The Regal Heights Bistro Review
By Elli Davis, October 1, 2009
Adress: 1077-1079 St. Clair Avenue West, Toronto, ON
Contact: (416) 651-2109
Neighbourhood: Regal Heights
As our car approaches the Regal Heights Bistro on St. Clair just east of Dufferin, the windshield wipers slap at driving rain that's turned this stretch of Corso Italia into a churning sea of gravel and mud. The tearing up of St. Clair Avenue West for a streetcar track/road improvement project is still going strong five years later, and we're reduced to one lane. Fortunately the bad weather seems to have kept traffic light, and we're able to park just across the street from the restaurant. Crossing the no-man's-land of cracked pavement and orange cones, I squint at the building I believe to be the Regal Heights Bistro.
Jazz brunch sign
Bar
"There's no sign, there used to be a big sign," I uneasily observe, " and it looks like a pub inside. I hope this is still the right place."
"Yep – Regal Heights Bistro," my partner confirms, pointing at a tiny hand-lettered sign inside the front window, and we spot the trademark Jazz Brunch sign as well.
No sooner do we cross the threshold than a hostess is waiting to seat us, offering a choice of any table we want. At eight fifteen, the restaurant is about a third full, with most patrons seated near the bar area.
"This is your first time here? Our sign blew down, and when we put it on a chalkboard, the rain washes it away. "You're in for a treat tonight, there's a birthday party and there's going to be a jazz band, it'll be lots of fun." She confirms we are indeed in the right place, though the interior is more pub than upscale bistro and I can smell French fries cooking. We examine the menu and my partner is disappointed at the two-sided affair we're presented with.
"They’ve sure changed their menu," he observes unhappily. Perhaps as an elitist jazz musician himself, he is just unhappy about the prospect of a live band. I re-read the restaurant name printed at the top of the menu just to make a hundred percent sure we are in the right place. Though I could find no website for the Bistro, and precious little online information other than bare-bones positive reviews, I did dig up some posted menus: and these included dishes like caprese salad, provencale escargots, chicken liver pate, smoked salmon crepes and black squid ink linguine. I don't need a menu to tell me that no homemade black squid ink linguine is coming out of this kitchen. The current offerings consist of typical pub food, perhaps gussied up a bit by unusual flavours and toppings, but pub food nevertheless.
Bistro
Our hostess comes back to take our order and I observe that the menus are very different from what we found online – what happened? Different ownership? "Oh no, same ownership," she assures us. "We haven't done anything online in a long time. Our menu has been this way for the last couple of years, we've just gone through a lot of different chefs. Our focus is always on fresh food; we shop every day, we cut our own meat, we make our own burgers, there’s no microwaves…we just want to have more of a casual dining atmosphere." Though the pub is definitely casual, right down to the paper napkins, wall signage from around the world points to a more sophisticated gastronomy.
"We shrink from that term gastro-pub," she laughs, putting us at her ease with a charming, pleasant manner. "
"We're actually changing things around in a few weeks – around Thanksgiving. We're going to enhance the menu, and have a bit of a grand re-opening. It's just hard to get here now with this construction." She goes over a list of specials that includes a hummous platter appetizer, a Black Angus strip steak in a mushroom wine reduction, and special toppings for the burger: Havarti and roasted red peppers.
Though she takes our order quickly, we're dismayed that a party of eight, who arrived after we did, are getting their appetizers first…though the food coming out of the kitchen does look heartening. My companion suggests we move strategically out of the way of the band, which is beginning to set up and tells us they're going to play some Cuban music. Our hostess/waitress takes it all in stride, pouring our drinks and arranging everything for us at the new table.
Mussels
Caesar Salad
Wings fries
She brings out our shared order of Mussels Rocco – mussels steamed in white wine, in a basil-tomato reduction. A risky order for a pub, but I must stop thinking of the Regal Heights Bistro as a pub. The towering portion of mussels is presented in a deep bowl with two seafood forks and two spoons.
"Wait, I'm going to bring you some bread for dipping – that's the best part!" our upbeat waitress exclaims, returning quickly with a dish of crusty sliced loaf and my partner's Caesar salad, wings and fries. After a warning about the heat of the sauce underneath the mussels, she departs, leaving us to blissfully suck up the mollusks in their thick, garlicky broth. The mussels are exquisitely fresh and well-prepared.
"That's a lot of mussels for the money," my partner gratefully observes.
His Caesar is 'just a Caesar salad' although there is a twist: Croutons are actually cubes of the same fresh crusty bread we've received for the mussels. "I wonder if that was on purpose or if they just forgot?" Perking up the salad is the sweetness of the freshly grated Parmesan.
His BBQ wings are accompanied by hand cut fries that are a knockout on their own, as promised –perfectly crispy/salty, in a portion small enough that they can easily be consumed while hot. The wings are well-cooked and very saucy, but nothing out of the ordinary. The small touches, like chipotle mayo which doesn't ordinarily come with the dish, but which our wonderful waitress brings in a little bowl for dipping the fries, make the difference.
Linguine Puttanesca
As the restaurant fills up, there's time to observe the décor. It's a small place, with oak bench seating as well as wood tables with cast-iron bases. Gothic-style chandeliers cast a warm glow over everything, and the bar itself, from which ten draughts on tap are poured, is said to be 120 years old. A cast-iron water dispenser is practical and interesting, probably used for self-serve during brunch, though it's located in the staff area where cutlery and plates are obtained. The wine list is written on a chalk board above our heads.
Cuban Jazz band
Our mains arrive just as the band begins to play. It's a birthday party for the singer, with cake for everyone in the bar, and pleasant banter ends as the band, too loud for the small space, strikes up 'Besame Mucho'. My partner's ears are assailed (thankfully I know nothing about music, and thus cannot take offense) as he's presented with the Linguine Puttanesca, another special and in my opinion, another risk for any non-Italian restaurant, and even some Italian ones. I have to stop basing my expectations on the Firkin-type pubs I used to frequent, because the pasta is very good, piping hot and medium-spicy, as promised: black olives and artichoke hearts providing a smoky saltiness to the fresh linguine, which is cooked al dente.
My own strip steak is cooked exactly to medium rare and mushrooms caramelized in plenty of port add a sweetness and flavour to the meat. I've asked for salad on the side, and instead of being offered a choice of typical pre-packaged dressings, it arrives laced with raspberry vinaigrette that certainly tastes homemade. Juicy, ripe strawberries and raspberries explode in the mouth against the bitter spring mix.
"I can see you didn't like that at all," observes our waitress, who comes promptly to collect our empty plates. "
Tiger brownie
We have a few desserts…" Nothing's too complex here, it's all accessible, perhaps due to the children who flood in each week for the Jazz Brunch. There are two pies, a cheesecake, and a Tiger brownie, which my companion selects for us to share. It comes, like everything else, beautifully presented and piled high. The warmed chocolate and coconut brownie is a la mode, with vanilla ice cream topped with sliced fruit gently melting to join with raspberry syrup on the plate. It's not sickeningly sweet despite how it sounds. It's just a perfect, decadent dessert.
The music is becoming too much for my partner, so we finish up our decent coffees in haste – we've already been at the Regal Heights Bistro for two hours, though the time has flown by – and request the bill.
"The brownie is on the house," our waitress beams, "sort of an intro-thing, to thank you for coming and trying us out on such a miserable night. Hope to see you again soon!"
Though we don't live in the neighbourhood and aren't likely to just pop in, we leave the Regal Heights Bistro thinking of ways to get our friends together there for a meal. The food is very good, the prices are reasonable, and above all the atmosphere – lent not so much by the restaurant itself as by the incredibly warm, welcoming attitude of the staff – assures a return visit.
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katherine finn thought on May 22nd, 2011 12:58 pm
Hi
Do you have any photos or drawings of a home that was owned by J.H. Crang the stock broker around the 1900′s … in the Oakwood St. Clair Ave area.