The Black Hoof

This is a serious charcuterie that is not vegetarian friendly as it's entire menu is full of different cured meats. My friend Steve and I ventured into this non descript resto on a recommendation I had from my friend Jen. We ordered a plate of charcuterie to start - there was no set plate of charcuterie- they bring you a cheese board laid out of their featured meats for the dinner hour. The thing about the Black Hoof is everything is done in-house from the cured meats, to the pates and terrines so I was confident everything would be great in quality and taste.

The plate came and was laid out from weakest to strongest in that order. We had from left to right pork terrine (very good), blueberry bison prosciutto (the hint of blueberry was in the aftertaste and I really thought this was great), pork cheek proscuitto, duck prosciutto (as my friend Jen would say- it melts in your mouth), rabbit terrine (my least favourite of the plate), spanish chorizo (tightly woven like a deli stick) and my very favourite was the chicken liver pate. It was a very good assortment but as a dinner appetizer, as with other charcuterie plates, not satisfying.
For our entrees, we shared the raw horse sandwich - which was presented on an open faced sandwich with an egg yoke which you needed to mix yourself. The horse tartare had hints of jalapeno on it and onion - this was delicious- tasted perfect- like a sashimi sandwich. The only thing I would say is that my hands did smell like onion all night afterwards and I was very conscious of that and felt compulsive about washing and scrubbing my hands all night long. That being said- this sandwich was my favourite dish of the evening. We also ordered the duck confit sandwich to share which came on a baguette full of juicy confit gravy. The sweetness of the sauce mixed with the perfectly tender duck made for a great sandwich. Steve exclaimed that these were possibly the best sandwiches in the city and would order them for lunch if only the Black Hoof delivered!
It's a small place so my recommendation is that you make a reservation if you don't want to wait around watching people finish their meal.
Black Hoof, 928 Dundas St W, Dundas and west of Ossington
*** 1/2 stars