We have a baby who will be turning one shortly... Such a relief he didn't have a reaction once our Dr said it was ok to give him eggs! Phew. (keeping our fingers crossed for peanuts now..) My concerns these days are nuts (so no store bought cake mixes which may contain nuts), honey - which I understand babies shouldn't have raw or cooked due to fears of botulism and citrus/berries.

He recently had a bite of home made chocolate cake when it was my birthday...and of course he loved it.

If the baby was only recently adopted, then i would think that the parents are still quite hyper sensitive and concerned for their child. It's still all so new. So, might be a nice idea to keep everything on the safe side so as to not cause any concern.
What about a shortcake? No egg needed and only a little bit of sugar. (mostly just butter and flour!) Instead of strawberries, you could use peaches (or bananas or blueberries - which are ok). I bet you he would love the whipped cream. If I were to feed that to my son, I would have to mash it up quite well as he's still got a strong gag reflex when it comes to texture - so the whipped cream would really help for this!
Good luck.

Not sure about the fresh rolls, as I haven't tried them. But we've ordered from Thai Classic Cuisine at Bloor and Jane a few times. Green curry is great, basil chicken was so spicy it was hard to eat (and I like spicy - if I were to order again, I would just ask them to tone it down). We've ordered Pad Thai twice. First time, it was amazing, possible the best I've ever had. Second time it was just ok...guess it depends who's cooking. Worth a try.

or pretty much any grocery store....

Second this. Just had Banjara take out for dinner last night - awesome as usual.

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Banjara
796 Bloor St W, Toronto, ON M6G1L7, CA

I was at Bairrada not too long ago. Could have been a bad night, but honestly - the meal really wasn't good. Excessively oily, totally -uninspired-after-thought-over-cooked sides. We were disappointed we went and I'm not sure I would give it a second chance. (I wish somebody would have warned me before going).

I would definitely go to Pho Phuong. I've been a number of times and IMHO their Bun is pretty good.

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Pho Phuong
1603 Dundas St W, Toronto, ON M6K1T9, CA

How about Vietnamese? Pho Huong in the Junction (394 Pacific Ave) is great, very inexpensive and very child friendly.

There's also Pho Phuong on Dundas at Brock.

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Pho Phuong
1603 Dundas St W, Toronto, ON M6K1T9, CA

I've found them in Little India.

woops, sorry. Looks like that google maps link didn't work. Let's try this and see if it does

http://bit.ly/cG1K

ok, guess not. If you would like to google it yourself, the address of the movie theatre is

3090 Carling Avenue, Ottawa, ON K2B 7K2

This might not be current, but perhaps worth a little more research. I looked for some Indian grocery stores in Ottawa, about 4 years ago and I found a little patch across the street from the Coliseum movie theatre here: http://maps.google.ca/maps?client=fir... They were on Wylie, Oakley and Kempster roads on that map.

Sorry, I don't know the names of any of the stores (if I recall correctly there were 3 of them).

I hope this helps.

I don't think it's quite in season yet. Mine in my back yard is just poking out. That said, I have seen some pale variations at the fruit/veg stores along Bloor st in Bloor West Village.

Le Select has a room at the back (and a back patio) and they are very accommodating in terms of setting a menu...

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Le Select
432 Wellington St W, Toronto, ON M5V1E3, CA

I think you can get these at 7-11's too? I've never been a huge fan, but my nieces love them. They found one at the convenience store at the corner of Queen and John and were quite happy and then quite hyper!

Le Select has a back room they can section off, and they have a prix fixe... But if there are mobility issues, then it's a no go - a few stairs up to the back room, and bathrooms in the basement.

Did they go on a honeymoon? If so, perhaps re-visiting that cuisine would be nice. Even if they didn't go far - for example: NY=steakhouse, maritimes=sea food... and so on.

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Le Select
432 Wellington St W, Toronto, ON M5V1E3, CA

I have and would wait for their burritos...nothing like a Utopia fix. Turnover is fast enough if you're only 2 people.

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/624172

My old local was the Done Right Inn (on Queen, south East of Trinity Bellwoods)is a total dive, but I found everybody in there to be pretty friendly actually. Agreed the Portuguese old boys clubs might offer an interesting atmosphere. Personally, I found the Silver Dollar on Spadina to be a tad terrifying, but I haven't been there in years....

I've been buying ham at FFTF recently, and it's the best ham I've ever tasted. (The people who were over for dinner when we've served it have begged us to do it again, saying that they 'dream' of that ham.) From what I've seen at FFTF, most hams are smoked, which in terms of chemicals/preservatives might not be what you're looking for.

Kitchen Imp - it's so true. I think it's the most expensive pint in the neighbourhood! Also, the fries are really really bad.

sway and tweeze - I've been meaning to thank you for months. Pho Huong is pretty much a weekly destination for us now. Love the food - and apparently so does the rest of the neighbourhood, as it's always packed! I'm so happy that you encouraged me to go back. I'm a big fan of the Bun dishes as well as the Pho. Actually, I haven't had anything there I haven't liked. No need to travel out of the hood for Vietnamese food anymore, in fact, when we have, we've just been disappointed.

We went again a couple of weeks ago, because my pregnant SO was craving poutine. It was our best visit yet. We had 2 soups, the borscht and Cod Cheek Chowder. The menu describes the borscht as including mushroom dumplings - these were no where to be found in our soup, but it was still good. The chowder is great. After trying so many of their offerings that I felt weren't quite right, it was nice to find a dish that fired on all cylinders.
The poutine was really good.. The gravy was great. The curds weren't fresh and weren't plentiful but they were ok. As I've mentioned before, the fries are fantastic. So all in all, it was the best meal we've had there. We had the best service in all of our visits too - so perhaps that's ironed out now. If I were to go back, I would definitely avoid other mediocre dishes and head straight for the chowder.
I do have a gripe though. Their beers are on the expensive side, their glasses are on the smaller side and it really irks me when they don't pour a full pint - which just feels so cheap to me. I've been to many a crowded pup where the wait staff has had to fight through the crowd and still delivered a full pint - there's no such crowd at My Place. Fill my glass.

We went once - I totally agree, it's a muffin. And it's so expensive, I'm actually shocked it's still around. Happy for them, but personally, I think of it as a one hit wonder - tried it once, been there, done that. (I am biased because my SO bakes the most fantastic cookies I've ever tasted.) I guess the appeal is that you could try out crazy taste combinations without having to commit to making a whole batch. But again, to me, so expensive it's hard to justify.

I live in the neighbourhood and I've gone to My Place about 10 times. I'm not very anxious to go back. I've tried to love it, but I really have yet to find something on the menu (besides the fries, which are damn good) that makes me want to go back. As mentioned by other posters, the portions are generous. I've tried a number of different things - the burger I found way too seasoned, so salty I couldn't finish. I've written about the pulled pork and fish and chips in other posts. The po' boys and the fried chicken sandwiches taste remarkably similar - to me both very bland. The portobelo has been the best so far - but still, to me, there's something a bit off with it. I've tried the chicken drumsticks too and actually, I found them to be the worst thing there...pretty flavourless and not cooked as long as I would have liked. As you can see, I haven't really had any of their high end items, so I can't comment about them. Overall, the food isn't bad, but it's not fantastic - and I'd have to respectfully disagree with Snarf, I think Dr. Generosity's food has a lot more flavour. I really want to like this place, but so far, I'm finding it a struggle. It is a cavernous place and it doesn't seem to have much heart. We once invited a bunch of friends to try it and watch a Leaf game and we were embarrassed by our choice - nobody really loved their food, the atmosphere or the service.
The patio is amazing though - so there's hope for the summer! Hope you have a good time.

The Senator has great fish tacos.

What do you like at Los Arrieros?

An elderly friend is in the hospital. She mentioned how much she misses Barley Toy candies. (I had never heard of them). She grew up on the East Coast, where this clear sugar candy was popular. Anybody ever heard of these being sold in Toronto? If not, I'll try to order some on line, but it would be a lot more convenient for me to just get some in town...

Thanks

Thanks to everyone for the ideas. Dubchild, you've picked the 2 places they've already been in the city! So far, I'm going to give them the choice of Terroni, Korean BBQ and Greek.

My nieces (12 and 14) are coming to Toronto soon for a weekend. I'd like to take them some place 'cool' for dinner after Cirque du Soleil.
The 12 yo is not very adventurous. Her favorite food is Chinese food - but this is of the red chicken ball variety. We've taken her out for Thai in the past, she claims it's too spicy and only eats spring rolls...
The 14 yo loves pizza, and I would consider taking them to Terroni, but I fear the no substitution policy would be an issue. I think she would be more open to trying something new.

They aren't overly keen on Indian, and I think they would like to think that they want to try sushi - but I don't want to push anything too radical on them. I want them to have a fun 'big city' meal, but I'd also like them to enjoy it....meaning I would like them to have a positive new experience with food instead of just a weird experience. It could even be a regular old burger and fries - but at an interesting location.

I've read posts suggesting Korean bbq - which I think could be a lot of fun (despite the fact that I would order a stone bowl as I can't resist). I'm going to offer them a few suggestions, and let them choose - so this will be included in their options.

One last thing - since we're also already splurging on the Cirque du Soleil tickets, we can't afford restaurants like the one on top of the CN Tower....

Thanks to anyone who can offer a suggestion.

I went this weekend.

Good points:
Love the addition to the neighbourhood.
Roof top patio is great
Good beer selection, wine selection was small, but I didn't have any trouble finding a few I would be happy with. (especially happy for the Wildass...)
Fries are amazing - could possibly be the best fries I've ever had.
Egg bun is really, really good.
Good quality, fresh ingredients and they don't skimp on the portions.
Nice hostess who's trying to be welcoming (perhaps a tad too hard, but still quite nice)
Love the mustard condiment choices.
Really happy about the menu selections. Some upscale choices, but also great choices for a regular old Tuesday night too. Also happy to see a homage to the neighbourhood in the form of perogies and borscht. Could have another salad choice tho...

Not so good points:

Understandably, service isn't quite there yet. I'm not sure our server had ever even been in a restaurant before, let alone served anybody before. I ordered the pulled pork sandwich, and he asked me - 'just one?'. Well, yes, I'm in the habit of eating one meal at a time... I'm sure that will get ironed out.

While the sandwich had some really great ingredients, it was all a bit too much. On top of the already fat laden huge pile of meat, there was a spoonful of sour cream, and there was also cheese on the sandwich. Waaay too much for me. The pulled pork itself wasn't very flavourful - no tangy vinegar hit at all - so I'm not sure I would order it again, but if I was ever tempted, I would definitely ask them to hold the cheese and the sour cream.

My partner had the black cod and chips. The fish was waay over salted. Also, for $22, my partner felt that it would have been better to get one larger filet of fish, rather than a few small chunks. Could have just been how this portion worked out - but $22 for an average night out is a bit on the high end for us.

All in all, we're looking forward to going back - and we're really happy to have another choice in the hood.

Bogged down with TIFF at the moment, but SO EXCITED about My Place: A Canadian Pub! So close to me, it will surely become our new local. Really looking forward to trying it, and so thrilled it's taken over the run down spot and turned it into something appealing for the neighbourhood. Thanks to Brad Long for the location! Brydens has great cheap beer, but unfortunately, I'm not sure they can compete menu-wise - hope Bryden's will just turn the menu up a notch instead of going under....I don't want to see them fail. Finally, a destination in BWV.

Tried this recipe last night to satisfy my pregnant wife's craving. Awesome. She loved it (so did I). Thanks for the posting.

I did one thing different though, which I think made a difference for me. I added some goats cheese to the blender mix. Not too much - but enough to impart that extra tangy flavour. IMHO it's a good addition...