Bent Revisited

Despite a few minor hiccups, my first visit at Bent earlier this year made a lasting impression on me. It was an excellent meal. So when my friend Nic (@NicCanCook) suggested taking me to Bent (Twitter: @BentRestaurant, Facebook: Bent Restaurant) for my birthday, there was absolutely no hesitation on my part. I was eager to go back!

We had an early seating at 6 pm on a Wednesday night.

I ordered Bent's Asian Caesar because I really enjoyed it last time. Adorned with a more elaborate tomato garnish, the cocktail was just as savoury and tasty as I remembered. Maybe I'll order a different cocktail next time...maybe.

ASIAN CAESAR ($16)

Sobieski, Clamato,chili oil, Sriracha, coriander, hoisin, soya, sesame seed, ginger, house rim, pickled radish

PICKLED VEGETABLES WITH MUSTARD (amuse)

Bits & Bites at The Guild

WHERE: The Guild (Twitter: @guildresto, Facebook: The Guild Restaurant)

WHAT: $3 Bits & Bites or one of each for $15

WHEN: Wednesdays and Thursdays, 5pm till close

WHY: Hmm...why not?

WHO: Two hungry souls!

Cocktails and snacks all night long baby ;) Here's how it went down:

MOTHER'S TOUGH LOVE

Gosling's rum, house made 'ginger beer' (lager, lime, ginger, rum, recharged with co2)

TROUT ROE BLINI

CRISPY PIG EARS, HOT SAUCE

F'Amelia

F'Amelia (Twitter: @FAmeliaRisto, Facebook: F'Amelia) is a new Italian restaurant located on Amelia St. in Cabbagetown. The restaurant is literally a little house which I think is extremely cute and unique (I love dining at cozy places like this). The restaurant opened around a month or so ago and has already created quite a buzz in Toronto. F'Amelia's kitchen team consists of Executive chef, Maurizio Verga (formerly Splendido), sous-chefs James Harrison (formerly Splendido) and Michael Angeloni (formerly Splendido, Black Hoof).


The decor at F'Amelia is very rustic and traditional; you literally feel like you're dining in a little house in Europe.

Wines by the glass written on a large chalkboard. 

Can't wait to try their wood oven pizzas!

Grazie Vaughan

I haven't been to Grazie in maybe, 5-7 years? I'm, of course, talking about the original Grazie location at Yonge & Eglinton. I remember that location was always so packed and crowded. I also remember I needed to yell just so that the person sitting across from me could hear me.  I guess I haven't been back because I hardly hang out in that neighbourhood anymore (I used to work close by) and it's also not the easiest to find street parking there (I know there's a Green P beside it but still). Basically, visiting Grazie again was never a priority for me especially now that I work in downtown.


I was happy when I found out Grazie opened another location at Vaughan Mills awhile back. Although I wanted to go try it out I never got around to it. Long story short, I finally went to Grazie Vaughan on Tuesday because my friend Dan (@deguzzi) organized a dinner there.


Dan really likes Grazie Vaughan (he is currently the mayor on foursquare) and I think it's safe to say that all 9 of us who were there on Tuesday really liked the food too.


The long table there was reserved for us.

I was overwhelmed by their huge menu. So many choices...

Zenato Ripassa - Full bodied dry with rich & velvety fruit flavour ($55)

Several people had wine while I had my extra spicy Caesar.

A basket full of bread for our 10 hungry stomachs.

Chili oil for dipping.

As usual, I can only comment on what I had and show you pictures of what other people had.

APPETIZER

Bruschetta Pizza - Olive oil, fresh garlic, mozzarella, parmigiano cheese, fresh tomato, garlic & fine herbs ($10.75)

We all shared this appetizer. I've never bruschetta pizza before but I thought this tasted just okay; I would've liked a bit more herbs and cheese. I also prefer the traditional bruschetta on open slices of grilled bread because the toppings-to-bread ratio is better this toppings-to-pizza ratio (i.e. too much pizza for the amount of toppings).

Baked Goat Cheese Salad - Goat cheese, roasted peppers & grilled eggplant wrapped in phyllo pastry served with an arugula salad in a sherry vinaigrette ($12)

Graham (@beachrockinc) had this salad all by himself. He really liked it and polished it off within within minutes. The presentation was beautiful; each slice of tomato was cut exactly the same and lined up perfectly.

Happy Birthday Jason!

It was my brother's birthday yesterday and to celebrate, we all went out for dinner at Apricot Tree Café. I've blogged about the restaurant before (see post here). I absolutely adore this place, it is my favorite restaurant in Mississauga. It is a quaint little café with good food, good service, and very reasonable prices (I included the prices on this post to emphasize my point). Better yet, I was able to use two of my dealfind vouchers at the same time last night as there was 5 of us (the deal was a $60 voucher for $25, can use two coupons for a table of 4 or more). I swear to God if Apricot Tree Café has any deals like that again, I'm going go buy like...10 vouchers.

 
If you want to see pictures of Apricot Tree Café (i.e. their European café decor, open kitchen, dessert display, etc.) go see my first post about it because I'm just going to dive right to the food this time.


Besides their regular menu, Apricot Tree Café has different specials everyday. They always have a special for each of the following: soup, salad, pasta, crepe, entrée.

Appetizers

Smoked Salmon - Smoked salmon served with pita bread, bermuda onions, capers and dill sour cream ($7.95). 

Bright, orange smoked salmon with soft pita bread. Yum. The onions were too big though; they could have done a better job on those for sure.

My Love for Pizzeria Libretto

If you know me in real life, you should know the following: 1) One of my favorite restaurants in Toronto is Pizzeria Libretto, 2) I must order the Duck Confit pizza when I'm there, 3) I must also order a charcuterie plate when I'm there, and finally  4) This is the only restaurant where I have never ordered dessert or felt the urge to order dessert (I've been there 4 times), because I'm just that satisfied with my main meal - this is extremely rare. If you didn't know all that, that's okay, you've learned something new about me today =)

Pizzeria Libretto is located in a funky / hip Portuguese neighborhood at the intersection of Ossington and Dundas. The restaurant often gets rave reviews from magazines; it was placed 8th in enRoute's Top 10 Restaurants in Canada for 2009.  I'm pretty sure that Pizzeria Libretto is mentioned in many so-and-so's "top lists" but I just don't have time to find them all for you here.  

Before I go on posting pictures, I have to thank my foodie friend Cindy for introducing me to this place. Although she moved to Toronto from Calgary only a year ago, she has shown me so many cool places to go eat (including Black Hoof). Actually I think she's the one who turned me into the foodie that I am today! Before meeting her, I wouldv'e never imagined having my own food blog.

So what's so cool about Pizzeria Libretto? First of all, it has the distinction of having imported Toronto's first real Neapolitan pizza oven! It's a 2,000-kilogram stone behemoth that burns wood and can heat up to 900 degrees F, producing a thin, crispy, blistered crust, with bubbles of charred dough here and there. All pizzas are done within 90 seconds in the oven; it was specifically hand built for the restaurant by a 3rd generation pizza oven maker in Naples. Pretty impressive, huh?