647 748 3287  |   $15-25 Mains  |   176 Dupont St.

So by now, I think it’s already pretty evident I had an amazing meal at Rose & Sons. This new comfort food restaurant from Anthony Rose, formerly of The Drake, is the first of three new openings he’s planning over the next little while, and if Rose & Sons is any indication of their eventual quality, this city’s in for a real treat. 

The restaurant has been running brunch and lunch service for a couple weeks, but only began serving dinner on Dec 6th. I dropped in with a few friends on Dec 7th, only the place’s second dinner service, for a meal I won’t soon forget.

Exterior Image Credit: blogTO

Food

The concept for the restaurant is “comfort food with lots of loving”, and that’s aptly conveyed in the menu. The best way to describe it is a chef thinking of all the food they love to eat and putting it on one concise menu. You’ll find pork fried rice, buckwheat pancakes with whitefish and gravlax, steak frites, chili, and duck confit all just lines apart. Usually, that kind of assortment’s gotta make you apprehensive, but there’s no reason for anxiety here.

We started with the pork fried rice with egg, ginger, peanuts, and broccoli. I’m not sure what the best part was, but I’ll highlight the great little chunks of belly and the crunch of peanuts and crispy rice as my favourites. The dish as whole is addictive, simple, and assuredly comfort food at its best. 

Next up: fries and gravy. If we’re eating comfort food, we might as well just go for it. The fries were fries, but the gravy was borderline creamy and had a really nice depth of flavour. The creaminess added thickness and textural contrast that made this a bit unique overall.

Next up, something I’m seeing a lot more: grilled romaine. The romaine had a good amount of char on it to impart bitterness, but the balance in the dish came from a good shaving of toscano cheese, and an assertive punch of garlic and anchovy. There’s nothing particularly complex here, but the trick is being bold without botching the balance. Well done.

Our means began with the pickerel, creamed squash and ‘green sauce’, that I’ll say is a riff on salsa verde. This was one of the more unique flavour combinations on the menu, but even reading it, you get the sense it’ll work. The verde was where it should be, the fish had a great sear and flaked as you’d hope, and the squash provided a good base of flavour and heft to the dish.

The patty melt (above) is one, among many reasons, you need to come here. Essentially it’s a burger and grilled cheese in one and is absolutely fantastic due to (1) the awesome rye dotted with caraway seed and (2) a juicy patty expertly cooked to medium-rare. This wasn’t my main, but I’ll remember my bite of it for a while.

The last main was the duck confit with brussel sprouts, beans, and poached pear - it didn’t disappoint. Tons of very tender duck, brussel sprouts that even the most vehemently non-vegetable eaters would love and some pear for mild sweetness that really compliments the protein. The only miss here I’d say were the beans that I’m quite certain were under-cooked and little chalky as a result.

Given the excellence that preceded it, dessert was a mandatory undertaking. We ordered a bread pudding with blueberries and split it between everyone to keep our hearts beating, even though it’s not actually that huge of a portion. A friend of mine described it as the perfect balance between custard and french toast, topped with some of the purest blueberry flavour I’ve had in some time. 

Service and Ambience

I’ll start off by saying you’ll have a tough time reserving a dinner seat here once people know it exists; there just aren’t very many seats in the little space. The diner charm is undeniable and I really like the two-man kitchen in plain sight, helping make the connection between you and the people preparing your food.

On the service side, Anthony himself greeted us when we walked in, was our server for most of the night and seemed to be doing the expediting with the kitchen. You gotta love the advantages a smaller space provides. He was a great host all night, the food came out of the kitchen quickly, and we really got the sense this was his baby. Very cool.

The Reco?

I’ve found that ‘comfort food’ is a delicate line to walk, and can mean anything from really poorly-executed classics to gloriously simple but addictive plates. Rose & Sons is surely the latter. This is only my second four-star rating in nearly 80 tries, so if that isn’t recommendation enough, I don’t know what is. Go now and enjoy!

Other Reviews? 
 blogTO   |     No Dinner Reviews Yet

 Posted by: Jacob, Visited Dec 7, 2012

416-964-0606    |    $25-34 entrees

Wanted to try something a little more refined for dinner with a few friends in the Av and Dav area. Came across Malena, sister resto to closeby l’Unita, serving up a fusion of Greek and Southern Italian fare. Here’s everyone’s take:

Food

The menu has a good balance of Greek and Italian, a good number of appetizer plates and nice balance of meat/fish/pasta in the mains. Something for everyone by the looks of it. 

Photo Credit: John Surfin, Post City

To start, 3/4 of the of the group ordered the arugula salad with roasted butternut squash, goat cheese and preserved quince. The consensus was ‘more squash please’, which meant both the salad could have used more of it and the concept was right. End of the day, it’s just some greens to start off the meal.

I started with fresh arancini over duck confit, with pieces of cold burrata, and pine nuts. This was my favourite dish of the night. Combined a bunch of things I wanted to eat, and really balanced temperature and texture well. I will say that I thought the duck confit could have been more tender and that the arancini were lacking the signature presence of melted cheese. I know there was something else on the plate (a green maybe?), but can’t remember for the life of me. It’s a variation on their usual arancini dish.

For the mains, we ordered gnocchi of the day with a pork and tomato ragu with parmesan to garnish. Ragu was tasty, but found the gnocchi a touch on the dense side. A good dish though.

Also ordered the roasted brick chicken with house mostarda in potato puree. My friend described the chicken as succulent and tender, with crispy-ish skin. The mostarda also add a some texture and a nice flavour complement to the potato puree. Dish was also served with an egg yolk that was cooked past runny. Not sure if the yolk was suppose to break and become the sauce or what. 

The market fish of the day was sea bass with a dill sauce, potatoes and grilled celery. The bass was perfectly flaky, and the classically paired sides worked as you’d expect.

Photo Credit: John Surfin, Post City

I ordered the squid ink tortellini (above) stuffed with lobster and mascarpone, topped with reduced brown butter and heirloom carrot sauce. Pasta was a perfect, thin, al dente encasing for the creamy lobster filling. I found the sauce added some richness, but I couldn’t pick out carrot. The panko on top each for crunch was a nice touch. The dish was definitely satisfying, but I think I wanted a hint of brightness or bitter to round it out.

Three of us ended with gelato. Pistachio was dead-on, but the dark chocolate was a little closer to milk for some at the table. I had the chocolate panna cotta with candied olives. The taste combination does work, but the panna cotta was more or less pudding texture and most pieces of the candied olives were too large, making some bites quite salty and unappetizing. 

Service and Ambience

We found the service pleasant, checked up on everything frequently, no glaring mistakes I can remember. 

The decor in the restaurant was very trendy, mixing tile, metal, wood, retro and modern all in one. If I started an upscale restaurant, it’d look pretty close to this.

An Aside…

I was recommended an online reservation service called DiningDateNight (bad name, I know) that lets you reserve at about 10-15 upscale restaurants across the city for $10, and in return gives you 30% off your final bill. We saved about $70 across the four us, which was awesome.
 

The Reco?

Overall, I understood what the meal should have been and think it almost got there. A few food slips here and there makes me a little hesitant to return for full price, but I’d try it again at a bargain.

Other reviews:
Globe and Mail    |Toronto Star

 Posted by: Jacob, Visited Nov 11, 2011