EAST THIRTY-SIX 

36 Wellington St. E. St. Lawrence Market/Old Town, Toronto, (647) 350-3636 Open for Dinner and Late 7 days a week

Located in the St. Lawrence Market area of Toronto, East Thirty-Six is the third restaurant change in the same building. Previously it was the Lucien, then changed to Olde Town Bistro and Oyster Bar.  Although now it has a new name, it seems to have a similar menu as the previous Oyster Bar.  It appears to follow a similar philosophy - do only a few items and do them well.  The menu is rather limited and encourages sharing.

We decided to begin with a nice red Cotes du Rhone and it did not disappoint, it was smooth and delicious.

We decided to get started with some bread and olives.  They charge $3 for some crusty pieces of bread and butter, which seemed a little chintzy for a restaurant like this. (We ate a couple of pieces before this pic was taken)  

The olive selection was delicious for $4 and had some unusual types of olives, including a small one that tasted lemony.

We then ordered an appetizer each and shared them. Mark (http://www.markallen.ca/) ordered the Cailletes (made of various pig organs and marinated in red wine) sitting on a small piece of toast.  They were very tender and melted in your mouth.

My wife ordered the e36 salad with castelfranco, kale, endive, ricotta salata aioli, focaccia, it was very good, but it was the only salad available.

I chose the cauliflower with capers, preserved lemon, brown butter, hazelnuts and parsley.  We all agreed they were different and flavourful.

We decided to each try a different main.  Mark had the duck

confit and he loved it.

My wife had the halibut with artichoke, white wine, lemon and fennel.  The halibut was perfectly cooked and the sauce, which seemed more like a soup, was filled with a variety of flavours too hard to identify.

For my main I selected the braised beef shortribs with brussel sprouts and pureed potato in red wine sauce.  It was delicious the meat was tender and the bone was removed, however it could have been hotter, it arrived on the lukewarm side.  It was very filling.

We shared a dessert of a very dense chocolate cake that was drizzled with caramel and covered with nuts.

We enjoyed our choices here, however, there are not enough choices available for us to come back.  The service was efficient and the flavours of our food were great but the menu is very limited.

http://eastthirtysix.com/