stumbled into fat cat while looking for 7 number. What a lovely accident!

Started with a perfect pureed bean soup with chunks of smoked bacon -- great on a damp fall evening. I could have eaten a huge bowl of that for dinner and called it a night. Continued with a pan-seared dourad over some greens and a corn and roasted-chile salsa for DH and a 45-day dry aged rib eye with mashed potatoes (mixed with aged goat cheese and gruyere) and some simple quick-sauteed green beans for me. Finished with a banana crumble and a lemon tart. All was yummy (though the thinner part of my steak was a little more done than I wanted, but c'est la vie). Service was simple and unobtrusive. Atmosphere was understated (loved the artwork on the walls), but the bronze Elvis bust on the kitchen passthrough cracked us up (though we asked our server to turn him, as DH felt Elvis was staring right at him...).

Dinner for two, plus two glasses of Trius brut, including tax and tip was $150.

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Tried Fat Cat Wine Bar last night, and really enjoyed the ambience on the lovely back patio. Nice selection of wines by the glass (3 or 6 oz) - I was pleased with the $7 Bodegas tempranillo (6 oz). Charcuterie plate ($13) and terrine ($11) were just okay - terrine was soft/mushy and charcuterie selection overall too salty but tasty. Rooibos tea was deliciously fragrant. Wine and food took AGES to arrive - the server claimed the kitchen was "backed up" with orders. Service picked up later for coffee/tea and bill.

I imagine the owners send all the food from their other location for reheating and plating at the wine bar. (There isn't a real kitchen at the wine bar location.) The menu reflects a lack of from-scratch items.

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I had a very enjoyable and 'interesting' meal at Fat Cat a couple of months ago. Their venison was superb! However, with their opening up of another branch on the west end, I'm not sure how Chef Sutherland can maintain consistently fine food quality in both locations?!

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one of my favourites. It's small and can get noisy but the interaction with the chefs/staff is exceptional - they even recommend a wine (available by the glass) for every course. They often have small quantities of stuff that they've picked up that day which never gets on the menu (at a recent visit, GF ordered liver - out came the chef to ask if she'd prefer Rhea Liver which they'd just obtained that day for the first time; on another visit they had lamb sweetbreads - again the only time I've seen those in Toronto). The best bet is to ask what the chef recommends. This is expensive for the area, but good value for what you receive. If you're both into food rather than staring into each others eyes, this would be my recommendation.

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