radiopolitic's Profile
Toronto Hound Coming For 2 Weeks
Yeah, soft shell crab doesn't appear much on menus - a light peppering here and there. They are more commonly found at a purveyor.
You know I looked at that dish at ICOB and it didn't really interest me. It says "Lobster Roe Noodles" - does it actually have roe in it? If I'm in the area I'll try to stop in for it.
For sure, great technique there. :)
Toronto Hound Coming For 2 Weeks
Tried out Strip T's, Giacomo, Island Creek Oyster Bar, Mike's, Modern, South End Buttery, Salumeria Italiana and Formaggio in the past few days. I'll try to give a more detailed breakdown but in short:
Strip T's - excellent. Great price point for portion size and quality of preparation. Had the cauliflower, sweetbreads, chicken 'n waffles, crab okonomiyaki and chocolate shitake pots de creme. Chicken a tad on the dry side, sweetbreads were a bit of a miss but other than that all excellent and our server was quite funny.
Giacomo's - pass. Didn't really enjoy anything here. Had a pasta special, the papardelle with sausage - pasta bland, swimming in lukewarm 'sauce' if you can call it that. Veal piccata was over salted, over lemoned, and tough.
ICOB - service was very rushed, seemed as though they were trying to turn tables very quickly. Ate a lot of seafood - oysters, littlenecks, ceviche, clams, etc. All very good, clean, fresh seafood that I enjoyed but didn't feel like it was anything I couldn't get elsewhere. Ceviche was a tad on the bland side. Gorgeous room and very clever marketing strategy though.
Much preferred Modern to Mike's. In a word Mike's was stale. Sfogliatella at Modern was pretty tasty.
Had two cocktails at Drink after a Harpoon tasting. Went with two negroni's with differing vermouth's. Very personable service. Lots of drink history and evolution of cocktails being discussed. Really enjoyed our bartender there. Like the atmosphere as well but can understand why people would be annoyed later in the night as it gets crowded. I went at opening because of this.
Also enjoyed CBC but I was there for an event which probably clouded my judgement just a tad :)
All in all so far - yummy! Let the adventure continue :)
Toronto Hound Coming For 2 Weeks
Hah! I'm actually cooking Sephardic Jewish food for my gf's mother on her bday (they're Ashkenazi). That's why I needed those Middle Eastern ingredients.
If you want to talk more shoot me a msg via the contact details on my profile here.
Toronto Hound Coming For 2 Weeks
Awesome. I'll be sure to send a message when I get a moment. :)
Toronto Hound Coming For 2 Weeks
Thanks for the links. I had already gone through those before posting my list.
What issues do you have with Orinoco, Estragon, and Teranga?
Toronto Hound Coming For 2 Weeks
I did look at it. It's leagues better than the vast majority of Middle Eastern restaurants that mostly serve falafel, shawarma etc. but ultimately doesn't interest me. That's just the normal food we eat.
I've also worked as a chef specializing in recreating dishes from the Ottoman palace archives and am a Middle Eastern food historian so I will admit when it comes to this type of food I'm generally very very particular.
Toronto Hound Coming For 2 Weeks
Thanks for the suggestions Matt H!
The last three sound interesting.
Oleana and Istanbul'lu don't really interest me as I'm from the Middle East and eat that food on a very regular basis.
Started the day going to Dewey Square for the Mobile Food Fest. Tried some good lobster bisque. The taco truck was meh - pretty bland. An okay grilled cheese and a fairly tasty lamb skewer.
Great architecture downtown in the financial district. Loved walking around with my gf. She made me matzo ball soup as a surprise so I was pretty stuffed from that. Stopped by Bauer Spirits on Newbury for a Tanteo tequila tasting - that Cocoa infused tequila was a huge hit - before having a beer at the bar at Top of the Hub (for the view). Saw Beethoven's 9th and followed it with a cocktail at Clio (Thanks Matt H) before heading downstairs to Uni for some late night ramen. Pretty good. Had the traditional and umami flavours - not the best but certainly quite tasty.
We shall see what tomorrow holds - gonna start with the SoWa market and go from there. Have tickets to the Celtics game. Gooooo Boston!
Toronto Hound Coming For 2 Weeks
Nice to hear from a fellow Canuck!
I will definitely be checking out East Boston but Lowell is a bit far. Maybe when I'm back again in June.
I'll check out JJ's and Muqueca - are they different than the Portuguese offerings here in Toronto?
Yeah Taiwanese isn't a strong point of Chinese in Toronto. As mentioned in another response do you have a preference between those joints?
I'm definitely looking for more Syrian/Lebanese. Will need tamarind concentrate/paste, aleppo peppers, sumac, pomegranate syrup, etc. Thanks!
Toronto Hound Coming For 2 Weeks
Yeah I was thinking of heading to Drink at 4pm when they opened on an early weekday.
We have a fair amount of Portuguese in Toronto unless someone can inform me of something I shouldn't miss.
Thanks for the coffee tips. Will check out Dwelltime. Saves me a trip :)
Toronto Hound Coming For 2 Weeks
Mmmm. Yes I did read about these options. Any preference between Jo Jo Taipei and MuLan?
The Shannxi place is a bit too far out for me unfortunately. Would have been nice to pair that with the Cambodian offerings in Lowell. Thanks for the tips!
Are the fish at East Coast Grill served whole or as fillets?
Toronto Hound Coming For 2 Weeks
Thanks for the suggestions. I'll be sure to check them out. Always interested in the deli scene of other cities!
Toronto Hound Coming For 2 Weeks
Oh also searching for the best Jewish Deli in Boston - what are the opinions on Barry's Village Deli in Waban? Is there better?
Toronto Hound Coming For 2 Weeks
Hey there fellow Chowhounders. I'm coming to Boston on May 5th for over 2 weeks. Will have tons of free time and plan on eating a lot.
Looking mainly for things that aren't common or readily available in Toronto and I tend to gravitate towards ethnic and offal but am open to all suggestions. I've spent a fair bit of time pouring over threads here and have come up with a rough list and would appreciate any comments and/or additions.
Cocktails:
Drink
Backbar
Green Street
Gallows
Beer:
The Publick House
Sunset Grill
Deep Ellum
Lord Hobo
Redbones
Cambridge Brewing Company
Food:
Coppa
Butcher Shop (seems to get mixed reviews - could someone comment further?)
Orinoco
Toro
Estragon
Teranga
Craigie's on Main
Island Creek Oyster Bar
Strip T's
Uni (for ramen and/or sakebomb 4 course meal)
Pizzeria Regina (in North End)
Thmor Da
YoMa
Giacomo's
Umberto Galleria
Rino's Place
Eastern Standard Kitchen
There seems to be a plethora of Latin options that I'm interested in exploring - if someone could comment/add to/refine these selections it would be greatly appreciated:
La Reina Cafeteria or Mi Pueblito for pupusas
Angela's Cafe
Rincon Limeno
For taco's:
Dorado
La Verdad
Taqueria Jalisco
Taqueria El Amigo
Bakery/Pastry:
Mike's
Modern
La Sultana
South End Buttery
Sofra(worth it?)
Coffee:
Barismo
Taste
Simon's
Sip
Purveyor's:
Russo's
Salumeria Italiana
Tropical Foods
Formaggio Kitchen
If someone could recommend a good Middle Eastern grocer I would appreciate it. I am cooking for family members and need to find some ingredients.
If you feel I've missed something important please add!
Thanks in advance! :)
Where to go in Toronto for good Moroccan food?
If you ate at Aziza in Frisco you unfortunately won't find anything in Toronto in the same league.
Saturday night dinner with the girls (30's) any recommendations in King West area?
I hate to be the dissenting voice but I found Gusto to be fairly sub-par. The vibe is what you're looking for but the service was extremely fake, I was checked up on so frequently that my DC and I couldn't have a proper conversation, the octopus and cuttlefish were overcooked beyond recognition and the pasta was pedestrian.
Not to mention that one can't really get up without having their ass hovering over another table.
Top Chef Canada, Season 2, Episode 4 (spoilers)
Happened to catch this episode and was both amused and found it to be pathetic.
Amused that many of these chefs struggled hard with offal. Pathetic that they did.
From the shots they showed it looked like Gabriell didn't even know how to clean tripe properly. Could have been editing for effect.
Some of the chef's and Shereen's comments about tripe - how one would only eat it to try it - were offensive to say the least. And being partly of Iranian descent she's either totally whitewashed or just a plain moron. Maybe also editing for effect but whatever.
This show is comical.
LCBO spring beer release - finally a good release
Yeah, I've had it a few times and it isn't bad but it doesn't compare in my books.
LCBO spring beer release - finally a good release
+129734
The Lupulus is such a fantastic beer.
I do wish there was more of the Three Musketeers Baltic Porter around though from the previous release.
I'm eagerly awaiting the Mikkeller.
Best Tasting Charbroiled Teriyaki Chicken Burger and more......Guess where??!!
Does anyone know if they've closed for any reason(permanently/temporarily)? I've tried calling a few times today and there's no answer or answering machine.
Holy Chuck... Priest has nothing on this place.
+1
I had the Depression (was it called that? I can't remember) yesterday. I reeked of onions afterwards but I didn't care. It was fantabulous.
N44 - Huge rating downgrade!!
It has been a long time since I dined at North 44 and what I do remember was good but nothing interesting and definitely not worth it at the price point. I recently saw some photos from a friends Winterlicious dinner there and granted it was for Winterlicious but the plating looked atrocious. Poor understanding of white space on the plate.
The vanity argument I think holds for most of the people in the area. Same reason Granite Club is packed. It's busy based on an image of prestige - whether accurate or not is another matter.
Toronto definitely suffers from a vanity issue when it comes to dining. Dim lighting from weirdly arranged lamps hanging from ceiling? DJ douchebag in the corner?
Too many restaurants opening up doing the same things over and over again. Not to say they're putting out bad food but a lot of it is in the same vein and they're fawned over.
I think some of this vanity can also be tied to a discussion in another thread where the Chinese food up in Markham/RHills was discussed and how it wasn't frequented a lot - or didn't pop up on peoples year end lists. It's obviously a more complex issue but I think part of it is due to the fact that they aren't seen as somewhere to show off or that they're too good to be going there. Why spend Friday night on Hwy 7 when you could be schmoozing with middle aged, cake-faced, married Russian women looking for some fresh meat at Pravda?
Hopgood's Foodliner?
Can you provide some details on these donairs? What kind of meat? How were they served? Accompaniments?
Thanks :)
Need to impress a VIP client from Las Vegas - recommendations?
It's a simple matter of geography and ingredient quality. A lone restaurant on Eglinton in Toronto isn't going to even compare to the best the Middle East itself has to offer for food from that region. It would be absurd to think otherwise.
I've eaten at Jerusalem quite a few times and it isn't bad but it certainly isn't anywhere near the best in the world. They offer very pedestrian Levantine food - limited selection and muted flavours.
Need to impress a VIP client from Las Vegas - recommendations?
Don't get me wrong here - Jerusalem is a serviceable restaurant but such blanket statements are ridiculous.
There's better Middle Eastern in many cities across North America and definitely better Middle Eastern in the Middle East.
Need to impress a VIP client from Las Vegas - recommendations?
To say Jerusalem is the "...the most tasty Middle Eastern he'll ever have..." would be an insult to Middle Eastern cuisine.
Grand Electric
I went at 730pm with three people and waited 45min. Previously on Monday nights I generally have gone as two people and sometimes I don't wait at all though I tend to go later.
Rhino is essentially right across the street.
I've only been once on a Fri/Sat and was told the wait would be 2-2.5 hrs for two people. They called after an hour which I figure is them just going through their list and a lot of people having moved on. I also sensed a shift in clientele - women in short, low-cut cocktail dresses and 5 inch heels. I was amused to say the least.
I don't really change my wardrobe for anywhere in Toronto. T-shirt, worn out hoodie, purple cords/jeans, cross-trainers for shoes.
I also feel it is not as loud as it was when it first opened but I might be wrong on that front.
Grand Electric
Just a couple of things.
When I went last night there were two new taco varieties.
- Pig tail which had a very nice tang to it.
- Poblano with fried queso which had a nice contrast in textures.
I think my new favourite is the pig tail and while the chicken is still good it is markedly less spicy compared to when they first opened. Sort of bummed out by that - apparently a lot of people found it too hot. Fish tacos were as good as ever.
Chowhounds best 10 Resturants in GTA - 2012 version
Adding Sunrise House and Burger Priest.
Rijstafel / rijsttafel / rijstaffel dinner at Quince
I was also here tonight with a bunch of friends. Really good food and great value for the price.
I don't think I need to add anything more than has already been mentioned here.
The Burger's Priest new location??
This is my first time at The Burger's Priest.
Had the double cheeseburger. Thought it was tasty with a good consistency but not worth price. I didn't find the music too loud so maybe they turned it down?
