Cadillac Lounge

Rated this place:

1296 Queen St W, Toronto, ON, M6K1L4

EYE WEEKLY patio pick #4: "...The fact that The Caddy is named after a symbol of American excess is no accident — the patio holds close to 180 people, making it Queen Street’s largest, and the greasy fare on the menu doesn’t exactly come in European portions. Owner Sam Grosso is a Bruce Springsteen fan, and along with a hefty collection of Boss-iana on the walls inside, the music largely sticks to the tried and true: classic rock, country and plenty of Elvis.

You and a buddy can make your way through a bucket of Amsterdam blonde for around 10 bucks apiece while staring up at the giant pink Cadillac painting on the far wall, your booze-soaked brain desperately trying to resolve its uneven perspective (once an art snob, always an art snob), and steal a few hours of hipster-free bliss..."

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Sweaty Betty's

Rated this place:

13 Ossington Ave., Toronto, ON, M6J 2Y8

EYE WEEKLY patio pick #1: "...With its salon-style wall art displays, amazing CD jukebox and antique furniture, Betty’s is a popular hang-out year round, but its patio (open all seasons for smokers, but especially crowded in the summer) is like a backyard crash pad that serves all your favourite micro-brews (Creemore, Wellington, Amsterdam, to name a few). Though patio season might inspire thoughts of drinking in the midday sun — and the bar’s Sunday-afternoon barbecues certainly satisfy that desire — Sweaty Betty’s is definitely an evening spot, with its wooden fence and sauna-styled banquettes adding to the intimacy..."

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Fressen Restaurant

Rated this place:

478 Queen St W, Toronto, ON, M5V2B2

Best Vegan Restaurant: "Though, officially, our readers declared Fressen the city’s best vegan restaurant, we think the category should have been called “best place to take your vegan date if you want them to fall in love with you” instead.

Established in 2000 by chef Stephen Gardner, who also runs Urban Herbivore (64 Oxford), Fressen is, without a doubt, the swankiest vegetarian joint in town. Defying the crunchy-granola stereotypes associated with meat-free dining, Fressen offers playfully plated gourmet meals in a dining room with exposed brick walls, romantic lighting and comfy banquette seating. The tapas dinner menu is designed for sharing, with each item priced at $9, and includes a healthy assortment of salads, stews, starches and other veggie-based creations. From the spinach blinis in pepper purée to the chocolate-avocado terrine, the food is so rich and indulgent, you won’t believe it’s vegan..."

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Baldini

Rated this place:

1012 Queen St. East, Toronto, Ontario, M4M1K1

Italian joint near Queen and Carlaw: Thin-crust pizza (from $14 to $16) isn’t Terroni grade, but it comes close. The Giardino ($14) is tremendous. There’s certainly no Spartan use of toppings here; it’s rife with tender eggplant, tart artichoke hearts, soft and skin-free roasted peppers and chunks of portabello mushroom. And though “wild mushrooms” appear to be your basic cremini variety, the mushroom risotto ($14) is still a hell of a deal. Featuring intensely rich and creamy nuggets of arborio tricked out with gooey Asiago and a light truffle oil, the portion served to us is big enough to split easily between two or three. See Full Post

Madeline's

Rated this place:

601 King Sreet W., Toronto, ON, M5V 1M5

Lee's latest fine, but legacy calls for more: ...Servers greet you with an arm’s-length cool and competent professionalism. Yet the overall dining experience delivers a major disappointment. Perhaps it’s our fault for presuming that we would be getting the full Susur sensory-overload treatment. Ahh, remembrance of things past.

It’s not that the food ain’t good. In fact, with the exception of an ill-conceived strip-loin special ($38), in which tepid slices of perfectly rare steak pair with pastrami chips (yes, you read that correctly) in a cold foie-gras reduction and blueberries that put the whole flavour balance out of whack, the cuisine is way better than your average eatery. But this is a Susur joint: is it too much to expect the bestest of the best?...See Full Post

Chino Locos

Rated this place:

4 Greenwood, Toronto, ON, M4L2P4

Fast food fusion with Asian-inspired burritos: ...Taking one of the many wraps he has going, for example (all 12-inch whole-wheat flour tortillas started with a thick smear of creamy guacamole), La piles on a whack of soft-fried chow-mein noodles and a mound of slow-roasted pork before finishing it with a dash of fresh lime juice, a sprinkle of vibrantly hued edamame beans and a measured dose of green-onion-and-ginger relish. Another, dubbed Paradise Vegan ($6.99), is filled with a stir-fry of luscious Asian eggplant, shiitake mushrooms, peppers, glass noodles and tofu in chipotle-black-bean sauce straight from the pan. In other words, these aren’t your typical burritos.

La, who left his sous-chef gig at Blowfish last November to start this venture along with partner in crime Victor Su have a name for them. The first-time restaurateurs are calling them Asian-style burritos. I’ve got another moniker for them: damn tasty...See Full Post

Frank Restaurant

Rated this place:

317 Dundas Street West, Toronto, Ontario, M5T1G4

Food at new AGO resto is a work of art: With all the hoopla surrounding the new Gehryfied Art Gallery of Ontario, it is truly shocking that on first impression Frank looks more resto-chain mediocrity in maple-laminate than cutting-edge 21st century artistry. To be frank, for a boite named after one of Canada’s most beloved and celebrated architects, we expected much more design-wise.

A partially obscured Frank Stella mobile may excite the tour buses, but “stellar” is not exactly the word to describe the design of this bleak, soulless split-level eatery. But thankfully, a completely open kitchen is Frank’s real art form, where chef de cuisine Martha Wright (formerly of Starfish) quietly spurs her mostly female staff to fantastic heights, doing exec chef Anne Yarymowich’s slow-food-inspired cuisine proud...See Full Post

Gourmet Burger Co.

Rated this place:

482 Parliament st., Toronto, Ontario, M4X 1P

Good burgers topped well: ...Made using 100 per cent, 30-day-aged, Canadian farm-raised beef, GBC’s burgers eschew the once-popular thick-and-compact mould for a more slender, evenly spread-out look. The rounds are slightly on the dry side, but as for texture (just a little chewy), seasoning and overall flavour, they definitely rank above average. As too does the Kaiser-style bun it comes nestled in, which is both soft enough to please and crusty enough to maintain its integrity under the weight of big, messy toppings. And big messy toppings are the main reason locals have been packing the tiny, standing-room-only shop...See Full Post

Walima Cafe

Rated this place:

1450 Danforth Ave, Toronto, ON, M4J1N4

What Danforth resto gives you will be good: Stepping through the doors of Walima Café, one gets the sense of having entered into an altered version of reality — one where the uptight, upwardly grasping Western sensibility has fused graciously with that of the laid-back, austere Middle East. A tea room sits up front, outfitted in richly embroidered, ultra-comfy pillow banquettes, caramel-oak coloured tables and ornate Moroccan lanterns. Traditional Arab music plays in the background, the lilting rhythms and crisp drum beats infectious; breeding an unconscious desire to bop along where you stand. As we move further in, the room opens up into a spacious, similarly attired dining area, where the owner, Mohamed, greets us warmly...See Full Post

Vdara

Rated this place:

735 Queen St. W., Toronto, ON, M6J 1G1

...Vdara hits in a spot used to misses: ...With all infractions repaired, chef Mani Binelli now has a nice warm place to feature a globe-trotting mix of “Upper Bohemian” gastronomic genres, from Indian and Italian to French and down-home southern grub. The former Oliver & Bonacini Group chef’s carte is an eclectic masterwork in refined comfort fare.

To start, when have you ever seen vodka and soy marinated beef carpaccio ($11.95) on a menu? Rather than being an ill-conceived fusion disaster, it’s an exceptional reimagining of this Venetian classic, with tender slices of meat draped atop a hillock of zesty arugula and warm chunks of yummy yam. Somewhere between a traditional dumpling and a calzone, you’ll find Binneli’s Khachapuri and Zatar ($6.95), a buttery, crisp crust oozing with scallion-laced, four-cheese artery-clogging gooeyness...See Full Post

The Local Company

Rated this place:

511 Danforth Avenue, Toronto, ON, M4K 1P5

Good looks and a winning smile...: but not so great in the kitchen.

...Beautifully designed by Ines Risi, The Local strikes all the de rigueur design notes: elegant from flowing curtains and with added warmth from exposed brick; there are cleverly curated photos of the neighbourhood’s Bloor Viaduct grid work and spacious leather-clad banquettes, plus a second-story private dining section for overlord wannabes. As a place to booze, schmooze and peruse, Local is all aces. For dinner? Not so much...See Full Post

Pho Mi Gia Phung (House Noodle Restaurant)

Rated this place:

598 Gerrard St. E, Toronto, ON, M4M 1Y3

Cheap - in the good way: ...Located just east of Broadview, on the north side of Gerrard, this cozy little joint doesn’t look like much from the outside. From the inside, though… well, it still doesn’t look like much. What it lacks in the aesthetic department, however, is more than made up for by the food — as long as you’re dining in. A bowl of Thai-style Pho ($5.50 reg./$6.50 xl), for example, loaded with tender slices of still-rare beef in a heavenly seasoned, lemongrass-infused broth, is sublime. Although I was initially nonplussed about it coming sans bean sprouts and basil on the side, this shortcoming was all but forgotten by the time I got down to licking the bottom of the bowl.

As good as the soup is, however, it’s some of the other items on offer that really turned this scribe’s head...See Full Post

Osteria Ceceri E Tria

Rated this place:

106 Victoria Street, Toronto, ON, M5C 2B4

Reasonably priced and culturally authentic: ...The menu may be small, but the carte changes daily depending on fresh market availability, much the way a quaint Italian country inn would operate. Recession-friendly options include four tasting menus, from $15 for all five antipasti to $35 for all five plus a primo, a secondo and a side (á la carte is also available).

Be warned: if you’re hankering for pizza, you’re out of luck. There is no hot-stone oven in sight. But with food this authentic from co-exec chef Giovanna Alonzi, you won’t miss it. Lowly peasant food never tasted so refined as in their hands...See Full Post

Loire

Rated this place:

119 Harbord St, Toronto, ON, M5S1G7

Harbord resto doesn't meet high expectations: Hints of greatness there are. With simple, pure food, Dupoire aims to please. A whopper-sized bowl of tagliatelle with silky braised oxtail and king mushrooms in a starchy jus ($22) fuses the best of French and Italian comfort cuisine with al dente egg-rich noodles and buttery-rich meat. And a good pound of ultra-fresh PEI mussels ($12) comes paired with velvety soft fennel and crispy red onion strips in a swoon-worthy, lightly spiced merguez sauce.

Yet, the rest of locally-inspired menu suffers from quite a few misfires: small portion sizes (perhaps a good thing since space between your belly and the table is at a premium) and tepid temperatures...See Full Post

The Black Hoof

Rated this place:

928 Dundas Street West, Toronto, ON, M6J 1W3

Going the whole hog: If you want a definition of charcuterie, skip the dictionary or Wikipedia, zip up your “fat” pants and head straight to Black Hoof.

With the exception of Marc Thuet, who brought snob appeal to cold cuts, few boîtes have been as genuine about the goings on at their deli counter. A duck confit sandwich ($13), on a crispy demi-pain stuffed with a massive amount of pulled bird and sour-cherry compote, crackles with each aorta-clogging mouthful while rivulets of liquefied duck run down your hands. (Can we say wrist-licking good?) A cassoulet ($16) of butter-soft white beans blended with pulled duck, Toulouse sausage and a giant slab of disintegratingly tender pork belly, will make you consider additional life insurance coverage...See Full Post

Highway 61

Rated this place:

1620 Bayview Ave., Toronto, ON, M4G 3B7

Not likely to be revisited: There’s a lot to like about Highway 61, a new barbeque hut in the well-heeled environs of Leaside. It’s a straight-up, no-nonsense ode to ol’ style southern BBQ with Texan-sized portions of slow-cooked meat at prices you won’t need a government bailout loan to afford.

From a design point of view, the funky blues shack is a hands-down winner, with an impressive array of concert ephemera scattered throughout its two levels. From a locavore angle, the selection of Ontario craft beers and the commitment to using locally sourced, naturally raised hormone- and antibiotic-free meats from Rowe Farms is equally admirable. Which is why it’s such a shame that Highway 61 is such a shame... See Full Post