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?

Z-Teca

I swung by Z-Teca for Thursday night post Mountain Equipment Co-Op shopping and was not disappointed.

BBQ flavored slow cooked beef, black beans, grilled peppers and onions, medium green salsa and cheese on a whole wheat tortilla for about $7.50. Ian might have found it a bit small, but it was probably more food than I should have eaten for dinner!

It was somewhat empty, but they seem to do more take-out than eat in.

Ian (or course), had some complaints on a previous visit!

Steak Tacos at Home

We had some tacos with all the fixins at home tonight:

• Mesquite flavored steak from M&M. Cut in half butterfly style, pan seared and then cut into strips. Sadly, only one steak in the freezer, so we had to go light. Ian not impressed, but he did not let that stop him from having 4 tacos!
  
• PC white corn taco shells
• PC peach & mango salsa
• Lettuce with a pinch of lime juice
• Avocado with chipotle in adobo sauce & lime juice
• Grated cheese
• Black beans, onion, green pepper sauteed with cumin, coriander and pineapple juice
  

Served with some apple, broccoli & red onion salad, roasted squash and some leftover orange-saffron rice.

Lone Star

Lunch at Lone Star in the T. tourist trap (Front Street) started off well with some fresh chips & Texas style salsa.

We were pleasantly surprised that we could order from the "lunch express" menu on a Saturday, so $10.99 lunchtime fajitas were in order - beef for me and chicken for Ian. As you can see below, they came with a hearty pile of onions and peppers, beans, rice, guacamole, sour cream, lettuce, tomatoes and cheese!


The real highlight of a trip to the lone star is the "perpetual tortilla machine" serving them up hot & fresh throughout the meal....well no tortillas in the machine right now...but you get the idea!

Tamales (Montreal)

On Sunday night, I went to what appears to be the second most trendy area in Montreal, Price Arthur off of Saint Laurent. Crescent Street seems to be #1.

For a decent $19 or so, I had a beer and veggie burritos. The burritos had black beans, mushrooms and onions with a tasty chipotle sauce and cheese on top. There was some guacamole & tomato salsa on top of some lettuce on the side. My only complaint was the rice - was very so so and not very Mexican-y.

The patios in this area are very delightful and fantastic for a nice summer night.

Here is the website.

Maui Taco (Minneapolis Airport)

I was kinda in between meals, so I went with a hearty breakfast burrito and called it lunch. My item came with a burrito shell topped with rice, beans, eggs, red sauce and cheese. I nixed the sour cream. I was a little surprised when it came with chips too!

The salsa bar had lots of choices. I grabbed some mild tomato, mild pineapple and green tomatillo salsas.

Overall this was a very delightful item and at a price of about $7 not too expensive either.

Note to self & Ian - we should ditch the engineering and open up a T. burrito joint!

Here's the site...

Q-Doba

Ian is typically the poster of burrito related items, but this time I'll go for it! This joint is located at the Pittsburgh airport - probably not worth the drive from Toronto.

Here is the website - if you have an extra $2 million hanging around, you might want to consider a franchise!

My burrito consisted of: steak, choice of pinto or black beans, cilantro/lime rice, choice of salsa and I even got some additional mango salsa thrown on for good measure. The whole thing is wrapped up and grilled. With my diet coke to drink, total price was a reasonable $8.62.

It really was too much too eat for anyone concerned about their health.

If this were Ian, he would complain about how they charge extra for guacamole. I generally try not to get too stressed out about this - the avocado really is quite an expensive and labour intensive undertaking.

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.

Montana's Tastiness

As part of some airport pick-up action/gift certificate spending mission, we hit up Montana's by the airport.

For a mere $9 including tax & tip, we had a big plate of tasty cheese nachos (double salsa, no sour cream), and a half rack of side ribs with fries and baked beans on the side. Ian also had a cola.

Lone Star

Not being people to turn down coupons, we headed over to the Lone Star on Front to collect our free bag of chips and container of salsa. Sure, they give this stuff out for free at the start of the meal, but we thought it was good value to take some home with us too!

For the meal, we shared a 1/2 lb of steak + chicken fajita with rice, beans, guacamole, cheese, tomatoes and lettuce. Pretty tasty overall and decent value for $26 for two including t,t &tw x 2.

Indianapolis

Conference was alright, the town was much nicer than expected. Very classy looking downtown area and a nice canal, river, state park and a university campus off to one side.

Food was pretty tasty - probably 100 restaurants within a 10 block radius of my conference. First lunch we tried to go to a rib joint but it was closed down. Ended up going to the Old Spaghetti across the street. Pretty much what you would expect in Canada.

Then off for some fast food burrito a Qdobo that night. Had the veggie which came with beans, cilantro/lime rice, cheese and salsa. The menu said guacamole too, but they didn't really seem to have available. In Ian's books, this would be an unforgivable sin and immediately relegate Qdobo to the wall of shame. Me, on the other hand, am slightly more forgiving. Tasty factor was high and price was right at about $4.95. Also had diet lemonade on tap so they scored a few more points.

Then it was off to the "Palimino" Italian type place. I went with the pasta/sandwich lunch special for $11.95. Pasta was angle-hair-ish with some tomato/veggie/Romano cheese sauce. Pretty tasty all around. Sandwich was tomato, lettuce, fresh mozzarella and some basil mayo. Was supposed to be on "panini" bread, but ended up being "wonder bread style" that was toasted. Maybe I'm a fine dining connoisseur, but since when does "wonder bread" qualify as suitable sandwich bread at a semi-classy restaurant. Bread's not that expensive, why cheap out????

For dinner it was off to Harry and Izzy's. I attempted to order pork ribs, but clearly I need to brush up on my meat lingo. I ended up getting a big round ball of meat on a single bone. Seemed to be beef. I think it was called spare rib/short rib/side rib or something along those lines. Was alright - it was supposed to come with a rub and then be smoked. It really needed some bbq sauce or something like that to spice it up a little. The meat was pretty good - falling off the bone and all that good stuff. Had some green beans and tasty potato pancakes to go along with it. Certainly not cheap at $33.

Then we hit up the Steak and Shake for lunch the final day. Others had the hamburger/shake combo, ate too much and were quite queasy. I took it easy with a fish sandwich - and still felt a little queasy. I am officially off the grease!

Lone Star Coupon Fun

Anyone who knows anything about Ian and I knows that we are not people to turn down discounted eating out.

We headed to Lone Star on Front Street for some fajita action (portabello for me, chicken for Ian). Came with all the "fixins" - tortillas, cheese, guacamole, tomato, lettuce, sour cream, beans, rice and an assortment of random veggies with mine. $12.49 for mine, $12.99 for Ian. Since we had a $10 off coupon, I started to feel a bit bad about the two tap water for drinks and ordered a pint of kokanee ($6.49). With the coupon, $32 including tax and tip.

Ok tastiness levels, but pretty good value considering the disgusting amount of food they provide with 1 meal. Ian and I usually share a single meal and leave full! This time, in order to spend $20, we had to each get a meal.

Sneaky Dees

Tonight Ian and I went on a mission to try a new restaurant recommended by Cheap Eats 2006 and again were disappointed. Refer to our previous nasty falafel experience and some Indian buffet. Victims of a slightly out of date book. Note to self, will check out TO Dine Safe website before heading out next time. They are generally pretty up to date.

A cheap tapas place called Oasis was supposed to be at College and Spadina. Cheap Eats 2006 had promised pumpkin dip with pita and chickpea, cauliflower, squash curry, all for $3.60 each. Check out the link: Now Magazine, also made the place sound pretty tasty.

All we found was an inferior looking Savannah restaurant loosely based on tapas. At $9 for a chicken quesidalla, it could hardly be considered cheap tapas though. Not too many creative sounding things, just regular old pub food seemed to be the new specialty.

So, we kept on moving and hit up Sneaky Dees just down the street. They seem to have re-done their website so no more of their weird graphic things and odd shapes windows.

Ian, as always, had the really cheap special - on Friday it's two soft tacos - your choice of beef, chicken or veggie. Comes with salad, mexi rice and not so good refried kidney beans ($7.95). I had the veggie enchiladadas - baked with cheese and some tomato sauce ($9.30). Same side dishes as Ian. Add in a pitcher of beer for $9.25 and total bill came to $33 including tax and tip.

Maybe I am turning into a fine dining connoisseur, but I am finally starting to agree with Ian that the Sneaky is not so great. Sure, it's a horrendous amount of food, but it's not all that tasty. Guess that makes it a classic cheap eat??

I think that next time, I would go back on a Tuesday for the 1/2 price fajitas or Thursday for the veggie nachos + large pitcher of beer for $18.95. Based on previous experience, the fajitas and nachos are probably tastier than the other tex-mex stuff they serve.

Also mildly disturbing, every other customer in there seemed to have a rather large beard....maybe for some reason it attracts facial hair dudes??

Banff Ski Vacation

Ian and I went skiing for a couple of days at sunshine and lake louise...stayed at the Banff YWCA. Not the nicest of places, but the price (even jacked up holiday pricing) was pretty good.

For food, here's what we did:

1. On way down, stopped off at Pete's Drive In on 16th ave in Calgary for fries, burgers and shakes. Only one of each item between the two of us = lots of tasty food, although not as cheap as you might expect.

2. First night in Banff, went to the usual, Magpie and Stump. Tasty tex mex food at about $12-15 per entree. Didn't really measure up after all the cheap mexican during Ian's californian adventure this past summer.

3. Earl's on the next night. Tried to get into old spaghetti, but was super busy. Ian had spicy seafood penne which was alright. I had kung pao noodles. Ian believes that I have spelled kung pao wrong, but I will not let it stop the blogging! Pretty tasty but ended up spending $42 including a lava lamp margarita. Ian thinks he may have overtipped though? Hard to say???

4. Next night went to Old Spaghetti Factory. Really not all that tasty, but horrendous amounts of food and drink for a mere $40 or so including 1/2 L of wine, bread, salad, pasta (including Ian's meatballs), ice cream, tea and cola for Ian. Wine was Sawmill Creek Merlot. Oddly kind of bitter. I guess to be expected at $8 for the half litre???

5. New Years Eve- tried to go back to the Magpie, but closed at 5, so could get ready for New Years Eve Party. Ian and I questioned wisdom of this, at $75 for the party and only one sitting for the night = much, much less profit compared to turing tables over an estimated 5 or 6 times on a regular night?? The place is always packed from about 4:30 pm to 1-2 am. Did not make a lot of sense. Anyway, went to Tommy's pub for fish and chips and veggie burger with guacamole. Tasty all around. Spent about $24 including a beer for me. Seemed to be where the locals hang out.

6. Way home- stopped at Tim's in Red Deer for my bagel with cream cheese and Ian had the new bacon and egg sandwich. Somewhat tasty and only $4.44!

7. The real star of the show was Ian's lunch and breakfast. He is back on the disgusting superstore greasy muffins now that he is back in E-town, so he ate one of those for breakfast. Usually, on the ski hill, Ian would eat a burger and pop. New cheap Ian bought a bunch of vector bars and then ate a few of those for lunch along with some fun cheeses. Nuts and granola bars for me!

Big Fat Burritos

A few weeks back, I went to Big Fat Burritos in Kennsington Market. I've been suffering from burrito withdrawal for the last few months and I needed a fix. It was surprisingly good although it certainly doesn't compare to my Una Mas favorites or the standard hardy tacqueria style ones that I became used down in California. In my opinion it was way better than Burrito Boyz although I've heard people claim they're identical. Now this ranking may be skewed because burrito boyz charges for the guacamole while the BFB does not. In the crimes against Toronto cheap eaters, charging for guacamole is almost a capital crime (pun only partially intended).

Cookies and Montana's

I went to a distinguished lecture at school in the late afternoon yesterday. The main distinguishing feature of these lectures (or at least this one) are the cookies and milk. Despite our early dinner plans I went a little overboard and ended up having 8 or so cookies. The lesson I took from this lecture was that's too many cookies.

Anyway, after meeting up in Mississauga we decided to to go to Montana's for the annual pre-Ice Dog game dinner. Due to the cookie fiasco, I didn't feel up to a full thing of ribs so I went for the rib tips. They were pretty good. Rib tips really don't get enough credit. The meat to bone ( or equivalently the meat to work ratio) is quite favorable. Janice had the nacho's as usual and they were of usual tastiness. Again as a result of the cookie fiasco we didn't get the mud pie. Possibly a regret. Overall decent food but it didn't come cheap.

Simplicity

Some people thought that the last post was too complex so let me break it down into "baby" steps.

Lone Star Old Menu Items
Item A - 1/4 pound fajita's - select from vegetable, chicken or steak - Price X
Item B - 1/2 pound combo fajitas where you can select two of (vegetable, chicken or steak) - Price Y

Lone Star New Menu Items
Item C - 1/4 pound fajita's - select from chicken or steak or vegetable - Price X
Item D - 1/2 pound fajita's select either all chicken or steak or both - Price Y

Note the lack of the vegetable choice for the 1/2 pound "item D". Every time we go we ask for item d with chicken and vegetable. They initially say no go but then always report no problem after we explain it's been done before. What's the deal, is it some sort of grandfather clause?

The Lone Star

The name says it all. Not 5 stars, or 3 stars, just one lonely little star.

After hitting up the track for the Canadian International we decided to hit up the Lone Star for some fajitas since we haven't been in a while. Debate about where to go meant we didn't go to the one at the airport and instead went downtown. (This was probably for the best because the airport Lone Star specializes in fajita's and bad service). No menu change since our last visit so that of course means they no longer have the half pound fajita combo with 1/4 lb chicken and "1/4 lb" portobello mushrooms. Since they still do have a 1/2 pound item on the menu we ask for the chicken and veg. As usual they say that's not possible (despite the fact that 1/4 pounds of chicken, veg and steak are all identically priced) but when we say we've done it before, they change their tune to saying "oh yeah, that's not a problem".

The actual fajita's themselves were reasonably tasty but the big let down was they have a new salsa. We wolved it down in an effort to mask the sadness of the track losses (Who would have thought that Jambalya wouldn't have the speed down the stretch?) but the salsa can only do so much - especially this salsa. This new salsa is basically diced/crushed tomatos. Disappointing. They should bring back the old salsa.

Montana's

Went for some retirement lunch action and I had the fajita. Not very tasty overall and came on a rather large, very embarassing platter! Is ok for Ian/Janice nachos + mud pie, but that's about it.

Una Mas - Una Más Vez

Sundays are nice at the Una Mas near work because it less crowded. Empty in fact so they bring the food out to you. Quite fancy. Like a "sit-down" restaurant but without the tipping that everyone dreads. Anyway I had the flautas puebla to try something different instead of burritos. They were alright. I think I prefer the burritos and of course the helping of tortilla chips that you get with the burritos. I did enjoy that the flautas came with rice. A knife and fork meal has it's place