recco's for toronto visit - best of everything!

[mona_in_hk]

hi

i will be in toronto for 4 nights pretty soon and would love to hear your recommendations for what you consider to be the best restaurants in all genres, all cusines.

we are very very adventurous eaters and want to got o some fine dining but also whatever is the best chinese (despite my user name, i am in nyc not hk :-)), bets indian, best italian, best street food, best casual, anything that really captures toronto...

pretty much all the restaurant you'd want to hit if you were me!

thanks in advance for all your help.

(i will of course go through this forum myself to look for relevant posts, but if anyone can think of any really good ones, please let me know)

[jenc]

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.

[estufarian]

Last month (Jun 3) I responded to a slightly different request.

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=121906#

This contains some superfluous stuff (unless you're driving) but contains most of the places I recommend.

It's light on more casual/bistro places - and ignores Italian (as do I) - but if you give the main intersection where you'll stay (or hotel), I can flesh out the more local places.

[quattro]

La Forchetta and Terroni would be my recommendations for Italian downtown. One is in Little Italy and the other is on Adelaide west of Yonge.

[mkjr]

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.

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...seeing post after post after post like this was why i left....just search already...

[CaliPoutine]

La Forchetta and Terroni would be my recommendations for Italian downtown.  One is in Little Italy and the other is on Adelaide west of Yonge.

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We ate at Terroni( on Queen) Thursday night and I wasnt impressed. We shared an appetizer of frito misto( stuffed squash blossems, arracini and a few miniscule pieces of baby zucchini that werent fried). A salad of arugula, mushrooms and parmsean with lemon dressing and a marhgarita pizza with 1 basil leaf. The squash blossems had the oddest taste, very boozy, but when I enquired, they said there was no booze. They almost tasted fermented. Just plain weird. The pizza was good, but I was put off by the lack of basil( 1 leaf? Seriously). The salad was basic and a tad expensive at 9.95. My MIL and 11yr old niece had the lasagana with asparagus, peas, speck and bechimel. It tasted like ham and scalloped potatoes and the portion was ridiculous for 15.95. Very small. I wasnt impressed and would not eat their again.

[Jake]

La Forchetta and Terroni would be my recommendations for Italian downtown.  One is in Little Italy and the other is on Adelaide west of Yonge.

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We ate at Terroni( on Queen) Thursday night and I wasnt impressed. We shared an appetizer of frito misto( stuffed squash blossems, arracini and a few miniscule pieces of baby zucchini that werent fried). A salad of arugula, mushrooms and parmsean with lemon dressing and a marhgarita pizza with 1 basil leaf. The squash blossems had the oddest taste, very boozy, but when I enquired, they said there was no booze. They almost tasted fermented. Just plain weird. The pizza was good, but I was put off by the lack of basil( 1 leaf? Seriously). The salad was basic and a tad expensive at 9.95. My MIL and 11yr old niece had the lasagana with asparagus, peas, speck and bechimel. It tasted like ham and scalloped potatoes and the portion was ridiculous for 15.95. Very small. I wasnt impressed and would not eat their again.

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Sorry to hear about your meal. Terroni is a popular tourist spot and okay lunch in a pinch if you're not expecting too much. For Italian in Toronto there are tons of choices depending on what you're looking for. Giancarlo's on Clinton at College is always good, Tutti Matti, Zucca, L'Unita or for high end, Via Allegro are all good choices.

[phoenikia]

What do you recommend at Giancarlo's, Jake?

I'm curious to hear which dishes e-gulleters have liked the most at Tutti Matti, Zucca, and L'Unita lately. My last meals at each of these places have been ok, but not great.

Midrange Italian meals I've enjoyed in the last year include a pizza with anchovies at Trio Ristorante, and a gnocchi alla gorgonzola at Gamberoni- both located near Yonge and Lawrence- not a neighbourhood I would immediately think of for Italian food. Both are pretty good for neighbourhood Italian (good for a decent midweek meal, but not where I would go for a special occasion) in my experience, but probably not worth a trek across town.

Edited July 25, 2009 by phoenikia (log)

[camdan]

Yesterday I had surprisingly good meals at Boulevard Cafe (gazpacho, ceviche, pecan pie) on Harbord Street and The Harbord Room (lamb then coffee and caramel pot de creme) (surprisingly enough, also on Harbord).