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Coppi Ristorante

3363 Yonge Street
Toronto, ON M4N 2M6
416-484-0436‎

http://www.coppiristorante.com

Price: $$
Ambiance: Casual
Food: 3/5
Service: 3/5
Tummy Points: 3/5
Notes: Burrata Caprese $15,
Trenette alla Genovese
$18, Salmone alla Livornese
$25. Street and valet parking.

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Named after Fausto Coppi, a renowned cyclist between 1939 and 1958, Coppi Ristorante was opened in 1991 by Fausto Di Berardino, unrelated to Coppi.  The restaurant presents simple Italian cuisine with one or two spices per dish - which is a pleasant departure from the complex spices and chemicals used in present day fast food.

I went during this year's annual Winterlicious, where a few of Toronto's fine restaurants present fixed price menus.  Although not all items I ordered were off the fixed price menu, almost all of their fixed price menu items were available in the regular dinner menu.  My visit was on a weekend so the restaurant was very busy with most tables filled and staff busy sliding around chairs.  The interior is simple and dimly lit.  Numerous wine bottles lined the walls.

The salmone alla Livornese, a norwegian salmon filet prepared in a light tomato sauce with black olives, capers and served with a rustic mash & steamed asparagus, was not very visually pleasing.  My initial thoughts were the fish was going to be soggy and the flavoring would be heavily diluted to an almost watery taste.  I'm not a fan of olives so I quickly brushed them off to the side.

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El Japanese Fusion
17-2008 33 Avenue SW
Calgary, AB T2T 1Z4
403-217-6796

Price: $$
Ambiance: Casual
Food: 3.5/5
Service: 3.5/5
Tummy Points: 3.5/5
Notes: Rainbow Maki Roll
$14.95, Appetizer Tempura
$6.95.

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Although Calgary is a land locked city, there's no shortage of sushi restaurants with great ones like Globefish (which I will review very soon).  Another good restaurant I tried out in Calgary is El Japanese Fusion.  Although it has fusion in its name, there's nothing really fusion about it unless you count Philadephia and Mexican maki rolls as a fusion of Japanese with Western culture.

El's is a very small restaurant with a few two and four person tables and bar seating.  It's a hard place to get seated during lunch hours.  Service is usually understaffed with 1 or 2 persons servicing the dining area.  I've heard mixed stories about their service but on my visit I received friendly service although fairly slow.

All the dishes were freshly prepared.  The spicy salmon maki rolls used lots of sweet chilli sauce with cold soft chopped up salmon on top of salmon roll.  It was not what I had in mind as I prefer spicy mayo.  The fresh was very fresh.  The rice roll was packed just tight enough.

Although McDonald's is slowly taking over the world with a restaurant in nearly every city.  It hasn't stopped other fast food restaurant chains from sprouting out all over the place.  Quick is a Belgian fast food restaurant chain serving burgers and fries that started in 1971 and opened their first restaurant in France in 1980.

The interior is decorated like any fast food restaurant - lots of plastic covered seats and colorful.  The ordering area is tight.  It gets very crowded during lunch times on weekends - sort of like ordering at the Sbarro in Times Square New York during the same time.

I had Quick's version of a BigMac just to find out how it compares to what everyone is familiar with.  The bun is dry and old.  The burger meat is thin and looks like something from McDonald's but more dry and spongy tasting.