Restaurant Review: Jack Astor's (Downtown Toronto)

My husband took the kids downtown last Sunday to visit a friend and they had lunch at Jack Astor's, which offers a gluten free burger and bun, and locations with dedicated fryers offer gluten free fries, as well.  I was surprised when he wrote up a review for the blog!  So below you have the very first restaurant review courtesy of my husband! 

First off all an apology to those of my wife's readers who are used to her excellent writing style. This being my first post I am not as acquainted with peaking a reader's interest but here goes nothing...

This past weekend we decided to give Mommy a break and I had the chance to take the kiddies by himself to visit a good friend in the city I hadn't seen for a while. The idea was to give her a breather and some time to focus on her blogging and writing. We left at 10:30 in the morning to spend the day in the city, just us 3 boys.

 

I admit I was a bit nervous about bringing them both downtown on my own, but with my friend there to help out it was nothing that we haven't done before.  My friend lives on his own and doesn't have any children so when he suggested we go and take the kiddies for a bite I was also concerned about where we could take them to downtown that was both family friendly and gluten free. I wasn't confident that these would generally be places my friend would visit on a regular basis.

He suggested the Jack Astor's on Front street. As soon as we walked in the service was entirely geared to the children and making the experience as smooth for a parent as possible.

The first thing the hostess did when bringing us to our table was to grab a box of crayons for my son to feel as free and artistic as possible on their disposable paper table covers. This is always something any parent to a toddler will appreciate to make the inevitable wait at restaurants go as smoothly as possible. My "wow" factor however came when we sat down at the table and our waitress came in with a portable DVD player at hand and a selection of 6 of my son's favorite cartoon DVD's for him to choose from!  I admit I was torn between letting him watch a show so I could focus on my youngest and on some conversation with my friend, or making him wait to eat his meal with us before he could watch his DVD. I will admit my guilt when I gave in to the DVD in front of him and allowed events to take their course with "Diego" in the background.

I looked at the menu which is always interesting when trying to pick GF items from a non dedicated menu but couldn't find anything that jumped out. My friend suggested I ask our waitress directly which I did and was extremely happy when she advised that all their hamburger patties were GF and could be served in GF buns! And a bonus any GF parent out there will appreciate, the fries were GF with their dedicated fryer at that location! The lunch experience got better by the moment and made for a nice carefree outing with the boys that I would be happy to report back to "the boss" on once we got back home!

 

Gluten Free Burger, Bun & Fries

 

My son had a great time with his hamburger (bun included!) and fries and of course his movie and all in all we had a pretty good time and were ready for some after lunch soccer in the afternoon.

Since I am not as artistic or detailed oriented I did not think at the moment of taking pictures of the establishment. I did however take pictures of my son's meal which I hope you will enjoy. This was a very good experience and I will make sure I take my wife back to check it out. All in all a good spot and experience! Hopefully Mommy enjoyed her precious time to herself. 

 

 

 

 

Miguel

Frankie's Ristorante in Uxbridge

This weekend we took a drive out to Uxbridge, Ontario to take our boys for a ride on the train.  While there, we decided to try out a restaurant that we had heard about when we grabbed their card at the Gluten Free Expo in Toronto. 

Frankie's Ristorante is a 100% gluten free restaurant serving traditional mediterranean food.  On top of that, they make all of their food in-house, and are able to customize your order, at no extra cost, to accommodate any allergy.  The restaurant is peanut and nut free.  They are a member of the Canadian Celiac Association.  This, to me, is pretty incredible.  In addition, they use ingredients sourced from local farms, and highlight which farms are featured wach week on a board in the restaurant.  I couldn't wait to visit and see what was on the menu.

The restaurant was easy to find, with parking readily available.  We arrived before noon on a rainy Saturday, and walked into a small but pretty restaurant.  The space has large windows, a beautiful wooden bar, and a cozy fireplace.




If you look closely, you can see the list of featured farms on the blackboard.

  I was beginning to worry about how kid-friendly it would be, but was relieved when our server brought a kids' menu to the table with a handful of crayons for my son. 

I was intrigued at the idea of a completely wheat and gluten free restaurant serving mainly traditionally gluten filled meals, like breads and pastas.  We decided to order an appetizer, a main and a dessert to really get an idea of the quality of their food.  We started with the lunch sampler platter, which came with bread, salsa, hummus, chutney and raw veggies.

The bread was what I was most interested in.  It was toasted and buttered, and was the perfect texture.  It wasn't dry or crumbly.  My son liked it so much that he was asking for more when we ran out.

For our son, we ordered the kids' combo.  For $10, he got a drink, a main course and a dessert.  My son has decided that he only wants to eat pasta "with green sauce," so we ordered him the pesto pasta.  My husband ordered the chipotle cream pasta and I ordered the pasta served in a mushroom cream sauce. 

Gluten Free Pesto Pasta

Pasta with Mushroom Cream Sauce and Goat Cheese

Again, we were pleasantly surprised.  The pasta was cooked perfectly, and the sauces were creamy and had good flavour.  My husband also ordered a gluten free beer from their drinks menu, which I'll cover in a separate post.  He chose La Messagère, a beer from a Quebec brewery.

For dessert, my son had gluten and dairy free gelato.  My husband and I ordered the Sticky Toffee Pudding.  It was completely decadent and delicious. 

Sticky Toffee Pudding



 

I really, really liked this restaurant.  The service was friendly and the food was great.  It's a place that I would recommend to anyone who wants a good meal at a nice place.  That it caters to those with multiple food restrictions or allergies and still manages to offer great food options should serve as an example to other restaurants looking to expand their menu items. 

 

I was most surprised by the price.  The kids' meal was $10.  Pastas were $12.50.  The sampler platter was $8.95.  These are reasonable prices.  In fact, they're lower than what one would pay for lower quality food at some chain restaurants.  Lunch for three people, including appetizer, mains, dessert, a beer and a coffee ran us less than $80, taxes included.  We left the restaurant stuffed, but happy. 

 

The best part was watching my son eat ANYTHING he wanted, and not have to worry that he was going to be cross-contaiminated and get sick.  For those who don't deal with this everyday, it may not mean much, but to those of us who do, this is such a rare experience.  Unlike most kids who just grab food without thinking, our 3 year old now asks if what he wants to eat will hurt his tummy before touching it.  At this restaurant, we could happily tell him that he could eat whatever he wanted.  That was a great feeling!

Frankie's Ristorante
1 Main Street
Uxbridge, ON L9P 1P7
www.glutenfreefrankies.com