After splitting a burger at Frankie’s, The Fiance and I moved onto the main course at Fonda Lola. The restaurant has been on my radar since they opened at the end of 2013 with rave reviews.

Atmosphere: I was surprised at how small the restaurant was. This could have been because a large party of 10+ was just finishing up their meal and occupied half of the tables. The space was cozy and intimate with natural wood tables that reminded me of outdoor picnic tables. The beautiful patterned blue plates added a festive touch to each table. One thing that stood out to me was how many of the diners were families, some with small children. It was nice to see a “hip” restaurant be so family friendly.

Service: Service at Fonda Lola was friendly and efficient. Our server explained the menu items for us in detail and each dish arrived at a quick pace in succession. During the day, I had tweeted my excitement about finally visiting the restaurant. Half way through our meal, we were treated to two bite size pieces of their famous candied bacon, a truly nice gesture.

Food: Since we had each just eaten half a burger, our hunger wasn’t at peak. This was a mistake as the entire menu looked appetizing. We had to be strategic in our ordering to save room for churros, a must.

For starters, we ordered the Jefe Snack and Trout Aguachile. When I read homemade potato chips, I was not expecting a rolled tortilla with stuffing and deep fried. For $4, it was an interesting dish to try. The Trout Aguachile was sour, much more sour than a ceviche and so good. The fish was fresh, the chips served alongside were addictive and the sour burned my poor chapped lips a little, but I kept eating. Our surprise bite of jalapeno candied bacon was delightful. The bacon was a great balance between sweet, super spicy and savoury. Once I’m done this wedding diet, I’ll be back for a full portion all to myself.

As our main, the Fiance and I split an order of Carnitas, served in a small cast iron pan with 4 amazing soft shell corn tortillas. These tortillas had an intense corn flavour and were a great texture. Somehow, it also seemed like the limes Fonda Lola used were extra fragrant, not more sour but just had a stronger lime taste. I found the carnita meat itself a little dry but I liked the added char from the cast iron.

Even though I was full, I had to try the Churros con Cajeta and Fonda Lola was kind enough to indulge my request for a half order. Again, this is another dish that I need to come back for. The dessert was heavenly with the thick, creamy, sweet sauce and perfectly deep fried dough.

Overall, I can understand why Fonda Lola is always packed when I walk by. The restaurant has a small menu with great variety and serves up Mexican food with bold, authentic flavours. If you’re there with a bigger group, you can order the whole menu, a Mexican Fiesta, for just $150.

This was our first time making a prime roast and the meal turned out beautiful. A few hours in the oven with some careful tending and dinner was served along with roasted brussels sprouts and yorkshire pudding. This recipe is perfect for the holidays and easily serves 4-6 people. I was surprised with how straight forward the recipe was and not intimidating.

Cooking for guests is stressful, even more so as a new cook. The fiance and I have only just begun having guests over for dinner and I can’t wait to serve this roast to friends and family. Until then, while we continue to try out family size meals, I get a delicious lunch for the work week.

Prime Rib Roast

2014-12-21 23:38:37

Serves 6

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Prep Time

15 min

Cook Time

4 hr

Total Time

4 hr 15 min

Prep Time

15 min

Cook Time

4 hr

Total Time

4 hr 15 min

Ingredients

1. 4lbs prime rib roast
2. sea salt
3. crushed black pepper
4. vegetable oil
5. meat thermometer

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 225 degrees
2. Place the rib roast in a baking pan just bigger than the roast, rub with oil until fully coated
3. Generously rub each side of the roast with sea salt and then crush black pepper
4. Insert the meat thermometer as per its instructions and place the pan in the oven
5. Roast, uncovered until the desired internal temperature is reached (this will take ~ 4 hours: ~140 degrees for rare, ~160 degrees for medium) - see note
6. Take the roast out of the oven, tent with aluminium foil and turn the oven up to 500 degrees
7. Wait until the internal temperature drops back down to 130 degrees and place roast back into the oven
8. Bake for another 10-15 minutes to form a crust as desired
9. Keep the roast covered until ready to serve

Note

1. The roast will continue to cook once removed from the oven and the internal temperature can climb anywhere from 5 - 20 degrees. To ensure the roast isn't overcooked, it can be taken out of the oven before it reaches 140 or 160 degrees.
2. The drippings can be used for any gravy recipe and served alongside

xiaoEats | Toronto Food Blog http://xiaoeats.com/

Step by Step Photos

Prep ingredients

Rub roast with oil, salt and crushed black pepper. Insert meat thermometer and bake at 225 degrees

Once desired internal temperature is reached, remove from oven, tent and wait until internal temperature drops to 130 degrees before baking at 500 degrees to form a crust

Serve with sides and gravy

Oriental Gourmet is a newly opened Chinese restaurant at the corner of McCowan and Highway 7. The BF’s family has tried dropping by a few times without reservations but they’re always full with a long line of customers waiting. This just made us more determined to get a seat and we actually ended up with reservations for dinner and lunch during the holidays.

Atmosphere: The previous incarnation of the space occupied by Oriental Gourmet was an Apple Jack’s. I’m not sure how extensive renovations were but the interior of the restaurant is pretty standard, not overly decorated or kitschy. Large round tables occupy the centre of the dining room and booths line the walls. Heavy china plates are used for place settings over white tablecloths. There was no background music playing and the noise level allowed for easy conversations.

Service: I don’t have many notes about service, not exactly friendly but efficient and competent. During the dinner service, while the restaurant was busy, we weren’t rushed, each dish arrived quickly and teapots were filled on demand. The lunch service was at a slower pace.

Food: For dinner, we ordered a set menu that included pork stomach soup, cold crab, marinated duck and tofu and deep fried fish. To this, we added a cuttle fish stir fry. The stomach soup is a specialty of the restaurant and this was my first time having the dish. The broth was heavily peppered with white pepper, savoury and the thin slices of stomach were tender and well cleaned. A platter of marinated duck and tofu arrived with a small bowl of white vinegar. I actually liked the tofu better than the duck. For me, the duck was just ok but the tofu had a great texture, soaked up the flavour of the sauce and agreed more with being served cold.

My favourite dishes of the night were the cuttlefish stir fry and deep fried fish. The cuttlefish was tender, almost like pork belly, stir fried with a generous portion of garlic chives and had amazing  “wok air”. Everyone liked the dish so much we ordered their special stir fry the next time we visited, which was just as good and served with fried julienned taro. We also re-ordered the deep fried fish. Each fish was cut in half, fried to a crisp and served over a sweet, reduced soy sauce. The entire fish was edible except for the main backbone. Surprisingly, the dish wasn’t overly oily either. Another new dish we ordered at lunch was an omelette with oysters. Again, the fried egg had a nice smokey flavour.