Friday Lunch from Clafouti

Clafouti is something of an institution on Queen Street West. Noted for its croissants and tarts, it is a convenient place to grab a snack before heading to Trinity Bellwoods Park. For those of us in search of something more substantial, there are also sandwiches.

We try two sandwiches. The "333" is layered with turkey, beef, cheddar, bacon, and lettuce lapped with barbecue sauce and mayo.  While the bread is nicely crisp and golden, the too-sweet sauce overwhelms the filling. Why bother with lettuce on a pressed sandwich?  You don't need lettuce on everything, especially when it is going to wilt and turn bitter.

The second sandwich is billed as a tuna nicoise.  When we think "nicoise", we think of a garlicky mix of black olives, anchovies, and tomatoes. Served on a pale, slightly flaccid baguette, the tuna nicoise is really tuna salad garnished with slices of hard boiled egg,  a component of salad nicoise to be sure, but not enough to warrant employing the name.  Though a bit too moist, the herb-flecked tuna salad is quite tasty, just not quite what we expected.

We can't leave without dessert.  What we thought was a raspberry and pomegranate clafouti tart does not have a clafouti texture or much pomegranate bite. On the other hand, a key lime tart is excellent starting with its crust. All too often graham cracker crusts are soggy or too buttery or both,  this one, on the other hand, has just enough butter to hold it together without the faintest hint of sogginess.  The filling is tart and creamy.  If there were a little garnish--a dollop of whipped cream or a half slice of lime--it would be even better.

Though the sandwiches are okay, it is probably best to stick to pastries.

Price:  two sandwiches and two pastries, $19.44

Location: 915 Queen Street West

Phone:  416-603-1935

Splendido's New Tasting Menu

I love to share my experiences exploring how our best chefs are evolving their cuisine. Victor Barry and his excellent associates are always refining what the do well and exploring new ways to please our palates.


Tonight was my opportunity to experience Splendido's new tasting menu, supervised by exec sous chef Patrick Kriss, in Victor Barry's absence.


We began with cream of cauliflower shooters perfectly accompanied by pate brisee crackers on which was cauliflower puree with "cracked" coriander, lime puree with lime zest and roasted cauliflower seasoned with espelette and lime juice.

A smoked Rocky Point oyster with a sublime sauce of sunchoke puree and potato foam, topped with sunchoke chips.

Shalom Farms venison tartar was accompanied by a slice of fabulous pastrami venison tongue that was so juicy and flavourful, a parsnip crisp, sea buckthorn puree, elderberry puree, parsnip puree, a granola of oats and sunflower seeds, wrasped hazelnuts and dehydrated parsnip peel powder. A complexity of flavours and textures that all came together in a beautiful symphonic experience.

Then, we enjoyed a dish that I love that only Splendido does, cooking a raw egg at the table with truffled butter (and bacon when it is offered, but today, this was a spontaneous effort just for my guest and I, so, no bacon today). Towards the end of cooking, a waiter brought a small pot of a chicken and truffle jus reduced with port, brandy, madeira, shallots and chopped perigourd truffles. This seductive reduction was spooned over the finished fried egg....then more shaved black Perigourd truffles! What a truly delectable dish!

Another "off piste" addition from the regular menu, in a mini portion, was chestnut puree filled angnolotti accompanied by glazed parsnip, toasted hazelnuts, pine nuts, bits of green onion and coffee, brown butter sauce. What a delectable choice. The pasta was so delicate and the perfect complement to the mild sweet filling and complementary sauce.

Nipissing quail ballontine with chanterelle and hedgehog mushrooms, poached quince and lots of marvellous perigourd truffles. A great dish of luxurious, contrasting flavours.

Next, we were presented with a mildly sweet, creamy texture, perfect boudin noir and crisp, juicy pork belly. These were accompanied on the plate by caramelized apple puree, cocoa nib, confit turnip and walnut oil. Just another fabulous dish that we truly enjoyed.

Whipped Chateau de Bourgogne cheese with endive, confit of kumquat with a grapefruit vinaigrette. This was a dish of sublime subtleties.

Refreshing New Foundland cloudberry sorbet with Greek yogurt topped with crumbled, roasted white chocolate and sided with crisp meringue. This was a very refreshing dish.

Our final dish was a pear and walnut cake with chestnut puree, cranberry and tonka bean and white chocolate ice cream.

Toronto Resto Revisits: Pangaea; Malena; Torito.

Pangaea

Pangaea has a very pleasing new menu so we were excited to try some of the new additions.

Chicken and mushroom sausage with white wine braised cabbage, chicken skin "crackling" and Pommery mustard jus. What a lovely range of complementary flavours, particularly the cabbage and sausage complements. The texture of the sausage was perfect, slightly coarse. I also loved the crispy crackling which was placed over top of this presentation.

Tortiere, small chunks of lamb and beef, carrot, parsnip, sweet potato, thyme rosemary and veal reduction, with a classic lard pastry. The texture of the "chunk" experience was an upscale version of the typical ground tortiere filling, this time employing better cuts of the meats. The flavour of the filling was pleasantly earthy and very satisfying. the texture of the pastry was very good, but i would personally have preferred a slightly crispier and flakey crust.

Pumpkin spice layer cake, brown butter cream cheese frosting, candied maple pecans, salted caramel ice cream. A very satisfying dessert with a wonderful range of Fall flavours.

 Malena

We began with a mix of warm olives with herbs and citrus.

Sea bass perfectly seared, presented with a leek ash sauce, a dash of olive oil, caramelized celery, mini fingerlings, dill and a dab of yogurt.

Fritto misto of the day, squid, shrimp, potato and mini halloumi cheese squares served with salsa verde. The inclusion of the potato croquettes was not pleasing in this dish. The shrimp and squid coating was a touch oily and not crispy enough but the shrimp and squid themselves were perfectly cooked. The addition of the salsa verde was a perfect complement.

Roasted cauliflower, ndjuja sausage and chickpeas. The sausage provided a mild bight. A good dish with complementary flavours.

Chestnut agnolotti, wild sauteed mushroom slices topped with bits of sauteed celery, brown butter and parmigiano. A terrific dish with pleasing sweet and earthy flavours.

"Brick chicken" was presented with house made mostarda, potato puree and one piece of the breast was topped with a cooked, soft but intact farm fresh egg yolk, a rich complement for this very good dish. The chicken was perfectly moist and juicy.

Warm sweet potato and walnut cake with spiced preserved cherries and vanilla cream fraiche made with yogurt. A very pleasing dessert.

Crispy, "apple pie" canoli accompanied by compressed apple made with honey and lemon, cinnamon mascarpone and apple caramel. This was an extremely successful dish. It could not have been made better and really pleased everyone at the table, who despite being "too full", ate the whole thing!

 Torito

Torito has been a lovely place for me to visit from time to time, to experience Spanish/ Mexican influenced comfort food. It has a very informal room that also lends itself to a tapas like atmosphere.....which is what one gets, a lot of wonderful small dishes. I neglected to bring my cell or camera, so no photos.

We began with mild, house smoked, wild salmon in a sliced terrine format. Salmon is wrapped around mascarpone cheese with chunks of gerkin pickle and apple served with thin slices of toasted baguette. A perfect beginning.

Mildly smoked in house, warm pheasant was sliced and perfectly juicy (a remarkable outcome as often it is presented on the dry side) was presented topped with pomegranate seeds and a cranberry veal glacee reduction. A delightful dish and the wonderful sauce was mopped up completely. 

A petit, juicy rack of rabbit was presented on a plum compote.


Sardine escabeche was presented in a tin with a top resembling an actual sardine tin....what fun. The sardines were covered in a tomato sauce. The dish was accompanied by crisps.


Lamb and ricotta filled ravioli came with a brown butter sage sauce. This dish had wonderful flavours but the pasta, which this chef is typically very good at preparing and cooking, could have been a touch more delicate.


Pequillo peppers were stuffed with pulled oxtail, pine nuts and raisins, then roasted and presented with a brilliantly conceived sauce of sweet corn puree flavoured with orange and vanilla. This dish was a big WOW for all.


Classic Spanish tortilla (egg omelet with potato and onion) was the only miss. It was a bit too dense and the flavours rather muddled.


We enjoyed "grilled cheese sandwiches" filled with Halloumi cheese and Spanish Serrano ham.


One of the great dishes of the night was thinly sliced, rare, very tender beef heart that was dressed with a mild chimichurri sauce and presented with pearl onions.

Friday Lunch from Brown Bag Sandwiches

The Perfect Lunch Spot on Church

If you are a hungry Ryerson student or if you do not have the energy to cook all the stuff you were just seduced by at Maple Leaf Gardens Loblaws, Brown Bag Sandwiches is the answer to your quick fix prayers.

Open since late October, BBS has a short list of  sandwiches featuring all the words and phrases that offer comfort to contemporary diners: "pork belly", "confit", "made on the premises."  Although it is always hard to pass up anything involving fried chicken, we had to go with the aformentioned pork belly and the duck confit sandwiches. Since the Designated Courier has thrown us over for the exhausting pleasures of working in a restaurant kitchen, we now have Girl Courier(henceforth GC)who discovered this place.

Pork Belly Sandwich with yummy Coleslaw

The pork belly sandwich comes with roasted tomato salsa, a grainy mustard, and garlic mayo.  Strangely, when such a lusty meat is involved, the salsa completely overwhelms the pork upon the first couple of bites.  With the salsa out of the way, though, there is the revelation of meat enhanced by mustard.We wanted another two or three slices of pork belly.

Pickles and bread are the two items not currently produced on the premises--and they are working on pickles. The bread on this day was, for both sandwiches, an egg-type burger bun dusted with sesame seeds. The pork belly cried out for a crustier,and all round more substantial, foundation.

Duck Confit Sandwich with perfect Sweet Potato Fries

On the other hand, this bun was just the thing for the confit duck sandwich.  The duck, barbeque hoisin sauce, sauteed red cabbage, seemed to meld unctuously with the bun without actually falling into a total mess.  To provide a textural counterpoint there was a sprinkle of crackling. The slightly bitter cabbage also played off the richness of the duck for a truly satisfying taste treat.

While knowing the crispness would be steamed out of them by the time they hit our lips, we could not ignore the sweet potato fries.  Despite the usual problem, they were delicious with an almost souffle-like middle and not overly caramelized as they often are.  A grind of pepper reinforced their savory quality. A second side of fairly coarse coleslaw was also good with its oil and vinegar dressing.

We tried two condiments--a perfectly acceptable chipotle mayo, and homemade catsup.  We want homemade catsup to be better than Heinz in a bottle.  So far it just has not happened.  Some are over cooked or over-spiced, or both.  This one had the thin texture and bland flavour of tomato juice.  Keep working on it, folks.

Bread and catsup issues aside, Brown Bag Sandwiches offers good service and good value for money with some imaginative twists on classic sandwiches.

Price: $21.99 for two sandwiches and two sides
Brown Bag Sandwiches
Location:  377 Church Street, just south of Carlton
Phone:416-640-1324

Palm Beach Restos, The Continuing Saga: Chez Jean Pierre, Pizzeria Oceano, Buccan.

Chez Jean Pierre

Chez Jean Pierre has become one of my go to restos here in Palm Beach, particularly for their wonderful filet of sole. They fly the fish in weekly from France and simply pan fry it in a bit of butter....but, to perfection. You would be hard pressed to find sole done better anywhere in North America.

Pizzeria Oceano

Another resto that I love to frequent is Pizzeria Oceano in Lantana just immediately south of Palm Beach. As I have previously blogged, here you will enjoy what I consider one of the very best pizza's in North America and perhaps it would rank as in the top 5 to 10. It is so good, I just had to mention it again. It is so good that this little place that doesn't seat more than about 20 people was just featured on CBS.


Once a month, Pizzeria Oceano does a spontaneous middle of the month Sunday brunch, "Sloppy Sunday". These were our wonderful choices.

The “house pizza” (tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese) with the addition of red onion, spring raab, fresh cut garlic slices and baby escarole. The crust, perfectly crispy and flakey as always, with it's wonderful flavour working so well with all the ingredients on the perfectly unsoggy (as is often found in most restaurant pizzas) crust. No wonder this resto was just featured on CBS!

Sour cream omelet, with onions, manouri cheese, gingered chick peas, bight sized potato chunks, all topped with a moderately spicy, curried, heirloom tomato gravy. The omelet was gently fluffy, a bit creamy in texture and perfectly prepared. Another great Sunday morning wakeup dish.

Baby escarole, smokey bacon with a bacon vinaigrette, soft poached egg, pickled onion and pecorino cheese.

"Johnny cakes", pancakes with a toothsome slightly dense but airy texture, the perfect pancake, with a lovely complementary honey butter sauce and berries. I am not a pancake lover but these were exceptionally edible.

The Royal Red shrimp hash. Small, savory chunks of sauteed country ham, bight sized chunks of perfectly cooked, sweet tasting, Royal Red shrimp with a very fresh flavour redolent of the sea, mini fingerlings, mini purple potatoes, bits of sweet pepper and fontina cheese, all together in a “hash”, dressed with "dirty" gravy and a fried egg topped with chopped scallions. What a perfect morning combination of flavours and textures.

Buccan

Buccan is a relatively new resto in Palm Beach. It is very noisy and no matter where you sit it is very hard to hear what your friends are telling you. However, the food is pretty good, in general.

Brick oven roasted pork taco, charred tomatillo salsa, avocado. Mild smokey with a great range of pleasing sharp flavours of cilantro, lime juice (which i squeezed on) and tomatillo. The lime juice enhanced all of the flavours. I could crave these.

Wedge of iceberg lettuce with smokey bacon chunks, chopped tomato and a very creamy blue cheese dressing without the chunks (thankfully) . The old fashioned iceberg was terrific, crispy and cold.

Hot dog panini, sauerkraut, gruyere, mustard, chili (on the side). Eating this hot dog was like eating a crispy fried bread, grilled cheese sandwich. The "bun" was grilled bread with slices of hot dog in the middle.

Squid ink orrechiette, sausage, conch, basil, chilies. Very tasty with earthy flavours and a rich stock strongly flavoured with citrus and garlic. One of my 2 favourite dishes at this meal.

Marguerita pizza (but ordered with no cheese except a sprinkle of parmesan), oven dried tomatoes, fresh basil and slices of garlic. Crispy thin crust that was a bit too dense. It was pleasing but had none of the flavour and flakeyness of the gold standard Pizzeria Oceano in Lanata. It's a good pizza by most standards though. Ok sauce, a bit too sharp...would be more mellow if the sauce was prep cooked lower and longer. Perhaps use San Marzano tomatoes as well?

Wood grilled shrimp scampi, perfectly cooked, with arugula, on grilled bread and with a strong lemon flavoured dressing that overwhelmed the wood oven flavours.

Wood grilled burger, medium rare, no cheese requested (I never like cheese with meat except aged thin parmesan slices on carpaccio), on brioche. This is a very juicy burger, quite tasty too, with very good flavour and perfectly cooked. Fries crispy on the outside (requested crispy) but a bit soggy\greasy on the inside. Ok flavour.

MMMMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmm!

Crispy potato cakes, nicely peppery, with very good flavour and a nice crispy skin. I liked these better than the fries.