Five Loaves

Since hearing about L’Altro Buca replacing Parkside, I wanted to go check them out. Their sister restaurant, La Buca, has always been one of my favourite places to go. They have great food, at a very reasonable price (for fine dining, or course).

L’Altro Buca has a unique location, being just outside of the main downtown streets. You probably won’t just stumble accross the place, unless you live in the area. I guess L’Altro Buca doesn’t exactly need a prime location though, because you would have had to make a reso anyways, it’s not quite the type of place that you stumble into after a day on the beach.

On the day of our reso, Jeremy told me that L’Altro Buca, since they just opened, would be using the exact same menu as La Buca for a while, then eventually changing it up so that they do their own stuff.

When we arrived, we noticed that the interior of the restaurant hadn’t changed at all from the Parkside days; it’s fairly dark, but provides a nice, possibly romantic, atmosphere, perfect for fine dining. The staff was friendly, and  we were seated promptly at our reso time. Upon sitting down and taking a look at the menu, we weren’t too surprised to see that it was the exactly same as La Buca. And when I say exactly, I mean, literally, they are the exact same menus. The title at the top even said ‘La Buca’ instead of ‘L’Altro Buca’.

***A note about the pictures from Jeremy: I’m sorry!!! They are awful pictures! I didn’t want to use my flash, since it’s a little distracting in a fine dining restaurant. I also didn’t want to embrass Vanessa too much in the name of having good blogging pictures.

I have to say, the one, and possibly only thing that I don’t like about La Buca/L’Altro Buca is the pre-dinner bread that they give you. Instead of bread, like most places, they give you breadsticks. Now, the breadsticks aren’t bad at all, but I do prefer a warm bun, or a sliced baguette, like what most places have.

We eventually decided on our dishes: Buffalo Mozzarella, the day pasta - bucatini (a long pasta with a hollow center) with olives, albacore tuna in an olive oil sauce, halibut cheeks and the beef tenderloin (both specials of the day). For dessert we had the panna cotta with balsamic strawberries.

Of course, I also had to take a tiramisu home for my sister to enjoy.  We are quite picky with our tiramisu - it needs to have the right amount of coffee flavour, light, but not too creamy from the marscapone.  Rather, the lady fingers need to be enough for the piece to stand up on its own.

I guess we shall talk about the food one dish at a time:

Buffalo Mozzarella - On the plate there was the mozzarella with the tomato fonduta on the bottom.  Next to it was an arugula salad.  The dish was dressed with simply the seasoning of the salt, pepper, and olive oil.  Now I don’t know about you, but i’m a big fan of buffalo mozzarella.  I’m not talking about the stuff you put on pizza, but the good stuff.  The first time I experienced Buffalo Mozzarella was when I was at Cioppinos.  Pure white in colour, milky creamy texture and taste, with a clean finish leaving you desiring for another sensational bite.  Classically paired with tomatoes (i.e. the dish - tomato caprese) with simply fine olive oil, balsamic, maybe some fresh basil leaves and thinly sliced red onion, this dish just says summer all over it.

Now La Buca did it’s own twist on the classical dish and I think in a way, it did it justice.  I’m no expert in Italian so I might be offending those who strictly enjoy the traditions of the classics, but I enjoyed the fine balance between the sweetness and the acidity of the fonduta… cutting through the mild creamy taste of the mozzarella.  With the peppery arugula salad giving the dish the extra spunk it needed, I think the dish did well in playing with the different parts of my palate.

The only thing I have to comment was the mozzarella itself.  If the mozzarella was a bit creamier and softer, I think the dish would have been spot on.  But good on La Buca for using Fairburn farms and supporting our local suppliers.

The Pasta Feature - The pasta feature was bucatini garnished with olives, tuna, capers, tomato concasse (tomatoes that have been deskinned, deseeded, and diced) tossed in olive oil.  I have to admit, when I heard the pasta feature, I was looking forward to having some fresh handmade pasta.  The flavours were classic and married well together.  Tuna and olives, you can’t go wrong with that.

For our entrees we had the fish feature and the meat feature.

Fish feature - Halibut Cheeks, simply seared, served over warm lentils, tomato sauce and french beans.  Jeremy never had halibut cheeks before and knowing that he likes firm white fish, I knew we had to get it.  Afterall, it is halibut season and the cheeks naturally have a firmer texture than the fish itself, which tends to be rich and flaky.  This dish was my least favourite dish of them all. The halibut cheeks were cooked perfectly and so were the lentils, but when the dish was placed in front of my face, I couldn’t smell the fishiness of the cheeks.  I also thought that the dish was quite one dimensional, lacking other flavours to perk it up.

Meat Feature - a 4 oz Beef Tenderloin, with some beautiful handmade porcini pasta, local wild mushrooms, seasonal vegetables, and a red wine demi.  The beef was perfectly cooked, medium rare throughout with a melt in your mouth tenderness.  But my favourite part of the dish was the porcini pasta.  The earthiness of the flavours just popped in my mouth, as I took bitefuls of the mushrooms and beef with it.  The dish came together classically, and very pleasant to the palate.

Now, onto desserts.  I must say, I have a sweet tooth.  I always said to Jeremy that girls have 2 stomaches.  One for dessert and one for the rest of the food.  Since it was such a hot day, I was craving for something refeshing.  We had a pannacotta (an Italian dessert made with solely cream or with the addition of milk  set firm with gelatin) paired with balsamic strawberries.  Cool, melt in your mouth pannacotta, acidic strawberries…what more can you ask to finish off a great dinner.

Once again, I have to say, L’Atro Buca did not disappoint.  I’ve always enjoyed and crave for the simple classics that’s done right.  La Buca and L’Atro Buca will always be a place that calls my name to come back.  I can’t wait when L’Atro Buca has it’s own menu, different fro La Buca and see it evolve to its own identity.

Five Loaves Rating:
Value: 8/10
Quality: 8/10
Overall: 8/10

Verdict: With prices that are on par with Earl’s, La Buca/L’Altro Buca continue to be some of my favourite fine dining places around!