rev:text
| - Last night I had dinner at Lenny's with my father. He's been a regular for 10 years, and I hadn't been back since I was a kid. They've renovated since I was last there, making the dining room more cozy and reducing the seating area from 40 to 18, in order to accommodate their high volume of take out orders. So if you're going during peak hours, call beforehand.
Upon arrival, there was a freshly made foccacia on the table, with olives, peppers and prosciutto on top, along with two glasses of red wine. Before we even sat down! My dad called in advance to say were were coming, and the server Alex, took it upon himself to have the food waiting for us. Amazing.
Next we each had a Calabrese salad, which consisted of huge hunks of provolone cheese, tomatoes, hot peppers, and onions drizzled in olive oil. Oh yeah, by this time Alex had already refilled out bread basket once, and we were still on the appetizers.
For our mains, I ordered the Chicken Parmigiana with penne, and my father had the Lemon Chicken with fresh veggies. We also ordered a side of rapini, like the good Italians we are - Nonno always said that nothing aids in digestion like rapini.
The meals were phenomenal, I was regretting mowing through close to 3 baskets of bread by the time the mains arrived, and next time I will be more spartan with my table bread intake (even though it's freshly made and so damn good!).
For me the dead give away of good Italian food is the tomato sauce, a holy staple of most any Italian meal, and at Lenny's, the sauce was to die for (part of the reason I went through so much bread). The chicken breasts were large, succulent and tender, the rapini was blanched, then pan fried with garlic in a way that made me think it had somehow been bbq'd and was phenomenal.
All in all, I can't wait to go back next time I'm in Etobicoke, and if you are in the area, at the very least call for some take out, you won't regret it.
|