Dinner in the park

There's a restaurant in Toronto called Grenadier Cafe. It has the great honour of being the only restaurant in High Park, which is the largest park in downtown Toronto and something like a small version of New York's Central Park.

A little bit of history on High Park. The majority of the land, about 160 acres of it, was purchased by a man named John George Howard in 1836 for the grand sum of $1000. He built a house for himself and his wife on the property which is now the Colborne Lodge museum. In 1873 the Howards decided to give the land to the City of Toronto, with several conditions the first, that they be allowed to live on the land for the rest of their lives (and in fact they are now buried on the property). The second that the land always be free and available for the use of the citizens of Toronto. The third being that the land always be alcohol free. This makes the property (and therefore the Grenadier) the only remaining "dry" area of Toronto.

The Grenadier is a breakfast hot spot for those in the know. People line up on the weekends early in the morning to eat breakfast and stroll the park, watch the birds and soak up the sun. As far as location goes, the Grenadier probably has the best in the city, with nothing but nature around you can almost forget you're in the T-dot. High Park has dozens of remarkable places to discover, there's a castle hidden in there somewhere, a zoo, a sculpture garden, an outdoor theatre, and acres of trees. Their breakfast is wonderful and delicious. (I'm a sucker for the belgian waffles with blueberry syrup). The service can occaisionally be slow or even mixed up when they're packed. The line up for table service is always shorter than the counter service but there are fewer families at counter serve on Sunday mornings (important if you have a hangover that may be negatively effected by screaming toddlers).

I, however, know the greatest secret of all. Grenadier for dinner. That's right. So, they advertise their dinner all the time, on the menu (which is huge and could be considered a weapon). The other night the Significant Other and I decided to try it. So, at about 6 or 7 pm we struck out for the Grenadier. The normally PACKED restaurant was so empty we thought it was closed. In fact, there were only 2 other people in the entire restaurant. We chose a lovely table near the cozy fireplace. On weekdays they have a soup and salad special for $10. The special comes with soup and salad, and your choice of 10 different entrees. I had the pork schnitzel and the S.O. had the New York steak. both came with potatoes, veggies and dinner roll. It was all delicious. I'd marginally choose the steak over the schnitzel. The steak was tender and juicy and the schnitzel was deliciously breaded. The veggies were a standard affair of carrots, broccoli and cauliflower. The roasted potatoes were extraordinary (really!). The soup was a homemade chicken noodle, and the salad had one of the best dressings I've had in a restaurant. Overall it was amazing, marred only by the sound of silverware being sorted for tomorrows breakfast in the background. So good that I had to tell you about it.

So, if you're in Toronto, and looking for a good place to have dinner tonight, go to the Grenadier.