Per Se Social Corner

Okay, this visit to Per Se Social Corner happened before they made the Michelin-recommended list.  In fact, we ate here just before the Elton John Farewell Yellow Brick Road concerts.  It was fabulous!  Anyways, I've been meaning to come here for my birthday earlier this year, but then Omnicron hit...  So here we are finally hitting up the place.  Interestingly, this was the only corner at Homer & Smythe that I hadn't eaten at yet since I've been to Homer Street Cafe and Tutto.

When we initially ordered the Criminale, we didn't have any expectations for their pizzas.  Well, it was fantastic.  With even leoparding on the crust and bottom, there was smoky nuttiness throughout.  The crust was uniformly crispy, thin and nicely salted.   I'm not afraid to say this is one of the better Neapolitan-style pizzas I've had in the city.  No joke.  As for the toppings, the San Marzano tomato sauce had plenty of depth and tang.  Nice spice from the soppressata picante and smoky saltines from the applewood smoked bacon.  Adding more flavour was the prosciutto cotto, while the red onions offered up some sharpness.

Onto the Calamari di Mamma, it featured a gluten-free batter (which appeared to be rice flour).  It was super crispy and well-seasoned.  The calamari itself was tender with an appealing chew.  Served on the side was a lemon wedge as well as house made tartar and chipotle aioli.  I thought the tartar was quite good with a bright creaminess and tang.  As for the aioli, it was a bit smoky with only a mild spiciness.

We also got the Patatas Bravas just because it is one of our favourite tapas items.  This was a fairly large portion consisting of fried split gem potatoes.  I think due to the choice of potato, they didn't fry up particularly crispy (and were rather dense).  That didn't mean these didn't taste good though.  They were tossed in a spicy and smoky marinara (the smokiness was from the paprika).  The whole thing was drizzled with vegan aioli.

We ordered a couple of pastas including the Cacio e Pepe featuring fresh mafalda pasta, pecorino romano and cracked black pepper.  This simple dish was flavourful from the salty and nutty cheese accented by the bite from the black pepper.  Loved the pasta as it was firmly al dente and held onto the cheese well.  We added braised beef to give the dish some more something something.  It was decently tender with a full-bodied meat flavour. 

Our next pasta was the freshly made Gnocchi al Pomodoro with San Marzano marinara, parmigiana reggiano, fresh basil and Sicilian olive oil.  For good measure, we added the al arribiata chorizo.  Due to the combination of ingredients, this was zesty and tangy.  Plenty of impact here.  As for the gnocchi, they were soft and pillowy, yet still retaining a background chew.  Loved the spiciness added by the chorizo.

We couldn't visit Per Se and not have their famed Burger consisting of 8oz in-house handground organic Alberta beef, fresh challah bun, melted fontina cheese, truffle aioli and syrah caramelized onions and cipollini flakes.  Oh man, this was fantastic!  The meat was cooked just right where it was so tender, it melted-in-our-mouths.  Plenty of natural flavours accented by the truffle aioli and the sweet onions.  Those cipollini flakes added such appealing crunch to the soft ingredients.

We upgraded the fries to Truffle Fries that went with the burger.  These didn't look it, but they were actually fantastic.  I believe they were triple-fried and hence, were super crispy with a tender centre.  They didn't overdo it with the truffle oil nor the parm, so the potato flavour was still there.  The side of truffle aioli featured real black truffle, so that was a treat.  Overall, the food at Per Se was quite good with the pizza and burger being the highlights.  There is much more on the menu we didn't get to try, but I would totally go back to do that.

The Good:
- Excellent pizza and that burger!
- Attentive service
- Love the energy

The Bad:
- Potatoes could've been better