Review: Skin and Bones, Leslieville’s newest wine bar
Leslieville’s brunch row has been infiltrated by wine bars. This latest and largest occupies a former auto parts warehouse and has a vast, ’90s throwback dining room of claret walls, exposed ducts, terrazzo floors and high ceilings that amplify the chatter of couples (in matching tortoiseshell glasses) into a deafening din. The bar seating in the intimate front room is a better place to appreciate the list of far-flung vintages that includes a bevvy of easy-drinking Beaujolais and chardonnay. Matthew Sullivan, who earned a small cult following running the pop-up dinner club Boxed and as chef at L’Unità and Maléna, has created a seasonal bistro menu of hits and misses. His salad of dandelion greens and creamy, Woodbridge-produced stracciatella cheese balances competing textures and flavours, but his beef tartare is an unappealing lump overpowered by diced onion. A main of perfectly slow-cooked beef cheek bourguignon is laced with delicate ribbons of delicious fat, yet a farmed Ontario trout floats in an uninspired, over-peppered broth. Airy brioche doughnuts are sweet enough without the double-dose of white chocolate shavings and caramel that come with it.
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Skin and Bones
980 Queen St. E., 416-524-5209
skinandbonesto.com
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Leslieville’s brunch row has been infiltrated by wine bars. This latest and largest occupies a former auto parts warehouse and has a vast, ’90s throwback dining room of claret walls, exposed ducts, terrazzo floors and high ceilings that amplify the chatter of couples (in matching tortoiseshell glasses) into a deafening din. The bar seating in the intimate front room is a better place to appreciate the list of far-flung vintages that includes a bevvy of easy-drinking Beaujolais and chardonnay. Matthew Sullivan, who earned a small cult following running the pop-up dinner club Boxed and as chef at L’Unità and Maléna, has created a seasonal bistro menu of hits and misses. His salad of dandelion greens and creamy, Woodbridge-produced stracciatella cheese balances competing textures and flavours, but his beef tartare is an unappealing lump overpowered by diced onion. A main of perfectly slow-cooked beef cheek bourguignon is laced with delicate ribbons of delicious fat, yet a farmed Ontario trout floats in an uninspired, over-peppered broth. Airy brioche doughnuts are sweet enough without the double-dose of white chocolate shavings and caramel that come with it.){kind=link}
who writes these?
My thoughts exactly. Who writes these?! One can only assume its someone severely palate challenged. I couldn’t disagree more strongly with the negative comments in this write up. Try sending a more qualified critic to do the job.
I agree with the “hits & misses” comment. Surprised the reviewer didn’t mention that there are a lot of “odd” foods on the menu that won’t appeal to everyone, for example chicken tails, beef tartare, beef cheeks, and blood sausage. Some of them, like the blood sausage, are fantastic. And the beef cheeks bourguignon is cooked sous vide, not slow cooked, which would give it a different kind of texture & flavour. It’s delicious and melts in your mouth, a definite “hit”.
Matthew did not cook anything at L’Unita nor did he ever work there, and he barely cooked at Malena. Does no one fact check anymore? Or review resumes correctly?
Whaaat? The beef tartare here was the best I’ve had!
In the future, it would really great if TL sent a reviewer to a wine bar that knows a thing or two about wine. Or, at least someone not too lazy to look at the wine list.
I’m looking forward to dining at S.B. in February when I visit Toronto next. Matt is an excellent chef, trained at Stratford Chefs School. I know it will be a great experience, not just a “good” one.