With a focus on local and seasonal organic produce, hormone free and free range proteins, The Good Son and their menu have been designed for us to go and enjoy an awesmazing atmosphere and incredibly attentive service while sharing great food and drinks.
The Queen Street West entrance to The Good Son makes it feel like you are walking into an old-time general store, where the host greets you and then guides you through a curtain into a beautiful main room and bar. The colour change and light is almost shocking, but in a great way. The walls are adorned with a variety of different objects where each wall has its own name – the clock wall, the mirror wall, the plate wall and the book wall (my favourite), as Jaime, one of the great people who work there, took the time to explain to me. I actually had remembered Jaime from a now unfortunately closed restaurant named Redfish that I enjoyed very much as well.
We sat at a hightop, with 4 high chairs near the bar and it was comfortable and fun. There are also huge booths with great looking banquettes and high-backed armchairs. When I return, I will definitely reserve one of those to try.
The heart of The Good Son’s kitchen features a wood-fired pizza oven & a wood-fired grill that was imported all the way from Italy. They explained that the flavour imparted on the food from the wood is exceptional and unique and makes it taste like you are camping, in a good way. I must admit, each dish that I tried was exceptional, and the burger that I had was impressive, outstanding, and definitely gets added to my Best Burgers in Toronto list – it came topped with perfectly pickled purple onions (say THAT 5 times fast!), a heaping pile of cool shredded lettuce, Russian dressing and housemade cheese. My mother loved her veganized main course of lentils and chickpeas with beets, and I quite enjoyed the earthy flavour and texture of the beans as well. My brother devoured a pizza from the wood fired oven, and he will tell you it ranked as great pizza, and he is the most discerning in our family (read: hard to please!). The highlight of the meal had to be the brussel sprouts (I just paused to drool over these for a moment!). They were very hot and floating in a delectable pond of tamari, maple syrup, and sambal. Unfortunately, these weren’t vegan, as the sambal included a fish sauce, but that just meant more for my dad and I! My mother also loved the white bean hummus with tahini and chipotle, served with long, crispy breadsticks (called Espelette Grissini on the menu) – all 4 of us loved this dish!
Special thanks to our server, Brent, for being so accommodating and kind during the course of our meal, too.
I cannot wait to go back to The Good Son again soon, especially since their menu changes as the seasons do. Spring is coming, and I bet their menu will start to offer even more fresh goodness as our farmers grow it!
