Café Dario

Last night was my very belated holiday staff party.  Six of us co-workers, our boss & his wife, and the founder of the store headed out for a fine wine & dine evening at Café Dario on Erin Street.  I had never heard of this place before, but it sure did sound appealing when I found we were to be having a 5 course meal....with the boss paying!

I ordered myself a glass of wine, baguettes were served, and then it began with your choice of 5 appetizers.  I went with a creamy chipotle duck and apple salad served on a leaf of lettuce (I don't have any idea what else was in it).  It was pretty spicy!  Which made me nervous for my entrée choice...stay tuned.

Following that came the soup.  It was a carrot ginger soup (pre-determined by the chef).  It was absolutely amazing, I could have had that as my meal ha!  It was almost like a combination between pumpkin and butternut squash soup....but not.

Then came the pallet cleanser: the salad (also pre-determined by the chef).  A simple plate of leafy greens with a minty lemon vinaigrette.  It was delicious (one of my co-workers went to extreme lengths in calling it "diviiiiiine"...).

Now, for the entrée; your choice of 7 options.  Bosses wife and I decided to brave the SPICY (yes, the menu had that word in all caps) lemon chilli pork tenderloin with pineapples within and a mango honey glaze.  The platter also came with a "dollop" of parmesan mashed potatoes and grilled zucchini & carrots.  I asked the server on a scale of 1-5, how hot to expect.  She rather made it into a scale of 1-10, placing it at about a 7 or 7.5.  It was hot.  Actually quite very hot.  I indeed asked the waitress to bring more baguettes for my dear mouth.  That being said, it was so good!  It was so flavourful.  I don't normally like zucchini, but when i added it to my fork of taters and citrusy pork, it just completed it.


With that being finished came the final phase.  Dessert.  Coming out in small, low bowls was a square of some sort of almond brownie with a (again) "dollop" of whipped cream.  Normal Jill could have eaten it in two bites, but seeing as it would ruin the whole idea of the 5 courser, I savoured every tiny bite.  A good finish.


Portions came in the perfect size leaving me completely satisfied at the end.  Just a tad full (as I'd eaten an extra baguette & pounded some water among the ordeal), but not sick.  It was so much fun trying these new foods and being surrounded by some rather nice company.  Considering it's a workplace full of an array of women (head-butting could happen), we all get along which made for a lot of laughter and good conversation.

Thanks moulitas!