BIAGIO ITALIAN 

St. Lawrence Market, Old Town, 155 King Street East, Toronto, On., M5C 1G9, (416) 366-4040

Five of us decided to book another winterlicious restaurant - we tried several but they where booked.  Upon calling Biagio we were able to secure a reservation for the five of us.  So we arrived on Saturday evening at 7:00 and were promptly seated - the restaurant was almost empty, except for a large group in the back room celebrating something.  

St Lawrence Hall - King Street

We began by ordering a litre of the house red (montepulciano - a rather ordinary wine but still $49) because I had read that their wine list was rather on the expensive side.  The waiter poured wine in our glasses and as I lifted mine I could smell b.o. on the glass.  My son Thomas had the same experience - it was not a good start.

Since we were here for the winterlicious and the appetizers were not going to be filling, I ordered an extra two appetizers from the menu.  It was the antipasto Italiano ($15.95) and when it was served they decided to place both appetizers on the same plate - saving dishes I guess.  The two appetizers were delicious and we did have to spread them around to five people, but they were not worth $32.

Next came the bread, they were definitely not stingy with the bread and it just kept coming every time the basket was near empty a new one would arrive.  

For our winterlicious menu four of us chose the lobster bisque.  It was rich and tasty, but there were absolutely no pieces of lobster in it, it was just soup (glad we ordered the $32 app. before).

One of us, Katie, had another app choice on the menu, she had the caprino in sfoglia, which was baked goat cheese in phyllo pastry with mushroom and sweet pepper coulis.

For our mains three of us chose the risotto a la zucca, which consisted of risotto with butternut squash and parmigiano cheese.  It was a large portion, quite good and all three that had it took the leftover home.

Thomas and I had the arrosto di maiale farcito, which was roasted pork loin stuffed with wild rice, raisins and almonds.  It tasted like the rice had marzipan in it and was not very appetizing.  Both of us agreed it was not what we expected.

For desert four of us chose the zuppa inglese, which consisted of layers of sponge cake, fruit, and Bavarese creme.  It was disgusting.  None of us could finish it. The fruit was in some kind of mushy liquid.  It looked good when it arrived but as we dug deeper it tasted awful.

Katie had a different desert, she chose the migliaccio napolitano, which consisted of sweet ricotta cheese and semolina pudding.  She did like her desert. 

All in all it was a disappointing winterlicious dinner.  We have had many good ones over the last couple of years (including summerlicious).  The house wine was over priced, the desert was awful, the small portion of pork roast had a strong marzipan flavour that overwhelmed the taste of the meat, and the glasses smelled of b. o.. The final bill with tip was $362 for a mediocre meal (outrageous). The fact that the restaurant was very nice, and the waiters very professional, and the fact that it was in St. Lawrence Hall saved it from being a total disaster.  We will not go back to this establishment again.


http://www.biagioristorante.ca/#home

RECIPES

FRENCH ONION SOUP ( A Fooody tested recipe)

This recipe is based on the French method and is easy and very tasty. (serves 4)

Ingredients:
2-3 tablespoons of butter
2  tablespoons of white flour
4-5 onions, peeled and sliced into thin rings
41/2 cups of beef stock (beef Bovril works well - mix as directed on the bottle)
2 cloves of garlic - peeled and smashed [optional] - use to rub on the bread slices
8 slices of a crusty baguette loaf bread - cut to 2.5 cm thickness
200 g of Gruyere cheese grated or sliced into 1 cm thick strips  [mozzarella cheese can be substituted]

Instructions:
1.   Slice the onions into thin rings while the butter is melting in a deep frying pan on medium heat.
2.   Place the onions into the hot pan and stir into the butter and cook them in the hot butter - once the onions begin to cook lower the heat to a simmer and cover to let the onions cook in their own juices.

3. Cover and simmer for 15 - 20 minutes and prepare the beef stock in a medium pot.

4.  After the onions have simmered, remove from the heat and stir in the flour to mix with the onions.

5.  Place back on the heat and slowly add the beef broth while stirring the onions to mix well.  When all of the broth has been added, bring the mixture to a gentle boil while mixing, then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes.

6.   Prepare the oven proof onion soup bowls by placing some of the cheese in the bottom of the bowl.  Slice the baguette into 2.5 cm slices.

7.   Carefully add the broth onion mixture from the pan to fill all 4 bowls evenly to a depth 2 - 3 cm below the top of the bowls and float 2 slices of bread on top.

8.   Place the cheese on top of the floating bread evenly and put the bowls under a broiler in the oven for 3 - 5 minutes.

9.   Voila!!  French onion soup!!

10.  This is the most important step - begin the whole process by opening a bottle of wine and sipping on it while you cook.

(Recipe adapted from The Complete Cookbook. Pub. by Colour Library Books. ed: David Gibbon.  Surrey England: 1985)

TONI BULLONI 

156 Cumberland Street, Yorkville, Toronto, On M5R 1A8 (416) 967-7676 Open for lunch,  dinner, take out and catering. 

We went to Toni Bulloni for Winterlicious 2013.  I called a couple of hours before to make a reservation for 6:00 and basically got the same response as a couple of other places nearby.  They were full.  So I called again and asked if they had space for 5:00 to 5:30, since we were very close.  They said that they could accomodate us for 5:00 so we went.  One of the places that said they were booked solid was Ciao wine bar - we looked inside as we went by, they were half empty.  Another place we called Annona was also not full as we went by.  
I have a serious problem with reservations because I think they cause restaurants to lose a lot of potential customers.  Not all reservations are honoured and it frustrates me when I cannot be seated in a restaurant because of possible reservations!  When we left Toni Bulloni, at about 6:30 (who told us originally that they were fully reserved) it was half empty!!  See what I mean!!
That being said, they reluctantly seated us in an almost empty restaurant at 5:00 and we ordered a couple of bottles of Italian Montelpiciano wine.
My wife, my son Thomas and I were waiting for our other son Mark to meet us for supper.  

We all began with a complimentary bruschetta flatbread, that consisted mostly of chopped tomatoes and some garlic, herbs and oil.  It was very light and easy to eat without being filling.

complimentary bruschetta

My wife and sons ordered the spinach salad with warm caramelized onions, mushrooms, bacon, garlic and Dijon.  It was delicious.

delicious spinach salad with caramelized onions, mushrooms and egg

I ordered the mixto platter which consisted of; prosciutto, artichoke, marinated olives, tomatoes and bocconcini.  It too was delicious.

mixto platter nice and cool

My wife had the grilled salmon with potato and grilled vegetables.  She liked the salmon and grilled vegetables.

grilled salmon with grilled vegetables (simple)

I had the veal scallopini in a lemon white wine sauce with grilled vegetables, button mushrooms and capers.  It was well done and all the flavours went well together.

veal scallopini with grilled vegetables

My two sons had the lamb shank with garlic mashed potatoes (the potatoes were a little cool on arrival)  One really enjoyed his lamb but the other found a little gristle in his portion.

lamb with garlic mashed 

For desert Thomas chose the creme brulee.  It was delicious.

creme brulee

My wife and Mark (http://www.markallenrealty.ca/) chose the caramel crunch cake.  It was  good.

caramel crunch cake

I had the homemade tiramisu, which was light and satisfying.

homemade tiramisu

We completed our meal with a regular coffee.

For the four of us with two bottles of wine the bill was very reasonable, thanks to winterlicious.

It is always a wonderful evening when we are together!!

At Toni Bullonis we had a good meal at a reasonable price.  We will probably return again to try some other dishes here.  We found the food simple but good.  We did find however, that too many people were involved with serving us.  The restaurant was small and cramped, which kind of made our experience a little uncomfortable.  The waitress could have been a bit more directly involved and personal.



http://www.tonibulloni.com/

EARLS KITCHEN AND BAR (Burlington) 

900 Maple Ave., Mapleview Mall, Burlington On., L7S 2J8 , (905) 631-1212, Open lunch, dinner, late night

A few of the lads and I decided to have a guys night at the Earls Kitchen and Bar at the Mapleview Mall in Burlington.  We met on Friday night at about 7:30 and the place was packed.  However, they provided us with glasses of champagne while we waited (what a great idea).  It wasn't too long for us to get seated.  We sat at a nice banquette near the bar and ordered a bottle of wine while we discussed the menu.  

We started getting hungry after a couple of glasses of wine so we ordered some appetizers.  We began with The Naples Margherita pizza with fresh mozzarella, parmesan, San Marzano tomato sauce, fresh basil, extra virgin olive oil on a thin crust .  It was light and delicious.

We followed this with calamari fritti.  They were very small and combined with small pieces of fresh red onion and an accompanying cucumber tzatziki sauce - it was an unusual presentation I hadn't seen before.  Although they were very small the onions made it difficult to pick out the calamari.

We followed this with another pizza The Italia - this one had meats on it including spicy capicolla, salami and chorizo, provolone cheese, parmesan, fresh basil and San Marzano tomato sauce on a thin crust.  It was delicious and light despite the meats it had on it.

By now we were getting thirsty so we ordered a couple more bottles of wine (it was reasonably priced and a light shiraz).

We found the calamari so appetizing we ordered another plate of it,  while we talked and talked.  The appetizers were a little pricey.  Next, we decided to order our mains.  Two of us had the roast chicken breast with yukon mashed potatoes and seasonal vegetables without the Romesco sauce. ($20) 

One of us ordered the same but with the Romesco sauce.  

One of us ordered the Bronx burger with an angus beef patty, beer battered onion rings, roasted garlic aioli, red pepper relish, on a house made sesame bun with rocket greens and white cheddar. ($16)

The chicken was quite dry and boring but the yukon mashed potatoes were delicious. The burger was definitely man sized and melted in your mouth.  These were good mains well worth their price.  We finished our mains with a selection of beer and were very satisfied. 
The hostesses here were very personable and very customer oriented.  Our waitress was outstanding and genuinely wanted to make our meal enjoyable.  The atmosphere here was friendly and hip.  It is a good restaurant. I am sure, we will return here frequently.

http://www.earls.ca/