Woodlot Restaurant, 293 Palmerston Ave, Toronto

Woodlot, Woodlot, Woodlot.  All the foodies are talking about Woodlot.

We went last night to this wonderful little restaurant/bakery with very great food and unfortunately dismal internet presence.  They have a vegetarian menu and a meatatarian menu, which I think is a fantastic idea.  My friend Adam is the barista during the day there, so go check out his handsome face while you buy a coffee and pastry.

The wine list is affordable.  They also offer two beers at the $5 price point.

What did I eat?  Some tasty, tasty plates.

Click ‘more’ for the food porn photos I quickly and embarrassingly took while hiding my camera under my coat:

Marben, Brunch

We had a delicious breakfast at the ‘new’ Marben this morning.
Marben is serving brunch on Mondays from 11am until the late afternoon.

Incase you were curious of what the offerings look like, here are some professional high quality iPhone photos:

Left to right:

Pork terrine,  Testina with pommes Kennedy, poached eggs, (My dish) Johns Burger with branston pickle, braised ribs and aged cheddar.

I highly recommend these minuscule gratin fried hash brown/potatoes (pommes Kennedy).  Very reasonably priced and very delicious.  I will definitely be going back.

Mildred’s Temple Kitchen

Hidden away in a little nook in the Liberty/Atlantic area is the super trendy Mildred’s Temple Kitchen.

You’ll definitely wait over an hour to get a seat, but you can wait in their lounge and people watch. By people watch, I suppose I mean watch “yummy mummys” giggle with their babies while jiggling their Tiffany bracelets and balance on Prada heels. You can also have a tasty cocktail or coffee from the bar.

Atmospherically, the place feels like a mix between an art gallery and an Ikea cafeteria. Three cooks plate food atop an alter while the waiters whisk by (all wearing a mandatory costume of Levi’s and black shell toe Adidas sneakers). There are two doors to the back kitchen where cooks come in and out to replentish the plating station.

I still have an uneasy feeling about waiting so long for my breakfast, even though it was tasty and perfect. My advice is to come in, put your name on the waiting list, go to the grocery store to do your shopping for the week and then have them call you when they’re ready. (They did take my number down when I put my name on the list, now I understand why). Just sayin’.

Scones:

Green Eggs and Ham:

Huevos Monty:

The Huevos had an amazing guacamole with tarragon flavouring. I will definitely come back to try dinner. I hope they take reservations.

Niagara Street Cafe Breakfast (Finally!)

Everyone has been telling me how legendary Niagara St. Cafe is for breakfast.  For the past month on Sundays we’ve been doing a drive-by to discover the doors were shut.  Are they still open? What’s going on?  It was a mystery.  We kept going to our default places.

This weekend we found the doors open and learned that they had closed for other functions.  Persistence never fails.

So if you’ve been meaning to go, I highly recommend it.

What did we eat?

Potato rosti with bacon jam.  <3  Served as a breakfast appetizer “while you wait”.

A quad of house cured pork.  Chef Liu: “Sorry we were closed, here’s a treat”.
We totally scarfed down the first piece before taking the photo.  It  was that good.

Lamb (can’t remember if it’s neck or tenderloin) with panko crusted egg yolk and arugula salad. Just lush.
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Black Camel Sandwiches

Black Camel is located close to my house (Yonge and Rosedale @ Rosedale station).

They serve an amazing sandwich.  You can select from:

Slow Roasted Beef Brisket
Pulled Pork Shoulder
Seared Steak
Roasted Pulled Chicken
Tomato, Pepper, Arugula, & Eggplant

They take their time making the fillings and it is well worth it.

If you’re uptown I highly recommend it!

McDonald’s Race Specific Marketing

When I first saw this posted on twitter via @ZeFrank, I too thought it was a parody from SNL or MADtv.  The major junk food chain has been introducing appeal and value to Americans by launching race-specific websites.

For example, 365Black is “Deeply rooted in the community!”

“Like the unique African Baobab tree, which nourishes its community with its leaves and fruit, McDonald’s has branched out to the African-American community nourishing it with valuable programs and opportunities”.

McDonalds is celebrating African-American culture 365 days a year (not just during Black History Month).  It’s a place where you can find a job, meet real people whose lives have been touched by McDonalds.

There is also an “My inspirASIAN” website dedicated for Asian McDonalds employees and customers.

Will McDonald’s stop at nothing to make a buck?

What do you think of this campaign?

The Saint

What’s going on with this new place on Ossington? Anybody?

Exciting.

Petit Thuet on King

I really do feel spoiled watching suits walk by while having a turkey & Brie with a pink macaroon. <3

Hospitalis Restaurant

In the capital of Latvia (Riga) , you will find a hospital themed restaurant called Hospitalis.

Hospitalis has been developed by several Latvian hospitals and have authentic Soviet-time instruments from the Museum of the History of Medicine, food by Chef Aris Bendiks.

Here is an excerpt from their website translated from Latvian via Google:

Both floors of “Hospitālis” really resemble a hospital: sterile white walls and ceilings, floor tiled with shiny tiles, walls decorated with polished and renewed surgical instruments, medical literature in book-shelves. Both floors of “hospital” really resemble the hospital: sterile white walls and ceilings, tiled floor with shiny tiles, walls decorated with polished and renewed surgical instruments, medical literature in book-shelves.

If the client wants to, he can become a patient and choose between having meal in stylized operating room, gynecology or dental cabinet.

Downstairs leads to a kingdom of mirrors, where inferiority complex can be treated by mirroring yourself in multiple dimensions; the other is more dolorous, designed for patients who have megalomania. When passing through the lobby of visions in which butterflies are entangled, you get into a madhouse with upholstered walls and ceilings, original beds and modern chairs dressed in camisoles.

How drole!

Images taken from Hospitalis.lv

Burrito Boyz

When I’m hankering for a little donkey (burrito), nothing will stop me from getting one.  You can picture the Tasmanian devil destroying everything in it’s path until it gets to what he wants.

My favourite burrito chain in Toronto is definitely Burrito Boyz.

Warm on the inside, crunchy on the outside.  It’s a bundle of love.  If you can survive the trip back home without eating it, bravo.  You can eat in the restaurant, but it’s a cafeteria style with no service.  I didn’t bother taking a photo of the food.  I’m pretty sure you’ve seen what a burrito looks like (barf).  It’s one of those foods you just can’t photograph.

Now, for your personal enjoyment, Hennifer Lopez:

There are three locations:

218 Adelaide Street West, Toronto, ON M5H 1W7‎ – (647) 439-4065‎
9 Stavebank Road, Mississauga, ON L5G 2T3‎ – (905) 891-2699‎
3803 Lake Shore Blvd West, Etobicoke, ON M8W1R2‎ – (416) 251-2699‎

Get off your computer and go get one, you hungry bastards!

Gordon Ramsay: Claridges

I haven’t posted too much lately as I’ve been in exam hell and have JUST left for vacation.

I have a real treat for you today.  My Christmas present this year from my amazing boyfriend was dinner at Gordon Ramsay at Claridges in London.

Pizzaria Libretto

 

Simply Delicious

What a lovely little restaurant to go to with friends on a Sunday night.  

Pizzeria Libretto has a warmth to it.  You walk in, you smell the imported wood pizza oven.  The staff is very friendly, attentive and knowledgable.  I also like that the menu changes quite often.  There’s a surprise every time.

The pizza crust arrives so incredibly fresh, it’s fluffy in the way I remember naan.  The duck confit is succulent beside poached pears and ripe cheese.  The beer is cold.  The panna cotta is mmmfffffmm, gone. 

After eating all of these delights, the idea of going out into the cold is so uninviting.   I could stay at Pizzeria Libretto all night.

Poutine!

 

Smoke's Poutinerie

 

vs. Montreal Poutine

 

 

 

Well, here it is!.

Hi and welcome to my first post.

Today I have the privilege to tell you about a new little place that opened up this week called Smoke’s Poutinerie

Being a Toronto native, I must be clear that I am a frequenter of La Belle Provence, Quebec. I have been stuck in a Montreal snow storm, I love Martin Picard and my favourite bagel is of course from St. Viateur’s. That being said, Smoke’s is a franchise that has now opened up above the beloved Burrito Boyz. Being a purist, I decided to have the “original” poutine. The cheese did indeed “squeak like two balloons making love”.

The chicken gravy was the perfect consistency. If I had to criticize I must say that there wasn’t enough gravy for my fries and that it wasn’t hot enough to melt the cheese curds. Fairly enough, Steve (the person I had the pleasure to dine with) had extra gravy (with bacon) which was plentiful and smelled like heaven.

Criticism at this point is unfair because Smoke’s opened their doors less than a week ago.   I simply felt that I’d reiterate the experience as best I could.  

Smoke’s is incredibly delicious and the closest us Toronto people will get to poutine.   I will return most likely after a night of heavy drinking, tumbling down Adelaide street towards home.