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Lobster Roll... or Fresh Lobster Meat?
Thanks!
Well, NYC is an unfair reference point to most cities...
And I am still trying to find a pastry shop that makes the specialty from Bordeaux called le canele, among other things.
Lobster Roll... or Fresh Lobster Meat?
Thanks for the info... Catered Claw... that's useful to know. :) Subway had the lobster roll for literally a second before taking it off the menu.
So far it seems I have to learn to do without yet another thing here in Toronto...
Lobster Roll... or Fresh Lobster Meat?
As a Torontonian who is still readjusting from 8 yrs in Manhattan, I have learned to make do without many things. However, I have recently been craving a lobster roll.
I had it at NYC's Pearl's Oyster bar where the famed lobster roll comes with a pile of fresh meat in a light coating of Hellmann's mayo on a top-loaded Pepperidge Farm New England roll and crispy shoestring fries.
A search on this board did not seem to yield an answer.
So... does anyone know in which direction someone at Yonge and Bloor must go to find a lobster roll?
Or at least where I can buy fresh, shelled lobster meat so I can make it myself.
I tried at the St Lawrence Market and Kensington's but no luck. I either had to buy cooked lobsters and shell it myself, or a can of frozen Acadian lobster meat.
T&T Supermarket to open downtown Toronto at Waterfront
In today's Toronto Star business section, there is an article about the Taiwanese/Chinese supermarket, T&TT, opening a branch by the waterfront in downtown Toronto this fall.
http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/169949
The store will be located in the former Knob Hill Farms supermarket on Cherry St., just north of Polson Ave.
A friend of mine was worried what it will do to Chinatown. Understandably, there will be some effect. But T&T's location is still not convenient by public transport, as opposed to Chinatown's Dundas/Spadina junction. Also, as much as I love T&T, it isn't the best price on everything. It is largely good on variety and different focus than conventional supermarkets. Chinatown still has competitiveness on price, and selection of produce. And those frequenting Chinatown East on Gerrard will not suddenly stop going there for food and shopping simply because T&T appeared. It's just one more choice of venue.
Still, I can't wait!
churros
And in the summer, the international marketplace at the Harbourfront Centre has a churros stand. Wait till they make it fresh and buy them for $1.50 a pop. It's there on weekends all summer long, I believe, because I always see it whenever I go to one of the day time events or concerts.
If you can fry, you can make churros. Google for the recipe and have a piping tube with a star tip. The only reason I don't make it at home is that would just be an invitation for unabashed glutonny. However, it would be very economical if you want to do it for catering by making the simple dough then rolling the fried sticks in cinnamon sugar... For even more decadence, serve with with a chocolate dunking sauce. The Spanish eat it with thick hot chocolate so it mimics that.
But personally, I like my churros piping hot, crunchy outside soft inside, sweet and cinnamony, and as is.
Cheap Lunch in Bay & Bloor Area
Roy's Garden is *a* choice but I would hardly call it fantastic Chinese food. I live near there and finally decided to give it a try. Typical Canadian-Chinese stuff which is only passable in a city renowned for the quality and variety of Chinese cuisine. Unless for a quick lunch take-out, that place is only for those whose palate hasn't evolved pass chicken broccoli with pork fried rice and an egg roll.
Biryani House and Ritz's, on the other hand, are great. Can't go wrong with Ritz's $3.99 lunch special with jerk chicken, rice and beans, gravy, and coleslaw. For a complete different change, go back to Biryani House for dinner where there is a regular menu with a more restaurant-like atmosphere. The channa masala (stewed chickpeas) is spicy and complex.
Crepes a GoGo on Yonge and Yorkville has a huge variety of yummy savoury crepes, and sweet ones if you so incline. The place is owned by a charming French woman who hires a mostly French staff.
Looking for the absolute BEST restarant in Chinatown
I agree. Why eat at Susur's when you can dine - for a fraction of the price - at where HE eats ... and possibly with him?
Looking for the absolute BEST restarant in Chinatown
If you are talking subjective experience, then there is nothing to argue. I've taken people to try really good Chinese food and they didn't like it. Not because the food wasn't good, but because they simply did not like it. What can you do?
And yes, having lots of Chinese people eat at a restaurant is not the proof that the food is good. But I can bet you it's a pretty good indication. We Chinese people here in Toronto have pretty finicky palates when it comes to Chinese food.
As for Congee Queen, if you haven't been there then don't give these "may be" comments. Try it first then speak.
Getting back to subjective experience, it seems to me you wanted something and they didn't accommodate. Hence the bitterness toward AL. As you say, subjective doesn't make the food good or bad. But I can tell you, objectively, AL has good food. Not all dishes are great. Not even your precious NS has across the board marvelous dishes from my own experience there. But AL is a solid Chinese restaurant that isn't some gimmicky "pan-Asian" place like Saigon Sister, regardless of your subjective bad experience.
And by the way, AL and NS have different focus on cuisines so try to be fair and take that into account when comparing dishes. A lot of Northern Chinese food is greasy and oily. And many authentic Szechuan dishes are dripping in chili oil. If you don't like that - and I don't blame you on this - then say you don't like that instead of attacking an individual restaurant serving it. Besides, not all AL dishes are oily. In fact, I've been surprised at the moderate amount they used - judging from a pretty "dry" plate after the food has been eaten - for some things that could have been much oilier, like Shanghainese fried noodles.
Finally, just because a Chinese restaurant has more than one branch only shows the Chinese owners are successful, and have decided they are opening one downtown and up north. That has nothing to do with being a "Keg," as you so derisively put it. I only wish more Chinese restaurants up north would do the same for those of us without a car.
And management and chef has everything to do with a restaurant. If NS's chef goes some place else - and he has before coming from somewhere else to NS - you may not be so gung ho about NS's food by whomever is at the helm.
Reasonably-Priced Sushi Made by Japanese-speaking Chef?
I've seen Kaiseki Sakura since its first opening and I know the owner and chef is Japanese. His menu is very interesting - more modern interpretation than classic. I believe he worked in Thuet, which explains the beef tongue sandwich on Thuet bakery baguette. However, at $18 I decided to take a pass despite really wanting to try it.
I've had friends who dined there and said the food and presentation was top notch but they felt they have barely eaten even after paying over a $100 each. They had to get a sharwarma next door afterwards. And my friend is thin and eats like a bird.
The value seems to be missing there. When I dined at Nobu and Morimoto, the price was high but I felt the value was worth it. I was satiated, and certainly did not want to spoil the lingering aftereffect on my palate by washing it down with a sandwich from elsewhere right away simply for hunger.
Looking for the absolute BEST restarant in Chinatown
Asian Legend is not the "boring and safe" choice you portray it to be. A lot of Chinese people actually eat there and like it so it is unfair to label it a "Keg" like it is some second-rate chain restaurant. If that is the case, Congee Queen is "one of the Kegs," too.
On the contrary, AL has good northern/Shanghainese dishes. The beef sandwich wrapped in onion pancake is absolutely to die for!
Small, independent restaurants like New Sky is only as good as its chef. Chinese joints are notorious for changing management and cooks behind the scenes as quickly as one would change a shirt. New Sky's current chef apparently came from another competitor nearby until the Globe and Mail's rave review brought the crowds in that otherwise may not have even ventured to it. And with his new found fame, maybe he would want his own place and move somewhere for more money.
Katz Deli
Second Ave Deli closed? Oh, well ... I never went there anyway since it was too expensive and I'd just sooner go a few more blocks to Katz's. And I never really went to Stage Deli even when one opened and closed for a while near where I lived. If I had to choose, I'd pick next door Carnegie Deli any day.
On that note, I could use a Junior's cheescake right now ... hmmm. Plain and orginal. None of that yucky, gunky strawberry or pineapple on top. Best cheescake I've ever had. It was always a stop on my NY tour when I lived there and played host to out of town guests.
Getting cured meats from Italy to US
I've had the same experience.
My mantra from now on is: DO NOT DECLARE ANYTHING AND HIDE IT AS WELL AS POSSIBLE.
You risk confiscation but so be it. But of course I am not bringing back stinky cheese, leaky containers, raw meats, or farm products.
Vacuum packed foods should be best because they are not odourous and should be capable of being hidden among layers of dirty laundry.
If you want bulkier items, consider investing in DHL-ing it back home. Throw a book in there and declare it as non-food gift.
As much as I don't like lying to customs, I feel I should not be categorically stopped from bringing back something I will consume myself. I've had vacuum packed meats bought at Duty Free shops in international terminals in Italy taken by custom when I have expressly asked the clerk whether I can take it back.
Good Tagine recipe
I would also say try searching on epicurious.com or just google "tagine recipes" to check out what's out there.
Looking for the absolute BEST restarant in Chinatown
For purely Cantonese food, go to King's Noodles at the corner of Dundas and Spadina. There are excellent noodles and congee, BBQ meats, made-to-order rice-flour rolls, different dishes, etc.
Since you say you are coming from the Raptors game, I wouldn't think you will be driving up north to Hwy 7 where the best Chinese food is.
However, I have lived in NYC for 8 yrs and I can tell you only in Flushing would you find really good Chinese food. But as a Manhattanite, I rarely got on the subway for the 50-60 mins it takes to get out there except on occasional weekends. So if your friend is like most Manhattanites, then Toronto's Chinese food - even in Chinatown - will impress him since here and Vancouver has the best and largest variety of Chinese food in North America. Most Chinese food in Manhattan and NYC in general is tacky take-out joints serving moo shu pork, chicken broccoli, eggrolls, and fried rice.
Looking for the absolute BEST restarant in Chinatown
Lai Wah Heen is only expensive and presentable, with fancy trappings. I wouldn't say it is representative or the best.
Katz Deli
I've also lived in NYC, Montreal, and Toronto. I wouldn't say it's dying but Jewish deli is restricted to a few institutions passed on by generations. I wouldn't think anyone would open a new one nowadays.
In Montreal, I would rely on good ol' Schwartz's for smoked meat and Fairmount for bagels. Apparently Bens is closing due to a labour dispute.
I don't know much about Toronto's scene since I only moved back here last year but I think it's the weakest of the three. The bagels here suck big time (especially compared to NYC and MTL with their own styles). And living downtown without a car, I can't really go to Thornhill or easily shlep to Bathurst and Wilson areas.
As for NYC, probably best out of the three.
There is the best meat in town - Katz's - where Meg Ryan had her orgasm on When Harry Met Sally. Unfortunately, everything else there sucks, including the matzo ball soup. But the meat is the best so I go for an unadulterated carnivore fest with piles of pastrami, corned beef, and tongue.
Second Ave Deli is quite good, and is the only kosher one of the major players, I believe. Good meats and matzo ball soup, chopped liver, etc. However, it is quite pricey.
Carnegie Deli is known for its sandwiches piled so high you can't even open your jaw tall enough to bite into it. But who's complaining? Also, big hunks of NY style cheesecake.
Stage Deli is a Carnegie competitor (next door) and is pretty much the same. Just comes down to personal preference.
Junior's in Brooklyn (also now at Grand Central station) may not have such great food but it is known for one thing, and one thing only: the legendary NY style cheesecake. It is simply the best in town. Each and every one hand mixed, with perfect consistency. One bite represents what NYC is all about.
There are also a whole host of others, some of which are listed here:
http://gonyc.about.com/od/restaurants/tp/best_delis.htm
As far as I can tell, the NYC ones are all thriving, popular with locals and tourists. During my 8 years there I always take out of town guests to one or some of them as part of my culinary tour of NY.
Even many bagel places all over town serve NY style bagels with scallion shmear, lox, or chopped liver to give you that "Jewish deli" feel.
I haven't yet had a really good knish in NYC, although I really haven't been actively searching. The famed Yonah Schimmel in the Lower East Side, few doors down from Katz's, is highly overrated. I can probably simulate a better knish with leftover mashed potatoes on my own.
Reasonably-Priced Sushi Made by Japanese-speaking Chef?
Moved back to Toronto for over a year now but never got the motivation to look for really good sushi. Having lived in NYC for the past 8 years (and San Francisco where there is a Japan Town), Toronto's Japanese food just seems like a wasteland of AYCE or so-so sushi by Chinese or Korean proprietors. There is no large Japanese diaspora that I seem to be aware of, compared to Chinese, Korean, Indian, etc. I think I've been to some small Japanese mall up in North York, and a couple of scattered Japanese stores on Queen West and Dundonald/Yonge.
So ... can anyone at Chowhound point me to where I can find sushi that is reasonably priced and not made by someone who doesn't even speak Japanese. I'm tired of going to the same old cookie-cutter sushi joint where the only thing that is Japanese are the names of the menu items. I guess I just don't have the constitution to comb through Toronto when I can rely on the suggestions of others...
Fresh figs?
You can try St Lawrence, Pusateris, or Whole Foods. Even Rabba sometimes has them since they typically carry some Middle Eastern ingredients.
Figs are grown in Mediterranean regions or climates so different times of year may mean importing them from further or different places.
Nevertheless, fruits are not factory-made and thus are not rolled off of a conveyor belt 365 days a year exactly as they "should" be. Sometimes you cannot expect any one place to offer produce in the same condition, shape and form as you would manufactured products.
Try a variety of sources, and perhaps also try developing a palate that adapts to mother nature and the changing seasons.
Pho Phuong - Vietnamese Fine Dining
Hmm... thanks for the report. I'll suggest it to my friend in Riverdale who had lived in Hanoi and bemoans the lack of authentic Hanoi cuisine, or anything different than the typical pho joint, here in Toronto. It would be interesting to try one where pho or bun is not the typical choice.
Pho Phuong - Vietnamese Fine Dining
According to Toronto.com, dinner for two at Lalot runs about $100-150. It said the place serves up "traditional Vietnamese cuisine." What exactly is it making and how that would justify paying $150 for dinner for two at a Vietnamese restaurant? From the picture, it doesn't quite look like the Sofitel Metropole in Hanoi.
Chimichanga
Is this place Mexican, as in run by Mexicans serving Mexican (not Tex-Mex) fast food?
I went to Tacos el Asador at Bloor and Christie, and although it was very good the place is owned and run by El Salvadorans (the pupusas are a giveaway since that is El Salvadoran not Mexican). But it is still a good place and I recommend going.
As for this new place, it is close to my work so I will definitely try it. I will also bring one of our assistants who is from Mexico City so he can tell me what he thinks.
Anyone been to the new Filipino Resto at York Mills & Don Mills?
I must admit I am highly novel and unfamiliar with Filipino cuisine beyond pancit, adobo, lechon, and the yummy pork sausages. And this is despite the fact that I lived for several years in San Francisco, south of which (Daly City) is to Filipinos what Markham is to the Chinese poulation here.
There is just not a lot of Filipino restaurants around that offer a fine representative of the nuance and variety it has to offer. And those that exists are typically fast food or steam-table counter joints that offer the same type of things, many of which are greasy and pork-fat laden (not that I am complaining because I love pork fat but it short-changes the cuisine) that turns off many people. Even the quality of that is often so-so.
Even in Toronto where there is a sizeable Filipino poluation, it is hard pressed for most Torontonians to name a restaurant. There is this little take out joint downtown near St Jamestown that is rather disgusting (I once spotted a bug among the fried pork).
I asked a Filipino friend in LA - also with a hugh Filipino poluation - why this is so. He theorized that Filipinos don't like eating their own food outside - it is a home cooked affair and eating out is for other cuisines.
It does make sense. If your own people won't eat in your restaurant, you can't survive just on ethnic dining niche alone. Although it could be a vicious cycle because the less exposure the rest of us gets, the more it will stay in the exotic ethnic dining category and not break out into the more mainstream selection such as Chinese, Japanese, Mexican, Indian, etc.
Anyone else with thoughts?
Pho Phuong - Vietnamese Fine Dining
So this is "Vietnamese fine dining," as in same kind of Viet fare from any typical Viet restaurant but in nicer decor than most?
My question is: what are the prices like? I'd rather go to some joint with inexpensive prices and good food than some place that is spruced up but with jacked-up prices for smaller portions.
Vietnamese dining here seems to be relegated to either the innumerable causal pho joints, or gimmicky places like Saigon Sister at Yonge/Bloor that is pricey but not really inventive (i.e., all style, no substance). There doesn't seem to be a place that applies an interpretive approach to classic Vietnamese dishes and ingredients.
best butter chicken downtown?
There's a place that Toronto cabbies head to after a shift. King Palace on Richmond and Sherbourne. It isn't far from the Sheraton if you just hop a cab and say "King Palace on Richmond and Sherbourne". It is a Punjabi place that is open from 10 am to 5 am (remember - cabbie hang out which also accommodates late night revelers).
Fresh naan piping hot is made to order and the butter chicken is rich and hearty, especially for a late night munch. But also try the dozens of variety. And I love the mango curry chicken! Not too spicy but with a subtle sweet mango flavour punctuating the curry, perfect to be scooped up with the steamy naan.
Dundas/Spadina Chinese
Perhaps not a huge selection of seafood choices but Flourish BBQ on Dundas a couple of blocks east of Spadina has a set dinner menu that is fresh and economical for a casual family/friend dinner out.
It's very Cantonese style where you get a list of dozens of dishes and you pick a number for a set price, e.g., 4 dishes for $29.99 that comes with daily Chinese soup and a cup of house-churned soybean milk. The dishes are of generous portions, and you can literally feel the "wok air" (Chinese reference to the flavour of the cooked food) in each plate. I usually order a fresh steamed fish, which is caught from the tank and steamed to order.
I took a group of three friends once and the four of us had steamed fresh tilapia, four combo BBQ plate (BBQ pork, roast pork, roast duck), braised eggplant and chicken, and baby bok choi with shitake mushrooms, plus 3 bowls of rice that we can barely finish, all came to $10 each after tip and tax. We were all stuffed. Now that's a deal!
Obviously there is no ambiance, and it seems like an unlikely place from first sight for a good dinner since it is mostly known for take-out Cantonese BBQ meats. But it's great for a good, hearty, authentic, inexpensive Cantonese family style dinner. The only thing is the list of dish selection only comes in Chinese so you will need to bring a friend who can read.
late night restaurants in toronto
Kings Palace has the best Punjabi/Indian food downtown. The variety is amazing, prices reasonable, scrumptious food, and it is open from 10am - 5am (for cabbies). Try the luscious mango curry chicken, lamb shank, stewed okra, eggplant, and fresh naan!
King & Sherbourne
Kings Palace is next to the gas station at Richmond and Sherbourne. Best Punjabi/Indian food downtown. The variety is amazing, prices reasonable, scrumptious food, and it is open from 10am - 5am (for cabbies). Try the luscious mango curry chicken, lamb shank, stewed okra, eggplant, and fresh naan!
$5 lunch around Yonge & College
Ritz's Caribbean at Yonge and College has $3.99 jerk chicken lunch to go for stay.
Go to Barrio's
Go to Barrio if only for the coffee and maple braised pork belly, topped with a potato pancake with crisp country bacon. Luckily, my dining mates did not care for pork fat so I got to eat all three big chucks of pork belly while they lapped up the coffee maple sauce with the pancake. Yum!!
Where do you go for your b-day dinners? Looking for unique dining in TO. . . .
Any suggestions for atmospheric bday restaurants in the downtown radius that are good for a small-medium group, not too pricey (different income ranges to consider), and not too noisey?
