I went out for dinner tonight with the curling team to Spring Rolls. Somehow, my veggie/tofu satay pad thai was both greasy and a congealed heap of noodles. You would think that the grease would de-congeale it, but it did not appear to the be the case.
I'm not sure what the problem is., Ian is a regular eater of pad thai at East and Spring Rolls Front Street and has never had the same problem. It could just be the location?
Others has delicious looking chicken and seafood type items.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Ian's New Pet Lobster
I go away kayaking for the day and Ian gets a pet lobster.
Bluenose II & HTO Park
Bluenose II & HTO Park
Sneaky Dee's
As always, a good deal....
$10.00 for 48 oz pitcher of amsterdam brewery beer (including tax!).
Cheese & salsa nachos for $7.00 or so. Another $7.00 for 2 chicken tacos (with loads of chicken) + salad + beans + rice.
Total bill $30.00 including tax and tip!
I'm not saying this is the best tex-mex out there, but you cannot beat the price, quantity and efficient service! Plus if you have an important message that you would like to share with others, you can feel free to write it on the wall or table and no one will get mad at you.
$10.00 for 48 oz pitcher of amsterdam brewery beer (including tax!).
Cheese & salsa nachos for $7.00 or so. Another $7.00 for 2 chicken tacos (with loads of chicken) + salad + beans + rice.
Total bill $30.00 including tax and tip!
I'm not saying this is the best tex-mex out there, but you cannot beat the price, quantity and efficient service! Plus if you have an important message that you would like to share with others, you can feel free to write it on the wall or table and no one will get mad at you.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Casa Galicia
A co-worker and I went out for some dinner a week or two ago while in Montreal. We ventured over to Saint Denis and into Casa Galicia, a Spanish restaurant.
I skipped the appetizers and went straight for main course - veggie paella ($22). I know it's a bit wimpy and I really should have sausage & fish to fully enjoy the paella, but I was trying to avoid meat overload from the rest of my week of eating out.
The paella came in a cute mini pan. All the paella appeared to be the same and only the items on top changed. The rice was delicious, but the veggies a bit boring - some carrots and mystery starchy white veg.
My co-worker got a seafood, rabbit paella ($30). He really seemed to like the seafood, but I guess the rabbit was a bit tough.
The most pleasant surprise was end of the night when they told us that dessert & coffee was included in the paella price! Nice! I went with a moderately tasty Spanish cake & tea.
I would definitely go back to this place, although I was a bit disturbed by the lack of people for 7 to 8:30 on a Tuesday night! Besides us, there were 3 other people total in the whole joint. Perhaps Montrealers know something that we don't?
I skipped the appetizers and went straight for main course - veggie paella ($22). I know it's a bit wimpy and I really should have sausage & fish to fully enjoy the paella, but I was trying to avoid meat overload from the rest of my week of eating out.
The paella came in a cute mini pan. All the paella appeared to be the same and only the items on top changed. The rice was delicious, but the veggies a bit boring - some carrots and mystery starchy white veg.
My co-worker got a seafood, rabbit paella ($30). He really seemed to like the seafood, but I guess the rabbit was a bit tough.
The most pleasant surprise was end of the night when they told us that dessert & coffee was included in the paella price! Nice! I went with a moderately tasty Spanish cake & tea.
I would definitely go back to this place, although I was a bit disturbed by the lack of people for 7 to 8:30 on a Tuesday night! Besides us, there were 3 other people total in the whole joint. Perhaps Montrealers know something that we don't?
The Indian Buffets (Queen St)
The Indian buffet strip on Queen just east of McCaul is now home to higher prices. All the places, India Palace, Trimurti, etc have upped their prices to 10.99. That's unfortunately starting to exceed the grad student budget. Luckily, I won't be a grad student forever so maybe one day in the near future I'll be able to go back
Fox & Fiddle (Mississauga)
The Fox & Fiddle on Dundas & Winston Churchill is a pretty good happy hour deal (Monday through Friday 5-7). $5.00 pints of honey brown and tasty veggie and cheese half quesidallas for $5.50. An even better deal appears to be the chili cheese nachos for $7.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Caribbean Roti Palace (Bathurst near Bloor)
Our favorite roti hut in the T., although we frequent less now that we have moved out of the Annex. One sad note - the world's slowest, but nicest cashier is gone. Now, it is a new lady who seems only moderately nice, but she is indeed somewhat more efficient.
Some helpful advice for those wanting to take a bathroom break...
Ian likes the look of his boneless chicken ($7) and while I'm taking the picture, I am thinking that my channa masala/potato is looking good also ($5.25).
We are both somewhat wimpy - so it was hot sauce on the side. Ian felt that the hot sauce was burning his lips by just being in the proximity! Ha ha!
Some helpful advice for those wanting to take a bathroom break...
Ian likes the look of his boneless chicken ($7) and while I'm taking the picture, I am thinking that my channa masala/potato is looking good also ($5.25).We are both somewhat wimpy - so it was hot sauce on the side. Ian felt that the hot sauce was burning his lips by just being in the proximity! Ha ha!
The tasty innards...
Monday, June 16, 2008
The Missing Chains
I'm just back from a trip to California and the trip reminded me that there are a few food chains that are desperately needed in Toronto.
Burger Chains
Carl's Jr - I've long been a fan. I like their chicken burgers. The six buck burger isn't bad although I don't really get why the name is unchanged since the combo price these days is more than 6 bucks.
Burrito Chains
La Salsa, Baja Fresh, Una Mas - Bottom line, burritos are solid and we need more burrito chains in Toronto and Canada in general.
Grocery Chains
Trader Joe's - 1 buck clif bars, 2 buck chuck and so much more. They definitely need to come to Canada
Random's
El Pollo Loco - They do sell burritos but I don't consider them a burrito place because the focus is really on the chicken. You can't eat Swiss Chalet every night and so on those other nights the mexican version is definitely the way the go. I really like picking my tortilla style (flour or corn - corn of course). Random wikipedia reading also points out that the founder also started the Pescado Mojado fish chain. I've never been but with that guy's flare for names, it seems definitely worth checking out.
Burger Chains
Carl's Jr - I've long been a fan. I like their chicken burgers. The six buck burger isn't bad although I don't really get why the name is unchanged since the combo price these days is more than 6 bucks.
Burrito Chains
La Salsa, Baja Fresh, Una Mas - Bottom line, burritos are solid and we need more burrito chains in Toronto and Canada in general.
Grocery Chains
Trader Joe's - 1 buck clif bars, 2 buck chuck and so much more. They definitely need to come to Canada
Random's
El Pollo Loco - They do sell burritos but I don't consider them a burrito place because the focus is really on the chicken. You can't eat Swiss Chalet every night and so on those other nights the mexican version is definitely the way the go. I really like picking my tortilla style (flour or corn - corn of course). Random wikipedia reading also points out that the founder also started the Pescado Mojado fish chain. I've never been but with that guy's flare for names, it seems definitely worth checking out.
Thursday, June 05, 2008
Montreal
To try to get Janice blogging, I'll include this fancy picture that I'm sure she'll have to comment on.
Sorry for the poor quality, people seemed to be staring at me when I took the picture so I had to hustle it up.
Sorry for the poor quality, people seemed to be staring at me when I took the picture so I had to hustle it up.
Chez Ashton
On my way to the train station on Monday in the QC, I decided to stop for some fast foot Quebec style. I went to Chez Ashton's. The place was sort of bizarre with a very simple menu that seemed a little heavy on the poutine. They also had some deli meat items so I stuck with a classic, "Pain a la viande". It was basically a hot dog bun filled with ground beef, onions and ketchup. It was reaonably tasty but I don't think I'll be making a special trip to Quebec any time to pick some up.
Here's a picture of my combo
or "trio" as the locals say. I do like the french word for combo much more. I just wonder if it's a four item combo like say a happy meal (sandwich, fries, drink and dessert) what do they call it?
Here's a picture of my combo
or "trio" as the locals say. I do like the french word for combo much more. I just wonder if it's a four item combo like say a happy meal (sandwich, fries, drink and dessert) what do they call it?
Il Fornello Round 2
Round 1 didn't go that well, but the manager of the Il Fornello chain got in touch with Ian and I and sent a gift certificate to come and try them out again. That scored pretty high marks with us!
Things started well with it being warm enough to sit outside and enjoy the nice weather and boats on the lake. You really cannot beat this place for location in the summer time. Basically the rest of T. agrees with us! It was generally rather packed for a Thursday night.
Appetizer was some bruschetta - 4 slices of toasty bread with a humongous mound of tasty tomato, red onion, herbs etc. It would have been nice if our waiter could have brought some cutlery and napkins. Ian of course got a bit messy and had to wipe his hands on his socks. Looking back, we probably should have just waited for the waiter to come back so we could make our request for utensils...
Bread declined even further vs last time - this time absolutely none came. I guess on the positive side, we didn't have the oil/vinegar fiasco like last time.
Ian ordered some pizza on my recommendation - the sign out front said best pizza in TO. He went with the Pizza Pollo- obviously came with some chicken, but also had roasted garlic, red peppers and provolone cheese. This pizza may live up to it's billing as best in TO. Ian seemed reluctant to share with me, but the tiny piece I did snag was quite yummy.
On the advice of random internet people, I went with the arugula mushroom salad for my main course. It was shaped in a cute stacked up circle and had some grated cheese on top and sauteed mushrooms, red onion and tomatoes in there.
As per last time, the food came out extremely quick! It was very impressive!
We shared an all Ontario maple cheesecake for dessert. Ian liked the mild maple flavor. I liked the blueberry sauce on the side.
This place appears to be extremely popular - I think mainly due to the yummy-ness of the food for reasonable prices. If the service were improved - it would be a fantastic place!
Things started well with it being warm enough to sit outside and enjoy the nice weather and boats on the lake. You really cannot beat this place for location in the summer time. Basically the rest of T. agrees with us! It was generally rather packed for a Thursday night.
Appetizer was some bruschetta - 4 slices of toasty bread with a humongous mound of tasty tomato, red onion, herbs etc. It would have been nice if our waiter could have brought some cutlery and napkins. Ian of course got a bit messy and had to wipe his hands on his socks. Looking back, we probably should have just waited for the waiter to come back so we could make our request for utensils...
Bread declined even further vs last time - this time absolutely none came. I guess on the positive side, we didn't have the oil/vinegar fiasco like last time.
Ian ordered some pizza on my recommendation - the sign out front said best pizza in TO. He went with the Pizza Pollo- obviously came with some chicken, but also had roasted garlic, red peppers and provolone cheese. This pizza may live up to it's billing as best in TO. Ian seemed reluctant to share with me, but the tiny piece I did snag was quite yummy.
On the advice of random internet people, I went with the arugula mushroom salad for my main course. It was shaped in a cute stacked up circle and had some grated cheese on top and sauteed mushrooms, red onion and tomatoes in there.
As per last time, the food came out extremely quick! It was very impressive!
We shared an all Ontario maple cheesecake for dessert. Ian liked the mild maple flavor. I liked the blueberry sauce on the side.
This place appears to be extremely popular - I think mainly due to the yummy-ness of the food for reasonable prices. If the service were improved - it would be a fantastic place!
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Sugar Pie
While in the QC, I had two pieces of sugar pie. It's is as tasty as it sounds and appears ridiculously easy to make! It's apparently quite the Quebecois specialty and each family has their own special recipe.
Round 1 was straight up sugar pie goodness at the QC conference center. Nearly overwhelming sweetness, but not quite! Round two was during round #2 of Le Cochon Dingue with the co-workers. This version has berries. This cut the sweetness somewhat and enhanced the whole thing!
Here's a couple recipes & articles that I thought looked yummy & easy or interesting!
Bits & Bites Blog
Quebec is Cooking
NY Times Travel
Canadian Living Website
Round 1 was straight up sugar pie goodness at the QC conference center. Nearly overwhelming sweetness, but not quite! Round two was during round #2 of Le Cochon Dingue with the co-workers. This version has berries. This cut the sweetness somewhat and enhanced the whole thing!
Here's a couple recipes & articles that I thought looked yummy & easy or interesting!
Bits & Bites Blog
Quebec is Cooking
NY Times Travel
Canadian Living Website
Le Cochon Dingue
While in Quebec City or the Q. as Ian likes to call it - we went to the "Crazy Pig". This joint is rather popular. The location in Old Quebec was huge (Quartier Petit Champlain), but still packed on a Friday night and we waited about 20 min for a table.
We both ordered the Table D'Hote for about $28. This is definitely something that the TO restaurants should do! An excellent deal, although we both could get chubby pretty quickly!
My meal included:
- Carrot ginger soup...yummy!
- Tasty rolls with boring butter
- Salad - the pine nuts upgraded the tasty factor
- Steak frites - I went with peppercorn sauce. Steak was small, but good.
- Choice of dessert - I ordered triple chocolate cake for Ian...was good but could have used a bit of ice cream instead of the whipped cream
- Choice of beverage - I went with a coke
- Carrot ginger soup & rolls
- 1/2 rack of BBQ ribs - very good BBQ sauce!
- Fried potato skins & side of cesear salad with real bacon and real Parmesan
- Raspberry square which I ate
- Cola
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