4 Course Feast

Hello,

Baldini Restaurant on Queen St East.

I got a coupon for a 4 course meal for 2 for $60 and so we decided to try it.

First the 2 starters;

Marinated calamari grilled Charred tomato salsa, capers, kalamata olives and balsamic reduction served on organic greens:  Not rubbery (a common mistake with calamari) and an amazing charred salsa.  Not sure how they did it but was a great start.

Herb encrusted baked goat cheese, grilled eggplant on baby mixed green & balsamic syrup:  served at the perfect temperature and what can I say but I just LOVE cheese.

Secondi;

Stuffed homemade agnolotti with butternut squash & ricotta cheese in a tomato cream:  If I was not in a nice restaurant I would have licked the plate.

Penne, leeks, Pancetta & vodka in a rose sauce: very pleasing with a good mop up capacity with the bread.

Entrees;

AAA Grilled fillet mignon in a Madagascar peppercorns Barolo wine with Yukon gold truffle oil mashed potato & market fresh vegetables:  Cooked perfectly but there was just a bit too much sauce.

Free range stuffed breast of chicken with prosciutto, provolone white wine mushroom Dijon cream sauce with Yukon gold truffle oil mashed potato & market fresh vegetables:  nice moist chicken with amazing sauce.  A bit too much cheese in there but a great addition.

Desserts;

Sicilian Lemonchello cherry tart:  I was almost too full to have any of this but I had to have some.  Not a huge desert fan but I would get this no question.

Chocolate Raspberry Tartuffo: one bite was all I could muster as I was too full.........

Dog Carts

Hot Dog carts.  They are everywhere in Toronto.  I think most of my street meat has been eaten in or around the Sky Dome (Yea I still call it the Dome) before or after sporting events.

On Friday I was attending my first CFL Argos game.  I needed some dinner and it was very fitting that I would get a dog or 2.  Now there are many choices around the stadium.  Most are about $3 for a dog with some vendors undercutting at the low low price of $2.50.  I happen to know one right near the Dome that has them at the cut rate price of $1.50!!  If you are looking for it you can find him on the north side of the Dome on Front street on the South side just West of the steps up.  Enough description for you?

These dogs are pretty much the same as all of the other ones just cheaper.  They have all the standard fixings and are exactly what you think except for the price of 1 I got 2.  This filled me and I enjoyed the game.

If you are in the market for some street meat and are in the area for an event, I suggest using this guy.

A Burger with a View

This Burger has the best view in Canada anyway.

Up the CN Tower you would assume that the food in the restaurants is expensive and poor quality.  You would be right on one of the 2 assumptions.  It is fairly expensive but the quality is great.

This was my first trip up the tower even though I have lived in Toronto my whole life.  It was a great experience and I would suggest that anyone who goes up get a virtual handheld guide.  It is well worth it.

What made it all the more worthwhile for me was the burger.  It was "towering" (forgive me) with all the fixings including mushrooms, fried onions and 2 kinds of bacon!!  Usually the bacon on the burger only comes in 1 variety so this was a pleasure.  Stacked on top was onion rings around a knife that went through the whole meal.  The rings were crisp with a soft onion centre that gave a crunch and mush feeling that's perfect.  The burger was as you imagine it.  It's huge mass worked well as you could not fit it all in your mouth.  The different flavors complimented each other and led to a texture mixer in my mouth.  Never thought I would eat up there let alone love it.

Despite the expense, if you are going up for free it is well worth it to eat in Horizons (The other fine dining one is a 360 degree spinning restaurant).  The view is worth it and surprisingly the food is almost worth it too.

The Beaver is a Magestic and Noble Creature

Quick dinner on Friday night was at a place called "The Beaver" on Queen St West out near Gladstone.  It doesn't really have a sign so you have to look out for it.

A quiet and unassuming place, it has some great beers on tap as well as reportedly one of the best pulled pork sandwiches in the city.  So I had it.

Very solid sandwich.  Lets start with the bun which was an egg bread but which they called "rustic".  moving on pulled pork with lettuce and tomato and onion is a new factor for me.  I have never had it with those and it adds an extra element of flavour to it.  There was a creamy hint of sauce on it as well that was hidden throughout which kind of tasted like coleslaw sauce.  Finally the actual pork was quite juicy and the sauce zingy.  All of the hall marks of a great sandwich.  I would maybe rank it 3rd in the city behind (in no particular order) Black Camel and the Stockyards.  Finally it had a nice greens salad that made me feel like I was eating something healthy.

If you are in the 'hood check it out!!

Wedding Eats

Hello,

Sorry about the lower quality picture for this one but my does not have a great camera.
On the Weekend I attended a wedding event in the city of a couple of friends of mine.  Drew and Samira have great taste in food and like to cook.  This is why I chose to attend (not true but it an added benefit).

They made their own food so don't try to out there and find this food.

Quinoa Tacos:
With some veggies and salsa and sour cream.  I am usually not a quinoa fan because i find it dry but this was nice and moist. Adding it with corn tortillas it made a great gluten free meal. YUM

Skewers:
Meat Tortellini with cherry tomato and green bean.  With the honey mustard sauce this was an interesting mix.  I have never thought about mixing these together.  It was simple, it was tasty and it was varied in its texture.  You should try it out at home.

Skewers #2:
Sweet Potato and sausage.  Simple. a good mix.  You can use any type of sauce that you would like.

When going to a wedding you should consider the food and either starve yourself before it or stuff yourself.  Not really words to live but but thats OK.

Cheers,
Duncan

Back with: Tasting the Danforth

Ok so my month layoff was successful.  I was trying to save money and eat in but there is just too much good food out there.

I wrote this a couple of weeks ago because I knew I would want to post it at some point.

One of the greatest thing about living in Toronto is that I am close to and even within walking distance from so many great events.
The closest to my house is always Taste of the Danforth.

Many different flavours.  Many different people.  If you don't like crowds this is not the festival for you.  To start with I think the best parts of the "Taste" go from the stage at Broadview to the Licks Burger at Pape.  Everything beyond there out to Jones Ave is all carnival stuff and that you can get at the Ex.  The people watching is usually best on Sat night, however, we went down on Friday night to avoid the rain that was forecast.  Now to the Food;

Corn.  A staple of "Taste".  I find the best one is beside Marks Work Warehouse just West of Pape.  This one is cooked with the husk still on and peeled back so that you have something to hold on to.  After a slow dip in to some melted butter it's on the the seasoning station.  They have everything from plain salt to Taco seasoning.  I chose some lemon pepper and some salt.  The corn was juicy and, important in walking events, easy to eat.

Calamari.  You can get this almost anywhere along the road here.  It is a constant but the real different maker is what sauce is offered with it.  There is a Thai place around Chester that had a unique sauce that I had never tasted before.  It was a little bit of seafood sauce mixed with something else.  Not sure what it was but it smoothed out the zing of the seafood sauce.  Not the best I have ever had but something different.

Finally I went for some Quail.  Even though I have seen huge spits of it rotating, I have never actually gotten one.  The bird is fairly small and you don't get a ton of meat per fowl.  However, all of the meat is dark (which I love) and it is fairly simple to eat.  I would have quail again but probably if I made it on my own or specifically for me.  En mass it was a little dry.

The funniest thing was a dude who was chopping coconuts and sticking a straw in them.  I did not get a good picture but he was using a meat cleaver and flipping it and the nut up in the air with some tricks.  My hand would be gone if I tried this.

Walk the food talk the food taste the food.  Taste of the Danforth OUT.

Merry me Berry

Hello.

Brunch on Sunday is such a cliche but I still love the idea of waking up late and then eating a large meal in which I can combine many types of food.

Emily and I went to one called Merry Berry yesterday on Parliament just south of Wellesley.

This place is cute.  It has a homey feel inside with great wall paintings and bench seating all around the outside.  The Patio is like sitting in a small backyard in the city with some great wire tables.  All of the servers and people who work here are amazing and some of the most pleasant people I have ever met.

Now onto the food.

We shared a couple of things starting with the coleslaw.  This was probably the best slaw I have ever had.  It was a mix of red and green cabbage with nuts, green apple, shaved beets, and shavings of veggie chips with a honey mustard dressing.  It was unique and amazing.

MMMMMMMMM platter.  It started with a fruit cup which was pretty standard.  Then moving on to a grilled cheese with some sort of grain mustard sauce included as well as spring onion on multi-grain bread.  I am going to start doing this at home as it is very tasty.  A warm bran muffin with fruit in it is the next stop which brought some great density to the meal.  And to finish it off we had an egg bake with potatoes, chiriso, veggies, and other in it.  this was the perfect meal mix as it included everything you wanted in breakfast and lunch together.

Decent pricing as for 21 bucks we were both stuffed.

I will be going back here to try many many different things.

Burgers Priest

Hello.

So I am on a weight loss challenge so I have not been eating out at all and I am happy to report that i am down about 12 lbs in 3 weeks.

However, before I started I did have one of the largest hilarious burgers ever from Burgers Priest.

Laid out above are the burgers that we got and i will have to say it was ridiculous.

BEFORE YOU GO TO BURGERS PRIEST GO ONLINE AND LOOK AT THE SECRET MENU.
Just google "burgers priest secret menu".

Lets start with the chili cheese fries.  I had a couple of those and they were quite meaty but make sure you eat them 1st as the soggyness of the fries could get too much.

On to the burger.

I ate something called the Armageddon Vatican style (all off the secret menu).

The Armageddon goes a little something like this. Cheeseburger, The Option (Deep fried mushroom cap stuffed with cheese), another Option, then another cheese burger.

Vatican style is in stead of a bun it was 2 grilled cheese sandwiches.

This was so much cheese it was amazing.  I would suggest not getting any sides if you get this.  each bite had to be less than the whole size because you could not fit your mouth on it.  I would for sure get it again.

This is a great place but is a little expensive.  The burgers are great but not huge.  Mine was understandably expensive at about $20 bucks maybe.  Just be careful because the secret menu has no prices.

Eat and love it.

Easy Peasy

Easy Restaurant

I needed some brunch and was in the west end so we pulled up to a retro themed spot called Easy.
There were amazing posters of some classic car movies on the wall in this small, intimate establishment.  A Mexican inspired menu was the perfect fit for me on this morning.

On to the food.
I had a Breakfast Burrito and my brunch companion had the taco salad.

Starting with the description;
Re-fried black beans, scrambled eggs, chipotle salsa, monterey jack, coriander and caramelized onions, baked in a whole-wheat tortilla with side guacamole – with salad.

Sounds good doesn't it.  Well it was. The guac was a great mix of a cool smooth flavour along side the bite of the jack cheese and the sweet taste of the onions.  They also give you a ton of it which is rare for guac providers in this city.  I also got a great smoothie that was dominated by the banana and strawberry flavour.  The salad could have had a few more extras on it.  It was only greens and balsamic and could have had some punch to it.

The Taco Salad;
Fried corn tortillas, black beans, chickpeas, tomatoes, guacamole, monterey jack, and spicy green salsa dressing.

This worked really well as a combo.  The salsa and the fried tortillas were a great mix.  What I would change would be the amount of chick peas as they were a small bit overwhelming and there were a bunch left at the end.  I would get this though.

I want to come back here and check out some of the other items.

EAT IT!!

TFC Takes the........... Upgraded Chip Butty?

Good Day!!

Have you ever gone to a sporting event and said, "I have a great idea for some food that should be sold here for me to consume right now"?  No?  Well I have.  MLSE (Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment) has been fairly slow at adding and changing around food in their venues.  I mean sure they have some interesting stuff in the ACC for Leafs and Raptors games but how long did that take to come about.

With TFC and BMO Field they were able to make a fresh start and try out some new things.  They had a couple of interesting moves when it came to food such as the introduction of the "Chip Butty", a sandwich that is filled with.... you guessed it FRIES.  This is itself was only OK and I thought of some inclusions that could make it better.  Well this year they stepped it up.

NEW FOOD:

Taco Stand-  Did not have this but looked pretty good

New Chip Butties- They have really expanded these with a Poutine, Garlic, chicken and chip versions.

                             - I decided to try a variation on the chicken and chip with asking for buffalo chicken  and chip.  It was good and the mesh of flavours was perfect for a cold day. However, it was a little too starchy with all the bread all in there.

Improved Pulled Pork- Had a bite of the new pulled pork and it was very juicy for something I imagine was mass produced.  I would have this again.

Perogies- Not sure if these were here before but they were actually my favourite.  They were crispy on the outside and warm/soft on the inside.  They also come in a convenient tray that was easy to eat from with is key for a sporting event.

Hot Dogs Galore-  So many new kinds of Hotdogs that I will have to wait and try them a different day.
                           -  Southern Pulled pork, chili and cheese, poutine, BLT and beef brisket.
                           - I was lost in the choices


So if you have to buy some over priced food at the game, there are now some at least interesting choices to try out.

EAT!!!!!!

Canadian Music Week Edition

Hey All,

Have been out of town a lot lately, trying to eat at home and also lazy. Therefor, this post is a long time coming and I will try and get things up more consistently.

Now I had 2 things to eat in the city during Canadian Music Week.

The first thing was simple. I had some street meat at the corner on Spadina at Queen.
The Hotdog was solid. Good size along with some fine cooking. The banter with the vendor was great as well. He was really someone I could hold a conversation with and that is a big part of a cart food for me.
The toppings were full and varied. That's all you can ask for when looking at toppings.

All in all a good street meat experience and I will attend again.


Later on that night I hit up Sneaky D's. I have had their nachos before but I will fill you in on the particulars.

This is what you get here. The Kings Crown Nachos.

Included:
Ground Beef
Tomatoes
Onions
Tons of peppers
Jalapenos
Salsa
Sour Cream
Salsa
Guaq
Cheese

Everything needed piled high.
There is a secret that you need to do when you order. Ask for the Guaq to be baked into the nachos. What that does is it gets spread under the cheese and baked in along with them.

Also, something you might not know is that you can order them upstairs in the concert venue. I did not know this and was amazed because I didn't have to stop watching the bands

Top 2 nachos in the city. And the kitchen is open until these close.

Keep on eating!!

Back on the Horse

OK this has been a long time coming.

I will come back with a bang I promise.

BANG

Gastro pub crawl.

For my friend Kat's birthday we hit up some amazing food places. We started with Pizza Labretto on the Danforth for some gourmet pizza samplers. We had Duck Confit pizza as well as some juicy sausage pizza. I am usually not a fan of duck because I find it too greasy but it was fantastic and with the consistency of pulled pork. The last thing we had was a bottle of sparking wine.......... except it was red. I have never had sparking red wine but it was pretty good and very different.

Our second place was Campagnolo on Dundas West. This is a smallish place with very good food. We sampled Burrata cheese, which is like a mozzarella with cream, on some amazing bread and also crab with Carpaccio, shaved thinly beef, and shaved truffles. Very rich and it was perfect in the small dose I had. Not sure if it would be great to have a lot of it. Here is where I also had the best beer in my life. It was from Beau's and it was a limited run bottle called Hogan's Goat. You can't buy it on your own but this alone was soooooooo good i would go back just for it. I even hugged the waitress, named Caitlin, for suggesting it.

On to our last stop we hit the Black Hoof. It is an amazing joint. 1st of all they have a little sort of "waiting room" bar across the street to have a drink while waiting for a table. This place used to be their brunch restaurant called the Hoof Cafe. Great selection of beer including Duggan's No 9 IPA. When seated we ordered much food. I had pork carnitas which could be one of the best taco's in the world. With a pork rind added on top we could not get enough of it. A meat plate with curizo, summer sausage, tongue, and sopressata (a dry cured salami). half of it was great and the other half was pretty standard. Our last point for the night was bone marrow on bread. This was interesting and unique. It was pretty much a big bone cooked and cut in half where the marrow was half way between a fat texture and an oil. spread on break it was a great topper to the night.

Hitting all these places were a treat. Going to be updating more often come soon so keep reading.

MMMMMM Pizza

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

I hope this finds you all well.

Over the Holidays I found a few places and the 1st one was Pizza Libretto. Now this is a pretty well known place in Toronto so it isn't all that new but this is a new location and the one difference is... they take reservations.

1 word of that to get here. PIZZA. Do not get other things for a main course because you aren't supposed to.

I started off with some amazing crab Ravioli. it was mixed in a sea urchin mushroom and citrus cream sauce. As you can see in the picture it was gone before I could even take the picture.

For my main course I chose a Pork Belly pizza with smoked tomato ragu, mozzarella, bomba, caramelized onion and lemon thyme. Also could not hold back on this. the pork belly is similar to bacon (looks and taste) while the other ingredient accent the flavour fairly well.

For my beer I had a Duggan No 9 IPA. This is a tough beer to get as the brewery has closed but it is still being brewed in small batches at another brewery.

A little pricey so if you are not up for paying a decent price for pizza then stay away. But, if you like a little gourmet on your pizza hit it up.

Cheers.

Wood ovens made out of clay. A glowing fire. these are the makings of good pizza.