Fat Friday - Taste of the Danforth

Just a week or so ago, Toronto celebrated its annual Taste of the Danforth. You might have heard a thing or two of the festival, but if not, briefly, they shut down a section of the Danforth for the various restaurants to offer a taste of their cooking to visitors. Neither Matt nor I had been before, so we thought we'd head out on a little taste adventure for our Fat Friday.

So, we hopped on the subway, headed out to the east end, exited at Broadview, and were immediately met with hoards of people trying to make their way along the street! It was like a crazy mass of people with no clearing in sight. But we did manage to find some open space to walk, only to be met with long line-ups for the food stalls. We were already hungry at this point, and the crowds and lines (not to mention the heat) were making us quickly grumpy, so we left the madness of the Danforth to head south to Leslieville, where we were certain we could get a great meal. We'll just head back to the Danforth on a regular day when the crowds won't be so crazy (it could be that we're just getting older and can't be bothered with crowds any more...).

We headed south to Queen St, only about a 20 minute walk from Danforth, to a little Italian restaurant we had been to before, Lil Baci (probably about the furthest thing from Greek food!).  With no line up and a small menu, we were enjoying our appetizer and glass of wine in no time. For a starter, we each ordered crustinies, prosciutto with caramelized red onions and Parmesan. Even though they came two to a plate, we each ordered our own - we were that hungry!

Next, the entrees. Matt went for a pizza - a favourite of his - spicy sausage with basil. A classic and delicious pizza to enjoy on a summer patio. Of course, the food probably tasted 10 times better because of our hunger and frustration, but Lil Baci has no problems with good food - they know how to dish it!

Myself, I have been on a huge pasta kick as of late, so how could I turn down the option to indulge myself yet again. The special that night was orecchiette, similar to that I enjoyed at Brassaii, but this one came served with hot sausage in a cream sauce (I am a sucker for cream sauces, yes sir!). I have to say I enjoyed the sun dried tomatoes better at Brassai, but this one was pretty tasty...and filling. Sadly, I think I had to leave some behind, and we didn't have room for gelato. But we did enjoy a specialty coffee afterwards.

It was great to enjoy dinner on a back yard patio. The sun slow set while we enjoyed our wine and conversation, and once it go too dark, the patio was lit with small strings of lights, just enough to see who you were talking with. We said at the beginning of the summer that we should have Patio Phat Phridays, but so far, this has been the only one we've made it to. Hopefully the nice weather keeps going so we can get to a few more.

Oh, I'm sorry. You thought I was going to write about Greek food....