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| - Some points with which to preface this review:
1. I have a very limited budget.
2. I can only really afford to go out to eat once a week.
3. I have, in my 5 years thus-far in Toronto attempted to eat at as many places as possible, often to the exclusion of repeated trips to favorites.
4. I only discovered Black Hoof a month and a half ago.
5. I have been six times.
I'm pretty sure that this is not a unique situation, it really is just that fucking great. I have two friends with whom the sole topic of our mutual telephone conversations has been the next time we will meet up to go to the Hoof. The reasons are as follows:
1. The Raw Horse Sammy: This is the last thing I ate there, which is why it goes at the top of the list. If I had have written this review after any of the last 5 times, the number one spot would have been otherwise occupied. This sandwich,with it's admirably blunt appellation (fuck this 'Cheval' shit...you are eating Horsey, no flinching), is a wonderful, wonderfully messy pile of mild and tender horse tartar topped with red onions, capers and a raw egg yolk, perfectly prepped to burst over the warm Thuet bread the moment you sink your teeth (or knife) into the yellow bubble. If that made you feel Ill, skip to number two. If it made you salivate...make plans to go tomorrow.
2. Charcuterie and Cheese-Plates: I actually made myself stop ordering these after the fifth time here, but that alone is a massive anomaly for me (I am usually loathe to order the same thing twice even on familiar menus). The selection of meats is always interesting and broad enough to include at least one item that I am not sure about but is unusual, and one item that I wish I could have in shovelfuls. The cheese-plate is equally dependable and dependably varied, with the added bonus of awesome sauce pairings, most notably blues with delicious so-called pickled walnuts (I refuse to believe the walnuts are actually pickled, but they are awesome with blue cheese).
3. Jamon Iberico: This is the best ham in the world.
4. Pretty much everything else. All the entrees I have tried have been delicious, (share the Testina though, there is a limit to the amount of pig face one person can devour). The cocktails are imaginative and wonderful, the service is friendly, informed and fast, and the atmosphere is relaxed, with a wonderful touch of sustained, often communal excitement about the delicacies on everyone's plate.
My favorite place in Toronto.
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