Visiting G Bistro was a long time coming. Previously called Grains Bistro they re-branded and re-decorated a while back to produce this slice of Bistro heaven near the corner of Dufferin and Langstaff in Thornhill.
A small group of us visited GB for a dinner during Yelp Eats this past week. Walking inside after only previously coming in for a pint, I was still astounded by how beautiful this place is laid out and decorated. Long ornate bar takes up center stage here and is an amazing focal point. Book-ended by a warm lounge area with fireplace and a semi private dining space enveloped by long white curtains.
Enough on decor, lets get to the meal. Our cozy group of 4 decided on a little experiment with the appetizer: Grilled or fried. While both stood up well on their own, the consensus that the putanesca style grilled calamari won out by a long shot. The fried was still good served with it's chipotle style dipping sauce BUT the ability to dip the complementary slices of olive bread into the cornucopia of sauce the grilled calamari was served in was what put the dish over the top!
Moving on from the apps I didn't think things could get much better - enter the hickory smoked pork chop. They have an in house smoker and once grilled and cooked to a perfect medium, the flavour was warm, smokey and I'm pretty sure it was one of the greatest pork chops I've eaten. The only place this dish faltered for a second was the side of butternut squash gnocchi. While the butter sauce it was lightly coated in was delicious I did find the gnocchi a tad heavy and firm for my picky italian taste but that didn't stop me from finishing every bite of it and the rappini it came with.
Being a family style Yelp dinner, we all shared a little of our meals with each other and I had the amazing pleasure of trying their mushroom risotto and the salmon with arugula salad. Both amazing and both considerations for future visits.