THE FOUR SEVEN 1211 Bloor West, 647-348-4500, @the47TO
Two Valentines’ ago, I was treated to dinner at Ortolan. Now, I’m not the kind of girl who thinks true love manifests in a blood diamond or a designer handbag with monotony stamped all over it. I’m perfectly content to pretend that V-Day is just another day, but I’ll take – and occasionally demand – a good meal any day of the week.
Ortolan dished a very tasty meal accompanied by equally lovely wine, and I was sad to see a perfect date spot close.
But fortunately, its owner has transformed the space into the Four Seven – a much more casual bar with beer taps and paper napkins – where the food’s still amazing, the wine’s still delicious, and everything’s affordable enough to visit multiple times a week. (That means more dates, which hopefully equals more sex, wheeee!)
Named after the Lansdowne bus, the dressed-down space is run by Ortolan chef-owner Daniel Usher along with his brother Andrew Usher and Jeff Caires (both of Queen West’s Tequila Bookworm).
The Tequila boys bring their love of good beer and cider, with a rotating local draught selection and a handful of funky cans and bottles. The wine list is small but well considered, with gems like Hinterland Ancestral sparkling rosé ($11/glass) and Bodegas Hidalgo La Gitana Manzanilla ($7/glass).
Down a fernet and then order a few plates, like socca (a crepe made from chickpea flour) mounded with lamb, house-made tahini, red onion and parsley ($9) fave e cicoria (puréed fava beans finished with dandelion greens, red onion and quality olive oil ($7) or pillowy gnocchi tossed with mushrooms, pecorino and thyme ($9).
A local, a low-key and super-tasty dinner spot, somewhere to share a bottle of wine (none priced over $60) and a convenient stop for a refresher before clambering aboard the Lansdowne bus: the Four Seven is just the thing the neighbourhood ordered.
Hours: Tuesday to Sunday 6 pm to 2 am. Kitchen open till late. Closed Mondays (for now).
Access: no barrier at the door, washrooms in the basement.
