Winterlicious inToronto

I discovered this post in my draft folder from more than 6 weeks ago - something started but forgotten. It' seems a little late now since Winterlicious has long gone but it's not too late to look forward to Summerlicious in July, when you can try these restaurants again.

I love the idea of Winterlicious (and Summerlicious) in Toronto.  Restaurants offer a prix fixe menu for two weeks in the midst of winter (or summer) when business is usually slower.  Diners are enticed to try out new restaurants, especially expensive ones which may normally be beyond their reach.  It's a win-win situation.

I typically would try to get to a new restaurant every year but also would return to an old favourite. Pangaea is one that I go back to every year and it almost always live up to my expectations, including this year.  I also tried out Cafe Boulud and La Societé for dinners, both special occasion locales.

Cafe Boulud, after Daniel Boulud, provided an excellent winterlicious dinner  Although the menu didn't look very exciting, the food came out quite exceptionally well-prepared.  We had salmon and pot-au-feu.  Both were surprisingly different, especially the pot-au-feu which came with a delicious piece of bone marrow on the braised beef and three slices of pink flank steak.  The salmon came with brussels sprouts, exquisitely presented and prepared.  Appetizer scallops were okay but slightly overpowered by the cream sauce.  Game hen terrine was interesting and well-presented.  Pear chocolate cake dessert was delicately flavoured.   Service was attentive - overall a four star meal.

Scallops in cream sauce

Game hen terrine

Salmon with a difference

Pot au feu with bone marrow topped by a piece of flank steak

Pear chocolate cake

   

As expected, lunch at Pangaea was excellent.  I have never had a bad meal at Pangaea and I have eaten there for the past fifteen years.  It was one of the first local food restaurants and still did a superb job of it.  The beef carpaccio was delicious although the presentation was a little scattered.   The roast leg of lamb was perfectly done and I love the rosemary barley.  

Beef carpaccio

Roasted leg of lamb on creamy gorgonzola and rosemary barley

Dark chocolate cake

This was my first time at La Societé - I like the decor although it was a tat too dark.  The braised short rib looked and smelled excellent on other tables so all three of us ordered it - we were not disappointed. It was tender and flavourful, with the meat easily detaching itself from the bone with a nudge of the fork. The warm chocolate cake was the best of the three chocolate cakes I tasted over Winterlicious - possibly because of the temperature.   And yet this is the restaurant that I would least likely return to because the service was indifferent.  It was generally okay but compared poorly to the service at Cafe Boulud where the staff seemed to be the best trained and the most attentive of the three restaurants.  

Braised short rib

Warm chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream