The Week In Yum - Bodega Henriette, Jamon, El Bosco and The Bench - Whew, What a Week

Fresh, modern Mexican food from El Bosco

Wow, this past week was the polar opposite of the previous one where I struggled to share ANYTHING food related. I feel like I ate, drank or experienced something awesome every day and since I spent last Friday driving to Hamilton to drop Shack off to work and then continuing on for my second day exploring The Bench before returning to The Hammer for a wonderful evening of dinner, drinks and enjoying Hamilton's Art Crawl, I barely had time to think, much less write all of this down. Because the week was so jammed packed already, I am going to cheat and add my Friday night dinner and adventures in Hamilton to next week's post, so stay tuned.

My sister came to visit me on Sunday and so every day after that, we were on the move - I will share the highlights.

Bodega Henriette

Rainbow Trout, crispy, dehydrated carrot, sprouts

I went to this lovely little corner bistro after they first opened and had a great meal and ever since, I have tried to go back but life gets in the way. Whenever we drive by it, which is almost a daily occurrence, I point it out and say "We have to go here, it's such a great little spot" and The Kid replies "I know. You say that every time we go by" This is not a strip of Gerrard that anyone expects to go to in search of really delicious food that one would normally have to venture further west for.

Whatever, kid. Last week, my sister was visiting for the week and I finally got my chance to return for dinner, hoping that it was going to be as fabulous as I remembered. It was a warm, sunny day so we took the 15 minute walk down, hoping to find a seat on the little patio, which we did.

I am thrilled to report that it was just as I remembered it. The service was warm and friendly, the Pisco Sour was tart and delicious, the wine list was impressive for such a tiny, neighbourhood restaurant but well priced and lots of good choices.

From the second we sat down and ordered our $5 cocktail of the day (Tuesday's special) until the minute we licked the dessert cup clean, we were both throughly charmed by the entire meal. My trout was delicious, our salads were fresh and tasty and full of lovely little surprises, my sister's pork dish was also delicious and the leftovers made for a nice lunch the next day. Kudos to chef Adam Weisberg for not only coming up with such a great, little menu but something that they manage to execute in a kitchen the size of my closet. You could not ask for more from this place and my only wish is that it was just a teeny bit closer so that I could talk Shack into going on nights where he is too tired to think about anything more than a walk to the corner.

I should mention that it is opened for breakfast and lunch, a popular weekend brunch and doubles as a coffee shop with house made pastries, take out sandwiches and has a small spot reserved for the essentials like milk, eggs, bread, pasta, imported canned tomatoes etc. , hence the Bodega in the name. They have opened a second location on King St East so if that is more your thing, try it out and let me know how it is.

we shared the grilled oyster mushroom salad as well as the arugula/frisee with spiced pecans and pear

Henriette Bodega
1801 Gerrard St East
Mon-Thurs 7:30am to 11pm
Sat 9am to 12am
Sunday 9am to 6pm
416-546-6261
regarding reservations: The place is very small so I would make reservations for dinner if you really want to get a table but they do keep the bar and the patio free for walk ins.

nutty, velvety fat, we probably ate about $200 in ham, ourselves 

I also dragged my sister along with me to an event at the The Vintage Conservatory  on Lombard St. Basically, it's a private club for people who collect wine. They will store your wine in your own private climate controlled locker and you can bring friends or clients there to enjoy your wine and hang out in one of their lounges or private dining rooms. No, I am not a member and I don't think my collection of unfiltered Pinto Noir from Rosewood requires a private locker, nor does it hang around long enough to worry about storage.

We were there for a private event hosted by Joselito Jamon , considered one of the very best producers of Iberico Ham in the world. This company has been producing world class Iberico pork products for six generations, raising their acorn fed black pigs and making their ham and other pork products on the same farm. I would NEVER turn down a chance to enjoy their delicious product and certainly would not say no to a glass or two of delicious cava and since I am trying to talk my sister into visiting southern Spain on our next travel adventure, I thought I would seduce her with pork.

It worked.

El Bosco

On Thursday, we attended the launch of El Bosco, a brand new food truck with a side of catering by Ismael Castro and his partner, Marcel Geer. Hailing from Tabasco, Mexico, Ismael has spent the last 20 years working in the service industry here in Toronto and felt like this was the right time to jump into the chef side of things with his health conscious, delicious Mexican fare.

We sampled a nice cross section of his food - from elevating a fresh, simple pico de gallo with pomegranate seeds to mini empanadas that utilize a crispy corn based shell instead of a heavier, flour based pastry, we both enjoyed every bite and I look forward to finding his food truck out there this summer. You can also hire the food truck to show up at your event or hire them to cater, of course. I will be writing something a bit more in depth soon on Auburn Lane, so keep your eyes peeled.
Follow El Bosco to get the lastest on the location of their food truck and get in touch:
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The Bench

A Tour of the Bench rounded out the week with my sister and we brought along my friend, Kate, who is a wonderful driver, great company AND, most importantly, doesn't drink! This allowed us to sample wine all day - a winery touring day is always a ton of fun but you MUST bring a designated driver. We stopped at most of my favourite wineries, had lunch at Bench Brewery - which I wrote about here and just enjoyed a warm, sunny day enjoying one of my very favourite day trip destinations.


Wescott Vineyard with Ricky & Olivia

Ricky and Oliva, the dynamic duo helping to carve out a modern, new dining scene on The Bench - just a teaser for now

In fact, I spent Friday there as well on my own which meant NO WINE FOR ME, but that was okay because, instead, I got to have an amazing lunch at Westcott Vineyard, prepared by a pair of Toronto chefs who have relocated for the time being and have taken the reigns of the outdoor kitchen there.
I spoke to Ricky and Olivia about their decision to slow things down a bit and create a menu that would reflect their vision while also honouring the wines that they are pairing with the food in this dreamy, country setting. Sadly, I couldn't sample the wines from Wescott on this visit but I plan to return a time or four this summer to eat more of this amazing food with wine pairings.

Okay, I know I have a problem, but on Friday night, we saw a little place that had a tiny wine list featuring only natural wines and the two that knocked our socks off happened to be Niagara wines. On Saturday morning we drove BACK TO THE BENCH>>>>> I KNOW< I KNOW OKAY>>>> and went to Pearl Morissette, which I soon learned does NOT have a tasting room or retail store as it is an award winning restaurant as well and you can only order their wines online or buy a couple of bottles of the wine you drink with your meal. That said, because we knew we wanted this wine, they sold us 6 bottles (any more than 6 and they must ship it) to take home.

Rosewood Estates is my new favourite winery

We then stopped into Rosewood Estates to buy their unfiltered Pinot Noir and ended up coming home with a case of that as well as a box of Mead. I won't say which winery is getting bumped on my list of favourites in the area, but Rosewood has now risen up to the top spot. We had a glass of this wine, very chilled, the previous night and it was all we could talk about for the rest of the night. Oh, and don't even get me started on the Nebulous , another experimental wine that turns cloudy when you expose the wine to air and is slightly effervescent, kind of funky and full of sediment and tears of joy.

This is all research for a story about day tripping The Beamsville Bench and Twenty Valley as well as a feature on these two and their newest adventure at Wescott, all coming soon on Auburn Lane.