Saturday
Gio Rana’s Really Really Nice Restaurant
1220 Queen E, at Leslie, 416-469-5225. Ten years ago, long before Origin and Buca, this extremely rambunctious room located in an old bank with zero signage (look for the large nose over the door) was doing Italian-style tapas. And though it’s not as frenzied as it used to be early in the week, it’s still a mob scene every Friday and Saturday night. Fun for a group, but maybe not a date. Best: antipasti like the house meatballs in old-school tomato ragu, or frito misto of deep-fried calamari and shrimp primi like crepe-like crespelle folded over sweet butternut squash and creamy mascarpone in sage butter soft Asiago polenta alla Bolognese secondi like grilled lamb chops with cranberry couscous and fresh mint osso buco with buttery cremini mushrooms à la carte side of mashed sweet potatoes in chestnut butter to finish, subtle house-made desserts like panna cotta custard in smoky caramel. Complete dinners for $50 per person, including tax, tip and a glass of Chianti. Average main $14. Open for dinner Saturday 6 pm to midnight. Licensed. Access: barrier-free. Rating: NNN
Pizza e Pazzi
1182 St Clair W, at Dufferin, 647-352-7882, pizzaepazzi.ca. Like Pizzeria Libretto, Danilo and Sandrelle Scimo’s stylish Corso Italia trat sticks to the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana’s party line: pies made with certifed Tipo 00 flour, San Marzano tomatoes and DOP mozzarella baked in a wood-burning oven at 485°C for 60 to 90 seconds. But P e P goes one better: Monday to Wednesday from 5 to 7 pm, pay $10 for any drink in the house and get the happy-hour appetizer buffet for free. Also: 672 St Clair W, at Christie, 647-748-7882. Best: the benchmark Margherita, a correctly blistered and cracker-crisp but still foldable thin crust dressed with family-recipe sauce, mozzarella di bufala and basil leaves the Contadina switches bufala for fior di latte and ripe baby Roma tomatoes the Valtellina, a garlicky white-sauced pie heaped with shaved bresaola, parmigiana and raw arugula splashed with quality olive oil and lemon juice shareable pastas like perfectly al dente papardelle in textbook bolognese, and nutmeg-scented ricotta manicotti to finish, boozy tiramisu in a sundae glass. Complete dinners for $40 per person (lunches $30), including tax, tip and a glass of vino. Average main $15. Open for dinner Saturday 5 pm to midnight. Licensed. Access: barrier-free. Rating: NNNN
Le Sélect
432 Wellington W, at Spadina, 416-596-6405, leselect.ca. After nearly three decades on Queen West, Jean-Jacques Quinsac and Frederic Geisweller’s intimate French bistro relocates to more spacious digs four blocks south. Almost every detail, from the original’s art nouveau facade to the welcoming zinc bar and the posters plastered to its pale faux-nicotine-stained walls, has been duplicated. But who forgot those legendary hanging bread baskets? Best: to begin, an assortment of Alsatian charcuterie or puff pastry vol-au-vents with escargots mains like the house bavette – an aged 8-ounce flat-iron – topped with shallots and sided with fabulously skinny house frites braised white bean cassoulet with lamb, pork belly, Toulouse sausage and duck confit daily specials like oxtail ravioli with salsify, sweetbreads braised in Madeira, or lamb shank and marrow bone in risotto mussels steamed in Quebec Maudite ale with smoked pork belly and frites gently beer-braised Tripes à la Tripelle oreille de cochon, strips of crispy sow’s ears sided with lentils du Puy and watercress crêtes de coq, braised cockscombs with mushrooms, pine nuts and artichoke-stuffed tortellino $19.95 two-course steak frites prix fixe. Complete prix fixe dinners for $35 per person (à la carte $55/lunches or brunches $30), including tax, tip and a glass of wine. Average main $21/$13. Open for dinner Saturday 5 pm to midnight. Licensed. Access: one step at door, washrooms in basement. Rating: NNN
Sunday
Banh Mi Boys
392 Queen W, at Spadina, 416-363-0588, banhmiboys.com. After a short run last December, the Boys return with a much slicker operation than the original slapdash pop-up. Expanded seating and a much-improved takeout corner ensure that lines move even faster than before. New on the menu: kimchee fries, duck confit subs, beef cheek steamed bao and squid tacos! Best: Korean tacos – grilled Indian paratha flatbread stuffed with the likes of spicy bulgogi beef, lemongrass chicken thigh or pulled sesame pork dressed with pickled carrot ‘n’ daikon, diced jalapeños, English cucumber, fresh coriander, kimchee, house-made hoisin and Sriracha Saigon-style subs stuffed with veal meatballs in tomato sauce or grilled pork belly in five-spice steamed Chinese buns layered with deep-fried tofu, pickled yellow radish and miso sauce. Complete meals for $10 per person, including tax, tip and an Orange Crush. Average main $5. Open Sunday noon to 7 pm. Unlicensed. Access: barrier-free, washrooms in basement. Rating: NNNNN
Bristol Yard
146 Christie, at Pendrith, 647-716-6583. With its period showbiz 8 x 10 glossies on the wall – Keith Moon, Sandie Shaw, Oscar Wilde, the Kray twins – and classic 60s mod soundtrack, ex-Blowup DJ Davy Love’s 20-seat luncheonette is the perfect evocation of a proper British caff. Why, he even makes his meat pies from scratch! Best: beans on toast, here updated as a white navy and kidney bean stew in sweet tomato sauce with crumbled Stilton cheese on thick slices of whole wheat toast the Full Monty, a massive fry-up of two eggs any style, house-made sausage, thick rashers of artisanal bacon, more beans, sautéed mushrooms, smoked home fries, grilled tomato and fried bread the Glasgow cheeseburger, Lorne sausage in sausage gravy on fried potato scones the Maradona, more fried bread dressed with rare grilled steak in spicy chimichurri sauce French toast encrusted with Rice Crispies sided with fresh fruit and clotted cream. Complete rock ‘n’ roll brunches for $20 per person, including tax, tip and a cuppa. Average main $12. Open for brunch Sunday 11 am to 3 pm. No reservations. Unlicensed. Cash only. Access: one step at door, washrooms on same floor. Rating: NNNN
Rose’s Vietnamese Sandwiches
601 Gerrard East, at Broadview, 416-406-9906. Now located around the corner from its original digs on Broadview, Rose Fam’s terrific Saigon sub shop may have a new name and a smaller footprint, but the banh mi are as mighty as ever. Food-a-phobes might want to nix the fish sauce and questionable pâté. Takeout only. Best: flaky buttered French buns stuffed to order with the likes of lemongrass-scented pork Xiu Mai meat balls, salty shredded chicken or dense slabs of tofu, all dressed with strips of sweetly pickled daikon and carrot, English cucumber, fresh coriander and optional Thai bird chilies cellophane-packaged salad rolls wrapped in lettuce and stuffed with rice noodle and halved shrimp or sweet sausage for the sweet tooth, fried sticky-rice fritters with creamy coconut dunk sesame seed cookies topped with candied cashews crème-caramel-style flan. Complete meals for $5 per person, including tax, tip and a can of soda. Average main $2. Open Sunday 9 am to 8 pm. Unlicensed. Cash only. Access: two steps at door, no washrooms. Rating: NNNNN
