Month: July 2019

Summerlicious 2019 – Auberge Du Pommier

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Twice a year the city of Toronto offers almost 200 restaurant options in the city for 3 course fixed priced menus for lunch and dinner. It is a great time to experience new restaurants you have wanted to try. It is also a great time for restaurants that you may have only been to for a special occasion as it is a high end experience. Such is the case with the restaurant experience the ladies who brunch had at Auberge du Pommier.

Auberge is owned by O&B Hospitality Group which is Peter Oliver and Michael Bonacini. It is a privately owned company that is one of the largest restaurant and event space groups in Canada. As quoted on their website about their food – ” As devout foodies, we purchase only the best ingredients from suppliers who share our commitment to quality. Our common, unwavering love of food can be tasted in every dish we serve.” This is 100% true of the food experience we had this week. O&B have 13 restaurants that are participating in Summerlicious 2019.

If you have ever been to Auberge Du Pommier you know that your experience starts as you walk up to the front door. You feel like you are walking into a cottage in the French countryside, not just off the business and crazy of Yonge Street Toronto traffic.

Foodies, but not limited to, like to go on line and review menu options so that there is an idea of what your choices are before you get to the restaurant for ordering excitement. We all did that ahead of time.

We had the discussion of ordering different items so that we could all sample the food. It worked out well. Lots of wonderful tasting options in a cucumber gazpacho, and anise-cured salmon and a beautiful salad with mixed greens, crisp bright green haricots vert, sliced radish, dried cranberries and almond crumb. The highlight of this simple yet elegant salad was the dressing, a champagne mustard vinaigrette.

Our main courses were equally as beautiful on the plate as they were to taste.

Gnocchi – sweet peas, asparagus, Parmigiano-Reggiano, lemon thyme cream.

Thon Nicoise – albacore tuna, black olive tapenade, new potato, anchovy, green beans and cherry tomatoes

Boeuf – flat iron steak, charred broccolini, crispy shallots, pomme puree, sauce au poivre (side note, the crispy shallots were out of this world, would have been happy with a bowl of them on the side).

For dessert two of the ladies had Clafoutis – wild blueberry, lemon Chantily, almond crisp and the other two had Tarte au Chocolat – graham cracker crumble, cocoa nib tuile, creme fraiche ice cream .

In the photo you will see a cup of coffee. All of us agreed it was the best cup of coffee we had tasted. We were so impressed we asked our server what kind of coffee it was. She said it was Canterberry.

As I said at the top of this post, it was a wonderful experience from start to finish. Not only do I recommend that you have an Auberge du Pommier experience, but I also recommend you get out in the city and try to have a summerlicious experience. It is running until July 21st, and it is not too late to get into some great restaurants in the city.

Bien manger mes amis – Good eating my friends!

“We aim to leave lasting, positive impressions on each and every guest through our intelligent, enthusiastic and emotional service. ” – Peter Oliver and Michael Bonacini

Here comes the sun – It’s all right.

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If you have been following my blog recently you have noticed a lot of food posts. I actually enjoy writing them and not sure why I hadn’t started this earlier, I have been taking pictures of food for a long time (and I am sure driving my friends crazy along the way). I will be writing more about the things I am passionate about, so stay tuned for great stories around my photos (and food).

I try to live my life authentically and the real truth is I have been looking for new stories to share with y’all to avoid talking about the event that is now very fast approaching, the one year anniversary of Heath’s passing. There, wrote it, ripped off the band aid.

My niece has been taking guitar lessons for several months now. Going to their house and hear her picking and strumming is something I have really come to enjoy. One visit I was in the kitchen and she was in the dining room practicing. All of a sudden I hear the opening chords to Here Comes the Sun by the Beatles. I instantly took a breath and was affected by this. I always called Heath, sunshine, because he always looked at the glass is half full and that each day is an opportunity to be a great day.

I am a believer in signs and have had many over the past 12 months. Whenever I hear this song, I pause and smile.

Today I feel like the “long cold lonely winter” has been the past year of grieving. Many people shared with me that it does take a full year to go through ‘it’. I can still remember one of my co-workers at WE telling me that first week, “the only way to get through it, is to go through it”. It is true. It is lonely, it is painful, it is not linear. Those 5 steps – denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance. Someone I know just lost someone very close to her and she shared these words yesterday – The irony of grief is that the person you need to talk to about how you feel is the person who is no longer here. That it is what it is.

Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun, and I say
It’s all right.

Little darling, it’s been a long cold lonely winter
Little darling, it feels like years since it’s been here.

Here comes the sun (doo doo doo)
Here comes the sun, and I say
It’s all right.

Little darling, the smiles returning to the faces
Little darling, it seems like years since it’s been here.

Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun, and I say
It’s all right.

Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Sun, sun, sun, here it comes
Little darling, I feel that ice is slowly melting
Little darling, it seems like years since it’s been clear
Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun, and I say
It’s all right

Here comes the sun.
It’s all right

Thinking of everyone that is going on their own journey and where you may be on it.

Live your best life,

Lisa

#HeathLessons

Dining out in the six – Uncle Betty’s Diner

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If you have been a regular reader of this blog the past several weeks you know that my friends and I have kicked up our brunch game to trying some of the restaurants in and around Toronto that have been on different websites, food shows or recommendations from friends.

This weekend took us to Uncle Betty’s Diner. I had been there once before and didn’t have the best food experience but thought I would give it one more shot. I went for the recommendation that was on John Catucci’s “You’ve gotta eat here” and it did not impress me the way it impressed him.

My friends ordered two verisons of Eggs Benedict – one on top of sweet potato hash and the other more traditional but with regular bacon not pemeal bacon.

Funny thing about my menu choices. I almost always have two options I am choosing from when I go out to eat. Both times I had on my list the stuffed french toast, stuffed with ricotta cheese and blueberries. Both times I had a savoury item on my list and ended up choosing that option.

The item that was featured on You’ve gotta eat here was the ultimate grilled cheese. I know that it will NOT appeal to some people that read my blog (my mother), but it had potential. Until it didn’t. The option on the menu said, white and yellow cheddar cheese. I told our server NOT yellow but white cheddar only.

Like any restaurant experience, you wait while your food is being prepared. After watching as much food tv as I do I know what a chef or line cook does back of house to make the food look good for their patrons. This presentation did not disappoint. It was a good looking plate, of course with the wrong type of cheese in the sandwich.

One of my friends said, right you said white cheddar. Called the server over and she was very apologetic that she made the error. She would have it corrected right away. A very few minute later she brought out a pathetic looking plate of food. Half the portion of potatoes and basically the same sandwich but with a new top and melted white cheddar on it. (I found bits of the other while I was eating).

She asked me if there was anything else she could bring me and to be honest at that point my friends were more than half way through their meals and it was just past the point. She took the meal off my bill and brought us doughnuts to share. I appreciated her effort to correct her error and I know that she felt badly about it.

What I will say that made up for the less than five star food experience was the conversation and the company of the people at the table. Food is not a passion for everyone, but for many of my friends it is, and it is what brings us together.

Check this one off the list and move on!

Bon Appetite

Lisa