Oliver & Bonacini
33 Yonge st
It was after another "day" of work that me and my good friend "Steph" had to go get some food.
She of course had no clue where we were going but was very willing to go wherever I was going to take her.
I really had no idea myself where we were going to go, but I did stress to her that we really had not explored the land east of Yonge street. We got off at Union station and walked up to street level. I just said we need to go that way. I pointed east. Even with all the construction on Front street, we continued on, it made it even more exciting. I have to admit we kinda wandered upon this place.
But I am so glad we did.
We approached the place, and I said to Steph, "OMG, I recognize that name, that's that tall chef from TV", we checked out the menu board that was posted outside (good idea remember?). We were sold.
We walked in.
From the moment we walked in, we knew we had walked into someplace special. We had seen the menu outside, so we knew what we were paying for our food, it wasn't going to stop us from paying our rent. But there was just something about the decor, the staff, it can only be described as a feeling. We had an awesome feeling from the very beginning.
The place was light and airy and clean. It didn't look new, but it just looked clean. I got to say I have worked in the "industry" for years, from serving drinks by the bar tray full in Windsor in my early twenties, to my last days (when the smoking ban killed our business)in my early forties. I have worked in many a place, and the key to a great restaurant was it has to be clean. It doesn't matter what the food tasted like but if the place is dirty, you just don't feel good about it. This was something that you didn't have to worry about here. You can ask Stephanie, at some point in our meal, I made a comment to Steph "you know if I ran over to that cupboard over there and ran my finger over the top of it, there wouldn't be any dust." Her respond was almost choking on her drink, rolling her eyes and saying "OK". She probably was thinking, OMG, has she gone off her meds or what? she just smiled at me!
We got a great table, and it was in the middle of the room, there was booths at the end, but we were there early and got good seats. I sat facing the windows and Steph had her back to it. It so happened that the "Fashion Care" awards were going on in the humming bird centre, or as us old folks know it as the O'Keeffe centre. We didn't realize this till we were in mid meal. That's when I noticed the camera's flashing. I was such a shit, I would look up and say""oh oh oh," and then steph would go to look, and I would say "ah too late"..
Actually we couldn't see anything, because of the grade of the sidewalk. All we could see were the heads of the people and sometimes the sign that they were putting up to announce the person. I was commenting to Steph, that if I was a famous person I would be pretty pissed off if they had to put up a sign to announce me. That people didn't know who I was.
Psssssssh!
I ordered the grilled calamari puttanesca as an appetizer! It was heaven on a plate!
Steph had the oven roasted chicken breast with gnocchi, butternut squash, Swiss chard & roasted garlic jus. She didn't speak for a few moments. I knew that was a good sign.
I had a steak with bacon marmalade. it was amazing!!
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Desert was even better.......
I do not have anything bad to say about this place. Everything, was just perfect. From the food, to the timing of the server filling the water glass to the moment when all the ladies (old) jumped up and began gawking out the window at Elton john who had just arrived on the red carpet at "fashion cares"...Ah ladies the man is gay? and he's married... ah hello?
The evening was perfect.
This is a great place!!!!
You know why?, because it is a place where the "average" person can come and have a meal. They don't have to reserve a table 3 months in advance and they don't have to spend a month's salary on one meal.
Good job guys!!
2 smiley faces
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