Colonnade Gourmet Kitchen

At least, I think that's the name of the place in the Colonnade on Bloor St W. Longtime fans may recall the place being located on the ground floor but it now sits on the east side of the second floor.

This place has one thing going for it in my books - convenience! I certainly wouldn't call it "gourmet" though. That said I have no serious complaints. I went there twice this week and both times I had the chicken curry. It comes with rice and some bland veggies. Overall the dish is reasonably tasty for $7.35. You get an adequate amount of chicken but I think they could be a little more generous with the rice.

The place also has pasta and various other dishes. Colleagues often have the chicken parmesan and there were no complaints about it.

Their "new" (I think they've been there for years) location is a big step up from their previous location in which they were crammed into a post office. Now they have this nice atrium that might not be bad for eating in if I didn't always get to go.

I'll be back unfortunately, again and again.

Rivoli Action

We headed out on a dinner fish eating Good Friday mission this evening. First stop was Jules, but it was closed. Next stop was the Rivoli on Queen W.

To start things off right, we got the primo table right at the front by the window. Ian of course got a bit freaked out by all the people walking by wearing skinny jeans and boots. I kinda have to agree - it's warm and there is no snow so what's up with boots???

For drinks, I went with a moderately priced 14 oz of Amsterdam Amber for $4.61 to start. Ian stuck with tap water. The beer wasn't quite as cold as it should have been.

Ian had a corn chowder. It was corny, tasty, vegetably and creamy all in one soup. Pretty good value for $5.00.

The main courses were the real star of this outing.

I had the squash & ricotta striped stuff pasta. Ian was easily impressed with the particularly vibrant stripage on the pasta. I really liked the creamy pesto sauce with mushrooms, pea pods and tomatoes thrown in for good measure. It really was more pasta than one person should eat, so Ian helped me out quite a bit. The price wasn't too bad at $15.

Ian went with a special - seared tuna, mango sauce with veggie tempura and a veggie rice risotto.

Once I assured Ian that seared tuna was indeed supposed to be somewhat raw on the inside, he chowed down pretty quickly. He really liked the tempura and it's perfect amount of coating.

The final bill came to $56 including tip.

Rivoli

Tonight I went with Ian and Ian's Mom (Mary) to the Rivoli. We were initially thinking the Queen Mother Cafe, but Ian noticed that they were the recent recipient of some health violations.

I had the halibut special with squash polenta and mixed veggie. Was pretty tasty all around. Ian had the pork and shrimp thai stir-fry. I thought it was pretty good (from the cauliflower that I ate), but probably too peanut-y for Ian. Mary had a chicken roti with some salad. A rather gigantic item and well flavored - I tasted a hint of cardomon in there.

Two thumbs up in the taste department, and unlike last time, the stella pint glasses were not chipped!

Earls

Last night I thought that I would venture out for a tasty meal and decided on Earl's on Robson. It was certainly a "cooler" place than the Park Earl's that I remember. They were pretty much packed on a Thursday night and it seemed that for about 10 minutes, they were too cool to actually come over and ask if I wanted to purchase any food or drink. Finally, a waitress comes over and I manage to order the special - grilled salmon with mashed potato, asparagus and red thai curry sauce. Was pretty tasty, but certainly not great value at $23 I think.

The grilled salmon, coconut curry sauce is a combo that I may try at home sometime.

Rivoli

To overcome our sad lack of eating out and cheapness, Ian and I went out for a nice meal to Rivoli. The night started poorly with a rather chipped glass to drink my stella out of. Then came three veggie spring rolls with some tasty dipping sauce, not a great value for $6. Ian went all out and ordered ahi tuna with mashed sweet potatoe, squash and side veggie for $17 I think. Very very tasty and a surpising amount of tuna. We are both huge squash fans, so that was pretty tasty stuff! I ordered a thai vegan banana stir-fry. There was a bunch of slightly over-deep-fried tofu, lots of veggies, yummy sauce and only a bit of banana. Overall pretty tasty and not bad value for my $11.

I think we'll be back, but not too often due to price!

Dooney's

I went for lunch today to Dooney's in the Annex. Ian and I probably walked past this place a hundred times when we lived in the area, but we never have gone in.

Today I had Huevos Dooney's with black beans, scrambled eggs, tomatoe salsa and toated bread. Not a bad deal for $8. The rest of the crowd had egg type dishes that looked good. The club sandwich seemed to a popular item too with chicken, guac, spicy mayo, bacon and tomatoe.

I also ordered some apple cinammon tea which was pretty good, but I was a bit shocked when I saw on the bill it was $2.75! What a rip!

Anyway, final verdict is decent food and not such a great value.

Sneaky Dee's

Ian and I used to go occasionally when we lived in the Annex. It's a cheap beer and Mexican type place on College and Bathurst. I have been craving it for months since we moved to the new place, but Ian generally nixes it for inferior food such as sushi or quiznos.

Today he couldn't argue with the pick-up from school and the 1/2 price fajitas on Tue night. I had veggie, Ian had chicken+shrimp. Came with beans, rice, tortillas, sour cream, guac, mole and tomaotes.

Overall a lot of tasty food, for the low low price of $20 for both of us. They also have cheap beer, 60 oz for $12 I think, which is not bad for Toronto. There are nacho specials with beer other nights of the week too.

A "very tasty" rating in the tastiness department (keeping in mind the cheap Mexican genre) with 2 thumbs up in the cheapness department.