Restaurant Reviews
Sophisticated cafe/wine bar opens downtown
BY ALLAN MCMULLAN
Spring 2011 |
Restaurant Review Our next adventure in the culinary world of Greater Sudbury takes us to The Cinco Centavos. This is “an uptown room for the downtown crowd,” according to its business card. We arrive at The Cinco Centavos (translates in Spanish to five cents or nickel) and are warmly greeted by both the server and cook. We are told to sit anywhere. The room is small but cozy with 10 or 11 tables set for two. It’s almost half full upon our arrival. We decide to take a table tucked in a corner at the back. The room is dimly lit with candles and subdued lighting and s enveloped in the sound of Latin rhythms that have a jazzy sound. It all makes for a very romantic atmosphere. The Cinco Centavos is as much a wine bar as it is a cafe. The night time menu consists of seven items all served as antipasto platters designed for sharing. There is a good selection of wines served by the glass in rather large nine oz. servings and several exotic beers are available including two on tap both from The Lake of Bays Brewing Company in Muskoka, one an amber coloured pale ale and the other a darker porter. The waitress is friendly and answers any questions about items on the menu that don’t sound familiar. My wife and I decide to share an antipasto skewer platter and some stuffed mini portobello mushrooms. As I’m enjoying my pale ale and my wife is sipping her Chilean cabernet sauvignon, our food arrives and it looks quite appealing. The mushrooms are stuffed with goat’s cheese and basil pesto served with grilled baguette that is brushed with pesto. They form a ring around the edge of the plate with the middle covered in a bed of fresh arugula lettuce that has had some aged balsamic vinegar and olive oil drizzled on it. The antipasto skewers are wooden sticks with pieces of salami, hot caccitore, Fruilano cheese and a pickled pepper, there’s also a variety of marinated olives on the platter and some more arugula lettuce. Luckily for us we both really enjoy this type of lettuce with its spicy taste. The meats and cheeses come from Tarini’s butcher shop in Gatchell, so you know they’ve got to be good. We dig into our Italian-influenced meal and we really enjoy it. When our server returns, we ask her some questions about The Cinco Centavos. She tells us that they have been open for nine weeks and is doing well, especially at lunch time. )The restaurant is located in the cozy space which was occupied by Books and Beans for many years.) Cinco Centavos has also proved popular with downtown restaurant workers looking for somewhere to unwind after working late at night or on an off night. The cafe is open late Wednesday, Thursday and Friday night until 1 am. For dessert our choices were limited, they had one item, a Belgian chocolate cake. Instead, we decided to share a platter of assorted cheeses, candied figs with almonds, honey and sliced baguette. The platter included slivers of aged chedder, Parmesan, bocconcini and blue cheeses and a ramekin of honey to dip them in. The Cinco Centavos also features monthly concerts according to a brochure I grabbed on the way out. The brochure also has the lunch menu which includes a variety of sandwiches that come with a choice of soup or salad. The Cinco Centavos 113 Durham St. 705.586.2233
