Inside Coffee Culture

Local coffee chains are sort of given a bad reputation.  I’m not talking about Tim Hortons, but looking more towards Coffee Time and Urbana (Urban Chic, Urban Cool, Urban You… need I say more?).  So when I first heard about Coffee Culture, a new chain which started in back in 2006 in Woodstock, I just dismissed it like everyone else.  Then I was told “they’ve got free wi-fi and lots of plugs!” but so does every other ma and pa cafe.  Then I was told “they’ve actually got good cheap food too!” and with that I was sold.  On a side note, their US website completely leaves out the fact that they’re Canadian!  Of course, it’s not that hard to find out where they originated from, but just odd that they left it out.

Coffee Culture sits near the intersection of College and Bathurst, right at the edge of Little Italy.  It’s a busy little cafe and has an overall great ambiance, much like that of a European cafe.  The floating LCD TVs piping CP24 give you somewhere to stare off to when your date-from-hell turns to ice.  Now that I think about it, wouldn’t Starbucks be that much better (and local) if they too hung televisions from the ceiling and aired CP24?  I guess not.  Like Mama always said, “Television rots your brain!”, it also kills conversation.  Thankfully, at least on the day I went, the TVs lacked any sort of volume and were more there for the visual aspect.

Mmmm Butternut Squash soup

Now onto the food.  They had a special going on that day – for just shy of $7 you get a soup, any sandwich of your choice, and a bottled water.  I choose the minestrone soup while Antony had the butternut squash.  We both went with the roast beef and cheddar sandwiches.  The sandwiches themselves were great, grilled with a panini press.  I’m starting to learn that the most plain sandwiches become the best sandwiches in the world once they’re shoved in a panini press.  I absolutely love how they get these nice crisp ridges in the bread.  Bread aside (I’ve got to get me a panini press.  Hey, my birthday is coming up soon too), the roast beef and cheddar was nicely done, garnished with a slice of lettuce and tomatoes.  There wasn’t anything special about the roastbeef though.  It was just your standard cold-cut meat, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t taste great.

Roast Beef and Cheddar Sandwich and Minestrone Soup

The soups were surprisingly good.  I have to say, I’ve never had butternut squash as good as the one these guys serve.  I’m not sure if they actually make it there themselves, or if it’s prepackaged, but whatever it is – it’s awesome!  There’s a hint of cinnamon in it too, so it gives your tongue a happy.  I’m planning to return there soon just to get some more butternut squash soup pending they are serving it that day.  The minestrone was also incredibly good and had tons of vegetables in it.  The broth was great too, not too salty and not too water-y.  I would also recommend it too!

Hooray for places that open late!

Oh and did I mention this place also has free wi-fi, and a decent amount of plugs?  Not to mention the front booth tables are really comfy.  They made my 5 hour study session quite comfortable.  I also had a piece of strawberry mouse cake, which was fricken huge!  Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of it.  It wasn’t the best mousse cake I’ve had, but it was also far from bad.  I highly recommend this place if you’re ever in the area, and it’s also a great place to study at too if you’re looking for an alternative from Golden Griddle, which I’ve noticed is getting a lot students now.  Coffee Culture is open until midnight (or 1am on weekends).  It doesn’t quite qualify for the late night study places, but it’s not a bad alternative.

Average Price: $4 – $8 per entree
Hours: Sun-Wed 6:30am – Midnight, Thurs – Sat 6:30am – 1:00am
Address: 409 College St
Phone: 416-868-9078?
TTC Directions: Hop on the College streetcar and head towards Bathurst.  Hop off at Bathurst and College and walk half a block east on the south side of College.

Caplansky's sky blue sign

There’s a few things I have to point out before I get started on my review.  My friends and I went to Caplansky’s new location on College street right on their opening weekend which was during labour day weekend 2009.  They were still trying to get a few things right, and a few of the things we ordered were sold out.  That said, the owner was there that night and did sit down to chat with us and ask us how we felt so we were honest, and everything said in this review has also been told to the owner.  Even though Caplansky’s is at a new location, the owner has been running the previous restaurant at the Monarch Tavern for about a year, and is very eager to please.  What also makes this restaurant unique is Caplansky runs a blog detailing his ordeal with running a restaurant which has been really interesting to read and I look forward to his updates.

When I think of the strip of College between Spadina and Bathurst, the first thing that springs to my mind are cheaply and competitive computer stores.  Recently nestled among the heart of this computer store strip right near Little Italy sits a white and sky blue deli by the name of Caplansky’s.  It recently opened yesterday (labour day weekend) and Sara, Antony, and myself decided to go check it out.

The deli was bustling with tons of patrons, waiting eagerly to check out what this new deli has to offer. The staff of about a dozen or more were quickly buzzing around taking and delivering orders.  The paper menus are laid across the tables as place mats, allowing you to check out the menu the second you sit down (and allowing them to adjust their prices every time they order a new batch of paper place mats).  The menu features such Jewish deli favorites as matzoh ball soup, knish, and kishke.

Coleslaw

Sara went ahead and ordered a smoked meat sandwich on rye, with matzoh ball soup, and coleslaw.  I also ordered a smoked meat sandwich, but had a smoked meat poutine as my side.  The sandwiches come in fatty, medium, and lean.  Lean tends to be more dry so I went with medium and Sara with fatty.  Antony went to order the smoked meat hash but was told they were out of it.  So he went ahead and ordered the “Special” which comes with three eggs, smoked beef bacon, latkes, and toast.  Unfortunately they were out of latkes, so he had it replaced with a poutine instead.  Sara asked for some pickles (a deli favorite) and they were sold out of those as well.  Yes, we know, opening weekend hiccups, but I did take note to mention it to the owner.

Smoked Meat Poutine

Our poutines, coleslaw, and soup all arrived quickly enough.  Antony’s poutine came on the side as well so it was delivered before his meal came.  The poutines were okay with beef gravy, chunks of smoked meat and a fair amount of cheese on them.  I wouldn’t say they were the best though as the best smoked meat poutine I’ve ever had came from Montreal, but it wasn’t too bad and I’m glad there’s a place in Toronto that now has decent putine.  Sara’s coleslaw was a little too dry, but that’s good for Sara as she prefers the dry coleslaw over the moist wet kind.  I prefer my coleslaw to be soaked in mayonnaise, and for my own personals tastes, the coleslaw wasn’t so great.  Now as for the matzoh ball soup, it was a little on the bland side, almost like there was too much water in the broth.  I was expecting more than one matzoh ball, but Sara wasn’t as shocked.  Sara has claimed in the past that she hasn’t found a place in Toronto that has matzoh ball soup that’s comparable to the good stuff she’s had in New York.  After eating the soup at Caplansky’s, her claim still remains.

matzoh ball soup

After about 10 minutes, Antony’s special came, and voila, with fries.  Of course after consuming all that poutine, Antony didn’t bother eating the plain fries.  He said the beef bacon was good, had a bit of a crisp on the outside, and was chewy all around.  He asked for his eggs to be done over easy, but the were more cooked then what you’d usually get, with no liquid remaining inside the yolk.

the special

10 more minutes later, our sandwiches arrived.  Yes, it took 20 minutes from the poutines and soup until our sandwiches arrived.  I have no idea how they took 20 minutes to make as we sat right next to the sandwich counter and all these guys have to do is slice meat, stick it on some bread, and serve.  So how was the smoked meat?  It was okay but a little bit too dry.  I generally love smoked meat.  I think Mel’s, up in the Annex, had some of the best smoked meat the city had to offer.  I also worked at a deli for a few years where we served smoked meat so I know how good smoked meat should feel and taste, but unfortunately, dry and crumbly isn’t it.  The smoked meat did have a nice hint of smokey flavor in it though.  It was actually kind of a unique smokey taste that I haven’t had before, almost like it was smoked on pine wood.  This did help salvage the overall experience of the dry sandwich.  What also was really good was the side set of condiments that came with the sandwich which included my favorite, honey mustard.

smoked meat sandwich

The owner, Zane, did come and sit down with us and we discussed with him how we felt about the food.  He shows good initiative as an owner and I believe if you give him feedback, he will do his best to accommodate you.  He removed Antony’s special right off of the bill due to his eggs not being prepared the way he asked, but he also persuaded us to try a slice of cheesecake topped with blueberries.  The cheesecake wasn’t too bad, and had a very homemade feel to it.  It wasn’t really to my liking though as it felt more crumbly like a dry pastry than a soft bakery cheesecake.  On the other hand, the blueberry topping was really excellent and we could also tell it too was homemade.

Blueberry cheesecake

Between the three of us, we have mixed feelings about Caplansky’s.  I’ve had better smoked meat sandwiches, but there aren’t too many great places in Toronto that I’ve had them at.  I’ve heard recently that Caplansky’s smoked meat is still a bit on the dry side, but if I ever hear that they’ve fixed the problem, I wouldn’t mind giving them another try and adding to the review.

Average Price: $8 – $12 per entree
Hours: Sun-Wed: 10:00am – 11:00pm, Thur-Sat: 10:00am – 2:00am
Address: 356 College St
Phone: 416-500-3852
TTC Directions: Hop onto the College Streetcar and get off just west of Spadina
Website: http://caplanskysdeli.com