Rabbit Reporting

The Universal Grill is a neighbourhood spot at Dupont and Shaw. It’s one of the Rabbit-mother’s faves, so stopped by for early dinner on a Saturday. The room is a former diner gone boho shabby-chic, with pretty white lights, a great counter/bar with swivel-y stools, and comfy-cozy booths. Lighting is completely flattering (good for date-night), and the soundtrack works (lots of Feist — but not too loud).

We started with cocktails from a well-considered list of about eight drinks. Universal Grill won immediate points for their outstanding bartending. Rabbit is perpetually grieving that Canadian restos do not take bartending as seriously as their American counterparts. But at UG, cocktails were excellent, including a well-mixed lychee martini, and a marg made with freshly squeezed lime juice. The Rabbit-sister drank red wine, a Chianti and then a Zinfandel from about five by-the-glass offerings, reasonably priced. We ordered apps, and worked on some ordinary but satisfying bread with what we think was a white bean dip with pesto (it was good).

To start, we sampled the carrot and ginger soup, a daily special, which stood out because it was both wonderfully ginger-y, and because it was suitably hot (sounds easy, but not often delivered). Rabbit-mom said the soup was as good as her own — high praise. We also sampled a polenta appetizer, a generous triangle of quite dense polenta (looked rather like a slice of baked cheesecake), served with spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes and black olives — a very nice mix of flavours.

The main menu had some enticing options, but we all ordered from the special board. My jerk pork tenderloin with lime, mango and ginger sauce was the star of the night. This kitchen is not afraid of spice, and my jerk was revved right up — very tasty. I would have preferred my meat a little pinker, but the pork was by no means dry. The accompanying sweet potato mash was wonderful, and my veg (green beans, eggplant, broccolini, red peppers) were the exact right bit of crunchy and avoided that ruinous over-buttering that can turn good vegetables bad. Also, I was ambivalent about the ginger-lime-mango sauce, which presented as a heavy looking glaze, almost like a white gravy. I found this visually off-putting, although the sauce itself was quite subtle and good.

The Rabbit-mother had a vegetarian risotto with artichokes, mushroom, corn, zucchini, and goat cheese. At first this dish seemed a little bland. Still, Rabbit-mother finished her entire plate and suggested the dish had a grows-on-you charm. Rabbit-sister had the swordfish, a very meaty cut of fish, served with teriyaki, snow pea leaves and mushrooms. UG pays good attention to delivering interesting and varied sides, so her fish was plated with soba noodles as well as some veg. Rabbit-sister liked her food OK — no actual complaints, but it didn’t blow her away.

For dessert, we split the alfajor con chocolate. Alfajor, new to me, is a layered cake of shortbread-y wafers and caramel. It was glazed with a lovely thick chocolate. Great stuff.

If the Universal Grill were in my ‘hood I would be here all the time. The menu offerings are interesting and varied, the cocktails kick ass, the setting is charmant, service was wonderful. Most important, this kitchen is not afraid of flavour or spice, and is playing with a number of varied and imaginative tastes. I’m cautious about gushing or overselling this place because I think the total experience probably outweighs a micro-analysis of its parts, but I really liked the Universal Grill and happily recommend. I’m actually looking forward to bringing Mr. Rabbit back on date night.

The end of the story… $160 (after tax, before tip) for two apps, four cocktails and two glasses of wine, three mains, and one dessert. Very reasonable.

Footnoted complaint: basement-bathrooms are a little dingy, and Rabbit-sister was mad because there was no hot water.

www.universalgrill.ca

Posted on November 18th, 2007 by rabbit
Filed under: Toronto, Restaurant Reviews