Named after Elvis Presley’s daughter, Lisa Marie the Toronto restaurant is owned by the same people behind the Fidel Gastro food truck. The decor includes an Elvis print. We were delighted by the experimental sounding menu. There’s always some sort of weird sounding twist almost as if you were playing the game “which one of these doesn’t belong?”. For example we started with the Pork Belly Chow Mein Pizza ($10 pictured above). The combination of crispy pork belly, king oyster mushrooms, chow mein, sweet and sour sauce on top of a deep fried pizza dough was playful but it actually worked surprisingly well together.
Nash I chose to share the Mac and Cheese, one of the day’s specials ($22). This was no regular Mac and Cheese. Inside the cheese itself was pulled pork and it was also topped with fresh Pico de Gallo (cilantro, tomato, avocado, green onions etc).There were probably a bunch of other ingredients I missed but the waitress did a great job of naming everything and making our jaw drop every time she explained a menu/special item. Despite the seemingly ridiculous sounding combination, this Mac & Cheese was delightful. Every spoonful was like a new adventure. It was also a generous portion that there was enough left over for the next day’s lunch.
Another thing that can’t be ignored is their fabulously witty drink menu. Nash had The Lazy Sunday comprised of Hendricks gin, sunflower sprout lemonade and Jack Rudy Small Batch tonic. It had enough alcohol that if you had too many, you’d probably need to take an actual lazy Sunday. I had the Testa Dura (means “stubborn” in Italian). In it was Tromba tequila, Asperol, fresh lime and limonata. It was tart and refreshing at the same time. All the drinks will definitely give you your moneys worth in alcohol.
This photo looks a little funny, but it’s their play of Elvis in a Jar ($6). The jar consisted of maple/rum fried french toast, bacon, peanut butter marscapone, flambéed bananas topped with a big piece of crispy bacon. In a nutshell it was heaven and even though we were so stuffed from the rest of the meal this jar was definitely licked clean.
We were happy with the entire experience from the creative food to the friendly waitress who was very knowledgeable on all the dishes. At the end our bill came in a random cassette!
