Fabbrica & McEwan

I have been wanting to try Fabbrica inside the Shops at Don Mills for a while now.  This Mark McEwan restaurant has gotten quite a bit of mixed reviews so it hasn't really been a first priority for me to go there, but I finally got a chance on Friday night.  I must say that the service wasn't quite on the ball at this restaurant, but the look and feel and the food was all there.  We ordered a linguine with shrimp and clams in a white wine sauce, as well as the risotto with sweet peas and cured foie gras.  The linguine dish had fresh pasta cooked al dente with pretty fresh ingredients.  The risotto I had expected to see a bit more foie gras but it was pretty hard for us to find a few tiny specks of foie gras.  Instead there was plenty of pancetta, which is not a bad thing.  I don't complain about pancetta.  Even though there were only a few bits of foie gras, you can still taste the essence of the foie gras infused in the dish.

Across the street from Fabbrica is the fine food store McEwan, similar concept to Pusateri's.  I love looking through high-end supermarkets, although the food could often cost you an arm and a leg.  I was glad to be able to find the Niagara Gold cheese here which I had taken a liking to ever since we tried it at George Restaurant.  The cheese has a pungent smell and strong taste, so I find that it goes great with a sweet apricot spread on crackers.