Wedding Cake and Fallen Angels

I didn’t drink tea but I was given mad e-props for knowing where to find the best gelato in the City.

We started at 7 West. I’m not sure why I had never heard of the place before considering it’s practically around the corner at Yonge and Charles. Three floors of cozy hard wood floors and small tables topped by a west-facing windless but worthwhile patio. I had one martini – a wedding cake - but would love to return for dinner soon. The wedding cake was more like a pina colada. Vanilla vodka, Malibu and a splash of pineapple juice. Except for the whipped cream. I think that was the “wedding” part. Which would have been fine had it not melted quickly in the afternoon heat and slid obscenely down the side of my martini glass. Fortunately, I rescued it with a napkin. The incident may have been too risqué for the company I was with.

Second stop for the evening was The Red Room at College and Spadina. Again, great atmosphere with interesting art, quirky lighting and medieval feast furniture in the back. Picture oversized benches and long wooden tables which would be perfect for a large group of starving and thirsty graduate students from U of T. The patio is one of the few, if not the only one, on Spadina. My Wedding Cake was stripped of its whipped cream and demoted to a Fallen Angel. She treated me well though and I will likely to return to pick her up again. We ordered perogies and the chicken fajita. Both were more than reasonable in portion size and, although I didn’t sample the fajita (again, a little too risqué?), I did enjoy the perogies. They don’t measure up to Lord English’s culinary creativeness but they’ll do in a pinch. Don’t be in a hurry though, unless you’re prepared to be assertive with the service.

Next up, gelato. The Big Chill in Little Italy has been one of my favourite places since a coworker discovered me to it last summer. It’s a tiny nook just off College on Manning and is worth the walk for a scoop or three. Filled with cows, it offers a surprising array of flavours and options for its limited 500 square footage. Thursday’s tasting included pistachio for me and strawberry for The Other. While I was offered a taste, I was too coy to take advantage of the situation. More fool me. The pistachio rivalled Ed’s at The Beach(es).

Finally, a pre-pumpkin drink at Il Gatto Nero (College and Crawford). The patio was sizeable, the service acceptable. We even saw a minor celebrity, according to the patron at the adjacent table. Never figured out who he was though. They have Guinness on tap which was apparently a hit with The Other. My mystery Riesling – Canadian, with a hint of bleach – was not worth a repeat trip but I haven’t entirely written off a second visit.