I had pretty much decided no Summerlicious this year so, of course, I did 3!
Summerlicious, for those who don't know, is a 10-day food festival where restaurants develop a low-cost (top price $45 for dinner, but many are less than that) prix-fixe menu. Many of the city's top restaurants participate (hence, the $45 limit), and it gives us the opportunity to try famous eateries that are beyond our budgets the rest of the year. We also have Winterlicious in February every year.
Our first restaurant was Frank, at the Art Gallery of Ontario. This was the one I was most looking forward to and was most disappointed in. There were 5 of us, so we had good sampling of the menu. It was a Spanish theme to go with the current Picasso exhibition, and I love Spanish food! While we were mostly happy with our appetizers and thrilled with one dessert (the summer berry pudding!), the mains were a big letdown -- dry, tasteless chicken, bland trout, bland veggie paella, the only standout was the spicy steak which, alas, was not my selection. Clearly, the kitchen overreached itself this time.
However, the sommelier did well. The Spanish wine selection was short, but excellent.
A few days later I headed out to La Bodega -- a very good little French restaurant -- and this time, we were not disappointed. My friend had the steak frites -- hard to resist in a French restaurant -- and I had the Lake Superior Whitefish. The fish was extraordinary! Moist, flaky, meaty, sitting on a lovely bed of spiced rice with olive and caper butter. It was a perfectly balanced dish. A bit of saltiness, a bit of buttery flavour, a bit of tang.... nothing overwhelming, just sheer goodness. I tried my friend's fries and, oh yeah, they were good. With a bit of mayo to dip in, sheer bliss.
This time, though, the wine list did disappoint. It is a good wine list, but they are out of stock of almost everything! Wonder if that's a sign of financial difficulties? Hope not, Bodega is a gem.
My last Summerlicious event was lunch at Tutti Matti on Adelaide East. This was my first time here, and it certainly won't be my last! I started with a delicious melt-in-your-mouth carpaccio with arugula -- one of my favourite combos, always. I was then pleasantly surprised by a luscious open-face sandwich of suckling pig -- perhaps a teeny bit greasy (i'd forgotten that about suckling pig), but oh so full of flavour with its tuna mayo and and roasted onions. My dessert was a passable panna cotta, but my friend's choice of Crostana Toscana looked (and he assures me it was) just delish.
Not bad for an event I wasn't planning to attend this year!
Summerlicious, for those who don't know, is a 10-day food festival where restaurants develop a low-cost (top price $45 for dinner, but many are less than that) prix-fixe menu. Many of the city's top restaurants participate (hence, the $45 limit), and it gives us the opportunity to try famous eateries that are beyond our budgets the rest of the year. We also have Winterlicious in February every year.
Our first restaurant was Frank, at the Art Gallery of Ontario. This was the one I was most looking forward to and was most disappointed in. There were 5 of us, so we had good sampling of the menu. It was a Spanish theme to go with the current Picasso exhibition, and I love Spanish food! While we were mostly happy with our appetizers and thrilled with one dessert (the summer berry pudding!), the mains were a big letdown -- dry, tasteless chicken, bland trout, bland veggie paella, the only standout was the spicy steak which, alas, was not my selection. Clearly, the kitchen overreached itself this time.
However, the sommelier did well. The Spanish wine selection was short, but excellent.
A few days later I headed out to La Bodega -- a very good little French restaurant -- and this time, we were not disappointed. My friend had the steak frites -- hard to resist in a French restaurant -- and I had the Lake Superior Whitefish. The fish was extraordinary! Moist, flaky, meaty, sitting on a lovely bed of spiced rice with olive and caper butter. It was a perfectly balanced dish. A bit of saltiness, a bit of buttery flavour, a bit of tang.... nothing overwhelming, just sheer goodness. I tried my friend's fries and, oh yeah, they were good. With a bit of mayo to dip in, sheer bliss.
This time, though, the wine list did disappoint. It is a good wine list, but they are out of stock of almost everything! Wonder if that's a sign of financial difficulties? Hope not, Bodega is a gem.
My last Summerlicious event was lunch at Tutti Matti on Adelaide East. This was my first time here, and it certainly won't be my last! I started with a delicious melt-in-your-mouth carpaccio with arugula -- one of my favourite combos, always. I was then pleasantly surprised by a luscious open-face sandwich of suckling pig -- perhaps a teeny bit greasy (i'd forgotten that about suckling pig), but oh so full of flavour with its tuna mayo and and roasted onions. My dessert was a passable panna cotta, but my friend's choice of Crostana Toscana looked (and he assures me it was) just delish.
Not bad for an event I wasn't planning to attend this year!
