It was a pretty huge week of eating. My husband just celebrated a milestone birthday and to us that means a lot of dinners. We hit a couple of our favourite special occasion spots. First we went to Scaramouche Pasta Bar and Grill. This restaurant is very close to our place (less than 5 minutes) and a place we go for special occasions, but sometimes just for a date night. If you don’t know about Scaramouche, there are a couple of things to point out. When you pull up (to complimentary valet), the first thing you see is a condo. You wouldn’t think a restaurant this great would be in a spot like this. There are two restaurants in one – the Restaurant is very high-end, and apparently one of the city’s best (I’ve never been ) and the Pasta Bar which is slightly more casual with pasta as the focus. The views are spectacular. You can see all of downtown and when we went, it was beautifully decorated for Christmas. Now to the food…
Sometimes I get the soup special, it is usually not a combination you would ever guess. I can almost promise it’s never a basic tomato. That night, we shared a composed Caesar salad. The romaine hearts are beautifully plated with a little chopped egg (we opted for no egg) and delicious Parmesan.
For mains, we always get pasta. It’s fresh and homemade and incredibly interesting combinations that I haven’t seen anywhere else. My husband’s (and mom’s) favourite is the peppercorn fettuccine. This is a staple on the menu. It’s a cream based sauce with beef tenderloin, mushrooms, pine nuts and bread crumbs. The pine nuts and bread crumbs add a great texture. The meat is always juicy and perfectly cooked. It’s super peppery, but that’s what you need to expect when you order a dish like this. I always sneak a couple bites.
The menu here is constantly changing with very few items that are always on it. I usually go for the gnocchi. They are bigger than most, but very light and airy. Like eating little clouds with interesting and different sauces. This time it came with mixed wild mushrooms (no button mushrooms to be found), crispy shallots, wilted (not bitter) greens and duck confit. Sometimes I find duck to be too gamey, but this was tender and not too intense. There wasn’t a lot of duck meat, but the mushrooms made up for it. The sauce was more of a jus and believe me, I wasn’t leaving a drop.
The star of the show is always the dessert. They have an amazing pastry chef, who I’m sure makes delicious pastries, but we keep going back for the coconut cream pie. The crust is flaky and tender. The filling is creamy, dense and rich. It’s topped with white chocolate curls. It’s really quite beautiful. They also make it special for birthdays by writing ‘Happy Birthday’ in chocolate on the plate. Even if you think you don’t like coconut, try it. You won’t be sorry. Whole pies are even available to go!
Dreamy cream pie
1 Benvenuto Pl (Avenue and St Clair)
http://www.scaramoucherestaurant.com/
not foodies. 