| rev:text
| - On a stormy, humid night in Leslieville, my partner and I stumbled upon this welcoming looking restaurant with the rooster out front, and it turned out quite well.
Though the category on Yelp is listed as French, I would say the food is much closer to Italian if you had to pick a cuisine.
Right off the hop the service was questionable. Benefit of the doubt moment: it was after 8 pm on a Sunday -- which in Toronto means you're lucky if anything half-decent is open at all -- and the place seemed understaffed.
Still, having to stand awkwardly for 10-15 min in the non-foyer, while waiters whisked by us was not too pleasant.
And once we had a table, service continued to be spotty. Our waiter was friendly and self-effacing, calling us his "little neglected table." This was not inaccurate as even getting our initially requested waters (it was sweaty out!) took nearly 10 minutes, and later he left us with dessert menus for 20 minutes before coming back to see what we wanted, our appetites for anything sweet having seriously waned.
Food-wise though, things were great. We weren't terribly hungry, and so avoided the table d'hote fixed price menu going with the "shared food" section on the left column of the menu. It's a limited selection here, and we ordered about half of the available items, and were not disappointed.
Rich white polenta, brought out on a wooden cutting board was accompanied by an aproned chef who ladled a "sugo" of veal, zucchini and fresh basil on top. It was heart-warming, subtle and delicious, as well as a generous portion for two to share.
Alongside the polenta we had two smallish ramekins. One contained "sauce & balls" a cheekily named but very tasty take on classic meatballs in tomato sauce. The other had what was possibly my favourite dish of the night, a simple roasted beet preparation with blue cheese. The multicoloured heirloom beets were "al dente" but tender and went amazingly well with the semi-melted cheese.
Wines were great as well. My glass of Rollegrosse red ($11) was smooth beyond even the menu description, and my companion's "Anna 6" white was very dry and very refreshing.
In addition to the service problems, my one other issue was the post-prandial whiskey, a single malt ($13) that came in a far-too large glass (we were informed the kitchen was "out" of snifters...) and which I found harsh and not to my liking. But that could be a matter of taste.
Total cost of meal for two: $77 + tip.
This would increase to over $100 easily if you go with the $30 table d'hote option + drinks.
I would happily give this place another shot, hopefully on day where service was at full steam. Until then I can't give it more than three stars out of five.
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