Showing posts with label chicken. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chicken. Show all posts

CLOSED: Houston Avenue Bar & Grill (Toronto)

Posted on Sunday, November 16, 2014 by
Location: Toronto, Canada
Address: 33 Yonge Street
Type of Meal: Lunch and Dinner
Too often the restaurants in the heart of Toronto’s Financial District (Yonge to University and Wellington to Adelaide) are somewhat expensive so visits generally only involve drinks unless expense accounts are available. Houston Avenue Bar and Grill defies this stereotype by offering reasonably priced mains despite its location and “trendy” environment.

On a recent visit, I tried the half-rack of ribs ($16) which were the expected fall-of-the-bone tender and well glazed with BBQ sauce.  Indeed, it wasn’t smoked beforehand (on account on the missing smoke ring and barque), but it was decent quality and quite a substantial portion for a half rack. The coleslaw was vinegar based like I enjoy but still a bit too heavy on the sugar for my taste.  The shoe string fries, although not house-made, were satisfying arriving hot, crispy and well-seasoned.
Previously, I visited during lunch where they have a 2-course special, the steak frites ($21) I ordered included a salad to start.  For the price, I was pleasantly surprised with the quality; it was tender, cooked well and a good portion.  A red wine sauce added some flavour and the fries were the same as what accompanied the ribs.

My suggestion if you do visit is to stick with beef – think steak and ribs.  My co-worker ordered the chili lime glazed chicken ($19) and it was dry and overcooked. Additionally, despite asking if the chicken was breaded and being told no that it was only lightly “dusted” with flour; the poultry arrived with a pretty thick coating.  I recall the flavour was decent – hint of spicy, ginger and citrus and wouldn’t have been so horrible if it weren’t so tough. 


Unlike some restaurants, I’ve found Houston is usually accommodating with large group reservations and last minute changes.  If you’re visiting on a Thursday or Friday after 4pm, service can be slow as they tend to be a popular after-work drinks location. Overall, Houston isn’t the most delicious restaurant, but is a reasonably priced choice if you’re looking for somewhere to eat in the Financial District. 

Overall mark - 7 out of 10



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 ____________________________
Gastro World's Grading System
  • Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
  • 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
  • 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
  • 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
  • 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
  • 10 - absolute perfection!



CLOSED: Jamie's Italian (Edinburgh)

Posted on Monday, November 11, 2013 by
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland
Address: 54 George Street
Type of Meal: Dinner  


I first knew Jamie Oliver as the Naked Chef, a cute looking blond British chef recognized for his down to earth shows and later his stance against processed foods in the American school system. So, although I’ve never had a desire to eat at one of his restaurants, when the opportunity presented itself I thought “his Italian food must be good, let’s do this!”  Unfortunately, I was dead wrong and eating at Jamie’s Italian was a disappointing experience.

Perhaps it all started with our dismal experience with being seated – yes something so simple left a bad taste in our mouth.  We walked in on a weeknight, after a couple of minutes of reviewing the computer system the hostess brought us to a table in a fairly empty dining room.  After settling in, another hostess approaches the table to tell us that we were seated in the wrong spot and had to be moved. So, we were ushered into the downstairs area with a more casual vibe.  Normally, it wouldn’t matter, but the situation was just handled so abruptly and awkwardly without an apology.

As we had a heavy multi-course lunch that day, everyone wanted smaller dishes.  My husband started first and requested the vegetable plank appetizer in which our waiter answered “is that all?” in a somewhat dissatisfied manner.  Certainly, I agree restaurants should sometimes try to up-sale customers to add extra items to their meal, but to be off putting about it is another story.

Usually, I could have overlooked these faux pas if it weren’t for the substandard dishes Jamie Oliver chooses to serve.  Honestly, my experiences with chains like Olive Garden and Alice Fazoolis was far better than what I had that night.   

To begin, the vegetable plank (£6.85) was pretty mediocre and something I could whip up at home.  The slices of grilled zucchini and eggplant topped with pickled peppers in the middle bowl were cold and uninspired tasting despite being “marinated”. A small piece of buffalo mozzarella was also bland despite being described as having “chilli, mint, pecorino and an amazing chilli jam”. 

Strangely, nothing came with the vegetables so he decided to order the Italian bread selection (£3.75) as an accompaniment.  Although the basket looked impressive, the bread was cold and unexceptional. Especially the focaccia which is normally known to be soft airy bread saturated with olive oil – how could it be so mealy and dry? Sadly, this is when I reminisced about how good the Olive Garden bread sticks could be.
Luckily, the vongole tagliolini (£11.25) I ordered was better.  The house-made pasta was nice and al dante and the olive oil sauce providing a decent flavour (mix of garlic, white wine and hint of chilli).  But, the clams were just so small and poorly cooked - to put size into perspective the red things you see are grape tomato halves.  They were overcooked and shrivelled into the shell so the meat ended up being the size of a caper and difficult to taste.  To make matters worse there were remnants of sand at the bottom of my dish likely as the clams were soaked long enough. 

In the end, if I were just having a dish of linguine with garlic olive oil it would have been palatable, but the fact that it’s marketed as clam pasta was disappointing.  The clam linguine I generally order at Alice Fazoolis, a Toronto chain, is loads better than the mediocre fare served at Jamie’s Italian.

But, my husband and I should have counted ourselves lucky as my mother-in-law complained her dish of free-range chicken (£13.25; not pictured) was so dry and overcooked that it half of it could not even be cut into.  Normally, she’s a person who’s quite forgiving in her expectation with dishes, so a basic grilled chicken should not be what stumps a kitchen.

I’m very disappointed to review Jamie’s Italian this poorly as I can’t begin to comprehend how the delightful Naked Chef shown on TV can serve something so mediocre.  Sadly, this experience has ruined my perception of Jamie Oliver as a chef and his brand in general.  As for his philosophy about chefs feeding the masses at reasonable prices, I will happily pay a few extra pounds to not eat such substandard quality food again.   

 Overall mark - 3 out of 10


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 ____________________________
Gastro World's Grading System
  • Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
  • 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
  • 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
  • 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
  • 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
  • 10 - absolute perfection!

CLOSED: Stock (Toronto)

Posted on Sunday, September 08, 2013 by
Location: Toronto, Canada
Address: 325 Bay St (inside the Trump International Hotel and Tower)
Type of Meal: Dinner


Stock, situated in the Trump Hotel, is a restaurant you have high hopes for.  I’d imagine it to be plated in gold, filled with Italian suit clad men and overall be an ostentatious affair.  So, upon arriving on the 31st floor, I was a little surprised to be lead into a dining room that was more Old Hollywood glamour than gilded royalty.  With soaring ceilings and a classic white and black motif, Stock is contemporary and comfortable.  Of course, there are still some luxurious touches such as foldout purse stools and a 40-year old Bowmore scotch (approximately a $5K value) encased at the entrance.



Having heard the restaurant is known for over-priced mediocre meals, I’ve never had the urge to visit the place and and waste my hard earned money.  After all, I don’t have a Bay Street expense account to back my culinerary outings.  So, when my friend told me about Stock’s summer supper menu (2 courses for $39 or 3 courses for $49), it seemed like an opportune time to visit.
The highlight of the night was the seared yellowfin tuna appetizer.  Encrusted in corn meal, the tuna was beautifully seared to retain the raw pinkness in the middle.  The vegetables making up the salad just screamed summer with sweet corn kernels, zucchini ribbons and various herbs and sprouts.  The strange touch was the sweet butter pickles garnish – it wouldn’t have been my pick but one friend enjoyed them.  Most importantly, I loved that they stayed away from the tasteless tomato vinaigrette that seems to be gracing so many summer menus.  Stock’s dressing, a zingy and spicy lemon jalapeno aioli, was piped into the zucchini tubes so that you could customize the amount of dressing that goes into your salad.

When the harissa (a spicy North African chilli paste) roasted shrimp arrived, the dish was equally colourful and visually appealing.  Sadly, unlike the tuna, the shrimp were overdone and bordering on rubbery, despite its large size. A salad of crispy green beans, sweet grape tomatoes, corn, roasted red peppers and dandelion accompanied the dish but was a bit bland as there was no dressing.  Overall, a disappointing dish after such a delicious start.    

My friend’s chicken breast was the tastier option.  Cooked sous-vide style, the chicken was very tender as you’d expect.  A generous portion of toasted späetzle accompanied the poultry with chorizo and corn mixed throughout.  The sous-vide poached egg was just heavenly when the creamy yolk was mixed into the crispy bits of späetzle and chorizo.  An olive jus flavoured the entire dish; unfortunately, not one of my favourite flavours which was why I didn’t order the chicken to begin with.  But, the olive taste wasn’t too overpowering, which made me have Orderer’s remorse.

What Stock does right is their service. Everyone we encountered that night was efficient, friendly (in a professional manner) and exceptionally attentive – my water and wine never dipped below a quarter full and after polishing off the basket of warm bread, a second arrived without even being requested. But, of course that’s what you’d expect from a restaurant situated in a luxury hotel.  However, the food still needs improvement to reach equality with Shangri-La and the Four Season’s offerings.  After all, a good starter and mediocre main shouldn’t be tolerated by a hard-hitting boss like Trump.


Overall mark - 7.5* out of 10

*Mark was increased by 0.5 due to the exceptional service.



Like the blog? You can now follow me on twitter for notifications - https://twitter.com/GastroWorldBlog

 ____________________________
Gastro World's Grading System
  • Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
  • 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
  • 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
  • 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
  • 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
  • 10 - absolute perfection!

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