The Black Hoof: Two Years Later

April 2010 was when I started this little food blog of mine. During April 2010 I wrote a blog post about having dinner at The Black Hoof (@TheBlackHoof) back in December 2009 (still the Grant van Gameren days) for a friend's birthday. To be exact, that was the 18th post on my blog. And what do you know. After 2 years and 336 posts later, I'm blogging about The Black Hoof again today. 

Reading that old post made me smile. Why? Because I realized the following: 1) "tartare" and "offal" were words still  unbeknownst to me at the time, 2) that dinner in December 2009 was the first time I've ever had charcuterie, and 3) I used flash. HA! The evolution of me and how I've grown (older) is obvious *groan*.

I know its been way too long since I've been back to The Black Hoof, especially when I ended the first post with "I really really want to go back soon". Not sure what happened to "soon" but hey, what matters most is this: I went to The Black Hoof this week for the second time in more than two years and I'm truly happy to say that it was just as, if not more, outstanding as I remembered it to be. It was fantastic.

I went with a friend who has not been to The Black Hoof yet (a rare breed). The perfect companion.

This equation works. 

Tea & Sympathy (left), Manhattan (right).

Our server suggested 4-5 plates for two people. We had 8...

Blood Custard ($8) (my apologies as I did not get a good picture of the blood custard underneath)

Spicy Horse Tartare ($16)

Tongue on Brioche ($14)

Smoked Sweetbreads ($16)

Beef Heart & Mussels ($15)

Pork Belly & Nori ($16)

Mackerel & N'duja ($15)

In the middle is the head chef at The Black Hoof, Brandon Olson (@King_of_Ginger).

Foie & Nutella ($25)

I'm going to keep it simple for once so all I'm going to say is this: Just go. Nobody in Toronto does offal like The Black Hoof. 

P.S: Make sure you save room for the foie & nutella. It works. BFF's. Trust me.