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

Music and Wine

So over the last few weeks I have been informally (in no scientific way at all) asking people, when the are drinking a glass of wine, what music do they have on in the background?

Some of the responses have been from the expected to the OMG really?

What I did learn is that the music and the wine often went together.

Here are a couple of examples:

• Lighter white wines generally went with bubbly happy music. One of my coleagues drinks Pinot Grigio and she said that she like to listen to music like Top 40 and yes I'm going to say it Katie Perry. (more on her later)
• Another coleague said he basically lives off of big bold reds like Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvginion and listens to Classic Rock and heavy bass dubstep.
• One of my tweeps also likes lighter reds drinks it with nastalogic 80's and 90's brit-pop.

Some of what you were probaly thinking about also held true. A nice warm red while listening to Jazz and blues, while a good white could go with fun happy music. Miles Davis and Meaghan Smith are some great examples of both old and new.

Here are some of my favourite tunes to go with wine that I would be drinking.
I hope you enjoy them.

What about you? What do you like to listen to when you are drinking your favourite glass of wine? Please share with me.

Enjoy a glass.
Matt

This is my fun red wine song.

Kimbra - Cameo Lover

My drinking white wine with friends song.

REM - Shiny Happy People

My big red wine song.

Radiohead - High and Dry

My I need some alone time with a glass of wine song.

Eagles - Desperado

Finally my sparkling wine song.

Yes I do like the song.

Kaite Perry - Last Friday Night

I need to include an honorable mention in here. This is an awesome duo that I always come back to ever since I first heard them online.

Pomplamoose doing La Vie en Rose by Edith Piaf.
Love it. 

Amazing Night of Food and Fun

Tonight was a night that I will remember for a long time. My wife Sandra and I went to a couple cooking class at Calphalon Culinary Centre. It was Mediterranean Night Cooking for Couples. We had a great time. Marinated Flank Steak, Chorizo stuffed eggplant (yes I had some) and a great lemon cream dessert.

Here's what disappointed me. There were a total of 6 wines to choose from. 3 red and 3 white and a few beer. For most people it would be fine, but call me picky I was a little disappointed. Sandra had a very nice Mondavi Saugvion Blanc. I stuck with the Jacob's Creek shiraz as I figured it was going to match up as best as possible to the seared flank steak we were preparing.

Here was my biggest surprise of the night. One of the other couples we were speaking with (Julia and Colin) I asked what their favourite wine was at I have to admit I was taken aback.

Julia's favourite was the Cave Spring Estate Riesling. It isn't many people that like a riesling as their go to wine.

In the overall discussion of wine and the meal that we had prepared and was enjoying, the biggest issue that was common for everyone at the table was how they were intimidated with the vocabulary of those who love wine.

Here is the example I used. Volatile Acidity on the nose. To those in the industry you know exactly what I'm talking about. For those of you that don't, have you ever smelled a wine and said to yourself, "band-aid???".

Wine should be about things that you can relate to. Not fancy terms that you don't know what they mean.

I guess my point is, base your love and experience of wine to what YOU know. Not what the books and other people tell you is in it.

Enjoy a glass.
Matt