Eating on the Road: Summerlicious at Aria Ristorante in Toronto

It's Summerlicious season in Toronto, when local restaurants offer a prix fixe menu to entice new patrons to give them a try. As Summerlicious coincided with my recent trip to the constituency, I booked a dinner at Aria Restorante with a friend to have a nice elevated Italian meal a short walk from my arriving train next to Union Station.

Frankly, the bevy of options and menus available through Summerlicious can be dizzying and overwhelming -- even when narrowing by cuisine and geography. I narrowed it down to a few, and Aria won out thanks to their inclusion of local, seasonal ingredients.

I went back and forth in the days leading up to my dinner, but ended up deciding to err on the light side after a heavy lunch of veal meatloaf on the VIA trip down to Toronto.

Aria is an open and modern looking space at 25 York Street at Bremner, right next to Maple Lead Square or Jurassic Park or whatever they're calling it at the moment. It was not busy at all for our 7PM reservation on a Wednesday night, and they kindly offered their closet to store my suitcase and backpack during the meal.

Their Summerlicious menu is priced at $75 for a three-course dinner; on a higher end but suited to the offerings and the location. These were the three choices for the starter; while the lobster was interesting I had locked into the burrata pretty early.

And with my decision to stick to the lighter side, the burrata is what I went with.

I was happy with my choice. It was plated beautifully, and the peaches were a particular standout, fresh and juicy and with a nice char from the grill that added another flavour element. The hot honey added a nice bit of heat, present but not overwhelming. At least for me; a decade of regular exposure to South Asian cuisine has ramped up my spice tolerance. But all in all, very tasty. 

For the main, I had been locked in on the fish, but the desire to have a lighter meal led be towards the pasta -- I have never been a duck guy so that was never really under consideration. But the pasta sounded delicious while being a bit lighter.

Again plated beautifully, I was really entice by the Ontario corn, both creamed and kerneled. The pasta was delicate and flavourful, and the portion was just right. And the bacon was a nice touch, although I presume it would have bee excluded if ordered as the vegetarian option.  

For desert, I had earlier been tempted by the Meringa alla Pesche, but as I got my peach fix earlier with the burrata I went with the Crostata di Noci.

It was good. A reasonable portion nicely plated, sweet and tasty. But it didn't rise to the level of the other two courses. I would have liked a flavoured gelato, maybe pecan to complement the tart. Still, a tasty end to the meal.

Not pictured, a tasty glass of a BC Merlot (so nice to find a BC wine on the menu in Ontario) and a very tasty rum and prosecco cocktail that packed a wallop.

The only down note on Aria was that you need to go out into the lobby of the office building and use a code to enter the washroom. Seems an odd design choice for a space of this caliber.

But all in all, an excellent meal.

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