Honestly, you are either a fan of
Summerlicious or you are not – there are as many “neigh” sayers about it as
there are supporters. There is an
increasing level of bureaucracy in applying to participate in the program by
the City of Toronto – in addition to the actual application process, the meals
have to meet certain price to cost ratios to show value, menus must be
submitted for consideration 6 months in advance, and it goes on and on. Leave it to the City of Toronto to red-tape a great idea to death (dare I mention food carts!)
As a diner, I think introducing the price
to cost ratio is a good thing. I don’t
know how many times I went to a restaurant for a Summerlicious lunch, and the appetizer was some
mesculum greens with a few tomatoes with a vinaigrette, boring salmon with a
few vegetables, and then some pudding.
And they’d charge $20.
I usually try to hit at least 2 or 3
restaurants in each festival. Bymark is
always an outstanding choice and the value of their lunch menu is
staggering. And unlike many other venues
who come up with price-conscious items to offer clients, Bymark generally
serves off its regular menu. At $25 what
you are paying for is your main, and they are more or less covering the
appetizer and dessert. Don't get me started about their tower of Tuna Tartar or I'll end upon a very long tangent. I’ll come back
to Bymark in the Winter, but I wanted to try a few different places this Summer.
The Wine Bar ($15 Lunch)
The Wine Bar ($15 Lunch)
9 Church Street
I have long been a fan of The Wine Bar
since it first opened years ago as JK Wine Bar (Jamie Kennedy has moved on to
other ventures in and around the City.)
Besides the fact that you can no longer see Jamie behind the stoves of
the completely open kitchen and Chef’s bar, not much has changed – and good
thing too because this restaurant has it right in my books. Great wine list, plenty of offerings by the glass and generally great service.
I really enjoy the small plates/sharing
thing and I have never been here where everyone orders “their own” dish and
doesn’t share. This is the first time I
have hit The Wine Bar for lunch and the first time for Summerlicious. I applaud them for trying to keep the meal on
the low-end of the Summerlicious lunch price range, but I really wished they’d
charged a little bit more and made the “main” a little bit larger. Maybe the expectation is that you'd order a few extra dishes to begin with.
As usual, you HAVE to order the poutine
here. It is always a higher end play on
the Quebecois dish of fries with gravy and cheese curds, but their gravy is
always to die for and the fries always perfectly cooked. I should have listened to myself and ordered
the Mini Burger Poutine, which had an astonishing beef gravy topped with smoked
cheddar. So good!!! Instead I went for the Local Broccoli Salad,
which was nice with raisins, toasted almonds and honey balsamic vinaigrette,
but I was salivating over Deanne’s poutine.
I went for the Smoked Salmon open faced
Sandwich with dill cream cheese and a fresh fennel & sweet onion slaw. Truly a wonderful lunch dish. The other ladies enjoyed Grilled Quail,
served with some greens, roasted hazelnuts and pickled corn & mustard
vinaigrette. More than half a quail per
person would have been a better serving.
Dessert was good with Sour Cherry Bread
Pudding with Rum & Butter Sauce (a little light on the cherries though) and
the Chocolate Tart with Chantilly Cream was enough to put you in a chocolate
coma.
At the end, we were still a bit hungry so
we finished up with one of their artisanal cheese platters. Overall, food was good, if perhaps a little
small (what do you want for $15, tho right?), and the service was a bit rushed
but it was lunch hour so that is easily forgiven.
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