Calabash

Last week was a bit unusual. I was at home sitting around and Janice was at work bringing in the rent money. Oh wait, that isn't unusual. What was unusual was that Janice decided to spend a day in the Mississauga office so I ventured west for a lunch time rendezvous. I picked up Calabash. Janice has been before but this was my first time.

I had the chicken roti and I ordered Janice a veggie roti with channa and eggplant. All told it was around $15. I really feel I should get a discount for take out but we'll save those complaints for another time. I didn't have to wait long for the roti and luckily I was travelling against the Sheridan Park lunchtime rush so I was able to quickly meet Janice's with the warm rotis. I'm apparently not trustworthy enough to be given a vistor badge so we ate outside despite the brisk breeze.

As you can see, for Janice, it was more of a working lunch.


I did eventually pry her away from the berry and we dug in. It was pretty good. I still prefer the palace but if you're out in sticks then this is definitely a good option.

Caribbean Roti Palace (Bathurst near Bloor)

Our favorite roti hut in the T., although we frequent less now that we have moved out of the Annex. One sad note - the world's slowest, but nicest cashier is gone. Now, it is a new lady who seems only moderately nice, but she is indeed somewhat more efficient.

Some helpful advice for those wanting to take a bathroom break...

Ian likes the look of his boneless chicken ($7) and while I'm taking the picture, I am thinking that my channa masala/potato is looking good also ($5.25).

We are both somewhat wimpy - so it was hot sauce on the side. Ian felt that the hot sauce was burning his lips by just being in the proximity! Ha ha!

The tasty innards...

Calabash (Mississauga)

I went out for some Friday lunch action/b-day celebration with Gordie to Calabash roti joint in Mississauga. I am generally somewhat disturbed by the complete lack of seemingly Caribbean origin people at this place, but the roti seems to be as authentic as the rest of the T. roti huts.

I went with veggie with chickpea & potato. As per usual, it was gigantic and tasty. My only complaint is that squash is not an option for the veggie. I think that pretty much the whole world loves squash - or at least I do.

General Sketchiness

I'm not one to hold grudges so for lunch the other day when my idea of Indian buffet was shot down I hit up Island foods at the Village on/by the Grange despite my earlier experience. There was no line so I figured the wait wouldn't be that bad. Of course the wait was still surprisingly long but it was actually partially useful. While waiting for my food (unfortunately not before), I happened to notice that they had carefully covered up the bottom half of their DineSafe sign. I wasn't sure if it was intentional until I saw that just days earlier they had been given a Yellow. On reinspection they turned green again but still not a good situation. I'm going to heed my advice and stay away in the future.

When I got back to school I looked up the infractions and it didn't seem like major issues but I, of course, still prefer restaurants that can meet their regulatory requirements. While looking Island Foods up, I realized that I hadn't been checking some of my usual haunts. I happened to look up Ho Su and was shocked to see they've run into serious problems in January and February. They're green again now but it seems like some of the fines for pest control problems remain unresolved. It's going to be a while before we go there again.

Now to figure out how to strike back against the people who rejected my Indian Buffet idea.

Island Foods

Well today was the usual Thursday lunch. I was in favor of the korean bbq place that I really should have blogged about weeks ago. The place was amazing, all-you-can-eat for 7.99 + tax. Sadly I don't remember the name of the place (hence the lack of blogging about it, well that and laziness) but if you're ever at Yonge and College (not Carleton as then you'd be on the wrong side of yonge) walk north for a few blocks and look for a good deal! Seriously, I guess I'll post details when I convince the gang to go again.

Back to today's lunch, we went to the food court across from the OCAD building. I think they building may officially be called the Village by the Grange but I call it the food court with the McD's. As opposed to the Taco Bell food court which goes by the name "College Park" to the rest of the world. Anyway, there aren't really a lot of good options. There's McD's obviously but with Whoppers still sitting heavy in the belly from Whopper Wednesday I figured I'd give the heart a break. Others were fans of Wiki-Chicken and hit that up but I generally don't like the pick a few items format. Instead I made a big mistake and went to Island Foods.

The place always has a long line which you'd think is a good sign. Not exactly, they're just trying to compete for world's worst service. I'd been to their location at the Ex before. Same deal, long wait. Their menu is reasonably large so you'd think that might be the problem but no everyone gets the exact same thing, boneless chicken roti and I was no different. You'd think that would enable them to churn them out as fast as Ronald makes Big Macs but no that is not the case. The final product was alright but it wasn't worth the wait. At 6.95 the price isn't terrible but again the wait is unforgivable. I had been to Ducky's on Lakeshore earlier in the week and sure that place definitely qualifies as sketchy and hole-in-the-wallish but they manage to deliver a tastier roti with comparative haste. (With Ducky's I do find it a mildly troublesome sign that the guy is always shocked that we'd eat in but that's forgivable - bad service isn't!)

My recommendation, if you like getting frustrated by bad service and you enjoy long lines then give Island Foods a try. Otherwise, stay away.

Island Foods

On Sat night, Ian and I went to the Ex and ate at Island Foods. Ian claims that they have a store in Village on the Grange area (apparently Dundas & McCaul area), but it is generally lined up outside so he keeps on walking.

At the Ex, this seemed to be one of the more popular joints in the "food building", but we didn't have much else to do so we waited. I had the veggie meal for $5.25 which came with rice/beans, and various curried veggies - cabbage, potatoe, cauliflower etc. It was ok, but I was expecting some more variety. Perhaps some squash or spinach and maybe some chickpeas. Alright value for my money. Decent levels of tastiness. The rice was a bit weird tasting.

Ian has a boneless chicken roti for $6 something and his direct quote was "It is alright, smaller than I would have liked."

So that's the story!

The Ex

Ian waiting in line at the Island Foods Roti joint like a champ!

I was saving some seats....also champ like!











Ian goes to the casino














Mmmm. Dinner.


















The Ontario Pork Association's slogan was "From Farm to Fork"
















Baby cow














Wonder if this little guy is going to make it past Thanksgiving?





































View from Ontario place across lake towards Hamilton.














Ian carrying my stuff home! Nice work!

Caribana Disappointment

The city of Toronto seems to like to ruin weekends by shutting down major thoroughfares early and often. This week's reason was Caribana. After eventually making it back home from groceries despite the traffic chaos, I decided to check it out to see if it was worth the inconvenience.

The official website for Caribana is sparse on information like times and locations so I set out on Lakeshore until I hit the action. One of the primary motivations for going was to get lunch in the form of Roti. (This is a blog about food). Anyway I walked and I walked and eventually found a range of vendors set up and there was roti. But that's not the only thing that was there, they had also brought high prices. Now I guess the location is nice and convenient for watching the parade but I am fundamentally opposed to paying prices that are greater than or equal to restaurant prices. At the restaurant, the level of sketchiness is likely to be lower and they provide seating. Here there's none of that - no nice yellow or green dinesafe signs or any dedicated seating. And the final straw, many places weren't that busy. If it's not good enough for the locals, it's not good enough for me.

Non-food related notes of interest

• The parade itself was not stellar. "Floats" with prominent signs explicitly saying that "unauthorized personnel can not go on the float for insurance reasons" take a little bit away from the atmosphere. The thing that kills it more is that a bunch of floats would have this convoy of U-Haul's trailing behind. I'm not sure how these were connected to the main event. I guess we'll never know
• There seemed to be a complete lack of corporate give-aways aimed at buying my brand loyalty. My loyalty was left untouched so it looks like I'll have to stick to double bubble and milk-2-go.
• Advertising should consist of more than just whistling. A lot of the water sellers seemed to think using whistles was key and they were using them constantly. If I want overpriced water I'll stick with the quiet vendors

And where did I eat in the end you ask? I picked up a large pepperoni at Domino's. Total price 9.12 which is less than I would have paid at some of the stations and I'm having it for lunch and dinner.

Ducky's Roti & Caribbean Food

The Car Problems:

My check engine light has been off and on for the last little while so I bring it into my Hyundai dealer and they say that I need a new catalytic converter and my exhaust pipe is all cracked.

I was SHOCKED! The converter was just replaced two years ago. It must be some sort of manufacturing defect I'm thinking??? The car is only 5 years old with 120K on it. The emissions system warranty is supposed to be for 7 years/120K, so you don't think they'd design the part to fail twice within the warranty period...especially since it's $1000 a pop.

The whole thing is kind of annoying, but much less so since up until this point, the friendly Hyundai warranty people have paid for it!

Anyhow, now the emissions warranty really is up, so next is one is on me I guess? That will make the whole thing much much much much much much much more bitter!

At this point you are probably wondering what my car problems have to do with Ducky's Roti joint. Well...

The Roti Problems

I'm actually pleased to report that there were no problems. Ian and I did a complicated Kipling subway pick-up arrangement to go and get my car and stopped by a roti joint on lakeshore just west of kipling. I had the "vegetarian delight" with channa, potato, pumpkin and spinach for $5. Various other veggie options for $4 to $5. Ian had boneless dark chicken meat for something around $5.75 Ian says he paid $13.83 for everything including a large pineapple beverage and tax (no tip). Both pretty yummy.

For a slightly different twist on beverage (versus Roti Palace), this joint got some authentic stuff called "Solo". It appears to actually be manufactured in Trinidad Tobago. The palace has a similar tasting beverage that poses as Caribbean but is actually made in Brampton!

Calabash

I went with the co-workers today for some lunch in Mississauga (Erin Mills, just North of the QEW). I've been in the past and Calabash Caribbean food has always been tasty and cheap.

This time I got the rice and curry combo with a green salad, rice, dal, potato/channa, curried cabbage and a little thing of hot sauce. Was really tasty, except for the salad. I think they have given up on making their usual tasty dressing and now throw on Kraft Italian (or at least it tastes like they do). All for $8 including tax + tap water.

Others had the soup and stuffed pastry, chicken roti or beef roti. There were three first time Caribbean eaters there and they did not seem to appreciate the roti tastiness. The one guy had chicken and he got about half way through and the chicken seemed to be undercooked. He took it back up and got his $ back. The restaurant claimed that the chickens were "young and veiny", but it really did look undercooked to me.

Hopefully the people don't get sick or I won't feel too good about setting up another lunch!

Roti-world's best food.

Last night I picked up Ian and we went to the Caribbean Roti Palace on Bloor/Bathurst. Roti is tasty due to:

1. Who doesn't like potatoes?
2. Chickpeas are the least offensive of the bean/lentil family
3. The "wrapping" or "skin" as the palace calls it is deelightful (as Ian would call it).
4. Curry is tasty
5. You can order whatever spice level you want
6. They have the yummy caribbean pinaeple beverage that is actually manufactured in Brampton
7. You can throw in your choice of squash, eggplant or spinach for an extra $0.50.
8. Ian can pick whatever meat he wants.

Carribbean Roti Palace

I picked up Ian and we went for some curry action. Ian got boneless chicken roti which is always a tasty choice for about $6.00.

I strayed away from the roti and had the veggie rice plate. $6.75 for a huge plate of yellow/black bean rice, bowl of the roti filling - chickpea/potatoe action and another bowl, half eggplant, half squash. Eggplant not so hot, but the rest of it, high marks for tastiness.

To wash it all down we had our favorite "caribbean" pineapple beverage actually manufactured in brampton on.

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?