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| - Woodlot has been on my list or restaurants to try since they opened last fall. it all started with a massive twitter buzz then bled to the blogs. the toronto dailies followed, mostly with great reviews. toronto life named it one of toronto's best new restaurants of 2011. a lot to live up to.
decided to try it out on last night for telus tuesdays, an month-long event that comps diners an appetizer & dessert if you order an entree. i'm not a fan of these types of deals only because it brings out cheap diners, who tip poorly and have terrible dining etiquette. but we did it anyways (and i feel that we were kind of punished for it, our service wasn't bad, it just wasn't super friendly. i blame telus tuesdays).
Started off my meal with an appetizer of seared scallops on black lentils, prosciutto, sauerkraut, dill & dressed with a light balsamic and great olive oil ($14). scallops were perfectly seared although a tad cold, lentils were perfectly executed, still held their shape but soft & tender on the inside. a great start to the meal.
For my entree i chose the duck confit with pork belly ($27). the duck & pork belly sat on a stew of white beans, cheese (sorry, I can't remember what type it was), and breadcrumbs. the duck was fall-off-the-bone succulent. it was literally the best duck confit i have ever had. pork belly was super porky, fatty (in a good way) and delicious. as was the white bean stew, the breadcrumbs were the perfect compliment, added a great crunch and texture.
I loved my main. ed also loved his main, he had a ragu of snails on baked polenta ($26). the other two in our party weren't so lucky. they both ordered the strip steak ($29), the most expensive item on the menu, which comes with nothing on the side. both ordered a side, gnocchi ($8) for one, turnips ($6) for the other. the steak was....not good. i don't know if it was the cut or if it wasn't rested properly (or brought to room temperature prior to cooking) but it was chewy & not appetizing. gnocchi were good, but as with my scallops, there weren't hot enough and were a bit dense. turnips were tasty (because everything tastes good sauteed in butter). our waiter clearly noticed that the steak wasn't received well, both that ordered it left about a third on their plate. when asked how it was, both parties expressed that they weren't happy with it. waiter did nothing to try to rectify the situation, he didn't offer any sort of apology and kind of ignored their comments. it was strange.
Dessert ended on a high note. i had the lemon tart with homemade roasted marshmallow & blueberry ($8), pictured above. it was delicious, the lemon curd was tart & the sweetness of marshmallow complimented it perfectly. an apple gratin ($8) was also very good as well as the soma chocolate & camrel pot du creme ($8).
Overall, a good meal. i really enjoyed everything i had. i wish it was the same for the rest of my party. service was okay. i felt an underlying thread of pretension which i haven't seen in a long time, and was surprised especially for a restaurant that is as low-key & casual as woodlot. i also found it a little over-priced. maybe our server was having an off-night. maybe he was annoyed that it was telus tuesdays. let's hope that was the case.
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