On The Town: Enoteca Sociale (Toronto)

Enoteca Sociale
1288 Dundas Street West
Toronto, ON

(Photo borrowed from Food & Co.)

Contrary to how things appear on this blog I don’t go out to eat that often.  Realistically (if I’m not travelling) I’ll go out for dinner maybe twice a month.  Don’t get me wrong, I love to go out but I love to cook and I love to stretch my dollars.  For me going out to eat is a social engagement.  I rarely entertain at home so chances are if I’m meeting a friend it’s over brunch, dinner or tea.  Recently I was tweeting with my girl Courtney (of Polysh Magazine) when we realized that we were overdue for a dinner date. The lovely Kesha jumped in on the convo and a few e-mails later we planned to check out Enoteca Sociale.

Enoteca Sociale is by the same folks behind one of my Toronto faves, Pizzeria Libretto. When I heard they were opening up a non-pizza based restaurant the place jumped to my list of “must dines”.  As the name suggests, Enoteca Sociale has a heavy focus on wines and is inspired by the Italian enotecas.  In this case the wines are “value-driven” and also feature a lot of “by-the-glass” selections.  Under the enomatic system they also serve tasting portions of wine as well.

While you can’t really compare Enoteca Sociale and Pizzeria Libretto one thing I can comment on is the fact that Enoteca accepts reservations (insert sound of angels at the gates).  I love being able to make a reservation for dinner at a potentially popular spot.  Enoteca is also concerned with being a casual neighbourhood spot so they only accept reservations for half of their seats.  What they don’t mention on the website or when you call to make a reservation is that walk-ins are really only for the patio, the bar and for the communal high tables along the eastern side of the restaurant.  Kind of off-putting if none of those options appeal to you.  Luckily when we arrived none of the high tables were occupied so we had a relatively private dining experience.

I was so excited for my meal that I knew exactly what I was going to order from that morning.  Because of a totally frustrating day the only last minute addition was wine.  The menu, while fairly brief does seem to have something for most people (i.e. a fish, a poultry, a meat etc.).  To start I had the artichoke fries.  HEAVEN.  Imagine vertical slices of artichokes (they almost look lamb chops in shape) lightly battered and deep fried.  They are served with this creamy, lemony dipping sauce that just made it perfect.  If I didn’t know better I would have ordered two of these and just called it a meal.

For my main I had the Braised Oxtail with Polenta.  I know, I’ve been on a huge oxtail kick recently, I’m not even sure why!  If I see oxtail on the menu I immediately want it to get in my belly.  This oxtail was no exception.  It’s cooked in a tomato-based sauce and likely spiked with wine and served over creamy polenta.  The portion didn’t look that generous when brought to the table and if I hadn’t had the artichoke fries I probably would have been hungry.  I was served two pieces of oxtail each about 2-2.5 inches high.  Now if this was a Jamaican restaurant they would have served up a LOT more oxtail!  If it were a Jamaican restaurant I would have also felt comfortable picking up the bones and sucking on them to free the last strands of meat.  Alas I was in a trendy Italian spot so this was a no-go. Courtney had the Spaghetti Caccio e Pepe which she seemed to enjoy.  It did however look like the portion was tiny.  The server didn’t mention upon ordering whether pastas were satisfying enough on their own or if they are meant as a first course.  If you go be sure to ask about that one.

For dessert I ordered the zeppole and Courtney had the flourless chocolate cake (Kesha ended up not making it to dinner – sad face).   The zeppole was served with a hazelnut cream and was really satisfying although not sharing-sized.  The flourless chocolate cake was SO rich!  And huge!  Definitely a dessert for two.  It was so rich it had me wanting a glass of milk to wash it down with.

I asked the server to recommend a wine by the glass for me.  He immediately recommended something in the $15 per glass range until I told him I wanted something less.  I settled on a $9 Primitivo (which I generally enjoy) which was a lovely pairing with my oxtail.  If I were feeling particularly fancy I would next time do the tasting menu with wine pairings because I’m sure it would be great.

Service was overall lovely.  Our waiter was really friendly and generally attentive.  When I asked about the upcoming cheese cave (which was opening the next day) he gave us directions on how to sneak a peak of it when we went downstairs and gave us the lowdown on the cave.  I would love to spend a future evening at Enoteca trying cheeses and sampling some wines.

Here’s what others have said about Enoteca thus far…
BlogTO
Spotlight Toronto
National Post
Globe & Mail