NACO GALLERY CAFE (1665 Dundas West, at Margueretta, 647-347-6499, nacogallery.com) Complete brunches for $18 per person, including tax, tip and a coffee. Average main $10. Open for brunch Saturday and Sunday 10 am to 4 pm. Coffee weekdays from 9 am, bar nightly till close. Licensed. Access: one step at door, washrooms in basement. Rating: NNNN
Don’t go to the west side’s funky Naco Gallery Café if you’re in the market for tuna tacos or chicken quesadillas.
“People think we’re a Mexican restaurant and call to make dinner reservations all the time,” says Julian Calleros, the owner of the two-year-old storefront that’s a coffeehouse by day and artsy watering hole by night.
“Come by, have a beer, listen to the live music and chill. But if you want to try our food, you’ll have to come back for weekend brunch.”
Which is exactly what we do this balmy Sunday morn. It’s not even 11 and Naco’s front room – all 10 seats – is already full. We move to the empty middle room, but since it smells of what we hope are marigolds and not cat pee we settle for the only table in what looks to have been a kitchen 40 years ago.
In fact, Naco doesn’t have a kitchen. It’s shocking to learn that part-time chef Nathan Gawalko, who’s worked the line at La Palette and Atlantic, cooks everything on a two-burner hotplate and a toaster oven behind the bar. That he can pull off work of this calibre is astounding – the only down side is the wait. Our plates arrive a good 45 minutes after we’ve ordered.
But what spectacular plates. A pair of tortilla-wrapped enchiladas ($8.50) stuffed with shredded chipotle-braised beef brisket, melted mozzarella and pickled shallots swim in a pool of smoky grilled tomato and guajillo pepper sauce, a crumble of Hewitt Dairy feta and a runny egg to finish. Another runny egg joins a link of spicy chorizo from the Portuguese butcher down the block over a terrific hash of diced new potatoes, fennel and watercress doused with jalapeño salsa verde ($9.50).
Perfectly à point spears of grilled asparagus in a mole sauce ($10) ride a bed of fresh La Tortilleria tortillas impressively dressed with vegan refried beans, meaty oyster mushrooms, lime-pickled red onions, raw radish ‘n’ jalapeño and a last-minute drizzle of crema-fresca-style yogurt.
But it’s chef Gawalko’s towering torta ($11) that really brings down the house, a skyscraping burger-like sandwich stacked with slow-roasted pork belly, crunchy chicarrones crackling, avocado, coleslaw and the inevitable runny egg on a Brazilian bun, the whole thing so tall it needs a chopstick to hold it together. Wash it down with mugs of minty house-made lemonade ($2.50) and you won’t need dinner.
Calleros plans to make some much-needed improvements to his quirky café. Some nibbles to make the wait go down faster and dessert might help. And just think what they could do with a four-burner stove!
stevend@nowtoronto.com
