Dessert By Candy

I’ve never been to the Danforth (Greektown) neighbourhood except for once during the Danforth Street Festival years ago. As can be expected, trying to explore a neighbourhood during any street festivals is a bad idea. So on this quiet Saturday, AL and I braved the drizzling rain and ate our way down Danforth Avenue and back up to Bloor Street. We visited many places throughout the day, some more interesting than others. There’s a rundown of some of the highlights:

Dash Kitchen

http://www.dashkitchen.ca

This is a nice store for prepared food items that you can simply reheat and serve at home, looking like you’ve been slaving all day in the kitchen without breaking a sweat. The minute we walked into the store, we were welcomed by such wonderful cooking aroma that I thought I walked into a friend’s kitchen during dinner time. There’re lots of condiments made by local artisans and a small selection of baked goods as well. I tried the fruit and nut lentil salad made with pineapple, apricots, raisins, lentils of different colour, and almond. It’s a very unusual salad that has a great balance of sweet tart flavour and texture. It reminds me of ambrosia salad except that it is not cloyingly sweet. The lentils also made it much healthier too. Based on this salad alone, I would love to go back and try some of their main courses. Besides, all of their staff are very helpful, knowledgeable, not to mention handsome!

Athens Pastries

509 Danforth Ave., Toronto

(416) 461-5056

No trip to Greektown is complete without tasting some great Greek pastry and I can’t think of a better place than a stop at Athens Pastries. This store has been around since 1978. Judging by the non-stop stream of customers stopping by for their freshly baked phyllo pastries and loukoumades, I have a feeling that Athens will be around for many more years to come. We sampled some spanakopita (fresh spinach and feta cheese wrapped in phyllo), tyropita (feta and ricotta cheese wrapped in phyllo), bougatsa (custard of semolina and milk wrapped in phyllo), and loukoumades (deep-fried dough balls dipped in honey syrup). The phyllo pastries were very flaky as expected and I enjoyed the spanakopita very much…spinanch and feta are so great together. However, I must say the loukoumades made my stop at Athens memorable. They were not at all greasy but the best part was when I bit through the crunchy exterior, the soft centre bursted with honey syrup. Deelish.

Sun Valley Fine Foods

http://www.sunvalleyfinefoods.com/

Although this gourmet food store is far less glamourous than Pusateri’s, I rather like their great selection of chocolate tablettes. You can find a large selection of Valrhona (including their estate-grown tablettes), Green & Black’s, Dolfin, and unusual Lindt bars.

Greg’s Ice Cream

200 Bloor St West, Toronto

(416) 961-4734

Okay, I admit that I’ve never been to Greg’s before today. I know that their roasted marshmallow ice-cream is legendary and it is probably one of the best ice-cream parlour in Toronto. What’s been keeping me away for so long? That was exactly the question I asked myself after my first spoonful of pineapple coconut ice-cream melted deliciously in my mouth. The ice-cream was smooth, quite airy, yet full of moist coconut shreds. It was like a mini tropical vacation in a cup! The roasted marshmallow was not at all shy with its toasty caramelized flavour, evoking memories of sitting by a campfire. However, it did get cloying after a while.

MoDo

http://www.modotoronto.com/

This is a dramatically gorgeous room with oversize chandeliers and a deep red & black palette that reminded me of Anna Sui. I had the Bison carpaccio with truffle oil and boschetto cheese as appetizer and the Venison osso buco for main course. Let me just say that if I do return, it would probably be drinks at the lounge. Between the dim lighting, flickering candles, and beautiful decor, it makes for a great location for drinks.

Pangaea Restaurant

http://www.pangaearestaurant.com/

AL wanted to try some great plated dessert and I immediately thought of Pangaea. I’ve always admired pastry chef Joanne Yolles’ work. Although her dessert may not be flashy, they reflect a restrained classical style that complement the savory menu very well. Besides, it is a joy to taste a dessert which every single element is made of high quality. I’m always amazed at the tender and flaky pâte sucrée used in her signature coconut banana cream tart. I had the winter citrus tart made with blood oranges and passionfruit. It was served with a citrus vanilla shooter and candied citrus. The shooter was a whimsical play on creamsicle with alterating layers of citrus sorbet and vanilla ice-cream. The tart tasty, combining juicy sweet blood orange segments with passionfruit curd and the incomparable pâte sucrée crust.

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