Toronto - The Wood Owl
I firmly believe that ordering pasta might change my impression of the restaurant.
When I first moved to Toronto, The Wren had just opened. The east-end restaurant is one of the reasons I started to really like this city - it was a destination in a neighbourhood that seemed so unbelievably far from our Downtown (ie. King West) lives. It made Toronto seem big and exciting to explore. The Wren serves classics, has a country twist, and makes whisky cocktails - which at the time of my first visit were ~ so 2014 ~.
When I heard the couple behind the Wren were opening a wine bar, The Wood Owl right next door, it of course made the list.
The interiors of The Wood Owl are like a movie set - there was something about the wood panelled walls, soft yellow light, and the wood cabinet bar that made me feel like I was in a Steve Martin family movie from the 90’s, or maybe a living room from a Taylor Swift music video.
What We Ordered: Smoked Trout Dip $17 | Fried Eggplant & Lentil Croquettes $21 | Braised Beef Cheek & Pommes Anna $34 | Chocolate cake, creme fraiche, hazelnut & coffee brittle $10 - Two cocktails, one tequila-based-something each, both off-menu.
Address: 1380 Danforth Ave, Toronto, ON M4J 1M9
Recommend For: A casual weeknight date night. I would recommend sitting at the bar because to me this is a couple-of-drinks-and-light-dinner kind of restaurant. Sitting at a table might be anticlimactic unless you were with friends and ordering a lot of pasta - or drinking a lot of wine.
I am not sure if I am supposed to compare The Wren to the Wood Owl, but if the The Wren is somewhere that I associate with friends, and couple too many cocktails; the Wood Owl is probably where I am supposed to be today. It’s a little more grown up, it’s a wine bar with a tight food menu, and it serves a lot of vegetables. It’s well priced for what it is and the staff were so incredibly friendly.
Reservations: Yes, via Touch Bistro. They also take large group reservations and do buy-outs.