Location: 72 Ossington Avenue, Toronto
Website: https://union72.ca/

Union was featured on an episode of Big Food Bucket List, and yeah, of course I wanted to go there.  It’s rare that I watch an episode of that show or Diners, Drive-ins and Dives without being hit by a strong desire to eat at every featured restaurant.

I tried a few things.  Up first was the warm roast parsnips: “chateau de Bourgogne, pecans, bitter leaves.”  This was great; the parsnips were perfectly cooked and had some kind of sweet glaze, and the creamy cheese and crunchy pecans complemented them perfectly.

Next was the Union salad: “organic greens, double smoked bacon, chèvre, rosti.”  This was equally tasty, with the perfectly cooked rosti (which was super crispy on its exterior and nice and creamy inside, with a great flavour) being particularly delicious.

Of course, I had to try the sticky ribs, which were featured prominently on Big Food Bucket List: “charcoal smoked, in house bbq sauce, braised greens.”  This was tasty enough, but was easily the weakest dish of the night.  The sweet BBQ sauce was quite good, but the ribs themselves were a bit tough, and had a gamy flavour that makes me think they had been prepared a bit too long in advance and then reheated.

They did, however, come with a side of fries that were absolutely phenomenal, and that came with an intensely delicious garlicky aioli for dipping.  Easily some of the best fries I’ve had in a long, long time.

I finished with the chocolate mousse, which was super rich and intensely chocolatey.  It’s topped with fleur de sel, which is theoretically a great way to cut through the sweetness of the mousse, but was applied with a heavy hand and frequently overwhelmed.