There have been several restaurants located at 137 Avenue Road, located just a bit north of Bloor with various different types of cuisines, including Indian and Italian. In fact, I had reviewed the Indian restaurant once when this site was still known as Prospere Magazine. Sadly, it closed shortly after the article was published. Then came an Italian restaurant, which was there for a little over a year. That place has since gone and replaced with Coco Lezzone, a restaurant previously located on College Street. While the previous two predecessors were relatively quiet the few times I went, Coco Lezzone was nothing but. In fact, it was packed when my husband and I arrived for dinner recently!
The Coco
The first thing I noticed that was different was the atmosphere. Maybe it was because the World Cup was on, but everything was just so much more alive. The servers were very friendly, rather than feeling over-worked, and there was excitement everywhere. When we arrived, we were seated promptly, and the staff members were quick to explain the specials. We decided not to take any of the specials, as we wanted to try the pizzas on the regular menu. The amount of choice is fair – six selections – all of which are not in your “standard” North American delivery style. I picked their Coco – more or less a “fancy” Margherita with added roasted garlic. But first, I started with their California greens, a salad made with greens, green apples, cherry tomatoes and dressed with balsamic vinaigrette. OK, so it’s fairly standard, but when you’re looking for something a little on the lighter side, this is definitely the salad for you. The portion size is good – not too big, but not super-tiny, either. My husband had the goat cheese salad. The cheese is warm and crusted with herbs that just melt in your mouth.
Goat Cheese Salad
As noted, we had pizzas for for our main course. Like most restaurants in the city, the pizzas are “personal sized” at about 11″ in diameter and thin crust. The crust was nice and crunchy (but not overly-so – it was soft enough to fold up so that the cheese wouldn’t fall off), and the cheese just oozed when one bites into it. There was just the right amount of roasted garlic. I had the chance to try my husband’s pizza, the Pesto Pollo (which in addition to chicken and pesto sauce, also has sun dried tomatoes and basil leaves), which was excellent as well. Next time, I might try their Al Salmone (salmon, mascarpone, arugula, red onions and capers) or Prosciutto (a fairly standard prosciutto, arugula, mozzarella, tomato and balsamic).
Since we were already quite full, we did not order dessert. However, there’ll likely be a follow-up post to this one (which will probably post about either the pasta dishes or the mains…or both), so maybe we’ll include dessert in that one!
Coco Lezzone is located at 137 Avenue Road. Lunch is served Monday to Friday from 11:30 AM to 3 PM and from noon until 3 PM on Saturday. Dinner is served daily from 5 PM until “close.” Reservations can be made online or by calling 416-975-1717. Perk: a valet parking service is available Friday and Saturday evenings.
