Restaurants
Cafe Pleiade
This small Mt. Pleasant restaurant (near Manor Rd.) has become one of my favourite dinner restaurants in Toronto. Jeff and I decided to eat there a few weeks ago before a movie.
I arrive first, and opt for the cozy and romantic cushion-lined corner looking out onto the street:
The server brings me a whiteboard with the Prix-Fixe menu, in case I didn't want to order from the regular menu. Hmm...for $24.95 I can get a choice of appetizer, main course, and coffee or tea. Hungry, I decide to start my appetizer before Jeff arrives, and choose the Romaine Feta Pear salad:
The salad is fantastic, with perfectly ripened pear slices and a tastefully tart dressing. I'm halfway through when Jeff calls to say he's going to be late; he was held up in traffic.
I order some wine for solace. Happily, Café Pleiade has a wide selection of wines; Chef Stavros Tsimicalis is a collector. The chef, by the way, is also a published poet. He was born in Skoura, a small village by the Eurotas River in Laconia, and emigrated to Canada in 1963. After training at the Windsor Arms Hotel, he worked as a maître-d at the Millcroft Inn for many years.
But back to my (unexpectedly solitary) dinner at Café Pleiade.
For my main course, I choose the Roast Pork Tenderloin with Shiitake Mushrooms and Apple:
Dear god. For a moment I'm grateful that Jeff isn't here because I'd be SO ignoring him right now to focus properly on my food. Exquisitely tender meat (I rarely cook pork because inevitably I turn it into pork leather), full of flavour. I decide that I have to order this every single time I eat here.
A few weeks later we dined at Café Pleiade again, this time with Jeff's parents. I was disappointed that the roast pork wasn't on the Prix-Fixe menu but opted for Fresh-Baked Arctic Char instead (with pomegranate and citrus dill sauce, $20.95):
It was FANTASTIC. In fact, everyone was delighted by their choices. I ordered the Organic Spring Greens with Asparagus and Brie drizzled with an apple cider viniagrette ($7) which was just as good as the pear salad I had ordered last time. (Picture at top of this post.)
Another appetizer: Fresh Mussels Mariniere with tomato, onion, garlic, herbs and ouzo ($9):
My mom-in-law, an ex-restauranteur, loved her Grilled Calf's Liver with Caramelized Onions ($18):
But after mutual taste testing, we all agreed that Jeff had ordered the best dish, which was the Supreme of Chicken with Apricots, prepared with Scotch and a light curry cream sauce ($16):
Fortunately we all still had room for some shared desserts (desserts range from about $4-7) like the fruit tart:
And a wonderfully foamy zabaglione:
And after writing all that, I'm hungry again.
You can browse the regular menu on the Café Pleiade Web site. The restaurant is closed Sunday and Monday.
Discussion
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Frank: I'm planning to track down a used copy of one of the chef's poetry books and ask him to autograph it for me. :-)
Vanessa: Sounds like you have a lot more experience with calf's liver than me. Do you ever cook it at home? I love liver but Jeff hates it so I can only have it when we eat out.
No question about it, it is very inviting from the outside and in however I could have made this so called chef an omelette and taught him a few basics about customer service.
My sister and I popped in for brunch, I ordered the omelette with smoked salmon and asparagus, she tried the apple and cheese and was also completely disappointed.
The eggs were literally raw and soggy not to mention the asparagus was in huge chunks.
I had attempted to politely ask the waitress, his wife if I am not mistaken, for cooked eggs; this time requesting it without asparagus. Her response was and I quote....
" HE WILL NOT BE COOKING A NEW ONE, HE WILL RE-COOK THIS ONE!!!!".
Nothing really shocks me theses days but please people do not waste your money.
They seemed to cater to an older gent, a regular I imagine and ignored the needs of new young customers, very typical.
The bread was dense and dry, the salad was a joke, romaine drenched in olive oil with a few cucumbers. The coffee was warm, not hot, the capuchino even more sad, room temperature and was definitely not made with espresso.
Should have made brunch at home!!!!!
Do not be fooled by all of the old Toronto Life award stickers in the window, my guess is that those pseudo accolades are sent to most restaurants in the city; they mean absolutely nothing.