The Black Hoof is Carnivore Heaven

On Friday night I had a lovely dinner with my best foodie friend, Diahanna. She's been raving about The Black Hoof for a while, but we just couldn't get our schedules figured out until now. Warning! This restaurant isn't for everyone, The Black Hoof has a distinct menu. By distinct, I mean it serves the innards of the animals: tongue, heart, horse meat and all that good stuff. 

This small charcuterie restaurant is situated in an obscure location on Dundas West. I don't venture out to the West end often, but I've heard this is where all the new trendy eateries are sprouting up. We arrived shortly after the restaurant opened for the evening. After we were seated, the dinner rush came pouring in. The restaurant itself is tiny and the kitchen is pretty much right in front of you. The menu changes frequently, everything is written on the mirrors and blackboards around the restaurant.

I didn't know what to order, so Diahanna made all the shots. We have very similar food tastes, she's the trendy foodie who tells me about all the great restaurants. She hails from Vancouver, where eating is a serious hobby. We started off with the house cured meats ($18). I was expecting a very small serving of cured meats, but I was pleasantly surprised that almost every inch of the wooden board was covered with six types of meats! Prosciutto, salami, blueberry salami, I can't remember, mortadella, chorizo, and homemade mustard! We ordered a side of pickes ($3), for all those who don't know, I LOVE anything pickled.

{ charcuterie } 

{ pickles! }

We ordered drinks, they were a little pricey in my opinion, but I guess the price is justified with how strong the drinks are! I had the City Guy Sour ($9) and Di had the Royal Gala Collins ($10). I had no idea what to expect with sweetbreads ($15), I literally thought it was pieces of sweet bread fried, but I couldn't be more wrong. Sweetbreads are pretty much the intestines of an animal. It was poached in buttermilk and then fried. The sweetbreads laid on a bed of truffled rapini. The rapini sauce tasted like caramelized butter, I couldn't get enough of it!

{ tongue on brioche ; sweetbreads with truffled rapini }

Next on the list was the tongue on brioche ($14), it actually reminds me of Schwartz's smoked meat sandwich. The tongue was surprisingly tender and very moist. A side of pickles and raspberry mustard topped it off. 

No dinner is complete without dessert! We ordered a pumpkin and almond cake with sage ice-cream ($8). The cake was not too sweet, which I liked, but the best part was the safe infused ice-cream. I've never had an herb flavoured ice-cream before, so this was very refreshing to the taste buds. Does anyone know where I can find this in a grocery store?

{ pumpkin almond cake with sage ice-cream }

The bill came up to $87, eeek!! A little hefty, but I will return after my wallet recovers :{



The Black Hoof
923 Dundas St. West
Toronto, ON
(416) 551-8854
Website
Cash or Canadian debit only