Beach Hill Smokehouse, Toronto

Beach Hill Smokehouse serves Texas style BBQ. White oak is used for smoking. Beach Hill could be the best Texas style BBQ in Canada.

Some of you may know that I am a certified Kansas City BBQ judge (KCBS) and have also served as an invited Judge at the most prestigious BBQ competition in the world, "The Jack" (Jack Daniels Invitational World Championship BBQ). 

Beach Hill Smokehouse is the real thing. First, let me say that their smoked turkey (first image below) is the best that I have tasted anywhere in North America (including Franklin in Austin), perfectly brined, juicy, tender, not overly salty and with a very generous flavour of the wood smoke. 

Roast beef bones and turkey. Roast beef bones were very tasty, slightly on the dry side with a slightly overdone bark, but still delicious.

The sausage was perfectly smokey, very tasty and had the perfect grind (coarseness). The pork ribs were very tasty but slightly dry, however the meat pealed off the bone with a bight, perfectly. The brisket was excellent, juicy, good texture, did not fall apart when picked up with the fingers, presented very good smokey flavour and would make for a great sandwich meat. The beans were good and well mixed with the smokey burnt ends but the sauce was more vinegary than my preference.

The house sauce did not get a high rating from me because of the vinegary aspect, certainly not typical of Texas.

KuKum Kitchen

Chef Joseph Shawana, who grew up on the Wikwemikong Unceded Reserve on Manitoulin Island, shares his indigenous heritage cuisine, using his classically trained cooking background.

Arctic trio: beet cured salmon; seal tartar; smoked rainbow trout, all accompanied by bannock. I only had a problem with the taste of the seal, not that there was anything wrong. The flavour just did not appeal to me at all. One might call this an acquired taste. When I was in Iceland, I tried minki whale tartar and it had a similar kind of unpleasant flavour/taste experience.

Roasted beets wild rice, dried berries, rose hip sugar with greens and all flavoured with a sweet grass vinaigrette. 

Labrador tea and wild mint rillettes; rabbit liver mousse with truffle; game and cranberry terrine. Each dish very different from the other and very well flavoured.

Halibut with fresh peas, wild garlic, squash puree and salmon roe. The flavours went well together but the fish was overcooked.

Caribou, duchess potato, squash, foraged mushrooms with a braised onion puree.

Bouillabaise served with cedar and anise broth, with scallops, clams, mussels and perch with charred bannock. This was my favourite dish, well composed and each component properly cooked a point.

Il Covo Cicchetti E Vino, Toronto

I wish the lighting for the photos was better but the ambient lighting was very difficult for good photography.

This wonderful new Italian influenced cuisine is one of the best Italian dining experiences in Canada.

West Coast oysters topped with lemon pearles and Ligurian taggiasca olive oil. Very fresh and quite delicious.

Tremezzino frito: fried bread, B.C. side striped shrimp and bay scallop with smoked lemon mayo.

Tomato braised black cod  with basil, capers, Italian pine nuts and olive alle monacale.

Braised snail and mushroom stuffed house made pasta, cow's cream, goat butter and rosemary. The earthy flavour of the snails, mushrooms and rosemary contrasted well with the cream and goat butter.

Stella in brodo, a Sicilian inspired roasted buffalo ricotta dumpling in aromatic hen's broth.

Perhaps my favourite dish of the night, a truly delicious Calabrian nerizia liquorice braised beef brisket, cooked so perfectly juicy and tender, the perfect texture for this cut, accompanied by black salsify.

Fried potatoes, red onion, oregano and crisp peppers from Basilicata.

Grilled bone-in rack of lamb, cooked perfectly med rare-rare with graffiti eggplant, smoked potato and rosemary. The rendered fat of the meat was used to cook the crispy paper-thin slices of layers of potato, a great work of craft in itself.

Carrots roasted with Iberico (acorn fed pig) pork fat, with crisp lentils flavoured with "winter spice".

A mini cassata: sweet sheep's milk ricotta cake, pistachio, preserved cherry an citrus.

Fiorellino: a crisp pastry floret: presentation.

The Pastry floret being sauced with braised quince and caramelized white chocolate. A great finish to an exceptional eating experience.

Brunch at the Carbon Bar

The amazing smoked brisket benny, poached eggs on brisket with anaheim chili, dill pickle and hollandaise on a "high rise biscuit.

Smoked ribs. A bit dry.

Smashed and fried potatoes with kim chi, parmesan and green onions. Yummy, addictively crispy potatoes!

Buttermilk fried chicken and waffles with citrus creme, honey and chili-garlic sauce. The chicken lacked flavour, the batter was not cripsy enough and lacked flavour. Although the chicken was not overcooked it was not juicy. I would skip this.

Oak-pit smoked bacon had the right thickness for texture and had good flavour, but tasted as if they came from a pan full of bacon fat. From my perspective, the bacon should have been lightly blotted as the surface oil overwhelmed the bacon experience and made it somewhat unpleasant.

Mezcal and lime cured salmon with aji crema, smoked grape tomatoes, frisee, pickled red onion, crispy capers and accompanied by Montreal styled bagel (and cream cheese if requested).

Assembly Chef's Hall, Toronto

At the Assembly Food Hall we grazed items from the menus of several restos.

Love Chix

Fried brussel sprouts with lemon and grana padano. Terrific, especially if you love brussel sprouts!

Love Chix fried chicken sandwich (shared).

Cherry Street BBQ

Fabulous, nicely smokey, very juicy pulled pork from Cherry Street BBQ. One of the best pulled pork samples I have tasted  in some time (And I am a Kansas City BBQ Society Judge, and I have judged at the Jack).

Texas style smoked ribs, brisket and turkey. Turkey was tasty and moist. Ribs were a bit overdone and dry. Brisket was juicy with good texture but could have used a bit more smoke. The BBQ beans, not shown, were very good, among the best  BBQ beansof the city's many BBQ restos.

Isshin Ramen

My favourite place to eat at Assembly Food Hall, Ramen Isshen. Above, the roasted garlic shoyu (fermented soy bean ) ramen dish: Isshin roast garlic oil, bamboo shoots, nori, green onions & thin wavy noodles.

Boemo

The very popular cheeseburger. 

 Dailo

Fried confit Peking duck wings with hoisin-soy sauce glaze, had a crunchy well flavoured batter and were very good.

Konjiki Ramen

Atsushi Yamamoto, head chef and founder, established himself as a highly regarded ramen shop in Japan. His Tokyo shop has been recognized by the Guide Michelin Bibb Gourmand and voted the #1 ramen shop in all Japan in 2016 in Tokyo Walker Magazine. This Toronto branch is the first branch resto he has opened outside of Tokyo.

The "signature" clam broth ramen. The soup base for this dish is made from cherrystone clams, kombu, pork and chicken and shellfish cooked for hours. The intense clam and shoyu broth is very pleasing. The noodles, made from Japanese and local flour, are made with filtered water. They have a perfect springy/chewy texture. 

Tonkatsu ramen, a pork bone based soup with roasted garlic oil, house smoked cherry tomatoes and pork sous vide cooked for hours, spring onion and leeks. The broth is intensely favoured and even more pleasing and addictively rich than the clam broth. The "memma" topping is bamboo shoots braised in red wine, soy sauce and special seasoning. 

A vegetarian ramen is also available.

This is a very good ramen resto, but, there are at least 1 or 2 ramen restos that I would consider at a similar quiality level from taste/experience perspective.

Labora at Campo Food Hall.

Campo Food hall is a destination for ready to take out food or eat in tapas, small plates and sandwiches. 

Labora restaurant, inside the back of Campo Food Hall, is perhaps the best new restaurant in Canada and probably the best resto with a special interest in Spanish food. 

You will find lots of superlatives below.

These dishes below were culled from grazing the menus at 2 visits. Parts of the menu changes regularly depending on fresh market items.

Gilda matrimonio: skewered gordal olives with lemon, cured white anchovy, Cantabrian anchovy and pippara pepper.

Mussels in red escabeche sauce. A wonderful dish. 

Bay of Biscay anchovies. 

Pan tumaca, tomato rubbed "crystal" bread. For taste and textures, this is the best, or equal to the best execution of pan con tomate I have tasted anywhere in North America.

A fabulous house specialty, rubia gallega, cured (brined then dry aged for 3 weeks) Ontario prime rib eye, cut paper thin like shaved ham, topped with porcini mushroom puree, honey mushrooms and freshly shaved black truffle. The remarkable flavours go so well with the texture-like buttery bellota Iberico ham. This dish is only served in truffle season. This may be one of the great dishes of any you taste in Toronto. 

 Wild mushrooms and quail egg on toast.

Perfectly cooked whole sea bream cooked a la plancha, sided with lemon and herbs. 

Crispy potatoes with blistered padron peppers sided with chive aioli. 

Garrotxa cheese with pieces of membrillo (quince paste).

Razor Clams with Cava, Iberico Ham, garlic, chili, and parsley, olive oil. Sensational dish! The clams were cooked to perfection.

Josalito Iberico ham. Exceptionally sweet.

Bay scallops in Galician sauce.

 Another signature dish which may be one of the best food compositions you will taste in any resto in Toronto: mini-fried calamari sandwich with aioli and pickled guindilla pepper.

Wreck Fish (grouper family) with sofrito (tomato, onion, carrot, garlic) and house made chorizo (pork flavoured with Spanish sweet paprika, red pepper, honey and cinnamon).

Escalivada - Catalan roasted vegetable dish with artichokes, eggplant, red pepper, onion, black olive and parsley.

Red prawns from Palamos.

Carabinero shrimps.

The prawn on the right is the carabinero. On the left, red prawns from Palamos. 

So good, we ordered more carabinero. The juice in head is particularly good and we just pulled the head off and sucked the juices. The body is especially sweet.

Fideua, a Spanish dish similar to paella but with short noodles instead of rice, here, containing porcini mushrooms, piquillo peppers, scallions, onion, tomato, garlic, angel hair pasta and all topped with perfectly cooked slices of wagyu beef. 

Icelandic Cod with Iberico Ham with a sauce of spinach, green onion and olive oil.

Dirty rice, with sofrito (tomato, onion, garlic, carrot, bay leaf, thyme) chorizo, oyster mushrooms, hen of the woods, chicken stock, cod fish, red prawns, squid, saffron, lemon juice, olive oil and paprika. Once again, One of the most enjoyable dishes you could experience in Toronto.

Saffron aioli accompanies the dirty rice above.

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Dark chocolate and Almond-olive oil cake flavoured with rum, amaretto, cinnamon and orange, with chocolate cremoso. Don't miss this! Such seductive flavours and texture and a perfect finish for the meal.