Dining Out: An Early Birthday Dinner at Watercolour

I'd wanted to try Watercolour for a couple years now but kept forgetting about it because newer restaurants kept opening up, so when my mom asked where I wanted to go for this year's birthday dinner, I decided it was finally time to try it out. And I can't believe it took me so long to finally eat there.

Beets and goat cheese with roasted walnuts, shallots, dill, and champagne vinaigrette
Daily special: PEI mussels with leeks in white wine cream sauce
Daily special: Halibut with chickpeas and Swiss chard
Red wine braised short rib with rigatoni, Calabrian chili, and parmesan
Lemon meringue tart

We decided to go with two dishes from the regular menu and two from the daily specials. Impeccable combinations of flavours and textures in every dish. Not a single dud or disappointment. Just swooning after every bite. (I wish I had been paying more attention to what was in the daily specials, but I was so freaking hungry and excited at the prospect of eating that I only took in the key words, so forgive me for the lack of detail in the descriptions. Like, the red, aromatic, slightly spicy sauce with the halibut? I have no idea what it is. But it was fucking delicious.) Even when our server — who was incredible, by the way; professional but with a great sense of humour, attentive but not cloying — came by with our mains, he said, "That looks so, so good." 

He asked if it was a special occasion, so I told him it was my birthday and he lit a little candle to go with our dessert — the best lemon meringue pie I've ever had in my life. (Already knowing the answer, he did ask, while chuckling, if I wanted him to sing happy birthday, and I said, also smiling, "Absolutely not, but thank you.") Even my mom, who is notoriously critical, had nothing negative to say about this dinner. We both had nothing but praise for the food and the service. It was a truly incredible meal. So glad I finally got to try Watercolour. It's pricey, so it's firmly in the "special occasions" category, but I will absolutely be coming back. Wonder if they're open for Christmas…

Watercolour

166 Main St. Unionville

Unionville, ON L3R 2G9

(905) 266-6877

Photolog 2020: Day 109 of 366

I was simultaneously in the mood for both fries and shawarma tonight (which was driven by the thought of not wanting to make dinner at home) so I looked through various restaurants on DoorDash and decided to order from Osmow's, which specializes in "modern Mediterranean cuisine." I decided on the "Mixed on the Stix" combo — half chicken and half beef shawarma with tomatoes and onions on a bed of fries with "Osmow's sauces," done with medium spice. It took over an hour to arrive because they had to find a new Dasher about 30 minutes after I ordered, but the food arrived piping hot and OH MY GOD, IT WAS SO FUCKING GOOD.

Now, you can usually bet on meat and fries to be a reliably tasty combo, but what makes this place notable is the spices they use in their meats and the "Osmow's sauces," whatever they are. It reminds me of The Halal Guys, which should say enough on its own. Also, they aren't fucking around with their spice levels. I usually get medium because mild at most restaurants is too mild (a.k.a. no spice at all), but this was actually pretty spicy — at least enough to make me sweat. It's weird that I'd never heard of this place before since it's a huge chain with dozens of locations, but I just found out that I live like, three minutes away from one. So you know I'm gonna order from them again.

Pano's

So, I made a little overnight trip to Buffalo yesterday with Ronsee and Ben as a sort of birthday trip (Ben's and my birthdays are only two weeks apart, so we tend to do a little celebration out of town). After fighting rush hour traffic and waiting half an hour to get over the border, we got to our hotel a little after 6:00pm, did some shopping at Target, and unwinded with a drink (Freshly Limeade is pretty much the best thing, ever) in the hotel room. By 11:30pm, we were starving. Last week, I mentioned to one of my regular clients that I was going to make a trip to Buffalo, and she told me that I should check out Pano's. Luckily for us, it just so happens that, in a city with so few late-night dine-in restaurants, Pano's is open until 1:00am. When I asked our server what they were known for and what he recommended, and he said they were known for their souvlaki and recommended the gyro. So, that's what I got.

Gyro souvlaki

Greek potatoes

The portion is huge, the meat is flavourful and tender, and the salad is crisp and fresh. Was it good? Yes. Was it anything special? No. Not sure how good their other dishes are, but they've gotten pretty good ratings and reviews, so I'm wondering if maybe I should've ordered a non-souvlaki dish. Then again, I might've been way more impressed if there was tzatziki sauce. I'm not going to say I didn't like it, 'cause I did, but I think I was just expecting better. I would try it again next time I'm in Buffalo, but I wouldn't go out of my way for it.


Pano's
1081 Elmwood Avenue
Buffalo, NY 14222
(716) 886-9081

Mr. Greek

Shawn and I went for dinner at Mr. Greek, 'cause we were craving Mediterranean food. I ordered gyros with rice, potatoes, and Greek salad. It was... okay. I've definitely had gyros that tasted better for a cheaper price (one place I love is Falafel House, who has some awesome gyros pita wraps). And I don't need my food to be piping hot but, you know, I like it at least warm to hot. But the meat was lukewarm at best. I think next time I will stick to souvlaki.