The Rotisserie House
Posted on May 7, 2011 by TOFoodReviews Staff in Liberty Village
3 stars
- The Rotisserie House is a family-run, Portuguese barbeque (or Churrasqueira) restaurant in the Liberty Village area. Like most places owned and run by families, this restaurant is small, a bit cluttered with a mishmash of décor and, no matter the number of other patrons there at the time, has a staff that makes you feel like the centre of attention.
They happen to be closed on the weekend, but from Monday to Thursday they are open from 11:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. and Fridays from 11:00 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. The hours are slightly odd, but it makes for a great lunch spot, especially for those like me who tend to take lunch anytime between about noon and 3:00 p.m.
They offer a variety of chicken dishes, a number of different sides and even one vegetarian option. You can get a 1/4 or 1/2 rotisserie chicken dinner – white meat or dark meat – with a choice of two small sides for $6.50 – $10.00. For an additional $0.99 (small) or $1.98 (double) you can get a side of onion rings, Greek or Caesar salad.
The menu itself is pretty huge and is filled with quite a few options. The regular roster of sides, for example, includes Portuguese rice, roasted Parisian potatoes, steamed vegetables, French fries, garden salad or potato wedges. Mains include the abovementioned chicken combos, rib combos, a variety of salads and soups, chicken wings and fingers and sandwiches, like pulled chicken, grilled vegetable, grilled chicken, pork or sausage. They even offer catering.
I decided upon the pulled chicken sandwich with a side of Parisian potatoes. The pulled chicken is topped with their “famous” hot sauce, served on a white or whole wheat Kaiser and is dressed with mayo, lettuce and tomato. All of this, with a drink, came in at about $9.
One of my all-time favourite side dishes are those lemony, roasted potatoes available at most Greek restaurants. Well, The Rotisserie House’s Parisian roasted potatoes are a close second. They are red, probably from Paprika, and just a bit fiery from the restaurant’s signature hot sauce. The pulled chicken sandwich was flavourful, tender and also had the same red hue from the sauce.
I do enjoy spicy foods, though I am a bit of a wimp. This restaurant’s hot sauce had a great kick and a good flavour, but it won’t burn your mouth to the point that you can’t taste anything else. This is really important, since they throw the hot sauce on their dishes, whether it’s requested or not. Don’t fret too much about all the spice if you’re grabbing lunch and heading back to the office, you can buy a pack of gum here too!
Considering the size of this restaurant, I was quite surprised by the number of items they have on the menu. It was not overly busy when I walked in, so everything went very smoothly as far as timing and service went. The staff is extremely friendly, but very small, so I am curious to see what happens when it gets really busy. However, they seem to have it all figured out.
If I lived closer to Liberty Village, I could see this being a regular staple for me for a quick lunch, or to grab some dinner on the way home from work. The prices are reasonable, the food tastes good and it’s quick and satisfying.
- Nicole
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Drake BBQ – Revisted
Posted on April 14, 2011 by TOFoodReviews Staff in Liberty Village
2 stars
- If you’ve already read our first review of Drake BBQ, then you’ll know that they didn’t exactly impress the first time around. If you haven’t read it yet, I suggest you do. In any case, everyone deserves a second chance…
So, I wiped Drake BBQ’s slate clean and went with a clear mind that was free of any preconceived notions of what the food or service would be like.
After my visit, I decided to up Drake BBQ’s review to two stars, for one main reason in particular; I considered my encounter with the staff a drastic improvement from what Andre experienced a few weeks ago.
That said, when I first entered this tiny restaurant, I immediately thought I was in for much of the same. There weren’t any other people there, yet I hardly received a glance, much less a hello. However, once I stopped for to look at the menu hanging on the wall the guy behind the counter engaged me in the regular shtick, with a “how are you doing…” “what can I get for you…” and “may I recommend the pork.” Okay, okay, it’s not the most glaring example of good customer service, but I certainly didn’t feel unwelcome, and the employee helped where he could.
Now, I will deal with lackluster staff if the food is spectacular. Really, I don’t care much who is behind the counter if I’m handed a plate of something truly delicious – at least the attitude is well earned. Though, I’m sad to say that I have to agree with the Andre’s review of the food. I may never have been to Texas, but I have had good BBQ, and this just isn’t it.
All of my fond experiences of BBQ are owed to two important factors: an unbelievably tender meat, and a deep, smoky sauce smothering it. At Drake BBQ, I ordered the Texas chopped beef brisket combo with a side of coleslaw (other side options are peanuts, chips or pickles). When I took my first bite of the beef, I was momentarily excited by a hefty charcoal flavour that was seemingly infused in it. Unfortunately, it didn’t carry through the whole sandwich. When there is a true-master behind the grill, you’ll get something that has a deep flavour running through and through, not just on the crust of the meat. The rest of the beef was actually quite boring, bland, and dry. Truth be told, I actually saw another diner go up and ask for salt…ouch!
I know the sauce was a point of contention last time, and I’m sad to say again, I also wasn’t impressed with it. BBQ should leave your face splattered and your hands tacky from with sweet, tangy, and smoky sauce. I saw them put the sauce on my sandwich – honestly, I did – and some of it even dripped onto the plate, but somehow it seemed to vanish into thin air as I ate it. As for the coleslaw, there was dressing on mine, but it wasn’t quite sour enough to be a superb vinegar-based slaw, nor was it smooth enough to be considered one of those satisfyingly creamy ones.
I don’t want to protest too much without offering what I think could be the saving grace for Drake BBQ. Three suggestions, if I may: up the ante on the sauce, spice it up and get it flowing more substantially; respectfully, if you don’t want a fryer in the joint, get really original with the coleslaw because I don’t want something that tastes like the grocery store stuff. I haven’t lost all of my hope for you, Drake BBQ. But, for now at least, one more star is all I can do.
Visually, Drake BBQ emanates a stereotypical southern eatery, including bullhorns and cowboy hat decor, a simple menu scrawled on a chalkboard and fizzy beverages in glass bottles that require a bottle opener to get into them. However, just like my meal, all the flavour is just at face value and none of that great flare infiltrates Drake BBQ where it counts – the food.
- Nicole
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Drake BBQ
Posted on March 21, 2011 by TOFoodReviews Staff in Liberty Village
1 star
(Note: Drake BBQ is no longer in existence)
- Boy-oh-boy, do I ever feel let down. I actually went out of my way to go to this place one day when I was craving some good-ole-fashioned-BBQ. Claiming to be serving it up in true Southern-style, I thought that there’s no way this could go wrong. I’ve actually been to Texas and all throughout the Southern states on a fairly serious eating vacation, and lemme tell you something, The Drake and their lil’ BBQ place owe the great state of Texas and its surrounding neighbours a serious apology…
Drake BBQ has a slew of great reviews all over the Internet. Everyone on Yelp, Twitter, and a bunch of TO food mags have been raving about the authentic, badass Texas and Carolina style BBQ they’ve had in this place. I’ve read so many good comments, that I figured I must have gone to the wrong place. Maybe, I thought, there was some other place that just happens to look exactly the same, on the exact same street, with the exact same type of food?
Nope… I was in the right place. It just sucked is all.
Because they have such a loyal following, I’m sure quite a few people are going to dislike what I’m saying here, but in all honesty, if you got served what I did, you’d be disappointed too. My Carolina pulled-pork sandwich was small, dry, and amazingly enough, was completely void of BBQ sauce, which is a fairly important staple in a pulled-pork sandwich. They must have had some BBQ sauce somewhere in there, but if they did, they didn’t offer it to me, and it certainly wasn’t on my sandwich. My coleslaw was even worse. It was incredibly bland and wasn’t much more than shredded cabbage with a slight trace of what I assume was salad dressing. Not to mention that this stuff was expensive! Two of those sandwiches and an itty-bitty coleslaw–plus tip of course–cost over 20 bucks.
Welcome to The Drake BBQ; it’s BBQ with a side of pretentiousness. You don’t like it? Trust me. If it’s the same guy working behind the counter when I was there, then he won’t care at all. I asked if we could get some fries with our sandwiches. He just looked at me, shocked, and said, ‘I don’t want a deep-fryer in this place’. Hey, I’m fine with the guy being pretentious and true to the stuff he’s making and how he’s making it, especially if it’s honest-to-goodness Southern-style BBQ. If he truly was an artisan of the BBQ and the smoker, he can rightfully be as pretentious as he wants as far as I’m concerned. I probably would have answered back with an agreeing ‘Yes Sir’! But the true kick-in-the-ass was that the stuff that I ended up taking home in a sad little brown bag was basically less than edible. In fact, I only took a few bites and ended up throwing it out, which is something I never, ever do. Someone went and filled this guy’s head with the thought that this is actually what good BBQ is all about; someone lied to him.
Besides being about honest and delicious BBQ, the Southern states are all about hospitality and genuine people; people that would never be rude or unwelcoming. They’re more likely to invite you in for dinner than they are to turn you away. Drake BBQ was none of those things. The service was rude, inhospitable, and unwelcoming. From the moment I walked in, I felt as though they wanted me the hell outta there. That is, except for the older guy that handed me the bag. He sent me off with a sincere sounding ‘thanks for your business’, which is something I think businesses don’t say enough these days.
Like I said, this was painful for me. I felt ripped off. I felt sad. I felt let down. It was a just a plain bad experience that was nothing close to true Southern BBQ or Southern hospitality. In fact, I don’t think I would even give it another go, and whether you’ve been exposed to true Southern BBQ or not, I’d suggest you don’t either, because you’ll feel let down either way too.
- AB
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Parkette Kitchen and Bar
Posted on March 19, 2011 by TOFoodReviews Staff in Liberty Village
4 stars
- If you venture away from the downtown core, just outside the hustle and bustle of the 9-5 crowd, the theatres and skyscrapers, you might just find a restaurant that is surprisingly unique and that shows some real passion. You can still see the CN Tower, but it all seems far removed from the tourist-focused mentality. Preparing food requires creativity and there is no better place for the chefs of Parkette to find artistic inspiration than on Queen West beside Trinity Bellwoods Park.
A very tiny restaurant, Parkette offers an equally small, very succinct menu with starters, second courses, salads, pasta, pizza mains and desserts. The server tells me, “our dishes are meant to be shared, like family-style,” and so we did.
A meal for two should typically be made of three dishes; a starter, a salad and a main or a “second” and two mains, and so on. They offer, what I would call, up-to-date traditional Italian food. Our starter of mussels in tomato broth, topped with fennel and white beans ($10), was just light enough to leave room for the heavier mains of beef cheeks on bed of polenta ($16) and ricotta gnocchi with oxtail ($14). The beef was tender enough that only a fork was needed to pull the pieces apart and, though not experienced with polenta, I thought it was appropriately soft and that it held up to the rich beef.
As mentioned in previous reviews, I am a new gnocchi-addict. Parkette’s was not so dumpling-like as I’ve had before and it was certainly not topped with your typical pasta sauce. Little packets of tender potato, assumingly kept so soft by the ricotta, were paired with oxtail and sun-dried tomatoes in more of an aus jus, than a sauce. I think I had a bit more than my fair share of that dish – at a $14 price-point, this was the best of the night. The ingredients are bold, but the layered flavours hold up perfectly.
Humble, but delicious, Parkette offers carefully prepared food in a great atmosphere; natural woods, stemless wine glasses and paper napkins prevent the tiny interior from becoming claustrophobic. Parkette does almost make you feel like you’re having a lovely dinner in the park.
- Nicole
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