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| - Archeo is easy to miss when you are visiting the Distillery District and not specifically looking for it - even though it is right at the main gate entrance to the district, the exterior of this restaurant is so low key that it can easily be mistaken as a gift/clothing shop of some kind. If you do give them a try, you'll find that it is quite a solid restaurant with very reasonable prices given it's at a touristy location.
The restaurant has a casual, rustic Italian Trattoria look and feel to it. Service is prompt and delightful. Unlike other restaurants in the area, this place does not have a huge menu selection, but it is well-rounded and thoughtful. With me and 3 other companions, we were able to sample pretty much all of the appetizers and most of the secondi main dishes.
The food here is contemporary Italian, so anyone who comes here expecting to taste classic home style Italian cooking would probably be disappointed. Presentation of the dishes here are great, and I found the flavours very interesting.
Dishes we had for the evening:
- Antipasti with local & house cured meats, housemade pickles, ferments, mustard and cracker
- Cannelloni with Chianti braised rabbit, charred carrot puree, and burnt cucumber infusion
- Fresh local greens with house ricotta and elderberry caper
- Fritto Misto (Maitake mushroom, olive ascolone, dandelion and burnt cucumber emulsion)
- Flatiron steak with potatoes, creme fraiche, beet, juniper and glace de veau (this was perfectly seared and was an absolute joy to eat)
- Fazzoletti Ripieni with house made Italian sausage, seared Ontario mushrooms, fennel, kumquat and anise truffle nage (this was an awesome dish as well)
- Farfelle with rapini, vanilla poached salsify, shallots, garlic confit, garlic pesto cream and preserved lemon
- Pappardelle Bolognese with blisted vine tomatoes, white anchovies and smoked olive oil (my favourite pasta of the evening)
- Branzino with pan fried sweet gale, crispy skin, brussel sprouts, dandelion greens and elderberry piccata
- Piadini Manzo with beef bresaola, sunchoke puree, green olive, pistachio, smoked golden blyth goat gouda (much more interesting and tastier than a pizza!)
- Apple cake with brown butter icecream and marsala cream (this was so good, especially the brown butter icecream!)
- Vanilla buttermilk panna cotta
- Bittersweet chocolate bar with cocoa nibs, raspberry sorbet and strawberry coulis (a very nice and balanced dessert)
I truly appreciate Executive Chef Dyer's passion of trying to focus on using as much local ingredients as possible for his dishes. I was also delighted to know that most things are made/prepared in-house, which is always nice.
Overall, I am definitely a fan of this place and would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone visiting the Distillery District who wants to try good and reasonably priced Italian fare. Archeo is a popular event spot and could be closed for a private event, so reservations are highly recommended.
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