If you haven’t visited Casa Loma lately, you’ll be surprised by how much has changed. Once a destination for tourists, elementary school trips, and weddings, the attraction now houses an escape room and BlueBlood Steakhouse, a sprawling restaurant occupying three rooms on the main floor. When an eatery is set in a castle, there’s undoubtedly opulence and the price points to match. At BlueBlood, staff gush about the caviar and wagyu tasting flight, menu items that not every average non-noble can afford.
Even
with steaks as mains, we started with the prime steak tartare ($26). For raw
meat, it was surprisingly tender and despite the dish incorporating cured duck
egg and house made pickles, the tartare was mellow tasting. The only
disappointment was the for-show-only bone marrow; the tartare didn’t
seem to incorporate any of the ingredient.
It’s
unclear whether the restaurant forms the crab cakes differently depending on
the number of people sharing the dish - the jumbo lump crab cake ($24) ended up
arriving as three, making it much easier to split - kudos to the kitchen if
there is that level of customization! This would help explain why the crab
cakes were rather thin, which results in an oily starter since there’s so much
breadcrumb coating. While it would help if they were drained better, the
fresh hot cakes were good, especially with a smear of the light dill aioli.
For a
steakhouse, their steak selection isn’t the greatest. While the menu includes a
lot of high end options such as wagyu and shared cuts like a tomahawk, there’s
not that many reasonably priced personal-sized portions. For my favourite cut
of steak, the ribeye, BlueBlood only offered three choices with none in the
dry-aged category. Settling on the 14oz wet aged Erin, Ontario ribeye ($65), it
was tender and flavourful, but would be even better if it were a smaller
thicker cut. While lying on the hot plate, the thin steak soon became medium in
the middle and well done on the edges.
At
first, the 16oz dry aged centre cut striploin ($75) tasted great given it had
such a rich flavour from being dry aged. But, after two slices the ultra-lean
beef soon became chewy and heavy. Personally, I find lean cuts, like striploin,
aren’t the best for dry aging. The evaporation of moisture causes the beef to
toughen, albeit concentrating the flavour.
Perhaps, this is a cut that benefits
from a sauce. We chose to forgo them and rely on the salt selection instead –
the smoked salt goes particularly well with everything.
While petite
in size, the 8oz barrel cut Nebraska filet ($65) was tasty with its strong
beefy flavour. Given the filet is another lean cut, it was suitably wet aged
and remained tender. Truthfully, while the steak looked dwarfed compared to our
other choices, the portion was adequate; especially if you’re ordering
appetizers and dessert, you won't leave feeling glutinous.
Trust me, you'll want the sides, especially the lobster mac ‘n’ cheese ($20) where the
pasta was done perfectly and the cream sauce not overly thick so remained
molten throughout the meal. The dish incorporated enough lobster to go around
and I went back for seconds and thirds. The
garlic mashed potato ($14) was also silky without relying too heavily on cream, the garlic essence was present but restrained. I could have done without the
cheddar espuma sauce that accompanied
the broccolini ($16), since all the other dishes were already so rich… at least
it was kept to the side so there were plenty of plain roasted pieces to choose
from.
The baked
Alaska ($28) for two could easily feed four, a honking rectangle of Neapolitan
ice cream covered with sponge cake, Prosecco ice, and meringue.
My first
and only experience with this flaming concoction was as a child on a cruise
ship, therefore to see the rum being poured from pot-to-pot before setting the
dessert ablaze brought back memories of my youth. Is it the yummiest dessert?
Probably not, you order it for the show and if you want a boozy adult ice cream
cake.
Before
leaving for the evening, a box of Avoca dark chocolate caramel truffles arrives,
in the shape of sapphires. For some, diamonds are a girl’s best friend; for me,
at a steakhouse, it’s a nice piece of ribeye.
How To Find Them
Location: Toronto, Canada
Address: 1 Austin Terrace (in Casa Loma)
Address: 1 Austin Terrace (in Casa Loma)
Website: http://www.bluebloodsteakhouse.com
Follow me on twitter to chat, be notified about new posts and more - https://twitter.com/GastroWorldBlog
____________________________
Gastro World's Grading System
- Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
- 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
- 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
- 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
- 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
- 10 - absolute perfection!
Is That It? I Want More!
Other Gastro World posts similar to this:
