restaurants – Page 5

Delicious Burgers at The Works

October 25, 2012March 27, 2013Food, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a Comment

I took Nash out for an early birthday dinner tonight. We decided that instead of something fancy we’d hit up one of the many burger places that we haven’t tried yet. We headed to The Works Burger on the Danforth. There’s also plenty of other locations for those of you who don’t live in Toronto.

The restaurant played on a construction work-site theme. It was very casual; like a burger joint should be. We even got our soft drinks in measuring cup-esque glasses.

The best part about this place is they have over 72 different burger combinations. That’s right 72. The menu also includes other delicious sounding things like fried pickles and an onion tower. However, we came for a burger, so that’s what we got.

The menu was categorized by types of burger combinations, from the most popular, strange, sauced, bold, meat and veggy. You could also choose from a variation of meats (beef, chicken, salmon, portobello, ground turkey, veggie). We both had the elk. I had the Beverley Hills Lawsuit with a side of Bold Slaw.

My burger had egg, leaf spinach, Havarti and double smoked bacon. The elk was lean and delicious. I gobbled the entire thing up and did not feel like death afterwards. The combination of ingredients tasted like a very delicious quiche in a sandwich. The Bold Slaw came in a generous serving size and had a little bit of a kick from the jalapeno juice and white pepper. I would have been happier with a smaller serving of that, as I did not end up finishing the slaw. The flavour was too pungent for me to have such a large portion of it.

Nash had the Neil Young burger with a side of cucumber. Who optionally chooses cucumber??!!!.

The toppings included grilled eggplant, fresh avocado, salsa loco and feta cheese. I stole a giant bite of it. I really liked that the avocado was a literal piece of fresh avocado and not some mushed guacomole-like paste. There was a nice texture to it and the grilled eggplant went really well with the salsa and the feta. Flavour explosion in one bite!

This was seriously one of our favourite burger places (and if you are a regular reader you know we’ve been to a lot of them). We’ll definitely be stopping by again to eat one of the other 70 combinations!

Soupstock 2012

October 22, 2012March 10, 2013Food, Restaurant Reviews, StreetLeave a Comment

Yesterday I attended Soupstock at Woodbine Park. There were over 40,000 people in attendance trying out soups from 85 different booths. Bands also played in support of their land. The festival existed to raise funds to stop and raise awareness for the high-land mega-quarry. To put it shortly, the Highland companies want to blast a pit deeper than the Niagara falls in more than 2300 acres of farm land in Ontario. It would also require tons of water to be removed from the pit every day, water that people who live downstream from it need. All this just for some limestone. Though many people (including myself) originally came just for the soup, most learnt about and supported the cause.

Soup tickets were $10 for 3 and me and Nash bought 6 altogether. I brought my own bowls from home. I brought these old ugly ones because we chucked them away before heading off to a concert for the night. The first soup we had was a Pumpkin, squash and pear soup.

The booth was in a corner, and lines were non-existent, but it was actually one of my favourites. I generally love butternut squash soup but this was perfect in texture. It was bursting with flavour and the hint of pear was lovely. It wasn’t something we immediately tasted, but when thought about, it was definitely there.

Next we braved a line at the Rock Lobster soup tent.

We both unanimously decided that it was definitely not worth the wait. The broth was too thin, and almost water-like. It was also pretty flavourless, or rather had a strange after taste that felt like spicy, but was definitely not spicy. There were a handful of mini lobster pieces, but not enough for it to have been worth the long line.

After that thin soup, I wanted something with more substance so we tried the chili. It wasn’t spicy, but they had plenty of hot sauce at their station to add whatever amount of heat was desired. We dabbed quite a bit and enjoyed the filling beans, meat and cheese combo.

Up until this point we were just wandering about looking at the stands without a map, but while in line for chili, I heard one of my favourite food network chefs Susur Lee was serving soup! I haven’t been to his restaurant yet (not in my budget) but I have tried a couple of his items at various other food festivals. Sunday he was serving hot and sour soup!

To be honest, I’m not regularly a fan of hot and sour soup. I always thought it was one of those fake Asian foods made for white folk. However Susur’s was delicious! There were a ton of flavours going on including a mouthful of flowery coriander. The ingredients in his soup reminded me of shark fin soup (which I have had plenty as a kid), without the shark fin.

Since the lobster soup was a fail, we decided not to judge a soup by its line. Instead for the last two, we went to booths with virtually no line at all. The first was the Fraser Cafe which had a lemongrass noodle soup.

There was a strong flavour of lemongrass, and pieces of it were visible in the soup. The noodles were thin and soaked up the flavour. Strangely, it almost kind of reminded me of the pumpkin soup in aftertaste.
Lastly, we got a potato leek soup with sweet breads in it.

Sweetbreads, just as a reminder is weird organ meat. We’ve tried it once before at last year’s Food and Wine festival. The potato leek soup was perfectly thick. The sweetbreads were thick and this time, we didn’t mind the texture at all. In this soup it was a soft meaty delicacy.

Though I hope the mega-quarry doesn’t happen, I hope another Soupstock does, even if to raise support for another cause. It was a lovely Sunday, with a lovely mixture of happy people, food and music.

Pho Hung- The Junction

October 15, 2012December 30, 2012Food, Restaurant Reviews2 Comments

I’ve been to other Pho Hung locations including the one in Chinatown and the other in the Annex, although I’m not sure if the latter exists any more due to redevelopment projects in the area.

The one in the Junction may not be of the same owners as I have yet to see the location listed on their website. It was much nicer renovated than the other places I’ve been to and they had fancier shaped plates. The prices are very similar to other Pho locations with most meals being between $6-9.

My favourite so far has been their Hue-style noodle soup. It has a bit of a kick to it (as indicated by the red broth), some thicker noodles. It’s also packed full of meat. I ignored the fact there was a pig foot in my soup though. That thing is too hard to eat. Otherwise, its so nice to have as the weather gets colder.

We’ve also tried the vermicelli dishes. The portions here are a bit smaller than normal, but the meat is always flavourful and there is plenty of little shredded peanuts. They don’t skimp on the bowls of fish sauce either (or any of the sauces for that matter).

Sugar cane shrimp, sausage and chicken vermicelli

Me and Nash are used to places with way bigger portions, so sometimes we wander around for desert after. I have yet to try just regular Pho here, but I am sure I will soon. The food is cheap and good here, but don’t expect the normal sized portions!

Yummy Fish and Chips at Hurricanes

October 13, 2012March 27, 2013Food, Restaurant Reviews1 Comment

I don’t normally dine at bars unless someone recommended an item on their menu. This was the case with Hurricanes, located at Bloor and Dovercourt. I was told their Fish and Chips ($12) were off-the-hook, so that’s what I got.

There was a gigantic piece of fried fish on a bed of home cut fries. There was tartar sauce and coleslaw at the side. Fish and chips is not a thing I usually order from restaurants (unless the place only serves that) but this was delicious! It was nice and crunchy and the fish in the middle was soft and moist. I didn’t even use much of the tartar sauce.

Nash got a burger. It was nothing special, but the grilled flavour was nice. A bit pricey though with a base price of $11 considering that every ad-on (bacon, cheese, egg, onion ring, jalapenos etc) was $2 extra and could result in a $20 burger that we could get much cheaper elsewhere.

Their menu has some other neat things I want to try including Doritos crusted mozzarella sticks and “The Big League Dog”. The atmosphere is very relaxed, so it’s a nice chill place to hangout and have a drink with friends and eat some bar food.

Jalapeno Burgers at The Wing Company

October 6, 2012March 27, 2013Food, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a Comment

On my way to work every morning, I pass by The Wing Company. Though, I have yet to try their wings, I was drawn into the place by their sign advertising burgers. $6.99, burger, fries and drink included. As me and Nash are currently on tight budgets, it was worth a try!
I ordered the BBQ Bacon and Jalapeno Cheeseburger. It wasn’t as massive as some of the other bugers we’ve had recently, but it was pretty delicious.

It was exactly as it’s name described. A burger with bacon, jalapeno, cheddar cheese with the perfect kick of BBQ sauce. I enjoyed the kick the peppers gave and the BBQ sauce was nice and tangy. It was a simple burger, but it was definitely more flavourful than some of the other ones I have eaten lately. Plus, this was a meal for under $10.
The fries were made skin-on and gave it a lovely crunch texture. They were warm and tasted fresh. The only thing wrong with them was that they weren’t served salted. Although that was easily fixed since each dine in table had salt, pepper and vinegar for customers to season their food to their liking.
I had a pleasant dining experience at The Wing Company. The staff was friendly and I’ll definitely be back to try some wings next time!

Mexican Food at La Revolucion

September 27, 2012March 27, 2013Food, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a Comment

Last week we dropped by La Revolucion at the corner of Keele and Dundas in the Junction. The place is very modestly decorated and I didn’t know at the time, but there is also a back room that holds live shows sometimes.

I ordered the Chicken mole enchiladas. Usually I’d be turned off by brown mush on my food (and I was totally hesitant), but when I tasted it, it was quite the experience in my mouth. Traditionally mole has around 20 different spices and I definitely tasted a variety in these enchiladas. I gobbled it all up.

Nash had the taquitos which were brighter in colour (more appetizing looking). They were crunchy and delicious.

Maybe we’re just giant eaters but I kind of wish there were bigger portions. I guess we were supposed to order more than just one dish each. The food is fresh and delicious but a tiny bit pricey if you’re on a budget!

10oz Burgers At the Purple Onion

September 6, 2012March 27, 2013Food, Restaurant Reviews1 Comment

The Purple Onion, located in the Junction neighborhood of Toronto is more known for it’s all-day breakfasts. However, I can’t seem to go to a new place and NOT try the burgers at least once. So I did and they were 10 oz.

I forgot the name of our burgers and their website doesn’t really name them but mine had onion rings, carmelized onions and mushrooms. Nash’s had bacon, carmelized onion and mushrooms. And did I mention the patty was 10oz? All for only $8.95. A great price for the amount of food.

The burger patty itself had pieces of onion in it that added moisture and flavour. It was a simple but decent burger. We’ll be frequenting the Junction a ton for the next little while, so we’ll be back to try their infamous breakfasts in the nearby future.

Bacon Nation at CNE

August 29, 2012March 10, 2013Fashion, Food, Restaurant Reviews, Street1 Comment

The food building was hilariously close to the farm.

One of the reasons I went to the CNE was to eat copious amounts of bacon. Of course we had to check out this so called Bacon Nation that was getting all the rage. We opted for the bacon wrapped hot dog with extra bacon as well as the Ba-conic Sandwich Explosion. To be honest, they were a little bit anti-climactic.

The bacon wrapped hot dog with bacon was literally a bacon wrapped hot dog with more bacon. It was good, but for almost $10, I half expected it to be huge.

The sandwich was bacon wrapped and stuffed sausage with lettuce, tomato and Jack Daniel’s sauce on a bun. The sausage bacon had a nice crunch to it that was nice. While it was delicious, it was nowhere near an explosion. I’ve eaten gourmet burgers bigger than it for the same (if not cheaper price). You can’t name something an explosion if it isn’t gigantic or at least super messy to eat!

We left the desert bacon things alone, mostly because we didn’t want to spend more money to be disappointed. I’m glad I tried them though, it was good but didn’t live up to my expectations.

Healthy Eating at By the Way Cafe

July 22, 2012March 27, 2013Food, Restaurant Reviews1 Comment

A few weeks ago, my stomach was a little iffy so I opted to find something healthier (that wasn’t burgers) to eat. From random window browsing, we made our way to the By The Way Cafe located in the Annex. I had walked past it a million times in the past but never wandered inside. The restaurant is really bright and has a homie feeling even though they do consider themselves a fine dining restaurant. I was actually quite surprised to find that it served middle-eastern cuisine. I always thought that it served sandwiches or generic coffee shop food because of it’s name.

We ordered light, mainly because we wanted an excuse to get froyo after. We opted for the combination platter which contained hummus, tabuleh, babaganough and Israeli salad. We also had the spicy and crunchy calamari which lived up to it’s name. Ok, I admit the calamari is not considered “healthy”, but whatever it was delicious.

The platter was basically like bread and dip but it was flavorful and we finished every drop of it. It’s a tiny bit pricey though ($12) for how much there is. There’s definitely a ton of choices on the menu for those who choose not to eat meat (never) including a vegetarian lasagna. At least I’ve finally eaten something besides sushi in the Annex!

Missed Connection at Edgefest

July 17, 2012July 17, 2012Drinks, Entertainment, Food3 Comments

On Saturday, I went to Edgefest at Downsview Park. The weather was 30 something degrees, but your touch hit the mark.

I met you next to a super delicious stand, that sold me this sandwich of pemeal bacon:

You were pale, yellow and cold. Your flavour was bold. We met 3 times that day. What the hell am I talking about? It was a $6 lemonade.

I blame the poem above on the 37 degrees weather Toronto’s experiencing today. It made me miss this delicious (but super over priced) lemonade. I don’t have any pictures of it. I also have no idea if the vendors have a store outside of Edgefest, but if anybody knows I’d love for you to help me solve this missed connection!