Company, as indicated by the large sign hanging on the wall.

Ruby Watchco is unique in that it offers only one 4-course set menu per day for $49, with the menus for the week described in advance on their website.  There is a vegetarian option if you ask for it.  The food is served family style, giving you the feel of going home to mom's and finding out what's for dinner.  This restaurant tries to use locally grown, organic produce and ingredients.

Our meal started off with a beet and watercress salad with cucumbers, carrots and goat cheese covered in a pistachio vinaigrette.  The menu lists the farms that these vegetables come from.  The main course was grilled Ontario veal chops with a sweet bread lemon caper sauce, accompanied by corn on the cob covered with honey and smoked paprika butter, grilled zucchini with herb pesto and dill potatoes with caramelized onions.

The third course was a soft and aromantic Riopelle cheese from a local fromagerie, served with grilled bread slices and chunks of Ontario peaches with an orange marmalade.  Dessert was a refreshing fruit crisp consisting of blueberries, strawberries, apricots and raspberries topped with a small dollop of whipping cream.  Summer time seems to be a good time to come for dinner, since the local harvest is plentiful.

This was tasty, wholesome,  hearty food with nothing too showy or splashy in terms of presentation or ingredients.  It rather reminded us of a good home cooked meal.  And if you don't like what's on the menu for the day, then I'm reminded of what Rich's father used to tell him when he didn't want to eat his dinner .. "That's too bad, it's a long time until breakfast".

Ruby Watchco
730 Queen St East