Azure Restaurant & Bar (2013 Summerlicious)

Just a heads up - there are only three days left for Summerlicious (@LiciousTO)! With three Summerlicious dinners under my belt - Café Boulud, Bymark and Azure Restaurant & Bar - I can confidently say I took full advantage of the event this year. I know I could have booked even more lunches and dinners but I seriously need to start watching my weight and my bank account. Anyway, this weekend is the last weekend to take advantage of all the awesome lunch and dinner prix-fixes currently being offered at over 190 restaurants in Toronto. Whether you like it or not, Summerlicious / Winterlicious really encourages people to...well...go out and eat! Whether it be a new restaurant, an established restaurant in a new neighbourhood, a high-end restaurant or whatever the case may be, Licious' prix fixe offerings gives everybody an opportunity - an incentive - to venture out, eat and spend money. Great for the city. Great for the economy.

My last Summerlicious dinner this year was at Azure Restaurant & Bar. Located at the corner of Front St. W. and Lower Simcoe St. within the lobby of the InterContinental Toronto Centre (Twitter: @ICTorontoCentre, Facebook: InterContinental Toronto Centre), Azure features contemporary Canadian cuisine. An advocate for using local and seasonal ingredients, Azure's Chef de Cuisine Grace Di Fede strongly believes in offering customers a menu that draws on the freshest local meats and produce available at the time.

Cascading glass 'canopy'.

PINEAPPLE BERRY - 1.25 oz malibu rum + 0.5 oz sourpuss raspberry + pineapple juice ($12)

AZURE CAESAR - 1.5 oz pepper infused vodka + tobasco + clamato juice + olives ($13)

Bread basket

For two people and at $45 pp, Azure's Summerlicious dinner menu looks something like this:

APPETIZER

MARKET GREENS & BLUE BENEDICTINE CHEESE

Pickled shallots + bartlett pear + candied walnuts + sherry vinaigrette

EAST COAST CRAB CAKE

Lemon & dill remoulade + summer fruit salsa

MAIN

PACIFIC ORGANIC SALMON

Orange & shaved fennel slaw + raisins + pistachio + asparagus + pernod tomato purée

CANADIAN FARMED BEEF STRIP LOIN

Rosemary & garlic potato purée + baby vegetables + chard + port jus

DESSERT

ICE-WINE STRAWBERRY PANNA COTTA

Fig compote + caramel tuile 

BAILEY'S CHOCOLATE TORTE

Vanilla mousse + summer berry compote

The two courses at Azure that stood out the most for me were the appetizers and desserts. The starter salad with crisp mixed greens topped with crunchy walnuts and blue cheese was very nice. The slices of fresh sweet pear made the entire salad very refreshing...an overall great summer salad. The crab cakes, encased in a thin crunchy shell, was packed with lots of shredded crab meat (and minimal filler *yay!*) The fruit salsa on top compensated for the saltiness of the crab cake itself. The mains were good. I enjoyed the tomato puree and fennel slaw more so than the salmon itself which I found to be a bit dry. Moving on to desserts, both were stellar. I am not a big fan of panna cotta but this particular ice-wine strawberry panna cotta was a winner; the additional of fig compote on top of the layer of sweet strawberry was fabulous. I also loved the chocolate torte. Light, not too heavy nor rich with a layer of smooth vanilla mousse, I finished it so quick that I wish I there was a second piece!

*This meal was complimentary. The opinions and views expressed on this post are my own*