GRobin's Profile
Ontario peaches?
Picked up some at St Lawrence Market North on Saturday morning. Very, very good. Best of season so far.
great cold soup recipe?
I just posted a Cold Avocado Soup recipe in the Avocado thread. But my son's fave cold soup is this one:
Cold Yoghurt Cucumber Dill Soup
1 large container plain yoghurt (2% is fine as is 0% if you're watching)
1 small container sour cream (low fat OK, no fat is too gummy)
1 can low sodium chicken broth
juice of 1 lemon
1 large clove garlic minced
1 English cucumber chopped (not too small)
1 bunch dill chopped very finely
few springs mint chopped very finely (optional)
salt and pepper to taste (can also use lemon pepper)
Mix it all together in large bowl and refrigerate at least 4 hours.
Service in chilled bowls with spring of dill on top.
I also like to put this soup into a pitcher, as well as put my gazpacho into a separate pitcher and then pour the soups into a shallow soup/salad bowl at the same time for a ying/yang soup experience that looks gorgeous in the bowl.
Four quick avocado recipes
Cold Avocado Soup
2 ripe avocados
1 can low sodium chicken broth (you can use veg too if you prefer)
1 small tin mild green chilies drained
juice of a lime
plain yoghurt - about 1/2-3/4 of a cup
few dashes Tabasco or cayenne pepper
salt and pepper
Whiz in a food proc or with an immersion blender til thoroughly smooth
Refrigerate until cold but don't serve it ice cold, let it warm up a touch to get all the flavour
Serve in a big cocktail glass garnish with a cooked shrimp
Yum!
Restos near Hyatt Regency on Jeanne-Mance
Thank you heliotrope. A great start. Anyone else want to weigh in?
Restos near Hyatt Regency on Jeanne-Mance
Hi Montrealers,
My dance team will be performing in Montreal this weekend. We need three resto recs near our hotel.
1) Early dinner Friday (i.e. 5 p.m.) very casual for a group of 12 where we can get in and out fast, has a wide variety to choose from and isn't expensive
2) Dinner Saturday - also early but more like 7:00 p.m. for 12, same criteria as above
3) Sunday brunch - casual
Merci!
Restaurants with bar area for dining
Have been to L'Unita 5 times - 3 times too many. The first time was terrific on all accounts. The second time, service was painfully slow and server was surly. The third time we ate at the bar but when we arrived, we were told the bar seats were reserved for regulars (which obviously we were not...yet) but we could wait, which we did for 1/2 an hour before we were told, "OK, go ahead and sit there." The fourth time, the food was not up to par...they were out of several items, one dish was overcooked and another cold. Server didn't care. The final time (not my choice but the choice of people who had never been) was when we waited 40 mins for apps, 1 hour for mains which all arrived at different times. Sides arrived when we finished the mains. Waiter was argumentative and blamed the kitchen which he was told was inappropriate, as they work as a team. Spoke to the owners very politely - both young men who we'd been introduced to on our second visit...they couldn't have cared less. Others have had similar experiences.
Restaurants with bar area for dining
L'Unita is perfect if you wanted to be treated like crap, especially if they don't recognize you.
Bar Mercurio
Lakes
The Rushton
South Side Grill
Toni Bulloni
Ferro
Le Paradis
Coquine
To name a few...
Best dishes for shut-in, ill mother-in-law
A friend of mine's mother is at home recuperating (same demographic profile;-). I surprised her with a brisket. I brought it over in a foil container, sliced with the potatoes and veggies all around it, ready to go right into the oven, accompanied by a nice fresh challah. My friend called me the next day to say it was the first time she'd seen her mother smile in weeks and I received the most lovely flowers and note from her mother the following week in which she wrote, "How did you know brisket is my favorite? The prefect comfort food..." I know it's not the healthiest but I skim the fat and keep it very moist with lots of gravy. Speedy recovery to your mom-in-law.
desserts for a crowd?
Apple cranberry crisp - two large pyrex dishes should do the trick for 30.
Tip for fluffy scrambled eggs
I'd just like to say that if a man made me "scrambled eggs with freshly sliced Strawberries and whipped cream flavored with a drop of Grand Marnier for a midnight dinner. A simple crisp salad and champagne", I'd be his forever!
Apple galette/crostada
I love this Barefoot Contessa recipe. I am not a baker and with the help of the food processor I find this comes out perfectly every time. I have also successfully made this with the little Italian prune plums...yummy!
Gluten Free Toronto
Il Fornello - all locations have spelt pizza dough as well as rice flour pastas
The Big Carrot - their take out counter of prepared foods as well as their Juice Bar
Bar Mercurio - has a GF pizza on the menu but I thought it was inedible
Break-Fast
Thank you all for your thoughts and ideas. I have decided to stick with the tried and true since my family all voted for that course of action which I understand since for most it's comfort food and tradition reigns. But I am going to add the apple and ricotta pie as it sounds light and lovely. Easy over the fast to all and best wishes for a happy, healthy, sweet and prosperous (here's hoping) new year.
Break-Fast
Jfood, you are correct...looking for ideas for this Thursday's meal to break the fast. I usually do an egg/spinach/cheese casserole, bagels, lox, cream cheese with the usual accompaniments, tuna salad, fresh fruit, apple cake.
Keep those ideas coming...
Break-Fast
Happy new year to all my tribal friends. Wanna share your break-fast meal?
I make the same things year after year and am looking for new ideas.
what can i use to replace dates in date squares?
Dried apricots that you either poach or soak in a liquid first to plump. Mmm....love apricot squares.
New resto in Forest Hill?
South Side Grill is on the south eats corner of Spadina and Lonsdale. It's owned by the same young man who owns Hope Street Cafe across the street on the north side of Lonsdale.
The new resto is decidedly upscale, looks alot like The Rushton inside, has a long, very nice bar area as well as an outdoor patio. The menu is your basic fare, a mix of everything - steak, fish, veal, duck. Prices are very high for a neighbourhood place IMO. For example, if I recall the steak is around $48 or $50.
We haven't eaten there yet but will give it a try and report back.
AllClad Gift for Completing a Survey
CookatHome, you're absolutely right. While the pair of chef's tongs and BBQ skewers are very nice, they are not worth $312! As usual Canadians get ripped. And many retailers here are still charging more than U.S. prices despite the relative equalization of currencies. Anyway, hats off to AllClad!
AllClad Gift for Completing a Survey
I bought an AllClad slow cooker back in the winter. I guess I answered an mailed in a questionnaire (I had forgottoen all about it), that entitled me to a free gift. So I was surprised to see a delivery notice from UPS indicating AllClad was sending me metal cookware with customs duty and taxes owing (I'm in Toronto) of $40.68. I called AllClad's customer service number and they had no record of anything being sent to me and referred me to their rebate number where I left a detailed message. Valerie called me back the next morning to apologize and to say they would refund the duty and taxes by cheque. Nice customer service AllClad!
Grace on College - I guess I don't get the buzz
Three of us had dinner there last week and none of us "got it". However our experience differed from ElizabethS's. The service was unforgivably appauling. The place was packed, including the patio out front and they were clearly short staffed. We lightly tried to let our waiter know that we could see it was a tough night and we felt for his predicament, in the hopes he'd become attentive. We were pretty much ignored, courses took forever. But in addition, the white wines were room temperature and good luck trying to flag down anyone, a waiter, the manager or the hostess to try to order additonal glasses of wine. One glass of wine had a small bug floating in it. It happens, but does the waiter need to examine the glass at the table? Are we making it up? Then a water glass was chipped (and the glass had already been filled 3/4 with bottled water). Another table autopsy ensured a fresh glass was proferred, however another bottle of water had to be requested, and when the bill came, we asked that the additional bottle of water be removed from the bill.
On the food front, we felt the menu was a bit odd and was explained oddly too. Is pork tenderloin an app? Not to me. But OK, I guess. Chef's perogative. Portions were insultingly small, but again given the price point they're choosing to be at I understood the logic. The warm, crusty bread with sweet, low water content butter was wonderful, but metted out, one piece per person, with no additional bread offered. If a resto is going to bring you bread with cocktails then please offer more during the dinner service. I don't view bread as an hors d'oeuvre. Gnocchi was light, fluffy and flavourful - all three forkfuls of it. Tomato avocado salad with ricotta (no ricotta on that plate) and bacon vinaigrette was bland and uninspired. What is Port Steak we asked? Nope, not a steak with a port reduction...it was described as a shoulder cut. Braised we asked? No, we were told, but the staff love it. Taste? Tough and flavourless. Daily market fish, I think it was branzino, was fine. Nicely cooked, simple plating and accompaniments. But really, cooked carrots? In August? Yawn.
The cheese course was very good, served at the correct temperature and even described with rapture by our previously absent waiter (he did just finish a "fromagerie course"!) and nicely complimented with fruit (Granny Smith apples, ho hum) and nuts and appropriate crisps. Too bad I wasn't offered a glass of port or dessert wine. Oh well. Carrot cake was a complete bust. If you're of a certain age you will remember when Moms baked cakes in a tin can. Well picture a tomato paste sized can. The carrot cake (narry a carrot fleck in sight...obviously they were used as the main course veg), more a dense wintery spice cake, was a small, dense cylinder sliced into rounds...dry, rounds, no icing or syrup or sabayon or anything to help swallow the packing material. No plating of any kind, other than yes, it was "on the plate". We did voice our disappointment with the carrot cake to which we received the retort that the chef didn't want to make it predictable with a cream cheese icing and was going for " something else". Uh, OK, did I say it needed a cream cheese icing? No, we just said it was dry, flavourless and inedible. Oh well he replied!
Bill $430. Satistfaction 5/10. Return? Nope.
Windy City Trip Report
We enjoyed a lovely anniversary weekend in Chicago. God I love that city! So many great places, so little time.
Thursday night we went to Wave in the W Hotel on North Lakeshore Drive. We were possibly going to meet up with friends and they suggested Wave because of it's close proximity to Navy Pier where we planned on heading to afterwards for the outdoor salsa dancing. (I never go to a city without my dance shoes). Though our friends didn't end up joining us due to sick twins, we enjoyed a delicious dinner at Wave. This contemporary Med-influenced room overlooks the lake in the distance and the vibe is cool and trendy. Service was superb. We started by sharing hummus and taboulleh with crisp vegetables and warm pita with cocktails, followed by ahi tuna crudo with pear, red onion pickle and pomagranate salad and peeky toe crab with piquillo pepper and manchego cheese fondue. Then we moved onto the mains - for me a whole fish Thai style, special of the day which was superb, sweet, salty, spicy, stuffed with fragrant herbs and for Michael New York strip with mustard and smoked paprika rub, herb potato hash and romesco sauce and we guilded the lily by sharing an order of truffle french fries with harissa aioli. I know we had dessert that we shared but can't recall the details. It was a plate with three or four small differently flavored items, which was just OK and in fact the waitress removed it from the bill when she saw we didn't seem to enjoy it. Overall a very nice dinner.
Friday night's dinner was at Cafe Spiaggia. We chose this over the more formal and costly Spiaggia as we wanted something more casual. The room is very, very casual and in an office building, or is it a condo - anyway a very cold, austere building at the corner of Michigan Ave. and Oak St. Rustic Tuscan trattoria in feeling, small and a bit cramped with not many tables. Service was very attentive and we shared an appetizer of fluffy, light hand made potato gnocchi with a robust wild boar ragu and Parmigiano Reggiano. Michael followed with a ubiquitous caprese salad which he declared good. Mains were the wood roasted Alaskan halibut with baby artichokes, San Marzano tomatoes and parsley for me - excellent and a roasted rack of lamb for Michael - also excellent. We shared something for dessert but again, I can't recall what it was, perhaps a traditional Tiramisu. Overall a very nice experience.
Saturday we headed to Wicker Park to browse and walk the leafy side streets. The hotel concierge who jumped in to aid the young woman who couldn't think of a lunch recommendation in Wicker Park suggested the neighborhood spot Milk & Honey on North Damen. We LOVED this place. We lined up to place our order while a number was placed on a table to hold our seats and for our lunch to be delivered. This funky, kind of earth-mother, a bit hippy-dippy spot was just what we wanted. Very local. I watched many folks order the Huevos Rancheros served "Casserole-Style" in a huge souffle dish filled with scrambled eggs, black beans, salsa picante, tortillas and smothered in Monterey Jack and Cheddar Cheeses and broiled until hot and bubbly. This is only served weekends and I was tempted but I'd had eggs for breakfast and wanted lunch eats. So instead I scarfed an Antipasto Sandwich on an excellent crunchy baguette stuffed with grilled artichokes, red peppers, zucchini, eggplant and provolone, smeared with yummy black olive tapenade. Hubby had a fabulous Rueben which he raved about. Both were served with the best hand cut, warm, crunchy, thick potato chips I've ever eaten. Mmmmm. A great lunch.
Saturday night was the big anniversary dinner at Naha. We got all dressed up. Michael even donned a jacket and off we went. The room is cool and a bit spare with a long wall of windows to the street. It's contemporary elegant, but not opulent or over the top. BTW when I made the reservation I did let them know it was our anniversary. Not because I expected anything from them (in fact I made a point of saying no candle on the dessert please) but because I wanted them to know it was a special occasion. We arrived on time and were promptly seated in the only full section of the resto, where clearly the waiter was overwhelmed because we had all been seated at once. We were asked if we wanted bottled water (we did) but not offered a cocktail. 20 minutes later we literally flagged down the waiter, and rather curtly by now, as we were frustrated in trying to gain his attention, to say that we wanted to order drinks. Champagne and single malt forthcoming we toasted and perused the menu.
I started with the organic carnaroli risotto, with wood-grilled cavolo nero Italian greens, braised Pleasant Valley Goat and crisp squash blossom, confit green garlic, Parmesan Reggiano and Tuscan olive oil. It was a lovely starter sized portion, velvety and flavorful and delicious. Michael began with gulf of Maine roasted scallops with vanilla bean, citrus and spices,caramelized belgian endive, ruby red grapefruit and candied rind scented with chocolate mint, which he declared was ambrosial (OK, that was my word, but he said something like that). I followed with blossom fig and honey lacquered moulard duck breast, black velvet apricots, yellow helios radishes and young turnips with broccoli rabe, port and anise hyssop and though I haven't had duck in sometime, I loved the complex flavors of this dish and the tenderness of the fowl. Michael had the wood-grilled "Painted Hills Farm" natural rib eye of beef and garlic scapes with a gratin of macaroni and Capriole Farm goat cheese, oxtail red wine sauce and Murray River Sea Salt and he said it was outstanding. I tasted the gratin and it was the best comfort food elevated to the power of ten! Dessert for Michael was a Chocolate "Delice" of Columbian "Single Origin" chocolate - kind of like a fondant. He said it was very good. I enjoyed one of the best cheese courses I've ever had (OK, Gary Danko beat it by half a mile).
The cheese course is gigantic and so after some protesting about how full I was, I was offered half a cheese course which consisted of "NANCY'S CAMEMBERT Sheep and Cow's Milk Cheese from Hudson Valley, New York "VALDEON" Spanish Blue Cheese from Blended Milk, "PETIT BASQUE" Sheep's Milk Cheese from the Pyrenees, "BAMALOU" French Cow's Milk Cheese from the Bethmale Valley served with Organic "Future Fruit" Farm Pear and Apple Butter, Mostarda di Fichi, Honey Roasted Nuts, Gala Apples, Port Syrup and Toasted Fruit Bread. I was in heaven!
We enjoyed a lovely bottle of 2003 Robert Craig Affinity.
I must say the waiter felt badly about how the evening started and while he didn't do anything to make the evening special, he did engage, relax and become more attentive, thus redeeming what could have been an evening with a different outcome.
Sunday brunch needed to be a very casual meal. We were still stuffed. So of we went to Toast, on N. Webster in the Lincoln Park hood. We were told it would be a 2 hour wait so we headed down the street to Starbucks, had coffee, read the Sunday papers and headed back after an hour and were seated 15 minutes later. This is a good local breakfast/brunch/lunch spot and I had a very good breakfast burrito while Michael had a chicken club. Overall a good Sunday brunch meal, washed down with a very, very good Bloody Mary.
So, that wrapped up our Chicago eat-fest. Not enough time, too many great places to try...we can't wait tor return. Thanks Chicago!
Windy City Trip Report
We enjoyed a lovely anniversary weekend in Chicago. God I love that city! We stayed at the new Trump International Towers perfectly located at the south end of N Michigan Avenue at the river. The hotel has only been open for a few months and it has a few minor wrinkles to iron out, but all in all it was a lovely experience. Our hotel of choice is usually The Peninsula, and while The Trump is not equal to our venerable favorite, it did come close in many ways. We had a very large room with a large sitting area and a kitchenette with a fabulous view of the river and Lake Michigan from the 23rd floor. The suite was decorated in muted shades of grey with dark furniture and mohair upholstered pieces. The bathroom was very big with a lovely deep porcelain soaker tub and a separate glassed shower. Despite the generous size of the bathroom, it was curious that the vanity only had one sink, rather than two. Also of note was that in a hotel of this caliber, the kleenex and toilet paper were cheap, one ply products. Also, surprisingly, there wasn't a full length mirror in the suite! All amenities were excellent and top quality, as were the linens, furnishings and electronics. Service was ahem, uneven. On Saturday at 3:00 p.m. housekeeping had not visited our room, despite our early 8:30 a.m. departure. The service in Rebar (great name for a bar and a bar with a great river view) was horrible and required frequent gesticulations to enquire about our appetizers (they'd been forgotten), or a second drink, or the requested glass of ice. The service at breakfast was equally abysmal. We were only one of three occupied tables but the blase waitress made mistakes on all of our orders, forgetting items, or getting details incorrect. No coffee or water refills were offered either. The concierges also varied in skill. One woman didn't have a clue about anything we asked her (and she even gave us incorrect directions - turn left which should have been right), but thankfully a young man came to her rescue and saved the day with a fantastic lunch recommendation. The door and front desk staff and all the staff we encountered in the hallways as well as housekeeping, (other than on Saturday) were terrific. Would we return? Yes, we would. We have faith they'll get the kinks out.
OK, now to the good stuff...where did we eat?
Thursday night we went to Wave in the W Hotel on North Lakeshore Drive. We were possibly going to meet up with friends and they suggested Wave because of it's close proximity to Navy Pier where we planned on heading to afterwards for the outdoor salsa dancing. (I never go to a city without my dance shoes). Though our friends didn't make it due to sick twins, we enjoyed a delicious dinner at Wave. This contemporary Med-influenced room overlooks the lake in the distance and the vibe is cool and trendy. Service was superb. We started by sharing hummus and taboulleh with crisp vegetables and warm pita with cocktails, followed by ahi tuna crudo with pear, red onion pickle and pomagranate salad and peeky toe crab with piquillo pepper and manchego cheese fondue. Then we moved onto the mains - for me a whole fish Thai style, special of the day which was superb, sweet, salty, spicy, stuffed with fragrant herbs and for Michael New York strip with mustard and smoked paprika rub, herb potato hash and romesco sauce and we guilded the lily by sharing an order of truffle french fries with harissa aioli. I know we had dessert that we shared but can't recall the details. It was a plate with three or four small differently flavored items, which was just OK and in fact the waitress removed it from the bill when she saw we didn't seem to enjoy it. Overall a very nice dinner.
Friday night's dinner was at Cafe Spiaggia. We chose this over the more formal and costly Spiaggia as we wanted something more casual. The room is very, very casual and in an office building, or is it a condo - anyway a very cold, austere building at the corner of Michigan Ave. and Oak St. Rustic Tuscan trattoria in feeling, small and a bit cramped with not many tables. Service was very attentive and we shared an appetizer of fluffy, light hand made potato gnocchi with a robust wild boar ragu and Parmigiano Reggiano. Michael followed with a ubiquitous caprese salad which he declared good. Mains were the wood roasted Alaskan halibut with baby artichokes, San Marzano tomatoes and parsley for me - excellent and a roasted rack of lamb for Michael - also excellent. We shared something for dessert but again, I can't recall what it was, perhaps a traditional Tiramisu. Overall a very nice experience.
Saturday we headed to Wicker Park to browse and walk the leafy side streets. The hotel concierge who jumped in to aid the young woman who couldn't think of a lunch recommendation in Wicker Park suggested the neighborhood spot Milk & Honey on North Damen. We LOVED this place. We lined up to place our order while a number was placed on a table to hold our seats and for our lunch to be delivered. This funky, kind of earth-mother, a bit hippy-dippy spot was just what we wanted. Very local. I watched many folks order the Huevos Rancheros served "Casserole-Style" in a huge souffle dish filled with scrambled eggs, black beans, salsa picante, tortillas and smothered in Monterey Jack and Cheddar Cheeses and broiled until hot and bubbly. This is only served weekends and I was tempted but I'd had eggs for breakfast and wanted lunch eats. So instead I scarfed an Antipasto Sandwich on an excellent crunchy baguette stuffed with grilled artichokes, red peppers, zucchini, eggplant and provolone, smeared with yummy black olive tapenade. Hubby had a fabulous Rueben which he raved about. Both were served with the best hand cut, warm, crunchy, thick potato chips I've ever eaten. Mmmmm. A great lunch.
Saturday night was the big anniversary dinner at Naha. We got all dressed up. Michael even donned a jacket and off we went. The room is cool and a bit spare with a long wall of windows to the street. It's contemporary elegant, but not opulent or over the top. BTW when I made the reservation I did let them know it was our anniversary. Not because I expected anything from them (in fact I made a point of saying no candle on the dessert please) but because I wanted them to know it was a special occasion. We arrived on time and were promptly seated in the only full section of the resto, where clearly the waiter was overwhelmed because we had all been seated at once. We were asked if we wanted bottled water (we did) but not offered a cocktail. 20 minutes later we literally flagged down the waiter, and rather curtly by now, as we were frustrated in trying to gain his attention, to say that we wanted to order drinks. Champagne and single malt forthcoming we toasted and perused the menu.
I started with the organic carnaroli risotto, with wood-grilled cavolo nero Italian greens, braised Pleasant Valley Goat and crisp squash blossom, confit green garlic, Parmesan Reggiano and Tuscan olive oil. It was a lovely starter sized portion, velvety and flavorful and delicious. Michael began with gulf of Maine roasted scallops with vanilla bean, citrus and spices,caramelized belgian endive, ruby red grapefruit and candied rind scented with chocolate mint, which he declared was ambrosial (OK, that was my word, but he said something like that). I followed with blossom fig and honey lacquered moulard duck breast, black velvet apricots, yellow helios radishes and young turnips with broccoli rabe, port and anise hyssop and though I haven't had duck in sometime, I loved the complex flavors of this dish and the tenderness of the fowl. Michael had the wood-grilled "Painted Hills Farm" natural rib eye of beef and garlic scapes with a gratin of macaroni and Capriole Farm goat cheese, oxtail red wine sauce and Murray River Sea Salt and he said it was outstanding. I tasted the gratin and it was the best comfort food elevated to the power of ten! Dessert for Michael was a Chocolate "Delice" of Columbian "Single Origin" chocolate - kind of like a fondant. He said it was very good. I enjoyed one of the best cheese courses I've ever had (OK, Gary Danko beat it by half a mile).
The cheese course is gigantic and so after some protesting about how full I was, I was offered half a cheese course which consisted of "NANCY'S CAMEMBERT Sheep and Cow's Milk Cheese from Hudson Valley, New York "VALDEON" Spanish Blue Cheese from Blended Milk, "PETIT BASQUE" Sheep's Milk Cheese from the Pyrenees, "BAMALOU" French Cow's Milk Cheese from the Bethmale Valley served with Organic "Future Fruit" Farm Pear and Apple Butter, Mostarda di Fichi, Honey Roasted Nuts, Gala Apples, Port Syrup and Toasted Fruit Bread. I was in heaven!
We enjoyed a lovely bottle of 2003 Robert Craig Affinity.
I must say the waiter felt badly about how the evening started and while he didn't do anything to make the evening special, he did engage, relax and become more attentive, thus redeeming what could have been an evening with a different outcome.
Sunday brunch needed to be a very casual meal. We were still stuffed. So of we went to Toast, on N. Webster in the Lincoln Park hood. We were told it would be a 2 hour wait so we headed down the street to Starbucks, had coffee, read the Sunday papers and headed back after an hour and were seated 15 minutes later. This is a good local breakfast/brunch/lunch spot and I had a very good breakfast burrito while Michael had a chicken club. Overall a good Sunday brunch meal, washed down with a very, very good Bloody Mary.
So, that wrapped up our Chicago eat-fest. Not enough time, too many great places to try...we can't wait tor return. Thanks Chicago!
Good Dining and Salsa Dancing in Toronto/GTA!!!
LuLa Lounge has very decent food and salsa nights, but you must reserve ahead. Babalu has mediocre food and salsa. But honestly most of us in the salsa crowd don't even go out to dance until around 11:00 so you could go somewhere for a decent dinner and then go out to dance. In the salsa community you'll see all ages. The youngest crowds can be found Tuesday nights at Six Degrees at Yonge and Eglinton. But the best dancers go out Tuesdays (Babalu) and Fridays (Acrobat). Have fun.
Lolo
I have been to both.
Mt Pleasant was small, tight and cramped with unbearable noise levels. Raspberry walls, warm environment. New location is quite a bit bigger; long room, painted grey with black and white wallpaper on back wall, much airier and less congested, more space between tables. Needs artwork, just a few mirrors are hung here and there, quite sparse.
Yes, they still have a prix fixe menu but not much to offer - a mixed green salad or soup plus either chicken or pasta plus a dessert. Menu is pretty much the same, not particularly inventive or different from what it was for years on Mt Pleasant. Decent fare at cheap prices but nothing to write home about.
Flow
A little more info would be appreciated robgm...food? service? What were your issues?
Important brunch criteria
Thank you all. I love EMP for dinner and didn't know they did brunch. EMP it is!
Very nervous...but looking forward to the adventure.
Important brunch criteria
I will be meeting my half sister for the very first time in Manhattan next Saturday. This is a joyful occasion between two middle aged women, one of which, up until last week didn't know the other existed! She's coming from SFO and I from Toronto. We're staying at theTribeca Grand. Can someone make a brunch reco? We want upscale, elegant(ish), quiet(ish) with space between tables for a modicum of privacy and great food where we can make a reservation. No standing in line to wait please, as our time together is very limited.
TIA
