Sunny Days

My body doesn't fight off illness like when I was younger. So I was still feverish and coughing coming into the week-end. But with such bright, beautiful Autumn days, I made an effort to spend a little time outside.

Saturday, I went to Pho Linh at College and Dufferin for some pho. Perhaps some fragrant broth will clear up my head? Then it was a couple of blocks East to Arabesque to bask by the window with some parsley fatayar and a Blood of the Pigeon cup of Bedouin-style strong mint tea. It was good these businesses were still around. But I can't help but see that everyone was getting visibly older. As I ambled along College St. I noticed that the short-lived Art House Toronto at Rusholme has been replaced by a café called Barocco x Nino.

On Sunday, I walked around the neighbourhood to enjoy some more sunshine and came back to B x N, which turns out to be a joint venture between Barocco Coffee and Nino pastry. Sure enough, there was plenty of coffee options by the front. The back-half was a display of bite-site pastries, gelato, and a selection of more substantial food like panini. I bought a small Tuscan panzanella salad ($6) and a slice of veggie pizza ($5.50).

Settling into the long bench by the front window, I gave them a try. The ingredients were fresh but both dishes seemed under-salted. A bit odd since most restaurants tend to crank up (sometimes overly) the salt and oil. Their version of the salad had replaced the bread with quinoa and so resembled the one at Donna's. But it didn't have the same exciting flavours. The pizza was ok but was more like crunchy bread. Without top-notch dough, pizza can't excel. As I was eating it, I was reminded of Black Skirt which was here for several years. The chef had ambition to add pizza to their menu but they told me that they couldn't control the humidity and heat well enough to make good dough. Maybe some food for thought?