Hoof Raw Bar

While we were waiting for our seats at the black hoof, we came over the the raw bar for a drink. Their cocktail selection was pretty limited: either sparkling wine based or tomato based, neither of which was to my liking so i had a glass of white. The fried oyster was pretty good and service was good. It was okay.

HOOF CAFE AT HOOF RAW BAR
«Brunch is back. Hoof Café, permanent „pop-​up“ at the Raw Bar. So everyone can stop being mad at me.» This phrase was tweeted by Jen Agg, owner of the Black Hoof and former Hoof Café, just a few weeks ago. Indeed we were mad, and I was certainly mad at her for closing down my fave brunch spot in Toronto, for no good reason. It has been close to two years, so congrats Jen, I am no longer mad at you… just hope I won’t have to be again.
And so we are back, and I am happy to report Hoof Café, now popping for brunch at Hoof Raw Bar in the mornings Thursday-​Sunday, is still my fave brunch spot in the city. The menu is aggressively «out there» yet succulent. It screams offal to your face with no shame or regret, it tells you its here to feed you the «un-​feedable» and that by the way, you’ll all love it. I loved it, we loved it. What a crazy love/​hate relationship I’ve been having with this place.
The Tongue Benny, an almost replica of the Suckling Eggs Benny, are better than ever with flavour explosions in your mouth that add great texture with a fair amount of the thinly sliced tongue. The tongue seems to be pan fried, maybe? Not sure, but the taste is incredible, and as always with tongue, the meat is tender. Mustard seeds and a bit of dill make up the toppings of a rather mild hollandaise sauce, while the eggs are soft poached and sit on what tasted like milk bread. An arugula salad accompanies this dish with pine nuts, balsamic and yet again mustard seeds to complement and balance it out.
With a rather intriguing name, the Bombay Hash is a dish I’ve never had before, especially for brunch. The dish comes with a salty smoked Mackerel on a potato hash with butter chicken sauce and chaat masala, topped with wilted spinach and an fried egg. The fish smokiness coats the dish on the rather less seasoned hash and spinach, purposefully balancing it out.
From smoked to slow-​cooked, a delectable and rich Breakfast Cassoulet is introduced, Hoof style. With crispy kale and a duck egg visually topping the richness and nuance of this cassoulet, the slow cooked bowl comes with a mixture of red beans, tomato broth, breakfast sausage and pork hock (the joint between the tibia/​fibula and the metatarsals of the foot).
Last but not least, Hoof’s take on their original French toast, the Fruit n’ Nut Challah Toast. Though this dish does not even come close to the perfectly made Brioche French toast at the original Café, this desserty dish stands on its own. The challah toast is french’d and drizzled with honey and a poached bosch pear reduction, topped with dusting sugar and chocolate shavings. Thinly sliced pieces of pear lay randmoly on the plate and a nicely presented home-​made whipped cream is placed on the side. Though I would have longed for a softer and moist bread, this dish is a close contender and a perfect way to end brunch.
While I enjoyed the new menu diversity and forwardness, including the extra care on plating and presentation, I missed the option of having cappuccino and espressos available.
Note: Hoof Café does not take credit cards, only debit and cash and offers no milk substitutes (aka soy milk).
Buen Provecho,
Viviana.

Note: This is strictly a review of the recently re-​opened Hoof Brunch, and not the raw Bar itself, which I have yet to patronize.
It kills me inside to give this 2 star rating. I am a huge Hoof Fan… Black, Café, whatever… bring it on. And although I held a grudge for awhile about the tampering that went on with the wonderful Hoof Café, I have since forgiven and re-​kindled my love affair with all things Hoof.
So when I heard that the Hoof Brunch would be returning, this time to be served at the Raw Bar, I was over the moon. I had a friend from out of town visiting this weekend, so I thought, Perfect. This will knock their socks off.
I have to say, the experience was not anywhere close to Hoof standards. In fact, it was borderline inedible. Having had the chicken and waffles at the old Hoof café brunch, which were incredible, I opted for the waffles with fried sweetbreads. It arrived, and from the moment they put it in front of me I thought something was off. It had a very strange smell. The waffle was ice cold and hard. And the sweetbreads… I’m still gagging when I think about it 2 hours later. Deep fried, but when you cut into them, gray, steamed, vein-​y little pieces of gross-​ness. Ugh… I shudder just thinking about it. And the flavour… not that i’ve ever tried this, but I can only imagine it’s something like what an anal gland would taste like. So needless to say, I shoved the sweet breads to the side, and had my hard cold waffle with the only other thing on the plate, spicy maple syrup and jalepeno butter. My stomach is still churning.
The coffee. We were both disappointed when we found out we could not get a latte, but only french press coffee. However, the coffee was great.
Of course the service was, as always, excellent. Actually spot on. And as soon as my server realized I wasn’t overly enjoying my anal gland waffles, he offered me a side of bacon. I accepted. It arrived, and even the BACON was bad! Over cooked, hard, cold, chewy, and so oversmoked it almost had a fishy taste to it. What is going on here?
My friend wasn’t utterly disgusted with her meal, but it wasn’t great either. Also cold, very small portion, and lacklustre.
So, as always, 5 stars for atmosphere, service, and general hoofy-​ness. But the food, I have to say, bad bad bad. This was their first weekend of brunch though, and i’m sure they will work out the kinks and it will return to the amazing Hoof standards that we all know and love.

Note: This would actually be a 4.5 star rating but I’m rounding up as the Hoof empire can do no wrong in my opinion and has been perhaps one of the most important restaurant (s) in the city over the past 5 years.
Fanboy gushing aside, I can now move on to the review.
Stopping in to the Black Hoof one recent Thursday night I was told the wait would still be about 45 minutes for a table despite the fact it was 9:45 (which is a testament to how good that restaurant is). I was given the option of waiting at Raw Bar while a table opened up but given my previous experience at RB was so good I decided to just have dinner there instead.
I’m glad I did.
First let’s address the name: yes this is a place where you can get raw sea food but this comprises less than half of the menu and frankly it would be a waste of this kitchen’s talents to just simply shuck oysters and finely slice sashimi. The real winners on this menu are the non-​raw items.
Some of the dishes I have tried on my two visits here include the cured fish board, fried oysters with pepper gravy and smoked octopus with cheese grits.
The fish board is both delicious and interesting and makes a nice appetizer to share with a dining companion. The fish on the board are arranged from lightest to strongest in flavour (both in terms of the fish’s own flavour and the way they are cured/​seasoned). I enjoy strong tasting fish and as a result I was a big fan of the mackerel and the chorizo cured scallop, the latter of which’s light sweetness and richness stood up well to the heavy chorizo flavouring. As a further note — if you order this dish spring for the house made milk bread which makes a warm and tasty companion.
The fried oysters were probably my favourite dish. They were very meaty, lightly battered and fried to a tender, flawless perfection. The pepper gravy had its own personality and yet was subtle enough to compliment the oysters beautifully. To drive the point home a bit further — I just spent a week in New Orleans in November and these are the best fried oysters I have ever had.
The octopus dish was also a winner and the pieces were nicely smoked and cooked to a very tender perfection. The grits were shaped into a recangular form and deep fried, and I didn’t even realize what they were until digging into them. They were served with a chipotle inflected sauce that that further accentuated the smokiness of the dish while adding some additional creaminess.
Other worthwhile notes — as expected, the wine list is very good and so are the tomato based cocktails, which pair perfectly with all of the fish; this place takes cash and debit only.
In short, check it out, and not just as a consolation prize to Black Hoof.
–Brian

We just came for oysters and cocktails before heading over to Black Hoof.
Really nice staff and the oysters were superb. I had an amazing new drink, their
Tomato Tequila, really nice.

Oh my, I think I actually like this place better than the Black Hoof! Since I’m not so adventurous with ‘snout to tail’ cooking, I really enjoyed the Raw Bar. It is intimate and cozy like Black Hoof, with the same attention to detail and presentation, plus great cocktails. But the seafood-​based menu is lighter and something different.
The charcuterie trend has really taken off, but I found their cured fish board a refreshing change. They give you a good amount of seafood — including albacore tuna and chorizo-​smoked scallops (a favourite for both me and my DC). The octopus with cheesy grits was delicious. We also tried the halibut with plantain. The portion size was a little disappointing compared to the other dishes, but the spinach purée and sweet fried plantain lent interesting flavours to the dish. For dessert, there was only one option. You only need one, when it’s apple pie infused panna cotta with some kind of sweet foam and grated white cheddar on top. Perfection.
They have a good selection of wines and their champagne cocktail is lovely, but the tomato juice cocktails are definitely unique and worth trying. I had the «Asian» which had yuzu and shochu in it. Yummy.
Hoof Raw Bar is a great date spot or place to chill with friends. Service was friendly and professional. Next time, I’d like to try their oysters (you can choose from West or East Coast).

Came in for dinner, table of 6. We managed to order a few bottles of wine, cocktails, and nearly everything on the menu so we could all share.
The cocktails were nice and the wine list was decent. Service was decent. The food offered interesting pairings though the portioning could be revisited. The price point seemed off for its offerings. Some of the dishes were underwhelming.
All in all, Raw Bar seemed to fall short of expectations. Would have to be convinced to attempt again.

My partner and I came here for our anniversary dinner and were in love with the place. We were lucky that the place is open until midnight because we showed up around 10:00 pm (dang Dundas streetcars!) and it was still bumping.
It’s a very romantic, dimly lit and chic space. We really liked the open kitchen and intimate bar seating, though we sat at tables.
The former reviews about wait staff not knowing ingredients may have been accurate: some of the waitresses had only been there a week and were unclear about some aspects of the food or service. Pretty much every dish, however, arrived with a full description of ingredients and fish by more knowledgeable and friendly wait staff. I was impressed.
We ordered:
Wine — apparently amazing, but we aren’t wine connoisseurs so I’ll skip commentating on that. I just thought it was overpriced
Caesar — amazing, as others said because of their equally great cocktail bar
Half dozen oysters, half east, half west — YUMMY!
Cured fish board — the highlight of my night
Whitefish with Ponzu — the fried fish heads made me make (good) noises several times
Squid salad — the only low point of the dinner, not much substance to this dish
The food is all really decently priced ($ 12 – 13 a dish) but the wine ($ 13 a glass) was not.
We weren’t stuffed afterwards but were definitely 100% satisfied.
I’d definitely go back again; highly recommended!

Who would have thought that this place could keep up with the Black Hoof in the experience. It totally did. I now have to make a decision on which one i would prefer to go to. The fish board was extremely tastey, the ceviche delicious and all of the other raw fish were presented well with bliss in every bite. The octopus was tender, which came along some crispy cheese gritz. All the tomato based coctails were very yummy as well. Go eat here!

Where do I start?
Dined there last week on a week night. Quiet evening there. We sat at the bar and the two chefs by the oven were on their iphone. The dishwasher lady was just standing there waiting for dishes to be washed. It wasn’t busy, but the servers might be busy talking to each other. The waitress were probably new, she would attempt to describe thigns and forgot what the last ingredients were and had to ask the chef.
Cocktails are good, but that’s expected given they should have perfected drinks with their Cocktail bar across the street.
Crudo plate was nice. I think there was one thing I didn’t like out of variety.
Fried smelt, shrimp head (guess they used the meat in their other plates), white fish. all too greasy.
Smoked mussles, my friend ordered it. Not my favourite. reminds me of when my mom buys canned mussles. Not delicious enough that I would order it again.
They had a ceviche that seemed more of a regular tartare. Ceviche … most people define that with citrus seasoning, maybe cliantro, chili peppers? Just felt like it was chopped up tuna tartare. They didn’t tell us it was a white tuna that night, not impressed .
Wish i spent that money at Cocktail or back at Black Hoof. Sorry.

Yet another amazing restaurant for Jen Agg & The Black Hoof crew.
Had dinner last Friday night for my birthday. We arrived at 9pm thinking we’d have to wait but were shown to a table immediately. Just lucky I guess.
Ordered drinks: I had a glass of sauvignon blanc ($ 14), Mark ordered the Hoof Café Caesar ($ 8). Both were excellent.
We started with the Cured Fish Board ($ 22) & an order of Bread & Butter ($ 2). First the bread: O&B’s Milk bread served warm with sweet butter. Incredible. So much so that we ordered a second loaf. The cured fish board included: tuna (super light & tasty), smoked cod cheeks (my favourite, smoky and delicious), tandoori something or other (sorry, I can’t remember), & chorizo scallops (much more appetizing that it sounds). We also ordered the tuna ceviche ($ 13) which married tuna, citrus, creamy avocado and a bit of hot pepper perfectly. Our last dish was a special on the night we visited, pan-​fried striped sea bass with enoki mushrooms, celery & a super complex Asian-​inspired fish broth. Loved every last drop.
People seem to be complaining about the cost, but we didn’t find it any more expensive than The Black Hoof or any other place we’ve eaten as of late.
The space is super pretty: some white washed walls, plywood ceiling and bar, comfortable banquette and seating. Casual yet elegant, the perfect marriage of i

BOTTOM LINE: Not unexpected from the owners of the Hoof Café, Raw Bar’s take on seafood is original, creative and damn delicious.
Amidst a rather quiet opening with little to no hype, my DC and I were treated to an unexpected treat (or perhaps expected, given its pedigree) tonight of seafood delights. Their dishes are meant to be served tapas style and the menu is divided into cold, luke-​warm, and hot dishes.
They have wide selection of wines, cocktails and 2 beers (the Dieu du Ciel Hibiscus and the Kings Pilsner — wish there was more selection).
Given that our bill came out to $ 50 per person, it’s annoying (and what seems to be the trend these days) that they don’t take credit cards — seriously, it’s the cost of doing business — I’d rather they increase their prices by 1.5% for the convenience.
The dishes themselves, however, do impress, even if their portions are a little on the smaller side. The CURED FISH BOARD was easily the highlight of the night — the citrus groucho and the chorizo scallops were incredible and full of flavour. Their BABY OCTOPUS had a great texture to it. Their SHRIMP AND TOAST was well-​flavoured but a bit too salty for my liking. Finally, their FISH SNACKS was an assortment of 3 paper baskets of fried fish niblets; the highlight being their fried shrimp heads stuffed with a bunch of spices — if you’re a bit squeamish, you might want to stay away from sucking shrimp brains.
The service was friendly, casual and fast. The place seats about 20, so expect to have to wait as business picks up — though I suppose if you’re not too picky, you could leave your name at both the Raw Bar and the Café, have a cocktail across the street and see who calls your first.

3.5 stars
The Hoof Raw Bar is just 2 days old. The opening was not publicized an it is located just next door to the Black Hoof.
The menu is mostly small plates with a few «heavier» dishes if you really want a meal.
The space itself is small and cozy in true Black Hoof fashion.
I ordered a Champagne Cocktail ($ 16) and my dining companion opted for an English ($ 12). Which is not much dissimilar to a Caesar save that it wasn’t made with Clamato and therefore could not technically be classified as such.
We ordered the Cured Fish Charcuterie Board to start and it goes from mild to more flavourful starting with a Branzino and ending with a Chorizo Scallop. This was delicious and delicate.
Next we had the Chawanmushi which was a cold egg custard served with hazelnut mushrooms, salmon roe and crispy kale. This was a very interesting and novel dish. No two bites were the same. The silliness of the custard, the crunch of the roe and the crispiness of the kale made for a taste bud teasing mouthful! The explosion of salmon roe was mouth-​watering.
Next we had the Baked Oysters topped with a foie gras torchon, sherry vinaigrette gastritis and crispy shallots. Foie gras does make for a yummy butter substitute.
For our main we shared the Kingfish + Plantain on a bed of spinach purée, seared kingfish with jerk seasoning, pickled okra and pea tendrils dressed with coleslaw dressing. The fish itself was a little overbooked at the bottom, but the hardy fish withstood the jerk seasoning.
At the end of the evening we spent $ 102 before tax and tip. It’s definitely on the pricier side.
I always say that Jen Agg is like the James Cameron of restauranteurs… Every dish that’s put out may take time to craft but it’s always going to be a box office hit!
I will definitely be back to sample more. The 3.5 star rating is a reflection of the price point and the overcooked fish.