We actually had a purpose for being in Toronto and that was to see my favorite band of all time, Stars. If you have never heard of them, I highly recommend giving them a listen. They are all sorts of amazing. They have this great indie pop sound, and there are two lead singers, a man and a woman and both have wonderful voices.
We were kind of pooped from our afternoon excursions but we were set on having a good dinner. We decided on The Wine Bar. The only reservation we could get was for 6 PM. The restaurant itself is beautiful, with two large bars on both sides of the restaurant, running the entire length of the restaurant. On the back wall, there was a huge display of all things pickled and it was color coordinated. We sat at one of the bars, right in front of the chef’s station, where we could see all the cooking, aka magic happen.
We started with the most important order first, drinks of course. We both got dirty martinis. They were pretty pricey at $12 a glass but very good, with tiny delicious olives. Then we got down to the business of eating. We ordered french fries with three dipping sauces, home-made ketchup, pesto mayo, and spiced aioli. The fries were plentiful but a little greasy. J attributed it to the oil not being hot enough. I liked the spiced aioli a lot. We also ordered a creamy tomato soup with pepper croutons. That was delicious. Nice and creamy with a nice tangy tomato flavor. I didn’t think the croutons did much for the soup but we thoroughly enjoyed the bowl. We also ordered a prosciutto salad with frisee lettuce, cherry tomatoes, and a vinaigrette. It was absolutely fantastic, very light, bright, and the prosciutto just added this delicious smoky, meaty flavor to everything.
As entrees, J ordered a seared mackerel and I ordered the “Miami” short ribs. Both were great. J’s mackerel was perfectly cooked and flavored. My short ribs were actually Korean short ribs and they were so freaking tasty. Full of flavor and tender. They were a little sweet, salty, and garlicky. YUM. So I hate to admit this, but I ended up ordered another order of the ribs because I knew it was going to be a long time before I had ribs like that again. The waiter thought we were going to order dessert, and looked a little flummoxed when we asked for more ribs.
We ended being at The Wine Bar for two hours! We had such a delightful time there. We headed over to the concert and Stars totally rocked the place. It was amazing!
Capital Region Foodies 