Articles Tagged ‘Weekly lunch pick’

WEEKLY LUNCH PICK: The salad roll days of summer at Chez Bien

Lots of Vietnamese restaurants make their salad rolls ahead. At Chez Bien, they're made to order — and that makes all the difference.

By Anne DesBrisay

Chef Bien of Chez Bien used to cook in Italian restaurants on Preston Street. My first visit was lunch, but if you come back for dinner (recommended) you should give his Asian marinated lamb (lemongrass, ginger, garlic, star anise) served with Italian style roast potatoes (rosemary, garlic, olive oil) a try. Pretty successful fusion fare!

But on the first summer-like days of the year thoughts naturally turn to summer rolls. Goi Cuon, also called salad rolls, of softened rice paper circles wrapped around grilled meat, greens, vegetables, noodles and fresh herbs. Lots of Vietnamese restaurants make these, and make them ahead. At Chez Bien, they’re made to order and that makes all the difference.

The grilled pork is warm and fragrant, the vermicelli at room temperature, the vegetables fresh and crunchy in their sweet and sour marinade, while the chopped mint lends a burst of summery vigour to the package.

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  |  May 6, 2013 at 8:52 am

WEEKLY LUNCH PICK: Mitla reinvents the sandwich with Mexican tortas and cactus quesadillas

Mexico's answer to the sandwich, tortas start with a crusty white roll stuffed with fresh goodies and it all gets grilled on a panini press.

By Shawna Wagman

For me, Mitla is a classroom. I go there to learn about the flavours of Oaxaca, Mexico, from someone who lived there and immersed herself in its food culture. I also go there for a damn fine lunch.

I immediately fell in love with agua de fruta ($3), cold refreshing “fruit water”— in this case, it was mango; the other option was passion fruit — beloved in Mexico for helping to beat the summer heat. I found the amount of sweetness, and the appealing consistency — thirst-quenching drinkable sorbet — just right. I polished it off before my lunch arrived.

Entering the festive red shop (blue from the street) nestled in the heart of residential Vanier, it feels like I am having lunch at the kitchen table in someone’s colourful little home. That someone is owner Ana Collins, who was flying solo in the Oaxacan-inspired kitchen on the afternoon I recently visited for lunch.

Looking up at the chalkboard menu, I quickly noted that many of the Spanish words were unfamiliar and details are few so I asked Collins for some direction. She recommended the torta ($5), a Mexican sandwich — chicken, chorizo or veggie — grilled into crusty-gooey submission on a panini press.

I also wanted to try something made with her homemade corn tortillas so I opted for a pair of quesadillas ($3), intrigued by the cactus and cheese option.

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  |  April 29, 2013 at 8:50 am

WEEKLY LUNCH PICK: A reinvented Negozio Nicastro introduces its new lunch menu and grand espresso bar-café to replace Caffe Ventuno

The Nicastros closed Caffé Ventuno and transformed the negozio into a gourmet food emporium and espresso bar with casual cafe seating.

Last summer, Mike Nicastro told us about his family’s plans to shut down the restaurant Caffe Ventuno after 7 years and then to expand the “negozio” part of the business — the Italian food emporium — to include a traditional espresso bar and café under one banner: Negozio Nicastro.

I like to think of it as mini Eataly.

The renovations have opened up the space to take advantage of the natural light pouring in (the dividing low wall has been removed) and a small seating area remains next to the window. Customers can also seat themselves at the handsome new zinc-top bar with a grand espresso machine as the focal point. Nicastro says he’s hoping the casual neighbourhood vibe makes the place feel “even more of a little slice of Italy right here on Wellington.”

So imagine the corner café, deli, grocery, pizzeria, and pastry shops in Italy — all rolled into one. Nicastro opens up early in the morning (say buongiornoto an expertly made cappuccino starting at 7 a.m.!) and the doors remain open all day for whatever snacks, meals, beverages, ingredient,s and take-out food you need.

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  |  March 25, 2013 at 8:45 am

WEEKLY LUNCH PICK: Swooning over Allium’s chicken fried snails and marvellous mushrooms on toast

Chicken fried snails were as strangely delicious as it sounds.

Sometimes you just want a proper lunch. Nothing too fussy or elegant, but something for one of those days when making it until noon without going back to bed is reason enough to treat yourself to something special. Something, preferably, that doesn’t come on a bun. Or with a side of french fries.

That’s why it was so nice to see fewer sandwiches on Allium’s lunch menu last week and more inspiring ideas for the midday meal. To add even more variety to our day, my friend and I decided to share three plates.

I was told on my way out the door that the lunch menu will be changing up for the month of March sometime this week, so these particular dishes might not be available.

I don’t encounter snails very often, so when I spotted crispy fried snails, I couldn’t not order them. Our server told us they were chicken fried — not sure if that means fried in chicken fat or just treated like fried chicken. Either way, these melt-in-the-mouth baby beignets were divine (banish any thoughts of rubbery or briny specimens) — especially when used to mop up the sticky honey-garlic sauce at the bottom of the bowl reminiscent of the sweet dip for springrolls. Together with the swath of Sriracha mayo painted around the wide rim of the bowl and confetti of baby cilantro leaves, there was a cleverly unexpected Thai twist to the dish.

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  |  March 11, 2013 at 8:58 am

WEEKLY LUNCH PICK: For ByWard Market dwellers, the ‘Lunch Box’ at Social

The Lunch Box: On this day, a fine pea soup, an open-faced spicy beef sandwich, and a small green salad

Blessed with great bones, handsome lines and a very fine address, Social has been fitting the bill for many occasions for over a decade.

But it can be unpredictable — under-performing one meal, one month, and then razzle dazzling another. That’s its little issue, its capriciousness, and one that — notwithstanding its bones and lines and very fine address — tends to keep it off the list of the city’s finest.

I tend to like Social for lunch. You often bump into a parliamentarian in a back booth hunched over papers. And when the winter sun is out full blast, a table by the tall tall windows can be a pretty swell place to bask.

I’m here to check Social’s new-to-me ‘Lunch Box’ — soup, salad, and the sandwich of the day.

It took 40 minutes to arrive — the server was working alone, her colleague ill, the room busy, one table of four men all ordering cappuccinos, damn them. When the Lunch Box did show up, though, it was really very nice: a fine pea soup with a bit of creamy finish, an open faced spicy beef sandwich, the meat slow cooked and tender, a small green salad. It didn’t rock my world, but it was tasty enough and for the price, was a solid deal.

Cost: $14.

Social, 537 Sussex Dr., 613-789-7355.

  |  February 19, 2013 at 8:30 am

WEEKLY LUNCH PICK: From Hintonburg Public House’s new menu: French Onion Soup that would make Julia proud

The tasty union of bread, onions and cheese sing in sweet harmony at Hintonburg Public House

I’m so tired of talking about the weather. Can we talk about French Onion Soup for a minute?

In Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Julia Child taught a generation of home cooks about the importance of the very long caramelization of onions that carries Soupe à L’Oignon Gratinée — 2 ½ hours, at least, from start to finish.

Yet too often when I order this cheese-crowned darling in a restaurant, I want to weep into my ramekin at the sight of pale stringy onions that have yet to develop any of the rich, rustic sweetness of their caramelized cousins.

“The onions need a long, slow cooking in butter and oil, then a long, slow simmering in stock for them to develop the deep, rich flavour which characterizes a perfect brew,” writes Julia.

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  |  February 11, 2013 at 8:40 am

WEEKLY LUNCH PICK: Robz has a build-your-own sandwich take-out family pack

The fact that Robz still has no proper signage outside is part of its charm. At least that’s what I tell myself — I’ve been coming back here for a weekly sandwich fix since I first discovered the unassuming take-out  joint at the end of last year.

I’m always a sucker for a place when I get the feeling there’s a real human being behind an operation. And so it’s no surprise then that there is a Rob (Robert Johnson, formerly the executive chef at Crazy Horse steakhouse) who is always on-site, dancing around the big open kitchen.

What else keeps me coming back? Everything is fresh, nothing is rushed, the meats are seasoned with a light touch, properly slow-roasted and consistently lean and juicy. Everything I’ve tasted — from the smoked turkey club to the pulled pork to the coleslaw has that homemade taste that makes it easy to forget it was formerly the worst kind of Chinese fast-food take-out place.

Johnson may not be the master of quick customer service, but he has taken control of those woks for good instead of evil — repurposing the versatile vessels as smokers.

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  |  January 28, 2013 at 8:45 am

WEEKLY LUNCH PICK: The salmon pastrami sandwich at Westboro Fish House

Fresh salmon rubbed and cured with pastrami spices and then hot-smoked combines the best of two Jewish food faves.

I was delighted when I spotted salmon pastrami, a novel mash-up of two classic Jewish foods, on the menu at the new-ish Westboro Fish House. Located in the space that was formerly Fratelli (the Italian restaurant has since moved up the street to 275 Richmond), and still run by the Valente brothers, the casual family-style seafood joint is no kosher deli. That makes it even more impressive to see said salmon pastrami being served on authentic marble rye.

The salmon has some of the translucent sheen and moistness of cold-smoked fish but co-owner owner Robert Valente told me later than in fact it is hot smoked in a small smoker in the kitchen.

A 2-3 pound fillet is first rubbed with paprika, sea salt, coriander, mustard, peppercorns, fresh garlic, and brown sugar and left to rest overnight in the fridge. I like that the salmon was roughly sliced (like a good pastrami) with its edges only slightly crumbly; its rustic rub adding the crunch of whole spices. I only wished it had tasted a little more smoky than salty. Luckily, the overall effect was improved by a schmear of grainy mustard, fresh lettuce, and slivers of red onion.

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  |  January 14, 2013 at 8:45 am

WEEKLY LUNCH PICK: “Brasserie-boffo fries” are part of the $10 lunch special at St. Martha’s Brasserie d’Orléans

One-plate meal: The sandwich was house-made foccacia around grilled sausages and mushrooms, caramelized red onion, and greens

By Anne DesBrisay

Tall tin ceiling? Yup.

Espresso-tinted wood? Got it.

Granite bars, hefty mirrors, bistro lighting? Check, check, check.

Big, busy, boisterous, brasserie atmosphere?

Not so much. At least not at my solitary lunch.

Enter the diminutive St Martha’s Brasserie d’Orléans and you won’t be transported to the great gastro palaces of Paris. But you will have a pretty good lunch, complete with brasserie-boffo frites. Service could use a buffing, though. And a noon crowd would help the atmosphere. Still, this new Orleans eatery is checking boxes in more than just requisite brasserie décor.

I had the special. It was a soup and sandwich combo for $10. The server informed me it came with soup and frites. Later, I’m told it was actually either soup or frites. Or salad. (He’s new, it’s new, there’s a kitchen-to-server conversation needed.) I chose soup. It was duck consommé. As soups go, it doesn’t get much more French. The broth had a gentle, clean flavour, though the brunoise of carrot were mushy.

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  |  December 17, 2012 at 8:55 am

WEEKLY LUNCH PICK: Digging in to Belgian Hangover Pasta at Pepper Garden

I love a warm, comforting bowl of pasta for lunch on a cold winter day. But then again, I love a good plate of pasta any time of day and, frankly, any time of year. On my very first visit to Pepper Garden last week, I needed no excuse to order the Belgian Hangover Pasta. Hey, I didn’t even have a hangover, but feel free to order it if you do; this is a cure-whatever-ails-you kind of dish. And ‘Tis the Season, as they say.

But be warned. The ambiance will do little to settle a squeamish tummy. The nasty plastic coated menus, hideous patterned banquettes, and bad music do not seem to reflect the apparent care and attention paid to food and service at this east-end neighbourhood bistro(ish). That said, the pasta is the only thing I’ve eaten at Pepper Garden so far — until recently I had assumed it was a pan-Asian AYCE buffet.

Let me say, I have a zero tolerance policy for restaurants that serve pasta but don’t know how to cook it. I was pleased to find my steaming hot ribbons of thin papparadelle pleasingly al dente and the poached (“Beking”) egg perched on top cooked just right — molten in the centre with fluffy whites just set.

The “house bacon” was more like pancetta, with a nice meaty-saltiness rather than smoky flavour and it was chopped into appealing toothsome bits that clung to the noodles with the help of much-melted pecorino (freshly grated!) and the egg yolk, which was doing its darndest to act as sauce. I would have loved a heartier glug of good olive oil to help slick it all up, but I appreciated the curative hits of green instead — wilted spinach and fresh crunchy pea shoots as well as some slivers of sweet pepper as garnish and a good grind of black pepper. Ah yes, Pepper Garden — now I get it.

Cost: Belgian Hangover Pasta, $16

Pepper Garden, 681 Montreal Rd., 613-749-2999.

  |  December 10, 2012 at 8:50 am

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