TORONTO’S TOP TAKEOUT: Valentine’s Day dinner to go…

I don’t usually go out for dinner on Valentine’s Day — gimme a heart-shaped pizza any day, bro! But since we’re in the middle of Second Lockdown, nobody in Toronto is going out tonight, which means restaurants from all over this city are serving up specials for takeout and delivery instead.

Now, most of the Valentine’s Day dinners I came across were the type  you had to order in advance, pick it up at a certain time and heat it up yourself. I would do anything for love, but I won’t do that, Meat Broaf! So when I heard that Reign Restaurant, this classy joint in the Royal York Hotel, was doing a three-course V-Day prix fixe that comes to order fully cooked on all the delivery apps, well, that sounds like paradise by the dashboard light to me!!!

So, we’re starting off with some Oysters Rockefeller. These heroes in a half-shell are topped with spinach, garlic breadcrumbs and little bits of bacon. I don’t always eat oysters, but if you bake ’em with bacon, I can do that all night long!!!!

It’s the time of the season for steak, bro! This 6 oz Canadian tenderloin was served Oscar-style with king crab and Bearnaise sauce, along with a fistful of veggies. Now, the presentation of this dish didn’t survive the delivery — everything was scattered about and the Bearnaise was all over the bottom of the tray — but that didn’t take away from the taste. This was the tenderest, juiciest, mouth-melting steak I’ve had all year! OK, so it’s only February, but still…

Perhaps the biggest challenge of this Valentine’s Day takeaway was dessert. Would the molten chocolate cake still be warm after dinner? Once again, the delivery didn’t do the presentation any favours, but when I finally bit into it, the cake was still a bit warm, if not molten. A lot of the lava leaked out onto the tin, which means I had to lick it up, lick it up like Gene Simmons, son!!!

To me, drinking champagne is insane in the membrane, so instead I cracked open a Belgian quadrupel beer from Straffe Hendrik. This strong sipper is 11% alcohol, which can give you a pretty decent buzz when drinking on a hungry stomach. And the last couple sips sure tasted good with that molten chocolate cake!

Now, it’s time for me to settle in for a nice romantic movie. I’m thinking Inglourious Basterds — nothing gets my heart going like killin’ Nazis, Quentin Taranti-bro!!!!