Cava

1560 Yonge Street
Toronto, Ontario
(416) 979-9918
Google Map
http://cavarestaurant.ca/

Date: July 21, 2006
Cost: $250 for 4 (tax, tip and 1 drink)
What's on the menu: Tapas menu with flavours from Spain, Italy, France and Mexico, nightly specials
Drinks: Good selection of wines by the glass, cocktails (Mojito, Margarita, Sangria...)
Atmosphere: Casual, rustic feel


"I think Brian is lost!"
"No I'm not... I'm sure it's here......"

Our evening at Cava begins with our search for the restaurant. Car parked and ready to eat, we slowly walked up Yonge St in search of Chris McDonald's new dining venture, Cava. After a few minutes of doubt, we finally find the restaurant tucked away inside the small shopping complex, Delisle Court.

As we walk into the restaurant, we're suprised to find empty tables. Our dining companions, CFO's mom and sister, wonder if we've picked the right place. "It's early..." CFO points out. Undaunted by the lack of people, we take in the ambiance of the restaurant - conrete floors, wood tables, colourless walls... rustic is the theme. The dining room manager greets us and thoughtfully offers us our choice of tables. We pick a window spot just by the bar.

Sitting down, we notice the compactly put place settings. A folded napkin and house-made breadstick all wrapped with a brown sheet. Our waiter for the evening comes by to let us know our neatly folded brown sheet is also our menu.... clever we thought. The menu is tapas inspired with over 30 items that night ranging from popcorn to beef tripe basquaise with seared foie gras ($3.50-$24). We're told the general rule is 3-4 dishes per person. The task of picking 12-16 dishes was no easy feat and our waiter offers to pick a few items for us, but tonight we felt up to the task.
What did we order this night? Too many dishes to go into detail about, but there were a few dishes we loved and a few that we didn't. We were told there would be no particular order to how the dishes would be served, but generally lighter fare was served first followed by the meat courses. Cava did a fine job of keeping the flow of courses consistent, never having to wait long for the next dish or two.

The Full List:

Chipotle-caramel popcorn (served nicely in paper cones)

Grilled flatbread with minty eggplant

Papas fritas

Pinchos of avocado, guindilla & salmon machaca

Salad landaise

Charcuteria

Tuna ceviche tropical style

Grilled octopus with bread salad

Broiled, cider-glazed sablefish with black rice & escarole

Shrimp with favas, toasted garlic & pearl onions

Venison carnitas tamal with an ancho chile-wild plum sauce

Piquillo peppers filled with braised lamb, taro foam

Wild mushroom socca

Porky beans with crispy braised pork belly

Crema catalana foam with leche frita, raspberry compote & an oatmeal tuile

Dessert tapas (churros, vanilla rice pudding & slice of cake)

Chef McDonald slicing Jamón serrano (unfortunately did not order). We saw 4-5 legs of Jamón serrano hanging from the bar.


The good:
Papas Fritas - Crisp fries and served with deep fried sage and rosemary
Salmon Machaca - Salmon nicely marinated and shredded, not too dry
Salad Landaise - Tender gizzards with foie gras adding a nice creamy texture
Tuna Ceviche - Traditional ceviche with tuna served with deep fried taro chips
Charcuteria - House-made chorizo was the hit of this dish. Served with bread and foie gras mousse
Pork Belly - Crispy skin, melt in your mouth pork belly fat
Sablefish - Sweet, moist fish... overwhelming favourite of the night

Not so good:
Piquillo peppers - lacks flavour, but taro foam was nice
Venison - Venison is dry... least favourite at the table
Grilled octopus - Octopus was too salty, but bread salad nicely done
Dessert Tapas - Cake was disappointing


Our eating adventure began with empty tables, but by the end of our meal the restaurant had become a full house. Bustling with activity, runners and waiters/waitresses are seen promptly serving tables - our own table is never left unnoticed. With our stomachs full, we're left to wonder why we never had a meal at Avalon (Chef McDonalds previous undertaking for 11 years and one of Toronto's best fine dining restaurants), sadly we'll never get the chance.

Formalities are finalized (read paid the bill) and we slowly get up to leave. The walk to the car is quietly enjoyable as we take in the surroundings of the pleasant neighbourhood... but we'll be back - it was too good not to.

Approval Rating:

Pizza Pide

949 Gerrard St E.
Toronto, Ontario
(416) 462-9666
Google Map
http://www.pizza-pide.com/

Date: July 7, 2006
Cost: Under $10/person including drink
What's on the menu: Turkish pizzas (thin or regular crust) with a selection of toppings, traditional pizzas/slices, Turkish desserts, meat ball/chunks served with vegetables
Drinks: Yogurt drink, pop and juice.
Atmosphere: Neighbourhood pizza parlour, more commonly referred to as "hole in the wall" pizza joint.

Review:
When I first showed CFO Pizza Pide's website we both could not wait to try this place. Pizza Pide is a Turkish pizza place at Pape and Gerrard in the Riverdale area. Having never had a Turkish pizza, our desire to try it was based solely on Pizza Pide's website pictures - pictures of canoe shaped pizzas with a sunny side up egg on top was all it took.

Our adventure begins on Friday night, July 7. Finding Pizza Pide was accidentally easy. We stumbled across it stopped at a traffic light. It is located diagonally across from Gerrard Square. Incidentally, Gerrard Square provides ample "free" parking to those who choose to drive. We quickly turn into Gerrard Square and made the short walk across the street to Pizza Pide.

Inside Pizza Pide lies your typical pizza parlour - large white counters, stainless steel pizza ovens and what looked like a brick oven used to cook the Turkish pizzas, called pides. Behind the counter was a nice man, who we'll call Mr. Pide. Mr. Pide, who I think is the owner, also takes your order, makes your pizza and gladly brings your food to one of the few tables at Pizza Pide, if you decide to dine in. Germaphobe's beware though, there was no evidence of hand washing after handling money.

After a short wait in line Mr. Pide takes our order. Being the decisive people we are (actually quite indecisive, everything always looks good) and having drooled over the menu many nights before we order number 18 from the picture menu on the wall. Number 18 is described "Karisik (Assorted - every slice is a different taste, contains variety of slices of our best seller pides)" - $9.99. We figure this is the best choice for first timers - a little bit of everything on our pie. Mr. Pide tells us "30 Minutes"...... 30 minutes? Wonder if he offers the Pizza Pizza guarantee? Seems a little long for a pizza, but this is no ordinary pizza, it's pide. Our hungry stomach's quickly reply "Ok".

Not wanting to wait around inside we decide to check out the rest of the neighbourhood. Our choice's were Gerrard Square or a western style karaoke tavern, that had an alarmingly high number of patrons at 6pm... we settled on Gerrard Square. Not much to see in there, they're currently renovating... excellent spot for a pit stop though. Anyways... back to Pizza Pide.

Back at Pizza Pide, we scope out the best table available - a nice spot by the door. Mr. Pide tells us "2 minutes" and our growling stomachs acknowledge. We watch Mr. Pide pull our pide out of the oven and as a finishing touch, brushes it with a little egg yolk. Our pide is delivered right to our table in a long tray. I get up to pay, but Mr. Pide tells me "later, later... eat pizza, have drink". CFO wanted to try one of those milky drinks everyone else was having. The drink is some sort of yogurt mixture, called aryan ($2.00). Needless to say it wasn't what we expected and didn't go well with the pizza. Think salty plain yogurt in drink form.

The number 18 pizza actually has 5 different sections - ground beef, mozzarella cheese and herbs, chicken, Turkish sausage and pastrami, and ground lamb meat. All is accompanied with lemon wedges, tomato slices and parsley. The taste is similar to a white pizza with only the Turkish sausage having a distinct taste to it... good taste that is, meat is Halal. Crust is flakey and the canoe shape allows it to hold all the toppings. Best slice? CFO says chicken, meat was tender. For me, it was the Turkish sausage. Although I thought it was all great. The only disappointment for us was it didn't come with an egg on top, which is half the reason we wanted to try Pizza Pide. No worries on future visits though - egg's on top available for an extra $0.99.

Our pide is devoured in under 10 minutes and we contemplate whether or not to get pide #2, one with an egg. After much deliberation, we decide to save it for a future visit. After cleaning our table, we pay for the pide and 1 yogurt drink - total is $13.67. Sadly, we left Pizza Pide a little hungry, but at least our curiosity had been satisfied, if not our tummies.

Overall, we had an enjoyable experience. Pide was excellent, service was great and all this for under $14.00. Definitely recommended to anyone who is looking for a different, but delicious, take on traditional pizzas. Oh and if you're thinking of adding an egg on top of your pizzas at home, it's a lot harder than it looks. CFO killed 2 eggs in the oven as they ran off the side of the pizza.

Approval Rating: