Woodlot is a really nice restaurant on Palmerston just south of College. It has two floors with seating upstairs and downstairs – and a cool bar, a step down from the downstairs.
The first things that I took note of walking through the door, were that the interior was very cool, the staff were SO kind and that they were cooking lots in their own woodburning oven.
Our waitress Crystal was really excellent and recommended her favourites on the menus – there are two different menus, a meat one and a vegetarian one. The only difference between the two, really is that the meat menu has some un-vegetarian dishes, but the sides are virtually the same. The great thing about Woodlot is that they are so willing and ready to accommodate any type of eater.
I started of the evening with a caramelized onion soup baked until bubbly with crispy cheese baked onto it. Although, I love cheese, and really enjoyed the soup, it was very rich and I decided not to finish it all to save room for my main course which I knew was going to be great. In between courses, I took the opportunity to stand up and look over the railing at the open kitchen below. The fire in the woodburning oven with lots of chefs working busily to create people’s meals. You could tell that they were really working hard at what they do and loved being in there. I went downstairs and they were incredibly nice and allowed me to come right inside their workspace to approach the oven. It was cool to get to take a peek inside and watch them create my meal, and my mom’s meal too (and other diners’ dishes as well). For my main course, I ordered a pickerel with potatoes and a yogurt sauce with a bright dill pesto. The highlight of the dish, and the real reason why I ordered it, was the fact that it came with fiddleheads, and boy were they tasty. I really recommend fiddleheads, but the season for them is so short, so they might not have them anymore, but there’s always next year!
They made an incredible vegan meal for my mom. Her appetizer was this great looking wild rice and mushroom dish with microgreens on top and it was really delicious. Her main course consisted of beautiful looking cabbage rolls, which I didn’t try, because I really don’t like cabbage rolls, but she was happy!
We were so full, and we didn’t have room for dessert, and I knew we were going to go to Delight Chocolate later on, so we passed this time.
I have to remark on how much they fill up your water glass. When I was in New York City, I was so impressed with how attentive everyone was at every restaurant there in filling up our water, and had never experienced anything like it in Toronto, until I went to Woodlot.
I hope you all enjoyed my review, and hope you try Woodlot for the freshest local food on your next night out in Toronto!
