frank's kitchen

 


Who:     frank's kitchen

What:    continental cuisine

Where:  588 College Street Toronto

When:   May 2012

Why:     birthday celebration

Web:     http://www.frankskitchen.ca





Recently, a founding member of rather peckish celebrated a birthday.  Besides the obligatory house party, a dinner date was absolutely essential.  Despite the seemingly endless restaurant possibilities, we decided on Frank's Kitchen.  We have only ever heard amazing things about Frank's and knew it was time to try it ourselves.  So, off we went for what we hoped would be a spectacular evening.  And a spectacular evening it was!  The service was friendly and appropriately attentive.  The restaurant had a wonderful vibe, gladly lacking in all things stuffy.  Most importantly, the food was totally delicious.  We loved that everything is made in house from the bread, to the charcuterie, to the truffles.  We ate, chatted, ate some more, and of course took a gazillion pictures.  Maybe that is a slight exaggeration (i.e. we could remove many zeros), but we did snap tons of pics and had a great time doing so.  

The beautiful, one-page menu

House-baked rolls served with a fresh tomato bruschetta and olives

The olives were absolutely delightful served in the mini ceramic tagine-like dish

Amuse bouche: fried goat cheese and a wonderfully smooth corn puree

Antipasto plate for one.  It was shared.  And it was amazing.

Lemon sorbet palette cleanser

Grilled striploin entree.  The details are described in the menu.  All we want to say here is that it was absolutely
incredible.  One of the best steaks we have ever had.  Honestly and truly.

Close your eyes vegetarians! An inside shot of the magnificent medium-rare steak.

The side of parmesan frites.

Chosen entree #2: the duck breast.  It, too, was spectacular. 

We were WAY too full to order a proper dessert.  Luckily the wonderful people at Frank's satisfied our sweet tooth
with complimentary house-made truffles.

Fonda El Refugio, Mexico City

Who:    fonda el refugio

What:   mexican

Where: Liverpool 166, Mexico City

When:   may 2011

Why:    "looking to save our souls"

Web:    http://www.fondaelrefugio.com/ 







'rather peckish' quisieramos extender un primer aniversario muy feliz -- a nosotros mismos! Hace un año, estubimos en una reunión de amigos en la Ciudad de México por primera vez y cenamos en La Fonda El Refugio. Esa cena fue indudablemente responsable por el renacimiento culinario por la comida mexicana que estamos experimentando actualmente. Nos deleitaron con guacamole, chips de tortilla, dulce salsa de tomatillo, chiles rellenos, tostadas, dulces caseros y mucho mas.  La comida fue extremadamente fresca y increíblemente deliciosa. Viviendo en este país frio que al Polo Norte le llamamos casa, no teníamos idea de lo que un aguacate, tomatillo o un limón realmente sabia!  La desafortunada consecuencia de aquella cena en el DF es que hasta la fecha estamos todavia luchando para satisfacer nuestro deseo insaciable por la comida Mexicana increíble y autentica. Viva Mexico!!

rather peckish would like to extend a very happy anniversary to ourselves!  A year ago, we were in  Mexico City meeting friends for dinner at Fonda el Refugio.  That dinner was solely responsible for the Mexican food culinary rebirth that we are currently experiencing.  We feasted on guacamole, fresh tortilla chips, tomatillo salsa, chile rellenos, tostadas, homeade candy, etc...  The food was unbelievably fresh and extremely delicious.  Living in the country that calls the North Pole home we had no idea what an avocado, tomatillo or a lime actually tasted like!  The unfortunate consequence of that dinner is we are still struggling to satisfy our insatiable craving for incredible Mexican food.

Gracias to Mishka for the spanish translation. Follow her on twitter  @MBM_Marketing.

tequila, yum

the tastiest guacamole ever.

tomatillo sauce

fresh made in house tortilla chips