Toronto Free Press Restaurant Guide

Boardwalk BBQ Pub

Cuisine of applewood fires at a Toronto landmark

The Boardwalk is a tonic for the city-bound soul.

Boardwalk BBQ Pub 1684 Lakeshore Blvd. E. Toronto 416-694-8844 Hours: Sunday - Thursday Noon - 11:00 p.m. Friday - Saturday 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 a.m.

It is not even arguable that of the thousands of restaurants available in the city of Toronto, the Boardwalk BBQ Pub, Lakeshore Boulevard East at Coxwell, has the most coveted of locations. Set on Toronto's famous boardwalk with Lake Ontario as a backdrop, the restaurant makes the most of its setting. Open all year, the lure of the Boardwalk BBQ Pub brings lineups all summer long. Singularly pristine in its setting of snow, in winter months the Boardwalk is a tonic for the city-bound soul.

Imagine your arrival at this local winter wonderland; the tantalizing odour of homemade baked beans and the instant hunger call that comes from gourmet delights cooking over applewood on the wood smoked grill. Toronto Free Press staffers spent a January Sunday afternoon at the newly renovated Boardwalk BBQ Pub. Renovation changes to the former open-space concept dining area brought a down home aspect to decor. In two words the character could be described as "cozied up". We like what pub owner George Foulidis did with mood. Deep comfortable booths to make you feel pampered and a décor that takes you back to another era. Front and centre is a huge photograph of the boardwalk as it was in 1910, when ladies took their parasols along for the stroll. Posters and signage on the walls come from the days when pints of ale and mulled wine were still being served in sterling mugs; when fine linen shirts were scrubbed clean over the washing board.

The outdoors provides a seasonal inside calendar at the Boardwalk BBQ Pub. Generous window space allows patrons an overview of the landscape and lake. On the afternoon of our visit, apple-cheeked children raced over the snow with sleds, and dogs gamboled through the grounds.

Celebrating 10 years on the boardwalk, all food at the pub is half price from January 2 to February 13, 2001, and kids under 10 eat free from the Just For Kid's Menu.

The Boardwalk BBQ Pub boasts the "best ribs in town", and we were bound to test them. Ribs served with Spiced Black Beans and corn with your choice of Pub Fries, Baked Tater or Red Skin Mashed Potatoes. Perfuming the frosty winter air, the Hickory Smoked B.B.Q. ribs here are slow cooked, Hickory Smoked Barbeque Back Ribs, in what the menu describes is a "not-so-secret recipe", then finished over a mesquite wood smoked grill. There are also the sweet and tangy combination of Honey-mustard Ribs and the sizzling taste of Inferno Ribs. Patrons are invited to "Grab half a slab for $11.95 or order a full rack-a-tack for $17.95.

Between licks of our fingers, all we could say is that the house lives up to its boast.

Pub chefs are legendary for picking up jaded appetites and one of their favourites is the Speared Barbeque Chicken, speared marinated chicken breast with B.B.Q. herbs and seasonings, grilled over applewood fires and served with Greek Salad and Pub Fries.

The Boardwalk is serious about its Mesquite Grilled Steaks. All steaks are precisely aged, AAA, grain-fed and hand-cut.

The pastas include Southern Spiced Cheddar Bake, oven baked penne noodles in a creamy sauce with peppers, mushrooms, herbs and southern spices served with fresh salad.

The thin crust pizza would give the best of pizza parlours a run for its money. All Boardwalk pizzas are topped with fresh ingredients, mozzarella and fontina cheeses and their in-house "scratch tomato sauce" using vine-ripened Roma tomatoes.

As one might expect, desserts here are the best available under the 'Sin'Sational Temptations" category. There's Double Trouble Chocolate Truffle Cake, Roasted Coconut Cream Pie, like the ones Grandma used to make, Wild Berry Ice Cream Explosion and Caramel Crunch. Two dessert specialities were concocted with sharing in mind. They are the Drunkin' Apple Crumble and Tira Misu.

The Boardwalk's Apple Crumble is the best ever sampled. The chef's artistry with presentation is very much apparent in this speciality. Served on a blue dinner plate sprinkled with icing sugar, it was surrounded by generous dollops of real whipped cream. A slice of orange, strawberry and mint leaf completed the artistry.

Owner George Foulidis has always believed that dining at a Toronto landmark should be special in every way, and just dawdling over dinner on a weekend afternoon at the Boardwalk BBQ Pub is a special treat.

The BBQ Pub is open for lunch from 11 a.m., for dinner and late night fun seven days a week. Gift certificates, group parties and catering are available.