So, of course we had to go out for some yummy eats before heading over to The Elmdale so I chose 10Fourteen, a relatively new resto along the newly gentrified stretch of Wellington just west of Bayshore and, ironically, located at 1014 Wellington Street West ... perfect as we were only steps away from the tavern. This is the start of of Hintonburg's trendy new restaurant area and I absolutely love this neighbourhood.
The website for 10Fourteen is lacking but I'm attaching the link as they have some much better photos of the inside of the resto than I took that night but other than a map there is not much else on the website. It's worth it to check out the pix - the decor and ambiance is great. It's upscale casual with some beautiful mirrors on the walls and a comfy lounge-y area at the back. The bar was packed with a couple of groups of friends laughing and having a great time (and pretty much every time I've walked by in the evenings I've noticed a group of people having fun at the bar). There was some jazz music playing and our waitress was pleasant, knowledgeable and appropriately attentive.
Diners are provided with the house made chili-spiced popcorn to munch on while looking over the menu. The restaurant specializes in "small plates" and the menu, while not extensive, changes frequently so you could basically have something new and different every time you go there. The chef is also really big on unique and interesting presentation.
Stacey chose some red wine while I got some local micro-brewed beer. Every dish has a title and a very brief description of the ingredients so you really rely on your server for an explanation of the dish and how it is prepared and presented. We found the descriptions of the upcoming plates that we chose to be spot-on and we appreciated the explanations. We told our waitress that were were going to order a number of dishes in sequence so as we ordered one item we continued perusing the menu for our next selection. The time for preparation and delivery to the table was very quick so we finished one round before ordering our next sampling.
For 'round one' Stacey picked the "Bahgi" (their spelling) which was identified on the menu as Onion/Curry/Tamarind and I chose the "Poppers" which were described as Artichoke/Chiorizo/ Cheese.
The Baghi (background) were perfectly crispy and I love the sweet/sourness of the tamarind. They were perfect and I don't think that you would know that your favourite Indian mummy-ji had not made these perfect little bundles for you. The jalapeno poppers were filled with smooth-creamy cheese and lots of chiorizo - so they were already spicy to bite but with sufficient cooling cream cheese to find them enjoyably spicy not too hot to burn your taste buds and miss the smoky flavour of the sausage. However, if you wanted even more of a kick, that is sriracha dotted alongside them (I did).
Next up, was "Glass of Bacon" selected by me and described as Rhum/Coke/ Lime while Stacey chose the "Mac N' Cheese" explained as Bechamel/Cheddar/ Biscuit/Butter. The waitress described the bacon as being marinated in the rum and coke then grilled and finished with the lime. The Mac N' Cheese also came accompanied by a side of a beautiful purple cabbage slaw.
Both of us agreed we could not get any of the flavours other than bacon (not a bad thing mind you ...) from the bacon - the marinating and finishing we didn't find added anything. Really - bacon is already good as it is, it doesn't have to be made any better. The Mac N' Cheese was super creamy (and unbelievably hot) but we both found it a tad bland. Stacey and I both agreed that we should have added the bacon to the Mac N' Cheese and it would have probably improved both dishes. The biscuit was warm and freshly made with herbs and we both loved the slaw. Overall this was our least favourite course.
On to 'round three' and we went for the two specials of the night: "Supreme" which was Boar/Chili/Verde/Jalapeno/Cheese and the "Platter" described as BLT/Fritter/Aioli Leek/Rings/ Apple.
The boar chili is on the left side. It was delicious with tender chunks of boar and was spicy but not overly hot and very flavourful. The salsa verde was piled on top and gave a nice temperature and crunchy texture variation from the hot chili. At the far right side is the BLT fritters. These were really good. They were crunchy and hot. The aioli was delicious -- creamy and tangy. Really good and made me think I need to make and serve food as fritters in the future - change things up. And finally, in the centre are the "leek rings" -- essentially an onion ring made with leeks. These golden nuggets were crispy and and delicious. They had a much subtler flavour than onion rings and I absolutely loved them. They were laying on some pureed apple sauce - not for me but Stacey enjoyed it. I didn't really see the point of adding a sweet fruit (and apple sauce is not one of my favourite things in any case) but it was a flavour and temperature contrast to the leek rings. I could have popped these golden, crispy babies in my mouth all night.
Alas, it was time to begin the short walk down the street to catch up with Sonia and Steve; the bill arrived in a wine pourer/measure so Stacey decided to put a bill of her own right back in the measure glass to pay!
We had a great dinner and I thoroughly enjoyed myself, enjoyed the company of my great friend and the restaurant. The food is top notch and we really liked it - in all honestly some of the small plates are a little on the 'small' side and we totally figured had we wanted to, we probably could have eaten every dish on the menu. In fact we only missed the "Protein" (Lentils/Beans/Chickpeas/ Onions/Cauliflower/Kale) and the "Greek" (Pita/Chips/Cucumber/Tomato/ Onion/Olive) which our waitress told us was essentially a Greek salad with pita chips so we didn't feel like we were missing anything we had not had before. Nonetheless I have recommended this resto to others and look forward to going back again ... sometime.
coupl'a drinks later and heading out to the tavern ...
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