Kouzzina -- Dinner -- Table Service -- Boardwalk

*This dining experience took place in October 2013 and includes a gluten free & vegan dining review in addition to my gluten free & dairy free review. This review includes my comments, as well as comments from Laurie Sadowski, the Allergy-Free Cook, who accompanied me on this meal! Laurie's comments are in green! Kouzzina is one of those locations that I often visit for breakfast. I really enjoy the Mediterranean inspired food, and they have some of the best allergy Mickey waffles on property (the key is the crispiness)! But believe it or not, I had never dined there for dinner. So, you can imagine how excited I was to finally be heading to Kouzzina for dinner. During the special diets dessert party weekend, I got the chance to enjoy a celebratory meal with fellow dessert party weekend collaborator, Laurie Sadowski. I knew that Kouzzina was one of her favorite places, so it was exciting for me to dine there with her and enjoy some of the dinner recommendations that she had.Wait a moment here… One of my favourite places? Definitely my favourite! (So sad to hear about this closing, though - see post on the closing HERE). But the key is in the chefs—in the process of dining many (many) times here, I’ve become friends with a couple of the chefs, and even when they’ve moved on, I still get those Mediterranean-inspired meal. The highlight of my nights here definitely have included the multi-multi-course dinners, including the Koranation Room (IE Chef’s Table). Alas, onto the review!Laurie had contacted the restaurant prior to our visit, as Laurie is gluten free & vegan. She is definitely a Kouzzina pro, but it’s always good to double-check as restaurants frequently change menu items. When we arrived, we were greeted by the enthusiastic Chef Miguel. I instantly recognized him as a chef I’d seen briefly at Kona, but he’s based at Kouzzina now. He quickly let us know what options were available for us and was ready to make our meal extra special.Chef Miguel and I had been in contact via email, and I set out a couple of requests. Certainly nothing over the top—just a few things that I’d enjoyed in the past with when dining with my mom at Kouzzina. His responses via email were friendly and easy-going, so I knew a fantastic meal was to come.First up was the appetizer. Holy moly! Laurie & I split the Kouzzina Sampler which includes marinated olives, dolmades, tzatziki (which we had replaced with an eggplant spread) hummus and pita (which was replaced by Ener-G rolls jazzed up—more on this in a minute!). It also normally comes with a choice of two of the following: Spicy Gulf Prawns, Greek Lamb Meatballs in sauce, or Pork Souvlaki. What we ended up having was sweet cipolini onions for Laurie and spicy gulf prawns on the side for me. This was an amazing appetizer I have to say. The dolmades were a huge hit – so flavorful and had a terrific dill flavor. We liked them so much we ordered another order of them!Mom and I always get the Kouzzina sampler, so I’m glad that Sarah obliged when I told her this was a must-have! Dolmades are a long-standing favourite of mine, and among the many I’ve tried in my life, Kouzzina’s are my favourite. I’m not sure if they have a specific sous-chef on Dolmade duty, but each time I’ve gone, they’ve been consistently wonderful—never a stray dill piece, loose grape leaf, or mushy rice in sight. And for those who’ve ever bought dolmades in the store (which are often in a mixture of olive oil and soy oil), these are completely soy-free, if you’re a soy-free diner.The platter also included cardamom-spiced cashews, which I can’t lie – I’ve been recreating ever since. I also got a glass of wine, and although it took awhile to hunt down one completely casein-free (and vegan) on Barnivore, I finally found one and it definitely fulfilled my merlot love.The marinated olives were also quite delicious, and the hummus was unique as they don’t use tahini in it. It was nice to try a different version of hummus. I also really adored the eggplant spread. It was spicy and earthy and just plain delicious.The eggplant spread was (and still is) my favourite of the dips. For those familiar with babaghanouj, it’s not the same at all. Instead, it is slightly acidic with a hint of smokiness, but a little sweeter from (likely) slow roasting the eggplants. Really smooth, and not much garlic, too—a plus for me.There were also some spiced nuts on our appetizer plate and those were amazing. So many spices, both sweet & spicy really complemented the nuts.Yes! So good.I also really loved the shrimp and found the charred grill flavor to be just perfect.My onion skewers were done similarly the shrimp; Chef Miguel said he didn’t want me to be “without my own”. If you’re not familiar, cippolini onions are super naturally sweet, so they harbour their own dominance of flavor without needing much else to round it out.And then there were those Ener-G rolls. I don’t know what they did to these—call it Disney magic if you will—but they were awesome! Garlicky and delicious, almost like a garlic round. Perfect for spreads and dips. We may have asked for more……And more. Previously at Kouzzina, the chefs have always thinly sliced the rolls, spread them with olive oil and Mediterranean herbs, then toasted them… so really, wouldn’t you have pre-requested that, too?For my entrée, I chose the Fisherman's Stew, which came with Scallops, seasonal Fish, Shellfish, Fennel, Grilled Bread, and Ouzo Butter. Chef Miguel replaced the Ouzo “butter” with Earth Balance. I had heard such great recommendations on this dish, both from Laurie’s mom & blog reader Linda T., so I was very excited to try it. I had heard it might be spicy, but I didn’t find it to be spicy really for my tastes (maybe I was still used to the high spice from the Goan Curry at Sanaa!). But, it was extremely flavorful. The seafood was perfectly cooked and the broth was well seasoned. Instead of regular bread, I got more of those delicious Ener-G rounds. Um, double yum!Mom has definitely been a fan of the stew on multiple occasions, and knowing what Sarah loves, I was pretty certain she’d love it.Chef Miguel put together a vegan sampler platter for me. Some of it included side dishes or variations of side dishes from the current menu, and other things were specially created. One of the “special” items was a white corn polenta, made with sandlewood corn, fresh oregano, and topped with a peppadew relish. Beside it was a menu mainstay: Brussels sprouts with capers, then finished with a splash of balsamic. Another one of my top dishes made the platter: those oh-so-coveted gigantes beans with sautéed escarole and a lemon oil sauce. Definitely had the rosemary fingerlings, and I also had a sauté of briami (it was currently on the menu), which was finished with a rosemary truffle oil. And because I have an appetite of gargantuan proportions, I also had another side order of dolmades.And just when we thought we couldn’t eat any more…it was time for dessert!“We” thought? I’m a bottomless pit over here! :)Chef Miguel had the pastry department whip up something special for us. We both got a coconut milk rice pudding with pistachio crumble and a spiced apple sorbet. First off, the presentation was gorgeous. It really reflected seasonality and just was so delicate in its presentation. Surprisingly, the rice pudding was not hot, it was cold. Which sounds strange. But, it was just perfect. The rice pudding was so flavorful and tasty, it could have been hot or cold and it would have been delicious. The pistachio crumble below the pudding was exactly what the dish needed for texture. Wow! I also really, really loved the apple cider sorbet. It was completely refreshing and truly a palate cleanser which worked really well given the rest of the meal. Plus, how often do you get to have sorbet that isn’t some traditional fruit flavor like strawberry, raspberry, and mango? So delicious!Like Sarah said, we got a special dessert. I hadn’t asked for anything out of the ordinary in the email, but did ask if we could have something other than the “usual” allergy-free desserts. I really enjoyed the rice pudding—something I do normally love, but much prefer warm (I prefer pretty much all desserts warm!). But it was so good, and the spice of the crumble—like Sarah mentions—was a perfect topping.The sorbet was really good, but not really my thing… however, this is coming from someone who isn’t keen on sorbet and has a pretty strong distaste for apple juice. That being said, there was a hint of spice and, topped on the pudding, it rounded it out into something good. We also had a drizzle of a lovely raspberry syrup, which cut the sweetness of the rest of the dessert. And don’t get me wrong about the sorbet…I mean, I still ate it (not surprisingly)!Overall, I can’t say enough good things about Chef Miguel and the meal that we enjoyed at Kouzzina. Not only was it delicious but the flavor profiles were really terrific. There was a lot of depth of flavor in simple dishes. I liked it so much that I ended up making an ADR to go back with my family! I’m so glad Laurie suggested that we head to Kouzzina for dinner!There was no other option. Just kidding!It was the perfect way to end a wonderful weekend celebrating special diets. This was a hands down 10 out of 10 for me on this visit!