Closer to Toronto there is a fantastic restaurant in Burlington called Blacktree. Chef Paonessa has trained in some of Toronto's finest establishments with well known chefs. This restaurant has been well reviewed on this site. Check it out, you will not be disappointed. This is my go to spot for special dinners and I would rank it solidly against any of Toronto's restaurants.

Dunno, but if you are willing to go a little further west to Burlington, there is a great spot called The Purple Heather. They also have entertainment on weekends.

Thanks, I want to try one of these courses. BTW, don't know if you remember that we met at a Chowmeet several years ago at a Malysian restaurant in Richmond Hill.

Did you learn anything that you've actually tried at home? I really want to dabble in this but wondered about specialty equipment costs, etc.

Thanks for posting this. After dining at Alinea and tasting the wonderful cooking of Grant Aschatz, my interest in MG has been peaked. It's great to know that there is now a local supplier selling in small quantities. I look forward to getting some of the products and taking a course or two to learn the techniques.

Treadwell's, one of my favourite Niagara restaurants, recently announced that it will be closing its Port Dalhousie (St. Catharines) location and will be moving to a new Queen Street location in Niagara on the Lake. I will miss the scenic location of their existing site. I wonder if they were forced to leave the location due to the new condo development in the Port. Anyway, I have no doubt the food will be as good as ever once they open their new location this summer.

Many years ago I went to Bekta and enjoyed it. I have not heard much about it lately but it might be worth a try.

Sai Woo? Wow that takes me back. Haven't a clue to help respond to your question, but did enjoy going there in my youth so many, many years ago.

I think I read in the paper tonight that they will be charging around $9.00 for 8 wings, with surcharges for suicide and hot insanity. Must admit that I find this rather costly. Besides, in Buffalo, I prefer Honey's wings to Anchor Bar anyway. On a plus note, good move for the owner's. Once the new McMaster University expansion is complete downtown, the place will be a gold mine.

I've always found Souvlaki Hot to server rather small, lightly spiced, somewhat crispy (burnt) pieces of pork in their souvlaki. My current fave may draw a few surprises, but here it is.... Astoria restaurat (either Danforth or Dundas West locations. Their souvlaki pieces are large, juicy ad very well spiced. Accompanied by excellent souvlaki and fresh soft grilled buns make this sandwhich a Greek delight.

When we go to the Berkeley Street Theatre, we often dine at one of the Distillery District restaurants. For pub grub, the Mill Street Pub would do the job. For something a bit more upscale, either the Boiler House or Oyster Bar might be of interest.

Having read many good comments about this restaurant and finding myself in Toronto on Thursday, I had to give this place a try.

I tried their special pork sandwich, upgraded to a 6 oz portion that included: truffle sauce, grated parmesan, grainy mustard, though I passed on the hot sauce. The sandwich was absolutely delicious. The bun was fresh, the pork moist, tender and tasty served with a good dose of crackling.

Frankly, I have nothing negative to say about the food itself. The only concern is the cost to portion ratio. The sandwich was about the size of a regular hamburger bun... combined with a can of diet pop the cost was nearly $14. As good as it was, I do find this pricy for a sandwich. I am not sure if I would repeat as there are other more filling options available for the same price.

Blacktree
Quatrefoil
Colborne Lane
Le Select Bistro
Splendido
Nota Bene
Cucci
Harbord Room

Blacktree - arguably one of the best restaurants in Ontario. Chef Matteo is a master of fusion cooking. Be prepared for a delicious culinary journey. Lots of reviews on this site... all favourable. Up your price per couple and you will not be disappointed.

Red Canoe Bistro - Locavore menu with seasonal variation to the menu. Small, intitmate setting with exquisite cuisine.

The Alex - Tapas style dining. Small, appetizer sized portions gives you the ability to try several different dishes.

Spencers on the Waterfront - Nice dining venue with great view of the lake. They excel at steaks, wood oven pizza, some game meats and pasta. Very popular requiring reservations in advance. Also a great Sunday brunch location.

Weber's ahead of Burger Priest. Well, there goes any possible credibility this article may have had. I have never understood the popularity of Webers. There burgers are frozen garbage.

I fully agree with the suggestions by Torontojo and Estufarian. If you were ever to only do one restaurant in the Burlington area - blacktree is the one. I've posted a couple of review over the years... never been disappointed. I would also agree with The Alex on Brant, Spencer's on the Waterfront and Quatrefoile.

I would not however, agree with Earl's at Mapleview Mall. I found it to be an overpriced, undervalued road house. It is popular with the 20 something hipsters but their cuisine is completely underwhelming. You said you did not want another Jack Astor's experience. Well, think of Earl's like a slightly upscale JA. It is a chain very similar to Milestones - another overpriced, underwhelming chain.

Although I love the photography and production values of the magazine, I do enjoy trying many of the recipes. Please note that if you cannot obtain a copy of the magazine, recipes are posted online at the \lcbo site.

Nota Bene has a great party room and a great vibe to it.

Reasonably close are restos in the Distillery District. I also visited Weezie's several years ago and thought it quite good, though recent reviews have not been as kind. Both of these would require a cab ride.

Nota Bene has a room that will hold about 24. Used it a few years ago for an office Xmas dinner and found it to be quite good... away from the hustle and bustle of the MDR.

Thanks for all of your suggestions. I'll check them out.

Saw a recipe in this month's LCBO Food & Drink that requires Japonica rice (black). Anyone have any idea where to find this (West Toronto). I'm not that close to a T&T but can get to the Mississuaga location if they might have it. Thanks.

I know that it does not serve the asian cuisine you identified, but try dining at the restaurant at the AGO. It's called Frank and has been well reviewed on this board. I've dined there several times and enjoyed my meals immensely. Consider it, you won't be disappointed.

I was very optimistic going into tonight's dinner at Il Posto. I had seen reasonably good reviews on this and other sites. Sadly, it wasn't to be. A group of 12 from my office attended for our annual Christmas dinner.

The Good - Service was actually quite good. Upon entering the restaurant, the maitre'd held the door, helped with our outer garments, drinks were quickly ordered and received and we were seated at our table. Timing was reasonably good as plates were cleared appropriately before next courses arrived.

The Bad - I guess a restaurant review shouldn't start with comments about the service. We're there for the food after all. Well, not again. I started with the prosciutto with buffala mozzarella appetizer. There was nothing inherently wrong with it, but at $18 I expected to be dazzled. I received a few thin slices of prosciutto on top of a couple of globs of mozzarella. Garnish was a piece of frisee... no style, no substance, no grace. For the main, I ordered the duck with raisin sweet/sour sauce. This had to be the wost duck I've ever had. It was over cooked, tough as shoe leather and served cold. Even the sides, such as they were... 1 small potato, limp spinach, 2 asparagus spears, and a slice of parsnip completely lacked flavour and were also served cold. I should have sent the plate back but did not want to make a scene in front of colleagues. Shame on me... I really should have.

Needless to say, I will not be gracing this restaurant again.

Oh, and to respond to your question Charles... yes, the veal liver was still on the menu. One of my colleagues ordered it and said it good, but not great. Also a bit on the cool side. How can a restaurant (that was not overly crowded) manage to serve cold food to a majority of the twelve of us?

A couple of years back, Nota Bene was the hot spot to go. If memory serves, it was 2010 top new restaurant in Canada. I went many times that year and enjoyed it immensely. Sadly, I don't get to downtown Toronto as much anymore and have been sampling other new restaurants. I remember really enjoying the Boudin Noir dish and the duck salad. Has anyone been recently and has the restaurant kept up its standards? I don't seem to hear much about this one or David Lee (chef) any more.

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Nota Bene
180 Queen Street West, Toronto, ON M5V 2A1, CA

I'll second the motion for Fortino's. The three in Burlington are the stores of choice for my regular grocery shopping. They have a great selection of produce, meat, dairy as you've described. I also like the extended list of specialty items they stock, e.g. chinese, thai, mexican. I've found just about everything I need there. My fallback is Longo's should Fortino's not have a specialty product I'm looking for.

There are much better products available at local health/fitness stores. They have many varieties of protein shakes, whey products, etc. available... much more than your local grocer.

Can't quite imagine how this will work with 20,000 people attending.

Thanks for the recommendation and link. I am looking forward to giving it a try.

Last week, I had a wonderful dinner at Alinea in Chicago. Having enjoyed the meal so much, I purchased the cook book. It is flush with wonderful ideas and recipes from Grant Aschatz. Many of the recipes apply molecular gastrononmy (MG) techniques.

Does anyone know where one can purchase ingredients for MG? Specifically, I would like to try a technique using calcium chloride and sodium alginate.

As always, advice is appreciated.