a lovely dinner in TO

We're not sure if Allison or her friend Marie or anyone else will stop by the room before bedtime for a nightcap. We have a bottle of Pinot Noir we're glad to share, but who knows. If not, then we'll keep it corked and turn in for a good long night of sleep. We have a busy day of wedding tomorrow. Fun!

Last night we dined with Liza and Steve. In case you're not keeping track, Liza is an old schoolmate from Terrace; Steve is her handsome, friendly husband. We met at North 44, just a short stroll up Yonge from the Eglinton stop at 6:30, and settled in for a very good, leisurely meal.

I love restaurants where I am so very torn between menu items because I see so many key ingredients mentioned and that I love greatly. It was tough ordering, for that reason, but oh so easy to dine. We didn't force Liza and Steve to take photos of their meals, so only mine and Conrad's are shown here.

We shared a bottle of the restaurant's own private label unoaked Niagara Chardonnay to start with. You know, I don't know Ontario wines well, and the ones I've had (including the ghastly Baco Noir at the hotel lounge on Thursday night) have not been nearly so good as BC wines. I still think BC is better - chauvinism to some degree, I know. We did fine with our Ontario wines last night, though.

My appetizer: Pork belly "Confit" with kale, crackle, and pan drippings. Mmmm, pork. See Dad? I had MORE pork.

Conrad's appetizer: Caramelized curry scallops with okra and coriander chimmichuri. He said they were good. We playfully did not share our food with each other.

With dinner we switched to an Ontario Pinot Noir, the Hardie, from Prince Edward County. I liked this wine as well, and I'm sorry I couldn't find it in the LCBO store we popped into today.

My meal: Duckling "Three Ways" with crisp confit, pink breast, and seared foie gras with soubise, natural juices, and spiced apple. Another outstanding dish.

Conrad's meal: Fresh Dover sole roasted with caper berries, lemon, and chives. Before I knew it, his plate was clean.

Of course we had dessert. Well, Conrad did: Chocolate3 (imagine that 3 as a superscript, as in chocolate cubed). A trio of bittersweet chocolate banana cloud, milk chocolate phyllo cheesecake, spiced hot chocolate shooter. All of us agreed that the shooter smelled wonderful but was not as tasty as we'd like. I just don't care for hot spices and chocolate, I admit.

(Just back from sharing a bottle of Pinot Noir with Allison and her friend Marie. It's after midnight here, which means the wedding is later today.)

I had cheeses instead of dessert: Vieux Bruges, Delice de Bourgogne, Bleu L'Etoile, and Le Grand Manitou. If pressed, I would say the Delice was my favourite. I was a little daunted by how generous the portions of cheese were, and Conrad got a nice share of my plate.

In fact, generosity of serving was an interesting quality of dinner. North 44 is not cheap (and thank you Liza and Steve for treating us), but the portions were fine. Come dessert, the portions were a little much. Liza and Steve ordered the dessert platter for two (or more, as it was listed). We think that it was suitable for six. So much dessert, far too much. Almost a bit of a mess on the plate, but tasty, yes.

And then some little treats to cap the night!

All in all, it was a lovely meal, spanning 3 and a half relaxing hours. Our turn next time for treating Liza and Steve, and we hope we might have an opportunity to do so in Chicago.