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| - The Hoof Cafe is a beautiful new restaurant open for brunch from 10-4, and for drinks till 2am. It is located directly across the street from The Black Hoof, its site restaurant which it resembles so closely in both range of tastes and in terms of its general excellence.
The menu includes nods to many classic brunch items (eggs benedict, french toast, hash, pancakes and grilled cheese) but, of course, these are the same people who brought TO the amazing raw horse sammy, so, obviously these are not your standard items.
The eggs benny is made with suckling pig, and if you are going there for the first time, I cannot recommend this dish enough. Eggs are poached perfectly, hollandaise is perfect, pig is delicious and abundant and the english muffin is incredibly rich and matches the texture perfectly. Best benny in the city, hands down.
Hash is potatoes, onions and some wonderfully tender beef tongue served in a mild pepper sauce (?) and is wonderful, french toast is brioche with fois gras, and while I haven't tried it if it even approaches the current fois gras at Hoof prime (w/ Rutabaga) then it will be divine, Pancakes involve Rabbit, and the grill cheese involves tongue.
A question on the drinks: Is it really necessary to make pink peppercorn vodka that involves some sort of 62 day flavour infusing process just to make a Caesar? Answer: Apparently Fucking Yes.
There are a lot of good Caesars in Toronto, but I'd be willing to place odds on my not finding a better one than this: house-infused pink peppercorn vodka, marmite, worcestershire, tabasco (?), horseradish, a pickled bean garnish and a great salt and cumin (?) rim. Not as 'different' as, say, the one at Ceili Cottage, but a perfect manifestation about everything I love about The Black Hoof and now Hoof Cafe: traditional without being predictable, involves an enormous amount of behind the scenes work to ensure control of quality, perfect in its execution, and, most importantly, was made with a genuine love of not only the food/drink itself, but also the experience of sharing it with an appreciative public.
I was in a restaurant in Ottawa (to remain unnamed) a few months ago where a good friend of mine is the chef. I had just gotten into town and hadn't called him yet, so I didn't bother looking in the kitchen to see if he was working and merely ordered my food. After I ate he happened to walk out and see me and later told me 'I wish you had told me you were here, I would have made sure you got an awesome meal'.
I don't know anyone who cooks at the Hoof or the Cafe, so this is just speculation, but I'm willing to bet this doesn't happen. The food *tastes* like every single dish that leaves the kitchen has been prepped, cooked and plated with love for that one customer whose opinion matters more than the rest.
As such, I will return to both the Cafe, and its sister cross the way as often as I can afford it.
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