SPAIN Also Rises
In January I was grousing about the paucity of good Spanish food in Toronto. Then I ate a great chile relleno at Chimichanga on Yorkville followed by a good paella at Embruja Flamenco on the Danforth. Finally I got an invitation I couldn’t refuse – a paella and Ontario wine tasting at Cava, Chris McDonald’s tapas bar in DeLisle Court and I happily ate my words. Spanish food is on the rise here. Cava’s paella – duck, snails, savoy cabbage, chorizo dotting fluffy bomba rice fragrant with garlic and saffron - was so good that it sent me back to the restaurant for another meal. Restaurant reviewing is a first impression business. But as I’ve learned, it’s the second impression that really counts when a place has time to fulfil, or not, its potential.
I wasn’t very enthusiastic about Cava back in 2007. I wasn’t sold on tapas as a meal, and irritated by having to wave for the waiter to translate the menu. What a difference a few years make. Shaking the kaleidoscope, the disparate components of Cava have come together as an impressive whole. It was a restaurant that was ahead of its time – now shared plates are ubiquitous and charcuterie the rave. Don’t forget that’s a recent phenom. To put things in perspective, two years ago Manhattan superchef Daniel Boulud visiting Toronto asked me “Oh do you have charcuterie here?” Do bears like honey?
As far as location goes, Cava exemplifies what may be the best advice ever - “Got a lemon, make lemonade.” A mini mall isn’t the most cheerful place and the space’s low ceiling magnifies noise. At first an uninviting cave. But tonight the cave is made warm and welcoming, a refuge from the city, and McDonald exudes welcome from a bar backed by an array of hams.
The food too is self-confident, a fanciful spin on Spain - including the newly introduced paella, for two or more $23 per person, and tripe Basquaise $13, and smoothly executed by Doug Penfold whose kitchen has gained a rep for consistency. True I still need the waiter’s help with “anticuccho” (skewers) and I almost ordered “albigondas”, which sounded so exotic until I learned it meant meatballs, but I’ve mellowed out and accept the lingo as a charming idiosyncrasy. Anyway do I have to know exactly what I’m going to eat? I know what to expect from French food, joy hoist on iron technique, Italian food, nostalgie de la boue, but Spanish food like Spain is still an enigma, an adventure. The waiter’s great – knowledge,advice about wine and cheese at his fingertips.
We start with a crisp Terra Alta white and a snack: pinchos of gamay-poached foie gras with pear mustard $6.75, a thick slice of terrine on crisp baguette with a subtle pear flavour spiked with just a little mustard. Then we gild the lily with a plate of Cava Charcuterie $16.50, Genoese salami, chunky spicy chorizo, a purple duck braesola (air dried) and –more foie gras, this time whipped up with chicken livers into a sublime mouthful. The garnishes are right on – pickled spring onions and jalapenos.
The next plate to slide into view is a pale Japanese eggplant chopped into chunks, fried and plunked into a sweet honey and slightly sour tomatillo sauce, matched with a couple of strips of creamy queso cheese given a whiff of fish from sprinkled bonito flakes. $8.75.An inspiriting combination of flavours and textures.
The cauliflower and kabocha squash tagine with medjool dates and Spanish saffron makes spoonfuls of sweet mash, a good set up for the surprise of the evening: amazingly juicy venison on a skewer $9.75 on a bed of crunchy red cabbage. For myself, I’d have liked a gamier taste to the venison which has the blandness of un-hung game, but it is superbly tender.
Can’t leave without a sweet from Xoxocava, McDonald’s chocolate shop right next door. At the paella feast we ate icecream studded with candied Seville oranges. I’m glad to say Dessert tapas $9 doesn’t let us down at all- small deep fried donuts with a melting cream heart and raspberry compote, a little candied ginger shell embracing icecream made from milk chocolate, prunes, and powerfully rich sherry, not to mention a brownie with wild blueberry sauce.
Great return match.
***Cava, 1560 Yonge St, 416-979-9918. Wheelchair accessible. Dinner for two, six dishes plus tax $76. Top yums for bucks.
