I Don't Get It...

I've been waiting to try Bar Isabel for months...no really, it was a 2-month wait! You can probably imagine how delighted I was when the day finally arrived. First impression: the decor reminded me a lot of Enoteca Sociale - dark, old school, tavern like with a very lively atmosphere. So we had brought our own wine, which was sitting prominently on the table, but alas neither the hostess nor the server noticed the bottle until we mentioned it. Pay attention people...it goes a long way. Anyhoo, minor hiccup aside, we ordered the pan con jamon iberico de bellota, which is cured ham from a special breed of pig, the black Iberian pig found in the south of Spain. Verdict: it was no prosciutto. It didn't have the melt-in-your-mouth feel that I expected and the bread was way too hard. Sigh. I hate not loving cured meat.

We then tucked into the spicy fried squid, crispy tongue and kale. Sweet mother of god - this was so extremely delicious that I wanted to cry when it was done. Probably, the best squid I've had - great combo of crispiness, spice and batter.

As with most Spanish restaurants, I always try the patatas bravas - this was ok. For someone who loves potatoes, I could walk away from this. Too much focus on the garnishes and not enough love for the potatoes. What a waste!

Same with the smoked sweetbreads, raw tuna, spicy pickled green tomato and brown butter. I had amazing sweetbreads at Niagara Street Cafe (now Edulis) so this wasn't my introduction to the dish, but it was just bland and boring. I have nothing nice to say about this...oh wait, it's a nice plate.

At this point, it can only get better right? So, I brace myself for the steak. Really well cooked, but the garnishes were unnecessary because they didn't enhance the dish at all. It was just a good cut of meat.

We got two desserts to end the night because we figured both of them couldn't bomb right? Right! The leche frita with dulce de leche was delish. Fried food so far has never let me down. The second was an absolute fail: the basque cake with sherry cream. There was so much bloody sherry that I couldn't even taste the cake; also the sherry had a weird unpleasant flavour to it. Maybe, get better sherry? Just a thought.

I just don't understand how Bar Isabel is in the top 5 on many blogs and restaurant lists - it wasn't particularly innovative, flavours didn't go together, more misses than hits. Pure. Utter. Disappointment.

Taste of Toronto

Wow, I've been MIA from blogging for a while! Time sure flies! We moved homes recently and then summer happened - patios, street festivals, fishing - you get the gist. But the eating never stopped so I'll try to catch you up on all my eating adventures in the next few blog posts. The most recent being Taste of Toronto - the 1st ever of its kind in the city - a melange of celebrity chefs, noted restos with some up and comers, wines/spirits and artisan producers. With an entrance fee of $30 and about $6-$10 tapas-style dishes, it's definitely not for the cash-strapped food aficionado, which is why I was delighted to win entrance tickets from Grey County Tourism and Nespresso. THANK YOU! 

I was super excited to try Barque Smokehouse so we had one of everything they offered - because that's how we do. First up, smoked duck tacos with pickled radish, carrots, crispy fried chicken skin

and a hoisin BBQ sauce. A bit too sweet for my liking and not enough smokiness. Also, for $6, two of them would have been nice, but a sad lonely fellow sat on the plate. Their second offering was smoked dry rub chicken wings ($8). Again, where is my smoke, fellas? It was just average. 

Lastly, we had the baby back ribs served with a potato, corn and candied smoked bacon salad and finished with pickled vegetable ($10). This was better than the first two but again, too sweet. People, barbeque does not mean sweet!!! ARGH.

After a disappointing start, we made our way to El Caballito/Los Colibris to try their pollo con mole: 

cemita bread, mole poblano, pulled chicken, white onion, avocado. Delicioso! Nice juicy chicken, bold flavours and great texture from the chips. Also good portion size for a $6 tapas - take note Barque.

On to The Harbord Room/THR & Co for their crab & prawn roll, pickled cucumber, avocado, crispy 

bacon & chips ($10). Although a bit messy, it was quite refreshing and tangy. I didn't quite get the chip combination - it didn't seem to go together because the chips overpowered the delicate seafood but meh, I love chips.

At this point, we were parched so we ducked in for a quick wine tasting. The theme: wines of California. We tasted two whites and two reds. a) Barefoot Chardonnay - shitty wine; b) Ghost Pines Chardonnay - mediocre; c) Louis Martini cabernet sauvignon from Sonoma - light and one dimensional and d) Louis Martini cabernet sauvignon from Napa - bolder, heavier with an awesome mouth feel. 

Now that we felt better about life, we made a beeline toward McEwan only to find the longest lineup ever. Not to worry, right beside the epic lineup, we saw a dude roll up cheese in what seemed to be, gasp, maple syrup! We had to try it. Three kinds of cheeses - cheddar, blue and gouda; I tried the gouda. OH-MY-GOD! Why haven't I tried this before? It was smoky, cheesy, sweet, gooey....one of the best things I tried that night. 

Apart from the paid food, there was quite a lot of free stuff - some of which were even better than the paid stuff! For example, the breadfruit cracker topped with a fish ceviche and mango salsa from the Barbados crew and the braised bison in a sesame seed cone.

After some freebies, I was really curious to try JaBistro's oshizushi: blowtorched and pressed sushi with shrimp, mackerel and salmon. It was perfect: didn't need any soy, wasabi...nothing. This is how it's done.

Another Asian dish we tried was Guu's takoyari: deep fried octopus balls with tonkatsu sauce & karashi mayo. I've never had it before so I have nothing to measure it against but I thought it was quite good. Then again, anything deep fried is a-okay with me.

The last thing we sampled was the pistachio and olive oil cake with strawberries, strawberry 

ice cream & crumbled meringue. Alas, the pistachio flavour wasn't strong enough but the warm cake with the cold fruit and ice cream was wonderful. No pic since it was too dark. All in all, a pretty decent night with awesome company thanks to free tickets!