FIGO

FIGO, offering Italian-inspired cuisine, is the newest restaurant to join the Icon Legacy Hospitality and INK Entertainment empire of restaurants including Byblos, Patria, NAO Steakhouse and Weslodge (Citta closed a few weeks ago). Located at the corner of Adelaide St. W. and John, FIGO (Twitter: @FigoToronto, Facebook: Figo) officially opened on Monday, November 2nd, and is serving lunch and dinner Monday to Sunday, with a lunch menu that offers puccia (oven-baked sandwiches) and a $19.95 three-course prix fixe.  Sunday brunch features classic brunch plates and an assortment of pastries.

The FIGO space is stylish and elegant, with an open kitchen at one end of the restaurant framed by a subway-tiled archway. The traditional wood-fired oven is for their pizzas and sandwiches.

A shot of FIGO's long dining room. This was taken from my table which was at the direct opposite end of the restaurant from the kitchen. Notice the beautiful hand-painted roses on the ceiling. I really like the interior at FIGO - the whites and pastels give a very contemporary and stylish feel to the restaurant, and it's very different compared to Byblos, Patria, and Weslodge, where darker shades dominate. The restaurant seats 13 people at the bar and 105 in total, with plans for an outdoor terrace in the summer with seating for 80.

FIGO's cocktail list includes shareable beverages, like this Punch Americano, a four-person cocktail served in a crystal decanter:

PUNCH AMERICANO ($15/ glass, $60/decanter)

Cocchi americano + cocchi rosa + bacardi superior + vino bianco + white cranberry + fresh lemon + peychauds + angostur

Nothing against Sangrias but it's nice have another shareable cocktail choice. This punch didn't seem boozy until five minutes in....that's when you will feel it :) 

FIGO's dinner menu is divided into eight sections: House Ricotta, Salads, Starters, Pizza, Pasta, Seafood, Meat, and Sides. Below is what I had for dinner last week at FIGO:

SEA BREAM CRUDO ($14)

Chili, basil 

With less than a handful of ingredients, the delicate sea bream was allowed to shine on its own. This plate was very light and fresh.

The 2015 Almanac Dinner

On Monday, April 20th, six of Toronto’s top chefs – Kevin Castonguay (Provisions), Steve Gonzalez (Valdez), Robbie Hojilla (The Harbord Room), Basilio Pesce (Porzia), Scott Vivian (Beast) and Nate Middleton (Home of the Brave) – collaborated with Ontario farmers and beverage producers for The 2015 Almanac Dinner in support of The Stop Community Food Centre.

Hosted by Provisions and Pass The Table, The 2015 Almanac Dinner (#2015AlmanacDinner) took place at The Burroughes Building. The evening began with a cocktail reception at the beautiful loft space.

Photo Credit: Brooke Wedlock (IG:@brookewedlock)

Delicious cocktails + Canapes = No more Monday blues!

Photo Credit: Brooke Wedlock (IG:@brookewedlock)

I enjoyed the following tasty snacks prepared by the chefs:

OYSTER AND PEARLS

Squid ink rice chip, lemon grass, ginger and Acadian Sturgeon caviar

ORGANIC SALMON SASHIMI

Crispy salmon skin, avocado, anaheim chili and raw cucumber

DRY AGED WEST GREY FARMS RAW BEEF

Multigrain raw cracker, kozliks mustard, parmesan cheese and chives

GREY OWL GOATS CHEESE

Walnut and goats yogurt espuma, anjou pear and earl grey raisin puree

Photo Credit: Brooke Wedlock (IG:@brookewedlock)

Azure Restaurant & Bar (2014 Summerlicious)

Summerlicious. Have you been this year yet? For two mouth-watering weeks this month over 200 of the city's top restaurants are offering three-course prix-fixe lunch and dinner menus at one of three price categories:

Lunch:   $15  |  $20  |  $25

  Dinner:  $25  |  $35  |  $45  

There's exactly one week left for Summerlicious (Twitter: @LiciousTO, Facebook: LiciousTO) so get a move on it and make your reservations!

I was fortunate enough to be invited to Azure Restaurant & Bar at the InterContinental Toronto Centre (Twitter: @ICTorontoCentre, Facebook: InterContinental Toronto Centre) for Summerlicious dinner last night (this visit marks my third time at the restaurant!) Azure offers contemporary Canadian cuisine and emphasizes heavily on using local and seasonal ingredients. For Summerlicious the restaurant is featuring a 3-course lunch at $25 and a 3-course dinner at $45 (with vegetarian option available).

Azure's bread basket is always a delight.

Summerlicious dinner for two looks something like this:

HEIRLOOM TOMATOES

Buffalo mozzarella + basil + figs + balsamic glaze 

SEARED TUNA & COMPRESSED WATERMELON

Watercress + avocado + orange + cucumber + micro cress

Dessert Tasting at Richmond Station

This was pretty incredible. Five courses of plated dessert from Pastry Chef Farzam Fallah (@Farzam_Fallah) of Richmond Station (Twitter: @richmondstn, Facebook: Richmond Station). Although their dessert offerings have changed since this visit in November (sorry for the late post!) I still want to share the parade of intricate and beautifully prepared desserts from that evening with you. Feast your eyes, my friends.

MILK CHOCOLATE CHEESE CAKE

Cranberry, salted chestnut, mint 

(Chocolate delice, chocolate pebbles, chocolate soil) 

BUTTERSCOTCH POACHED APPLE CRUMBLE

Ginger bread, walnuts, wormwood ice cream

HONEY AND MILK KULFI

Preserved peaches, almond cake, Tonka panna cotta, milk paper, rosemary cure

Origin North

The newest venture by chef Claudio Aprile is Origin North (Twitter: @originnorth, Facebook: Origin North Restaurant & Bar). Located in Bayview Village near Bayview and Sheppard, Origin North is the third restaurant under Aprile's "Origin empire". The Origin umbrella began with its first location on King Street (2010) followed by a second location in Liberty Village (2012).

This uptown restaurant is massive. With 12,000 sq ft, the space houses 200 seats indoors and 138 seats on its two patios.

Much like the Liberty Village location, an enormous bar in the middle of the room catches your attention right away. The floor-to-ceiling windows allows a lot of light in, highlighting the dark plush leather seats as well as the brown wooden beams. Really spacious and comfortable here.

Right of the bat there were several items on Origin North's menu that I recognize from Origin Liberty like the spicy Spanish fries, truffled popcorn and beet salad (I used to work really close to the Liberty location). I made an exception this time and did not order the spicy Spanish fries - I used to order it every single time 'cause I love them! But this time I resisted...I wanted to save room for new dishes instead.

Round 1 of cocktails:

MAPLE SOUR - Bulleit Bourbon + Maple + Lemon + Bitters ($11)

LA DIABLO - Don Julio Blanco + Cassis + Ginger + Lime ($11)

Boxed at Happy Child

After a year-long hiatus and his brief run as head chef at Leslieville's wine bar Skin + Bones, chef Matthew Sullivan (@GastroMatthew) returns to Boxed (Twitter: @BoxedToronto, Facebook: BOXED), a pop-up dinner series launched by Sullivan himself two years ago. 

Boxed's latest dinner took place on June 3rd & 4th at the Queen West bar Happy Child (Twitter: @happychildbar, Facebook: Happy Child) and at $70 per head, guests were served a Taiwanese-style, locally-sourced six-course meal alongside drink pairings.  

Similar to the supper club's previous events, tickets to this Boxed dinner were sold online with the event's location revealed through email a couple of days prior.

Courses that night were paired with a selection of cocktails and Ontario VQA wines chosen by Sullivan.

New Menu at The Fuel House

When Fuel House (Twitter: @FuelHouseTO, Facebook: Fuel House) took over the former "Olivia's" in November 2011, co-owners Mackenzie Chiu and Mike Dolegowski envisioned their cozy, quaint space in Little Italy as a neighbourhood sandwich shop. With a variety of sandwiches, burgers and banh mi on the menu, swiftly followed by the addition of a snacks menu, Fuel House quickly established itself as a friendly and casual spot. Whether you wanted a quick bite to eat or a comfy place to grab a couple of beers with friends, Fuel House is the place to be. When it's a nice day out, you can even choose which patio you want to chill at - the smaller patio at the front where you can people watch, or the larger more private patio at the back, totally up to you.

Last month, Mack and Mike decided to overhaul Fuel House's entire menu. With Rob Julen as the new chef, Fuel House has since then taken on a completely different direction. Sandwiches are now gone and have been replaced by pub-style snacks and sharing plates. From now on, you can expect to see fried chicken, fries, pork ribs, burgers as well as healthy vegetarian options such as salads and slaws at Fuel House (they even have a seafood basket with crab legs!) A larger selection of beers and an updated cocktail list accompanies the menu makeover. Excellent. Just in time for summer :)

Below are some items from Fuel House's new menu: 

LAZY SUMMER 

OLIVES

PORK RILLETTE & BREAD

East End Dinner Club

The East End Dinner Club is a new Dinner Club created for the purpose of showcasing and supporting the vibrant dining community in Toronto's East End. Spawned partially from Globe and Mail's food critic Chris Nuttall-Smith's negative perception on restaurants in the east end / Leslieville (i.e. from CNS: "It was excellent for Leslieville. But for the rest of the city, just good, and only by a thread" , the East End Dinner Club strives to serve their neighbourhood by bringing to light their many memorable destinations and local talents. 

Consisting of a collaborative group of restaurants, business owners and chefs, the East End Dinner Club (@EastEndDinners) hosted its inaugural "East SideTill We Die" dinner on Monday, April 29th at Skin + Bones (@skinandbonesTO). For $100 per person, guests were treated to a six course dinner prepared by six different chefs alongside wine / cocktail pairings.

The evening's wines were all generously donated by Profile Wine Group, The Vine - Robert Groh Agency, and Norman Hardie.

Mark Bolduc from The Vine.

 All proceeds raised at the dinner supports FoodShare's School Grown Project and Field to Table Schools to bring vegetable gardens to two local schools and employ high school students in agricultural jobs. 

Justin Nadeau and Kate German from FoodShare (@FoodShareTO).

Chefs getting ready (L to R):

Jesse Chingcuangco - Skin and Bones (@skinandbonesTO)

Sean Simons - Goods and Provisions (@GoodsandProvis) / The Comrade (@ComradeToronto)

Dan Patano - Glas (@glaswinebar)

John Sinopoli - Table 17 (@table17) / Ascari Enoteca (@AscariEnoteca)

Deron Engbers - The Curzon (@TheCurzon) / Timeless Food (@timelessfoodto)

Ursa: One Year Later

Toronto's culinary scene is booming. We seem to have a never-ending insatiable hunger for new restaurants (a staggering 20 restaurants opened in March) and I admit it, it is often very tempting to solely focus on the latest joints and unintentionally, neglect the not-so-new restaurants (with this rate the "not-so-new" restaurants can include those opened for merely six to nine months). In any event, I do pride myself in revisiting restaurants where I've had great meals, and that's precisely why I found myself back at Ursa (Twitter: @ursarestaurant, Facebook: URSA) last month.

Dinner at Ursa a year ago was very memorable. Everything I had that night was well, unlike anything I've ever had before in the city. Brothers and co-owners Jacob and Lucas Sharkey Pearce's background in sports nutrition plays a defining role in Ursa's eccentric, unconventional menu.

Despite the fact that I've taken a very similar picture last year, I couldn't help myself - these LED bulbs are so alluring. 

Cocktails = the best way to kick-off dinner (well for me anyway!) 

Big ups to Robin Goodfellow (@robandcheese) for these tasty concoctions :D

WHISKEY SOUR ($11)

Alberta Springs 10 Year Rye, Lemon, Lime, Egg White, Barley Malt Syrup 

NEGRONI ($13)

 Beefeater, Housemade Vermouth, Campari 

Hawthorne Food and Drink

Chef Eric Wood (@chefericwood) and sous chef Binh An Nguyen (@_binhan_) teams up at Hawthorne Food and Drink (Twittter: @HawthorneTO, Facebook: Hawthorne Food and Drink), a 46-seat restaurant which opened its doors early December of last year. Located on Richmond St E., Hawthorne focuses on fusion - chef and general manager Eric Wood (former executive chef at Fabarnak) is all about bringing together the city's wide variety of ethnic flavours and incorporating them into his restaurant's ever-changing menu. 

Not only is Hawthorne a restaurant, it is also affiliated with a non-profit training program for its front of house and back of house employees who wish to learn, gain experience, and improve their skills in the restaurant and/or hotel industry.

Sous chef Binh An Nguyen (former The Spoke Club, Winchester Kitchen and Bar) at the pass.

Mildred's Temple Kitchen (Winterlicious)

Unexpected lunch dates are the best, especially on those mundane days where I fully anticipated working in front of the computer all day for 8 hours straight. Then suddenly, out of the blue, my friend texted me asking me if I'm free for lunch. That in itself is nothing out of the ordinary but get this, my friend was willing to come all the way down (up?) to Liberty Village and have lunch with me here, in Liberty Village. This is amazing because this is rare, guys. RARE. And this is not because I have no friends (man I certainly hope that's not the case) but it's all about location, location, LOCATION.

Despite being a terrific neighbourhood (I often associate Liberty Village to a lovely and serene campus) and a very up-and-coming area with tons of condo development, a lot of people think Liberty Village is "out of the of way" and  "too far". You know, just because it's not the downtown core, nor the financial district, nor Ossington, nor King/Queen & Spadina...you get what I'm saying. Meh, I guess it's kinda true. After all, none of my friends work in Liberty Village! So anyway, deprived of a regular lunch buddy, I jumped at the chance yesterday when my friend offered to drop by for lunch :)

I decided we should hit up Mildred's Temple Kitchen (Twitter: @mildredstemple, Facebook: Mildred's Temple Kitchen) for their Winterlicious lunch (Twitter: @LiciousTO, Facebook: Winter/Summerlicious). I'm gonna admit it right now; what really caught my eye on Mildred's Temple Kitchen's Winterlicious menu was their sticky toffee pudding. I'm a huge sucker for those things.

I was a few minutes early for my reservation so I lounged at the waiting area by the bar. So roomy and comfortable there.

A large and gorgeous space with floor-to-ceiling windows allows a good amount of natural light into the restaurant. The decor at Mildred's Temple Kitchen is contemporary, simple and very modern.

Skin + Bones

After a month-long hiatus, I'm back! No, I didn't go on vacation, I was in town the entire time. Laziness? Perhaps, it was the holidays after all. But nah, the biggest reason for the lack of posts is due to the fact that I've been pretty much going to the same two restaurants during the entire month of December; namely JaBistro (been there four times) and Skin + Bones (been there six times and have been waiting until I've had almost the entire menu to blog about it). Mind you, I didn't have dinner at Skin + Bones on all six occasions, several times were for drinks, but nonetheless I became somewhat of a "regular" there (confirmed by my foursquare mayorship, of course). This really points to one conclusion, right? Both JaBistro and Skin + Bones, in my opinion, are simply excellent places to eat and I was more than happy to accompany friends who haven't been just so they can experience some tasty food. As for Skin + Bones, it surely has nothing to do with their amazing chicken tails, nor its fluffy gnocchi, nor its decadent sticky toffee pudding that entices me to go back time and time again. No. I'm just an awesome friend. That's all.

It was close to six months ago when I attended one of chef Matthew Sullivan's Boxed dinners. Because I've never had the opportunity to visit Maléna and L’Unità during his time there as executive chef, I didn't know what what to expect. Going in "blind", lets just say the dinner completely exceeded my expectation. It was exceptional and I loved it. It left me very excited to try more of chef Sullivan's food at the next Boxed pop-up, whenever that may be. Little did I know, he had bigger plans in mind with Skin + Bones. 

Located at the corner of Queen and Carlaw, Skin + Bones is a wine bar that boosts a very vast wine list; it offers approximately 40 wines by-the-glass with a modest selection of cocktails and beer. 

A long and spacious bar separates the high-tops by the front window and the back dining room. The dining room is quite extensive with ample room between tables (you will never feel cramped or crowded). Diners get a view of Skin + Bones' (Twitter: @skinandbonesTO, Facebook: Skin + Bones) open kitchen.

Bread. Made in-house and served warm and fluffy.

Richmond Station

Chef Carl Heinrich, winner of Top Chef Canada season two, announced back in February that he and Ryan Donovan were leaving Marben to start a new project. Nine months later, the much-anticipated Richmond Station (Twitter: @richmondstn, Facebook: Richmond Station) opened its doors at the corner of Yonge and Richmond, offering diners in the financial district a casual, neighbourhood spot.  Staying true to his philosophy, chef Carl Heinrich continues to use fresh, high quality local ingredients in his new farm-to-table restaurant.

My four friends and I sat in the smaller dining room upstairs which, in comparison, lacked the cool, high-ceiling, tavern-inspired decor of the dining room downstairs (sorry I didn't get a chance to take pictures of the restaurant but I'm sure you will find pictures of the space online). The room upstairs was simple; it had white walls, minimal fixtures, with a pantry room for large groups. Nevertheless, the view of Richmond Station's open kitchen made up for the otherwise subdued space. Patrons can also dine at the chef's rail (basically front row seats to the action in the kitchen)

Oops...caught by Carl :p

A shot of the cooks in the kitchen.

Daily specials are written on a chalkboard.