Christine "Meat. Sleep. Pray." C.'s Profile

Ruby Watchco really is all that and a bag of chips. The food here is as honest as it gets. While you know in your heart there is a thread of pretentiousness that is the aura of this food harbour you simply give it up the minute you wrap your lips around one of their buttery, hot, freshly baked herb & cheese biscuits. All of a sudden you don't notice the noise, you don't notice the seen and wannabe seen's sitting all around you and any thoughts you have about Restaurant Makeover makes a swan song exit out of your brain. Those are some MoFo kinda biscuits. Ask for refills, they gladly oblige.

I've been to RW twice and in both cases I had pork. You know the shtick on this joint, one menu, daily change, etc. etc. etc. So at least by having pork both times I feel like I have a baseline for comparison. Our first visit we sat in the very front of the resto, on the second visit we sat right at the back, in front of the prep/platter area. Chef Lynn Crawford was running the kitchen during my inaugural visit and Chef Lora Kirk the next.

So here's how it panned out:

First Courses:
1st Visit - Mixed greens with smoked trout, heirloom tomatoes, marinated green beans, roasted beets, spicy sliced gherkins and a big fat dollop of egg salad on top.
2nd Visit - Thinly sliced zucchini salad with heirloom tomatoes, roasted beets, roasted peppers and a toasted almonds in a light citrus vinaigrette.

Winner: From an aesthetic standpoint the zucchini salad was gorgeous but I have to say the first salad had so many textures going on that I liked it better.

Main Course:
1st Visit - Pork Loin in a brown rosemary sauce. Sides included a Chorizo Risotto; A zucchini dish with cabbage, sugar snap peas, beans etc; Seared rapini & mushrooms

2nd Visit - Grilled Pork chops with a peach chutney. Sides included another dish with sausages; A savoy cabbage slaw and a Polenta Potato concoction that had mushrooms and large pearl onions in it.

Winner: Of the two pork dishes, hands down the winner was the grilled pork chop with the peach chutney. The polenta potato dish was fabulousness. I'd have passed on the slaw and would have loved the rapini dish again.

Cheese Course:
1st Visit - Fifth Town Cheese. It was soft and creamy like a Riopelle/Tallegio. It was served with a Grapefruit compote.

2nd Visit - Montforte Dairy Cheese which was very dry and hard, akin to a Parmesan. It was served with drunken raisins and shredded carrots.

Winner: I love Ruth Kahlsen the Montforte Dairy cheese goddess to bits but I have to go with the Fifth Town with the unbelievable delicious grapefruit compote. It just was so decadent yet the acid of the grapefruit just gave it the balance it needed.

Dessert:
1st Visit - Cherry S'mores which was actually more like dessert food porn. It was macerated cherries atop a base of graham crumbs, with a large thick wad of melting chocolate, topped with homemade marshmallow that had been toasted.

2nd Visit - Again with the cherries and the chocolate. Macerated cherries atop a brownie with whipped cream and chocolate shavings.

Winner - Gotta go with the Larry Flynt of desserts, the porn S'mores. So here's my food fantasy around these S'mores.... it involved Dirk Diggler from Boogie Nights and I get to recreate my own scene. K, 'nuff said 'bout that. I think you get the idea.

The wine & cocktail lists are absolutely decent. I was really pleased to see some non Ontario wine options on the wine list even though I opted for an unoaked Chardonnay from Organized Crimes.

Service was good. This place is hopping so these guys really earn their coin. Our waitress was good hearted and when I showed up first with flowers for Shari & her Mother, the waitress immediately said, let me take those from you, put them in the fridge and just let me know when you'd like me to bring them.

This is one wacky assed, effed up kind of food court, of which I've never quite see the likes of here in Toronto.  It ain't a place for the gringos after the sun goes down.  It's a dicey neighbourhood and there are some real sketchy looking amigos hanging out in this food hood.  All of that aside if you are looking for a true, really authentic Latin cuisine and can handle some stink eye from the regulars who fill this place on a Saturday afternoon then I say go outside your safety zone and hit up this food court.  

I first learned of Plaza Latina from my friend MaryLuz Mejia.  So last Saturday my daughter and I went on a Latino food hunt.  The food court is small, grungy, noisy and gringas are rare birds which explained all the stares.  Each food booth displays their country flag and this was the latino united nations.  Chile, Mexico, Uruguay, Paraguay, Salvador, Peru, Brazil...it was all here.  

I highly recommend the Pupusas & the Tacos. This is hardcore authentic and the corn mesa used was the best I've ever eaten in Toronto.  There is a Chilean spot with a focus on Churassco sandwiches and empanadas.  We bought a bag of empanadas to take home and my daughter texted me this morning asking when we could go back.  The Chilean counter also had damn decent Churros filled with Dulce le Leche or Cajeta.  I couldn't resist buying a slab of Dulce le Leche cake and a couple of Alfajores (layered cookies filled with cajeta).  

My recommendations on this spot would be never, ever go alone and the best time to hit up this food court is on a Saturday when it's busy and the food is being turned over really quick.  Oh yeah, this is not a hood for the night time visits and don't ever use the washrooms.  Just my own opinion.

I ain't been around Yelp much of late. I've been busy spending my days meandering from Farmer's market to farmer's market. It's an interesting way of eating and shopping. It's taken me off the beaten path and a few weeks ago it landed me in the beautiful Forks of the Credit hood where I discovered the pastoral Belfountain Inn.

The Chef at the Inn is a food goddess by the name of Rossy (pronounce that Rooooseeeee) Earle who's roots are well embedded in the Caledon Culinary scene. Chef Earle was a long time staple at Daniel's of Nobleton but this past year has found her strutting her culinary chops over on the western side of Caledon's escarpment. Chef Earle is Panamanian by birth so her first love for food starts with a South American flavour. I was fortunate to sit in on one of her special tasting evenings which was themed by Chilean & Argentinian foods. Let me tell you peeps, this tasting menu that was six courses was 35 buckeroos per person and absolutely put the Summerlicious menus and price points in to the Hall of Shame. This was absolutely, by far and away, the best menu for this price point that I've ever gobbled up.

So here goes; For starters it was a mini Empanada. This amuse bouche was a pastry crescent of golden goodness filled with a spice ground meat that had a hint of attitude. By the way, Chef Earle makes her own hot sauce and it is a staple on this dining table. From there we moved to a soup called Chupe de Chorizo, in other words Chorizo soup, which really looked more like Chorizo stew. Actually this was really akin to being a sausage, potato & vegetable chowder. Either way it was pure love in a bowl. When we asked where she got the chorizo from Chef Earle smiled and said "I make my own of course!". Of course. Oh silly me. I should have known better. Smoked paprika gives this soup a real kick of flavour.

Moving along we then chowed down on Steak & Palmita salad. Sliced steak, chimichurri style (here's the tribute to the Argentinian way of cooking cow) sat atop a bed of hearts of palm salad. On the very top was a dollop of Avocado mayonnaise. I'm not calling this Avocado Aioli...I'm so sick to death of the use of the word aioli, it's just a snotty way of calling mayonnaise something else. The gagging sound you hear is my aorta crying out for help. Sometimes you just gotta take one for the team and this was one of those moments.

Ceviche. When it's good it's amazing. When it's not good it's like chewing rubber bands. This ceviche was delicious. Fresh and lemony but not acidic. It was a tiny portion atop some pretty little greens and beautifully presented in a martini glass. I actually found it to be a palate cleanser.

Then came the main course. It was what is basically known to be one of the traditional national dishes in Chile, Pastel de Choclo. This is kind of like Chilean Shepherd's Pie except that it is pork and chicken and its top hat is a cornmeal crusted roof that is almost sweet because of the corn.

As if there was room for anything else in our bellies. Oh wait, dessert. This just can't be complete without dessert. The final bow of this food extravaganza was a Passion Fruit Creme Caramel. The zinger for this dish was the Orange glaze on the plate. The Chef intentionally burns the glaze to put an edge to the taste of the orange. All together this was one big fat food porn evening.

If I had to say there was a weak side to this meal it would be the wine flights that were offered. They just missed the mark and didn't do justice to the food.

What was really lovely though was as each course came out Chef Earle followed along, explaining what each course was and how it came to fruition. She spoke briefly about how she was inspired by each dish, its origin and some of the ingredients she used in the foods.

If you decide you'd like to take a drive or bicycle ride along the gorgeous Forks of the Credit then I would highly recommend the Belfountain Inn as your destination spot for some really good eating. Currently Chef Earle is participating in the Caledon Culinary 50 km Challenge so the menu is a reflection of the seasonal foods available in Caledon. God bless garlic scapes. :) As per usual, pics are posted.

Eating dinner at Carmine Accogli's restaurant the Big Ragu is like coming home to an old friend's place or better yet dinner at Nonna's casa! The BR is an old restaurant spot (formerly Venezia) and stepping into it one can't help but to feel like you've really stepped into an authentic Italian experience. What a great change of pace from the College Street Italia chichi scene or the overly hyped overly priced Bene Note.

It was my husband's birthday so I invited friends to celebrate with us. I made a reservation which was a good thing because the BR is a small dining spot (between 30-40 seats) and the place was hopping. Right from the minute we got there Carm took care of us and treated us like we were la familia! :) He is so personable and his love for his business, the food he serves and the customers is so very evident.

We started with cocktails and asked Carm if he could bring us some antipasti. No problem. A few minutes later out came three plates. Two with assorted salumi's/prosciutto, artichokes, roasted peppers and olives. The last plate had three Italian cheeses and they were plentiful. Then he took his time to go over the specials of the day and answered any questions we had. In detail he talked about how things were cooked and what spices, herbs, wines etc. were used.

Three different salads got ordered. A magic mushroom salad, a grilled calamari salad and a pear & Parmesan salad. All salads were fantastic but I have to say the magic mushroom salad stole my heart! Baked mushrooms with goats cheese atop a bed of arugula. Sometimes goats cheese in salad can drown the greens but not at the Big Ragu.

Our mains included the Braised Lamb of the day; a baked Cod and I opted for the provimi veal, pan seared in white wine and sage and then topped with prosciutto. It was a flavour explosion. The only downside of my veal dish is that that potatoes just weren't cooked enough, just a tad to hard still. The lamb was fall off the bone tender in a gorgeous sauce that was so good my friend next to me used a spoon to scoop up the last of the sauce. The baked cod completely caught me off guard. I'm usually not big for cod, I find it smelly and salty but boy was this fish de-lish!

We ordered a side of rapini sauteed in garlic and olive oil and a bowl of spaghetti because leaving the Big Ragu without trying the pasta just wasn't going to happen. Everyone got to taste and we agreed the sauce was hearty, stuck to the pasta and had a slight edge of an arrabiata attitude. We washed down all this home styled Italian goodness with a couple of bottles of Chianti.

Carmine showed his class and his host who is the most side by bringing out a tray of glasses filled with Prosecco to mark the birthday occasion. Let me tell you something about Carmine, this boy can sing! He's got opera pipes! All of a sudden the lights in the whole restaurant go out and in the darkness out comes Carmen with a slice of cake and a candle and he is singing in this unbelievable voice, rendering his operatic version Happy Birthday. For the most part I usually find the singing birthday cake thingy kinda cheesy but at the Big Ragu it works. We finished off with coffees, espressos, cappuchinos. It was a great night.

So the low down was this: 4 cocktails, 2 beers, 2 bottles of Chianti, a table sized antipasti for six people, 5 salads, 6 mains, 5 coffees and the total of the bill with taxes came in at $350. We felt that for the level of food and service that the Big Ragu put out this bill was a bargain.

Check out the pics. If you are ever up in that neck of the woods (Lansdowne & St. Clair) then I would highly recommend you stop in and meet Carm and treat yourself to some really awesome, home styled Italian food.

How Sweete he was!  That would be Bill Sweete, he's the owner and the guy behind the bar.  What a wonderful host he was.  I loved it when I spoke to him and he instantly recognized me from my previous visit with former TO (now NYC) yelper, Deanna W.  He was especially great at keeping my glass filled.  God bless you Bill!  

What a great event Kat!  Best Yelp Elite event to date.  It was wonderful to see many old friends and even better to make the acquaintance of some of new Elite pals.  

Negroni you guys sure know how to make freakin amazing panini's!!!!  Absolutely fantastic. Even better than I remembered.  Far and away my fav is still the dessert panini.  Nutella is nectar of the Gods.

Getting new swag is just a bonus.  :)  Thank you Kat.  I promise to post up pics.  Got a ton of them!  On that note I'd like to thank my photog assistant, the lovely Susan C. for helping me get the last of the snappy happies!  Great pics to follow.

The green beans were good.   The Heineken was really cheap.  Yup, that about covers it.  

The UYE that met up at Lin Garden left in utter disappointment.  Quick rundown of what we ordered.  Hot & Sour Soup; Spring Rolls (that were really egg rolls); Vegetable Pakoras; Spicy Shrimp; Ginger Chicken; Chili Chicken; Green Beans in Garlic; Crispy Beef; Hakka Chow Mein; Manchurian Fried Rice.  (see pics attached)

I had a baseline to compare this Hakka as Devan R. had been our Hakka host over at the Szechuan Gourmet where he annointed us with ginger chicken and crispy beef.  Lin Garden didn't even come close to that measuring stick.  LG was a complete and utter meh, all the way.  The only thing LG has going for it is cheap, cheap, cheap.  That massive pile of food we ordered, plus 7 Heinekens came out to $127 (tax in).  

I'm not going to say much else because it isn't worth the effort.  Oh, I did mention the green beans were good right?  

My Hakka hunt continues.  Frederick's up next.

Two & a half stars.

I keep hoping there is food life in suburbia. A girl can remain hopeful, right? Tonight I was on a suburbia hakka hunt and I figured Brampton was as good a place as any to look for some hakka since it has a fairly ethnic population. So I hit up the Hakka Village on a very dicey area on Kennedy Road. As a matter of fact there was a bit of a police raid in the plaza where the restaurant was located. Okie dokie. On to the food.

We went with dishes I have already tried in some other hakka hot spots since they are the line by which all else is to be measured. I ordered the ginger chicken and the crispy beef, some noodles and a hakka fried rice. The crispy beef was on par with what I had before but after that it was all downhill. The beef was sticky and slightly sweet and I liked this a lot. The ginger chicken was gloopy (official culinary terminology) and not really very gingery. The noodles were bland and rice could have come right off the steam table at the Mandarin. The restaurant is non descript and the guy cooking was also doing the serving. Good thing there was only a couple of other people in the place the whole we were there.

The upside is that this place was cheap, cheap, cheap. A couple of Kingfishers and the food came out to $35 bucks, with some leftovers to go.

My search for really decent phone in suburbia continues. Fire up the GPS. On to the next spot.

Ok, I'll admit it, I'm a wine snob. If you rout through my past reviews you'll often see me lamenting the woes of how often I'm disappointed by Toronto restaurants who put so much effort into promoting and putting Ontario wines on their menus. What can I say, I'm an old world kinda broad, that's just who I am. I think it's just all those trips to Europe and slurping up those damn fine Super Tuscans. So here goes....ummmmm.....yup folks, there are darned fine Ontario wines all awaiting some slurping attention.

With that being said me and my honey hit the Niagara Strada de vino (the road of wine) after getting an invite from the lovely Michelle Bosc (of Chateau Des Charmes) for a "twasting with the tweeps". Michelle and I are twitter buddies and she decided to hold a private wine snogging at the chateau last weekend which provided the reason to hit the road. So off we went. This was one liver bruising extravaganza and a chance to meet my food and wine loving tweeting buddies.

The road of wine included pit stops at Thirty Bench; Organized Crimes; Megalomaniac; Malivoire; Tawse, Fielding, Chateau Des Charmes & Ravine Wineries. When did the Ontario wine industry get so damned advanced and upscale? Ain't no plunk or cheap bottles of wine on this road trip. There were lots of unbelievably pleasant surprises along this local wine journey.  It was sunny and blue skies across the top of the "bench" of the escarpment only adding to the views off the wineries such as Tawse, Megalomaniac and Organized Crime.  The escarpment looked spectacular and this was only made better by getting a chance to slurp up some incredible Cabernet Sauvignons, Pinot Noirs and earthy, oaky Chardonnays.

It's an easy drive. You can literally follow the signs from winery to winery. Some wineries will charge for tastings. In all fairness to them I can certainly understand why especially when the featured wines are running in the $30-$40 a bottle range. I believe the cheapest bottle of wine we purchased was from Malivoire ($17) Marechal Foch. The most expensive bottle was a $48 Cabernet Sauvignon from Tawse Winery. It was a limited edition, estate grown, bottled and none available in the LCBO. In the wineries where we purchased wine there was no charge for the tastings.

At the end of the day we ended up in Niagara on the Lake and stayed at the Moffat Inn. With it still being slightly off season the room rate was reasonable for a lovely little spot. My thinking has been greatly realigned about the quality and the production of Ontario wines. We are already talking about heading back to Niagara for another road trip as there were about another half dozen wineries on the list that we just couldn't make it to.

Gearing up for our annual event finds me on the corner of Berkeley & Queen again this spring and so we dash into the Berkeley Cafe for a bite of lunch and some respite from a long morning of meetings. My affection factor the BC has jumped a star and I've decided that as small and limited in their hours, this is just about one of my most favorite lunch spots in the city.

It's not cluttered with bric-a-brac like so many other garage sale decorated cafes that have popped up all over the city. There are no funky smells from old chairs and sofas and there are no greasy dust strings across old lighting fixtures. Is it a busy spot, yup, it is. A constant stream of coming and going for takeout, which in my opinion, tells you this is a place that makes decent food.

The soup of the day was a Mexican spicy chipotle lentil soup. I asked about getting it in a takeout container because I can never eat all this food in one sitting. The waitress suggests I order just a cup size. I jump at this suggestion and this soup was damn delicious, almost coming across like lentil stew. My lunch mate took one look at my soup and promptly ordered up one for herself. I ordered an egg salad sandwich with a side salad. This was simply one of the best egg salad sandwiches I've ever had in a cafe. Red onion, fresh dill, lots of arugula and bean sprouts on super fresh whole grain bread. The side salad was pretty, bright and screamed fresh, fresh, fresh. Grated carrots, beets, big chunks of crunchy red peppers, spanish onions and cukes atop a bed of spring mix with a light, tangy vinaigrette.

My lunch buddy ordered up a spicy grilled chicken salad topped with feta and dressed with a lemony vinaigrette. In addition to this I had an Americano at the end of my meal. The bill total came to a whopping $15.40 for both us together. Best lunch bargain we've had in ages. Check out the pics. The Berkeley Cafe is one of my most fave lunch destinations and considering I'll be in that neighbourhood for the next few months I'm grateful that they are there! Fresh, delicious food and easy on the pocketbook. Thank you BC!

"I have this theory that chocolate slows down the ageing process
.... It may not be true, but do I dare take the chance?" - Unknown

Now that is a sentiment I can get behind. Or as one of my most favourite cartoon characters, Lucy Van Pelt from the Peanuts gang would say "All I really need is love...but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt!" Most recently I was lucky enough to have a gift package of chocolate nirvana from Delight bestowed upon me as a thank you for participating in a panel discussion at a conference. Talk about a good taste thank you gift.

Delight is just that, a delight. This small little chocolate pocket tucked quietly away in the Junction on Dundas St. W. opened up a couple of years ago. I have frequented the shop on many occasion as it is not far from my work hood. They bake brownies fresh daily and when you walk through the door only to be greeted with the wafting scent of baking brownies it is easy to be seduced by the shop.

The proprietors at Delight take great pride in using only fair trade ingredients including Harmony Organic Cream and chocolate from La Siembra. The end results speak for themselves. The truffles are like butter in their consistency. It is melt in your mouth ambrosia at its very best.

There are a few seats in the shop so you can sit and enjoy a hot chocolate and double dose your chocolate desires with a warm brownie. Organic ice cream is also available, served up in handmade waffle cones. If you find yourself venturing out this way then I would encourage to stop in and treat yourself. As usual...my pic crazed self has pasted up a shot of those truffles. Be prepared to salivate.