eatereater123's Profile
Frozen Dim Sum
Charles - have you tried Golden Pinnacle Food at 63 Silver Star Blvd? It's literally around the corner from DSFC. I gather there's likely a bunch of these places in the area.
Frozen Dim Sum
Are there any decent dim sum retailers near the old Chinatown at Dundas and Spadina? I've tried every supermarket brand and also the ones sold 'cooked' at T&T and other places and have found them all universally terrible.
Hey Lucy coming to the Annex - old Mel's Diner location
Anyone been here in the past couple of months? Am hoping that food + service have improved?
Can you identify this resto?
We made it! The food is really good. It's not fancy by any stretch of the imagination, and it appears that if you make reservations you can get free honey dates which are set on the table.
The two of us ate well for $35 which included one beer, a giant serving of calamari, tilapia, fresh veg and fries. We were seated at the back because we didn't have a reservation, which I tried to make by email, but don't bother because it's not read. It is tough to get a seat because nearly all the tables were taken for both seatings. The seafood can be cooked any way you want, but I would say that deep fried seems to be their specialty, and nearly every group ordered their calamari.
Can you identify this resto?
Bingo! I recognized the website. Thanks and I'll try to report back after we head there next week (if we make it).
Can you identify this resto?
Do you know the name of my mystery restaurant?
Last year, I stumbled across a restaurant that also has a seafood market inside. You pick the seafood and they cook it for you. It has bench style seating and appears to be very popular with Middle Eastern families. I think it was on Cote des Neiges near Cote Sainte-Catherine. I recall it was on a steep hill with a McDonald's a couple of blocks (maybe 1?) away.
I arrived at closing time so I took a card and swore that I would come back on my next visit to Montreal. However, after the birth of my baby, I can not dig up the card nor remember the name of the restaurant.
The restaurant has a website and I believe it's a chain with 2 locations. I'd recognize the website in an instant, if only I could remember its name...
Any guesses?
Saying goodbye to Toronto's 'Best Waiter'!
Any idea if he's returned to S or NB? Would like to experience the magic...
Annex Coffee suggestions
If you're closer to Bloor, there's Aroma Coffee which is on Bloor near Brunswick. Excellent coffee and good food.
Lunch around St. Clair/ Avenue Road area?!
Charles - thanks to your posts I've eaten quite well so here's my two suggestions for your upcoming lunch:
Patachou - casual cafe/bakery - french pastries/brunch/lunch (1120 Yonge St) between St. Clair and Bloor. Their croissants are re-sold in other bakeries around Toronto.
or
Didier - classic french bistro (1496 Yonge St) just north of St. Clair
BTW, I assumed "western" meant not-Asian.
And Cava and Terroni are also in the same couple of blocks as Patachou but I don't recommend them.
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Cava
1560 Yonge St., Toronto, ON M4T 2S9, CA
Patachou
1120 Yonge St, Toronto, ON M4W, CA
Cheesemongers in TO . . . any hidden gems?
+1 to capiscum on Global.
We have had the ol' bait switch done to us more times than we would care to admit. "fool me once..." being the motto.
Ditto on Cheese Magic when the owner isn't around. I was handed a parcel of old Benedictin Bleu that was sopping wet in its paper wrapping. How very disappointing.
Guu is Guu(d) – review + pics
Ate there last Monday, arriving at 6.15pm and just barely got two bar stools. I highly recommend a reservation which doesn't guarantee you a private table, it guarantees that your wait is shorter.
That said, they hold only a certain number of seats/tables for reservations, and the rest are first come first serve. The reason why your calls are going to vm is because they've taken as many reservations as they can for the night. And when you get there and see the chaos, I'm surprised they can even hear the phone ringing.
Why the bad reviews of corner house?
I have gradually lost my fondness for the Corner House after some exceptional meals there. I live quite close by so this used to be our "go to" spot for romantic dinners, small celebrations and the like. There has never been any problem with the food and drinks; it's been the disappointing service that eventually shooed us away.
Specifically, we have been squashed into tables that were too small for the number in our party; we have been kept waiting for >30 mins for our table even with a specific time reservation. Finally, the last straw was when I was physically sick shortly after a meal because we were basically steam-rolled out to make way for another group that had arrived early for our table. I did not get sick because the food was bad - I got sick because I had to eat so fast that my stomach couldn't handle the volume of food in the short amount of time we were given to eat it before the bill was presented and we were ASKED (nicely but twice no less) to leave. That was the final straw and we haven't been back in a year.
Oyster Boy - open or closed?
Any one know if Oyster Boy has shuttered? BF and I passed by on the streetcar and he says the window is papered over. I have called but there's only an answering machine, even during the hours they're supposed to be open.
Help from Chocolate Connoissuers (especially Dark Chocolate)
If you haven't already done your shopping, I suggest asking Odile at Odile chocolates to help put together some selections of chocolate for you. I am giving my hubby a gift basket made up of different chocolates from her shop. She only stocks dark chocolate so I think your gift recipient will be quite pleased with whatever you get them.
I first came across her store just walking down Dundas West, and then came across her again at the One of a Kind Show. I guarantee the chocolate is worth the trip.
Odile Chocolat
829 Dundas Street West
416-538-1016
Anyone tried the Lobster dinner at the Split Crow (aka O'Carroll's?)
glad I asked! will try out o'carroll's instead. thanks.
Anyone tried the Lobster dinner at the Split Crow (aka O'Carroll's?)
I was reading through this posting: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/419611 which mentions the dublin lawyer lobster at O'Carroll's. When I tried to google and find the menu for O'Carroll's, I got re-directed to the Split Crow. Their menu has a $14.99 lobster dinner offered on Sunday evenings.
Is this the lobster dinner that the OP was referring to? Has anyone tried it?
Split Crow/O'Carroll's website: http://www.splitcrow.com/food_specials.php
Kenzo is now downtown. (Ramen.)
In a way, I'm glad that tjr doesn't like Kenzo, because it means more seats at Kenzo for Toronto ramen fans. While I agree that it wasn't exactly like the ramen I've had in Japan (ie. no menma, yet), it was pretty darn close, with the fresh Japanese noodles and rich, pork broth. My hubby likes Kenzo better than Ippudo and Minca (both NYC) while I still disagree, I think the char siu at Minca is better (more fat) and the broth at Ippudo is a little richer.
The service is glacial, but that's what happens with two waitresses covering the entire restaurant. Perhaps when they have more money for more staff, you'll see an improvement. Until then, I'm happy to go and slurp their noodles and eat their takoyaki. Oishii!
ISO breakfast/brunch patio in Niagara Falls area
Will be visiting Niagara Falls with a friend and their dog on a Sunday morning. Would love to have breakfast/brunch with them somewhere (ie. a patio) where they can keep an eye on their dog and enjoy a egg or two. Is there any restaurant with a patio that won't charge us $35 pp for a crappy breakfast? I was hoping to hit one of the legendary greasy spoons but all of them seem to reside inside buildings without patios. Suggestions, anyone?
Best Trendy Bday Lunch?
Four: Good looking upscale business crowd, trendy (if bland) food though. Downtown, excellent people watching. In the basement, no windows.
Jump - ditto as Four above but it's in a glass atrium so you can some view. Food is pretty good compared to Four which is a 600 cal limit per dish.
School. Good cocktails, relaxed vibe, in Libertyvillage (read off-the-beaten path). Best food of the three mentioned so far. New place with big brunch buzz. Lunch is excellent too.
Burrito Banditos
sadly, the original location is still good (this is still a burrito boyz).
the newest location in the annex is sadly, bland. i think there's something in their sauces that lacks a kick, perhaps add more spices, like salt?
Toronto Star Exposes Sushi Scam
sadly, nyc also has challenges in correctly identifying sushi fish:
there's a link at the top of this discussion that I pasted here to save you the scrolling effort:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/science/08/22/sushi.dna/
NYC has great sushi, but I think it's also caveat emptor.
That said - sushi yasuda, genki and sushi seki are all pretty good and reasonable (okay, maybe only seki can be considered reasonable).
Sushi Survey - disturbing article in the Star
Just finished reading Toronto Star's article on sushi restaurants substituting tilapia for red snapper nigiri in 10 out of 12 restaurants. Thankfully, Yuzu and Sushi Marche did not. Sadly though, my former favorite sushi place was one of the guilty restaurants.
Does anyone have any reputable and reliable sushi places that they'd recommend? Preferably close to the subway. Low and high price points welcome.
Here's the link to the Star's restaurant list:
http://www3.thestar.com/cgi-bin/star_static.cgi?section=news&page=/googlemaps/090508_fish.html
clafouti croissant disappointment
in 2003, the first time i had a clafouti plain croissant, i almost wanted to throw it away. soggy, buttery layers that formed a flat-as-a-pancake smoosh of bread that was heavy, dense and greasy with butter. six years later and i'm hooked on those things.
alas, this afternoon, i experienced intense disappointment when i bit into the first clafouti croissant since 2004. what happened to those dense buttery layers? that heavy, folded layer croissant? what i ate could have passed for one of metro's croissants. it wasn't terrible, but the buttery taste wasn't as strong and perhaps, i'm a crotchety old person, but it was fluffy! if i want fluffy, i'll save my pennies and buy a croissant at a grocery store.
does anyone know what happened to clafouti's baker? recipe? is it the recession???
Best eats near Toronto Airport
Grand is my first choice. There's also two Japanese restaurant in a strip mall nearby; one is the best kaiseki restaurant in Toronto which requires advance reservation, and the other is a sushi place that you can walk into. I can't seem to pull the name of either off the tip of my tongue.
Le Pain Quotidien - Coming to Toronto?
I never saw the RB location full except once a few weeks after opening. Why? I think that the size of space, and location (basement, no windows) given the prices of the food is hard to justify in this economy. If you head to any of the nearby competitors (including Sandwich Box), you'll see that you get twice the food at half the PQ price.
Had they been located on the street like Mercatto or with a patio like Duke of whatever, it would have been a homerun.
Too bad. The food and service were both excellent for a nice lunch.
What foodie gift should I bring my Vancouver friends?
Both are terrific ideas, sadly, I forgot to mention that my friends are teetotalers so they don't indulge. Not even a drop.
Am leaning towards a nice selection of Soma chocolates (Pine or Chili chocolate anyone?)...
What foodie gift should I bring my Vancouver friends?
Coming from Toronto, are there any food-related items that Vancouverites are hunkering for but can't get? For example, I load up on smoked salmon, wild organic honey and Daniel's chocolates (yes, I know there is a Daniel's outpost in Etobicoke/Mississauga).
Are there any equivalents that I should consider bringing to thank my lovely host and hostess?
ISO: Almond Powder/Flour for Macarons
I make macarons at home using almond powder that i grind myself. the instructions above are spot on. (blanch almonds, remove skins and let them dry, then grind) i would add this reserve some of the icing sugar you are using in your macaron recipe. begin grinding the almonds and add the sugar, table spoon at a time to get the consistency and to reduce the accumulating moisture from the nut oil. i usually add 2 tb to start and keep adding as i grind. i have never added more than 10-20% of the almond weight to offset the oils.
Corner House Restaurant - Winterlicious
Corner House really milks Winter/summer licious.
I used to eat the Corner House regularly (once a month) and got to know the owners. We decided to introduce it to our friends during Winterlicious '08. That terrible experience resulted in our permanent avoidance of CH from then on.
We had servers neglect to take our order, did not offer us bread, did not refill our water glasses, and our plates came out lukewarm to cold, tiny portions, food that they never served on their regular menu, extra tables* place in the aisles to crowd in more people and worst of all, being rushed out in 1 hr 15 min (try getting through all the courses and a bottle of wine in that time) and felt ill from the food and remorse for having dragged our poor friends there.
*Corner House set up smaller tables and removed the regular tables so that more tables could fit into the same space. Where two people normally sat, they placed 4, and where 4 usually sat, I saw 6 to 8.
