Fat Friday - The Counter

I'm happy to report that after a brief hiatus, we are back to our regularly scheduled program of Fat Fridays! This week, we take a little stroll to the west of the city to visit a newly opened diner on Bathurst in the lobby of a new hotel/condo building. Like most of our Fat Fridays, it was written up in either Toronto Life and/or the Toronto Star, and this recommendation actually came from Diane (Diane, I hope you'll enjoy vicariously through our experience). 

The restaurant itself is a very retro looking little diner on the main floor of the Thompson Hotel, and freshly opened, too (their website does a great job of photos...)! Although it wasn't very busy when we ate there, I'm sure the good publicity as of late will soon be packing those tables. The menu is what you would also expect from a diner - all day breakfast, burgers, sandwiches, salads, but with a few nice surprises, too. Plus, they cater to room service for the hotel, so if you're very staying there, you can sample the menu without even leaving your room! I really love a simple menu where you're not overwhelmed with choices, so it was easy to choose our dinner.

As was no surprise, Matt went ahead and ordered a burger and fries (his true evaluation of a new restaurant...). It came served on a wooden cutting board, a very nice touch (and if I didn't think they would miss it, I would have tried to fit in my purse...). A side of fries in a little bowl accompanied the meal, and I believe the toppings on the burger included mozzarella, tomato and spinach, to live up to it's name - The Tricolour. Really, how could you go wrong? And I don't think they did, because Matt enjoyed the meal thoroughly.

Myself, I went a little gourmet and tried out there Double Mac and Cheese, which came topped with pancetta, truffle oil and garlic toast. And it was done to perfection! I loved that the noodles with the small corkscrew variety, and I'm sure there was no less than 3 different cheeses blended in. And when it came served in a cast iron bowl, I was sure that I would eat it up and still have room for dessert. However, I do have the "Eyes are bigger than Belly" syndrome, which Matt loves to remind me of, and so we left with a little doggy bag. The leftovers were just as good, as I enjoyed them for lunch today... 

An added touch, as you wait for your meal, you're served a little cup of pretzel sticks to snack on. I love when restaurants do something special like that... you can tell that we are not difficult people to please.