Reason #51

...Because the most pimped out cab ride drives around our very own East End soliciting passengers keen for a little something else....

If you're East of Broadview and you're lucky enough to snag a cab with a neon blue sign that flashes "East End", you'll be greeted by: 

• A shrine-like ensemble of hundreds of figurines and collectibles acting as keepers of cab ride paradise
• Mini disco balls and flashing lights on the ceiling
• Two TVs with music videos of Michael Jackson's Thriller for your viewing pleasure
• Surround sound audio system to add to the "coolness" factor
• 10 magazines hanging off the back of the front seats for your reading pleasure
• An assortment of toys to entertain your kids, as if the collectibles aren't enough
• Neon-flashing "Welcome" sign to make you feel really at home
• And the great company of a cabbie who's been striving for 10 years to make his ride the pimpest ride ever. 

 One more reason to love Toronto now.

S.

Gotta love the TTC

Hot, sticky air, sidewalks full of people walking home, strangers talking to one another, multiple buses hogging the roads, back to back, moving metres per minute, spilling over with bodies...Clogged up traffic, exhaust fumes mixed with street meat smoke...bikes, skateboards, cars and motorcyles all sharing lanes, cars honking, people yelling.....It really could be anywhere but Toronto- Bangkok? Dehli? Nairobi? 

This was the tone, temperature and temperament when I biked home tonight from the Danforth. What caused this ruckus? The TTC broke down. This is one of my favourite Toronto phenomena. When the TTC breaks down. When masses of people are forced to exit subway stations and take slow moving shuttle buses to their destinations. Strangers suddenly start talking to one another about how inefficient the TTC is, how inconvenient this rupture in their journey is, how long it's taking for TTC officials to get shuttle buses along. People start talking about where they live, where they're headed, where they're coming from. Dialogue ensues. You learn a little bit more about your potential neighbour. Those who are closer to their final destination actually take it upon themselves to walk home; streets become busier, noisier, more energetic. Granted a lot of the energy is negative- misery does love company. But all the better, right?

I love it. 

Lucky for me I was on bike tonight and got to watch it from afar. 

Here's to Torontonians bonding...

S.

Dovercourt Village Jane's Walk

Last weekend I participated in one of Toronto's 123 neighrbourhood strolls, in memory of legendary Jane Jacobs. Since one of my themes of the year is staying local, I didn't want to take the TTC or go far to discover something new about the City. On Sunday afternoon I debated between supporting Sistering, which is across the street from me, or attending a tour of Dovercourt Village, hosted by a resident who happens to be big into architecture, history and planning. This Village is essentially the neighbourhood that I live in, except that I'm on Bloor Street. This time I went with the latter.

Having been an organizer in a Jane's Walk for two years in a row that happened to be in one of Toronto's inner suburbs, I was excited to attend one in my own downtown neighbourhood. We met at Dovercourt Park at 2pm. There were about 30 people there; couples, seniors, a few toddlers, and a fair amount of 20-30 something stragglers like myself. Most of the crowd seemed to be residents, with the exception of a few folks who who traveled from Scarborough and Ajax just to come to this Jane's Walk!  Dovercourt Park was a perfect central meeting point to commence our tour. I'm looking for close green spaces to hang out in and this park actually might do the trick. It's got a baseball diamond, playground and tennis court, but still enough grassy green space and 100-year old trees.

The walk was well-paced, twisty and curvy, full of interesting historical tidbits. We walked up to Hallam street, a main artery of Dovercourt Village and learned about the street's namesake, John Hallam. A literacy advocate, he was responsible for starting Public libraries in Ontario in the late 1800s! We paused in front of Dovercourt Public School, which established in 1911. We reviewed the unique architecture of a Gothic-inspired church, and learned that Dovercourt House, which is now a space shared by various artists and fashion designers, used to be an old Synagogue.

 
We walked through a distinct Toronto alley and learned that alleys were originally created for the purpose of heating houses with coal (I stopped by the bakery to get a snack when we were at this point in the tour- so I don't understand the logistics in this). It was also neat to note that street cars in Toronto were planned around neighbourhoods and not vice versa. And unlike the Annex, Dovercourt Village's houses are far from Victorian. Instead, you'll even find rows of some small, understated, cottage-like worker homes (near what used to be a coal-mining factory). Bonus tidbit of history: Dovercourt Village's claim to fame happens to be Marilyn Bell, who was the first person to swim across Lake Ontario (and she was only a teenager)!

It was a curious way to spend a Sunday afternoon, in the company of people who at first appear to be no more than strangers, but really, we were all just neighbours...and we bumped into the Sistering Jane's Walk as we were pouring off the sidewalk mid-tour, up on Hallam. They waved to us in walking tour solidarity, and I noticed that they had a fair following...so I didn't feel so bad about my walking tour choice in the end.

S.

Brunch on Trial

So I've been brunch hopping recently, and have ended up with a small pile of unreviewed restaurants that I've been meaning to share with you all. So I figured, why not all at once? You've all seen Video on Trial. You know it's often not very funny. Well it's ok, because I'm going to review a bunch of Toronto brunch places, and pictures of delectable foods can counteract any bad jokes made. And nothing elicits public interest like pitting stuff against other stuff. I can't include flashy sounds and colours like on muchmusic, because I don't know how.

Featured Judge: 
e - self proclaimed food consumer

Brunches on Trial:
Lola's Commissary   634 Church St.
Mitzi's College   890 College St.
Bonjour Brioche   812 Queen Street East
Irish Embassy   49 Yonge St.

First up: Lola's Commissary
Lola's is charged with being so pretty that I just assumed the food was delicious, no matter what it tasted like.

Pros: decor was nice. Lola's looks like it's someone's house. But like a rich someone. You walk in the front door, and you see stairs going up to more seating on the second floor in what I assume are supposed to be bedrooms. Then you walk into the living room and there are all the host's guests, seated at dainty tables, surrounded by exposed brick walls and industrial ceilings. Natural light floods in from the large windows, and there is a faint smell of cinnamon. Actually I don't remember what it smelled like, but I'm guessing something like cinnamon.

Speaking of which, food was good. In fact, food was pretty delicious. We ordered mimosas to start, because it was just one of those mornings, and then ordered one of the daily specials and a sugary indulgence and shared.

The special was poached eggs in a soupy tomato and bean sauce, with chunks of avocado and cilantro, and some sort of white sour cream-like sauce drizzled on top. It was like fancy eggs with salsa. We had to order bread on the side, because it didn't come with any, but it was tastey and unique and seemingly healthy.

We had read rave reviews of their cheesecake french toast, so we ordered one to share. They were fluffy and sweet and covered with syrupy berries and sauce. The cheesecake part was goopy cheesey goo on the inside of each piece, sandwiched between the

bread. It was sort of like that cheesey goo you get in your Starbucks pumpkin cream cheese muffins. Kind of fake tasting, but I guess kind of good. The whole thing was a bit too sweet, but that didn't stop us from eating it all.

Lola's was good. Lola's was not so good that I fainted from delight. But I would willingly come to Lola's again. So I guess it gets a solid PRETTY GOOD. I would even say it was quite good, but the word quite doesn't look good in caps.

b) Mitzi's College

Mitzi's is charged with allowing children onto the premises. No one wants to see chubby babies standing on tables. Babies be dirty and they let their fluids drip all over the place.

So the College St. Mitzi's was pretty full last weekend, and we had to wait for a table because everyone brought their babies to Sunday brunch and let them run wild inside the restaurant, taking up precious grown up space. But whatever, free country.

The brunch menu is very small, all specials, and we were told they don't allow substitutions or ordering off the menu. They didn't even have the standard eggs and bacon and toast breakfast, but apparently that is the only thing they will make special if requested. So two of us ordered eggs and bacon, but substituted fruit instead of bacon. And more fruit instead of toast. The other two ordered the poached egg special, which included poached eggs and white fish with dill sauce, fresh fruit, and home fries and sourdough toast.

The food was....ok. Satisfactorily tastey, but not jump out at you delicious. And it wasn't cheap. I would rather try another place rather than go there again. 3 out of 5. Lower your prices, Mitzi.

3nd: Bonjour Brioche
Bonjour Brioche is charged with squishing their tables so close together that I could hear everyone's inane conversations around me, and I felt the need to pretend to talk about something really interesting.

Ok but seriously, Bonjour Brioche's food was delicious. We didn't have to wait too long, and the servers were no nonsense and got people what they wanted in time.

This place is a serious bakery. They make all sorts of breads and quiches and tarts and cakes. And brioche, which is this fancy bread that is delicious! yum! It was hard to decide what to get!

We ended up ordering the croque madame and the broccoli and cheese quiche, and then we took some fresh baked croissants and brioches home for later.

The croque madame was made with what was perhaps the most crazy good toast ever. The ham and cheese was all good and fine, but the crust of the bread had this heavenly crunch that was so satisfying. It was meaty, this crunch. Like on a different dimension from other bread. It was bread if it were made out of steak, and you aren't a vegetarian.

All the plates are served with a piece of their house made baguette and a giant triangular brick of butter. People really don't need that much butter. But the bread itself was chewy and dense and flavourful.

The quiche was light and fluffy, not at all like the crap you get at the cafeteria. It was as if it was steamed, but with the flavour of being baked. And the crust was flaky. And it came with salad. But who cares about salad.

Afterwards, they bring a plate over to your table so you can drool over their tarts, and then dare you not to get one. We dared. And then regret it after, because then we didn't have any tart, and that was sad.

4.75 out of 5. Because eventually the food was gone, and none magically appeared to replace it.

Last: Irish Embassy
The Irish Embassy is charged with being so uninspiring that I didn't bother taking my camera out to photograph anything. 

I considered ordering the Irish breakfast special, but I noticed it came with black pudding, and I suspected it was blood sausage, and I didn't like the sound of that. So instead I ordered the eggs benedict with back bacon. My companion ordered the daily soup - corn chowder - and the green salad with fried shrimp.

Blah, the food was mediocre. To be fair, the corn chowder was pretty tastey. She ate all the shrimp on the salad, but left half of the greens because the dressing had no flavour. The eggs benedict were...blah. The hollandaise was goopy and looked like it had been sitting on the plate for a while. The Irish soda bread it was served on was too thick and overpowering. The homefries were bland and were probably similar to those eaten by Frank McCourt as a child.

2 out of 5 on account that I didn't get food poisoning and I liked that my poached eggs didn't run too much. Irish Embassy is sentenced to play something - anything - besides Enya on their webpage intro. Made me lose my appetite.

Brunch! Stop being disappointing!
e

Apparently I look like Owen Wilson and Sophie Marceau's baby

hm wait...I also look like Stephen Chow.

Though often bizarrely way off depending on the photo you input, like telling you you look like Melania Knauss (Mrs. Trump) and Roseanne Barr in the same breath, this site is pretty fun. Then later, from another photo, they'll say you look like Elle Macpherson, and you can't stay mad.

e

Meat on the Ossington

I just spent $$ on food and wine at what could possibly be the most mouth-watering gastronomical delight I’ve encountered in a very long time. Union opened up in July on the Ossington strip, adding to the growing number of fine-dining restaurants. It looks like the rest; long, narrow, with exposed brick, but the food is something else. When you’ve been eating mediocre meals for a while, suddenly slow cooked, locally raised and braised fresh food leaves your taste buds heightened and your appetite satiated in a way you didn't really know existed. Okay, well, maybe you eat much better than I do.

(Pics courtesy of their website.)

My party and I split the venue's sliders and Haddock cakes to start with. What made their sliders different? Elk meat! Elk bite-sized burgers, cooked medium-rare, peppery in flavour, sitting atop challah toast which was doused in some sort of sweet dressing. Trust me, I’ve had my fair share of sliders (in descending order of goodness; Milestones, Pauper’s Pub, Burger Shoppe...), and I think I can never go back. As for the Haddock cake, I don't even really like fish, and this was scrumptious, served to us on a bed of greens, with a really zesty dijon mustard (yay mustard!) sitting on the side.

For the main course, which we shared, we chose the pasta special of the day: home-made gnocchi (I’ve never tasted any gnocchi like this, even in Italy), with braised beef short rib (so tender it melted into the sauce) amd baby bok choy, sitting in an almost-sweet beef broth. Have you ever thought to mix the two (gnocchi and braised beef!!?? Or bok choy??) It was with my first bite of gnocchi and braised beef combined when I realized that the meat in this restaurant must be all around spectacular, not only because of what was going on in my mouth at the time, but also because the couple next to us was salivating over their rare prime ribs for two. It’s sooo great to find great meat. I also had two different glasses of red off their different, but good, wine list. They were $$, but worth it. I'm afraid I don't remember what I ordered... and I didn't chat with the sommelier.

It didn't end with the good meat and wine. I chose the flourless chocolate cake for dessert, debating between that and their apple crumble, and folks, it was near organismic (I'm pretty sure I have intolerance to white flour/wheat/gluten or all of the above so this was quality). Seriously. I've never had such good cake before. And I love chocolate cake. And this wasn’t just my opinion; my date, a self-proclaimed foodie, was in earnest agreement.

So, before you go and check it out, appetizers were in the $10+ range, wine list $10+ range, entrees started from about $20 up. But it is worth the money. Treat yourself! It was a Tuesday night and it was pretty full all evening. Here's an added bonus - their food is all locally purchased (at least within the 100 mile diet range), and organic. 

Next on the meat agenda - the Black Hoof. Charcuterie and cheeses?? Sadly I can’t really digest the latter, so I’ll stay away but I’ll let you know how it goes either way. Tried to go there once, but it was closed for renos. It reopened though. Want to join??

S. 

PS. For a more inexpensive variety of meats -burgers to be exact -,good beer, a decent and eclectic wine list, within a non-pretentious setting (a rareity in the Ossington strip these days!), try the Burger Shoppe. Yum, Yum.

It's Canadian Music Week! Here's something American.

Hi! It's me, e! Did you have a good winter?

I'm back in Toronto (well, the suburbs anyway) and loving the crisp weather and wide open spaces. Hong Kong was great, but there's something about Toronto that puts a spring in my step and a twinkle in my eye (not unlike what show tunes do for NPH). Or maybe that's just the reflection off the snow. It didn't help that during the descent into YYZ the flight attendant announced that Canada had just won hockey gold. It was like a Molson Canadian commercial, but in the air. And without the beer. Eh?

So, real quick, I just wanted to share some tunes with you. I apologize that it's not Canadian. However, Ontarian Timber Timbre and Vancouverite Dan Mangan are playing this Thursday March 11 at the Great Hall. Check them out if you can, cuz they're great.

You might remember the morning benders from our previous posts. The boys' newest album, Big Echo, is out today, and they are all over the internet promoting it, from blogging to tweeting to appearances on major music blogs. Still relatively unknown to mainstream audiences, the band (more specifically, their new label Plus One) has embarked on an ambitious media blitz trying to promote their album release (like making it easy for people like me to embed their album on my blog, even though I don't really know how I even did that).

Here it is for you to stream. You can catch the guys at the Drake Hotel on April 14th (tickets available at Soundscapes and elsewhere). I'll be the one in the front, starry eyed, notepad in hand.

I'm partial to Excuses. What do you think?

e