Piola

Date Visited: Dinner on Saturday Feb 28, 2015
Company: A sick +Will

I had been watching the dates for Piola's All-you-can-eat Gnocci nights for a while now to see when the 29th would fall on a good weekend to attend. Luckily for the month of February, they decided to have Gnocci night on the 28th which happened to be a Saturday instead of skipping it altogether! I made a reservation for 2 for the 7PM seating and patiently awaited for the date to come. Unfortunately for Will, he started to get sick that week and still wasn't feeling 100% on the Saturday. We were debating skipping it and trying again next month, but in the end Will thought he could still eat a decent amount of gnocci.

We drove to Piola because it is quite a ways from us on Queen West. We found parking easily on the street but had a bit of trouble with finding the right entrance to the restaurant. Apparently the left side is not where the entrance is and the different coloured building to the right is also Piola, much to my mistake. We waited a few minutes after we told them of our reservation and were then taken to an open room in the back. There was some confusion on our table as we were moved a bit later to a smaller table for 2  right in the middle of the room instead of a table for 4. There were a huge group of older Italians which took up a lot of the area so I think they were trying to sort them out.

We didn't have drink menus on the table or anything so we ended up just getting waters. About 15 minutes after 7PM, a waitress came out of the kitchen with a huge bowl of gnocci and started going to tables. They would come up and tell you what flavour they had and we would tell them if we wanted any or not. Then they would scoop a bit on your plate and go on to the next table. It was a really fun experience to anticipate what we were getting next and trying all of them.  The speed at which them came was a bit slow at first but it allowed you to enjoy the food and some conversation as well. They started flowing more heavily at the end but by then I was starting to reject them. There were about 9 flavours we got to try before they started repeating.

The gnocci itself I thought was good, very squishy and softer than I remembered them. Will said the texture is usually like that and only the size was a bit smaller than normal. I would have liked to taste a bit more potato in them though, I felt like it was all dough. I've ranked the flavours and what I thought about them below:

Favourites:

Rose - This was my favourite of them all just because the flavour was mellow, sweet and not too prominent. Great combination of creaminess, tomatoes, and cheese.

Sage & Butter -  This one looked like it had no sauce but it was packed with flavour. Never tried anything like it before and really enjoyed it.


Ham & Tomato - Second one we got and compared to the Tomato & Mozzarella, it tasted so much better. Very smooth and creamy with a nice lightness added from the tomatoes.

Bolognese - The bolognese had lots of minced meat in the tomato sauce. Interesting flavour, a bit sweet almost like Chef Boyardee.



                                                                         Neutral:

Ham & Mushroom - Nothing too special about this one. Had it third after the Ham & Mushroom so it was almost the same except I thought the sauce was heavier.

Tomato & Mozzarella -This is the first one we tried, the tomato flavour was too sour and very little mozzarella.

Didn't like:

Four Cheese -  A little disappointed by this one, not enough cheese flavour to be honest.

Puttanesca (spicy tuna, olives, capers, onion, tomato) - Wasn't sure what it was when we first got it but could definitely tell there were olives from the colour and some kind of seafood from the taste. Not a fan of either tuna or olives.

Basil Pesto - The texture was the biggest turnoff, too grainy.

After dinner, I didn't want to have gnocci for a long time. Now, I can't wait to have it again. I noticed though that I favourited the ones with mild flavours that let the gnocci do the talking, which is a good sign I think! Fun setting to enjoy so authentic Italian food in a well organized manner. All in all, we paid $25 each to stuff ourselves silly with little dough dumplings of goodness.

Food: 4/5 - Lots of hits with the flavours, amazing AYCE experience
Decor: 3/5 - Very rustic, wooden walls everywhere with colourful tables. Lots of space.
Service: 3/5 - Impressive flow of food, no one was going to go home hungry. Some of the servers looked like they hated their lives though and others were hard to understand what flavour we were getting.
Willingness to go back: 4.5/5 - Totally, their pizza looks amazing too! So many Italians there, it must be legit.
Overall: 3.5/5

Website: http://www.piolatoronto.com/

O&B Canteen

Date Visited: Brunch on Saturday Sept 13, 2014

Company: Walk-in for 6

On the second weekend of TIFF, we somehow decided to go to the O&B Canteen for Saturday brunch. For those of you who don't know, it's a restaurant attached to the TIFF building and also very close to where most of my friends live downtown. +Will and I were the first to arrive and they said it would be a 20 minute wait. We hung out in the TIFF building and found a spot to sit and wait for everyone since we had a beeper which would call us when our table was ready. We waited over our 20 minutes and decided to go back to ask what was up with our table, all they told us it would be ready soon. It was very busy but they didn't seem too concerned that we had been waiting along time already and they weren't giving us anymore information than we had 30 minutes ago. When we were finally seated we got a nice corner table surrounded by their large windows.

I wasn't very impressed with the selection they had for breakfast/brunch, it was a tad limited overpriced. I decided to go for their $17 Canteen Burger with bacon, aged cheddar, pickled jalapeño, herb mayo, and hot house tomato. Our waiter had a bit of attitude but tried his best in getting us all our drinks and orders. I wanted to order an orange juice but it was $5, no way I was going to pay that. I know that it was O&B but I couldn't justify it knowing it would be a small glass. We had some nice conversations while we were waiting for our food and I had to help +Gisele pick a movie to see for TIFF. We left a bit to look at the schedule outside when +Rosemarie texted us that our food was there!

I was impressed with the look of my burger, the portion size was better than I had expected and the herb mayo sauce smelled awesome. The burger was very lean and less juicy than I would have liked but all the toppings were delicious together. It was better than the average burger and very meaty, the herb mayo was awesome (I want that recipe!). The fries were also great, lightly salted and crispy. There was a lot of mixed reviews of everyone's dishes at the table. They all seemed pretty good although the Gnocci portion looked a little small for +Will although +Gisele claims that she ordered it last week and couldn't finish it.

Food: 3/5 - My burger was pretty good but had higher expectations for the menu.

Decor: 3.5/5 - Loved all the natural lighting and modern decor, the isles are a bit small though and you have to go upstairs the TIFF building for the bathroom.

Service: 1.5/5 - Not vey impressed, a bit snooty.

Willingness to return: 2/5 - I would return if it was suggested but I can't think of a good occasion where I would to suggest going there again, neither the food or prices were enticing enough.

Overall: 2.5/5

Website: http://oliverbonacini.com/Canteen.aspx 

Bistro 238

Date Visited: Late dinner on Thursday Jul 31, 2014
Company: +Will

+Will was spending one of his working days in Oshawa and had some time to spare afterwards to go out for dinner with me. Since the GM Head Office is near the Oshawa/Courtice border, I decided to look up some places in that area. I haven't eaten in any restaurants in Courtice before and there wasn't very many I found to be honest. There are were a lot of bars but I wanted something nicer without being too pricey. I read some reviews on Bistro 238 and saw that they were a local favourite, it sounded fancy but their prices were reasonable. I called in the morning to get a reservation but they only had something available at 5:30PM or 8PM! We went for the 8PM so we didn't have to rush after work.

Driving there, it was a tad difficult to find because their sign wasn't visible from the main road, but you had to drive into the parking lot of the strip mall to find it. When we entered, it lined you up behind a divider from the dining area to be greeted. There was one couple in front of us and it seemed pretty full, we arrived around 7:45PM as they said they should be ready for us around then which they were. There's two small rooms for dining with about 6-8 tables in each? Most of the clientele were mature families or groups of seniors.

We came on their Pasta night for which they had a chalk board listed with their specials. Each pasta came with a Caesar Salad and was only $12! They were very keen on 'no substitutions' but there was plenty of pasta variations. I went for the Fettuccine with Atlantic Salmon and Asparagus in a Pesto Alfredo Sauce and Will got the Potato Gnocci with Bacon and Mushrooms in a Cream Sauce. We got some slices of a dark brown rye bread to start with butter on the side. Our salads came and they were fairly sized for starters, definitely not a small portion. It was topped with a crouton with pesto spread which gave it good flavour to eat by itself. The ingredients of the salad was pretty standard. The only thing I would say is that I found the Caesar dressing had a bit too much anchovy flavour. I usually don't like to taste that part of the sauce but found it to stand out.

The atmosphere of Bistro 238 is very relaxed and calm so it's great to come here for a date or a low-key family celebration where you can have a conversation. The staff were also very sweet and humble. I was pretty excited when our pastas finally arrived, I also got mine topped with some fresh Parmesan. The portions were a good size but I was already a bit full from the earlier food! They also told Will that he got the last serving of Gnocci, which I'm sure made him very happy. I tried the Gnocci and it was so good, it almost melted in your mouth after a bite. His dish also had tons of mushrooms and bacon mixed it, he finished it in no time! I couldn't say the same for mine though, mostly because I found it it very hefty and rich. The fettuccine pasta was cooked a bit hard and I didn't really taste much of the pesto in the sauce. The salmon was very fresh and you could taste it throughout the pasta. There wasn't enough asparagus though and I wish you could taste the flavour more like the salmon. Overall, everything was cooked perfectly and even though I only finished half of it, I enjoyed eating every bite!

Food: 3.5/5 - Great deal for what we paid!
Decor: 3/5 - Very old-fashioned but comfy and welcoming space.
Service: 3/5 - Pretty good, nothing too extraordinary.
Willingness to Return: 5/5 - Hope to make this a regular spot for me!
Overall: 3.5/5

Website: http://bistro238courtice.wix.com/bistro238