I’ve been wanting to check out Lola’s Commissary for a while now, especially after reading about the “sexy potatoes” at Foodhogger.  Their weekend brunch menu was quite enticing: Cheesecake Stuffed French Toast, Egg White Frittata, Eggsmopolitan… all really excellent sounding.

Lola’s sits just south of Bloor on Church street in an old Victorian house.  A sign just before the staircase on the first floor points out that the steps are a little crooked and you should be careful when ascending them, but hey, that’s what gives the house great character along with the paintings strung up around the front dining area.

Peach Iced Tea sweetened with Maple Syrup

There was such an awesome selection of iced teas (some sweetened with maple syrup) ranging from peach to chai.  If I could remember them all, I’d list them here, but all I can remember is the peach iced tea since it’s the one I ordered.  The maple syrup really brings out the flavour of the peach in the tea and I highly recommend trying out one of the iced teas offered that are sweetened by it.

I craved the cheesecake french toast.  Alas, I refrained, because it’s a huge plate of carbs, but we did ask to find out what it was exactly.  It’s a puree’d slice of cheese cake that’s put in between two pieces of bread and done up like french toast.  Instead, I ended up going with the second most interesting sounding item on the menu – the kitchen sink.

The kitchen sink (and someone wanting to try their sexy potatoes)

The kitchen sink is described as “lots of lovely bits, scrambled eggs, cheese, toast” mind you the toast is on the side, not in the eggs.  As for those “lovely bits”, they turned out to be spinach, tomato, and possibly bacon and a few other things I couldn’t really make out.  That’s why pictures speak a thousand words.  It was quite wonderful tasting, like an amazing mash up of everything brunch.  It was a little bit runny though so those with food texture issues may want to pass on this one.

The Eggs Lola

We also ordered the Eggs Lola which was poached eggs and pulled ancho chicken on a tortilla with a side of avocado.  The ancho chicken tastes quite nice with the added flavourings on it.  One small complaint was the tortilla underneath was a bit hard, possibly from overcooking but since they’re so thin, I imagine they get hard quite fast.

Ancho Chicken Wrap

We also grabbed an ancho chicken wrap which is the same chicken from the Eggs Lola but inside of a wrap.  Each of our brunch orders came with a choice of a side of frites, sexy potatoes, or a salad.  All three of us decided on sexy potatoes (we couldn’t pass up trying them out thanks in part to the name).  The sexy potatoes are a mix of sweet potato bits with regular home style fries.  It’s great to have a mix of those two potatoes together as I love ordering sweet potato fries but often get sick of them after a few fries, so have both together was quite nice.  One small complaint was that although they were cooked and were quite browned on the outside, they were still a little soft and didn’t really have much of a crunch or crisp to them.  They were still quite good though.

I’m looking forward to returning to Lola’s again soon and will be bringing a few friends along who want to share a Cheesecake Stuffed French Toast with me.  I’ll feel a little less guilty if I’m sharing it.

Gourmet Burger Company

I sort of have a love-hate relationship with the whole concept behind gourmet burger joints.  I mean, if a burger can become gourmet, then why can’t a place just shove a few extra toppings, such as goat cheese, on a pizza and make it gourmet too?  Oh wait, they already have that, it’s called Pizzaiolo.

Love them or hate them, gourmet burger joints are popping up everywhere across our city.  The Gourmet Burger Company is sort of tucked away on Charles St, sitting right next to the well known 7 West Restaurant.  It also happens to be a 5 minute walk from another famous gourmet burger place, Craft Burger.

When you first walk into the GBC (as they dub themselves), you’re greeted with a 5 step menu.  You pick your burger meat, then the basic complimentary toppings, then the extra toppings (at $1.00 each), then you pick your side and your drink.

If you wanna skip the first three steps, you can go with their signature burger selection which may not be a bad idea if you’re not sure what kind of toppings you want.  Although they do charge for the extra toppings like cheese and bacon, I’ve got to say that I was quite surprised by their selection of complimentary toppings.  So much so that Antony didn’t know when to stop when he was picking all the toppings for his burger.  To give you an idea, they have caramelized onions, sauteed mushrooms, roasted garlic & dijon mustard-mayo.. the list goes on!

I went with the chicken burger, while Antony went with the beef burger.  Both come in at about $5.50-$5.95).  Antony had a bunch of toppings put on his including the above mentioned while I only had lettuce, pickles, and smokey chipotle honey-mayo.

Chicken burger

For the sides, you get a choice of homemade french fries, beer battered onion rings, sweet potato fries, and either a mixed organic greens salad or a caesar salad, any choice of 1 included in the combo, which is an extra $4.00.  Kind of steep I guess but it does include a pop or bottle of water.  You’re only saving .30 when you make it a combo.  We both went with sweet potato fries.

The burgers were both excellent.  I could tell they’re both made with high-grade meat.  Not to mention the toppings were nice a fresh.  Oh and the burgers were pretty huge themselves too.  Antony did feel that the house sauce (called the GBC sauce) was a little on the weak side though.  The burgers came on some fresh kaiser buns too.

Beef burger with caramelized onions and sauteed mushrooms

The fries were great too but they were both huge!  We could hardly finish them off but I like the fact that I left the place feeling filled and satisfied.  So to keep this short, I would definitely recommend the GBC to anyone who enjoys a good burger.  Without a doubt, I would pick them over Craft Burger any day!

Saigon Sister was popular?

If you want cheap eats near the Yonge/Bloor area, everyone knows (aside from fast food) that you’d just head over to Ginger.  Alternatively, you can now head across the street to Hue’s Kitchen, which is a lot like Ginger.  Well, I guess that’s probably because it’s owned by the same people.  Hue’s Kitchen offers pretty much the same stuff Vietnamese/Thai cuisine that you can get across the street for roughly the same price.  But they do have a few interesting additions to their menu.  They offer butter chicken, caramel chicken, and even breakfast.  But aside from a few sauce changes, it’s essentially the same stuff.

Antony, Tona, and myself decided to go check it out today and order a few different things from their menu that aren’t really offered at Ginger.  I went with butter chicken served with naan and mango chutney.  Antony went with the caramel chicken-mango, and Tona, decided to be brave and go with pad thai.  I say ‘brave’ because everyone knows that Ginger’s pad thai isn’t the greatest.  Actually, let me widen that statement — any pad thai in Toronto isn’t that greatest.  Why?  Because, everyone seems to use ketchup in it!  Sara is actually on an ongoing hunt to find a place that doesn’t use ketchup in their pad thai.

Caramel Chicken-Mango

Much like at Ginger, you’re given a numbered card stand to place on your table and wait for your food to be delivered.  first came Antony’s caramel chicken-mango.  First off, you may notice, it doesn’t really contain much “caramel” sauce on it.  It didn’t really have much of a taste to it at all, oddly enough.

Second up was my butter chicken.  The butter chicken uses the same pieces of chicken breast from every other meal on there, just that they’re smothered in butter chicken sauce.  The sauce also doesn’t really taste that much like butter chicken sauce, but more like a thai curry.  It was somewhat spicy.  But hey, where’s my mango chutney?!  I asked the cashier (as the flyer said “with mango chutney” while on the board up top, it made no mention of it) and she said that they removed it because of people not liking it that much.  I can see why since I can only remember eating mango chutney with crunchy papadum which this meal doesn’t have.  But the nice cashier brought me a side.  Oddly enough, it also lacked rice.  So you were just getting butter chicken with naan.  The problem is there’s way too much soupy sauce to not have this with some rice, so you have to spent an extra $1.50 for some rice with the meal.  Also, the butter chicken costs a staggering $9.50 while the other meals ranged from $6.50 to $7.50.  I think $8.50 or even $7.95 would be more reasonable for the cost of it, but I guess I’m just a bit of a penny pincher.

Butter Chicken and Naan

Tona’s pad thai was ketchup-ey, as expected.  I can’t say much more about it other than she wasn’t really a fan of it and found it to be a bit too greasy.  I’ve had pad thai a few times at Ginger and I think if they just took out the ketchup, it would make it a heck of a lot better.

So if you’re looking for a fast and cheap place for lunch near the Yonge and Bloor area, then go ahead and give Hue’s Kitchen a try.  I feel like they’re trying to go with more of a Spring Rolls type eat-in restaurant with the decor and design of the place but unfortunately the quality of the food just isn’t as high.

Average Price: $6 – $9 per entree
Hours: Opens at 7:30am for Breakfast (yes, breakfast)
Address: 774 Yonge St.
Phone: 416-967-0404
TTC Directions: Get off at Yonge/Bloor station, walk south half a block on the west side of Yonge

Time hasn’t really changed the prices that much, but it has changed my perception of quality over cost.  If you want a good burger that’s hand made and done on an open flame, then you’re going to have to shell out at least $10 big ones.  I’ve realized this over the years with buying burgers at pubs.  Infact, pubs seem to usually make the best burgers over any of the fast food crap that’s served.  But on the other hand, you are paying twice the price for them.

Now that the gourmet burger joint craze is starting to settle and become a welcomed group of restaurants among our city, I decided it’s about time I go and check one out.  I’ve been hearing a lot of things about Craft Burger from some friends and have been meaning to head up there for quite some time but I always get distracted by all the Korean and Japanese restaurants along the way.  Burgers aren’t the best thing you could eat so it’s usually pretty easy to go with Asian food instead.  But not today!

The chalk board menu

As you walk into the dark restaurant with a wood grain motif, you’ll notice the strong pungent smell of vinegar which makes sense given that they probably sell as many order of fries as they do burgers.  As you approach the back of the restaurant to place your order, you’re greeted with a huge  blackboard scrawled with burgers and prices.  It’s about $6 to $9 for each burger, and you can add a few dollars more to make it a combo (can of pop plus a side of fries or onion rings).  I went with a regular cheese burger and Antony went with a Lamb burger.  It’s interesting to note that each specialty burger isn’t just about the meat they use, but also about what they put it on it aside from the ingredients on the list in front of you.  For example, the Lamb burger comes with a cilantro and feta spread on it, while you can’t get this on any other burger.

Cheeseburger with a side of fries

After you order and pay, you’re given a little numbered card stand to place on your table so that your order can be delivered to you.  It didn’t take too long, only about 6 to 8  minutes or so for our order to come.  I can’t really comment much about my burger because the toppings you put on it are what make it or break it, really.  They’re hand made, and the meat is never frozen but kept fresh.  You can taste the quality of the meat in it but even though it was char broiled, it sort of lacked the taste of open flame one usually gets from having a burger cooked char broiled, but it was still pretty good.  One complaint I have about it though was that the bun wasn’t toasted at all.  I prefer to have my buns toasted (ha…ha…) and to have that option would’ve gave it a bit of a crunch factor.

Lamb burger with a poutine

Antony’s lamb burger had a very distinct after-taste of lamb, so beware, if you don’t like lamb then make sure you don’t order this burger.  Now, on the other hand, if you love lamb, then go for it!  The fries were great, sprinkled with sea salt.  All were crunchy on the outside and soft in the middle.  They were actually a lot like New York fries, even complete with the skin still on some bits – just the way I like them!

Overall, I was somewhat pleased with my Craft Burger experience, but I can’t say for sure if I’d be going back anytime soon.  The prices are somewhat reasonable and the quality is there, but I feel like I’m sitting in a wooden cave with uncomfortable chairs.  As sad as it is to admit it, if I had to choose, I’d probably still go back to Lick’s.  Even though their burgers are getting smaller and they’re getting stingier with the cheese, they still somehow manage to make the best burgers for your buck.

Average Price: $6 – $9 per burger, fries and drink extra
Hours: Mon-Thur 11am to 10pm, Fri 11am to 11pm, Sat 12pm-11pm, Sun 12pm-9pm
Address: 830 Yonge St.
Phone: 416-922-8585
TTC Directions: Get off at Yonge/Bloor Subway station, walk north on Yonge half a block on the west side of the street.

Le Pain Quiotidien at the corner of Yonge and Yorkville

Bread, bread, and more bread.  Bread means carbs.  Too many carbs are bad. Incase you haven’t noticed, I’m sort of going on a bit of a health kick lately so I was actually a little reluctant to go to a place known as “the daily bread”.  Fortunately, as noted a few times by Antony, there aren’t too many unhealthy selections at Le Pain Quotidien.  Infact over 90% of the menu, not counting the desserts, are actually healthy choices full of grains, fruits, and many other organic ingredients.  I’ve been told that they use local ingredients too though I don’t see anything on their website which confirms it.

the joint's quite hopping on a sunday afternoon

For our mid autumn brunch, Sara, Antony, and myself decided to head to LPQ (now I’ll say LPQ because an acronym looks better than Le Pain) up in the Yorkville area which is located a hop, skip, and jump from the subway Bloor subway entrance.  The place was bustling with patrons and staff, eagerly serving the Sunday brunch crowd.  It had a very nice rustic and cozy feel to the place, with wooden tables, and a wood-colour stained cement walls.  The restaurant also sported a bunch of chalk boards listing the specials up on a couple of walls, giving it a very french cafe feel.  They also had this one wall in the back area of the restaurant that had these giant metal items hanging on it which I could only describe as.. bicycle seats?

the awesome tea setup/the cold coffee and sorta hard but yummy croissant

For starters, Antony ordered a tea and Sara ordered a coffee, while I just stuck with coffee.  Antony noted that the tea setup was wonderfully done and came with traditional style french teacups.  Yes, he’s pompous about his tea and even what type of pot the hot water comes in.  On the other side of the table, Sara’s issue was that her coffee came in a pot which cools down too quickly, and would’ve preferred to have had the diner system, where waitresses come by every 10 minutes to refill your cup with hot coffee.  She also said her coffee was overly roasted.  We can thank Starbucks for this trend as they’ve trained everyone’s taste buds to prefer overly roasted coffee.

For our entrees, I went with the Rustic Tuna Sandwich which comes with bacon bits, cheese, and green onions.  Probably not the healthiest choice, but definitely sounded tasty.  Their soup of the day was butternut squash so, knowing my love for that soup, I had to order a small cup of it.  Sara went with an almond croissant to start, and a quiche lorraine as her entree.  Antony with a bowl of handcut oatmeal and berries served with non fat milk, and a fruit salad bowl on the side.

butternut squash soup

First let’s start with the butternut squash soup which came with a squirt of pesto oil on the top (thanks goes to Sara for identifying it for me).  Even though it’s a cream based one colour soup, you could easily taste an array of different types of vegetables within it’s creamy yet textured goodness.  But I’ll be honest, my first initial taste was a little disappointing.  This is mainly due to the fact that the last two butternut squash soups that I’ve tried have been loaded with brown sugar and gave it an excellent sweet taste.  LPQ’s soup didn’t really contain much sugar at all.  But after a few more spoonfuls of the soup, everyone agreed that it was awesome.

rustic tuna

As you can see in the photo, the rustic tuna sandwich is presented open faced with a few slices of tomatoes.  The collection of ingredients sitting on the nicely toasted and crunchy bread was quite good.  The tuna was nice and flaky and didn’t have much mayonnaise on it, which is a good thing.  The addition of bacon, green onions, and bit sof cheese added a nice touch and helped to dissipate the fishy taste which is usually present with tuna.  The downfall about this sandwich is that it was sort of difficult to eat.  It wasn’t exactly the easiest thing to pick up with your fork if you’re going to cut it and eat it, and it also wasn’t much fun to pick up with your fingers as the bread would absorb some of the moisture and collapse from your fingers.

Sarah’s almond croissant was a little on the hard side, but this could be due to the fact it was sitting in the dessert bar all morning before being consumed.  It did appear to contain a lot of butter, but what croissant doesn’t?  I didn’t try any of it but her and Antony both seemed to enjoy it.

the quiche lorraine

The quiche lorraine came along side a slice of bread, and a mesclun salad.  I had a bite of Sara’s quiche and it was nice and fluffy in the middle with an excellent flaky crust.  The mesclun salad is a nice healthy alternative to the usual garden salad, but in my own experience, it sort of churns my stomach after eating.  Maybe it’s due to the fact that I don’t eat enough organic greens, or it could be all in my head that I feel like I’m eating a houseplant rather than a salad.

the oatmeal.. looks smaller than it actually was

Antony’s oatmeal came with a nice assortment of blackberries and raspberries on the top.  But rather than add sugar in his oatmeal, he decided to start throwing in his fruit salad which contained the same berries but also had melon pieces and strawberries.  It was a pretty large bowl of oatmeal though, which he couldn’t completely finish.  Without the fruit added, the oatmeal tasted no different than the microwave oatmeal you’d buy at Loblaws, so I saw nothing special in calling it.  But I guess whether it’s handcut or not, it’s still going to taste the same.

Overall we had no complaints about our experience aside from the staff not coming to check on us as much as we’d like.  But this was a Sunday afternoon and the place was packed.  Not to mention that the table we were sat at was kind of in the corner and not completely accessible without playing hopscotch over the other patrons to get to us.  The price was a little up there though (just shy of $11 for my sandwich, and Sara’s quiche coming in at $12) but given the area it was pretty reasonable.  There are cheaper choices on the menu though, but we went with our stomachs, not our wallets.  I definitely look forward to returning to LPQ again in the future, and I recommend if you do go with a few friends, don’t hesitate to try the Organic Baker’s basket if it’s your first time checking the place out.  It’s well worth it and gives you a nice assortment of their different types of breads and spreads to try out.

Average Price: $6 – $12 per entree
Hours: Mon-Fri 7:30am – 7:30pm, Sat 8:00am – 7:30pm, Sun 8:00am – 6:00pm
Address: 10 Yorkville Ave (not 18 as listed on Urbanspoon)
Phone: 416-926-7555
TTC Directions: Get off at Yonge/Bloor station and exit out into Yonge street.  Walk two blocks north on the west side of Yonge until you reach Yorkville Ave.

New Yorker Deli

If you’re going to insert “New York” somewhere into the name of your restaurant, then you’ve got some big shoes to fill.  Does the New Yorker Deli live up to its name?

Sitting right up near Bay and Bloor, the New Yorker Deli caters mostly to the office crowd and probably gets the odd patron heading down from some high end shopping in Yorkville looking for a cheap eat outside of the ‘ville.  The deli was pretty busy on the Sunday afternoon when Antony and I decided to go check it out for brunch.  They do have an amazing breakfast deal for under $5 but unfortunately we weren’t early enough for that.

inside the New Yorker

Antony ordered the three eggs and hash special which came with toast and homefries.  I decided to order a burger with cheese.  Our food came pretty quickly, and we sat where we could see the front counter as the cooks prepared our meals.  Antony’s eggs came over easy, as asked.  The toast was nice and thick texas style toast which is the best toast for egg yolk dipping.  The meat hash wasn’t all that great, nothing too special.  No added spices or anything to give it a burst of flavor.  The home fries were you standard McCain frozen then deepfried variety, almost like the same ones you get from Frans Diner.

Eggs and meat hash

My burger was also the same mediocre patty you get from President’s Choice.  Actually, I think it was the same as those thick President’s Choice burgers, as they have a pretty unique gear-like shape, as did this thick burger.  Not saying using frozen supermarket burger patties are a bad thing, but they also lack imagination.  I prefer hand made burgers myself.  The bun was a great choice though, an onion bun, which you don’t see too often in Toronto.  The fries that came with my burger, shoestring, were actially a bit better than the home fries, as they weren’t nearly as potatoe’y in the middle.

Cheese burger

A note about the staff, we had a really great waiter serving us, but when he wasn’t present, we did ask the manager (I’m assuming she was the manager as she wasn’t dressed in the usual waiter uniform) for water as she walked by.  Instead of her getting it for us, which was right behind us, she snapped her fingers and told another waiter to grab us water.  Her hands were free and honestly, there was no excuse for her not to grab the water herself.  Antony wanted to add a comment about how she seemed like the type of manager who walks around and looks for stuff that has to be done, but gets everyone else to do it for her.  This creates a stressful environment for the staff and as patrons, we can feel it too.

Overall, the food was okay although most of it seemed to be frozen supermarket food rather than made from scratch. The price of it all was pretty cheap though considering the area, and service was quite fast. I’d definitely go back if I’m in the area for a cheap eat and not feeling up to shopping at the grocery store nearby.

Average Price: $6 – $10 per entree
Hours: Open 7 days a week [I'll get back to you on the actual hours when I find out]
Address: 1140 Bay St
Phone: 416-923-3354
TTC Directions: Get off at Bay Station, at the Bay Street exit, and walk south a block towards Charles St on the west side of Bay