Osaka

Bistro Japonais Fuirusato (formerly Osaka)

2137 rue de Bleury
Montreal, QC

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7 1/2 out of 10

Japanese

Note: This restaurant has been renamed, and has not been reviewed since re-opening. The chef and staff have remained the same, and apparently so has the menu.

After swearing that there are no good, affordable sushi restaurants in Montreal for one year, I stand corrected...somewhat. I've been on a search for unpretentious (read: "fusion"-less), simple, quality, traditional Japanese cooking. This is more than sushi, yes, and a big difference does need to made between the two, but finally I have found a restaurant that at least serves home-style dishes in a welcoming atmosphere.

Lunch here is a Montreal bargain. Reservations recommended, because the small room fills up, you'll be pleasantly surprised that lunch won't cost you $20. Yes this is ridiculous. $20 is a lot for a lunch and averaging $10-$15 at lunch, this place isn't exactly cheap, but for the standard sushi combo of 5 nigiri, 3 cucumber maki and one handroll, accompanied by a very mayonnaise-y salad and average miso soup, the low price of $10 is very acceptable. To go for Combo A (the mixed sushi/salmon teriyaki/rice/vegetables deal for a whopping $15 is committing yourself to feeling very full.

Let me get the low points out of the way so I can get back to why this is a good restaurant.

First, there is MSG in the teriyaki sauce. You know that thirsty and not quite-quite-full feeling you get after Chinese food or Vietnamese soup? MSG is a flavour-enhancer and it's not exactly the best thing to put in your body...but neither is alcohol...we all make exceptions. So it's not homemade, or it's "homemade" from other bottles of sauce. My guess on what their teriyaki sauce contains is: Mirin (sweet Japanese cooking wine), soy sauce, oyster sauce, brown sugar, sake, garlic, maybe onion powder. Even bottled soy sauces can contain MSG-oyster sauce, black bean sauce. Mirin, at least the brands available in Canada, even contains corn syrup. Isn't that what you use to make candy? This is sadly standard, but delicious. Everything in moderation??? Sure...right...

The tuna was alright. After sushi in Vancouver I'm a tuna snob. No maguro here will ever make me happy. No toro (fatty tuna), either. There was nothing great about it, but it was fresh. In my opinion too much scallion was placed as a garnish on a special twin set of toro offered by the chef. I often take the chef's hands as gospel when they decide how much wasabi and garnish should be placed on individual nigiri. They should know how much the fish needs to not overpower the natural flavour, but it certainly felt like the fish flavour was trying desperately to hide under the little circles of green. Probably just an oversight, as the wasabi under the fish was the right amount.

The salmon is okay. Not great. Just okay. Yes, I can buy better salmon (organic Pacific that tastes like butter) at a decent fishmonger, like Poissonerie Antoine or Nouveau Falero, but the scallop nigiri was the best I've had in the city. Salmon is the easy one to get, albeit expensive, but Osaka deserves credit for it's other fish.

Which brings us to the good things:

The rice. The rice was perfect. Correctly cooked, flavourful, not smushed or crushed beyond resuscitation.

The red snapper was good. It didn't taste like rubber. There's definitely something to be said for that. There was an actual flavour and a tender texture.

Normally it's all about the food and I can excuse poor service but here the service was a highlight and improved the quality of the meal. I felt welcome. The server was helpful and efficient. The chef was obviously experienced but friendly. He had the customer's stomachs in mind. I like feeling like my stomach is well-cared for by good food from good people.

The menu also offers tuna don, sukiyaki and char-grilled chicken teriyaki. Everything was just a lovely step above a standard sushi restaurant. A little extra care here and there, made all the difference.

Expect to pay: $15 at lunch, $30 at dinner, plus sake or sapporo

Zembaba: The Emperor's New Food

Montrealers can't seem to grasp that Torontonians could have it better than them. Heck, we've got a mountain. Earth to Montreal, it's a hill...

Geographical limitations aside, Toronto wins hands down in terms of Ethiopian food. Sure, there are a couple decent places in Montreal - Le Nil Bleu, and Magdala, the new restaurant by the owner of the former Messob d'Or - but for variety and price, there's nothing like the Bloorcourt Village, the city's own Little Africa, to sit down for a casual meal in a bar and get a bunch of meat stew dumped onto a large platter of fermented bread on the table in front of you while you watch a soccer game on a big screen TV...God bless Canadian interculturalism.

Zembaba Restaurant and Bar

838 Bloor Street West
Toronto, ON

416-535-7486

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7/10

Ethiopian

If you're not North African or you don't live in the Bloorcourt Village (Bloor and Dovercourt), I can pretty much guarantee you've never heard of this place. That's a shame. This area is home to other Ethiopian restaurants the Queen of Sheba, Lalibela, and Nazareth, but this inconspicuous resto-bar deserves some attention. This is certainly the only place to find Roman Cha Cha Tibbs-lamb tibbs cooked according to Roman Azale's parents' recipe. Azale, the owner and chef, is the daughter of two of Emporer Haile Selassie's chefs. So It's not the Emporer's clothes, but it is his food you get. This is a little less invasive, at least.

Fortunately, service is not so regal that you feel you should never speak unless spoken to or make eye contact. What separates Zembaba from other Ethiopian Restaurants is it's casual atmosphere. This is not where you necessarily come for your first Ethiopian experience. It does not fill you with awe to walk into the restaurant and feel part of such an old and rich cultural heritage. The servers are not dressed in traditional clothes. The patrons next to you are relaxing with a beer, watching TV and enjoying good food. I wouldn't expect to special-order Ethiopian coffee that would take hours to roast, because food comes quickly here. Heat and serve. It's plentiful, it's poured from a hot platter onto your table-sized piece of injera covered in salad and stewed vegetables. Everything is simple, functional, relaxed. Ethiopia's equivalent of a diner.

It's a wonderful thing. Maybe I shouldn't be telling you this. Now foodies will invade and soak up the atmosphere. They'll take a proverbial piece of injera and swallow up all of what is so appealing about this restaurant. But I'm a hypocrite. I went there and loved it and it deserves to be frequented by others indiscriminately.

So,

Vegetarian Platter: $10.00 tax in.

Our server said it's for one person but it was more than enough for two. We could barely finish it, and that only because we felt badly leaving anything so delicious. Unlike my first experience with Ethiopian food when I didn't know if it was acceptable to take leftovers home (it is), this time it just wasn't enough left to ask the server to bother. So it was worth a little bit of stuffing to fit it in. So that's $5 each for too much good food.

There are slight, but important, differences between all Ethiopian restaurants. The use of butter for cooking, the combination of spices, the cuts of meat and how well-cooked they are, and of course, the injera. My first experience at Ethiopian House on Irwin Street in Toronto blew me away, as I had never had my meal presented to me on a platter of sponge-y flatbread, upon which different spicy and not-so-spicy concoctions were serially separated. A veritable palette of food. This was then served with another folded-over table-sized pancake of injera to tear apart and use as a utensil for the meat or vegetables. Eaten one mixed mouthful at a time, the novelty of the meal was wonderful. Meat was served on hot platters reminiscent of Korean hot plate and the contents were poured onto the table-sized injera laid out in front of you. The vegetables (the only other option being beef) were either lemony or spicy. Never sweet. The collard greens weren't appealing to me. Berbere, a traditional hot spice, was interesting but I wasn't about to go buy it and place it in the seat of honour in my spice shelf.

My second restaurant, M&B Yummy on Queen West, showed me that fava beans can be delicious and injera can be served torn up as part of the dish, as well as a utensil. It also showed me that vegan Ethiopian food is pretty normal, not like what we would think of as the difference between Canadian burgers or pastas, and what we would think of as more standard vegan fare in the Toronto area (like Hibiscus, Fresh, or the Urban Herbivore). Finally, it showed me that rushing is not something that should happen in the preparation or enjoyment of a meal. The chef/server (the only other person in the restaurant) took orders and then went to prepare all of our meals. Definitely not heat and serve. Some things were prepped, sure, but this was fresh. Not yet an 'haute cuisine', but conceptually far ahead of Western fast food.

By my fifth restaurant and my fourth vegetarian platter, I had learned that:

1. Spiced butter is a good idea to limit the bitter lemon flavour of the collard greens. Zembaba's were the best.

2. Carrots and squash with turmeric are an incredible combination. I wonder how much of this cooking is influenced by the Indian population of Kenya to the south? Huge influx of immigrants to build a railroad (feel the strange comparison to the Canadian Pacific Railroad and the national guilt that came with it). Who started this cooking in a freshly-ground spice mixture idea? Did East Africa give to India or did India give to East Africa? Injera tastes nothing like naan or chapaati but the concept is very similar.

3. No two 'vegetarian' or 'meat' platters are created equal in terms of content and quality.

4. There is a fair bit of oil, or butter, or ghee involved in this kind of food, a lot like Indian dishes again, but the most delicious and unique injera is the part that has had a sauce scooped on top of it. The whole grain used for the bread, teff, originates in Africa and only now can be found in health food stores worldwide. You won't find it in India. The oil and flavour seeps into the injera and once the sauce has been scooped from on top, the inundated bread dissolves in your mouth.

So what was so good about Zembaba's? Shouldn't I prefer the home-made, slow-cooked 'healthier' vegan fare at Y&B Yummy? Or Ethiopian House's fancier setting? Or maybe Montreal's Le Nil Bleu or the same company's newest venture, Magdala? Nope. Zembaba's food was the best Ethiopian that I've tasted. there were simple dishes with complex spices, just enough on every dish. It included a dish of red lentils, one of split peas, another of carrots, potato and squash, the lovely collard greens and a lettuce salad featuring slightly lemony greens that were a step up from iceberg. The good server even brought extra injera because we actually needed more.

It's also not vegetarian, and when you stew meat for hours, all the flavour soaks into the sauce. Lentils don't really do the same thing...Sorry, veggies. There menu has a lot of excellent vegetarian, but it has a lot of delicious lamb. Most of the other Ethiopian restaurants I have been to in the city feature either beef or vegetarian. I don't know how traditional lamb is, especially since cows are the main livestock, but it's a nice change. Either red meat served stewed or raw works perfectly under the expert spicing of the Zembaba's royal chef. Besides, for only $2 extra, you can order the meat platter and get all the vegetable platter options added to it.

The St. Lawrence Sushi Battle!!!

The St. Lawrence Market Sushi Battle!

92 Front Street East
Toronto, ON

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81/2/10 6/10

Dominic's Fish Market vs. Quik Sushi

The appeal of a farmer's market is usually that the customer may go directly to the source...the farmer, or fisherman. Alas (or perhaps thank goodness), not in Toronto. So, the freshest fish should be bought from a fishmonger, in this case Dominic's Fish Market. Dominic's employs it's own sushi chef to prepare fresh sushi on site. Quik Sushi buys their fish from other Market Vendors, probably including Dominic's Fish Market. Their advantage is that they may purchase their fish from any of the three fish markets, choosing whatever is freshest but the other fish stores, however, do not specialize in sushi.

Lower Level, South St. Lawrence Market, 416-368-1397, http://www.stlawrencemarket.com/shopping/vendors/domenics.html

Upper Level, South St. Lawrence Market, 416-603-0016, http://www.stlawrencemarket.com/shopping/vendors/quiksushi.html

So there seems to be a superfluous step in this process. Why buy from the middle man when you trek all the way down to Front and Jarvis, push your way through the cacophony of the market on a Saturday morning just to get as close as fresh fish comes to the source in Toronto?

This is the theoretical argument. On to the results:

Advantages of Quik Sushi: They have teriyaki and tempura. More types of rolls (Dragon, caterpillar, rainbow, unagi, and vegetarian).

Disadvantages of Quik Sushi: Salmon sashimi left in display too long. No special types of fish.

Advantages of Dominic's Fish Market: Best salmon nigiri and handrolls. Butterfish available upon advance request. Toro availalble upon request. Free (amazing) oyster sampling. Fresh wakame salad sold seperately.Take home packages of fresh gyoza dumplings to steam.

Disadvantages of Dominic's Fish Market: Limited quantities and selection once the sushi chef leaves on Saturday afternoon.

Best of show:

If you want the best salmon in sushi that I've ever tasted in Toronto, go with the the salmon avocado handroll from Dominic's.

Both this and the california rolls with salmon sashimi draped on top are incredible. DO NOT choose the economic Six Piece Nigiri Sushi, Six Piece Salmon and Tuna Rolls, and Three Piece Salmon Sashimi that has been sitting in the display too long at Quik Sushi. Ask for it fresh, or order salmon sashimi seperately on the side...from Dominic's. Do this while you chat with their Japanese-only-speaking chef through their translator/oyster shucker.

Upon requesting a special order of toro nigiri (a fattier tuna)from Dominic's, my dining companion experienced a revelation of flavour. I thought it was too stringy. I wanted the melt-in-your-mouth kind of fatty, not the chewy kind. Quik Sushi, however, did not offer toro at all. Just run of the mill maguro tuna.

Above: Dominic's Salmon Avocado Roll

Below: Quik Sushi's Salmon Avocado Roll

Besides the obvious lack of caviar on Quik Sushi's roll, the taste is actually very similar. Despite the fact that neither probably use the best cut of salmon in maki rolls, the combination of creamy avocado with nicely seasoned sushi rice makes both of these great choices for a light lunch.

Fine, I admit it. Everything at Dominic's is not necessarily better. Their nigiri/roll combos (above) that have been sitting in display are very hard to differentiate from those at Quick Sushi. They, however, thoughtfully, did not include the salmon sushi that looks like it's dying a little every minute that it waits to be bought.

Finally, butterfish, my personal god of sushi...Upon advance special request Dominic's will prepare butterfish for you. After suffering a long period of butterfish drought in Toronto sushi, I was thrilled to know that they had it. I assumed it must be very expensive and very unsustainable, but it turns out that it's just not carried in many places. This is a definite melt-in-your-mouth, solidify on your hips kind of good omega three fat.

Plan to Spend: $15

Siddhartha - Little India

Siddhartha

1450 Gerrard Street East

Toronto, ON

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4/10

The smell of curry engulfs the area of Gerrard Street East called Little India. Set adrift amid the smells of cumin and mustardseed, cardamom and mango powder I floated into Siddharta's All-You-Can-Eat Dinner Buffet dreaming of naan and chutney.

Alas...

Tandoori Chicken and Chicken Fried Rice

I hope you are as skeptical as I am of an Indian restaurant serving chicken fried rice. It's not as though Indian food does not have it's equivalent (if not it's better) in chicken biryani, and yet, at Siddharta there is no biryani to be found. Instead, there is this.

This is not a Pan-Asian restaurant. In the form of a gastronomic pep talk: have some self-respect and stick to what you know you can do best! How can anyone love you until you love yourself. Be proud of what is inherently 'you'. Leave China out of it. Focus on cumin, cloves, coriander, ginger and yogurt.

Good work. The tandoori chicken was okay. Not too dry for having been sitting in a chafing dish for too long. It must have been a fresh batch.

Curry Chicken

Oh how I love curry chicken. A friend once told me she had never met a chocolate she didn't like. She then proceeded to eat a chocolate and was shocked to discover that she had just made her first inanimate enemy. Fortunately this horrible disappointment did not befall me upon eating this curry chicken. I always wondered how non-vegetarian Indian buffets could possibly make a profit, as meat is so expensive. It turns out that most skimp on the meat and over-do it with the sauce. The sauce, being mostly oil and spices, is very heavy, limiting how much you can eat...well, that or how unwell you will feel later. I guarantee, however, that at the time it will seem like it's worth it.

Top: Cauliflower and Carrot Masala; Cabbage; Eggplant and Potato

Bottom: Basmati Rice; Vegetable Jalfrezzi; Chicken Curry

Call me crazy but the cauliflower and carrot masala was one of my favourite dishes. It was the only dish where I couldn't taste the oil. The masala spice blend had lots of flavour that soaked perfectly into the vegetables. The cabbage on the other hand was not a good vehicle for it's sauce. Cooked in way too much ghee, it was slimey all the way down. Despite being ridiculously rich, the vegetable jalfrezzi was my other favourite (remember my love of chicken curry), and even beat out the curry for best flavour of a sauce. If only there had been less potato and more 'anything else'. Eggplant and potato disappointed. It was kind of like overcooked mush in bland oil. Perhaps I'm just upset because there was no baigan bharta, which in my opinion would have been a much better use of overcooked eggplant.

Buffet tricks:

1) Drain excess sauce to ensure ample portions of meat and vegetables. Yes, you will want a little sauce for rice and naan but with 20 dishes you'll be eating a lot of rice if you load your plate with every dish's sauce.

2) Never, ever, ever forget the naan.

3) Start with very small portions of almost everything (the salad bar at an Indian buffet seems a little unnecessary. Who goes out for Indian to eat raw iceberg lettuce, cucumber and tomato?). Once you become a regular at the restaurant you are allowed to eat only your favourite dishes so you can have more of them, but without trying all the dishes how will you possibly know what the best ones are? All Indian buffets are not created equal and something you don't like or only sort of like at one restaurant may be completely amazing at another. You also do not want to take a large portion of something you think you'll like only to discover that this restaurant's version is awful.

So please remember the reviewer's code: NOT ALL FOOD IS CREATED EQUAL.

They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing again and again and expecting different results. If I admit to insanity, does it make it okay to go back to try dinner à-la-carte which, I've heard tell, is much better than the buffet? Or is that asking for punishment?

Jamie Kennedy Wine Bar

No longer exists!!! Well, it does, but it isn't owned by Jamie Kennedy, whose love of the local food movement is blamed for wracking up his restaurant's debt. Apparently 'local' is too expensive and impractical. I beg to differ. His prices were just too reasonable for the high-quality of food offered. He could have looked to Montreal's sky-high restaurant prices at mediocre establishments and up-ed what he charged. People will pay it. It does make it unaffordable to most, but for the variety of ingredients, especially meats, cheeses and heirloom varietals of vegetables, it was just too much of a good thing to last. This review pre-dates the ownership change and name change to, just, "The Wine Bar", but the first paragraph was added before the sale while the restaurant was trying to re-create itself as something it was not. the Gilead Café, however, still exists.

Jamie Kennedy Wine Bar

9 Church Street

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9/10

Contemporary...turned, well, boringly normal.

How the mighty have fallen...halfway.

Since reviewing this incredible restaurant, the tides have turned. The front room is now a casual coffee and sandwich bar with happy hour style snacks. Nothing to write home, or here, about. With bankruptcy issues, sourcing local and organic at the amazing prices described below stopped being economically feasible. Isn't local supposed to be cheaper? Not when it's meat. Maybe that's why soups and sandwiches are the fare of the day now. A homemade broth from organic bones courtesy of Rowe farms makes an unpretentious lunch the more reasonable option. Come on, Jamie. You're not Splendido. You're disappointing a city who expect more from you. Have a little respect and make your own bread at least. Ace is great, but you can go to Ace Bakery if you want it. Previous to this disaster the review read as follows:

In the age of celebrity chefs, should it surprise me that I have friends, both gay and straight, who are attracted to Jamie Kennedy? If there is an attraction to a man who can cook then this man is the all-Canadian poster-boy pin-up of food.

From a menu that changes weekly, according to what he can get locally in season, the two tapas-sized items that I'll never forget are tomato soup and fries. Well, think more along the lines of yellow tomato purée drizzled with olive oil and crème fraiche, and five-year aged cheddar on organic potatoes in the most high-end version of poutine to grace the palettes of fortunate Torontonians.

Amazingly affordable until you add wine (and why wouldn't you when you can choose one of three different tasting sizes up to a full 12 oz glass to each brilliantly paired with a food item on the menu?) this is the best restaurant in the city in terms of food quality, service, atmosphere and innovation. The soup was almost enough for lunch on it's own, but withso many appetizer-sized options on the menu ranging from $5 to $15, it's impossible to not let you curiosity expand the bill to just under what you would expect to pay at such an amazing restaurant. How is it affordable? Well the funny thing about buying in season and local is that you're not paying for the food to be transported over long distances. Having great connections to producers certainly doesn't hurt. Who would have thought that you should be friends with the people whose produce you buy? Perhaps they may even start to care about the quality of their produce when they know who will be eating it. Kind of like the fast food server that spits in your food because you are being rude, the farmer is certainly capable of proverbially spitting in the food of the animal that makes it's way up the food chain to your mouth. Hormones, anyone?

Not at Jamie Kennedy's...

Unfortunately, his most recent venture, the Gilead Café near the Distillery District, needs a little work. Mostly, the servers need a little work. They probably should have at least said "bacon and cheese" when I asked what was in the lima bean and potato salad. Instead they said "An oil and vinegar vinaigrette" which would kind of make a vegetarian, vegan, lactose-intolerant or non-red meat eating person a little upset when they bit into the salad.

Expect to pay: $12 for lunch, $5 for coffee and a treat

Da Gianni e Maria

Da Gianni e Maria

796 St. Clair Avenue West

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9/10

Italian at its best

When you walk into an Italian restaurant for the first time, do you ever get the feeling you've done this before? The same Italian Café CD is playing in the background, the pasta is from a box and the sauce is from a package? You ask for oil and vinegar for the bread and your server looks at you like you swallowed a cat?

This would never happen here. The servers are Italian. They are professional. They do not spill a drop of red wine on the tablecloth. They do not make fun of you when you mispronounce "penne". It is probably their family in the kitchen, and they have grown up on the home-cooked food that they deign to bring to your table. They even care about your meal. On a Friday evening there are three parties in the restaurant, two of which are Italian families enjoying a meal together. Twice the chef/owner comes out from the kitchen to check with one of the parties, with whom he is close friends, that they are enjoying their meal. He, of course, asks about their family. He, of course, asks in Italian. He acknowledges the other parties in the room and returns to the kitchen.

The appeal of a true Italian dinner is that you get to order many more things than you would at most restaurants. When there are five, six, or seven courses, plates are either smaller or meant to be shared.

Starting with the Antipasto di mare we are pleasantly bombarded with shrimp, squid, cuttlefish, mussels and clams. Between this and the insalata verde I could have called it a day, curled up and died happy. The marinated seafood was so fresh that I wasn't sad I opted not to get one of the meat antipasti platters (There are two: The Hunter's Antipasti with wild boar, duck and some parmiggiana and olives to lighten it up a little, or the Italian Antipasti with every kind of salted pork you can think of, some salty olives, and very unsalty boccocini for balance...or whatever passes for balance at any epic Italian meal. Other features are more standard fare done superbly like Bufala Caprese-fresh mozzarella with tomatoes, olive oil and basil, and smoked salmon with capers, red onion and olive oil. The more unique selections include Bruschetta Sfiziosa-toasted bread with homemade chicken liver paté, olive tapenade and diced tomatoes on the side and Bresaola e Rughetta-dried cured beef drizzled with olive oil and lemon juice on arugula and parmiggiano.

Now that you're full lets move on to pasta. The gnocchi. Homemade morsels served five ways: Tomato sauce, meat with cream, mushroom with chili pepper and cream, gorgonzola cheese sauce, and seafood in a rosé and chili sauce. Three kinds of canneloni, homemade lasagna, Strozzapreti (hand-rolled thin tubes), porcini mushroom fettucine with wild boar sauce in Barbera wine sauce (a red wine from Piedmont, just like the chef) with truffle, garlic and red chili. To make the decision harder, pappardelle (wide noodles) in a cream sauce with pheasant, raisins and pine nuts. Oh, and two kinds of risotto (seafood, or deer stew sauce, Piedmont red barolo wine, somehow tartufo all in a celery cream sauce).

You thought I forgot wine.

No.

All Italian. Mostly red. Mostly barbera and barolo. Barbera with any tomato sauce to not overpower the food, not cream sauces. Barolo with meat. Prosecco to start. Of course, branch out according to the recommendations of your server and your wallet.

The the osso buco, because you have to try the osso buco. With polenta or risotto. Enough said.

If you're somehow not sold on the osso buco, then other mains feature veal, beef or fish in some combination of brandy, oil, lemon, garlic, rosemary and balsamic vinegar. Or wait the 30-45 minutes required to make the fish soup from scratch. Just dream of the lobster, king crab, tiger shrimp, monkfish, skate, tuna, swordfish, not tiger shrimp, squid, mussels and clams in a tomato broth. Patience is a virtue.

Even the sides should not be skipped. Well, except for the vendure gratinate (baked eggplant, zucchinni and green peppers with seasoned bread crumbs which tastes like it should have been cooked inside some sort of meat for flavour. Toss the fennel in butter and parmiggiano and stick it in the oven and you do much better. Also worth trying are pomodori e rughetta (arugula and cherry tomatoes in the house dressing with stracchino cheese) and simple cippoline onions in oil and apple cider vinegar.

Dessert is a highlight. I know you're full but for these homemade specialties, it's worth coming back again and again. Yes to the plate of biscotti, yes to the tiramisu, yes to the tartufo but the Zabaione (sponge cake with candied fruit and whipped cream topped with marsala custard, and whatever special sounds delicious, are safe bets too.

Grappa or coffee, a comfortable silence, and then you can roll yourself home. Dinner has been a three hour experience. This is Italy.

Plan to Spend: $22 for amazing pasta and a glass of wine, but if you're truly in for the Italian meal experience, including antipasti, pasta, meat, sides, dessert and the essential bottle of wine (probably red. Definitely shared), maybe throw in a grappa or a café to finish, and you are looking at the best $60 you ever spent on yourself. If neither of these situations describes your dining intentions, then you can safely place your bill somewhere in the middle.

For an endearing picture of the chef's father and another of his son in matching chef hats, as well as an incredible menu listing, visit Da Gianna e Maria Trattoria's Website.

Camros Organic Eatery - Is Vegan a Culture?

Camros Organic Eatery

25 Hayden Street,

Toronto, ON

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8/10

Persian

Located one block south of Bloor, east of Yonge Street, is a cosy Persian-inspired eatery. Providing respite from the traffic and culinary congestion of Yonge Street, Camros is a unique cafeteria-style vegan spot featuring homemade organic dishes free of sugar, soy, wheat, and gluten. Low fat, but high flavour? But how, you ask? Not exactly your mother’s “white-meat” pork bred by American ingenuity. The Persian influence provides the herb and spice inspiration that fills out the flavour. From a daily changing menu, featured items include Adas Polo (Basmati brown rice with nutty lentils kicked with saffron, cinnamon and rice), Gheyme Stew (split yellow lentil and potato stew flavoured by limes and plums) and the eatery’s take on cabbage rolls stuffed with basmati, tomatoes, peppermint (for digestion, we’re kindly informed), tarragon (presumably, for flavour), and saffron.

The head chef, Mojdeh Shams, insists on promoting the restaurant first as Persian and second as vegan. Though not all the dishes are traditional or have been adjusted, the use of saffron (often substituted in Indian restaurants with turmeric which is less expensive and less flavourful, but the same colour…) and the dried fruit certainly is authentic. Yes, here you will feel like you’re eating ‘healthy’ but you’ll also feel like you’re eating something exotic. The rotating menu ensures the freshness of all the dishes. The restaurant has such a heavy turnover that you never wonder how long the dish has been sitting there waiting for a gullible diner to choose it.

For small to large appetites Camros features two-item combos ($4.96) to four-item combos ($8.99).

From the Friday menu we sampled the Mixed Vegetable Stew-carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, peas, onions-that surprises with a rich taste of apple and cinnamon, the perfect fall comfort food that combines your meal with your dessert of apple crisp. I’d put it on my Thanksgiving menu…and still finish with another apple crisp. The stew is so good for you that this is easily rationalized.

As it turns out, every day features a coloured rice ball with a different filling. Our red rice ball (thanks to beets, not food colouring!) was filled with lentils. Here I got in a little fight with my dining companion. I liked the subtle flavour of the glutinous basmati even though the lentils didn’t add anything to the ball, but my ‘subtle’ was my companion’s ‘bland’. I advised trying it after a more flavour-intense dish like the stew and found that the contrast made it work. We agreed it’s definitely an acquired taste. Much like the kale. No matter how good it is for me, I sincerely doubt I will ever truly enjoy eating kale. You can rinse it for a half hour in spring water, marinate it in apple-cider vinegar, lemon juice and oregano, and douse it in tahini dressing but kale is a tough green and tougher to like.

At Camros, fortunately, there was no such thing as a tough cookie. Catering to practically every food allergy and sensitivity except almonds, the cookies from Olivia’s in Richmond Hill are sweetened using agave nectar and the only difference between them and your mom’s homemade cookies is that they don’t rise. They are still melt-in-your-mouth good. Stick with the ginger-spice and lemon-poppy and avoid the unsatisfying chocolate.

Only complaints: While lentils and beans are not everyone’s idea of a good time, if you’re interested in trying homemade Persian cuisine, this is a good place to start. It certainly will do you no harm.

For background info and menus, visit www.camroseatery.com

Phone: 416-960-0723

Price: $10-$15

Healthy?: Yes!

Sringrolls - Toronto as it was in 2008...

These are reviews I wrote before leaving Toronto in 2008. They encompass a wide range of cuisines, either authentic representations or cultural adaptations, or somewhere in the foggy middle ground, of the city I called home.

Spring Rolls

40 Dundas Street West

Toronto, ON

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3/10

Thai

This is the restaurant for the mildly hungry person who knows they want Asian food and needs a lot of options, but is 100% sure that once they have seen the options they can quickly make a decision. Otherwise you're still staring at an enormous menu 30 minutes later wondering if it's a pad thai night or a green salad with honey garlic tarragon dressing night and yes, the latter option really did just use four consecutive nouns. The 'fusion' is also evident in the triple cheese dumplings ("Imitation crab smothered in a creamy, mild cheese blend"). Which mild cheeses are these? Does this blend come pre-packaged? These are the questions that this popular restaurant inspires. Service is usually efficient, not friendly, as the restaurant seems to always be too busy to get a refill on your glass of water. The food is usually tasty, but not so filling as to not leave room for a drink, an appetizer and a dessert. I recommend narrowing your Asian culinary desires to a single country, if not a single region, on a particular night, and seeking out a non-chain restaurant where the food is more important to the owners than how many times they can 'flip the tables'.

>Thai Basil Mango Beef and Tiger Shrimps $12.95

"Meaty short ribs and tiger shrimps marinated w/ rich seasonings and slow cooked until tender"

What's the plural of shrimp? This Pan-Asian Restaurant has been around too long and has grown into too big a chain for it to be cute to misspell words like more endearing restaurants in Chinatown. A most delicious mango sauce, however, makes me forgive the error(?) and thank someone up above that they don't bread their beef like they do their chicken. While not the most succulent shrimp(s?) that will, hopefully, ever grace your palate, the sauce is tasty when the mangoes are ripe. Cross your fingers that those mango chunks were chopped on the premises and not in their native lands before being forced into dark, little jars, suffocated/drowned and forgotten about by their assailants, only to be resuscitated in a land far, far away for your personal enjoyment. I hope they liked the feeling of being stuffed inside an object the first time around. After all this abuse we still can't get their plural correct. May we not just call them prawns?

Seafood "Ho Fun" in Black Bean Sauce $11.95

Really 'no fun', this black bean sauce can only be complimented on the fact that the sauce isn't too salty...except I thought it needed some salt. Other than that it was overwhelmingly bland and disappointing.

Ah, Pad Thai $9.95

Do these photos looks a little different to you? Hmm...they shouldn't. One is from the menu and the other from the meal. Sure, lots of people don't actually eat the cilantro garnish or strips of green and red pepper, but that doesn't mean you can get away with scrapping them in favour of yet more noodles and dessicated broccoli. Someone out there's favourite part of the meal could be the two slices of orange which have mysteriously disappeared. Nowhere near authentic, Spring Roll's ketchup-y version of pad thai hits the spot to which Torontonians expect it to go. You'll like it if you don't know what you're missing, but you'll like it. It's good for what it is and what you can get in Toronto.

General Tao Chicken $9.45

"Lightly breaded chicken, broccoli, peppers and asparagus in Chef Hai’s unique General Tao sauce"

Quotable Chef Hai:

"The modern woman doesn't want to cook"

"The best way to a woman's heart is to pick up the tab"

I bet these are funnier in Thai...

Plan to Spend: $12 per entrée. $40 per meal including appetizer, dessert and a passable lychee martini, as well as perhaps that tip you didn't necessarily want to give but did because you're a good person.

For a look into the world of effective marketing visit the Springrolls website at www.springrolls.ca

Toronto vs. Montreal as only it can be compared...in terms of food

When I hear people insist that the term "multiculturalism" should be replaced by "interculturalism" I get a little upset. Maybe the latter is a more politically correct term because it implies social interaction and discussion among cultures, as opposed to sharp divides and separation? "Interculturalism" also means exploring other cultures more than superficially (food, dance, art), by making comparisons to one's own culture, and finding common ground. I resent the politics of the terms. There was nothing wrong with the word "multiculturalism" until someone thought it promoted each individual culture too much. Kind of like laws. Everyone has the right to do whatever they want up until the point that it infringes on some other person's right. So no culture can exist within a country and act as if it's the best and only culture around. My point is, whatever the term means now, multiculturalism was meant to be a positive idea, something good for society, and someone took it and twisted it and said "Uh uh uhh, that's not very Canadian of you." Here in Canada we are accepting and integrated and, oh well, give it up.

We're not perfect. The best we can do is take what we thought to be multicultural exploration and try to go a little further with it. My personal contribution is to explore as many cultures as exist in Canada, to discover to what extent they are accurate reflections of that culture's traditions, and to see how it all fits into the grand idea of "Canada." Instead of being a culture consumer, eating what I am fed, I try to live up to my Canadian intercultural ideals and research food history, each tradition associated with a cuisine or a recipe, and understand why this tradition exists, is maintained, and how it fits into our Canada. Can we let it exist in its original form, or must it adapt to the other cultures around it, for the maximum advantage of all parties?