14°c Light rain
Marion Warhaft
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Don't want to cook? Give these a look
HARD to believe, but this endlessly cool spring will end, and there will probably be dog days when you won’t want to cook, or go out to eat, either. The following three may have the answer. All were reviewed as restaurants within the past few years, but their food is also available for delivery or takeout, and not least among their attractions is the fact that some of their dishes are among the city’s rarest and most interesting. Coincidentally, all three owner-cooks are women, and all are warm, friendly and accommodating. Lao Thai moved from Selkirk Avenue to St. Mary’s Road and back again to a Selkirk Avenue location that has been spiffied up by a coat of cheerful red paint and some attractive Asian artifacts. However, the seating is still limited to four six-seater booths and two tiny tables, which makes its city-wide delivery policy particularly attractive. The minimum order is $20, with a $5 delivery charge.View Full Column | 05/9/2013 1:00 AM | 0
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Kitchen produces spectacular results at hidden-away downtown gem
It has only been four years since I last reviewed the Lobby, but much has changed since then. The first thing you need to know is how to find the place, since, unless you've been here since it reopened after the surrounding construction, the entrance is easy to miss. There's no visible sign at street level, and the entry to the restaurant is on the side wall of a dark area that could easily be mistaken for the entry to an underground parking garage. Other changes since its inception include a new manager, Shan Shuwera; a new chef, Jesse Friesen; and a shorter menu with somewhat (but not drastically) reduced prices.View Full Column | 05/2/2013 9:28 AM | 0
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Hotel's café surprises with attention to detail, generous portions
Osborne Village may have been named the Best Neighbourhood in Canada, but I'd be surprised if the Osborne Village Inn was one of the factors. The hotel does have a reputation for — among other things — its rock bar venue. As a place to eat? Not so much. And if, in the past, you told someone you were going there for lunch they might have wondered if they'd heard you right. But that's all changed since new chef Leighton Fontaine took over, and today the café is definitely worth checking out.View Full Column | 04/25/2013 1:00 AM | 0
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Turkish delight
This was originally a pizza outlet, and the present owners found it easier to keep part of the name. If it were up to me I'd change it to the Best Donair & Shawarma, which would be more accurate -- if they aren't the best in town (there may be some I haven't yet found) they are certainly among the best. Although they are intended primarily for takeout you can, if you wish, eat them on the spot, but it will be at one of two little tables or four stools along the window, in a utilitarian hole in the wall, and you'll be eating them with plastic utensils from takeout containers. On the other hand, they will be freshly cut from the roasts, hot, and at their succulent best.View Full Column | 04/11/2013 8:20 AM | 0
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Fantastic fare worth the trip underground to eat at Ira's
It's been there for 23 years, under the same owners, Susan and Ira Brick -- a spacious, softly lit, subterranean charmer with red-and-white checked tablecloths, and looking more Mediterranean than Jewish deli. But, although the kitchen may not be kosher -- not with such sandwiches as spicy southwestern chicken with jalapeno cheese or ham with melted cheddar -- Ira's is Jewish at heart. Proof positive is in the glorious chicken soup, which comes with noodles, or matzo balls, or (my personal choice) kreplach meat dumplings, or all the above. And if chicken soup doesn't warm your heart or cure your cold there are always such du jours as vegetarian split pea soup, cream of mushroom or bean and barley ($3.75 a bowl, $2.25 a cup).View Full Column | 04/4/2013 9:48 AM | 0
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Not much fun at this Carnaval
When I phoned Carnaval for a reservation I was told it was fully booked, so I decided to settle for some tapas in the main-floor lounge. But I was surprised by how stark and uninviting it looked, and how uncomfortable and unwieldy the high bar stools and tables were. Those stools defeated me, which is when I had a second surprise. Would I like a table upstairs? the hostess asked (and no questions about a reservation), and having lost the battle with the stools, I certainly did. The restaurant is accessible by either stairs or elevator, which open into a cramped entryway that faces the central grilling station. The first thing you notice is the smoke; it will probably be the last thing, too, since your clothes may smell of it after you leave. During your meal the smoke that wafts your way can give you a hoarse throat, and if the smoke doesn't do it, the need to shout above the noise level might.View Full Column | 03/28/2013 1:00 AM | 0
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Beautifully prepared food served in lovely setting
I've often thought I could write about a different Asian restaurant every week for a year. These days (although I admit I haven't actually counted them) I could probably say the same thing about Japanese restaurants only, which have proliferated like mushrooms in a wet season. Hardly a week goes by without an email from a reader, enthusing about a sushi place -- usually in their own neighbourhood and, they say, absolutely the best in the city. I understand their enthusiasm. Like Asian restaurants in general, Japanese restaurants offer some of the safest bets for eating out, rarely sinking below acceptability, at least. But every now and then I hear of one that not only rises well above mere acceptability, but which offers some intriguingly rare items as well -- it wasn't just the praise that brought me to Sushi Ai.View Full Column | 03/21/2013 1:00 AM | 0
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Portage Avenue restaurant offers familiar menu, but food is a cut above the usual
The huge windows that line one wall of the space that was formerly home to Park Tower offer a pretty generic facade. But within, the colourful photographs of Santorini on Aegean blue walls and the bright accents of white, sail-like triangles that hang from the ceiling make a statement. Almost certainly there will be souvlaki. Possibly some other Greek specialties as well. The menu, with a few variations, is replicated in Greek-owned neighbourhood restaurants all over town, offering the classic lineup of burgers, sandwiches, soup, salads as well as -- yes, inevitably -- gyros and souvlaki. It's a relatively short list but -- and it's a big but -- many of those familiar offerings are better than average and, particularly noteworthy, include one terrific dish I'd never seen on any other local menu.View Full Column | 03/14/2013 9:38 AM | 0
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Spare but sparkling Pembina Highway spot offers an exhaustive, exceptional menu
There has been a recent explosion of new Chinese restaurants with interesting menus, and they're driving me crazy. I want to try them all. Now! Obviously I can't. I have to make choices, and although I will get to the others eventually, two things tipped the balance in my decision to start with Hai Shang. First was the availability of two very rare personal favourites: Lion's Head meatballs -- so rare I was once reduced to making them myself; and Shanghai soup dumplings -- the tricky kind with the soup inside, which I wouldn't dare attempt to make myself. Second was the number of fervent fans who reported that Hai Shang was managed by the Shen family, formerly of Huangpu River, which was the only place I had ever found those dumplings. They left that location a few years ago because of a family emergency in China, but are back now -- a little farther south on Pembina, and better than ever.View Full Column | 03/7/2013 10:34 AM | 0
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Petit menu, mais le repas est délicieux
Café Ce Soir is a bright, cosy room, with big windows overlooking Portage Avenue (and DeLuca's across the street), an open kitchen in the rear, and brick red walls sporting a few French scenes here and there. The vibe is quiet, casual and relaxed, with seating for only about 20 at a few counters, and some tiny, blond wood round tables. Square tables would probably be more practical but -- since Café Ce Soir (ludicrously translated in an article on the Internet as The Coffee Tonight) is actually more café than restaurant -- possibly the round ones are appropriate for the ambience.View Full Column | 02/28/2013 11:00 AM | 0
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A tale of two brunches
Sometimes a Saturday night at home looks a lot more inviting than going out, especially during the kind of deep freeze we've been having, but getting out of the house during the day doesn't seem quite so intimidating. Brunch is an attractive (and less expensive) alternative to dinner, but although there are many brunches on Sunday, just try to find one on a Saturday. There are plenty of Asian choices, but the pickings are slim for a more traditional brunch.View Full Column | 02/21/2013 10:43 AM | 0
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Charming Kabob Palace serves up subtly spiced Persian delights
The first surprise, coming in from this drab strip of Notre Dame, is the bright and charming interior. Two walls -- one a warm apricot, the other a cool lime green -- are hung with Persian prints, photographs and two framed silk rugs. The tables are well spaced, the chairs are comfortable and the colourful paper napkins are very pretty. Even the menu is beautifully designed, and the soft music in the background is (I'm guessing) Persian. The other surprise is the food, which is distinguished by flavours that are savoury but subtle, spicy but not spicy-hot, and although they may be unfamiliar to many of us, they don't taste at all strange. In fact, they are quite marvellous, and one hopes Kabob Palace will be more durable than a recent, partially Persian failure on Corydon was.View Full Column | 02/14/2013 10:34 AM | 0
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Great food, nothing to wine about
The only other time I've started a review by writing about a restaurant's wine was the first time I reviewed Santa Ana. But in a city where a markup of double is considered moderate, and markups of triple not at all unusual, this place deserves bravos for its average markup of $5 on its well-selected list. What's more, not only can you take your unfinished bottle home, you can even bring your own wine with you, if you choose, for a mere $5 corkage fee, which is one reason Santa Ana is one of this year's bargains.View Full Column | 02/7/2013 10:41 AM | 0
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Delicious deals
With memories of a sumptuous fish soup in mind, I scheduled my visit to La Fiesta for the weekend, which was the only time it had been available. Was, alas, is the operative word, since it's no longer served, on any day of the week. But that was my only disappointment on a recent visit, and I did find consolation in the savoury chicken, chipotles and rice soup. This isn't Mexican, or even Tex-Mex food. It's Salvadoran, and you don't come here for incendiary spices -- there aren't any. Some of the names may be the same, but this is a milder cuisine, more soul-satisfying and flavourful than many of the chili-powered dishes I've had elsewhere, and if you can't live without the heat, there's a bottle of hot sauce on every table. Prices have risen, inevitably, since my last visit five years ago, but not by much, and they still offer some of the town's better bargains.View Full Column | 02/5/2013 3:57 PM | 0
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Small Korean, Indian spots offer tasty menus at affordable prices
Just about now -- after December's extravagance -- is when my thoughts turn to bargain columns, for which I usually choose restaurants I'd reviewed favourably within just the past few years on the assumption that they'd still be good. Sadly, the theory doesn't always work, but in today's choices it did. What's really gratifying is when the restaurant seems to have become even better, like Kimbaek. It's a no-frills little place but tidy and bright, run by a friendly and eager-to-please family. Equally gratifying is the fact that the menu has added a few interesting new dishes, and the prices remain hard to beat, ranging from $9.99 to $10.99.View Full Column | 01/24/2013 11:41 AM | 0
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Tre Visi spinoff a huge hit in River Heights -- with good reason
This Tre Visi spinoff is a boon to fans of the original restaurant who don't want to battle downtown traffic or face the daunting hunt for a parking space. Not that there's a lot of parking on this increasingly interesting corner (with the Grove Pub just across the street), but there's usually some space within an easy walk. One catch though: they don't accept reservations. If there was any doubt about what kind of eatery this part of River Heights wanted, just try getting in at 6 p.m. on a Saturday night, at which time, on my visits at least, every table was taken, with hopefuls waiting at the entrance. To be safe get there when the doors open at 5 p.m.View Full Column | 01/17/2013 3:52 PM | 0
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Well-priced, delicious food puts local eateries on best-of-year list
Not so many years ago, I needed only one column for the highlights of the year; the fact that I now need two says a lot about how our food choices have expanded and improved. The restaurants on the first list are, with rare exceptions, full-service establishments where almost everything is well above average, but there are so many more -- often modest, frequently ethnic and family-run -- which I enjoyed this past year. Don't expect much decor in most of them, but the reasonable prices and delicious specialties will more than make up for it.View Full Column | 01/3/2013 9:53 AM | 0
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Best restaurants of 2012
Choosing the best restaurants of the year isn't always easy. Some years are crowded with good ones, making selections difficult; other years the pickings are few, which makes the choices even more difficult. And some years are just a nightmare, like the time the chef of my top choice disappeared at almost the last minute, and a check-up visit revealed cooking standards that had dropped at prices that hadn't. This has been one of the better years, with more good restaurants than I have space to list. And as peripatetic as Scott Bagshaw has been, he is now co-owner of DESEO BISTRO, and chefs tend not to disappear from their own restaurants. Although his cooking was impressive at his previous posts, in this kitchen he has risen to new heights, with such creations as the plumpest, freshest of mussels in a slightly nippy cider sauce; sweet, juicy scallops perched on celeriac purée; and the tour de force of partly boned chicken stuffed with bits of lobster and strewn with fragrant slices of genuine truffles.View Full Column | 12/28/2012 11:04 AM | 0
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A tale of two menus
The name is the same, and the plain but comfortable interior looks the same, but this isn't the Huangpu River I reviewed approximately eight years ago. No longer can we have that rare Shanghai soup dumpling -- the one with the soup inside; in fact, we can't have any dim sum at all. The restaurant is under new management and everything is new -- the owners, the chef, and the menu. There's nothing new about the takeout menu, though, which reads like most you've ever seen, right down to the dry wontons, chop sueys, chow meins and anything sweet and sour. But look on the other side and it becomes clear that this isn't just another neighbourhood takeout joint. These listings are printed in Chinese only, close to 200 of them, with not a single translation -- annoying to those of us who won't be able to eat authentic Chinese at home, but proof, on the other hand, that the restaurant caters to a knowledgeable Chinese clientele.View Full Column | 12/20/2012 1:00 AM | 0
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Forget the frills
Kelekis has been filled to overflowing with customers who just had to have one last hot dog, one last burger, one last serving of shoestring fries doused with vinegar. True, those familiar fast foods may be available everywhere, but can anything live up to sentimental, decades-old memories? It isn't the only much-lamented closing. Alycia's and the Wagon Wheel also left a gap, but for me the losses go even farther back -- all of them, coincidentally, in the North End. Fortunately, I can still get an Oscar's corned beef sandwich (albeit on Hargrave), and River Heights becomes a little more haimish with Bernstein's pickled tongue, potato latkes and gefilte fish.View Full Column | 12/13/2012 10:05 AM | 0
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He'll bring some of the flay-ver
It started as a catering company (Danny's Whole Hog Barbecue) but has graduated into a full-scale restaurant, occupying the huge space that once was home to Hu's Asian Bistro. The decor seems unchanged since that time -- the lovely little waterfall just inside the entrance, the dark woods, the charming Asian lanterns -- but somehow the vibe is no longer Asian. But it also doesn't look like your typical barbecue joint, with none of the usual country kitsch clutter, and it doesn't sound like one either. The noise level is quite bearable, although -- with a sports lounge on one side, and a massive wall-mounted television in one part of the dining room -- I wouldn't count on tranquility on game nights. Comparisons with Famous Dave's are inevitable. You pay a little more here, and you get a little less -- both in quantity and quality -- but for carnivores who don't want to trek out to Transcona, Danny's barbecued meats and chicken dishes offer a satisfying alternative.View Full Column | 11/29/2012 1:00 AM | 0
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Gohe, Gohe... GONE
There's nothing about Gohe that suggests Ethiopia -- no evocative photographs, none of the charming basketry or other artifacts one sees in other Ethiopian restaurants. It's just a simple but comfortable room done in earth tones of beige, caramel and dark brown, with five television sets -- high up on the walls, though, and all mercifully silent. The menu reads like most other Ethiopian menus and is comparably priced, with entries from $11.99 to $14.99. Of course, there are the usual combos -- one with two meats, the other composed mostly of veggies -- and although all dishes are reasonably well described on the menu, the combos take the pain out of making decisions.View Full Column | 11/22/2012 1:00 AM | 0
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Mixing it up at Monticchio
THE high-ceilinged dining room is attractive in a sleekly modern fashion, with walls of forest green and pale brick, and white cloths on the table -- under glass, granted. It can feel a little cramped when full, but it's where the tables for four are located -- there, or in the lounge on an upper level. If there are only two of you, the little lounge to the right of the entrance has round tables for two in a cosier, quieter setting. Monticchio's ambience suggests contemporary Italian cooking, but the menu tells a different story.View Full Column | 11/15/2012 11:11 AM | 0
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Meals prepared by Red River students among best in town
I've seen the future and it works. I may have paraphrased that Lincoln Steffens quote before, but it's worth repeating when describing my dinner at Prairie Lights, the dining room that showcases meals prepared by graduating students of Red River College's culinary arts program. The last time I was here was over eight years ago, and the performance then, despite the occasional flaw, was pretty impressive. It was even more impressive this year, a seamless operation that offered a great and significantly lower-cost alternative to some of the city's pricier restaurants, and the only reason I'm not awarding stars is because the crew changes nightly. But if the students who were responsible for my dinner last week end up in local restaurants, I'd certainly want to know where.View Full Column | 11/8/2012 11:13 AM | 0
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Hits and misses on dynamic menu at loud Exchange spot
The decor is minimalist modern, with one textured white stucco wall adorned by some attractive small paintings, and other walls of dark grey sporting a big signature painting of an antlered deer. Subdued lighting by charming filament bulbs, encased in clear glass globes, and a potted tree in the middle of the room transform what might otherwise be a boring, square space into an ambience that is mellow and welcoming. But there is a caveat. I've written about noise levels before, but this one is downright clamorous, a din loud enough to force conversation across the table to a shout.View Full Column | 11/2/2012 9:57 AM | 0
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