PIER 39 FISH AND CHIPS 

3305 Fairview Street Unit 9, Burlington On., (905) 407-0565

Three of us had an urge on Thursday evening for a plate of fish in chips.  Thomas had seen a line up going into a brand new fish and chip restaurant in Burlington, so we decided to try it.  It is named after pier 39 in San Francisco which has an abundance of fish restaurants.  

After reviewing the menu we realized most items here are deep fried, so we ordered a couple of small appetizers; cheese sticks to share and deep fried mushroom caps.

Although the  cheese sticks were tasty and the sauce was quite good, there weren't enough of them for the price charged.  The deep fried mushrooms however were worth their price and were quite filling.

Thomas, Katie and I ordered the same main - halibut and fries.  It came with a vinegar based coleslaw, which is unusual with fish and chips, we usually see mayo based coleslaws with fish.  However, it was crisp and tasty.  The fish was rather ordinary and the fries were soft, but on the whole it was a pretty good choice.   

The restaurant is very new and not yet licensed so we had a coke.  The server was polite and efficient.  There is potential here, but I think they need to have some broiled options to attract a regular crowd.  Deep fried fish and chips are really the item of choice in pubs.  Hopefully as the restaurant matures they will look at some other methods of cooking besides deep frying.

There is a nice space on the side for a future patio, so hopefully they will get their license soon.  They also need to update their website.

http://www.pier39.ca/

THE EXPRESS ITALIAN EATERY WESTDALE 

1034 King Street West, Hamilton, On., (289) 389-2008, Sun. - Wed. 11:30 - 10:00 pm, Thurs. - Sat. 11:30 - 11:00 pm

Went to the Express, in the Westdale Village in Hamilton, early on a Saturday evening for a light dinner.  It is a relatively new establishment in Westdale, that serves wood oven pizza in an open kitchen, panini, soup, salads, pastas etc..  It is licensed and the house red was only $6 a glass.

It has a quaint bar area

and a variety of seating, including a window view of the village.

There is a wood oven and take out service.

I checked the menu. 

I chose the Muffaletta panini.  It included salami, mortadella, prosciutto, arugala and provolone and came with a soup or salad for $12.

The soup was prosciutto and potato, it was rich but quite salty (because it contained large chunks of prosciutto).

The panini was crisp and quite thick with rich meats.

By the time I was finished the restaurant was filling up.

All in all it was a nice meal.  The service was efficient, the food was tasty (albeit very salty) and the prices were reasonable.  There is another much larger Express located at the other end of Hamilton in Stoney Creek on Grays Road.

http://www.expressrestaurant.com/

FAMOSO NEAPOLITAN PIZZERIA (the annex) 

386 Bloor St. W. Toronto, On., (647) 748-2333 Mon. Tue. and Sun. 11:00 to 10:00, Wed. - Sat. 11:00 to 11:00

Five of us decided to try Famoso for dinner on a cold Saturday in March.  It is located in the people friendly annex area of Toronto.  I decided to call for a reservation earlier in the day and I am glad I did because this place gets very busy and is very popular in the area.

When we arrived we were greeted right away by friendly people that arranged a large booth for the five of us near the back.

There is a long open kitchen and an imported pizza oven in plain view as you walk through the restaurant.  These ovens cook pizza quickly and perfectly crisp.

We were ushered to our table and the unique ordering process used here was explained by our waitress.  We decided what we wanted for appetizers and mains (pizza) and I took the order to an order counter.  The rest was done by the waitress assigned to our table.  This seemed rather cumbersome, but it worked very well and was very efficient.  We ordered two bottles of reasonably priced valpolicella to get us started.

We began with some unusual but very tasty prosciutto wrapped mozzarella balls that were immersed in a wonderful light tomato sauce, they were accompanied by seasoned flatbread.

We each ordered a half salad (great idea), four of us had the caesar with prosciutto crisps, grana padano and house made caesar dressing.  They were a perfect size and great.  

Katie had the Napoli salad which included field greens, red onions, chick peas and balsamic dressing.  She really enjoyed it.

For our mains (they only serve pizza here) three of us, my wife, Mark and I shared the Capricciosa pizza.  This included italian ham, roasted mushrooms, artichoke hearts, kalamata olives, extra virgin olive oil and pecorino romano.  It had a wonderful combination of flavours and ingredients.  This was a great pizza. It was light, flavourful, not greasy and perfectly cooked.

Katie and Thomas shared the Abruzzo pizza, which included oven-roasted italian sausage, slivered red onions, roasted mushrooms, fennel seeds, smoked mozzarella and pecorino romano.  They both really liked this combination.

All of us really enjoyed our evening at this restaurant, from the friendliness of all of the staff, to the efficiency of our waitress and to the wonderful food here.  We will definitely return and highly recommend this restaurant for its all round experience!!

Well done!!

http://www.famoso.ca/

THE BURNT TONGUE 
10 Cannon Street, Hamilton, On., (905) - 536-1146, Open Mon - Wed 11-8, Thurs. - Sat. 11 - 9, Closed Sunday.
I finally had the opportunity to try The Burnt Tongue on a Thursday evening with my son Thomas.  He has raved about it after trying several of their home made soup concoctions.  Located in the downtown core of Hamilton on Cannon street near James Street.  It is a rapidly changing area of Artists and Hipsters and has a lively street scene.

It has an open kitchen and a friendly welcoming staff.

The inside has several small tables and a bar and stools at the front window.

There are usually several choices of soup available.  The menu is displayed near the kitchen area and includes vegan choices and burgers.

Tom and I both chose the same soup - it was the split pea and sausage in the large size (there are 3 sizes, small, medium and large).

With the soup there was a choice of bun, carrot and celery vegetables or an apple.  We both chose the carrots and celery.  The soup was very hearty, large and very good!!
We accompanied our soup with an order of their Belgian fries, which are hand cut and double fried.  They come with a couple of dip choices - we chose the curried ketchup, which was sweet and spicy.

This establishment is not licensed, but it has quite a selection of soft drinks.  We chose the Coke, which comes in old school glass bottles.

Two large soups and 2 cokes with fries and dip came to around $35.  Although not cheap, the quality of the ingredients, the tasty fries and the friendly service are all worth it.  We will definitely return soon for more tasty soup concoctions!!  

RED LOBSTER

20 Dundas Street West, Toronto On., (416) 348-8938, Lunch and Dinner, Monday to Friday

Went to Red Lobster on a very cold February Saturday evening.  It was located at the corner of Dundas and Bay street in a very nice office tower.  We have been to Red Lobsters many times and find that not many of them are surviving (probably because they are rather expensive for a chain restaurant).

Fortunately, while waiting to be seated we were given a buzzer and could wander in the warm mall.

It was Lobsterfest, which was a limited time special of lobster based dishes.

After being seated, with only a short wait, we ordered a bottle of standard valpolicella, while a basket of wonderful cheese and garlic biscuits arrived.  These were melt in your mouth delicious and we always enjoy them.  

One advantage of this type of restaurant is that you get a salad and main, as well as biscuits for one price.  My wife ordered the garden salad with balsamic dressing.

I chose the garden salad with a french type dressing.

Mark chose the caesar salad.

My wife chose the salmon New Orleans for her main.  It came with vegetables and a rice pilaf and she really enjoyed it.

Mark chose the double maritime lobster tails with garlic shrimp and mashed potatoes.

I had the same with a baked potato.

Both lobster dishes were accompanied with french beans and a dish of melted butter for dipping.  They were tender and cooked perfectly.  Although they appeared not to be filling, they were.  We found the food filling but expensive for the quality and portion.  The server was efficient but robotic and did not tell us we could have had a free main if ordering two lobster specials!  The restaurant was quite full and the atmosphere was warm on a really cold evening.

http://www.redlobster.com/