KIT KAT 

297 King Street, W. Entertainment District, Toronto On., (416) 977-4461

My wife and I went to the Kit Kat restaurant after a long afternoon in the Auto Show at the Toronto Convention Centre.  It has to be the worst laid out convention centre in the world.  We walked for miles.  Needless to say we were hungry for a good meal.  After walking down to the King Street restaurant strip we decided to see if we could get into the Kit Kat without reservations.  The weather was nasty this Saturday night, it was a virtual blizzard in the downtown.  Luckily we got inside and were able find a spot in a short line waiting to get in, thanks to John Carbone, the owner manager who promised he would get us in without a reservation.  

We have been to this restaurant many times before.  I have even eaten at the short and narrow bar.  

After waiting for a while, a waitress came around and took our coats and hung them up.  Shortly after this we were seated at a table for two.

We sat directly across from the open kitchen.  If you look carefully you will see a tree trunk just beside the kitchen near the stairs - yes it is a real tree!

It was a good vantage point, though it felt like a highway.  We noticed how well the chefs enjoyed their job and were comfortable with all the staff, who kibitzed with them all evening.  These chefs were very efficient and certainly were skilled.  We noticed how everyone who worked here worked as a team to make sure things ran smoothly in such a small and extremely busy space.

We ordered a bottle of Masi Campofiorin Italian wine to start and decided on a light appetizer.  We ordered a caesar salad each and thoroughly enjoyed it.  The lettuce was crisp and the sauce was very good, as was the crisp garlic bread that came with it.  Since we were under a red spotlight, it made our food pictures reddish.

We were told the evening specials, which sounded very tempting, but ended up ordering what we have had here many times before.  

So we both ordered the veal piccata. It consisted of two large and delicious pieces of tender veal, garlic mashed potatoes, grilled eggplant, grilled zucchini, grilled peppers in a lemon, wine, butter sauce that was wonderful.  It was a satisfying and delicious meal.

Unfortunately the pictures don't do it justice due to the red spot light.  But after I pulled the veal off of the potatoes it is more apparent how large the portion is.  

The waiters and waitresses have immense patience to work in such a busy narrow place, but they always smile and are extremely friendly.  John must be a good boss to work for, to keep the entire crew working so hard.  Hats off to all of them.  It is positively worth a visit!  You will not be disappointed.  The total before tip was just under $122.

http://www.kitkattoronto.com/

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/

LA FENICE 4 out of 5
319 King St. W. Toronto, (416) 585-2377, lunch Mon. - Fri. 11:30 am to 2:30 pm, Dinner Mon. - Sat. 5:00 pm to 10:00 pm. - Closed Sunday.

Four of us went to La Fenice for dinner tonight, it was grey cup weekend in Toronto.  The city was pumping and the entertainment district restaurants were full.  We were fortunate to be early enough to get in to La Fenice.  Within half an hour it was totally full.  When we entered we were greeted by the maitre d who took our coats and hung them in a coat room - this prevented the inevitable battle of where to put them once we sat down.  A classy first impression.
  

As we were seated a waiter came around with a platter that had a selection of whole fish that were being featured tonight. He was followed by another waiter with a large platter of solid ribeye that could be cut and grilled to any size 6 oz, 8oz, 10 oz etc.  However, this night we all decided to order from the standard menu, since this was our first time at this restaurant.

waiters filleting grilled fish for patrons

We began with a basket of bread that was rather mediocre and tasteless.  We hoped this wasn't an omen for a mediocre meal.  It turned out that the meal was far better than the bread.

rye type loaf was tasteless without dipping in olive oil

For appetizers we all ordered the same thing the grilled shrimp with la fenice extra virgin olive oil.  They were lightly spiced, gigantic and absolutely delicious ($13) and worth the price.

large grilled shrimp - tasted like lobster

We ordered two bottles of a very tasty Ripasso Wine at a very reasonable price of $38 - it was a smooth and tasty version of Ripasso.

reasonably priced very nice ripasso

Three of us decided to have the veal scaloppine with fresh wild mushrooms as our main.  It was accompanied by a selection of grilled vegetables which blended nicely with the light wine sauce.  The veal was tender and delicious and the sauce was smooth and not over salted. ($22)

veal scaloppine with mushrooms and vegetables

One of us had the fettuccine con funghi freschi (fettuccine with fresh mushrooms).  I had the opportunity to taste it and it was divine.  The pasta was house made and melted in your mouth ($19).

house made fettuccine melted in your mouth

We finished our amazing dinner with great deserts.  Three of us had the raspberry chocolate tartufo.  One of us had zabaglione ( a warm custard flavoured with Marsala and served with berries).  We completed our dinner with a couple of cappuccinos.  All in all a wonderful meal with wonderful company.  We will definitely come back to this restaurant.



http://www.lafenice.ca/

ANTICA PIZZERIA & RISTORANTE 3.5 out of 5

5785 Victoria St. Niagara Falls On (905) 356-3844

While wandering the Niagara Clifton street menagerie of noise we came upon a patio that was quite busy and saw some very nice dishes being served, so we decided to return again and try this restaurant.  I had heard that their pizza was famous in the area so we tried it.  It was excellent.  There is nothing like a wood oven pizza.  It was definitely not an assembly line operation.  The service was quick and efficient. We ordered a pizza that included pepperoni, mushrooms, bacon and and cheese.  It was loaded with toppings and very filling for a wood oven pizza. The crust was not too thin and was a good size for two people.  It went well with a glass of wine.  In observing other patrons I noticed generous plates of gnocchi, veal parmigiana, and pastas.  

This is a rather large restaurant and is usually very busy.  It is one of the best restaurants in the Falls and I will definitely return again to try more on the menu.

anticapizzeria.ca