Dining Out: At Thr33's Co. Snack Bar, the sliders were special but the frog legs flopped

Thr33’s Co. Snack Bar
589 Bank St., thr33sco.ca
Open: Tuesday to Sunday 4 p.m. to 2 a.m., closed Monday
Prices: snacks $7 to $14
Access: One small step to front door

In my pre-restaurant reviewing days, all an eatery needed to do to keep me coming back was make one great item. I was unswervingly loyal to both the restaurant and its dish that had won my heart, and for all I cared, the rest of the menu could have been blank.

It’s in that spirit that I’ll tell you to go to Thr33’s Co. Snack Bar for the pork sliders, which mounded pulled pork tinged with Chinese five-spice powder between wee, lightly toasted buns. Bolstering the rich meat, and making those sliders sing, were slices of nicely pickled cucumber and mayo with just a hint of citrus-y brightness.

The sliders come four for $13, and let’s just say that if you brought teenaged boys like the ones I took to Thr33’s Co. last week, they would be happy stuffing themselves with slider after slider — and less happy if you made them try the grilled frog legs.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Thr33’s Co., which opened in June on Bank Street south of the Queensway, is chef Tyler Da Silva’s casual, snack-driven hangout where portions and prices are small and opening hours are long.

In what was previously the all-white brunch and dessert cafe called Indulgence, the much darkened and funkier Thr33’s Co. stays open until 2 a.m. six nights a week, and its ball-cap- and T-shirt-clad male servers offer about 20 kinds of gin and various spins on gin and tonic as well as wine, craft beer and cocktails.

As for Da Silva’s menu, I’ve tried all 11 of its items during two recent visits, and can rank what I ate from best to worst.

While those pulled pork sliders were tops, the yellowfin tuna tartare ($14) was a very close second, thanks to fine fish, a punchy miso- and Thai basil-powered sauce, and big, crisp seaweed chips.

Next, I’d rank the crisp and refreshing slaw of sorts of sliced brussels sprouts, fennel and strawberries ($8), served with a lightly ginger-y dressing and shards of crunchy vegan “bacon,” which were just fine as long as you didn’t think of them as bacon.

I have equal affection for three of Da Silva’s snacks, which respectively starred gnocchi, shrimp and tofu.

Pillowy on the inside and crisp on the outside, the gnocchi ($11) hit their textural target, although I though the dish needed more than just rich creme fraiche, tomato and the advertised but scarcely detectable cumin salt to really fly.

The shrimp ($12.50), stir-fried with cabbage and a mix of sesame, sweet hoisin sauce and chili sauce, were satisfying but not thrilling, and I kept thinking that some rice would have allowed us to enjoy all of the dish’s sauce. Cubes of gochujang-coated crispy tofu ($7) were too brashly funky and hot, but they were also redeemed by the dish’s miso-accented charred bok choy.

Meatballs (three for $9) served with a roasted red pepper sauce were pleasant, as was the menu’s only dessert — a plate of three moist banana chocolate chip cookies ($3.50).

Three dishes clearly disappointed. Drumsticks (two for $8.50) were under-seasoned and received little help from a too-thin peanut butter habanero sauce that didn’t really register. Corn ($5.50) grilled in the Mexican style was to have benefited from a tequila cilantro sauce, feta and the condiment tajin, which consists mainly of chile peppers, lime, and salt. But our cobs were so harshly grilled as to taste of little else than their char.

Finally, those frog legs ($9) briefly entertained our table with their ick factor but their harsh mustard sauce overwhelmed their delicate flavour. Ultimately, the teenagers, initially intrigued by frog legs, preferred to use them as biology class specimens rather than eat them.

“Just make chicken wings. Don’t do frog,” was one teen’s terse critique. My pro opinion is the same, at least if you stacked those overly mustard-y legs up against crispy, interestingly sauced, meaty wings.

Earlier that night, that same teen had said: “If everything’s as good as the sliders, I’m going to be very satisfied.” It’s too bad then that the food at Thr33’s Co. wasn’t excellent across the board.