MARTORANO'S 

3655 Las Vegas Boulevard South, (702) 946-4656, Dinner Sunday - Thursday 5pm - 10:30, Friday - Sat 5pm - 11:00pm

Went to Martorano's after exploring it on the web.  It is now located in Paris Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.  

It is a rather large place with a variety of seating places.  We decided to sit outside in the plaza of the Paris Casino.  It has a rather extensive menu.

They provide you with an electronic notebook that includes all wine selections.

We selected the house chianti.

Upon ordering a chef created amuse bouche arrived.  It was delicious.

We ordered the caesar salad and it was huge, but far too garlicky and far too large.

A basket of bread arrived with a variety of toppings.

My wife ordered the chicken parmigiana.  It was covered with too much cheese and no accompanying vegetables or pasta!

I ordered the veal piccata.  It was far too salty and lemony and the veal could have been more tender.  Again no accompaniments!

We were not impressed with the food but the house chianti was delicious!  

 

https://www.caesars.com/rio-las-vegas/restaurants/martoranos#.Ve5FKiiJUTM

AND COMPANY RESTO BAR

295 Enfield Place, Mississauga On., (905) 808-2112, Wed. 6:00 pm to 2:00 am, Thurs. 6:00 pm to 12:00 am, Fri. and Sat. 6:00 pm to 2:00 am, closed Sun. Mon. Tues.

Located in Mississauga, close to Square One shopping plaza is a vibrant restaurant and nightlife venue called And Company Resto and Bar. 

It is unique in the fact that there is a lovely comfortable restaurant, a sleek bar with a couple of televisions for chilling, a lounge area that includes a dance floor with comfy couches, grand piano and a DJ station. It even has a large rooftop patio for those long summer evenings!

After being seated by the friendly and smiling girls at the door we began to review their new menu. Their menu was entirely designed and executed by their new Executive Chef Ron Stratton.  He came with over 20 years of experience working in a variety of fine dining restaurants all over Canada.  The menu focuses on "fine familiar" cuisine, which basically takes conventional dishes and adds imaginative touches to their ingredients and presentation.

We selected a nice California Zinfandel that was moderately priced and very nice.

My wife chose for her appetizer the Crispy Thai Calamari with a pickled vegetable salad and green curry coconut veloute.  The calamari were delicious and the sauce was very light.

I chose the Jumbo Tempura Shrimp with seasonal vegetable and rice wine vinegar.  The shrimp were very large, the tempura coating was thin and the asparagus was tender.

For her main my wife chose the Salmon Wellington.  This dish consisted of a salmon fillet, enclosed in a light puff pastry, fresh buttered seasonal vegetables and red wine jus.  It was quite dramatic on the plate and the flavours were delightful.

For my main I chose the Chicken Parmigiana.  It consisted of two substantial pieces of Ontario chicken, marinated bocconcini, San Marzano tomato sauce with egg pappardelle.

This was a fine example of a familiar dish being elevated with just a couple of different ingredients and presentation.

Our dessert was shared and was quite different in it's presentation and ingredients.  It was called Brownie Banana Split and consisted of a dark chocolate brownie with a banana spring roll, seasoned berry compote, ice cream and sorbet.  It was a great ending to a wonderful dinner.

We found the servers, our waitress Lizzy (who was efficient and took good care of us the entire evening) and management to be very friendly and inviting.  The music was upbeat and current. The management mingled and socialized with patrons and this was very nice to see.  I should point out that we were invited by Basel - their marketing director and our meal was complimentary.  I think from our comments about this venue and the food you will get a good picture of our experience here.  We enjoyed our evening and are looking forward to returning again.

http://www.andcompany.ca/

PRAVDA VODKA BAR 

44 Wellington Street E. Toronto, On., (416) 366-0303 Dinner and Late Night Mon. to Sat.

We came upon Pravda Vodka Bar after dinner at a nearby restaurant called Bravi.  The exterior looked interesting.

The inside was quite spectacular and we had a chance to get a good look around the place before the evening crowd started to arrive.

On our way to the upstairs bar we came across a trumpet player playing a jazz tune.

The upstairs is as dramatic as the downstairs.

A wall of vodka bottles from around the world.

The menu of vodkas and martinis is extensive!

We decided to choose from their extensive martini list and selected a wonderful tasty martini called a Trotsky Lemon Berry Martini.  It was outstanding, so we had a couple of them.

It was accompanied by an amuse bouche that was light and very tasty.

There is a grand piano used some evenings with entertainment.

The surroundings here are unusual and quite dramatic.  The martinis are awesome and we enjoyed our time here.  Although we did not eat here, we will be back to try more of their martinis and soak in the sights of this space.

http://pravdavodkabar.com/

STONEWALLS 

339 York Blvd, Hamilton, On (905) 577-0808 Mon-Thurs 11:30am - midnight,  Fri 11:30 - 2:00 am, Sat 10 am - 2:00 am, Sun 10 am - midnight

Went here a number of times for nachos and their irish nachos, which were quite tasty.  Three of us decided to try it for a full lunch meal.  It was after the lunch rush and there were several patrons still eating.  There was only one waitress, travelling back and forth from the kitchen trying to serve quite a large area of the restaurant, and she was run off her feet.
They have Country Music DJ's on Thursdays and live entertainment on the stage on Friday and Saturday.  There are TV's tuned to various sporting events scattered around the restaurant and bar area.  They also have an events calendar on their website.

I ordered a roast beef on a bun au jus with fries.  The roast beef was piled high, but was very chewy and I had to take some out of the bun because it was too hard to eat.  The fries were gummy and there was a lone pickle on the plate.  I had a glass of iced tea that was totally flavourless. 

My son had something called "road kill" chicken melt, which consisted of grilled cajun chicken breast, topped with avocado, salsa, bacon, lettuce, tomato and melted swiss cheese all on a toasted bun with chipotle aioli and sweet potato fries.  It was a mess to eat although somewhat tasty.

  My wife had the baby beef liver and caramelized onions (she didn't think it was baby beef liver).  It was somewhat overcooked and was plopped on a mountain of mashed potatoes with an overwhelming amount of gravy.  I don't think we will be returning here for food any time soon.  There are better places in Hamilton to eat lunch.

There is free parking and a patio facing the street.

http://www.stonewallshamilton.com/