New Generation

Now that we've moved to the burbs, we don't frequent New Gen quite as much as we used to. In April of 2009, I proclaimed New Gen to have the world's best veggie sushi.

I am officially rescinding that title. My "G Yam Maki Set" was an incredible value at $6 for a set of cucumber rolls + yam/avocado rolls. Also came with soup and salad. I'm not quite sure what went wrong, but the rice just didn't have the usual "je ne sais quoi" that it used to.

Hot Oven (Kingsway)

Seriously - go there asap and pick up some bread, cupcakes, cookies or squares..mmm...or strudel or quiche...or orange chiffon cake...

Mitzi's Sister

A group of us went to Mitzi's sister, one of three locations of the Toronto Mitzi's mini chain.

On the brunch menu was all sorts of good stuff, but most settled on the rancheros - either tofu or heuvos. I opted for the heuvos variety - lots of eggs, good soft warm tortilla and plentiful guac and black beans. Came with some bbq sauce flavor roast potatoes and a bit of fruit. Add in a fresh squeezed orange juice and I came away with a $19 bill including tax and tip.

We sat inside, but it seemed as though most customers were headed for the patio out back.

Service was rather slow, kinda rude and I was perpetually thirsty with one meagre glass of water.

All in all a decent outing!

Burlington Ribfest

Billed as the largest Ribfest in Canada, the Burlington Ribfest seemed worth checking out. We headed out early to avoid the awful traffic on the 403/QEW overlap and we indeed managed to avoid the worst of it.

As we drove down towards the lake in Burlington, I was somewhat surprised that it actually seemed nice. Janice, who frequents the industrial wasteland portion of Burlington/Hamilton, agreed that it was nice although it wasn't a surprise for her as she ribfested here last year.

Now, in terms of the ribs, there were a lot of ribbers. An overwhelming number in fact. We recognized some from earlier ribbings but we wanted to try something different. We spied Bibb's which Janice recognized from chowhound discussions. Their claim to fame here is that they have the only baby back ribs in the park. As a result they charge $1 more. Janice and I may like ribs but we're certainly not rib experts. Despite the dollar we figured we'd try out these "baby back" ribs. After getting over the initial disappointment that you seem to get fewer ribs in a baby back rib rack, we found that the ribs were very meaty. There was possibly a little too much fat for our liking but overall the sauce was good, the ribs tasty and we enjoyed the rack. The sides (beans and 'slaw) were also good and the slaw was fridge-cold which is always nice from a food poisoning-prevention perspective.

Anyway, this is probably the last ribfest for us this year. Will we back to Burlington ribfest next year? Maybe, the ribs were decent and given the selection, it seems like there are other up and coming ribbers that we need to check out.

Taste of the Kingsway

Lots of good treats here!

Green mango - $6 for pad thai (kinda boring) + green mango curry chicken (very good & lots of chicken) + 1 spring roll (large and sufficiently crispy).

Kingsway Fish & Chip - $6 for two mini pieces of battered fried fish + a hearty serving of chips & tartar sauce. This place is always good, although not exactly good for the arteries!

Chutneys Indian - $5 for a rather small portion of butter chicken and plain rice. Definitely not worth the money and probably the worst butter chicken I have ever eaten. The chicken was pretty tomato-y and lacked flavor. Where's the creamy goodness??? Ian and I both felt happy that we haven't wasted our money and eaten at this restaurant. The head booth lady was also rather mean and rude to her assistant. Kinda awkward all around.

Cafe Demetre - $3.50 for a decent sized waffle cone with lots of premium ice cream choices. Cookeo for me and Tira Misu for Ian.

Tandoori Flame

After an hour or two bemoaning the lack of Indian buffet in our neighborhood, we hopped in the car and ventured out to Brampton to Tandoori Flame.

The lunch buffet was about $17 each and included just about any Indian dish you could ever want. Lots of rice, veggie & meat curries, three kinds of tandoori chicken, grilled veggies, salads, appetizers etc etc. I don't think Ian or I had a complaint about anything and usually we are rather picky. There was so much selection here, one had to be strategic to avoid filling up the tummy before sampling everything.

Desserts were also good - rice pudding, gulab jaman, bright orange stuff, squares, cake & ice cream bar. I was especially impressed with the ice cream - it looks like they actually replace the tubs pretty frequently. Most of these self serve buffet ice cream buckets appear to linger for months with just a little bit left on the bottom than people are too scared to eat.

As a side note check out the website for a laugh. It is quite slick and NOTHING like the restaurant!!!

Z-Teca Groupon

Yeah - I have discovered the power of the Groupon with wagjag Toronto. For a mere $15, a $30 gift card for Z-Teca will be sent to my home! Yeah!!!!

Starsky's

Argggh - I have driven by both locations of Starsky's more times than I wish to think about not realizing that it was a haven of Eastern European tastiness.

For lunch, Ian and I picked up cheddar cheese & potato perogies, some dill cabbage and two cabbage rolls with a mystery European fruity drink for the low low price of $9! Nice!

The deli counter with meats and cheese looked pretty stellar and busy...I'll be back!

Deep Freeze

Ever since Sears dropped off our deep freeze, our lives have improved (extremely modestly)!

A quick trip to Costco and $120 later, we have veggie & meat burgers, two kinds of fish, popsicles, rolls and berries to last a month or two!

T&T Dim Sum

This place has some good, cheap weekend eats. We went to the Toronto Lakeshore location.

For $13, we picked up a green onion cake (I know not authentic and caters to the white people, but it sure was good), curry squid, har-gow, sui-mai and sticky rice in a leaf!

Easy BBQ Salmon

Tonight for dinner we used a couple pieces of Costco frozen salmon. About 15 min total on the BBQ with the last 5 minutes or so with a glaze of half BBQ sauce, half maple syrup. Very quick, easy and good!

McD's

Occasionally I pick up a grilled cheese happy meal for lunch. Oddly enough the price is slightly different depending where I purchase in the GTA. A low of $3.77 to a high of $4.24 with a $4.00 in there too.

Momiji

I have now discovered another Momiji location in Mississauga, but this post refers to the one in the Kingsway on Bloor.

Ian and I went for a birthday dinner and ordered some old favorites. The grilled eggplant was ok, but not grilled enough and was missing the addictive salty carrot-ginger topping that we love so much! Far less tasty than normal.

Then another appetizer - deep fried tofu (age-dash tofu I think is the official name). Very good and a hearty portion.

Main course was a beef bento. Tempura was good as usual and Ian was impressed by 3 large shrimp and I liked the veggies. Teriyaki beef with rice & veggies was a disappointment this time. Beef was extremely raw, chewy and the teriyaki flavor was rather sparse. In the past we have loved this dish so I'm not sure what went wrong in the kitchen tonight! Soup & salad also included.

Salmon roll & avocado roll were both very good.

BBQ Ribs @ Home

$20 at Costco will get you two full racks of pork side ribs! A pretty good value when you consider that half that will cost you $25 at most restaurants.

I put on a rub of paprika, brown sugar & cumin, wrapped in foil and baked for 3 hours at 275 in the oven. Then rested for about 15 and onto the bbq for about 15 min with sauce for the last few minutes. Yummy!

Alice Fazooli's

I'm normally against the semi-chain type places, but the allure of the patio on a nice Friday lunch was too much to resist!

Everything is overpriced with the exception of the lunch time half salad half pasta. The salad is similar size to the regular lunchtime salad (that costs about $12) and the pizza is as big as a plate! All for about $14 including tax & tip. The first time I ordered this, I thought they made a mistake with portions that were too big :)

My Thai Kitchen

This place is definitely a sit-down kinda joint, but they also seem to do take-out pretty well. Call on the way over and you will arrive to nicely packaged thai food a mere 10 min later! Here's the website with full menu & prices.

It defies logic that they seemingly don't have their phone number on the website, but with a little i-net research it can be located.

Tropicana Juice Aeroplan Point Bonanza!

Nice! 25 aeroplan points for some tasty juice that we would buy regardless! I like these promotions! Here's the details...

Fat Bastards Burrito Update

Fat Bastards in Etobicoke is now known as "Fat B's". I naively think it's because they have come around and thought that their original name was mildly offensive. Ian points out that some low end restaurants continually change names once they run amok with the health inspectors.

Regardless, we've been back and actually enjoyed the pork burritos. I can't quite put a finger on what they've changed since the first time when it wasn't so great. Maybe the beans?

Yorkville Quesda

I've met Ian a couple of times for some downtown burrito. First time was a large steak with the spicy sauce, the next time was pork with sour cream. Both burritos were yummy and rather large for about $8 or so. Lots of rice, beans, corn, salsa and meat!

For the real value seekers out there, pick up their buy 10 get 1 free card! Ian had some elaborate scheme involving the free burrito and guacamole that didn't work out well for him, but still a good deal!

Here's the website...

Fat Bastard Burrito (Etobicoke)

This new joint opened up on the Queensway by Kipling. Aside from a mildly offensive name, there isn't too much that's good to distinguish this place. Beans that were a bit more fresh instead of in a paste would be good. Also, steak pieces that weren't ridiculously tough and that had a bit of flavor would also be good. The burritos took FOREVER to be made too - not sure if it was opening month problems or not?

Anyway, not great, but if you are stuck in Etobicoke and don't want to go to Quizno's to get something quick this is a decent alternative.

It sounds as though we aren't the only ones lukewarm on the place.

Fish & Chip Friday at Ikea

Save your moola and get yourself to the local Ikea for Fish & Chips on Friday! One piece haddock + fries = $2.99 (regular $5.99). It's decent, quick and best of all good for people with babies that could get grouchy at any time!

Oliver & Bonacini

The final installment of Winterlicious 2010 was to a regular Oliver & Bonacini. They have never let us down in the past (Summer '09, Winter '09) and at $15 for a three course lunch, this is a real bargain!

Ian went for a stand-by, shrimp pate which was enjoyable as always. My squash soup was good and I'm often surprised by the large serving sizes of some of their items.

The Hungarian beef goulash often shows up on their 'Licious menu, but this year I actually tried it. It was a hearty amount of stewing beef with crispy potatoes, carrots and some cottage cheese. All around yummy on a cold winter day. Ian's panko crusted fish and chips and were good, but the real highlight was the excellent coleslaw and tartar sauce.

Dessert was the best part of the meal - sticky toffee cake with caramel sauce for me and Ian liked the carrot cake with cream cheese icing and lemon sour cream ice cream.

93 Harbord

Round 2 of Winterlicious festivities took us to 93 Harbord, a delightful Moroccan restaurant in the Annex. On the $15 lunch menu was lots of good stuff.

For appetizers, Ian really liked the lentil soup and my beetroot cumin salad was decent with apples and pomegranate seeds on there too. The charred soft pita was fantastic and even I (a dedicated olive disliker), didn't mind the olive dip that came with the pita.

After some rather tough decisions on the main course, I went with the fish tagine in saffron sauce with steamed couscous. This was a rather hearty plate of three kinds of fish in a delicious creamy yellow sauce. The couscous had some good stuff in there - nuts & raisins and the like.

Ian's spiced kofta kababs with rice, pita and rosee tahini sauce was also fantastic although somewhat mysterious. The first waitress I asked said they were lamb but when the other guy brought out the plate, he said beef. Regardless, a pretty decent ground mystery meat kabab!

Desserts were surprisingly good - Moroccan baklawa with shortbread and a fig and for Ian walnut and pear stuffed phyllo with some chocolate sauce.

All in all a good Winterlicious lunch on the cheap! This was definitely one place that we will frequent again.

168 Sushi Japan Buffet

Since it was apparently worth Janice skipping work last week, we decided I needed to go out and check out the 168 Sushi Japan Buffet. The short summary is I was not disappointed and I'd likely be willing to skip work too to take part in this delightful smorgasbord of tastes.

For an all you can eat sushi place I was impressed with the sushi. For the regular buffet they have salmon, white tuna, red snapper and various cooked or non-fun types. I stuck with those big three fishes for my sushi eats. The fish was great in all 4 of the rounds I ordered in it.

The next thing that impressed me was the speed of the service. No sooner did we fill out the menu card then there was food arriving at our table. Overall the service was great which is certainly something you don't usually say about all-you-can-eat places.

In terms of other food, we also ordered a range of things: tempura, a few maki rolls, various non-raw rolls for Janice, gal-bi, grilled veggies, various pizza slices and maybe some other items. Nothing was disappointing.

For dessert Janice strongly cautioned against the banana tempura so I stuck with a scoop of red bean ice cream and green tea ice cream. Both were good and amazingly Janice actually somewhat liked my red bean ice cream.

In a sharp contrast to last week's fiasco at Al Mac's, the pop and beverages are included. I had Coke but wisely kept to only two glasses to save room for all-you-can-eat goodness. Janice stuck with water which was free. (Al Mac take notice!)

The only complaint I have is that sashimi is not included in the lunch buffet or the deluxe buffet. You have to order it a la carte.

At 14 + tax + tip for lunch, it's not cheap but we'll definitely be back.

Bloom Winterlicious

For our first Winterlicious event of the year, it was off to a somewhat local place - Bloom in Bloor West Village. The google review thingy people were generally positive on the place and it lived up to expectations. It seems as though Bloom isn't on most 'licious patrons' circuit as it was about half full for lunch on Sunday.

On the menu for us ($20):

Appetizers:

Grilled calamari with salad
Warm spinach salad with sauteed mushrooms and chevre noir.

All around good stuff with well cooked calamari, fresh greens and good salad dressings for both.

Mains:

Roasted pork loin with rutabega-apple crumble & brussel sprouts
Trout with warm beet salad, green beans and grapefruit

For me, the two large slabs of pork were pretty decent with good side dishes. Ian liked his trout calling it simple and well done, although maybe a bit boring. Bloom does the veggies well - with even Ian enjoying the beets and admitting that my brussel sprouts were "moderately edible".

Dessert:

Vegan chocolate tart with almond crust
Sticky buns with creme anglaise

Ian thought the tart was "tasty" and would have preferred it without almonds though he doesn't fault them since the menu was correct.

No complaints about the sticky bun itself and the creme anglaise really made the whole thing into a good dessert.

Pita & Grill (Mississauga)

Although not a huge place, Pita & Grill packs in the people and does a steady take-out business for the Monday-Friday lunch crowd near Winston Churchill & Dundas.

Go for the falafel or shawarma sandwiches and you won't be disappointed. Prices are low - less than $5 for a rather large falafel.

Al Mac's in Niagara

At the corner of Stanley and Ferry in Niagara Falls is a compelling sign. 6.99 for a breakfast buffet and 13.99 or so for a dinner buffet. It was walking distance from our hotel so we went for breakfast. It seemed like a good idea at the time but it was not!

The place was fairly crowded so that seemed good and we went in and were seated right away. The waitress asked what we wanted to drink and so we asked if the beverages were included. They're not so we asked for water. We were shocked though when the waitress said it is their policy not to provide water. If we wanted water, we could buy bottles. We were shocked.

We decided to stick around to sample the buffet anyway without any drinks. The food was fairly standard: pancakes, waffles, french toast, bacon, sausage, eggs, hash browns, potatoe fries, etc. The food was alright for the price. More select than you get with Ikea's $1 breakfast but you're paying significantly more. It's tough to enjoy breakfast when you're thirsty. It's one thing for my glass to run dry during a meal but a whole other thing for there to be no water whatsoever.

We each took two plates of food and got the bill. It's apparently a good thing we didn't order a beverage. Juice is apparently $4 for a tiny portion. Anyway, once we paid we hopped across the street to 7/11 where we bought two juices which we enjoyed on our walk home. We never looked back - well except to scowl at the place when we passed it on the drive out.

I feel bad for people that paid for the drinks. The breakfast buffet at other places looks significantly better for The morale here is to save your money and go for a vegas or at least some place other than Al Mac's

Stone Road Grille (Niagara on the Lake)

For someplace that gets two stars in the Toronto Life Restaurant Guide in the "Out of Town" section, the Stone Road Grille in Niagara on the Lake was surprisingly not busy for Saturday lunch. It was Ian and I and another table of 4. The Niagara Ice Wine Festival was even in town which probably brought a lot more tourists to NOTL than might normally be there for a cold weekend in January!

Lunch started well with a selection of sourdough bread made in house and some butter. Then it was onto a squash soup - no complaints but a bit plain ($8 for a big bowl).

Ian really liked the hearty portion of mussels cooked with chorizo & wine. They came with a hearty side of good crispy fries ($14).

For me, a sweet potato risotto with fresh parmesan tasted remarkably like the risotto I make at home except more creamy ($12). Again no complaints, but nothing too special.

Overall, it was a very good lunch at a reasonable price and we will definitely be back if we are in the area.

168 Sushi Japan Buffet (Mississauga)

I gave into peer pressure, ditched a potentially useful lunch-time seminar and went out with the coworkers to all you can eat sushi/japanese/korean on Dundas.

The food came out quickly despite busy-ness, the tea was replenished and the empties taken away with great efficiency.

For food:

- Edamame was decent
- Grilled eggplant excellent although too oily
- Korean style galbi beef ribs good
- Bulgogi with random veggies - good
- Skip the teriyaki sushi
- Shrimp tempura was a hit with trays of the stuff passing by regularly
- Rolls - skip the spicy salmon, but the mushroom tempura, squash tempura, avocado plain, crispy avocado, spicy tempura california roll, grilled eel, salmon etc were all fantastic
- Sushi - the coworkers devoured a lot of salmon, grilled eel and other misc fish plus a salmon rose & salmon pizza
- Skip the tempura banana for dessert. The ice cream seemed more popular with other tables.

All this for about $18 including tax & tip (at lunch). Here's the website so you can check out the menu.

Oliver & Bonacini - Wall of Shame

Another entrant - this time for charging $20 to priority mail a gift certificate to Kathy in Sarnia (despite the stamp saying $9 and Kathy not wanting priority).

That being said...we still plan to go to Oliver and Bonacini for winterlicious lunch!

Seriously cheap IKEA Eats

Check out this Red Flag Deals Link.

La Mexicana

Last time around we were moderately happy and since I was feeling like Mexican it was time for another trip back to the Yonge & Bloor location.

At 6:15 on Friday night it was rather empty and no problems getting a seat. It was a bit odd that they didn't seem to want to give us the primo booth by the window "since there was only two of us" but then offering it to the next two people that came in. Once the complimentary chips & salsa came out, we were slightly appeased.

Like last time, I decided to go with pork tamales with beans & salad. There was two pretty sizable corn husk wrapped tamales with a sparse amount of meat and some spicy red sauce and cheese. Overall high amounts of goodness!

Ian went with the combo platter which came with 3 items of the soft taco & enchilada genre. He got some beans & rice with his meal. There wasn't much sharing going on with me, so I can only assume this means that he enjoyed!

For about $35 or so including tax, tip & tap waters, this place is reasonably priced, especially for the often overpriced yorkville neighborhood.

Korea House

Tacos Al Asador (our new obsession) was absolutely packed at 6:45 on a Friday night so we back-tracked to the heart of little Korea and went to Korea House. It too was moderately busy, but it seemed to be mainly due to an inefficient (but spacious) seating plan.

Things started well with a bunch of side dishes - bean sprouts, seaweed, sliced water chesnut jelly, tofu and ridiciously hard fermented black beans.

Main courses improved things - for me bulgogi (marinated beef) with onions, mushrooms and a large side of rice. This was one of the better bulgogi we've had and it definitely compares with the authentic version in Korea.

Ian made an even better choice - glass noodles with beef and veggie with a side of rice. Great flavor and almost too much for even Ian to eat!

The price here was great too - about $30 all in!

Nota Bene

I made a reservation here a couple weeks ago with Open Table and 7:00 or 8:30 came up - not exactly convenient when the Nutcracker ended about 7:15. I chose 8:30. We were pleasantly surprised when we showed up for 7:45 and they seated us right away!

Things started well with some yummy brown bread and good olive oil for dipping.

For an appetizer, Ian really liked the Tunisian octopus. The octopus was light, perfectly cooked and not all that octopus-y (so much so that I even liked it). My red curry lobster bisque with coconut milk and lime was also good and a rather large serving.

For main courses, my braised short ribs didn't even require a knife to eat and were excellent. The accompanying cucumber, pickle, lettuce salad on the side was a bit weird and probably designed to push people toward getting the sides "for the table".

Ian's seared tuna was surprisingly so-so. No major complaints, but Ian felt that he's had better. The sides were good - chickpeas and peppers.

For a side for the table - we went with onion rings. A good concept - lots of very thinly sliced onions in a light batter and deep fried. They suffered from far too much salt though.

Dessert was decent - my sticky toffee pudding was adequately sticky toffee like and the rum butter ice cream was good. Ian's molten chocolate lava cake was molten-y with a surprising orange flavor on the inside. Grand marnier banana ice cream added to the whole thing.

The evening wasn't all that cheap with dinner, a small glass of wine, tap water, tax & tip setting us back about $150.

Here's the website link.

Burrito Wars

Well the burrito wars just off of yorkville, ended a few weeks ago with the closing of burrito fresh. I liked the place (past roundup) but it is no more. Quesada Mexican Grill just west of avenue on bloor has won. It opened up earlier in December. Their claim to fame is the big ass size burrito on a 14 inch tortilla. It's a lot of food but when you pay 12 bucks for a burrito you end up with this empty feeling in your wallet (not your tummy - it's pretty filling). Their regular large size is OK and is reasonably priced at 7.86 (without guac). In terms of fillings:

• veggie - it's just veggies so it's cheaper
• plain chicken - note the bold on plain.
• chipolte chicken - better
• steak - not sure if I've tried
  
• ancho pork - best

Summit Garden

This delightful gem in Mississauga (Dundas & Winston Churchill strip mall) doesn't really advertise dim sum but it seems to be a specialty for lunch every day of the week. On weekdays, with the work crowd, we try and get there for 11:30 to beat the rush. On weekends, get there pre-noon and avoid the 30-60 min wait in the lobby.

The waiters etc aren't the friendliest, but the carts go round with decent efficiency and we usually have enough tea and water to wash things down. Perhaps not the best place to go with a whole pack of dim sum rookies. It helps to have at least one person who knows what they are doing.

Favorites for Ian are har gow and sui mai. I like the flat noodle things in the special cart with soy type sauce. Pork is especially good, but seafood lovers seem to enjoy shrimp. Other good stuff we get are: fried dumplings, mushrooms with noodles, greens - either chinese or bok choi (order specially), sticky rice, steamed dumplings with pork, seafood, greens etc, curry squid, pork in buns, fried eggplant with shrimp, fried greenpepper with shrimp, tarro dumplings with or without pork. The authentic chinese people that come with the work crew seem to like the congee, chicken feet and tofu.

If you want leftovers or have a big crowd, order some singapore style noodles or fried rice off the menu to keep the price per person down.

When it's all done - we usually end up spending about $10 each for a big crowd. Ian and I more like $15 each, but I think mainly because I favor the pork and he likes seafood so we end up with more food than we need.

Here's the website link.