Best meals (out) of 2013

As we head into 2014 with great enthusiasm, let's look back at some of the best meals we had in 2013. It was a year filled with trials and tribulations, no doubt, but also some really great food.

 Locanda Verde, New York City

We went during Legal Tech in February with some work friends. Jennifer came down from T.O. to spend a couple of days.We tried practically everything on the menu.  Meatballs so good you couldn't even believe it. Pasta fantastic. Atmosphere was super hip (a bit overwhelming for me, but I managed). Not very poetic, this is why I'm not a restaurant reviewer.

Topolopambo, Chicago

Rick Bayliss has been the inspiration for my Mexican cooking fetish. From him I have learned so much about flavours and textures as well as styles of cooking. Have wanted to eat at one of his restaurants for years and this year on my birthday, we did it.  The service was absolutely spectacular and as I'd been sick all day, the gentle touch went a long way with me. We had the tasting menu (which changes every few months) but the flavours, combinations, and textures of the beautifully presented food absolutely lived up to expectation. We will be going back (and here's the post about that adventure).

East Indies, Eighth Bastion Hotel, Cochin, India

The food during our trip to India got better every day. Eating in the state of Kerala in the south provided new tastes and adventures. The seafood, especially the giant blue prawns, was prepared simply and deliciously. It proved to me, that yes, I could eat Indian food every day. On our last day in India we went to East Indies in Cochin. The food was Dutch-Indian fusion providing a modern and artistic twist on the local cuisine. Just absolutely fantastic and a great way to end our adventure.

 

Taqueria El Farolito, San Francisco

I am all about the high-end restaurants but give me a dive with cheap food and off-the-charts delicious food, and nothing makes me happier. I was in San Francisco for a conference and wanted to have a Mission Burrito. There is much debate over the best burrito in SF but I landed on El Farolito. Outstanding. I had a tongue/steak burrito (no beans, sadly) with a horchata. Sat with a really interesting young chef who was off to see a concert with some friends. Enjoyed the whole experience of being human that night.

Now don't think that we didn't also have some great food at home in Toronto. We sure did!

Hopgoods Foodliner 

This was Jennifer's choice for her birthday. A bit of Atlantic Canada in west end Toronto. Go there, it's fun. Try the crab dip with triscuits. Also the Halifax Donairs (with sweet sauce), Digby scallops, and the Cape Breton snow crab (served cold on a tower with ice). All dishes made for sharing, so go with lots of people as you'll want to try many things and having pals with you means you won't leave so full you don't know what to do with yourself!  Again, another place with great service, which made the evening despite the cranky pants fella at the table next to us. 

Union

I have a great fondness for the charcuterie and it's quite the rage all over the place these days. So I have had quite a few, some good some not so great. Union's was probably the best I had this year. All made in-house (including the smoked meats). Definitely enough for a meal - hearty and delicious. Lots of comfort food and great drinks in this very small restaurant.

The Chase

I have a lot of business lunches and the food is often expensive and generally pretty decent. I'm not one to hop on the bus of trendy and "it" places (which this apparently is) but I am going to say that I had one of the best lunches I've ever had here. As a starter I had the avocado stuffed with a shrimp salad - who knew you could slice avocado so beautifully thin?! My main was scallops with quinoa, a pea puree and a soft poached egg. I can't describe the sweet, velvety deliciousness of this emerald green dish. I can taste it now just writing about it. I am actually afraid to go back because I don't believe it'll ever be that good again and who needs the disappointment.

 

Richmond Station

This downtown spot hidden away beside the ramp to the Bay Adelaide parking garage. Perhaps J's favourite of the year. Top choices: the suprisingly delicious quinoa salad and the best halibut in town. We were repeat offenders here (although not as frequent as our pal Sarah!).  

Of course, lot of great food made at home but that's another story altogether. We didn't actually eat out as much, or at least eat out at "fancy" places, as in past years. But usually we ended up at totally worthwhile places. There are always lots of great places to discover in Toronto, and we will continue our urban adventuring in 2014. Happy New Year.

Alfredo suckfest.

Like many people who didn't get fat overnight, I love love love Fettucine Alfredo. (Or maybe, just like me who ate alot of heavy pasta dishes.) Add some chicken, a little diced tomato, extra cheese, and yeah, I could eat my dinner and yours and the rest of whoever else happens to be nearby. I really love it.

But it's not particularly healthy, and so it's something I don't have very often. In fact, I haven't made it in months and months. So, with G being out of town (and her not being a huge fan of the original dish) I decided to whip up a "what I had on hand" version of the recipe in the new Cooking Light magazine.


Barf. The sauce tasted like diet alfredo sauce, like the kind that comes on frozen dinners, and it was just really not substantial. The original recipe called for bacon, which I didn't have, and I did mix in some fresh parsley and tomato to try and make it not taste like total crap, but it didn't work. Diet-y and not at all pleasant, I really could not believe how unpleasant it tasted. And I even used extra cheese!

If you have the January/February Cooking Light and you have tried this recipe, please let me know and I may try it again down the road, but for now, thanks but no thanks.

I didn't make a full recipe, and so the points came out to be 7 for a serving. Not really worth it, but whatever.

The Best Grub in Waterloo is at D & P's!

A few weeks back, we went to Waterloo to spend a short stay with our good friends D & P. We had such a great time, I am embarrassed that I have not blogged about it before now...

We had such a good time. We went to the St. Jacob's Farmer Market and walked around having a great old time. It's really neat, with lots of veg and tasty foods to eat. I really was amazed at how much stuff they had on offer.

Especially these amazing cupcakes...


Red velvet is my absolute favorite, I really really love them! It was my first weekend away on Weight Watchers, and I was nervous that I would completely mess it up, especially when we had to buy these cupcakes (and I mean, we had too or else the cupcakes would have had hurt feelings). No such worries, Weight Watchers truly is something you can do everywhere and anywhere. (And I truly have found this to be true. We've had Jewish new year, conferences, fancy dinners out, and a gourmet cooking class throughout my four and a half weeks on WW. All that, and I have still lost almost 13 pounds.)

ANYWAY, this is not about WW (even though it will likely come up again, especially when I get to posting tonight's delish WW Cassoulet recipe). As we walked around, we immediately ditched any plans to go out to dinner and bought some goodies to have at P and D's, with some good times cooking in their excellent kitchen. We were really excited to have such a concentrated amount of time to spend with them!

So P and D wanted to get some fun treats for dinner, and D treated us to this amazing Sticky Toffee Cheese. You heard me right...

It was such a weird flavour. Sharp from the cheese, sweet from my all-time fave sticky toffee pudding. And just all around delicious, rich, and weirdly yummy!

They also got this amazing artichoke asiago dip that we had with cheese bread from the market...



Yum yum yum! We had some crackers too, but I don't seem to have taken any photos of that.

On the menu were Eggplant Parms, Tomato and Goat Cheese Salad, and Roasted Potatoes. AND P's amazingly fantastic SANGRIA!


The sangria was so nice. It was cold, fruity, juicey, winey... just like it should be. Really a nice accompaniment to our dinner...

Here's the delightful salad...


The tomatoes were farm fresh, skinned and chopped then mixed with balsamic and oil, goat cheese, and herbs. As it sat around, the cheese started to melt and it just became this amazingly cheesey gooey loveliness.

Here's the plate of delish dinner...


Really really good. It's not lookin' so hot, but it was really really good. The eggplant was so easy, you just dip the eggplant in bread crumbs, bake it was sauce and cheese, and then you put the amazing roasted potatoes in the mix, no pasta, nothing too terribly heavy.

Pasta Perfection.

While in NYC for G's birthday, we went to see "Waiting for Godot" at the Studio 54 theater. It was fantastic! Nathan Lane, John Goodman, and Bill Irwin (and some other guy who's name I can't remember!), all giving it their best for an amazing performance. I really enjoyed it. We had found a website where you order directly from the theater but enter a code and you get 50% off the ticket price, so the price was right on the money and our seats were spectacular. I had never seen "Waiting for Godot" live and really enjoyed how engaging the show was.

One of the usher's recommended an Italian restaurant around the corner from the theater. I totally can't remember the name, but it's been there for sometime and I doubt it will be there much longer. It was totally old school. Old Italian men in white shirt and ties as the server, lots of options, fresh pasta and a totally old NY vibe. And it was pretty empty save for the table in the corner with some college kid who had apparently gone all Republican in college much to the dismay of his not-Republican parent.

But the food was really interesting. I started with a polenta with sauteed mushrooms...


The mushrooms were in this amazing sauce from being lightly cooked with large pieces of grilled off polenta. Really phenomenal.

G had a carpaccio starter, but the photo didn't happen. She said it was good.

For her main, G had ravioli...


...which you probably can't see under all that CHEESE! It was homemade and very simple and traditional and 100% delicious. It was such a basic cheese ravioli but so superbly made, I wished I had ordered the same thing!

I ordered one of the specials, lasagna.


Not what I expected. The sauce on the outside was like a rose sauce, which was lovely. I suspect that the meat inside was veal, and it has an almost boiled like consistency which while not unpleasant, didn't really rock my world either. The pasta tasted handmade and was really perfect, the cheese was gooey and oozey, just like it should be, but the meat really kept if from being a total winner for me.

The waiter was not overly friendly, but my glass of house chianti made up for it. Big and bold, it really hit the spot on a rainy post-surreal theater night.

I wish I could send you there for dinner. Go to Studio 54, if you have your back to the theater, go to the right. Go down the street, cross at the light, and it's right there... until it's not.

Terroni's.

I have lived in Toronto now for about six years. For the most part, I love it. Good times, good restaurants, lots to do, it's all good. And for as long as I have lived here, I have heard about Terroni's and how amazing it is. And I've never eaten there.

So, G and I were around my office and decided to stop in to Terroni's for dinner. I had an amazing sausage pasta that went down an absolute treat...


The pasta was really well cooked, the sausage was spicy and not at all greasy with lots of cheese on top. Really delicious, and though likely very easy to cook, not something that I would ever make.

G ordered the gnocchi and it was amazing.


YUM! Really really really good. Fresh and lovely and delicious.

AND THEN.

I went back a week or so later with a friend. We hadn't seen each other in some time and decided that we would go out for dinner, again somewhere near work. I had heard many many times that there margherita pizza was really fantastic and I was eager to give it a try. (No photos because I had forgotten my camera at home and it was too dark to use my iPhone camera...)

I ordered the pizza and it was 100% not all that great. It was boring and while the crust was good, it had this chlorine-y taste that didn't do it for me. I was really disappointed. Now that I am off wheat, I won't likely be going back there, but still. What a bunch of not delicious!

A New Year A New Diet... but first... A Pasta Feast!

Well. G and I decided that after the new year and pre-vacation, we'd go on a little diet, so pretty soon, G's fabulous creations in the post-diet era will be seen... but as anyone knows who has ever been on a diet knows, the night before deserves a fest of some proportion.

G and I wanted a casual night that wouldn't cost a fortune and would give me a good healthy does of pasta and bready goodness. Cafe Diplomatico fit the bill because it's fairly close to our house and is almost always filled with people. This is a nice thing. I know that their food isn't the best and it's not snazzy downtown Italian food, but sometimes you just want to kick back someplace warm filled with chatting people eating and drinking and just enjoying themselves. And then you know where to go...

And first up was the bread.


It looked like it was going to be hot, but alas, it wasn't. But it was tasty. Fluffy and fresh, a really good showing.

We then decided to have an appetizer, which we always say we won't do and always do anyway. They had a crab and lobster dip that G thought sounded good... so we gave it a go...


It was tangy and creamy. One side of the plate had baked chips and the other side had fried, but no one mentioned it! So G and I are just chewing away on our respectively different chips until G notices the differences. Then I ate all of her side... it was better.

For the main course, I filled my hearts desire...fettuccine alfredo with chicken parmesan. I like the parm there because it's very simple and the chicken is so crispy that it just bursts with goodness when you bite into it. It's very satisfying. The alfredo tastes very homemade, where sometimes it's really good and runny and sometimes it's not so much... does this happen to you?


So it was a good blowout to the whole carbs thing. I mentioned before that we started the South Beach Diet. It's only no carbs for two weeks, and we are adding the carbs back slowly on Friday because our two weeks will be up. The two weeks are good, I think, not because carbs are evil, but because it makes you think of different things to eat...and I must say that G has really risen to the challenge...some good things are coming up...

All We Do is Eat.

It's sad but true. I've said it before, but it's never more obvious than when I am updating the old blog. When I go home to Tulsa, all I want to do is eat. And eat. And eat. And spend time with Mom and D. And then eat. And then I come home to Toronto, and we start eating all over again. *Sigh*

Thank goodness I love food so much!

One afternoon, we had lunch at Zio's. When I was in University, I used to frequent Zio's quite a bit. It wasn't expensive, it was outside of Norman, and it was a nice break during law school. Now, when I am back in OK, it's a place where you go when you are really hungry and what a good inexpensive lunch.

We went early, so this may explain some of the issues. That's right, issues. Zio's is a chain restaurant, owned by the people who own Mazzio's pizza. It's normally really good, but when we went in December, it was not so god at all.

EXCEPT for the pepperoni bread. Basically a pepperoni calzone served with dipping sauce.


It looked promising when it was set down on the table. And then I cut into it. It WAS promising...


Oh yes. It was delicious. Really cripsy cooked, but soft and tender on the inside. The cheese was gooey and the sauce was fresh and lovely. We should have just stopped there.

I ordered a caesar salad because I was having a craving. It arrived...


Standard. But ICKY. It tasted like it had dishwater in it or something. My Mom tried some, too, and neither of us could quite place the off flavor, but it was definitely there.

Pushed aside, my pasta arrived. This pasta is one of my decadent favorites. It's a five cheese pasta, and I have to say that I like it was a little side of tomato sauce to cut the richness of the cheese.


Blah. It wasn't terrible. I didn't not eat it, like the salad. But it wasn't really good like I remembered. I should have had the chicken artichoke pasta. All in all, a disappointing lunch. Thank goodness there's my brother's baked pasta feast that he made Christmas Eve to take away the pain...

That's a good baked pasta!!!