TAVOLO 

South Oakville Mall, 1515 Rebecca St. Unit 19, Oakville, 905-827-2221 Mon. to Sat. 11 am to 10 pm, Sun. 12 noon to 10 pm.

Went to Tavolo with a number of fellas I worked with on a nice Friday evening in June.  There were six of us that arrived at about 8 in the evening.  We decided to order several bottles of Malbec wine.
We read our menus and selected our choices.

The kitchen was open and easy for patrons to view.  It was clean and very busy.

There was a good number of patrons this evening.

We began with several bottles of an Argentinian Malbec, which was quite good with lamb.

We ordered a number of different appetizers before our mains.

Zucchine Fritte with black pepper and peperoncino aoili

Fritturina Poseidon with Calamari

Margherita Pizza

Pizza Cacciatore

For our mains 4 of us had the grilled lamb cutlets with lentils, baby kale, topped with salsa verde.

I had the feature pickerel with quinoa, green beans and corn.

We all enjoyed our appetizers and mains.  The service was excellent and we all finished with espresso. 

 


http://www.tavolo.ca/

RED CROW COFFEE 

211 James Street South, Hamilton, Ontario (905) 521-2124, for hours of operation see there website provided below.

Went to Red Crow with my son Tom for their Brunch and a coffee.  He had been here before and suggested we try their brunch.  It included a selection of omelettes, so we both selected their mushroom and potato omelette.  We were going to order an americano coffee, but Bob at the counter suggested we try their Red Crow version.  It was very strong and satisfying version that was just the way Tom and I like our coffee.

 The Brunch selections were written in a blackboard, and today the omelette selection was $5!  

It was accompanied by a nice salad, watermelon, and a multigrain toast.  It was a tasty brunch that was not greasy, but very tasty and good value for $5.  There are a variety of seating choices and it was quite full on a Victoria Day holiday Monday.

We sat at a bar table at the front window overlooking James Street South.

The inside is typical of many independent coffee bars.

The menu is posted on a board:

We found Red Crow friendly, inviting and reasonably priced.  The Red was a great coffee and we will definitely return.  It has a relaxing atmosphere and a good variety of food choices.

http://www.redcrowcoffee.com/

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/

Na ROMA PIZZA BAR 

215 Locke Street, Hamilton On., (905) 525-5599, Mon.-Thurs. and Sunday 11 am-9pm, Fri. and Sat. 11 am-10 pm

My son Thomas and I, decided to go to Locke Street in Hamilton for a pizza on a Sunday evening in early November.  We went to Na Roma Pizza.  

It is located in a converted Victorian house and has a good sized patio on the front facing the street.  This particular Sunday evening every restaurant on Locke Street was extremely busy. The interior of the restaurant has an unusual  layout consisting of two levels.  The lower level has tables and the upper level has bar height long tables.  It is quite tight inside - but it works.  There are many interesting photos of Hamilton's history lining the walls which helps encourage discussion.

Although conversation is encouraged here, the room is noisy due to the hard surfaces and needs a bit of soundproofing.  However, the food is very good.  We ordered a beer and pizza.

We split a small pizza with two different choices on it.

One half was Brie and Prosciutto and consisted of mozzarella, triple cream brie cheese, prosciutto, fig jam, caramelized onions, arugula, and reduced balsamic.  The other half was Pollo Alla Brace.  It had mozzarella, BBQ chicken, cheddar cheese, red onion and mushrooms.  The crust was nice and light and the toppings were copious and very tasty.

The food here is very good.  They usually have a featured soup and their salads are gigantic.
We went back August 16th 2014 to try some more of their delicious pizzas and they were still great as was the service.  Keep up the great work Na Roma!!

The house wine was good too!

http://www.naroma.ca/

FOUR BROTHERS 

5283 Ferry Street, Niagara Falls On., (905) 358-6951 Open for Lunch and Dinner

After checking out some restaurants in Niagara Falls, we decided to try Four Brothers on a Wednesday night in late July.  We read reviews and checked the website before we went.  The website describes it as a family run restaurant that has been here since 1964.  When we saw the exterior we thought it looked kind of weathered, but when we went inside it was like a time warp.  The furniture was old, the tables were worn, there was a musty smell - we had entered 1964!!  It looked like the owners had not spent a dime on the interior since 1964.

We began by ordering a standard wine (Masi) found in most Italian restaurants.

An order of dry bread arrived with butter, not olive oil.

We perused the menu.

I decided to have the minestrone soup.  It was basically vegetable soup with a few beans - not very appetizing.

We decided to share an appetizer of fried calamari - they were served with a store bought seafood dipping sauce, normally used with shrimp!

My wife ordered the homemade gnocchi in tomato sauce.  She found them good, but they had an unusual shape for gnocchi.

I ordered the Filetto di  Pesce (basa fillet) seasoned in a white wine and tomato sauce.  The sauce was basically tomatoes floating in oil and was very heavy.  The basa was tender and easy to eat.  The accompanying pasta was dull and too al dente.

It became obvious during our meal that this restaurant was stuck in the past and content with producing the same menu day in and day out, resulting in not only a mediocre product but also a horrible old environment in need of serious renovation.  The service was good, but we will not be returning to this establishment and will simply describe it as another Niagara Falls tourist trap, despite what others may say!!
http://www.fourbrothersniagara.com/