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jenc

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  1. I think it depends where you're from! Though I do think the beans are more English than Irish!
  2. photo from my flickr. Guu opens in Toronto! (for intro/extro/photos/menu) Well, there's enough that I decided to organize this by sections on the menu. Otherwise, it would be far too chaotic! Ready? Special Menu (2/3) There weren't too many specials, but we did like what was on it. I was tempted to get the uni, but ultimately decided to pass. This time! Marinated BC Albacore Tuna sashimi with jalapeño sauce. Really quite good. I liked the spice from the japaleño. Off the special menu. Amaebi Being the Vancouverites they are, of course this made the menu. Sweet and delicate. Don't forget to suck the head! A good order. Appetizers (3/6) Apps were pretty strong all-around. I liked all that we did order, with the Takowasabi as my top pick. Takowasabi Cooked octopus with chopped wasabi stem and vegetables. To be wrapped in nori. I really really like this dish. I first had it at Kingyo in Vancouver and Guu's version is just as good (or better). Cruchy, wasabi-hot, a little bit of vinegar or something like that and a sweet hit. I asked for a second order of this. Though I was told later that this probably isn't house-made (and bought from a supplier). True? False? Someone else will have to ask. Kurage Marinated jellyfish and vermicelli (fake shark's fin). Small dish, but a nice crunchy snack. This makes my potential re-order list. It was tasty. Gomaae Boiled spinach with black sesame sauce. Looking like a baby sludge monster, this was really tasty. Sweeter than the white gomaae you can find around town, I'm told. I quite liked this, though it verged on being dessert. Maybe a good intermezzo order..? Salads (4/4) I found the salads okay but nothing that I would order again. Tofu Salad Tofu and garlic sauteed mushrooms on greens with crispy wonton chips. Nice plating/stack, but entirely meh for me. Gyu Shabu Salad Thinly sliced boiled beef on greens with black sesame sauce. Needs more beefy flavour or something. Sashimi Salad Assorted fish on greens with mayo. Meh. It wasn't bad, (some tataki in there!) but I think this is not why you would come to Guu. Daikon Salad Daikon with greens, scallop and spicy cod roe mayo. I somehow missed the spicy cod roe taste. Cold Dishes (2/5) Interesting dishes to eat and try, though there are some repeats that swap out the main ingredient for a like one. Aburi Salmon Lightly seared Atlantic salmon sashimi with ponzu sauce and wasabi mayo. Tasty enough, with the notes of garlic adding a nice depth to it. Salmon Natto Yukke Chopped salmon sashimi with natto, shibazuke, takuan, wonton chips, garlic chips, green oinion and raw egg yolk. To be mixed and wrapped in nori. Needed more natto - you get the texture/goo of it, but no taste. I liked the takowasabi better. Less items, but better taste imo. Deep Fried (4/8) There were a couple things on the deep-fried menu that we were hesitant to order - the Brie Cheese being one of them. Someone else will have to try that out first! We also passed on the Ebimayo because we figured that we knew what it tasted like. There was no logic in that thought though - I mean, what if we missed the best fried shrimp ever?! Oh well. Next time! Karaage Deep fried soy sauce marinated chicken served with garlic mayo. All my dining companions really liked this - and they should. It's lightly battered, crispy, and juicy inside. Don't know why I couldn't get into it. I still prefer the chicken at Ajuker - and I know they're two different animals. Takoyaki I'm used to the smushier ones from Manpuku, but I quite liked these. I can't vouch for authenticity. I'll try these again sometime though. There was so much going on at this point that it was hard to process it all. Kabocha Korokke Deep fried kabocha pumpkin croquette with a boiled egg inside. I liked this one a lot. A good snack and the lightly sweet kabocha is really nice. Though I kind of wish it were a tea egg inside with runny yolk instead of just boiled. Agedashi Tofu Deep fried tofu in dashi broth. Not bad, though they used the hard/spongy tofu, which I like less. Okonomiyaki Deep fried japanese style pancake with tonkatsu sauce and mustard mayo. Not like the okonomiyaki's I've had in Osaka with noodles in it, this is a crispier pancake. Still, it was quite tasty. Nice to see this Osakan dish at Guu. Oden & Stewed (2/2) 100% completion on this category. Both are interesting orders. photo from my flickr Oden Egg, radish, squid & fish cake, puffed fish cake, deep fried tofu, bamboo shoot, fish cake, taro jelly. Can be ordered individually or as an assortment. Sort of meh, I did like the bamboo and taro jelly for tasting purposes. Kakuni Sweet miso brasied pork belly with boiled egg. While the Tontoro would be my pork pick out of the two, this was a slightly sweet and fatty pork that reminded me of Chinese braised pork belly. Grilled (4/8) Of the dishes we ordered, it was really good or just bad. Enjoyed the Gyu Tangue and the Tontoro. Both are re-orders in my book. The Kakimayo? Not so much (only according to me, though!). Grilled Saba mackerel with garlic, lemon, and herb, on vegetables. Thought this was okay - I prefer standard Korean preparation of mackerel better. Depends on your taste - this certainly wasn't bad. Gyu Tangue Grilled beef tongue with salt. Really nice and tender pieces. Salt level was just nice. Would re-order. Tontoro Grilled pork cheek with yuzu pepper. Really tender and tasty. Well salted and I really liked the yuzu pepper. I consider this a re-order! Kakimayo Grilled oysters with spinach, garlic mayo, and cheese on the top. If this sounds really bad to you, it does to me too. However, many of my dining companions liked this, but there were a couple of dissenters. Me, I thought this was a bit too odd for my tastes. One friend who doesn't like cooked oysters liked this basically because you couldn't taste the cooked oyster... Rice & Noodles (1/6) We slacked on the rice & noodle section. Kimchi Udon Boiled udon noodle with spicy cod roe. Topped with kimchi. Everyone else thought it was just okay, but I really liked this one. I just really liked the taste of the kimchi + noodle. Reminded me of a packet-of-ramen flavour. Sweets (1/4) Didn't have too many sweets, as we were really stuffed. Also, it's your run-of-the-mill Japanese restaurant desserts. Albeit, the one we did have was really good. Sake Cheese Cake Smooth and pretty good. I don't love cheese cakes, but the smoothness won me over. Had the subtle taste of sake mash. Frozen Grapes At the end of the meal, this was brought out to us. Reminded me of the skewers I had at Kingyo not too long ago. Drinks (8/15) Drinks seem very interesting on the menu and it was decided we should do our best to sample as much as we could. I didn't shoot many drinks, but highlights include the Cassis Oolong (not to be mistaken with the Oolong High!) and Bamboo (pictured up top). The Nama Gure (grapefruit/vodka/soda) was interesting, but more gimmick than substance. I enjoyed the Ume Mojito, but without the mint, I hesitate to call it a mojito. No one dared ordered the Matcha Coco. We'll have to save that for another time. Overall, I feel that this is a real destination dining place - the kind you go to for gatherings and events. Less your every-day eatery and definitely not your romantic date spot. While Izakaya is set up for beers and snacking, I'm not sure the area would lend itself to that kind of clientele (I would have opened in the business district for that). Still, this is just the beginning. I'm hoping we will see more dishes that dive into cartilage and organ-meat land. Complete blogpost > Guu opens in Toronto! (for intro/extro/photos/menu) Menu time on flickr!
  3. jenc

    Buster Rhino's

    Sigh. The search for pulled pork continues. Or I need to just go back to Austin.
  4. I mean, was anyone else anticipating this like I've been? Or is it just me? Full Irish = banger, rasher, black pudding, beans, mushrooms, grilled tomato, potato farl, fried egg Some intro and extro in the blog post, but really: Of everything on the plate, the banger was best executed – juicy, lightly spiced, and a strong pork flavour. Really quite excellent. The rashers and mushrooms were decent – tasty, nothing too remarkable. Bonus taste-points go to the roasted tomato – a really nice savoury/umami hit. I found the pancake-like potato farl a good item to help wipe my plate clean. But my personal favourite were the beans. They reminded me of when I was a kid and the breakfasts my dad used to make for me. Not that we’re Irish. The beans were tasty enough that I stole strays from a neighbouring plate. I loved each bite – especially when I could mix in some of the runny yolk from the fried egg. One niggly bit. While most people won’t eat blood sausage anyway, we were sad to see it was over-cooked and mealy. We’d had a really delicious example of it recently at Earth, so this was in stark contrast. Hope that they can fix that, since the rest? Well, it’s really awesome. More at the blog post on Ceili Cottage's Full Irish
  5. jenc

    Frank @ the AGO

    lol, anyone else find it funny that one of our more frequent contributors is someone who lives in Rochester? Gordon should just become Torontonian!
  6. jenc

    Frank @ the AGO

    Thanks guys! phoenikia, I'd be interested in your thoughts! I felt Frank was good in the would-return-but-not-right-away. Geoff at least that's more than what was going on in general! Though the last little while has shown life on the boards! Huzzah! Also: despite what m-w.com told me, "toothsome" does not indicate texture. Just attractiveness/desirability. D'oh!
  7. jenc

    Nota Bene

    Gordon > For some reason, I've gone quite a few times and every time I go I kinda ponder why I've returned. It's not like the food is bad, but it's missing the spark of really great meals. Have you gone to Splendido yet? Have had a few really good meals there.
  8. jenc

    Buster Rhino's

    O_O looks tasty. How's that pulled pork? I have good memories from my trip to Austin, but that was eons ago and many bad pulled-pork imitations later... though, I really don't know when I'll make it out there.
  9. Having enjoyed Globe many times over the years, I was happy to visit their newly-opened restaurant Earth up at Yonge and Davisville. Meant to be a dressed-down version of Globe, its sleek and organic mix of black and beige doesn’t quite give off a truly casual vibe. Decor aside, what truly excited was what the menu offered. Luckily, we were a four-top (having hoofed it up after the Thomas Keller talk at the Toronto Reference Library), and a four-top meant lots of dishes! After perusing the menu, we put in our order and waited for the train of dishes (we uh… ordered a lot), tempering our anticipation with the knowledge that Earth had only just opened the previous weekend. To start, we were offered some rather decent herbed scones – a little different from the norm. It was a nice touch. After a slight pause, the appetizers came out. Crispy Ewenity curds, battered, fried, and sided with some house-made ketchup arrived at the table. Interesting in taste and texture, the crispy exterior and smushy interior made for a fun snack. Our wood-oven baked flatbread (a.k.a. pizza), was okay – I feel that they could improve on the crust by a lot. We had the Fishetarian and I didn’t get very much of a smoked fish flavour off of it. I can see this being a good shared app between two. Elk tartare was ordered twice at the table and both recipients liked it in varying degrees. A solid offering with an Elk-twist. So, with that many apps there was still one more: the pig bits. Fried pig’s ear, creton, and a generous portion of head cheese. We were pleasantly surprised at the bounty when it hit the table. Served with some crisps (more please!). Going around the plate: the pig’s ear was only okay (we had really good examples in Quebec earlier in the year), the creton was quite good, and the head cheese was really good. Chunky and a good chew to it. This would be a re-order dish. Kozlik’s double crunch mustard rounded off the plate. On to the entrées. I went with the daily dish, a creation of scallops, golden beet purée, and maple pesto. A light dish, much appreciated after the gorging on apps. Found the intriguing pesto-maple combination not as tasty as it was interesting. An elk shepherd’s pie and the lobster stew made it to the table as well. From only small tastings, the former was decent, the latter could use some work. And then there was my favourite dish of the night, the slow-roasted Tamworth suckling pig. Sided with braised local beans and really delicious boudin noir. The crackling was crisp and yummy. This dish was extremely hearty and just right for the cold weather. If you order this, I hope it will be as good for you as it was for me. I think this was my favourite boudin noir of the year. And that’s including my Montreal trip! It was the end of the night and we were stuffed. So what did we do? We ordered dessert! Propelling us into food coma was the tarte d’erable with bacon cream our waiter spoke of. Having made and eaten several maple pies this year already, we were interested to see what Earth could offer. I felt the crust could use more baking – I like ‘em toasty and so, this was too raw and mushy for my taste. The filling – I wished there had been a bit more and a stronger maple presence. Perhaps a spoonful of maple syrup on top (like at Au Pied Du Cochon) would give it a sufficient maple-kick. And the cream – dense and bacony – good, but overwhelmingt. I’d like something lighter and more subtle to complement the tart. Despite its so-called “cursed” location (umpteen restaurants have been in the spot), with some tweaking of dishes, Earth has much potential to call the place home. I’m looking forward to a subsequent visit. Full post on Toronto's New Earth on the blog!
  10. Thanks for the report OliverB! Wish we'd have had something like that here. Our signing line was pretty crazy-long as well. Sigh. At least you're close enough to hop over to Napa if you wished!! I'm all the way out on the East coast... Here's a pic of Keller, now that I've discovered you don't have to upload and all that jazz like with the old forums! aaannnd... a video about where Keller feels most comfortable: ... wow, I like these new "insert" things for photos and media!
  11. It's too quiet in here with rgruby posting all on his own. So, I figure I'll just post. Being lazy, I'm taking from my blog and summarizing it. Had brunch at Frank few weeks ago with a big group of people. Got to shoot lots of dishes, but only tasted a few. Unfortunately, these weren't friends whom I've trained into 1) waiting until I shoot their dish and 2) automatically sharing their food with me. In general, the space is really nice. Lots of glass and light wood - not as Ikea-esque as you'd think. There are several areas that can accommodate the single diner or large groups in semi-private nooks. With the sun coming through the windows, it really set the mood for brunch. The menu reads fairly interestingly and all the foods come out plated really nicely. I also got to try the scones, which were okay. Didn't get to try the cheddar scone, sadly. In the baked assorted basket, the croissant I had was very sad indeed. Kinda gummy. Can't speak of the other pastries. Had to share, you know (though I wasn't too sad after that croissant)! I sampled some of the roasted glazed whey-fed pork belly and it was really quite nice. Came with house-made plum-cardamom mustard, red cabbage slaw & brandied Niagara prune plums. The pork itself was tasty and tender. Had some reservations about the mustard, but in the end, it paired well with the pork and I quite enjoyed it. My main was the buckwheat pancakes - a huge stack of five fluffy discs. Really nice chew to them - toothsome is what comes to mind. Came with maple lardons which helped balance the dish so that you weren't sugared-out by the last bite. Maple-poached prunes and the plum coulis round out the dish. I would order this again, but maybe to share. Hmn. Maybe not. By this time I was stuffed and shockingly, the thought of dessert - well, it just didn't appeal to me. Though the table ordered them, I didn't even try. I did shoot them though! We were all very impressed by the sugar art on the pear-ginger-hazelnut cake. The cynic in me wonders why, but it did look very cool. Thanks to the diffused light, I got some really decent shots of the dishes (13 in total!) without trying too hard. Overall, the mains had a higher hit-percentage than the desserts. I'd return sometime. More Photos: http://www.foodpr0n.com/2009/11/30/artful-brunch-ago-frank/
  12. He does sign the book with "It's all about family" so I can see that. Anecdotal, but the room on Monday night was all Keller-fans as far as I can tell. At least by all the chatter before he came in. It was never, "Can't wait to hear about the book/recipes/whatever" but more of "keller this..." or "I took the night off... I wasn't going to miss this..." looooots of resto peeps all around. Even Mark McEwan was there! Also funny was that Keller was asked where he wanted to go for food, and he couldn't quite come up with much, but he did say "Black Hoof" which is a charcuterie/offal place in town (really interesting/yummy) and that apparently packed the house after the event. I suspect that peeps were hoping he'd still go out to eat... heheheh
  13. Didn't know where to dump this, so I'll add to it here. This is less about the book and more about TK and his book tour. Saw Thomas Keller in town (Toronto) for the Ad Hoc At Home book tour. I found the talk interesting for a fan, but otherwise, it'd have been pretty boring for anyone else. The talk was definitely less about the book and more about Thomas Keller. For those of you who can't make it to a nearby city for the tour, I've got some clips up from the Toronto talk. Some interesting sound bites.
  14. Thanks for the pointers fooey! Likely, we'll get there early enough, as we're on east-coast time still. And good bread is always nice to have, so I'm sure we'll stop if Tall Grass is so close!
  15. Hi everyone! I've got my eat-list nailed down and includes making Poppy a full meal, Txori and Elliott's for snacks, Cafe Besalu (croissants as good as Tartine!? I'm there...!), and Gelatiamo since it's close to where I'm staying. I decided I will pass on pizza this time around - we do have fairly decent (used to better when it first opened) wood-fired pizza at Libretto, and with the limited time, I think perhaps next time! Thanks for all your input - will report back after food-coma wears off. Mind you, I'll have to eat through Vancouver first too... O_O
  16. Dave > I'd thought about Art Of The Table, but given that Elemental is primary, I needed something that I wouldn't feel like a total troll for canceling out on last-minute. Rockdoggydog > I'd heard that Rover's stopped their brunch? (despite it being on the website) Dan > we'd had the crumpets last year, but may make a stop again since we're there. I didn't love - sacrilege, I know, but maybe it was because they were closing... Delancy's > I'd had a lot of recs for this. If I showed up at 5, would that be still crazy? Is this like Elemental where I need to line up at least 30 mins before?
  17. Hey Seattle kids, I'm visiting this weekend and wanted to see if any of you had any thoughts on my eat-list. Will be in town from Friday afternoon to Monday morning. I know it gets mixed reviews on the board, but Elemental's pretty much the only place that we want to get for sure (had an awesome time last year). But other than that - let me know if you think I should drop something or I'm missing something that I should really really taste. Have car, except on Sunday. Staying downtown at the W. (x-posted to chow) FRIDAY Dinner: Elemental (back up is Saturday dinner) SATURDAY Early: Macrina Bakery & Cafe (worth waking up for?) Morning: Pike Place Market Afternoon: Molly Moon's Homemade Ice Cream, Trophy Cupcakes Dinner: Sitka & Spruce? Joule? Later Eating/Drinking: Zig Zag SUNDAY Brunch: Rovers or Lola? (sleep in instead?) Afternoon: Pagliacci Pizza (worth the trip out?) Early Happy Hour: Poppy Later Eating/Drinking: Quinn's MONDAY Breakfast: Dahlia Bakery POSSIBILITIES Malay Satay Hut - any good? The family is Malay, so... How To Cook A Wolf - read some decent things, liked the name. Tsukushinbo - Thought it might be a good hit for Sunday lunch Boom Noodle - My sister's suggestion. I'm not sure if this is worth going? Elliott's Oyster House - Any good? Tourist trap? Paseo Carribean - Highly rated. Overrated?
  18. woo, sounds fun! How many people were there in total or was it just your group?
  19. Feel free to post your list when you've got one - there are several "Best Of" or "What to eat in Toronto" threads in the forum already, and they all repeat. I'm sure (quiet as this board is), that people would be able to vet your list.
  20. Just re-checking this thread for a friend and noticed I didn't post my writeups: Chocolats de Chloe and APDC I really loved the chocolates from Chloe and the intense smell of chocolate that greets you when you walk in is phenomenal. Highly recommend getting the passion fruit chocolate. Wow. Great, intense. APDC was merely okay (save the Oreilles de Crisse which was super tasty) until we hit the Tarte d'Erable which was awesome. Despite all that we made a res for a few nights later. Kouing Aman, Marche Rahman, Fairmont Bagel Had a croissant at Kouing which was good, I couldn't remember why I was at Rahman, but when we went in I surmised I must have chosen it for the beer selection. Fairmont Bagel ... maybe I'm being sacrilegious, but it's a bagel? Tasty, but not transcending. Club Chasse et Peche (dinner) I think this was the best dinner of our entire trip. I had this seafood stew that lingers on my tongue still. And that set the tone for the entire night. The rest of our dishes were awesome (though never taking the place of that seafood stew... so good). Club Chasse et Peche (Lunch) So we liked it so much that we went back for lunch the next day. Not as successful as the meal before, but still quite good. Really strong restaurant. Patisseries Amal Bohsali and Mahrouse, Bilboquet, and Brasserie Artisanale Dieu Du Ciel! Same day as above, but now for sugar. I like Bohsali's pastries above Mahrouse, not enjoying the too-syrup kind they latter offered. Bilboquet's ice cream was quite fun and tasty. I had been on a maple-taffy kick. Had a nice afternoon at the Brasserie eating regional cheeses and olives. Quite a satisfying snack. Au Pied Du Cochon (visit 2) Right, so we had a second reservation to try more dishes. I think this was the more successful of the two visits. I think it really depends on the dishes you order and the first night just fell short of expectations. This time we went with Oreilles de Crisse, Duck in a Can, (great!! I really enjoyed this dish), tarte au Tomates, and pied do cochon. Joe Beef A very casual yet interesting meal. At one point in the night, we were served an entire pig's head... And the rabbit was fabulous. Cabane Au Sucre It was really cool to experience this upscale traditional french type meal. Pea soup, tourtiere... really fun.
  21. Hit up Treadwell's isn't exactly NOTL - it's in Port Dalhousie, but it's close enough. There's also the Pie Plate in Virgil for baked goods and Stone Road Grille, with really good food. Just ignore the strip-mall setting - interiors are fine. photos can be found in the flickr set, but you'll have to search the sets.
  22. argh. Why have an empty website...!? (I was just ranting about this on the blog...) Though, at least the information isn't wrong... but I have heard of these guys several times...!
  23. You could always hit up one of the nearby hotels - Hyatt, Four Seasons for a drink. Yorkville is also right there and there are a few bars around.
  24. I haven't eaten at the Windsor Arms in a long time, but the space is really classy and not too noisy as far as I recall. I plan on checking out their Tea sometime soon...! Anyway, The WA menu should be quite conservative - it's pretty old school. Unfortunately, I don't have many other recs in the area that fit what you're looking for.
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