T.O.bites | Toronto Food & Restaurant Blog

The Counter is a relatively new 24-hour diner located just outside of the entertainment district downtown, right at the base of the Thompson Hotel.  I’m fairly ambivalent towards 24-hour diners in Toronto thanks to having a few bad experiences at Fran’s over the past few years, but how does The Counter stack up against its competition?  Well if having to pay $5 more per entree than any other diner doesn’t scare you away, then you may be surprised by how good the food is.  On the other hand, the decor gives off a pretentious vibe, and the menu is a little lacking in options.  Also, who has ever paid $12 for a slice of pie?!  Maybe $12 for a whole pie but just a slice?  Ouch!

We ordered a Reuben sandwich with onion rings, a chicken club sandwich with poutine, and fried chicken wings with mashed potatoes.  And for an appetizer, we all shared a spinach and artichoke dip.  One thing to note that by default, the side options are fries, onion rings, or salad.  The poutine cost an extra $2, while we originally were offered a side of mac & cheese, but unfortunately it cost an extra $4.  A steep price difference to replace a side.

The spinach and artichoke dip was enjoyed by all and came with some crispy lavish for dipping.  It was nice and cheesy but our only gripe about it was that it was a little bit too runny which made it hard to keep on the lavish while dipping.

The pastrami reuben was done really well, it was nice and moist and each bite filled your mouth with the excellent spices contained within the meat.  Unfortunately, it didn’t come with pickles on the side, but when we asked, were given a few.  I was told to make note specifically that we were not given just one single pickle, but were given a few on a plate, and this made us happy.

The onion rings that came with the reuben were nice and crispy, done in their own special buttermilk batter.

The chicken club sandwich was stacked with tomatoes, lettuce, three pieces of bread, two pieces of grilled chicken breast, and bacon.  It was probably one of the best clubs I’ve had in ages.  The poutine, on the other hand, was a little lackluster.  They didn’t use cheese curds in it (just a random sprinkling of mozzarella here and there), and the gravy wasn’t as plentiful.

The fried chicken wings use the same buttermilk batter as the onion rings which is nice and crispy.  On the other hand, the batter slides off the chicken too easily, making it feel like it’s a completely separate component of the chicken — almost like there was no skin to begin with.  Another down side is that the batter, although nice and crispy, is a little bland and lacks any sort of seasoning.  This works great for the onion rings which already come with the strong flavour of fried onions already, but not so great for the chicken, which could use a healthy dose of herb and spices.

The mashed potatoes that came with the chicken was most excellent though it contained tons of butter.  But the sprinkling of cheddar on the top is what really made it special.

Even though The Counter lacked decent dessert options, we were all pleased with our meals, but were saddened that it doesn’t have a more central downtown location, especially for a 24-hour place.  I understand that a lot of people will wander out of the clubs (and the Thompson Hotel) and seek late night comfort food at The Counter, but it would be nice if they opened up another location closer to Yonge St.  The service was great though and our waiter was incredibly attentive to our needs, constantly keeping our glasses of water full.  I would definitely choose The Counter over Fran’s any day for a 4AM meal, but I can’t say I’d recommend it otherwise.

The giant mural of a train on the side of the restaurant is sure to get a few groans along with the ironic name of the diner, but if you actually step inside the front door, you’ll quickly see that this bustling little diner’s train theme actually works quite well for itself without getting too tacky.

The scene of some Canadian mountains is displayed right next to the booths lined up against the wall, acting as a faux outside window of the mock train you’re sitting in.  It’s a bit tacky, but it works.

I was told the best thing to order at Chew’s would be the Conductor’s special, but I wasn’t feeling like breakfast today so I went with the standard diner fare of cheese burger and fries.  We also ordered a hot hamburger chicken plate also with fries.

The burger was quite good and came piled with lettuce, tomatoes, and onions.  The bun was nice and grilled too (I hate floppy untoasted burger buns as they got soggy right away).  The side of coleslaw was really good with shredded veggies in it, and it wasn’t too tangy, just right.  The fries were quite excellent and still had the potato skins on which is exactly how fries should be.

The hot hamburger chicken was smothered in some nice beef gravy and sat atop a piece of texas toast bread.  It also came with some fries and some nice steamed vegetables which included broccoli and carrots.  I don’t think I’ve ever had a “hot hamburger” reviewed or mentioned on this site before, so if you’re not familiar with it and are wondering why it doesn’t look like my cheeseburger, that’s because hot hamburgers are just meat on a piece of a bread with gravy on top.  I was slightly confused the first time I ordered one years ago at Dangerous Dan’s diner and wondered where my hamburger bun was.  The waiter explained to me that hot hamburger plates is an idea that comes from the southern US and incorporates a hamburger patty placed on a piece of bread and covered in gravy.  Wikipedia tells me that it’s “occasionally compared to the poutine” if that helps at all… that statement actually allows me to revel in my state of food confusion, but hey, it’s still great food.

Chew’s is a great addition to the Cabbagetown restaurants and I do plan on going back some day and trying the conductor’s special.  One of the great things about this diner is it’s open concept kitchen area.  I know there’s a great deal of older restaurants that have their cooking area right out in the front, but I just think it’s great that you can see your food being cooked while you wait.  Thank goodness they didn’t make their staff wear conductor uniforms.

I first went to the Tulip back in 1996 and it was great back then.  Thankfully, not much has changed aside from moving two doors down about a decade ago.  The Tulip Steakhouse sits on the edge of Leslieville bordering the Beach area (also known as “the Beaches” if you’ve lived there before the name change years ago).  I do have to confess though that even though the Tulip is known for it’s excellent yet low cost steaks, I have never tried one before even though I used to go there almost weekly when I was younger.  Even to this day, I would still much prefer a cheeseburger over their renown steaks.

Their burger patties are hand made and have bits of onion and other lovely things inside of it that give it such great flavour.  The buns they use are always nice and big but are never bigger than the patty.  The best part about the buns is that they grill them a bit giving the insides a bit of a crunch factor.  It comes with a slice of tomato and a thick slice of onion.  Always and always will.  The coleslaw that comes with the burger is great too.  It’s none of that frozen kind that most other greasy spoons serve, it’s actually quite nice and usually pretty fresh.  Now the home fries… mmm home fries.  I always get random cravings for Tulip’s homefries because they are some of the best around town.  They’re nice and soft in the middle and always crunchy on the outside.  Plus, I love all the crunchy small bits that come with it too.  Their homefries have changed a bit since I first went there, as they used to be grilled with onion bits but they’ve since removed them.

Their breakfast is also a great plate of awesomeness.  For just under $5 (yep you heard me, $5 smackeroos!) you get all that in the photo.  Home fries, toast, sausage (or peameal bacon or regular bacon), and eggs.  The breakfast is great because it’s cheap for a lot of food and served all day except for the pancakes which are only served until 4:00pm.

The Tulip is one of my personal top favorite restaurants in the city and it’s always nice to have a place that I can go to which has all the comfort food I’ve grown to love.  Though the service has somewhat gone downhill over the years, the food is still excellent and they always give you a huge amount for a low price.  And if you’re not too full from the main course, you need to try some of their famous chocolate cake or coconut cream pie.  Make sure if you do go that you choose the homefries over the french fries.  I can’t stress enough how good they are.

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. (more…)