There's something about Little Italy that still draws me in after all these years. It has an effortlessly lively energy where everyone seems to be gathered on a patio. During FIFA, the neighbourhood becomes even more animated, even on nights when no one is actually playing.

Tucked just off bustling College Street is Casa Paco, a charming restaurant that feels like you're being welcomed into someone's home. They now offer two tasting menus: a more elaborate chef's menu in the dining room and a shorter experience at the bar.

The five-course chef’s menu ($145 per person) offers plenty of food, enough to leave you fully satisfied. Still, the restaurant also offers a few additions if you want to augment the experience.

We added their signature Rubia Gallega ($28), a labour-intensive dish that Chef Chinery and Chef Bragagnolo have considered removing from the menu more than once, only to keep it because diners love it so much.

Using Ontario wagyu, they cure the beef in house for nine months until it develops an incredible natural sweetness that's unlike anything I've tasted. These paper-thin slices are finished with creamy burrata and fresh truffle for an extra touch of decadence. Layered onto the airy crackers, everything comes together in one cohesive bite that's sweet, savoury, creamy, crunchy, and packed with umami.

Oh, and those darker hues along the edges of the meat? Rest assured, it's not mold. Rather, it's from the truffle wash they use to finish the beef.

The chef's menu begins with a trio of snacks to whet the appetite. The meaty boquerones started to lean a little fishy when eaten on their own, but the tangy sea asparagus balanced everything out, adding a lovely fresh crunch against the white anchovy. It also paired beautifully with the tomato bread, which was exquisite thanks to beautifully ripe tomatoes.

The only bite I didn't really sample was the octopus carpaccio, which I've sadly lost my taste for after learning more about these brilliant, misunderstood creatures. My husband, however, assured me it was delicious.

Seafood reigns supreme on Casa Paco's menu, and we were lucky enough to visit while the last of the B.C. spot prawns were still available. As always, they were wonderfully sweet with that firm yet delicate texture that makes them so sought after. They're served with a well-seasoned chilled baby gem soup that looks like wheatgrass but tastes nothing like it. I only wish there had been more of the smoked cucumber, which added such a wonderful crunch against the silky purée.

Even their heirloom tomato salad gets a kiss of the sea with cubes of bluefin tuna scattered throughout. I'll admit, I never imagined pairing tuna with strawberries, and I'm not sure I'd do it again. It's not that the combination is bad, but the two ingredients don't really complement each other either. Something lighter, like scallops, might have been a better match.

It almost felt like Casa Paco was serving all my favourite ingredients, as my eyes immediately lit up when the zucchini blossom arrived, something I always look forward to eating but would never attempt to make myself. Stuffed with a scallop and lobster mousse, the blossom can be enjoyed on its own or elevated even further with the intensely flavourful lobster emulsion, which tastes like a lobster bisque crossed with hollandaise.

Before we could even finish the dish, a plate of socarrat arrived. The rice cooked in a seafood stock and enhanced with a the flavourful oily sobrassada.

Once it was scraped up, we’re told to take the toasted crispy rice and mix it into the remaining lobster emulsion. What a fantastic idea. It immediately made me regret not leaving more sauce behind. It was so good that it convinced me I need to return for Casa Paco's Sunday paella nights.

For the main course, diners choose between a fish or steak to share. We kept the seafood theme going with the Dover sole, which is carefully deboned, brined, grilled, and filleted for sharing. It arrives with a Basque pil-pil sauce made from the fish bones, cod, and aromatics before being emulsified with olive oil into a silky, almost velvety sauce. Such a shame the dish wasn’t accompanied by a piece of toasted bread for mopping up every last drop.

Having been brined, I found the fish just a touch salty on its own. Thankfully, bites of the accompanying radicchio salad balanced things nicely. Either the vinaigrette or another ingredient lent the salad a subtle licorice flavour that I normally wouldn't enjoy, yet somehow it really worked here.

Before dessert, a simple raspberry ice palate cleanser arrives.

Which leads me to point out that the chef's menu doesn't include dessert. Consequently, if you're craving something sweet, you'll want to add one to finish the meal.

The coffee and cardamom cheesecake ($18) is more than enough for two to share. Casa Paco's Basque cheesecake is lightly burnt, fairly dense, yet wonderfully creamy. The coffee flavour comes through clearly, while the cardamom leaves a subtle warmth that gently tingles on the finish. Very interesting indeed.

For an even richer ending, the chocolate and olive oil truffle ($16) is a solid log of silky dark chocolate ganache that practically melts on the tongue. It's only lightly sweetened, making it surprisingly balanced, and pairs beautifully with the cheesecake if you want to mix and match bites.

Unlike the aperitif selection, the digestif menu isn't printed because their amaro selection of roughly 100 bottles is constantly changing. You'll simply have to trust Gary Danaie, their sommelier, to find the right one for you. After my husband mentioned that he normally enjoys cognac, grappa, and Scotch, Gary recommended the Ximenez Spinola 2018 Battonage ($22). He absolutely nailed it. The spirit carried the richness of cognac, a touch of grappa's bite, and somehow finished with lingering caramel sweetness.

Since joining the restaurant in June 2025, Gary has dramatically expanded the wine program from my previous visit. Focusing on Spanish and Italian wines, he has an infectious passion for explaining every bottle. We sampled several grape varieties we'd never even heard of before and thoroughly enjoyed the experience ($85 for the wine pairing).

Even more impressive is that Gary is the restaurant's only employee. The other four people you'll see working throughout the evening are all owners and founders: Chef Chinery and Chef Bragagnolo in the kitchen, Tommy Conrad behind the bar, and Ailbhe McMahon leading the front of house.

All five jump in wherever needed, serving dishes, clearing plates, checking on guests, and keeping the restaurant running. The downside is that, with only one seating each evening, dinner unfolds at a leisurely pace. Our five-course menu with an add-on and dessert stretched to three-and-a-half hours. Antsy diners who struggle to sit still have been warned.

Restaurants often talk about hospitality, but Casa Paco genuinely lives it. With every owner contributing to the experience and Gary guiding diners through an exceptional wine program, the restaurant feels remarkably personal. It's the sort of place you settle into for the night rather than simply dine at.

Some restaurants just exude an unexplainable charm, and this is Lake Inez. Maybe it’s their homey dining room that elicits a sense of comfort, the helpful but not over-the-top staff that makes you feel you’re amid seasoned veterans, or the quirky hand drawn menus and wine descriptions that makes you chuckle. Whatever if its, this charm makes you really want to like Lake Inez.  

Their menu features seasonal ingredients along with whatever they pickled/fermented previously that’s now ready-to-eat. Dishes are presented with eccentric names that has a Trader Joe-like feel, such as the Hand Upstream Rolls ($22), which presents the upstream swimming fish, salmon, cured into gravlax form and covers it with cream fraiche and plum sauce. I enjoyed the meaty chunks of fish but wish the chefs weren’t so heavy handed with the sauce, it masked the salmon’s flavours and made it difficult to wrap in the nori.

While pairing tomatoes with bonito seems strange, the Tomato Tonnato ($21) was one of our favorite dishes of the night. Somehow, the fish flakes’ umami essence and the juicy heirlooms just work, bringing out the freshness of the fruit but giving it a bit of je ne sais quoi as well.

In fact, Lake Inez’s most simple sounding dishes were the tastiest. The Humble Potato ($19) featured big chunks of well-fried, roughed up potatoes that have a lovely crispy coating and tosses it in a flavourful Gouda queso. While the dish may sound heavy, the addition of herbs and anise hyssop (an edible flower) added a freshness to the cheesy potatoes.

Along the same vein, the Corn Puddin’ & Baby Shrimp ($23) was a lovely dip of hot gooey Fresno sauce studded with sweet corn and a fair amount of just cooked through shrimp. While it was tasty, it would be even better with more seasoning and salt. Still, the bread plate sized tortillas added a sunniness to the dish that I couldn’t help but smile when seeing it.

The Wham! Bam! Thank You, Ham! ($22) started with promise with slices of lightly cured country ham paired with sweet Korean melon and pears. But then the pickled watermelon rind and pickled peanuts were so pungent that after getting a bite of these that’s all I could taste.

It seems Lake Inez really likes sour flavours as the Cucumber?! I Hardly Know Her! ($19) was also too tart for my taste. The diced crunchy cucumber was tossed with a cashew cream that seems to contain a fair amount of preserved lemon. Aside from the refreshing cucumber and lemon, the other flavours were rather muted as I couldn’t really taste the curry leaves or much salt. This was a divided dish for the table.

The Miami Memory ($28) contained a piece of well-seasoned blackened snapper that had a nice spice but was over cooked. While it was considered a larger “main” dish, there was a scant portion of snapper, and the shredded greens and couscous side didn’t increase it’s substantialness by much.

Mama’s Meatballs ($28 for two; $10 for an additional meatball and bread) was more generous and the better of the two mains if you’re hungry. Mama makes moist and not overly dense meatballs and the peach ragu and mostarda lightens the otherwise hearty dish. Serving these with a large hunk of buttered toast was smart to help mop up the sauce.

While Lake Inez has great vibes, their dishes were hit and miss. Ideally, you should visit with a group of at least four people so you can order the entire menu to find the dishes that stand out. Regardless, the restaurant seems to get such great reviews, perhaps not necessarily for the food, but for their quirky warm charm. Just look at these menus as see if you don’t crack a smile. 

Fismuler operates with an efficiency that seems apt for it’s German sounding name. Not long after sitting down, a starter of bread and whipped paté was brought over while we settled in. Just be mindful the nibble costs 2.75€ a person, a fact detailed at the bottom of the menu we had yet to review. Still, we enjoyed the soft crusty bread, silky and light paté, and thin lightly pickled cucumbers that helped tide us over.

The small plates were the more impressive dishes of the evening. Consequently, the crusty bread goes nicely with everything so try not to devour it right away. The sweet tomato salad (13.50€) was simple but deliciously good - ripe sliced tomatoes topped with a fragrant olive oil and flakes of salt.

It complements the burrata (17€), which has an amazing spicy green mole giving the cheese a burst of flavour. In fact, the whole dish was different: the burrata accompanied with roasted broccolini, an unusual green that works. I could have easily had an order to myself.

When our server suggested the chicken wings (18.50€) I had my doubts, but the nuggets of fried deboned chicken tossed in a creamy truffle sauce were addictive. The sauce, of course, became an excuse to have even more bread.

Of the small plates, only the fresh calamari (20.50€) was a bust. The seafood was over cooked, way over salted, and hidden amongst so much unnecessary foam. Give me more of the chicken wings any day.

Still, the calamari was better than the egregiously overdone and tough duck (25.50€), one of the worst renditions of the dish I’ve ever had. Perhaps, it could have been salvaged if the duck was cut thinner… even then, I feel they would still be chewy. The side dishes weren’t any better: the charred corn turned out to be the canned variety and the spring onions left whole and unseasoned. The best part of the dish was the puréed sweet potatoes.

I wish I had heeded the server’s recommendation to order the Viennese schnitzel (29€). Pounded to a cardboard thinness and the size of a pizza, the schnitzel gets a thin coating of raw egg yolk tableside before being jazzed up with shaved truffles and chives. It was perhaps a touch salty, but at least it was crispy and not overdone.

I haven’t ventured far from the Blue Mountain Village while visiting Collingwood, usually because no one wants to be a designated driver and the city’s taxi service isn’t plentiful. Yet, I know I’m doing myself a disservice and missing out on the true experience of the town – a laidback friendly vibe, reliance on fresh produce, and eclectic local flavours that aren’t trying to please a tourist palette. A place like Hearts, located away from the Village in Kimberly.

One look at their chalkboard menu and I knew fresh ingredients would grace our table that night. Things change so quickly that we’re asked to snap a picture of the board before making our way to the table. Do away with printed menus and save the trees!

A platter of freshly shucked oysters ($40 for 12) arrives with the typical vinegar-based garnishes, they’re a nice fresh bite against the other heavier starters we ordered.

Such as the chicken liver parfait ($22) that’s topped with a creamy congealed jelly for an extra shot of flavour. The smooth parfait is slightly sweet and when smeared onto the hot crusty bread creates a sweet and savoury concoction. There’s plenty of pickled zucchini included to cut through the parfait’s richness, but the dish could include more bread to help get through the generous portion.

Luckily, it seemed like everything we ordered included slices of the lovely toasted fresh bread. The steak tartare ($25) was a hefty mound of well-seasoned beef mixed with a savoury relish that had a slightly spicy finish. While I would have liked the beef a little less pulverized, the tartare had such lovely flavours, so much so that the large salty anchovy garnishes were unnecessary and detracted from the meat.

Forgive me while I swoon like a dreamy schoolgirl over the heirloom tomato ($24) salad. I hated raw tomatoes growing up, but after tasting a fresh Ontario heirloom tomato, I was hooked. At their prime they are vibrant and sweet in a cozy warming way. They’re especially delicious paired with a creamy burrata, at Hearts simply seasoned with olive oil and salt. If I still used a notebook, maybe I should draw images of heirlooms on the cover.

The tomato and burrata is a much better option than the salad niçoise ($27). While the niçoise’s dressing was tasty, the canned tuna covered everything casting a fishy tinge over the other ingredients. Personally, I would have like to have a bite of protein separate from the crispy sweet green beans, creamy and soft potatoes, and lovely soft-boiled egg. If someone likes all the flavours combine, they can mix it on their own.

Hearts’ shared plates menu sometimes makes it difficult to determine where the starters end and the mains begin, creating a continuous meal that Hearts orders in a nice procession. The moules and frites ($34) were plentiful, in terms of the mollusk and shallots, sitting in a light white wine broth that’s perfect for dipping bread into. A much better option than the sizzling crinkle cut fries, which are so nice and crispy that they’re best enjoyed solo.

Our server suggested trying the polenta gratin ($25), a thick cube of buttery soft polenta topped with tons of melted cheese and served with roasted bell peppers. It’s an interesting take on polenta that is best enjoyed shared with a lot of people as it’s a rich dish.

The BBQ sticky ribs ($44) were a hit at our table. Tender, sticky, and flavourful with a hint of smokiness, it pulled me in and made me want more and more. The accompanying coleslaw is so finely chopped that you can almost smear it onto the ribs, creating beautiful edible confetti, which has a hefty hit of horseradish – the bite a nice contrast against the sweet and savoury meat. If there was one dish that I wish I didn’t have to share, it’d be these ribs.

Visiting Hearts in the summer was a lovely experience, but I can imagine the heightened appeal after a day of skiing or being outdoors in the winter elements. Hearts’ cozy cabin atmosphere, warm staff, and hearty dishes would sooth any chill. Who needs hot chocolate when there’s sticky ribs.