Monthly Archives: September 2002

Mezes

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456 Danforth Avenue
416-778-5150

Beautiful decor, funky mosaic tiles, waterfalls, but VERY LOUD. Expect mega lineups on the weekend. Mezes is the place to be on the Danforth. If your young, hip, and trendy and you want to be seen, this is the restaurant for you. Mezes has a beautiful summer terrace, and a great selection of mouth watering food. There are large, traditional Greek dishes like Mousaka or if you are like me, you can order three smaller dishes to make a meal. The grilled vegetables are “to die for” and I also order a plate of humus and a spanakopita (spinach pie). Open very late, contains many seats inside and about ten seats on the front terrace. The only thing about Mezes are that tables are close together, packed in like sardines, lineups are long, and it’s noisy, but the food and atmosphere is great.

Fressen

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478 Queen St. W.
(416) 504-5127
64 Oxford Street
(416) 927-1231
web site: www.toronto.com/profile/187540

 

A small restaurant, only opened for lunch 11:00am-3:00pm and then open again for dinner 5:00- late. I went here for my 28th birthday dinner and I really enjoyed my evening.
The restaurant is designed in an Asian and tropical rainforest motif. Very soothing and relaxing and the waitress describes all the entrees as “beautiful” The food is pricy. Entrees are from $15-$20 and the portions are not big. The presentation is tasteful and minimalist. The food is creative and flavourful but more on the blander side (not spicy).

They claim to be a “natural” restaurant thus you cannot order Coke or Pepsi or any soda product. First round of water is not free. The request for tap water is acceptable once a bottle of Evian is ordered at first. The seats are very comfortable and the ambiance is casual to dressy. The overall theme is a calm and soothing retreat from the bustling city. The dishes are uniquely vegetarian. None of the dishes even attempts to emulate a meat dish. For my birthday dinner I ordered the roasted vegetables with tofu and seitan. It was really good and did not taste like your typical tofu stir fry, like in most vegetarian restaurants. Food was fresh and presentation was key.

The only drawback is the wait and the tiny portions. The staff at Fressen believe in taking their time. They believe that their clients should enjoy their whole dining experience. The bread is healthy and freshly cut but the portions are quite skimpy. Nonetheless I would highly recommend this place for a special occasion once a year.

Nevada [Sept 2002]

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1963 Queen E
(416) 691-8462

 

A brunch delight, a large and beautiful terrace and a large menu with some vegetarian options. (mostly pasta dishes and very few brunch items). Located right in the heart of the Beaches on Queen Street east, this two floor large restaurant has a large variety of food for everyone. I went with about five friends and my friend’s dog and we were all very happy with the price and the portions. Brunch is about $7.95-$10.95 and there is a variety of vegetarian dishes. I enjoyed an egg white omelete with a variety of garden vegetables. Other friends had large portions of eggs with bacon sausage and toast (typical brunch fare) and were quite satisfied.

Portions are large, the food is flavourful, colourful, and the presentation is nice. The plates are extra large, decorative, and artsy, and the service was slow and disorganized but it did not bother us on that nice fall day in September 2002. Tables are close together on the terrace so there was a lot of squeezing into small places. For some heavy set people, this could present some problems. The place is funky and cool, a mixture of a pub type ambiance, a large Bistro, and a family restaurant, all wrapped into one. Decor and ambiance is better than mediocre food. Nothing to cry home about. I may go back once per year but will not be main hangout. Would only recommend on first date where mood and setting is more important than food.
Nevada accepts all cards, open late, perfect for summer and early fall dining. Offers weekend brunch.

Myth

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417 Danforth Av
(416) 461-8383

I went with a friend and sat on the lovely outdoor, front terrace in the late autum breeze. The atmosphere is trendy, hip, cool, funky architecture, spacious design, dim lit, many dressed up people, has a bar-like, meat-market kind of appeal. The prices are ridiculous and the portions are ridiculous. They give wonderful slices of bread with olive tapanade but my friend and I had two squares of silken tofu drizzled with stewed tomatoes with a light, refreshing, organic greens salad. The meal cost $15.95 and was a complete ripoff. We were starving afterwards. The portions are tiny but the plates are extra large. There is only vegetarian selection and it sucked.
In sum, the places looks beautiful, in terms of design, ambiance, slightly pretentious, but clients should not go there for food, maybe just for drinks.