T.O.bites | Toronto Food & Restaurant Blog

Ah, it’s been a while since I’ve posted a Foodventures.  I’ve been saving a huge collection of photos and writings from my  foodventure travels in hopes that some day I’d be have enough time to compile them all into a book.  Also, I’m hesitant to post them on a website that’s called T.O.bites.  T.O. meaning Toronto.  But I felt I had to share this one with my fellow Canucks since it was just too interesting to leave in the vault.

Seattle, the wet city on the American west coast is home to the Space Needle, the Mariners (which had their asses handed to them by the Jays when I was there – woohoo!) and the first Starbucks.  The first Starbucks sits alongside another historic attraction, the Pike Place Market, right by the bay.

The first Starbucks as a free tourist attraction is great, but the first Starbucks as a first Starbucks is a little disappointing.  Decorated with the original brown logo and a wall full of nothing but Starbucks paraphernalia, the first Starbucks is nothing more than a tourist trap designed to pull you in and get you to buy a bunch of mugs.  Honestly, could you expect less from a giant coffee chain?

I might be a little harsh as it does offer the usual Starbucks items such as coffee and teas.  The staff are also incredibly chipper and highly knowledgeable about locations around the world.  While I was nosing through the cups, I heard the barrista chirping at the tourists various things about their home cities like “Wow you’re from Austin?  I love that Austin prides on being weird.  I can’t wait until I get to go to Eyeore’s Birthday Party.”, “How is Calgary?  It must be great getting all that nice cool air from the Rockies.  I’ve always wanted to go to the Calgary Stampede.”

When it came time for me to go up and buy a mug and have her ask me about my own city, her response was, “How is the weather in Toronto?  It must be a bit cooler than here.  I hear that Toronto is the most multicultural city on the planet!”  Good for her that she didn’t mention the CN Tower or the fact that Rogers is taking over our city, street-by-street.  That would have been far too easy.

During my wandering around Seattle, I happened to come upon something more unique than the first Starbucks itself; a Starbucks that serves wine!  Yes, you heard me, wine.  I don’t really drink much wine, let alone any alcohol, but none-the-less, I was excited to find this gem of a place.  Oh and did I mention they served beer too?  I only happened to find this place because I misheard the directions to Capital Hill, and went wandering up Olive Way.  Getting lost, I saw a really swanky looking Starbucks up the street and decided to hop inside quickly to use the free wi-fi and find out just how lost I was.

On top of all the booze that comes from this place, they also serve full meals at this place.  Nothing too exciting though but more of an expansion of what they already served at most Starbucks.  I’m sort of regretting that I went all the way to Seattle, found a Starbucks that serves alcohol, and didn’t even have a drink!  Though I did enjoy soaking in the atmosphere of caffeine and booze consumption.  By the way, wine service starts at 2pm.  The clever signage around the place is pretty clear about this.

Let me make it clear right away; I did not try the deep fried butter balls nor will you find any photos of them on here. I understand the fascination of being able to fry a ball of fat within fat but the idea makes my stomach churn.

Fried butter balls aside, the CNE always dishes out some amazing food choices yearly. We’ve now come to expect the beaver tail, the tiny tom donuts, and now the hamburger in a bag to tickle our taste buds at the end of every summer. An interesting new addition (though not necessarily new to this year) is the taco in a bag, which much like the hamburger in a bag, is ground beef, tomatoes, salsa and other taco condiments mixed around in a bag of doritos.

The Food building itself has a lot of history within it’s walls. It’s one of the few buildings that has been around for decades which hasn’t changed too much. It’s a practical use of space, but at the same time, you’ll spend almost as much time trying to find a seat to sit than you will figuring out what to eat from the dozens of food vendors in there.

The most interesting addition to the Food building this year is the Mac & Cheesery. For less than $8, you’re given 5 different choices of how you want to eat your mac & cheese, from a breakfast plate with eggs and bacon up to an interesting but classic hot doc mac. Not to out perform the deep fried butter balls, the Mac & Cheesery also offers Deep Fried Mac “N” Cheese for just $5 bucks. And if you’re like my good friend Ashley who raves for a good grilled cheese, they also offer a few different Grilled Cheese platters starting at $6 bucks. Sadly, they only offer potato chips with the grilled cheeses as opposed to actual fries.

Aside from the Mac & Cheesery, all our old favorites are there from the Montreal smoked meat delis to the chinese food options. Bouchards Poutinery has returned (though I can’t remember if they were under a different name last year) with all their interesting poutine options. I do have to say that I miss the big chocolate and candy stand they used to have in the centre of the food building where for a mere $8, you could get a bag full of your favorite convenience store candies worth about $20.

One interesting thing I’ve been noticing over the years is the prominence of Coca-Cola’s branding over the fair grounds. It seems like all the food vendors have to agree to only sell Coke products which is too bad because I’m more of a Pepsi guy.

Outside of the food building, there are a few great and interesting options around the fair grounds. Most of them appear to be inside the trade buildings with my personal favorite being the British food stand. They always seem to have the most interesting potato chips there.. Prawn Cocktail chips, anyone?

One interesting stand that I found would have to be the Animal Fudge Apple stand which contained a huge case filled with different fudge coated candy apples shaped in some of our favorite animals such as pandas, pigs, frogs, and monkeys.

If you’ve been to the CNE last year, then I can’t say you’ll be seeing anything different and new this year. Though I head to the CNE yearly to try and recapture a piece of nostalgia, the fact is it’s changed from what it was 20, 30, even 80 years ago, and many of my fellow peers agree that it will never be what it used to be.

Thankfully though, a lot of my nostalgia of the CNE revolves around such foods as the Tiny Tom Donuts, and I’m grateful that they will always be there year after year (even if I didn’t buy them this year). If you haven’t been to the CNE before, then it might be worth your $15 to go and check it out, otherwise I’d spend the entrance fee on a good meal at Kensington Market which has more cultural market appeal without the admission cost.

I’ve always wanted to try first class on an airplane.  My friend Kate once regaled me with her adventures in the sky flying first class from Australia.  She was pampered with unlimited wine, a first class meal, a chair that automatically converts into a bed, and a complimentary massage.  I can’t really fathom shelling out triple or more beyond the economy price just to fly in style.  Heck, it’s more about the destination than the actual journey in some cases.

That said, in April VIA Rail had a promotional sale where you could go to Montreal, Ottawa, or anywhere else nearby and save up to 60% off.  So for pretty much the price of a regular economy ticket, I was able to snag a ticket in VIA’s Business Class (formerly known as Via 1 Class) for my trip to Montreal this past June.  Right when you first arrive to the station, you’ll notice the difference in classes right away.  First, you get access to the Via Rail Panorama lounge which is a waiting area that has complimentary wifi, free coffee, tea and drinks contained inside of a mini fridge, and sometimes the odd snack or two.  You can go up to about an hour before your train departs but on the way back from Montreal I went in about two hours before my departure and had no problems.  I think the sweet part of the lounge deal is that you get to sit on a nice chair before you leave and you don’t have to worry about lining up.

About an hour into your journey, you’ll be given a menu where you get to choose your main course.  The selection usually includes meat, fish, or some alternative.  I do believe they have a vegetarian option but you may need to request it in advance.  For my return trip, I chose the turkey served with mashed squash.

Before your food arrives, you’re given a small bag of pretzels or “urban mix” which is pretty much just salty chip.  Much like in airplanes, they usually serve a few salty snacks before they start serving drinks so that the alcohol doesn’t hit you as hard if you have an empty stomach.

When the food arrives, you’re first given a finely chilled tray with your dessert and appetizer on it.  That day’s dessert was sort of a mango pudding pie which was quite excellent.  The mango filling was nice and puree’d and didn’t appear to be instant pie mix.  I usually eat my dessert after my main course so it was difficult to abstain myself from eating the pie before my dinner came.  It just kept staring at me with those mango chunks on top saying “eat me”.

The appetizer was roast beef and potato salad with bacon chunks in it.  The dressing was a little on the weak and bland side but at least the potatoes were thoroughly cooked.  To be honest, I like my potato salad to be nice and mayonnaise’d up, so I’m sure people who aren’t as accustomed to over-flavoured salads would fine this one to have just the right balance of flavour.  The roast beef was excellent.  Not chewy at all and had a nice beef gravy on top of it.

The main course comes about half an hour later after they’ve refilled your drinks and taken away the appetizer plates.  The plates come piping hot like they were freshly made (or freshly reheated given the amount of space on these trains).  The turkey was nice and soft, and literally melted in your mouth.  I’m actually surprised because given that this meal was probably prepared hours earlier, it was actually like something you’d get from a nice downtown restaurant.

I would recommend trying out the VIA business class experience at least once.  Given the usual high price of it, I wouldn’t recommend taking it both ways if you’re as cheap as me, but it is a nice way to end your long trip so I do recommend you take it on your way back so you can relax and have a nice meal on the way home.

Over the past few years, I’ve had the opportunity to visit many different cities across many different continents and oceans. I’m always curious about food from local places around different cities, and sometimes I’m even inclined to see how different the menu is at McDonald’s in China. So begins the first of my very own Foodventures on T.O.bites. Could I haven come up with a better cliche? Probably not.

I spent the past week in New York City, or Manhattan if you want to narrow it down. I’ve had the pleasure of being to Manhattan before, but this is the first time I’ve gone knowing that I can update my food blog when I return. During my hunt for an iPad (yes, they were sold out practically everywhere) and lining up in the standby lines for performances, I walked the streets of New York looking for that special place that New Yorkers proudly call their own Fran’s (or Caplansky’s, or Canoe’s, or Terroni… do you see where I’m getting with this?) Unfortunately, I can’t say I ever found out, but most midtown working New Yorkers swear by their hot dog stands.

Craving a hot dog, I came across a place not far from the NYU campus sitting on Bleecker St called New York Hotdog & Coffee. It’s not the blending of hot dogs and coffee that stands out. It’s the fact that they add bulgogi on top of your dog!

It’s a Korean run hot dog store where not only do you have the choice of bulgogi, but you can also put BBQ chicken, and even kimchi on top of your dog. Add $2 and you get your choice of fries, chips, or frozen yogurt with a drink. It’s amazing how something so simple as adding Korean meat on top of your dog can make it so great. I ordered the fries with my dog, but I’m going to say that you’d probably be better off going with the frozen yogurt. The fries were incredibly greasy but had a sand-like texture from the potatoes in the middle.

The next stop is a restaurant that’s right at home on Broadway by Times Square.  Fitting to it’s location, Ellen’s Stardust features singing waitstaff who are more than eager to serve and serenade you with their chords.  If you thought the singing cooks and cashiers at Lick’s was overdone, then you may want to visit Stardust with an open mind.  The staff each take turns belting out a tune as they walk around the place.  It’s actually quite in your face, but that’s what makes it enjoyable.  On the downside, if you want a glass a water and it’s your server’s turn to sing, you’re going to have to wait until after the song.

I read in a local magazine that the meatloaf at Ellen’s is pretty decent so I decided to try it myself.  I like that it was served with broccoli as a side.  I grow tired of places that serve meatloaf with carrots so seeing some green veggies was a nice surprise.  The meatloaf had gravy all over it which added to the taste.  It wasn’t the best meatloaf ever (as that title goes to Sara’s homemade meatloaf) but it was pretty decent.  It also came with a side of mashed potatoes which were real potatoes, not the dehydrated boxed kind.

On my last night, I was going to be around the upper west side area of Manhattan to see a performance at Juilliard.  I made a request at a local forum to see where students who attending Juilliard usually go to eat, and the majority of them agreed that Ollie’s Noodle Shop and Grille was the place to check out.  When you first enter Ollie’s, you’re in the take out seating area which resembles a food court cafeteria.  It’s there for those who just want to pay for their food, eat it, and quickly head back out again.  Oddly, there was a wall inside there with about 15+ bicycles parked there.  Since when I went, the place appeared to be somewhat dead, I’m guessing the bicycles must have been owned by the staff.

Around the back is the dine in area which is also quite huge and fancy.  I was told that the orange chicken was the best thing to order.  There was a selection of a few dim sum plates, but it was a tiny selection compared to the dim sum we have here in Toronto (literally just a few BBQ buns and tapioca pudding.  Darn, no mango pudding.)  The orange chicken was not bad at all.  It was sweet but had a nice spicy kick to it, much like the popular General Tao’s Chicken of Not Just Noodles.  Everything else was a little lacking compared to the excellent chinese restaurants we have in our downtown chinatown.

I can hear your questions already so I plan to address them now:

1.  Yes, I did get an iPad.  I was hinted off from an employee that there *might* be a shipment coming in a few hours, so low and behold, they had iPads.  I arrived back just in time too as they only had a few left out of 200+ that they received merely a few hours ago.  These things are flying off the shelves in the US and with good reason; they’re great.  Infact, 80% of the above post was typed out on said iPad during the trip home.

2. Yes, there are Tim Horton’s in New York.  They’re not as established there as they are in Toronto, but they are there, and they are expanding as I walked by a few places that were under renovation with a “Tim Horton’s coming soon” sign on them.  They’ve got the same things we’ve got here in Canada but there didn’t appear to be any rolling up of the rims.  I doubt they’ll ever take over the Starbucks’ that sit on every corner, but Tim’s and Bucks are the apples and oranges of the coffee world but I do think Dunkin Donuts has some heavy competition moving in.

3. No!  I did not eat the Double Down sandwich from KFC.  They were launched the day after I arrived and I saw people ordering them but I believe it was more for the novelty of trying it out than anything else. Ok. I’m going to say it.  Double Down is one of the many reasons why companies like Jenny Craig still exist.  There, I said it.