Quick Bites: La Casa Dolce, The Fourth Man in the Fire, Petite Bouchée Patisserie

Chocolate chip cookie from La Casa Dolce
Chocolate chip cookie from La Casa Dolce

I certainly wasn’t in a rush to go back after my last visit to La Casa Dolce, but I was in the area and craving something sweet, so sure, why not?  I went with the chocolate chip cookie this time, because it’s basically impossible to mess that up.  That’s one of those things where even when it’s bad, it’s still pretty good.  And this one: not bad!  Not great, certainly, but it had a good amount of decent quality chocolate chips (bittersweet, I think), a nice chewy texture, and it wasn’t too sweet.  It felt like something was missing, however (vanilla, maybe?), which held it back from being much better than pretty good, but I still enjoyed it.

Meatball sandwich from The Fourth Man in the Fire
Meatball sandwich from The Fourth Man in the Fire

I’ve written about the pizza from The Fourth Man in the Fire a couple of times on this blog, and in case you don’t feel like clicking on that link: it’s great.  I like it a lot.  So I decided to try their meatball sandwich this time (“Meatballs (Beef and Pork Mix), Povolone. Served on Fresh Baked to Order Bread”), and yeah, it’s good.  In particular, the flavourful, tender meatballs were actually pretty amazing, and the ultra-rich tomato sauce they come with is the stuff dreams are made of.  I want to bathe in the stuff.  Oddly, I was expecting the bread to be the highlight (I like the crust on their pizza quite a lot) and it wasn’t.  It got the job done, but I think it might have been slightly underbaked, with a mildly doughy consistency that I wasn’t crazy about.

Chocolate cake from Petite Bouchée Patisserie
Chocolate cake from Petite Bouchée Patisserie

I picked up a chocolate cake from this place after reading several references to it being the best in the city, and hey, wouldn’t you know it — it just might be.  The cake itself is delightfully tender and fluffy, and the rich and creamy frosting is crammed with a delicious, chocolately flavour.  It’s very sweet, but not in a way that feels overwhelming or cloying.  Immediately after eating it, we were all making plans to order another one.  So yeah, it’s quite good.

Pumpkin Butter Tarts at La Casa Dolce

La Casa DolceLocation: 755 Queensway East, Mississauga
Website: https://lacasadolce.ca/

My first time hearing about La Casa Dolce, an Italian bakery in Mississauga that specializes in desserts, was when I recently saw a photo of the Pumpkin Butter Tart on Instagram.

Obviously, I felt an immediate and overwhelming urge to eat it ASAP.  Why?  Look at it, that’s why.

La Casa Dolce

Butter tarts are delicious.  Pumpkin pies are delicious.  Surely when you cram the two desserts together, you must end up with something magical.  Right…?

Well, maybe not.

La Casa Dolce

It’s certainly not bad; it’s one of those things that would be very difficult to completely mess up.  But the one-note sweet butter tart is nothing special, and it completely overwhelms the comparatively subtle pumpkin pie filling.

La Casa Dolce

The crust is the weakest part — it’s soft, doughy, and bland.  The tart is mostly inoffensively tasty, but that crust does its best to bring the whole thing down.  It definitely makes me wary to go back and try some of La Casa Dolce’s other baked goods.

Oh, and that stuff on top that looks like cream?  It’s actually Cool Whip or something similar.  It’s not great.