Nutella

Argghhh, am sick, but not sick enough to prevent blog updates!

Usually I eat PB and jam or honey on pita or bagels for breakfast. I ocassionally go the gym at work in the mornings and buy breakfast at the caf. Last time I thought I would order nutella and it was actually pretty tasty. My main motivation was Ian, as I thought the nutella would cost the caf more than PB and this way I was getting better value. Yeah, I know, that's really cheap!

New Gen closed

Vicky went on the weekend and apparently New Gen is closed due to a fire. They seem to be renovating and will hopefully open in the new year. In the mean time, if you are on the bloor strip between bathurst and spadina you can try the Real Thailand weekday lunch special, Himalya lunch buffet, roti palace on Bathurst anytime or for an inferior sushi place, go across the street to big sushi. Also Sarah's shawarma next door, although watch out for the cleanliness. Also good, Sarah's italian on north side of bloor, goldfish in the same area too. Ok but a bit pricey. Oh yeah, future bakery is good, I have never eaten a meal there but people seem to like it. Deserts are good.

Asian Farm

This place is not a restaurant, it's a grocery store located on Spadina just south of Dundas. It's a rather small place, but they make good use of the sidwalk and seem to pack in the merchandise and people. I come here occassionally if I don't need to buy alot of stuff (namely when Ian is outta town...he's a big eater of things not found in an asian grocery store). Today I picked up some fresh chinese noodles, fried tofu, mushrooms, bok choi, 3 red/orange/yellow peppers, 2 asian eggplant, napa cabbage, 2 fuji apples, 2 asian pears and a whole fresh pineapple for the low low prices of $10.71!

They also have a meet and seafood counter at the back. It's all a bit sketchy/smelly with stuff sitting around in bins, but people seem to buy it so it must be alright. There are lots of sauces, teas, mystery dried items, obscure veggies, odd chinese fruits and lots of mystery frozen items.

The bottom line, it's cheap and the stuff is decent if you don't mind being a little pushy.

KFC

To counteract the vegetarian-ness of the recent posts I thought I should mention my Thursday outing to KFC/Taco Bell. I went with a few guys so we decided that we sould share a bucket. So 3 of us split a 12 piece bucket. To avoid being hungry when the chicken ran out I also got a spicy chicken burrito and a hard taco. For some reason, with the bucket they threw in a 2L thing of Pepsi. Yes I know Pepsi is the wrong cola but free is the right price. Overall this was enough food. I did of course feel dirty after eating that much grease but once in a while probably won't hurt the lifespan that much. As to the tastiness, I highly recommend the spicy chicken burrito. Of course it's not actuall spicy but it is tasty. As to the chicken, it was average. Better than what you get on Toonie Tuesday (if that still exists) but of course not even in the same league as good chicken like the Swiss.

Bo De Duyen

Ian has left a week ahead of me and gone back to Edmonton, so this will be a vegetarian food review bonanza for the next week!

Bo De Duyen is a chinese vegetarian restaurant on Spadina near Dundas. I arrived about 12:30 and was the only one there so I was a bit concerned that everyone else knew something about the place that I didn't! By the time I left at 1:15, the place was getting full, so I felt a bit better.

I have been to Be De one other time about 4 years ago and had a veggie, tofu, mushroom hot pot which was pretty tasty. This time I went with Lunch "Combo B" which included hot or cold soy drink, hot and sour soup and braised tofu, mushroom and veggie with rice. Also a pot of good green tea. I am normally not a fan of soy milk, but this stuff was alright. Same goes for the hot and sour soup, it was actually pretty tasty...much better than, for example, the spring roll chain's soup. Stir fry was good, rice was good. Lots of different mushroom and bok choi varieties as well as my favorite, deep fried tofu. As far as the deep fried tofu is concerned, it was only average. All that food for $6.84 tax included. A "Tasty" on the Ian scale with a "1.5 thumbs up" for value.

Also of note, this place a huge menu with all sorts of faux chicken, beef, seafood, duck etc. Have never tried it, but perhaps next time.

Martin's House

Tonight our manager had the whole crew (50-80 people?) over to his mansion in Milton. Growing up in Sherwood Park, I have seen some rather large houses, but this one certainly gives the park ones a run for their money.

I forget the name, but it was some chef college catering the event. There was a rather sparse selection of liquor, but that was ok since I was driving anyway. More or less wine with non alchoholic stuff. Wine was good though. Appetizers were tasty, sushi, stuffed mushrooms, mystery pastry items.....mmmmmm. Then came the hot buffet with salad, bread, rice with nuts/seeds in it, roasted mushrooms, very tasty artichokes. Turkey, chicken and rack of something for the meat eaters. Then finally the best assortment of deserts since Josh's wedding at the Metropolitian hotel this past summer. About 5 very good cakes and assorted cookies and pastries. All in all, a "Very Tasty" rating.

Alice Fazooli's

Last night was curling fun, tonight was my company young engineer Christmas party. About 40 people met at Alice Fazooli's lounge and had drinks and appetizers on the company. Everything was pretty decent, but I will bump it up to fantastic due to the freeness!

Leaside Curling Club

I am a member at Leaside and yesterday we had a little fun curling and Christmas party event. On the menu was PC meat and veggie lasagna, garlic bread and salad with deserts that people brought in. The veggie lasagna was a bit cheesy, but overall pretty tasty and I will perhaps buy it if I have a crowd coming over. Final verdict, the leaside ladies put on a good Christmas party!

Korean place on Baldwin

Friday lunch last week as at the Korean place on Baldwin, I'm sure it has a name but alas I do not know it. This week I had a squid dish instead of my usual bul-go-gi. For 6.99 + tax and tip you get a plateful of goodness and rice along with soup and random items, korean style. Not a spectacular bargain. Really we should go another day than Friday when the daily specia is something I like (On friday's it's beef (maybe that's implied) bi-bim-bop which isn't exactly my favorite)

Sushi on Bloor

Well today was fun final exam marking. The only fun part is that lunch is provided. Usually it's boring pizza but today we convinced them to get us sushi. We ordered platters from Sushi on Bloor (surprisingly it's on Bloor just east of Bathurst). For 45 bucks you get 90 pieces of sushi and maki. A pretty good deal. There was salmon, tuna, shrimp, a mystery sea item, and good old simulated crab. In terms of maki there was salmon, spicy salmon, california and various others. Overall a good deal I think. The tuna was surprisingly good I thought initially when I ate the first piece of it but the next one was a dud. Tuna fell to its usual position of second to Salmon, the king of the sea.

While we were out picking up all the sushi, pizza arrived. Unfortunately, people who know my meat eating ways tried to eat all the meat heavy pizza before I returned. I was stil able to get one piece but not nearly enough. Regardless I was still able to eat a disgusting amount of food.

The big question of the day is how much should we have tipped on take out. It's a lot of work for them - 4 big platters, but it is take out.

Piatta

The office crowd went out for some Christmas lunch action to Piatta on Dundas East of Mississauga Road. A bit pricey, but pretty tasty. I had very tasty penne with mushrooms. Others had good looking pieces of fish and veal. Deserts and appetizers were also good.

Aroma Indian Buffet

Ian and I seem to be quite busy and have cut down on our eating out. We did go for some Indian buffet to Aroma on King/John.

We've reviewed previously so just a short version this time. Quite tasty, veggie stuff a bit weak, but good salads, sauces, breads, deep fried stuff. Meat stuff was ok too. Not a great value for $9.95 but it's close and we know it's alright. Deserts are what really makes the place. Rice pudding, fruit, gulab jami, 4 kinds of tasty ice-cream.

Today there was a crazy lady trying to buffet into takeout. She wanted all sorts of extra containers for the stuff, and freakin out because they gave her a single piece of naan instead of the 1.5 she got last time. Then she wanted the chef to specially make her some salad because she was allergic to onions....there were still like 5 other choices so not sure what the deal was. She didn't seem to have enough room in her takeout container, so she started thowing samosa and pakora straight into her bag. It almost came to blows when the waiter brought her a little white container for sauce, not the slightly larger clear container that she claimed to have got last time. The employees had to call the manager like twice and then she barged into the kitchen. Pretty entertaining/disturbing.

Quick Pita Finally

I promised a review of Quick Pita a while ago and am finally delivering. I've been there twice and had the Chicken Shawarma once and the 8" steak and cheese once. Both were 5.46 with tax. Both were equally average. The steak and cheese seemed like the better deal of the the two and was reasonably tasty. The chicken shawarma was not as good as Sarah's but the cleaniless of the place was probably better.

The biggest issue with this place is their inefficiency. The system has you place an order, get a receipt, give the receipt to the sandwich maker and then wait quite a while for your sandwich. All in all way too complex. At lunch the line was quite backed up. The guy who takes the order also has a few things to learn about customer service. His first lesson should on the importance of friendliness. Now I don't like overbearingly friendly people but at least don't be mean as this guy is.

Sarah's Shawarma

Ian and I have not gone recently (it's on Bloor between Bathurst and Spadina), but walking by it on the way to New Gen reminded me of it.

Ian likes the beef shawarma and I either have the straight falafel or the roast veggie falafel. All are under $4 I think. A very tasty verdict, but sadly Ian and I have stopped going. The primary reason is distance, but secondary is the yellow "conditional pass" rating we saw in the window one day. Turns out they have all sorts of sanitary related problems. I kinda suspected because the workers would go right from making sandwiches to handling cash, all without gloves or hand washing. Rather gross, but hey, you can't argue with a very tasty sandwich and no illness afterward.

The final verdict is very tasty and cheap if you don't mind sub-standard cleanliness conditions!

New Generation

The work crowd drove in from Mississauga and we all went to New Gen. As usual, it was very tasty. The food was yummy (take, ume, yasai bento boxes + a sushi set), and we all got some green tea ice cream, grean tea and grean bean/pea appetizers on the house...forget what they are called. For some reason, the service dude was super friendly, he is usually not that nice to Ian and I! Maybe they know we are regulars?

Anyway, just go to New Gen. You will like it. Great value for your $.

Ian is outta town

Stay tuned. Ian is in Vancouver visiting a couple friends and will likely go this fav all you can eat sushi place. Kisha Papa or something like that...mmmmm sushi, well veggie sushi for Janice!

New gen with the work crew tomorrow night....mmmm new gen.

Calabash

Vicky and I went to Calabash on the way home from Hamilton. I ditched the roti and instead had the veggie rich dish for $6.50. Included was a somewhat tasty although plain salad, white rice, curry chickpeas, curried cabbage with a bowl of dahl (lentil soup type item) that I spooned over the rice. This time I ordered mild and had no problems.

Vicky had the same thing but with goat and added a corn chowder. The chowder was very tasty as were the rice dishes.

Ian always complains about pricing structure and with this place I have to agree. Roti = overpriced, rice dishes = great deal. Either the owners aren't paying attention or they don't like making roti?

Happy Birthday Mom!

Hope it went well and you are staying youthful!

Ian and I are cool for groceries. Canadian food is tasty too, although often more expensive than ethnic type food, at least in Toronto.

Coming Up

Tomorrow I plan to eat a new place that opened across the street from school. It's a chain called Quick Pita that claims to be both Lebanese and to have authentic Philly Cheese Steaks. I'll assume that I am geographically challenged and I just haven't heard of Philly, Lebanon. Maybe it's a suburb of Beirut?

Simon Sushi

I'm a little late in posting this but better late than never. Anyway, Friday the lunch crew went to Simon Sushi on Spadina just south of college. It's the same genre as new gen. I of course had a teriyaki salmon bento box lunch special for 5.99 + tax and tip. At first glance this seemed almost better than new generation because you can get the salmon with the lunch special bento whereas at new gen it's just chicken or beef. I say "seemed" because the salmon was definitely sub-par. New gen's terriyaki salmon is vastly better. It could just be an off day as it was basically just over cooked. The tempura was greasier but it still had a crispness to it that made it quite good

The verdict on this place is that it is moderately tasty. It's a shorter walk than new gen from school so that really is it's major draw and I'll definitely give it another shot.

On a psuedo-related note, shortly after we arrived, an undergrad that I had just been TAing came in and since we had a free seat he sat with his. The kid was suprisingly unannoying. That's right, you heard it hear first, not all U of T undergrads are annoying.

Queen Sushi

Ian and I are still trying to find another New Gen. Queen Sushi is close...except for the service...it was terrrible. Our waitress came to take our order and then found her pen was not working so she ditched us and came back. It wasn't all that difficult, we were only ordering 1 item each. She asked "is that it" multiple times and was pretty rude and rather tough to understand.

The soup and salad came promptly. Both very tasty, dare I say better than the New Gen? Then the waitress, asked "are you done?". I said yes, so she brings us the bill. That's right, we hadn't gotten our bento boxes yet. I meant we were done with the soup/salad dishes. No apologies, only more rudeness from our waitress.

We waited a good 20-30 minutes for our meals. Compare that to 5 minutes @ new gen even on the busiest of nights. Both boxes were very tasty, I got a veggie box with large amounts of VT (very tasty) food for only $7.25. Ian had the Spadina box for a bit more that included lots of fish related items. Also VT from him, except for the california rolls, which he is not a fan of no matter what. Our waitress pretty much deserted us at this point...no more water, no checking on us etc. She was pretty much behind the sushi bar stuffing her face.

I have to point out that it more or less seemed to be our waitress that was terrible. There was this other little girl hustling around and staying on top of things...too bad we didn't get her from the start.

Calabash

I went out for lunch with the work crowd to Calabash, a Caribbean place on Erin Mills just North of QEW. For $5.50 I got a veggie roti which consisted of some potatoe/cabbage/onion curry wrapped tortilla style in a very tasty dough type thing. In general, the rotis were all pretty hot and I would recommend ordering mild unless you like really really really hot food. They had some rice type dishes for a little bit more that also looked good and seemed to be alot of food. The rest of the work crew did not seem very impressed by the Caribbean, so I will warn you that it may not be for everyone. The place is rather small, so not the best for a big crowd on a Friday.

The verdict, in Ian's system, is a G for good. Is you want some in the VT (very tasty) range, make sure to go to the Roti Palace downtown on Bathhurst just off Bloor. For much lower prices, the tastiness factor is much improved. Also recommended are the knock-off caribbean pineapple drinks that are actually manufactured in Brampton or something like that! Ha ha, pretty funny...but tasty. Service is a little spotty in the speed department and they have this older dude that is pretty much the slowest cashier you will ever come across. Not a big deal though as the place isn't all that busy. Sort of gives the place a little character.

Egg salad sandwich

I went to a presentation at lunch on how to use our company's library system and find technical literature. Presentation was ok, lunch was also ok. On Ian's scale of VG, G, NVG I would give it a G. I had egg salad, lettuce, tomatoe on white bread with some cut up veggies.


Sorry my posts are boring :(

Mr Sub

As per my usual tradition, I went to Mr Sub today. Last week due to a change/money/Interac fiasco that cost me 1 dollar I was far too upset to post. I've since calmed down and can accurately reflect on the sub quality. The verdict - Not Very Tasty (NVT). But the price is definitely right. As I've said before, Mr Sub is the low sub place on the sub totem pole (Mr Sub < Subway < Quizno's) but the price makes the decision a non-decision. I had the roast beef toasted with my usual pickles, lettuce and green peppers with a little meatball sauce. I of course have to have it in the small to keep the price reasonable so it really isn't enough food. Unfortunately, it turns out that you can't get the roast beef with the soup special even though it is a classic sub. Just something for all you readers to know!

Veggie Cookbooks

As many people know, I am obsessed with Moosewood Restaurant cookbooks and have a pretty solid fleet. Last year, Ian and I went to the actual restaurant in Ithica New York and now I cook with my very cool Moosewood Apron. Anyway, if you are looking for a good veggie cookbook, try their "New Classics". The other books are ok too, but I find the New Classics to be the best.

Last weekend, I purchased "Vegetarian Planet". It was quite cheap and so far it's 50:50 for tastiness. I made some spring rolls last night that were really good, with the peanut sauce just ok. It looks like there's a fair bit of good stuff in there and I'm making some crispy noodles with eggplant and some weird kind of coleslaw.

Anyway, sorry for the boring post. Ian and I are trying to stay healthy and become rich, thus less emphasis on eating out. Maybe I should turn this blog into a recipe/cook at home type blog? Does our very limited blog readership have any opinions on this?

Montana's

Ian and I went to see the Mississauga Ice Dogs (OHL) team in action playing the Soo Greyhounds. Good time all around. Ian took the go train from downtown and I picked him up at Cooksville. He was not pleased at all by the Go train, but maybe he can discuss in another post.

We went for dinner at Montana's on Hurontario and I had my usual cheese nachos and Ian wasn't super hungry so he went for some fish and chips. Montana's is always pretty decent, prices are ok and if you are feeling like some Canadian style food and happen to be in the burbs it is definately the place to go.

Janice's super duper hummus recipe

I use chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans) in quite a few of the things I cook and if I have leftovers I make some very tasty hummus. I have included a recipe...sorry no amounts, you'll have to use your own judgement!

Canned or very well cooked/soft chickpeas
Tahini (sesame seed paste). You can use PB but it won't turn out to be very hummus-like. About 10:1 with the chickpeas
Raw garlic. More if you want tastiness, less if you don't want to repel co-workers the next day
Splash of olive oil.
OJ (fresh squeezed is best). Not too much to start, can add more later if hummud is too thick.
Pinch of cumin + coriander
Bit of salt

Optional: I sometimes put in a splash of soy sauce for some extra flavor and color. I especially like to add if I am taking the hummus to work and I omit garlic. Same deal for turmeric, a bit of extra flavor and color for the no garlic version.

Put everything in blender or food processor and go crazy until very smooth. Can add some of your chickpea cooking liquid until you get the right conistency. A higher fat version would be to add some olive oil.

Serve on the always tasty PITA BREAK or with some raw veggies. Mmmm....hummus. We sadly do not have a microwave at work so this is some good stuff to bring in for lunch if I don't want to buy from our overpriced caf.

PS. Maybe Ian will have something more exciting to post when he gets home. I think he went out for lunch today! Yeah!

Pita Break

I first discovered the Pita while living in Sudbury where I used to shop at a place called Smith's Whole food market. The Pita Break people started off as a small restaurant on Yonge Street and have now expanded into a mass maker of yummy pita's for Ontario.

They have all sorts, whole wheat, multigrain, white, garlic, rye, breakfast (apple/cinammon, muesli etc) in both mini and full sizes. They are much better than normal pitas and are thicker, more breadlike, and just all around extremely when toasted.

Ian eats an apple cinammon for breakfast toasted on the foreman with some chocolate chips melted in for good measure. I also eat the same variety but with PB and jam or honey for breakfast. For dinner, I usually don't eat, but Ian is quite into the large size multigrain with his meal stuffed in there.

To top it off, they even ocassionally include a fun newletter written by the pita break family owners and have some tasty recipes for middle eastern type foods.

Anyway, try the Pita, you won't be disappointed. One more tip, they do not have any preservatives, so make sure to put in the freezer before the expiry date and then you can toast to make them tasty again. Mmmm pita.

Anywho, sorry for the boring post. For dinner, Ian had some pasta with homemade meaty sauce and I had leftover veggie paella (that turned out more like a risotto).

New Generation

Oh new gen, how we love you. You never dissapoint no matter what. Lunch, dinner, early, late, hungry, not so hungry...if only you were open for breakfast. Oh new gen, why won't you open for some breakfast...and maybe open up a second location, preferably in our new building with vacant store area???

Ian went crazy and had Take box with lots of "goodness" (direct quote from Ian) with lots of salmon related items, both cooked and uncooked. Good value at $11. I had the Yasai veggie sushi set A and it was alright, but I will definately go back to my Yasai bento box next time. Included the usual soup, salad, ice cream and Ian got some rice, tempura (including shrimp) with a spring roll and gyoza dumpling things. Mmmmm deep fried fun!

Cora's

Ian and I met up with my friends Robyn and Stephen for some brunch at Cora's downtown. Ian and I live a mere 2 minutes from the place but have never been due to the usually very long line-up outside. We arrived at 11 today and got in right away much to our surprise. Ian and I were thinking that Cora's was a independent TO thing, but Robyn and Stephen, who are from Montreal, said they know it is the "Chez Cora" chain on restaurants.

The menu was pretty extensive, lots of waffles, pancakes, crepes etc and the selection was rather overwhelming. Ian got some chocolate, banana waffle type item and I had an apple caramel crepe. They were both pretty good, but rather expensive at $9 each with no sides whatsover. The verdit, good but pricey and we will probably stay home and make some equally tasty home-made waffles instead!

Naz's Falafel Place or something

I'd been meaning to hit this place on John St for a while. Finally today I was walking by at lunch time and decided to go in. My first thought was that they had very poor pricing strategies! The chicken sharwma was $4.50 That extra 50 cents makes the sandwich 90 cents more expensive. As to the actual food quality, it was OK. The vegetables didn't seem that fresh and there wasn't the hummus or tabouli that I've come to expect in Sharwma's. The verdict, this place was not as good as Sarah's Sharwma on Bloor.

Foggy Dew

I went for some brunch today with some friends. It's on King west of bathurst. The place was a cute pub withs some decent food. I had french toast with some weird banana type topping for $6.95. Seemed a bit overpriced since I could have made the equivalent for about $1 at home. Anyway, if you are into brunch go to Fressen (in the area, on Queen) or try making something at home. If you are into pubs or drinking, try the Foggy Dew.

Nachos @ Home

Ian and I have sunk to a new level of cheapness. We were on our way out for some beer and nachos for dinner on Saturday night and Ian pointed out that we should go to Loblaw's and make them at home.

We used the following ingredients: tortillas, tex mex cheese mix, red peppers, red onion, cilantro, PC refried low fat beans, picked jalepeno peppers. Had some lakeport honey lager to wash it down. Overall pretty tasty and probably less $$ than going out. Definately was less if you include the beer in the whole price. Ian bought a PC chocolate fudge cheesecake too which was also pretty tasty although I thought a bit expensive. Although, a single desert at at restaurant might cost $7 and we got the whole cheesecake for that price.

Swiss Chalet

As always on Friday I was late for lunch due to work. The plan was Swiss Chalet so the others ordered and picked up family packs. Unfortunately, everything was pretty picked over by the time I got there. Definitely the source of much bitterness but it's not really the swiss's fault.

Neverthesless the limited amount of chicken I got was OK. I couldn't enjoy the chalet sauce to it's fullest though because I was fearful there may have been double dipping. No one likes that. The fries were subpar but that was a time issue and again not the fault of the chalet. Lunch for 6 bucks did make me happy

Tasty Thai

Went out with the work crew to Tasty Thai for a birthday lunch. As before, it was ok tastiness and value for my $. I had the tofu green curry with 2 spring rolls, rice and some cole-slaw type salad.

Ian had some swiss chalet for lunch so our vast readership now has something to look forward to! I had swiss a few times when I used to work in a plant in Sudbury and we would order OT meals. They have a decent veggie stir-fry (although it's 80% corn) as well as a somewhat dry veggie burger. Basically don't go here except for chicken related items. Fried mushrooms and fries are somewhat tasty for the un-healthful vegetarian.

On an unrelated note, I cooked some potatoe-squash curry with brown rice and all sorts of cilantro, raisins, chutney and cashew sides. Ian has a large piece of salmon and added some cottage cheese to the mix. I had a medium size plate, but Ian kept eating and eating, it was quite the site to see. I don't understand how he is soo skinny. Then he made a mix of raisin bran, chocolate chips and yogurt a mere hour later. Then he wanted to make popcorn but I nixed it.

Pizza Pizza

I'm taking class on Monday nights in the always exciting metropolis of Hamilton and usually stop by Pizza Pizza on the way. For $3.52 (including tax) I get a square veggie slice, a can of pop and either brownies or a bag of chips. Seems like an all right deal to me!

Aroma

Ian & I went out for somepost wedding invitation printing, pre-curling Indian buffet. Aroma is on Queen and John street. For $9.95 there were the usual tasty Indian suspects. The salads were weak, but the fried pakora items and papandums tasty. They had a good assortment of meat and veggies curries and tandori items. Desert was alright rice salad and tasty serve yourself ice cream and gulab jami (sweet donut type items). Now I feel sick, hopefully I can digest some food before I leave for curling.

Friendly Thai

I'm Back! Hello to our very limited blog readership.

We took a little blogging hiatus, but while I was away in the very exciting Sault St. Marie on a business trip Ian seems to have gotten back into it (possibly boredom or he just missed me). I am doing away with my usual structure and will just go crazy from here on in as it is much easier and less pressure.

Ian and I went to Friendly Thai on Queen just west of Bathhurst. It was busy and reminded me of a mexican place in terms of decor. I had the veggie appetizer platter for $10 and it was lots of food and very tasty. Included fried tofu, hot and cold spring roll, mango salad with fishy style sauce and peanut sauce. Ian had a chicken curry dinner special with peanutty sauce, salad and rice for about $8. The friendly thai was indeed friendly, was quite tasty and was some good value compared to other downtown places in this genre. We will for sure be back to this one! Mmmm. I was craving mexican but this place turned out to be ok.

Youth Garden Closed

Today I ran across the street to get lunch, pulled on the door of my regular Youth Garden and was shocked to find the door locked and a sign that they are no longer in business. A dark day for cheap eats in the College and Beverley area. A very dark day

Pho Hung

This was a usual friday lunch except I was late.

Where: 2 locations that I know of - Bloor west of Avenue and Spadina north of Dundas where we went
What: #22 Pork Sugar Cane concoction with rice vermicelli - 7 bucks + tax and tip
My almost 10 bucks:
I don't like pho but I like this place because of its bun. I usually get a chicken and spring roll based bun but I misordered (see note about being late). Nevertheless I was pleasantly surprised by this surprise dish. It was quite tasty. There's nothing special about this place but it is good and if you're looking for pho (my pho eating friends like the pho here) or bun then this place should definitely make the list.

For those interested, this restaurants symbol is the same as Pagolac in Edmonton. It must be a classic symbol but I'm not sufficiently culturally aware to know what it is. For me though the place has come to mean good food.

Burrito Boyz

Walking home I decided to go to Burrito boyz. I've been there before but never bothered to review them. Once they left me with a queasy feeling in my stomach. I can forgive one or two such incidents so I'll only talk about my latest experience

Where: Peter St. at Richmond
What: Large Chicken Burrito for 5.75
My 5.75 + tax:
This place is fairly good. There area few problems 1) it's often too crowded. Some people don't mind waiting, but I'm not one of them. The slowness though isn't an efficiency problem usually as the staff seem decent, it's just capacity issues so I can forgive that. 2) Sometimes they burn the tortilla a little. 3) They charge for guacamole. The product though is tasty (ignoring the minor occasional burnt issue). I don't normally find mayo-ish sauces good but their burrito sauce in moderation isn't that bad. I guess my main issue with this place is price. Paying almost 7 bucks for lunch is steep. It would be nice if places could develop products for the 4 dollar price point - I don't need to always eat 7 bucks worth of food at lunch.

Westin Harbour Castle

Well Wednesday I went to a reception at the Westin. It's definitely a little more upscale than my usual haunts.

Location: Westin Harbour Castle
What I Ate: Box of vegetarian noodles, lemon grass shrimp skewers, mysterious other items and an open bar
My 2 cents:
I was generally pleased with the spread. It was decent food and for me the price was right. I'm not the biggest fan of food from the genre I call "Hotel Food" but as Hotel Food goes this place was alright. The shrimp were a little too dry but maybe that was because I had it later in the evening. If I were having a fancy event I would definitely consider the Westin

Pizza Nova

The first free meal of the day was lunch. We were marking so 12 large pizzas were ordered. We wented 5 meat, 3 porkless meat and 4 veggie. Things didn't work out perfectly though as on one meat pizza we wanted every single meat they sold and they didn't deliver on that.

Location: Everywhere because they deliver
What I Ate: Slices with chicken and stuff, and slices with pepperoni, bacon, ground beef.
Review:
Three words, not enough meat. Since we didn't get a super meaty pizza I double deckered the pizzas to at least combine the chicken and the pepperoni based pizzas. Double deckers are very filling though. As to the actual pizza quality, it was fairly good. The crust was well cooked but generally not overcooked. Definitely good and in my opinion better than pizza pizza.

Lots of Eating Today

After a disappointing past few days, today there was a lot of eating out.

Pizza Nova, Pizza Pizza and the Westin Harbour Castle will be summarized as I have time.

Radisson Conference Centre in Chicago

On Monday night it was off to Chicago for an association of iron and steel technology continuous casting conference. It was held at the Merrillville Radisson, about an hour drive from the Chicago airport. All meals were included.

Breakfasts were the standard greasy muffins, danishes and fresh fruit. So so, but all meals are upgraded slightly since they were included!

Lunch the first day was alright, some rice and grilled veggies (veggie meal) with salad and apple pie. Rather americain.

Dinner was a HUGE disaster. It was a giant dinner meeting for the northwest chapter of the aiste with 650 people in attendance and a head table with lots of CEO/VP's from the major americain steel companies. Rather wacky when compared to our much quieter canadian meetings.

I had ordered a veggie meal quite a while ago when I signed up for the course plus I reminded the organizers when I arrived at the course. The veggie meal at lunch was easy/good so I was hopefull. The dinner started with salad, so that was ok. Then the waiters came out with prime rib and I requested the veggie meal. They seemed to know about me and said they would be right back with my dinner. About four waiters/head waiters came by to apologize and offer excuses. 45 minutes later, my meal arrived, well into the keynote speaker for the evening. They had already cleared tables etc (including cutlery) so I just waved them away as it would have been rather distracting for the rest of my table who was trying to pay attention. So if was just salad and cheesecake for me that night. Kind of a burn, I don't quite understand the problem. Yeah, I know I know it would just be easier to eat meat!

Ate Nothing

Well today I didn't go out of the apartment so unfortunately I didn't eat out. I did eat a PC Blue Menu Chicken Caccitore which was OK but I've had it too frequently. I usually love PC Meals but today I wasn't into them and I don't want to take it out on the president so I won't do a review. Sorry...

Ian's Aunt

Ian's Aunt, uncle and three cousins live in Toronto so we went over to their house for thansgiving. We had the usual turkey, potatoes, sqash etc.

Review: I don't know what they do to the sqash, but it is sooooooooooooo good. They have a cottage and grow veggies out there, so I'm not sure if it's the homegrown factor or if they have secret ingredient. Everything else was pretty good. They had pumpkin pie for desert and I'm not a big fan, but they also had this pumpkin shaped chocolate cake so it worked out well. The cousins and great aunt types played this game called Oxford...something. Basically you read a word definition and the player has to guess the word and then spell it for $$$. I wasn't so good (the great aunt kicked some butt) but kept landing on these wild card spots so it worked out rather well!

Anyway, off to some hick town near Chicago tonight for a course, so let's hope Ian updates the blog!

Ho Su

Ian was desperate to go out for lunch so we tried a new cheap sushi place in the neighborhood. This place was more Korean than Japanese.

Location: Queen St between Spadina and Avenue.
Menu: Around 30 lunch special bento boxes and soup. Priced around $6-8 each.
What we ate: As soon as you arrive, they give you little dishes of kim-chee, some spiced potatoe and some small red bean. Generally pretty tasty as well as unexpected. Then came salad (OK) and some very yummy miso soup. The best I've had in a few years. Ian ordered a chicken teriyaki and tempura combo. Came with cole-slaw, rice. I had a veggie bento, came with veg tempura, cold tofu with some sauce, cole slaw and kappa maki.
Review: Lots of little dishes of steaming hot stuff made this place fun to eat at. Ian's chicken was good, tempura had a fantastic flavor, too bad it was a bit cold and not fresh. I got a glimpse of the kitchen and they had what looked like 50 lbs of cooked tempura sitting on the grill, ie they cook once for the whole afternoon. My meal was alright, kappa maki was fantastic with good flavored rice. The cold tofu was not so good, but more my own fault for ordering it. Same comment as for the tempura, good but a bit cold. Cole-slaw was tasty.

In general, this place was a decent meal, although I was a bit dissapointed by the lack of veggie lunch specials. Maybe 2/30 were for the veggie eater. From the chop-stick wrappers, it appears to be a bit of a mini-chain, plus it was rather busy when Ian and I went for a late Saturday lunch, so this tells me they are doing something right. We'll be back, but it may take a few tries to figure out what to order.

Next time I think I would just order off the menu and go with yam and kappa maki.

EAST

Ian and I went to EAST, a slightly different version of the popular Toronto mini-chain, Spring Roll. I think it opened up a few months ago.

Location: Queen by John (entertainment district)
Menu: Standard spring roll cuisine, Asian in general, mostly Thai and Chinese stir fries, noodles, soup, spring rolls (hot/cold). East is slightly different from Spring Roll with a page of "Street Food" and some "Dim Sum" items. Mostly deep fried goodness appearing on this page.
What we ate: I had shanghai veggie noodles (6.95) and Ian had seafood satay pad thai (10.95). We split a strawberry - guava smoothie (2.95)
Review: Pretty much as expected. Quality, service and decor similar to spring roll. We did not try the dim sum or street food stuff. Ian's pad thai was particulary good, my shanghai noodles lacked some flavor and they did not seem to have much tofu on the menu, which is kind of sad (mmmm deep fried tofu). Smoothie was very tasty and highly recommended. The price is right here, with the taste and service generally pretty good.

O'Grady's

It was raining today. I had hoped to convince someone with a car that we should go for lunch somewhere that would bring me closer to home. That didn't work out so instead we went across the street to O'Grady's

Location: College between Beverley and McCaul
Menu: Pub Grub
What I Ate: Chicken Fingers and Fries for 8 bucks
What I think:
This place is overpriced pub grub. I'm not the biggest fan of pub grub and at these prices who would be. The food is always bland and uninteresting. Sure there are times when you want food like that but those times are few and far between. As far as this genre goes though O'grady's isn't that bad. It's best feature though is undoubtedly location.

My New Employee Dinner

Last night, we had a dinner for New Employees at the cafeteria where I work. Now you might not think that would be good, but it was suprisingly good. They got rid of the big long tables, brought in some circular ones and had real tableclothes with centerpieces etc. They had beer and wine to start which was alright. I had a Molson Canadian which I haven't drank in quite a while...so much better than crappy Lakeport!

At every table they had a senior host type person. My dude ended up being not so cool and veered into controversial topics such as a revolution in South America (ie are 4000 lives worth a higher standard of living?) and women in engineering. It was all rather patronizing, but I still enjoyed the speeches and dinner.

Soup was sqash, the main course was chicken (none for me) with roast veggies and rice. For desert very tasty desert cheesecake things.

Tasty Thai

It's post late curling game, so it's going to be short tonight.

The lunch crew today was Anne, Panteha and Vicky. We went to Tasty Thai on Winston Churchill and the QEW in Mississauga. The price was right, but quality and service was a bit lacking (although that's what you get on the cheap I guess). For $7 I got some tofu green curry, salad, rice and two spring rolls. Similar sort of combo's in a variety of standard thai food. The curry flavor was tasty, but in terms of veggies the dish was rather weak. Peas, carrots, corn and lots of bamboo shoots? A bit iffy in terms of actual Thai content. The other members of my group got some chicken type dishes and they seemed to like them. Overall, an ok lunch spot. Panteha is all about the Crazy Sushi next door so I think we'll have to check that out next time.

In the meantime, if you want to check out cheap Thai in the downtown area, try Flip Toss on Harbourd b/w Spadina and Bathurst anytime or Real Thailand on Bloor and Spadina for the Monday-Friday $6-$7 very tasty lunch special. Ian and I go there on long weekends sometimes.

Janice's Cafeteria

I try to bring my lunch to work, but occasionally I eat at the cafeteria at work. They generally have a $5 meal with meat, rice/potatoes and salad, so a decent deal for the carnivorous. I usually stick to a vegetarian soup with small salad bar plate for $3.50 or get an egg salad or veggie sandwich for $2.75. We seem to have lots of lunch meetings at my workplace, so we generally get the deserts, sandwiches or pizza for free at least once a week so that reduces the incentive to buy the goods on a regular basis.

Anyway, sorry for the boring post. I promise more excitement tomorrow when we have a "New Employee" Dinner at my workplace with the CEO and other important people. The rumor is that we get 2 free drink tickets, so a bit unfortunate that I have to drive, but that's the way it goes!

Quinzo's

I went to Quinzo's today and since I have a slightly different (cheaper) take than Janice I will post my own review

Locations: everywhere
Menu: toasted subs
What I ate: small meatball
Review: This place is so much better than subway. A little slower and the whole sub process is hidden but the taste more than makes up for it. The menu is somewhat limited since there are only the 6 real deal subs that satisfy the sub-4 lunch requirements. The meatball is the only one I've had and it's just so tasty that I never try anything else. The bottom line: this place is good provided you get the real deal

Reader Survey

Do we have any readers out there??? Where do you like to eat in Toronto? Or Greater Toronto? Heck, we'll take entries from anywhere as long as you say why you like the place.

Pizza Pizza

Ian and I went to the Blue Jays game (they won 7-1) and since they got 7 strike-outs we got a free slice of Pizza Pizza. Here's how it went down: at the end of 7, Gustavo Chaucin only had 2 strikouts, but to his credit he was doing quite well, just not striking people out. A reliever came in part way through the 8th, struck out two batters and then the closer came in and struck out all 3 batters in the 9th for a total of 7! Yeah! Pizza for Ian and I! The crowd was chanting "Pizza Pizza Pizza" for the final batter, pretty funny stuff!

We walked over to Queen and got a free slice of Pepperoni (no choice of flavor). I took the pepperoni off mine, to make it a cheese. It was only so-so, but free so I will have to upgrade it to fantastic. We got it fresh out of the oven, so that was a big improvement over their usual reheated slices.

Fressen

Ian and I went in Run for the Cure and as per tradition, we went to Fressen vegan restaurant for brunch. We were thinking of Cora's, but the line-up outside made us think otherwise, so we continued on to Fressen.

Location: Queen St. between Spadina and Bathurst
Menu: We've only gone for brunch, but they have a nice assortment of breakfast items as well as some light lunch stuff. All vegan of course. We've never got the juice, but it looks good.
What we ate: Ian had some multigrain waffles with apple and maple syrup. They come with some fresh fruit on the side. I had some corn/veggie griddle cakes with the same fruit as Ian, potatoes, baked stuffed tomatoe and guacamole and corn salsa. One mini-muffin/each to start. Total bill, $20 for 2, no drinks.
Review: Fressen is a great brunch spot. Good value for your money (Ian might think otherwise, but then again, he eats a toasted pita with chocolate chips for breakfast normally), nice presentation of food, everything was fantastic. They had a nice assortment of tofu and other related items which Ian found a bit freaky, but not too worry, the non-veggies will most definately find something not too weird on the menu to eat. Overall, a great spot to go for a relaxing weekend brunch/lunch.

Quesda Mexican Grill

Ian and I went out for a Saturday lunch and instead of going to our favorite, New Gen, we thought we would try Quesda Mexican Grill

Location: Wellington a few blocks East of Spadina (near Rogers Centre)
Menu: Burritos, tacos, chips/salsa, beer
What we ate: Ian had the large chicken burritos for $6.50. I had the small veggie for $4.50. We split the combo, small chips and salsa plus canned pop for another $1.75.
Review: Overall, this place was close, quick, cheap and tasty (what more could you want). There are lots of topping choices and the burritos are quite filling. My recommendation, stick with the smaller size, it was almost as big as Ian's large. The decor is nice, the place was clean and the service was good. Ian and I will definitely be back and it's a good alternative to the close and more popular Burrito Boyz (TO entertainment district).

Boston Pizza

Another Friday lunch with Stephen and some more of the work crowd.

Location: Everywhere out West, increasing numbers in Ontario
Menu: Varied, pasta, pizza, ribs, sandwiches
What I ate: lunch special, 8" pizza with pineapple for $7

Review: Growing up in Sherwood park (suburb of Edmonton) we are big Boston Pizza fans and have been going since I was about 2 years old. The BP's chain is growing in Ontario and one is located right across the street from where I work.

As always, the food is good, price is decent. It's a good, quick (but not fast food) lunch or a place to go for drinks after work or the softball game. The pizza is a bit expensive, but the sauce is fantastic and toppings are top rate. Pasta is tasty, sandwiches are always good. My beef, service at Ontario BP's doesn't seem to be quite as high as out west. Overall, highly recommended for a casual lunch or dinner with family and friends.

Burger King

There hasn't been much eating out the last few days hence the lack of posts. Anyway today for a late lunch I went to burger king. I've covered the basics before but I didn't quite have the say thing today. Instead, today I had a BK Fish Fillet and a Whopper. I had to buy a large fries to get the whopper due to a complicated coupon and PST avoidance scheme. In the end I had to pay PST. The lesson from this, don't buy large fries and buy them separately. I was in a rush in a line and didn't do the math and in the end that cost me over 30 cents. Brutal!

On the upside, the BK Fish Fillet is really good. I haven't had a fillet-o-fish style sandwich in a while and I was pleasantly surprised. They're small but tasty. I ate while walking though so I couldn't really add the ketchup in that was required

Verdict: BK Fish is solid (on Fridays)

Atrium Conference Centre

Today I went to a work related dinner for the AIST (Association of Iron and Steel Technology) dinner at the Atrium Conference Centre in Burlington. In case you are wondering (you probably aren't), the topic was "Dofasco's New #3 Acid Regeneration Unit"

What I ate: It was a set meal for $40, hopefully my company is paying. I got tomato soup (non-veggies got a meatball kind of soup), cesear sald, boiled veggies and potatoes (add shake and bake chicken for meat-eaters) and tira misu.


Review: Soup was so-so. Despite not being a cesear salad fan, I have to admit it was pretty good, veggies and potatoes were ok, but a real veggie entre would have been nice. Desert was awesome. Overall, rather overpriced, but that is ok since for most of the people there, their employer will foot the bill.

Monday Update

So over the past few days, I haven't eaten out that much hence the lack of updates. I won't bother with real reviews and instead just pass along my 2 cents for now.

Friday - Subway
I never go to Subway anymore but I was short on time and it was the closest place. After this visit though I can say that it will be a really long time before I go back again. There are a few problems
Price: Subway is way too expensive - The only decent 6 inch for less than 4 bucks is meatball
Service: Since they added toasting their efficiency has gone way down.
Tastiness: I had to have the meatball sub (see earlier comment about price) but, after having Quizno's a few times last month, the Subway meatball is bland and unappetizing. I don't know what Quizno's does but it's an explosion of taste in your month when you eat the meatball but with subway it's an explosion of blandness.

Today - Youth Garden
Back to the fountain - same as always, this place does not disappoint (nor does it ever improve)

Montana's

It was off to suburbia for some bed/furniture shopping for the new place. We went to Sleep Country Canada by Hurontario/Eglinton and decided to stop off at Montana's before heading over to Ikea.

Locations: Everywhere. Ranch-house style decor.
Menu: Tex-mex, Canadian style food.
What we ate: To start, I had a pint of beer (they didn't have my favorite, Moosehead), $6. Ian had his favorite, a coke, $2.35. Janice had the cheese nachos, double salsa, no sour cream ($9). Ian had the pork side ribs, texas bold bbq sauce with fries and cole slaw ($14 special).

Review: Ian and I aren't big "Canadian" style food eaters, but Montana's in one of our favorites in this genre. The nachos are huge with blue and white chips, a substantial amount of cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and jalepenos. You can also get with beef/chicken. The salsa and sour cream come in fun tortilla bowls. They are alot of food for 1 person even as a main course, so I would recommend sharing. Overall, a top rate dish.

Ian's ribs were good, but not a heck of alot of meat. I guess what do you expect for $14. The side dishes were good, crispy well seasoned fries, creamy coleslaw. We've had the baked beans in the past, and they are also good.

To end the meal, we did not have desert, but previously we've had the mud pie, which is highly recommended.

Quizno's

My friend Stephen is in town for 4 months and works just down the road for me so we went out for lunch today.

Locations: everywhere
Menu: toasted subs
What I ate: veggie with most of the fixin's (small) + fruitopia + bag of chips. About $9
Review:I have no problem with the tastiness of this place. My sub was pretty good, the place was clean etc. My main beef with Quizno's is the price. Ian goes ocassionally and gets the super value small sub for $4 but even then it's not a heck of alot of food for your money. The restuarant was pretty busy when we went today, so I guess alot of people must not be as cheap as I am!

New Generation

It was raining today so I picked up Ian at school and we went to New Gen. This place is definitely in the weekend lunch rotation, but this year we started going for dinner.

Location: Bloor between Spadina and Bathurst
Menu: The usual cheap sushi. Good combos and bento boxes including soup and salad. Lunch for 2 is $16 tip included. Dinner for 2 is $22 tip included. Tea is free.
What we ate: For dinner, I had the Yasai box which came with soup, salad, veggie teriyaki stir fry, 6 kappa maki, veggie tempura, rice, a spring roll and deep fried tofu (all for $7.95, what a deal!). Ian had the Ume box with soup, salad, fish + veggie tempura, spring roll, teriyaki salmon fillet, rice, 3 kappa maki, 3 salmon roll. Also a good deal for only $8.95.

We'll review lunch later, but in short, Ian get's #1 with beef and I get the G, Yam maki set. In case you haven't figured out yet, I'm a vegetarian!

Review: As seen above, we are huge fans of this place. It is by far and away the best cheap sushi place we have been to in Toronto. No wonder this place lines people up outside the doors any night of the week. Service is extremely quick and polite and they even give you free green tea ice cream at dinner. You will not find any better value for your money than new gen. Avoid the other deserted cheap sushi places on Bloor they do not compare to new gen for service, quality and value. If you are feeling really hungry, check out our favorite bakery "Future" just down the street. Go for the cheesecakes...mmmmm.

Burger King

Today's lunch was at Burger King or BK for short. Most people have been to BK but I'll review from a cheap eater's perspective

Location: Everywhere, I went to the one at College and Spadina
Menu: Daily sandwich special - only thing worth getting so don't bother looking
What I Ate: It's tuesday so it was the original chicken.
Review:
There have been two big changes at BK in recent memory. First they upped the price of the daily sandwich specials to 1.79 from 1.69. A dark day! Then recently they changed the sandwiches. Bacon double cheeseburger thursday which was once the best deal out there is gone!!!! In it's place is just a bacon cheese-single-burger. An even darker day!!! Really the best day of the week is now Whopper Wednesday. It's usually the only day of the week that I go to BK now. Other than the daily specials things are really expensive at BK. All of the combos last time I checked were over the 4 buck threshold and paying PST on fast food just doesn't seem right.

Youth Garden

This is a regular in my rotation and I like to call it the fountain of youth. Here's a quick summary

Location: College across from King's College Circle
Menu: Chinese U-Pick at lunch, or a full menu which I've rarely tried
What I ate: 3 items to go - fried rice, curry chicken and bean sprouts
Review:
There is only one reason to go, price. 4 bucks for three items is a good deal so I hit this place a few times a week usually. As cheap chinese restaurants go, the food is OK. The service is prompt and the line, if there is one, moves quickly. My biggest complaint with this place is that sometimes they don't ring up the transaction. If they're going to do that they should at least pass the savings from the unreported income along to me.

Ate at home

After the disappointing sushi, we ate at home tonight. The review: alright quesadillas care of a Moosewood cookbook.

Sushi Time

www.sushitime.ca

Location:
Queen West, East of Spadina. Another location on Bloor, but we have just eaten at the Queen W location. Good for people watching.

Decor:
Standard sushi bar, nice brick walls, some retro-ish decorations. Nice booths, mostly tables.

Menu:
Standard cheap-ish sushi, shashimi, teriyaki, bento boxes. Prices range from $7 to $12 for a full lunch/dinner bento box or combo including soup and salad.

What we ate:
Ian had the "Basketball" combo set that includes miso soup, green salad, salmon teriyaki (although can get beef, chicken, shrimp), some tempura, crab cakes and 3 kappa maki and 3 salmon rolls. Price: $8.50.

Janice had the vegetarian sushi roll set with plum, carrot, cucumber, avocado and some mystery yellow veggie rolls. Set included good soup and salad. Price $10.25.

Review:
We have recently moved from the Annex and couldn't help but compare Sushi Time to our favorite cheap lunch place New Generation (Bloor between Spadina/Bathurst). With a name like Sushi Time you would expect decent sushi, but this certainly was not the case. The rice was poor and rolls were loose and sloppy looking. The yummy soup and salad was certainly not enough to overcome the shortfalls of the veggie sushi platter. Ian was equally disapppointed with only so-so salmon teriyaki, lifeless tempura and bland rice. Although we live close to the Queen W Sushi Time location, we are most certainly going to keep making the trek to New Gen. Their prices are cheaper and quality is much higher.

Welcome

Hey everyone. This is Janice and Ian's new blog. We are eating out fans (Ian more than Janice) and you can follow along with us as we discover new restaurants in Toronto.