It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Winterlicious has taken over Toronto! For those of you not familiar with Winterlicious, it is THE best. This year there are 191 restaurants participating, offering prix fixe menus from $15-$45. Check out this site for more info: Winterlicious 2013
This weekend I had family visiting the city and we had decided to go out for supper somewhere in the Distillery District. We were recommended the restaurant Archeo, and let me start off by saying MAN, this place is beautiful. I was instantly taken in by the open-concept room with historic photos blown up to act as room partitions. Exposed bricks made up the walls, with colours varying from light red to dark brown.
Archeo was offering a lovely $25 prix fixe, which can be viewed here. With our wines chosen and our courses ordered, we were ready to enjoy a lovely meal. Fresh, warm bread was brought out, along with balsamic vinaigrette & olive oil. Our reservation was fairly early in the evening, and we didn’t have to wait long for our appetizers to be brought out.
I started out with the mixed green salad with cherry tomatoes, fennel, & white balsamic vinaigrette. It was a decent portion, but overall I found the dish to be a little bland. My mother had also had this dish, and we agreed that the slightest crumble of cheese would have been a great addition.
Our plates were whisked away, and soon we were brought out our entrees. For this course I ordered the garden orecciette with broccolinni, sage, bell peppers, and arugula pesto. I am a lover of anything pesto, and was excited to try out this pasta dish. Once again, it was a generous portion and I greedily dug in. I was satisfied with the dish, although I could have asked for a dollop more of pesto 
Yes, I admit I have a pesto problem.
After we finished our entrees I didn’t think I would be able to eat another bite. But when dessert arrived my mind was changed. I had ordered the classic tiramisu, another favorite of mine. The tiramisu was inside a edible chocolate bowl, topped with a single raspberry. I hope I’m not the only one who gets excited over the thought of edible bowls. Needless to say, it was devoured and I thought I was going to have to be rolled home.
Overall, our experience at Archeo was very enjoyable. Our server was attentive and personable. I also enjoyed how involved the on duty manager was. He was helping expedite meals to tables, refilling water, and ensuring everyone was comfortable. The only mishap of the night was when the manager came around to refill our waters and accidentally refilled two sparkling waters with regular water. Not the end of the world! I will definitely be checking out Archeo after Winterlicious is over to see what their regular menu has to offer.
- A
ps: I want to apologize for the lack of pictures. It was quite dark in the restaurant which reduced the quality of my iPhone pictures (I need to remember to bring my camera, le sigh) For the dessert picture my boyfriend had the idea to shine his phone on it using a flashlight app which help a lot. Unfortunately my pictures of the appetizer and entree are of poor quality with too much noise. SORRY 
