Epicure

Since so many restaurants had lineups we decided to give Epicure a try.

The place was empty when we arrived. Think it was around 8 or 9pm. Don't know if that's a good thing or not on a Saturday night but it did have a/c and that's the only thing that mattered to me at that time.

To start off we ordered the Paris pizza which came with smoked chicken, spinach, bacon, roasted peppers, portabello mushrooms, and mozzarella and brie cheese. It was delicious. Truthfully, we were hoping to eat at Pizzeria Libretto but since there was a 2 hour lineup forget that. Also there was no a/c in there well, at least I didn't feel it by the doorway. This pizza is not comparable to Libretto but it was pretty good.

Stonefire

This was the first thing that caught my eye when I entered the restaurant. I was tempted to snatch the plate and run right back out but my stomach whined for real food instead.

Pizzeria Libretto

I recently joined twitter because I wanted to attend these tweetups I kept reading about on Stella's blog. Stella (aka @foodieyu), is an amazing food blogger and a serious foodie. Definitely check out her blog called Food Junkie Chronicles. Also it's because of her blog I wanted to try the duck confit pizza at Pizzeria Libretto.

Earlier this week I was just catching up on my tweets and I saw a retweet about Pizzeria Libretto from Alfonso (aka @msgfonz), also another amazing foodie I met on Twitter who also has an awesome food blog called FoodbyFonz. Also some of his posts are stuff he cooked up in his own kitchen. Double SHABAM!!! I also love going onto Foodspotting to look at all his foodie pix. Believe me once you are on that site you can be on it for hours. Picture after picture of mouthwatering shots of yummy food. These 2 cool foodies were my first 2 followers on Twitter so we were bound to meet up eventually in person and of course somewhere that involves food.

Ok back to Pizzeria Libretto. They have a prix fixe menu which ends on March 31st. I was estatic since this was on my list to try and the deal makes it an even better reason to go check it out. Problem was I couldn't find anyone to go with on such short notice. So I tweeted my frustrations that I wanted to go to the pizzeria but got no one to go with. Then Stella and Alfonso came to the rescue. (My foodie heros). After tweeting back and forth, finally a date and time was set. Yayyy!!! I never met either one of them before so I was kinda nervous yet very excited to meet my new foodie friends.

I arrived at the restaurant around 5:30pm. There was no lineup nor wait. There were only a few tables of patrons. I got seated at a table by the end of the bar.

While waiting for my twitter friends I took a couple of shots of the restaurant. It was a long narrow room where one wall was lined abundantly with artwork and the opposite wall was a splash of bright grassy green. At the end of the room is the open kitchen where you can see the cooks working diligently on preparing the food.

Here is the $25 prix fixe dinner menu.

While waiting I was getting hungrier and hungrier by the minute and especially with all this food that was being passed around. I started tweeting trying to rush my foodies to hurry on over. Finally they both arrived around 6pm. Also one more thing the place was packed at around 5:50pm. I don't know how it even got filled so quickly. All I remember was snapping some pictures and doing some tweeting and then by the time I looked up there were no empty tables around me anymore.

After all the hellos and chitchat we got down to business. After a few minutes of contemplation I waved the server over and began ordering.

Here was the complimentary bread. It was really fluffy and yummy. I believe their breads are from the Thuet bakery. Well that's what it said on the menu. Once this came we all took out our electronics and started snapping away. Finally I didn't have to scream "WAIT" so I can take a picture of the food. It was nice to finally not feel rushed and can take all the time needed. Especially when I'm with my boyfriend he's just holding his fork giving me a "Are you done yet?" kinda look. It was amusing though all of us snapping a picture of this simple bread basket. The same procedure continued for all the remaining dishes.

Here was another complimentary dish. I don't really know what it was since the server was mumbling when he arrived with it. When I took a bite the first thing that came to mind was "funky". Stella was wondering if it was funky in a good way or a bad way. I just said funky haha. Just shows you my skills at critiquing. Not very good lol. I believe there's some sort of cheese since that's where the funkiness derived from (btw I like cheese and this wasn't bad cheese it was just different for me), some walnuts and some sort of dressing placed on a single endive lettuce. My companions enjoyed it and didn't think it was funky so guess it was just me.

Here was the arugula salad with sliced pears, piave cheese garnished with walnut pieces and drizzled with blackberry empire apple vinaigrette. I really enjoyed this salad. It was invigorating and refreshing. The arugula was crisp and the sweetness of the pears balanced perfectly well with the intense bold flavor of the piave cheese. I can eat this salad everyday. Good call on this one Alfonso:)

Here was the beet caprese salad with Cookstown seedlings, Ontarios Fiore di latte, basil all splashed with a bit of olive oil. Another crowd pleaser. I found this dish very tasty as well. If you don't like beets you haven't tried this dish yet. Great recommendation on this one Stella:)

The last remaining antipasto is the crocche di patate which were Neapolitan potato croquettes. I thought these were delicious as well. It was a great start to the meal. All the antipasti did not disappoint at all.

Now, the one I've been waiting for and tweeting about all day. The duck confit pizza. It was worth the hype. It was undeniably sumptuous. The sweetness of the sliced pieces of Bosc pears, the juiciness of the tender shredded chunks of duck confit all layered in mozzarella cheese. It was simply exquisite.

Here was the house-made sausage pizza with caramelized onions, mozzarella and chili oil.

Here was the hot peppers pizza with tomato, house-made sausage and mozzarella. All the pizzas were fantastic. Even though they were all thin crust I was pretty stuffed. Also it did not taste doughy like some pizza places. Maybe it has to do with the wheat flour they used called Italian Caputo doppio zero that is supposedly the most highly refined and softest flour used by many European chefs and bakers.

Here is a snapshot of our hard core foodies hard at work. It's serious stuff. Do not disturb or even dare touch the food. I mean just look at the cameras they use you know they mean business unlike me with my little iPhone.

Lastly our desserts. I had the tiramisu. It was too creamy for me. There was not enough cake at the bottom so got sick of it after a few bites. I was actually looking forward to eating my vegan chocolate cupcake that I had bought earlier at OMG Baked Goodness.

Stella and Alfonso both had the lemon panna cotta. I personally don't like any lemon flavor but I tried a spoonful just to see how it tasted. It is smack-in-your-face lemony. Not my kind of thing but they both enjoyed their dessert.

I had an amazing time with my newly found foodie friends. Thank god for twitter. Without twitter I wouldn't have made new BFF's (Best Foodies Forever). Thanks again guys for accompanying me and can't wait for all the upcoming food adventures/tweetups=D

TOTAL BILL $85...EAT HERE NEXT!!!

Chicago Pizza Kitchen

Since I was still hungry on Saturday night I went for pizza with my boyfriend at Chicago Pizza Kitchen.

Some friends recommended trying their infamous deep dish pizza. I never tried it before unless you count Pizza Hut so decided to give it a try.

Here were the garlic sticks. Doesn't it look like a meal itself. When it arrived we thought it was a mistake. Even got the table next to us all curious. They were asking us what did we order and whether it was good or not. It was good but very filling for an appetizer. Not bad since we were told it would take at least 25-30 minutes to prepare the pizza. Great starter to begin the meal.

We ordered a large stuffed pizza pie with prosciutto, salami, black olives, sun dried tomatoes and mushrooms. It was huge and delicious. Of course we didn't finish it either. But it sure tasted good the next day with all the sauce soaking into the pizza bread.

TOTAL BILL $53...EAT HERE NEXT!!!

Desserts Plus

Nope it's not a dessert place. It's actually a cozy little Italian restaurant in the heart of Woodbridge. Located along Weston Road, this friendly joint is a favorite neighborhood spot for a family meal. Humongous portions at very reasonable prices no wonder why there's constantly a lineup at this restaurant.

Last night was my second trip to this eatery. I left with a doggie bag and enough food for lunch AND dinner the next day. Just look at the pictures. I still feel full just looking at it.

The fried calamari was crispy on the outside but not enough flavor on the inside. Don't know why it's so hard to find perfectly seasoned calamari. Nonetheless, my boyfriend pretty much inhaled the starter since he was hungry.

For his entree, he ordered the gnoochi since he was craving for it. It was cooked perfectly. Not too mushy and not over done.

I had the veal sorrento with eggplant, mozzarella, tomato and gravy with a side of pasta in an onion and bacon tomato sauce. It was delicious but oh so much food. I really enjoyed my pasta. It was cooked al dente and was full of bacon flavor. Sounds fatty but I don't care it was yummy.

Like that wasn't much food already, we also ordered a pizza with pesto sauce, mushrooms and prosciutto. What can I say we order with our eyes rather than our stomachs. Besides, we all know pasta dishes normally taste even better the next day.

In order to get a table at this traditional Italian restaurant, your best bet is to call ahead and make reservations otherwise you will be waiting for quite some time since the portions are huge and people take their time eating it.

On a side note I like to thank my boss for my new iPhone 4. If you notice, the pictures are far more clearer than my previous pictures. No more blurry pictures here. Thanks boss I love my iPhone:)

TOTAL BILL $55...EAT HERE NEXT!!!

Terroni

Oh...My...God!!!!!!!!!! I now claim Terroni as the BEST place for FLOURLESS CHOCOLATE CAKE. They have by far the most amazing chocolate cake oozing with dark chocolate floating in a pool of white chocolate ganache. The name of it on the menu is Torta Calda al Cioccolato which I cannot pronounce but it was definitely memorable. One word to describe this cake was ORGASMIC. That's the first word that popped in my head. Every bite that me and my friend took it sounded like... well let's just say we really really REALLY enjoyed that cake. Funny thing was that I ordered the hazelnut gelato for myself since I figured one of my friends was ordering the cake and another was ordering gelato with a shot of expresso so more variety to sample from. Man oh man I wished I had ordered the cake all for myself. Instead I kept stealing a few bites from my friend's dessert. Thanks Viv for being so kind enough to share although I know you wanted it all for yourself:)

Normally I start from the beginning but this was just too good to leave it till the end. It just shows you how much I just love this dessert.

To start from the beginning, I went out for dinner with 2 of my girlfriends on a Wednesday night. They chose Terroni located in midtown close to Yonge and St. Clair.

One of the girls marked it as her territory so nobody else was allowed to claim it as their "pizza spot" nor even take a bite of her pizza. Wow she must really like this place to be making those demands. Now she has got me curious as to what was so good about this place?

We started off with the grilled calamari. It was placed over a bed of salad. It was well prepared but lacked a bit of seasoning for me.

Next our entrees.

One of my friends had the seafood tagliolini. It looks like a lot with the pile of pasta and bunch of mussels lying around but when I actually looked closer aside from the mussels there was one of everything else. Hence, one scallop, one shrimp and one squid. Wow that definitely is a seafood medley since technically there is a variety of seafood in the mix. Not impressed there; nonetheless, my friend said it was delicious. The pastas were freshly handmade so it made up for the limited quantity of seafood.

Next here were the 2 super thin crust pizzas. I can't remember which pizza my friend had ordered since there was a wide variety of options and on top of that I can't even pronounce the names; however, I do remember mine since my pizza was supposedly a house favorite recommended by the waitress, the smendozzata. The toppings were tomato, mozzarella, homemade spicy Italian sausage, gorgonzola and red onions. At first it didn't look appealing to me with the patches of green which looks like something was rotting but looks are definitely deceiving here. It was delicious. All the pizzas were prepared in the traditional wood burning ovens.

The portions were really good here. I couldn't finish my pizza so ended up packing it in a doggie bag. My boyfriend ate the leftovers when I got home and he said it was good.

The food at Terroni was good but the highlight of the meal was the cake. Going to make another trip next week solely for the chocolate cake. I'm drooling already just thinking about that tasty chocolate delight. Mmmmm...chocolate:)

TOTAL BILL $95...EAT HERE NEXT!!!