Bonfire Revisited
Although I get a kick out of the Mom and Pop atmosphere of many neighbourhood restaurants, there are occasions when a more sophisticated ambience is appropriate. The Bonfire Bistro on Corydon offers a slightly upscale décor, reasonable prices, excellent fare and that neighbourhood feel, all in one neat package. Recently, I met a good friend, who is also a business acquaintance and we got caught up on family, accomplished all of our business decisions and enjoyed a delicious lunch-not necessarily in that order.
My friend chose the pasta/salad lunch combination. On this day it was fettuccine topped with a hearty mushroom sauce, garnished with crispy bacon. The salad greens included sweet currants, so that the sweetness of the dried fruit offset the saltiness of the bacon. She let me plunge my fork into her plate for a sample. Now that is a good friend.
I was tempted to have the same because I really wanted a last summer taste of the bistro’s gazpacho which was the featured soup. Instead, our accommodating waitress provided me with just a spoonful of the chilled soup. So I was free to order the clams, spicy sausage and artichokes from the anti-pasta section of their lunch menu.
I was trying to restrain myself, because I knew that I was going out for dinner that evening (oh, the life of a foodie) so I tore pieces of the grilled Portuguese waterbread and dipped them into the saffron marinara sauce and just had a couple of pieces of the sausage and artichoke. The rustic recipe is a perfect lunch to take us into Winnipeg’s chilly winter. The leftovers were packaged up for a future meal.
I can also highly recommend Bonfire’s wood-fired pizzas with a delicious sauce and decadent toppings. Or the vermicelli with spicy marinated eggplant, wilted field greens, roasted red peppers, marinated artichokes, kalamata olives, tomatoes, green onions and feta cheese in an Aglio E Olio sauce that I have enjoyed on other occasions. The pizzas, pastas and salads are always fresh, seasonal, hearty and perfectly prepared. Service is more than cordial and you would have no issues getting back to the office on time if you were on your lunch hour.
Kath’s quote: “The whole Mediterranean … the wine, the ideas … seems to ride in the sour pungent taste of those black olives … A taste older than meat, older than wine. A taste as old as cold water.”-Lawrence Durrell
Love-that is all.
Kath–I am new to this blog, and I so appreciate it! Thank you for your very astute assessment of Bonfire. We live down the street and have been going there since it’s inception. I have literally never had a bad meal; the food is well-prepared, the staff knowledgeable as well as efficient and friendly. and the wine choices by the glass are always decent–and reasonably priced. I have always been impressed by their consistency. There was one occasion, about 5 years back, whereby my salmon was overdone, and they replaced my meal and did not charge me–no questions asked. That is a mark of class. The place has earned every lineup that they have, each evening!
Enid, Thanks for taking the time to comment. We are so fortunate in River Heights to have such an abundance of amazing restaurants within walking distance, aren’t we?