I’ll usually post about a good meal or something noteworthy, but sometimes, I just have these tidbits of meals that don’t equal a whole post. I finally hit critical mass on these recently, and so, here are my recent bits of food and news around Toronto.

Swirl‘s got a new jar on the menu – boudin noir. Quite a nice take on the traditional sausage. We’d gone early in the evening (for once) and I was able to get some decent shots of this great space. You can check out the updated gallery for those (scroll to the bottom!). It’s ultra-girly in the daylight vs. plain girly in evenings.

Finally got around to trying Negroni‘s fare. While the card is pretty much just sandwiches, I thought their white anchovy crostini was extra yummy. I went on a Sunday night and it was a quiet space frequented primarily by couples. Would think it’s a nice third-date place. Not enough distractions for a first-date though.

Had a celebrity-chef sighting at the most unlikely place – Cho Sun Ok, up in Thornhill. Chef Marc Thuet and company was up there for what I think is the best cold noodle in the city. And I believe his party was to be seated at the table I had just vacated. There was definitely a double-take in the parking lot as we left the restaurant.

So, the Black Hoof has this Wild Boar Belly with Rhubarb jelly and pistachios on the menu right now. This is a great mix of salty, sweet, smokey, crunchy, chewy, and toasty. This also qualifies as dessert to me after you drench a delicious morsel of boar in the jelly and coat it in pistachio. So I did a re-order when it came time for sweets. So good. So stuffed. As usual.

For me, Splendido‘s desserts always pale in comparison to their mains, but not so this night. Ordered the apple cobbler and it was really just that perfect. Crunchy and crumbly topping over a just-soft pile of apple swimming in its cinnamon bath. Also, Splendido‘s European Retreat returns. This is the five-course Friday lunch that I missed out on last year. I also spied their foie gras parfait in baby canning jars at About Cheese for $19.95.

Went for a weekend lunch/brunch at Simple Bistro a couple weekends ago. Decent local lunch spot. But what really got my attention was their Black Forest Cake. I have bad memories of trying grocery store versions, with their dry and stale chocolate cake topped with terrible cherries and oily cream. But Simple Bistro‘s version is moist with with just enough chocolate. Elegantly draped with a thin piece of marzipan, this dessert was sided with burnished dark cherries (not LED red!). Really good.

Patisserie Sebastien joins the other patisseries in the area and has a couple of desserts that I don’t usually see. The St. Honoré was one (not pictured), a pile of cream puffs coated with hard caramelized sugar. It’s like a baby croquembouche. And the other – the Religièuse – makes me think of Boston cream pies in the shape of Russian orthodox churches.

You might have heard about a wall falling down in downtown Toronto a couple weeks back. Yeah well, that shut down a couple restaurants, including the popular Thai restaurant, Salad King. I manage their Linda website (and the temporary Salad King one too) and was told it would be closed for several weeks at least. Glad no one was hurt!

Phew. That’s it for now..!

Everthing's the same at Wine Bar - even the dishes.

I just wrote about Wine Bar, but apparently Scott Vivian is selling (has sold?) his share in the place and will open up in the old Amuse Bouche place and call it BEAST. Was reminded when I saw Jamie Drummond (re)mention it on Chowhound this morning… too many bits o’ info floating in my head…