Frank’s Kitchen 416-516-5861 www.frankskitchen.ca Tues-Sun 6pm-10pm closed Monday
Food
Fresh warm bread is accompanied by green olive tapenade, sun dried olives and a sun dried tomato paste. The meat and pasta dishes steal the spotlight here. Chef Frank Parhizgar makes weekly trips to local markets purchases whole animals and butchers them right in his kitchen. The amuse is a simple cucumber and tomato salad with a dollop of fried goat cheese on top, sitting next to warm potato soup. Antipasto for one follows half heartily. The intermezzo is brilliant. Calamansi limes from Thailand are squeezed into a sorbet that awakens and refreshes taste-buds. Now I’m ready for the next course. Milk fed Ontario lamb rack, loin and braised shoulder in a Syrah reduction with a ratatouille and white bean puree is made with one ingredient most restaurants lack, love. Cooked perfectly, the Ontario lamb delicate in flavour, unlike its overly gamy New Zealand counter part. Parhizgar’s home style cooking brings out the lambs sweet young flavour. Spaghettini with bolognese sauce is so simple and yet so complex, each herb playing its part, not pretentious. Small menu. Simple focusing on bringing out the best in every dish.
Drinks
I started out with Langmeil Earthworks Shiraz ’08, meaty core of ripe berry fruit , peppery, good acidity, medium bodied, soft tannins. Second was Les Jamelles Syrah ’09, lovely leathery and black olive notes pair perfectly with the lamb. Magic in the making.
