Traditional French Meal in the Heart of Leslieville

Date night with a french flare is one of the few things  that my wife and I rarely have the chance to take advantage of. Fortunately we were been able to do a baby-sitting swap with our nieghbours across the street. They watch ours, we watch theirs, that kind of thing. I digress.

We made a reservation at a restaurant in Leslieville in the East end of Toronto. One of those "up and coming" areas that is actually "up and coming".

The restaurant is Fare Bistro. A lovely little place that strikes you as high end and the feel really is. In a traditional French style the atmosphere is fantastic. Quiet, yet not in the way that you are going to get shushed by others.

Our fantastic server greeted us and showed us to our table. My wife and I decided to of with the Prix Fixe menu that they run on Tuesdays to Thursdays. We weren't let down either.

We started with an app that we split. The house pate with mushrooms, green peppercorns, and Armagnac. Cornichons and warm baguette. Let me qualify by saying that I'm not a fan of pate, but OMG this was yummy! The portion was right and the warm baguette helped it melt in your mouth.

I also had the fresh beef and barley soup. This is one of my favourite kinds of soup, so I had to try. The thing that impressed me the most was that there was slices of perfectly cooked beef. Not the stuff that was leftover from the night before either.

We moved on to the mains. I with my roasted chicken and my wife with the mushroom risotto.

The risotto was was fantastic. The right consistency and a great mix of 4 different types of mushrooms. My chicken was, well....NO SWISS CHALET! It was a supreme of chicken and the seasoning was perfect. Crispy seared on the outside and juicy and tender inside. The veggies weren't raw nor were they grey. The prep and presentation was ideal.

You know how you sometimes check out a restaurant's website before you go to check out the menu and they have pictures of the food? Well the Creme Brulee I had for desert looked exactly like the one on their website. And it tasted as good as it looked.

I kid you not. This is what it looked like. Same cookie and everything!

Now on to the good stuff. Not that the food isn't.

The wine we had was the 2010 Saint Chinian - Domaine du Sacre Coeur, Languedoc France. The price point on this was about where it should be at $50 per bottle and worth every drop. I chose that particular one as it was a good compromise for both the chicken and the mushroom risotto.

As for our dessert wine, we had a glass of Muscat de Beaums de Venice Vidal Fleury

A bargain at $10 per glass.

They also have a BYOW for a corkage of $20/bottle.

So my overall conclusions for Fare Bistro.

Go. Take your friends, tell your friends about it, and seek out the food that chef Brad Clark is bringing to you.

Price Point: Very reasonable.
Food Quality: Outstanding
Location: Easily Accessible (free street parking after 6:00pm)
1097 Queen Street East, Toronto, ON - 416-645-0914 info@farebistro.com
Make a Reservation: Recommended

This is a place that will be heading back to. No questions asked.

As always, enjoy a glass.
Matt

Having a Glass of Wine with the One You Love

I want to start off by saying that I am the luckiest guy in the world. Yes, I really am.

Back in 1997 I was given the opportunity to go to an event at the Toronto Symphony Orchestra called Classic Network. I'm not going to go into a lot of detail about the night, but it was when I was singing in a chamber choir (Yes I did that. That in itself is another blog post.) and a free ticket to the symphony and free drinks to boot was so it an awesome night out.

 Little did I know that it was really singles night at the symphony. A big "any way", I had a very brief conversation with one of the staff members working at the event about my other favourite libation, gin.

15 years and 2 kids later I am lucky enough to still enjoy sharing a bottle of wine with the one that I truly love. We don't have a special bottle, variety, or vintage of wine that we keep going back to, and in fact, she is reaping the rewards of me buying most of the wine in the house. I'm totally good with it too.

But one of the things I enjoy most is sitting down for a great meal or even sitting on our front porch and talking over a great glass of wine.

There is something about how a glass can make the conversation more meaningful and bring back some wonderful memories. I want a lot more memories to come and be able to reminisce over many more.

So next time you open a bottle of wine, ask yourself this. Is the person that I am sharing this a friend or something more?

Friends are awesome, but if that person is something more, hold on to them and make sure you do everything in your power to show them how important they really are.

Be sure to tell them that over your next glass.

So enjoy a glass with someone you love, like I am lucky enough to do.
Matt

My Favourite Movies with Wine in Them

One of my favourite actors from long before she was on Grey's Anatomy, is Sandra Oh. A fantastic Canadian actor that I first saw in the play "Inquest" at the Factory Theatre in Toronto. From that point on I was a big fan. She has gone on to a lot of great things including and if you are a wine drinker and a bit of a movie fan you have probably seen it.

Sideways

No doubt a great movie, including many other great actors, but more importantly a focus on wine.

I want to give you my top 5 movies or scenes that have wine in them that I love to see over and over again.

#5

The Princess Bride.

Probably a movie that you have all seen and love. I know my kids do.

 

#4

Silence of the Lambs

An amazing thriller scene.

#3

Roman Holiday

The first time drunk for the Princess and Joe Bradley has a glass of wine.

 

#2

Band of Brothers - Day of Days - Day of Firsts.

This is actually an HBO Mini-series

 The night of D-Day June 6, 1944.

#1

Casablanca

One of the best movies of all time and flush with Champagne

What are some of your favourite movies that have wine in them?

Please comment and let me know.

Enjoy a glass.

Matt