La Société on Bloor: NOW CLOSED

For me, Friday is the perfect night to dine out. The end of a hectic work week is an occasion worth raising a cocktail to, and most Toronto establishments have a celebratory yet relaxed vibe heralding the onset of the weekend. Also worth celebrating is the return of warm weather, which led me to one of my summer Friday night faves, La Société. The inside of La Société is truly beautiful with its stained glass ceilings, dark interiors and chandeliers reminiscent of a 1920’s Parisian bistro. But outside on one of the restaurant’s two patios is really the only place to dine and be dined. After cocktails on the lower patio, we took our spots upstairs at a small, candelit table over looking Bloor Street (and Toronto’s best-dressed pedestrians). After ordering from the extensive wine list, we settled on our appetizers – simple fresh oysters with house made horseradish, lemon and mignonette, and a meltingly delicious yellow fin tuna tartar with apple and pine nut mixed in for sweetness and crunch.

The bistro’s mains are full of French classics, which I sheepishly veered away from in favour of a linguini with pesto, cherry tomatoes and zucchini. My dining companion chose the perfectly pan-seared Rainbow Trout Grenoboise, accompanied by a side of roast Yukon potatoes.

And of course because no meal is adequately judged without a sampling of dessert, we went with the lemon baked Alaska – perfectly browned on the outside, cold, crisp and lemony on the inside. Served with raspberry coulis and vanilla ice cream, it was devoured before it had the chance to melt on the plate.

Summer fine dining in the heart of the city doesn’t get much better than this. 131 Bloor St W, Toronto.