I love buffets. Even the really bad ones.  I love that you can try out so many different things, get your food at your own pace, and eat til your buttons pop off your shirt.  There are, however, two major downsides to buffets: The food is made in huge batches and spends a while sitting under a hot lamp diminishing the quality, and I can never really eat enough food to justify the price tag of most buffets.  And, at $25 a head for sunday brunch, the Boiler House is a bit on the steep side.

However, the quality of the food is so superb that even at only eating one and a half plates, I felt satisfied at having spent my money at such an establishment.

There is a pretty wide variety of foods to consume at the buffet.  You have all your continental staples – fresh fruit, croissants, french toast, home fries, scrambled eggs.  But you also have some excellent additional choices such as shrimp cocktail, fresh slices of ham and roast, custom made omelettes, and fresh made belgian waffles.  All the food is kept warm (or cold) and is constantly replenished and kept fresh.

Service was excellent and even though we were located on the second floor tucked away in a corner, our servers were still quick to refill our coffee and collect our plates. To top everything else off, they had a live band performing during brunch too which really help to set the atmosphere.

On the downside, the condiments were tricky to find.  There aren’t any bottles of ketchup or syrup on your table and they’re way down by the other end of the buffet (no where near the french toast or home fries).  For some strange reason, when they’d refill our coffee, they’d only fill it 2/3rds of the way and we had to tell them to top it off.  I understand the need for space to add cream but it was a bit ridiculous.  The final downside is this place rarely ever accepts walkins for Sunday brunch.  You almost always have to book ahead a week in advance.

Over all, the Boiler House had been an excellent experience – one that has further whet my appetite for finer brunch buffets which I plan on scouting around for.

Le Petit Dejeuner (LPD) is tucked in right next to Gabby’s making it pretty easy to miss amidst the countless number of furniture stores adorning King street east.  But if you do happen to be near George Brown College’s downtown campus, be sure to check this little Belgian brunch spot out.

LPD has a very interesting brunch menu with such delights as an apple and brie panino, caramelized french toast, and authentic belgian waffles.  We decided to go with what we assumed most people would order; the Hungry Gal breakfast.  It comes with two eggs, toast, apple coleslaw, home fries (though the menu says potato rosti) and comes with a choice of bacon, sausage terrine, fishcakes, fruit salad, or peameal bacon.

One of ours was ordered with the fishcake, and the other with sausage terrine.  The food came relatively quickly, but I was a bit worried that there was no rosti.  Low and behold, underneath my toast was a sprinkling of home fries.  Is this their version of rosti?  Because if so, they’re not even close.  I sort of wish that the potatoes weren’t underneath my toast as it made my toast really soggy within a matter of minutes.  My second complaint was that the dishes never came with condiments as a default.  Ketchup and jam had to be requested and were put into mini side-bowls.

Back to the potatoes which aren’t rosti –  they were a little undercooked in the middle. but otherwise weren’t too bad. They could have be cooked for a little longer though to give them more of a crisp (and cook the middle).  The fishcakes weren’t too bad, but be warned, they do taste pretty fishy.  Sausage terrine, if you’ve never had it, looks like a cross between meatloaf and spam.  It wasn’t too bad, nice and flavourful, but a little on the dry side.  The apple coleslaw wasn’t all too bad though I couldn’t seem to find any apples in mine.  Perhaps the name was referring to the dressing?  It’s interesting to have a salad with a breakfast dish since they’re usually accompanied by fruit rather than vegetables.  The toast, like I mentioned earlier, was soggy.  Quite possibly from sitting atop the potatoes.  One thing we noted that the waitress never asked if he wanted brown, rye, or white.  I’m guessing brown is the default for this place (or possibly the only type of toast they have).

I would have like to have tried a few more things there.  Mainly the apple and brie panino.  I’m slightly indifferent as to how I feel about LPD.  There were some flaws with their food, but they weren’t bad enough to deter me from ever coming back.

The Annex; a chic, yet somtimes shunned, hot spot for the trendy undergrads and bearers of thick rimmed glasses sans prescription.  On that popular strip of Bloor street, where restaurants (and tea shops) come and go like night and day, sits quite a few choices for weekend brunch.  Unfortunately, with the closure of Mel’s a while back, most of the choices are rather limiting, unless you prefer to do sushi for lunch.  Thankfully, By The Way Cafe does have a rather decent lunch menu at an edible price.

For this particular brunch, we ordered an omelette, huevos divorelados, and eggs benedict.  If you’re a regular reader of this blog, I’m sure you can figure out who ordered the last ones.  Despite how buzzing the place was, service was generally pretty good there with a constant refilling of our water glasses and we received our plates generally quick.  One quip though was one of the waitresses was going about a round of clearing tables – not of dishes though, but the condiment trays.  Literally moments after we ordered, she had come by and wanted to take away our bowl of creams, sugars, and our holder of fine jellies, jams, and peanut butters.  We let her take the last two since none of us ordered any coffee or tea, but we told her we’d like to keep the jam holder to which her reply was “well you can take what you need then give it to me” which we told her we weren’t sure what we’d need yet since our food hasn’t arrived.  I’m not sure why she was in such a rush to clean off the tables of condiments as they were not getting in our way or anything.

Since we were pretty hungry, we also ordered an appetizer of apples with melted brie.  It was pretty decent although the brie wasn’t too strong and I felt they could have added a few more pieces of pita bread to the plate.

The huevos divorelados weren’t too bad though the only problem we felt with the dish was that the salsa had a very “chemically” taste, both the green and the red salsa.  Though, over all, it was pretty nice having both the red and the green salsa on one dish.

Italian sausage omelette

The Italian sausage omelette I had was a good choice (though I opted out on having jalapenos on it as per Sara’s recommendation that dill and jalapenos might not work so well together).  The sausage gave a nice bite to the dish though my only complaint would be that the ingredients of the omelette were all sort of clumped in the middle and not spread out through the entire egg.  The home fries were amazing, nice and crispy on the outside and soft in the middle.  Definitely made from scratch at this place.

The eggs benedict was also a great choice.  You may have noticed in the photos that the hollondaise sauce looks a little greener than you’d expect.  Mostly because this sauce has a sprinkling of dill and isn’t too rich like most sauces on eggs benedict are.  It was quite good and Sara mentioned that the sauce had a nice kick to it.

So, to conclude the jam drama, by the end of our meal we had used up seven jams.  Had we have chosen the amount of jams before seeing our meals, we would have each only taken one, then bothered the waitresses for more.  So folks, the lesson here is keep your jam tray handy!

Though we do consume our jams more than the average person would, it’s just more convenient having extra jams within arms reach when you need them.

Overall, I would recommend By The Way Cafe for a nice weekend brunch spot in the Annex.

Dr. Generosity’s would probably not be the first place you’d want to go to for Sunday brunch if you had a hangover. The place was packed of families with small children this morning. However, if you don’t mind the whining children, then you’ll be pleasantly surprised with how good Dr. G’s brunch is.

Each plate ranges from $10 to $12 (with the Steak being the only one that’s $15) and they also have a children’s selection for $7 a plate. We ordered Lisa’s Bloor West Village Special, Dr. G’s “Huevos Rancheros”, and the Classic Eggs Benedict. My first comment about the menu was that both the French Toast and Waffles came with meat in which Sara’s response was “Because he’s Dr. Generosity”.

One of the cool things, which also probably makes this a happening weekend brunch spot for families, is that all the tables are covered in brown drawing paper with a cup of crayons, much like Jack Astors. Unlike Jack Astors, you may want to refrain your friends from drawing male genitalia all over the table as this is a family restaurant. Another great thing about what’s on the tables is the big set of toast spreads: jam, marmalade, honey, and peanut butter.

Lisa’s Special contains kielbasa which is type of polish sausage that’s full of flavor (unlike the typical english sausages you get with brunch). They’re diced and mixed in the with the scrambled eggs and cream cheese. This is such an excellent dish as every bite is a bit different from the next. One bite you’ll get a full burst of some nice cream cheese while the next one may contain the nice smokey flavor of the sausage.

All of the meals we ordered came with home fries on the side. These home fries get a good high score in my book, though not as great as the tulips since they don’t have too many crispy bits, but they’re nice and flavoured. They’re also really soft on the inside too which ranks them in my top 5 for favourite home fries.

I did not hear a single complaint from Sara or Antony regarding their meals so the Rancheros and Eggs Benedict appear to be great choices as well. Sara especially enjoyed the clear glass mugs that they serve their tea and coffee in. One of the great things about the tea is that it comes steeped so you don’t have to wait for it to be ready when it comes to your table.

I highly recommend Dr. Generosity’s for brunch if you’re in the High Park Bloor West area. The prices aren’t too over the top, the service is efficient and friendly even during peak times, and above all the food is excellent.

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.

Last September, when Zelda’s closed and ran up Yonge street, people started to cry out that due to the rising cost in rent, the village was doomed to become a collection of high-end stale corporate chain shops and restaurants.  Heck, there was even a rumor that McDonald’s was going to take over the old Zelda location.  To make matters worse, Lettieri closed up shop a few months later and is now a Hero Burger.  Then Il Fornello decided to take off.  What’s going on?  Thankfully, there’s been a slight change in the doom and gloom of the neighbourhood: the Church St. Diner recently opened back up and a new comer, Chi-ko-roo, has taken up the space once formerly housed by Il Fornello.  I had the chance to sit down and have a bite to eat there just a few days after their opening.

Chi-ko-roo’s menu contains a huge collection of meals and food options to eat, so it usually takes a bit of time to decide what you want.  We decided to go with brunch for this visit, but I do plan on going back some day and trying something more dinner-like.  There hasn’t really been much of a change of the inside since Il Fornello left.  Infact, aside from the tables, everything else seems intact from when the Giannone Petricone Associates Architechs first redesigned the interior for Il Fornello.  But hey, if it’s still pretty then why destroy it?  One thing I noticed is that it’s a lot brighter in there, possibly a bit too bright.  It might not be a bad idea to change those 100 watt bulbs to something a little less bright.

You can still tell it used to be Il Fornello

After we placed our order, we were served with a basket of bread that had a side of different savory spreads.  One was hummus, the other was a mash of sun dried tomatoes, and the final one can only be described as some sort of garlic paste.  Not bad for a complimentary appetizer.  I hope this is something they do regularly and not just for the opening week.

the bread appetizer with three sides

One complaint I have (aside from the bright lights) is that our food took a bit of time to come to the table.  Perhaps that’s why we were given bread first.  It took roughly 30 minutes from when we placed our order until it was in front of us.  It could have just been opening week hiccups, but the place was hardly busy, so I wouldn’t recommend heading there for lunch if you’re on a 1 hour break.  Even though the kitchen is a tad bit slow, the wait staff is incredibly friendly and nice.  They’re also pretty prompt when serving you, but keep in mind, I was there during a slower time of the day.

french toast with berries

I ordered the french toast with berries.  It came with a little side of ice cream and a tiny jar of syrup.  Antony asked for a second jar of syrup (since I gave him two of my pieces of toast) and they had no problem giving us another one.  It’s kind of hard to tell in the photo, but these aren’t really your traditional slices of bread.  They were more like bricks of bread that were fried in egg batter.  Definitely different from the standard french toast, but also really good.  It had a nice light crunch on the outside with warm soft bread on the inside.  Now you put some of that ice cream on top of it and you’re in food heaven.  The fruit was also a nice touch, with a mix of blueberries and strawberries.  It made me feel less guilty about eating the fried fatty bricks of french toast.

three eggs

Antony ordered a traditional brunch/breakfast of 3 eggs, toast, hashbrown potatoes, and bacon – extra crispy.  It came with a slice of melon as a garnish.  The hash browns were amazingly good, nice and crispy.  Everything else was of the standard breakfast platter, and yes, his bacon did come crispy.

His favorite part of the meal was not so much the meal itself, but the huge case of jam, honey, and peanut butter that was brought to our table for his toast.  We have a pet peeve with places that give you one small jam when you’ve got 4 giant pieces of toast so this gives Chi-ko-roo a thumbs up in his book.

Chi-ko-roo is a great addition to the village which I highly recommend.  Their large portions of food will satisfy any appetite, and the cost of the meal won’t break your wallet.  But just make sure you’re not in a rush, though I hope kitchen service will improve in the future.