Lil’ Baci

We had been trying to go out with some friends for a while, but never found time until recently.  I made the suggestion that we try Lil’ Baci on Yonge.  I had previously been to the Queen location a few years ago and thought this might be a good neighbourhood place close by.  I can’t say I loved it.

When my friend ordered the fresh cremini e pecorino salad, the waitress warned us that it was only mushrooms and celery, no lettuce.  When the salad came, it was a bunch of cut up raw mushrooms.  Totally not what she expected.  The lack of celery was probably an innocent error (wasn’t on the menu), but it might be worth saying that the salad is completely raw.  The dressing did happen to be very tasty – a tart, fresh, house made dressing.  I started with one of their daily crostini – mushrooms and truffle oil.  These were sauteed and more like what we expected the salad to taste like.  They had a few interesting crostini and I would definitely be interested in trying 3 for $8 (the other choice is 1 for $3) next time I go back.

Mushroom crostini

For mains, we were pretty boring.  Margherita pizza and spaghetti and meatballs for everyone.  The pizza came about 5 minutes before the pastas so it cooled down while we waited for the pasta for the rest of the table.  The pizza had a pure tomato sauce with a good crust.  The cheese was a good fresh mozzarella, but wasn’t melted enough for me.  It was too chewy.  The pasta was delicious.  You could tell it was homemade and the sauce was a great, smooth, sweet tomato (different from the pizza sauce).  The meatballs were nice and light.  I would recommend pasta and will definitely be having pasta next time.

Not as good as it looks pizza

Best: Spaghetti and meatballs.  This delicious homemade pasta made for a great hearty meal.

Not the best: Margherita pizza.  This just might be a preference or timing thing, but it wasn’t for me.  It was one of the only pizzas that we didn’t even take home the leftovers…

http://www.lilbaci.com/

2013 Yonge St (between Davisville and Eglinton)

Best Shortbread Cookies

There are some things that are so good you want to share them, but there are others that are so good you just want to hoard them.  These cookies are the latter.  I don’t know when I first tried them, but I’ve been hooked for a long time.  The good news is that I have easy access to them and now you can too!

They are made by my friend (and fellow blogger) Jess and her mom.  It has been a long time coming, but they are finally taking orders!  These shortbread cookies are buttery, flaky, light,with a generous piece of delightful milk chocolate.  The cookie melts in your mouth and the chocolate has just the right amount of crunch to it (it’s not really crunch, but a nice texture contrast to the delicate cookie).  Every cookie is made by hand and baked with love.  You can tell how much care goes into making these; from cutting each piece of chocolate individually, making a huge amount of dough, forming each cookie and baking to the perfect light golden brown.  The cookie is small, but mighty.  It’s the best possible combination and impossible to eat just one.

Best Shortbread Cookies!

I’ve been lucky enough to cook with Jess and her mom (an amazing cook) on several occasions and we’ve covered the map with the different things we’ve made, but the recipe for these cookies has always been under lock and key.  It’s probably better that way.  I can’t imagine having them around without devouring them all.

*Many cookies have been harmed in order to write this post.  I’ve been eating them forever and Jess even made me a huge tray to serve at my wedding.  None made it out of the venue alive.

Cookies at my wedding!

Check them out at http://www.bestshortbread.com

Contact Jess for your holiday order asap at jessica@bestshortbread.com  Your family will be starting a new tradition this year!

Now… what you’ve all been waiting for we’re doing our first giveaway!  If you follow us on twitter @not_foodies and start to follow @bestshortbread on instagram you will be entered to win a dozen of these amazing cookies!  We’ll choose a winner on Dec 25.   Cross your fingers!

 

UPDATE: Congrats to Eric Mecklinger on winning our first giveaway!

Stay tuned for more giveaway opportunities

Kinton Ramen

If you are not familiar with Baldwin Street in Toronto, it’s a small street between Spadina Avenue and McCaul Street that houses great authentic cuisine from all over the world. I originally came here with my Dad back in my teens for some great dim sum! On this day, JB and I were on a hunt for some great ramen. She suggested we try Kinton and after hearing and reading about it we decided to check it out. The space is long and narrow with only bar top tables. The atmosphere is warm and inviting, you will often hear lots of yelling when patrons enter or exit, don’t be scared, that’s just the staff being friendly.

I am not a ramen expert so I asked the staff for their suggestions. They were helpful in describing the different dishes and in the end JB ordered the Spicy Garlic Ramen and I had the Shoyu Ramen.

JB’s was yummy, but we both felt there was a bit too much garlic. She ended up taking the small scoop of raw minced garlic off the top.

Spicy Garlic Ramen

My dish was amazing! Some of the best broth I have had in a while. I don’t know what I loved more, the broth or the pork shoulder . Not only do they finish cooking the pork with a kitchen torch, but they marinate it in their amazing soup broth before hand.

Shoyu Ramen

The broth is a mixture of simmering a large amount of pork and chicken bones for over 20 hours and “adding broth of selected quality bonito fish and fresh vegetables”. If you get a seat by the kitchen you can see the huge vats simmering away.

The noodles are not just any noodles, they only use the highest quality flour and a special kneading technique. I would love to learn how to make them, but I think I’ll leave it to the experts.

The price was great for the amount of food we got. I didn’t finish mine and got to eat the rest for lunch the next day. I later learned that if you finish your entire dish you get your picture taken and posted on their Facebook page.

I came across a great line on the Kinton web site, “you will be guaranteed to have a wonderful and addictive experience with us.” I couldn’t agree more. I am definitely hooked on Kinton, it’s all I have been thinking about eating since I went!

Tip: Don’t be scared away if you see a large crowd waiting for seats. The service is fast and people tend not to take a long time to finish their food (probably because it tastes so good).

http://kintonramen.com/

51 Baldwin Street (near Spadina and Dundas)

PC Black Label Vodka Sauce

I’m not Italian.  I enjoy pasta like everyone else.  I like a tomato sauce, I’ll eat a cream sauce, but I love vodka sauce.  There’s something special about a rose sauce with a little something extra.  I’ve always found jarred/canned/anything-other-than-homemade pasta sauces so blah.  Then everything changed…

PC Black Label Vodka Sauce is, hands-down, the best mass-produced jarred pasta sauce I have ever tasted.  This was one of the very first PC Black Label products I tried.  I bought it right around launch and once I tried it literally bought every jar I could find.  Then it was out of stock for a couple of months – those were sad days, I tried a bunch of Loblaws to find it until magically it was back!  I am a huge evangelist about things I love (part of the reason this section of the blog exists) and believe me, I started spreading the word.  I must have sold hundreds of jars by now!

It has become a staple in our house.  A quick weeknight meal.  Penne, chili flakes for some spice and some Parmesan cheese.  The sauce has the right zingy balance of tomato, a little cream, vodka and cheese to add something a little different.  This isn’t your average tomato sauce.  I promise you won’t look at jarred sauces the same way again.  Try it, you’ll be hooked!

Photo from presidentschoice.ca

Morton’s Steakhouse

Sometimes I can be a bully, but for the most part, it’s in a good way.  I try to encourage (read: force) people to do things they might not want to do.  In this case, it was run a 5k race.  Punishment for not doing it: take me to dinner at Morton’s… not exactly fair to call it a punishment, right?

Morton’s was in full swing on Sunday at 6pm.  I saw a few people I knew then sat down for 2 hours of good eating.  I had a pinot noir and forced my friend to try it.  “I hate red wine” was followed with “oh that’s actually pretty good”.

We shared a Casear salad to start.  It’s a good Casear, but it’s hard to write rave reviews about a salad that can be found everywhere.  It’s a big salad with big slices of parmesan.

For the main, we went a little crazy.  We shared the single porterhouse which is a tenderloin and a New York strip with a bone down the middle.  It’s enough for two (no matter what the menu says) and we still took some home.  When I order meat and am asked what temperature I want it cooked, I always ask what the chef recommends.  You would like to believe that the chef knows how to prepare it best (especially at a nice steakhouse).  With a porterhouse, you get a variance in temperature due to the size of the piece and the giant bone in the center.  If you like meat more well done, stick to the outside.  More rare, go for the pieces on the inside.  UPDATE: I was recently told that I didn’t even mention if I liked the steak… of course I did!  It’s Morton’s.  Tender, flavourful and look at all the juice on the plate.

The big bad porterhouse

I have a confession to make – I asked for steak sauce.  So what?  I love sauce with anything.  Anytime I can dip my food I will.  So there.  It’s out.

For sides we went with my favourite – the hashbrown (a full dinner plate of golden, crispy, potato pancake deliciousness), creamed spinach (more cream than spinach, how can you not order it), mac and cheese with bacon (spiral macaroni, generous bacon and a super thick cheese sauce and bread crumb crunchy topping)  and grilled jumbo asparagus with balsamic glaze (gotta get some green in there).  We took home a pretty serious doggie bag.

For dessert, we also went big.  Key lime pie and the molten lava cake.  There’s the chocolate or no chocolate choice.  The key lime is one of the best I’ve had.  A huge slice, tart, great crust.  The lava cake is also stellar, perfect gooey centre with vanilla ice cream and a couple of raspberries.  It’s made to order, so you have to order it when you order your main.  Either make an excellent choice after this meal.

Best: Dessert!  Usually I’m a lady for the main course, but this was a great night of desserts.  How can you go wrong with the perfect combo of chocolatey and tart citrus?

Not the Best: Not-so jumbo asparagus.  It was good, just not the best.  But let’s be honest, November isn’t exactly asparagus season.

Unfortunately I swapped my phone in before putting the pictures on the blog.  So you will have to go to see what it looks like.

http://www.mortons.com/toronto/

4 Avenue Road (near Bloor)