Toronto, Ontario, Canada

[bookluvingbabe]

I am planning my annual Stratford, Ontario theater experience and this summer it has gotten out of hand with the addition of a side trip to Toronto to see Lord of the Rings: The Musical plus a trip to the Shaw Festival and Niagara Falls and Niagara on the Lake.

I'm pretty confident in the Stratford part of the program after seven years and eight trips -- just point me toward Boomers and the Church and I'm happy.

I haven't been to Toronto since 1999 and I don't recall any amazing food then. I think we'll be there for 1 dinner and 1 brunch. We might have an early dinner after the theater so possibly 2 dinners. I would think dinner would be better in town than on the QEW heading back to Niagara.

Niagara Falls and/or Niagara on the Lake: Looks likes we'll be there for 2 breakfasts, 1 lunch and one dinner. The theater is in NOTL but we will be staying at the Falls (Canadian side).

For Toronto, I was toying with the idea of Canoe for lunch or dinner but the prices are frightfully high. I don't mind paying a lot for a terrific meal though and can budget the rest of the trip around it if I plan far enough in advance.

Goldfish Cuisine looks interesting for brunch or dinner.

For the Niagara area, I'm wide open. I've had a decent lunch somewhere in NOTL that wasn't memorable. There is a nice ice cream place that I routinely get lost looking for and lots and lots of chains.

Any wisdom?

Thanks!

Jennifer

[dcdavidm]

We haven't been to Canoe in two years, but my recollection is that, while pricey, it was an excellent meal, with top-flight ingredients creatively prepared and served in comfortable surroundings, and we considered it worth the tab. Great view if you luck out on the weather, too!

Although not extraordinarily creative, we have always had good meals in Niagara on the Lake at the conveniently located Prince of Wales Hotel. In the past few years, several of the NOTL wineries have added restaurants to their properties, but we haven't tried them yet.

[Joe H]

I've stayed at the Prince of Wales and had several dinners at Canoe which is a very good Italian in Toronto. For Niagara on the Lake your first choice for a hotel really should be the Prince of Wales. While totally different this is to Niagara on the Lake as the Williamsburg Inn is to Williamsburg: i.e., THE place to stay.

Toronto: In my opinion the best restaurant in Toronto and one of the three or four best restaurants in Canada (along with Eiginsinn Farm (!!!!), Susur Lee and Lumiere in Vancouver) is North 44. I've been there at least ten times over the past 15 years and absolutely love this restaurant. The closest local comparison would be Citronelle and I would suggest this is its equal. I've written at length about this (and several of the others) on Chowhound but most importantly, if you go to North 44, his signature dish is his filet mignon of tuna. I had this there and at the French Laundry within 24 hours about five or six years ago. North 44's was better. The Inn at Little Washington also does this; North 44 is still better. Susur Lee is a fantastic chef; his restaurant continues as one of the "hottest" and most difficult reservations in Toronto. You should go. Also, Toronto's Chinatown may be equal to San Francisco's or even Vancouver's. Don't overlook this.

There is a fish and chips place in Welland, Ontario whose name I forget. But Toronto Life, the Toronoto Globe and all of the Buffalo publications rave about it. Its' fish and chips are the equal of England's best (in Blackpool). I haven't been in about five or six years but on my last visit it was extraordinary. Well worth going many miles out of your way for. There's nothing like this within seven hundred miles of D. C. or this side of the Atlantic. They even wrap their "to go" orders in newspapers which few places still do in the U. K.

Edited April 18, 2006 by Joe H

[mdt]

Any recent updates? Going to be in Toronto soon and free for lunch on a Friday and Saturday and would like some input on what I should try and get to.

[MugZ77]

In Toronto, I'd highly recommend the Jamie Kennedy Wine Bar. I last ate there in April 2005, and it reminded me a great deal of Chicago's Avec or Seattle's Lark, both of which I adore -- and not as pricey as the places previously mentioned:

http://travel.nytimes.com/travel/guides/no...d=1154654629478

http://mydinnertable.typepad.com/home/2007..._kennedy_w.html

[bookluvingbabe]

I skipped Canada in 2007 because of a wee small person who was distracting me quite a bit then...

Fast forward and the whole family is going in August, plus we have two honorary aunts meeting us there.

Questions:

We want to visit a winery in Niagara on the Lake--Inniskillin seems logical since we like ice wines but are open to suggestions. We only have time for one winery.

Ideas for a picnic-type lunch in or around NOTL--could also be the winery. Veg friendly is good, toddler friendly better.

Any other Stratford junkies out there? We are feeling the constraints of the exchange rate this year so ideas for dining on less would be good. There won't be 4 trips to the Church this year!

Thanks!

Jennifer

[Rhone1998]

I had dinner at the Jamie Kennedy Wine Bar Monday night, in Toronto for one evening for a business meeting the next morning. With the exception of the wine (very interesting list by the glass) and dessert I can't say I really got this place. My peameal bacon sandwich with sheep's milk cheddar sounded intriguing, but it turned out to be basically a Cuban sandwich/panini if you will -- roasted pork loin and a sheep's milk cheese whose flavor didn't really come through, pressed between two pieces of grilled bread. It was all somewhat overwhelmed by a strong horseradish mustard. My crispy skinned pickerel with toasted bread salad was just a mess - the skin wasn't crisp in the slightest, and the toasted bread salad turned out to be a handful of oily croutons. I was really disappointed with this.

Most bizarre was a dish I didn't even have. Every once in a while throughout the meal I noticed a strong, unpleasant burning smell around me. My neighbor at the bar remarked the same thing. It turned out that an appetizer of some dips and bread was served with a burning rosemary sprig. I mean really burning. The couple to my left ordered it and I saw their plate, with this rosemary sprig on fire. I don't know who ever got the idea that this smelled good.

On the plus side, you'd probably pay a lot more for this in the States (three dishes, one full and one half glass of wine, for US$50 including tip) and the apple crumble tart with caramel sauce I ended the meal with was delicious.

[wdcbrucefan]

Any recent recommendations for a moderately priced dinner with a coworker in Toronto? I've heard raves about Chinatown, but looking for some specifics. Am staying at the Sheraton Centre but can jump a cab if necessary for somewhere worth the trip.

[ol_ironstomach]

Any recent recommendations for a moderately priced dinner with a coworker in Toronto? I've heard raves about Chinatown, but looking for some specifics. Am staying at the Sheraton Centre but can jump a cab if necessary for somewhere worth the trip.

Central Toronto is a rather amazing collection of neighborhoods, each with distinct identities, but I'd have a hard time NOT running out to the northeastern inner suburb of Markham to pig out on xiao long bao. Highly recommended: Ding Tai Fung (3235 Hwy 7, Markham), a high-quality knockoff of the Taiwan-based Din Tai Fung chain. But don't let that put you off; the xlb are superb here. A review here.

I have to point out that Toronto traffic is really awful. Don't plan on getting anywhere in a hurry.

If you're on a splurge in town, the tasting menu at Lai Wah Heen, located in the Metropolitan Hotel (108 Chestnut St., Toronto) is arguably one of the fanciest Chinese meals to be had in North America, and certainly one of the most visually pleasing. But don't expect "contemporary Chinese" to push the envelope much.

When I get around to transplanting hard drives back, I'll try to post some photos.

[ol_ironstomach]

Some pics from Ding Tai Fung:

Front door

You can see some of the dumpling-makers at work in the window at the rear of the room.

Menu

Several versions of xiao long bao (#13) available...we really liked the seafood varieties. Don't worry, there's an English menu that parallels this order sheet.

Bean curd skin and beef tendon

Unlike most of the versions I've tried, they cube the tendon here instead of slicing it.

Three kinds of xiao long bao

The main event...

[DanielK]

Wipe it from your memory, quick. New Fortune will not compare...

[ol_ironstomach]

Niagara-on-the-Lake has a pretty obvious tourist district in the historic town center. Of foodie interest, there's a gourmet cheese shop about a block off the main strip, but Ontario prices on cheese were staggering (we noticed this across the province) with most pushing the $25-30/lb range, so we punted.

However, it's worth stopping in at Greaves Jams & Marmalades (55 Queen St.), a local producer of English-style preserves which had their production facility directly above the shop from 1927 until two decades ago. They're still made in town, albeit at a new facility away from the historic district.

We didn't get a lot of recommendations for places to eat from the folks working at the wineries on Niagara-on-the-Lake, but a couple of them recommended The Pie Plate (1516 Niagara Stone Rd., Virgil ON), located on the road between NotL and the highway, for fresh-baked savories and fruit pies. The other common recc was the local watering-hole-and-grill on the other side of the intersection, which we dismissed out of hand. But thank goodness for The Pie Plate. We took seats outside on the patio, next to the very bushy cherry tomato plants, and were encouraged that periodically a cook would emerge from the kitchen to harvest a handful or two off the vine.

Individual savory pies were in short supply - they were out of my first choice, and Gubeen scored the last beef-and-Guinness - but you could get by with a nice salad and move directly to the main event, the fresh fruit pies. The Pie Plate uses only local fruit and we were there at the peak of the season in August, so the peaches were to die for. The photos on their website don't do the flaky-and-tender crusts justice, so here are my own shots:

Roadside sign

located on your right as your leave town, just prior to the Virgil traffic light

and across the street from a chapel-turned-antiques store

Fresh peach pie

(right) detail of crust edge

[New Foodie]

Any recs for actually eating in the Niagara Falls area (we're staying at the Fallsview Marriott). Will need probably 2 lunches and 1 dinner and are willing to try stuff on the NY or the ON sides.

[bookluvingbabe]

Any recs for actually eating in the Niagara Falls area (we're staying at the Fallsview Marriott). Will need probably 2 lunches and 1 dinner and are willing to try stuff on the NY or the ON sides.

I can't remember having anything decent in the Falls area. Ever. The drive over to NOTL isn't bad and the food is better there. Zee's Grill was very nice.

Avoid the Happy Wanderer and East Side Mario's no matter what you do. (And I love ESM at every other location I've tried. The one at the Fall's is dreadful.)

[DanielK]

We did a family trip there last summer.

It's chain city on the CA side, and the NY side is the Park, so it's Park food. (though the actual restaurant in the Park side is decent as far as park restaurants go).

On the CA side, once you get off the main drag, there are a few family-owned places, but I didn't find anything specific worth mentioning.

Not too far from the NY side is Buffalo, and a trip to the historic Anchor Bar, home of the original Buffalo wing, is definitely worth it.

[Rovers2000]

Anchor Bar is about a 30 minute ride from the Falls.

For something closer, if you want good pizza try Vincenzo's (in shape/style it reminds me of a much better tasting Ledo's) which is in Lewiston (a few miles down the road from the Falls). Also, DiCamillo's is a bakery (I ate at the Lewiston one, but I believe there is one right in Niagara Falls) that is worth stopping in. Their "pizza bread" and pizza are excellent.

[New Foodie]

Thanks! We're actually staying in Buffalo on Saturday night (WAY cheaper) and then spending two nights at the actual falls, so we're planning to hit up Anchor for sure. One night we're eating at the hotel's fallsview restaurant, but might have to head up to NOTL for the second night.

[silentbob]

Central Toronto is a rather amazing collection of neighborhoods, each with distinct identities, but I'd have a hard time NOT running out to the northeastern inner suburb of Markham to pig out on xiao long bao. Highly recommended: Ding Tai Fung (3235 Hwy 7, Markham), a high-quality knockoff of the Taiwan-based Din Tai Fung chain. But don't let that put you off; the xlb are superb here. A review here.

We ate here early last Sunday. The xiao long bao were pretty good -- almost certainly better than anything I've had in the D.C. area -- but still a step below the ones at Din Tai Fung. The beef tendon appetizer was cut into cubes as opposed to thin slices. My only criticism is that the xiao long tang bao (the one that's 6.99 on the menu) did not come with a bowl of broth/soup like Din Tai Fung serves in Beijing. I should have spoken up, but we were in a hurry to make the Blue Jays/Red Sox game.

Our best meal of the weekend was at Black Hoof in the Portugal Village neighborhood. Top-notch charcuterie plate for $25, with the foie gras parfait and duck proscuitto as the highlights. Great smoky sweetbreads with chanterelles and fresh peas too. Loved the 80s iPod mix that was playing in the background. The kitchen is tiny, with only one apartment-sized stove right next to the bar. Quite impressive, really.

Props to Dufflet Pastries as well. Their devil's food cupcake with strawberry frosting was better than anything at Georgetown Cupcake (our favorite in this area).

With all the meat consumed in T.O., we passed on wings/sandwiches while driving through Buffalo and had healthy prepared foods from Wegman's instead.

[treznor]

If you're in the King St area, Beer Bistro is perfectly serviceable. I had the steak frites tonight along with a couple of local beers (Durham Hop Addict and Junction Craft Conductors Ale). The steak was served with tarragon butter, sauteed mushrooms, fried onions and fries cooked in beef and duck fat. The steak was cooked as I asked (medium rare) and had a nice flavor and texture, the frites were nice and meaty (I'm really not a fan of shoestring fries) and cooked so they were just crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. The mushrooms gave a nice accent. Overall the beer selection was pretty decent, focusing on local beers and belgians (at least on top) with a large bottle selection as well.

Overall, not something I'd go (far) out of my way for but quite serviceable. I wouldn't hesitate to come back if I were in downtown Toronto again.

[jasonc]

Bellwoods Brewery

124 Ossington, Toronto Ontario

Website

The Bias

It strikes me that most of the brewpubs I’ve been to are either serious about their beer, serious about their food program, or neither. Rare is the brew-bird that does both well.

Take even the venerable Russian River Brewery: the beers are legendary, but the food – mostly doughy pizzas – is an afterthought. This is the reason I was skeptical about Bellwoods Brewery, a skepticism that proved completely unfounded.

The Back-story

Bellwoods, which likely derives its name from nearby Trinity-Bellwoods Park, is on a strip of Ossington between Queen and Dundas that is currently getting a lot of press for its impressive density of quality restaurants. The source of this abundance appears to have its roots in local regulatory law-making. In particular, a moratorium on liquor licenses (welcome to Canada), allowed for new regulations that effectively drove out any potential nightclubs, but preserved the restaurants and smaller pubs and bars.

The beers here are serious. Eschewing conventional wisdom, the owners and brewmasters cast a wide net, tackling a range of styles (with a focus on Belgium) tied together primarily by the simple fact that they were simply interested in them.

Chef Guy Rawlings (who they will lose in June) is in charge of the menu, which dwells on beer-friendly small bites. It is quite successful.

The space is fantastic. A former garage with one side completely open to the outside, the space practically beckons thirsty passers-by in. The lower level is occupied by a smart-looking bar and the brewing area supplied with several fermenters and old pinot barrels (for a forthcoming barrel aged creation), while the upstairs contains a few tables and a counter that overlooks the bar and brewery.

The Experience

My girlfriend and I stopped by on a warm Wednesday night in May. It took a while to be greeted because there seemed to only be two front-of-house staffers working a nearly-packed house. But the fellow who did greet us was pleasant, giving us a choice of a table upstairs or a seat at the aforementioned upstairs counter overlooking the brewery. Although there was no one working the equipment at that time, I have an interest in beer-making and convinced my girlfriend that we wanted those seats.

I started with their Farmhouse Saison, which I found spicy and yeasty, but eminently drinkable. I could have put back several of these if I did not want to try others. We also tried their Toil and Trouble Dubbel, another of the Beligan style but not as much of an easy-sipper. Working backwards through the beer list, I ended with the Common Pale Ale, which I only wish was indicative of a common pale ale. It was the lightest of the beers I had that night, but not without its intricacies, notably a grainy finish. Overall, the beer here is of an extremely high quality and I expect they will be raking in the awards soon.

(Of course this should be taken with the note that they have a slight leg up in that the beer is extremely fresh and they can closely monitor the cleanliness of the tap and lines.)

Rawlings’ menu is meant to compliment the beers. It’s divided into snacks, sticks and plates, of which I believe the sticks represent the best value and quality. While several of the snacks sounded terrific (pork rinds with house-made malt vinegar, $3 for a small portion, $6 for a large), we were a bit underwhelmed by the quantity. The small portion of pork rinds was just that, maybe five or six diminutive rinds. Lima beans ($4) were also exceedingly sparse, and the quick fry in paprika and oil seemed like something anyone could do at home.

On the other hand, I was extremely impressed by the stick of duck hearts served with charred jalapeno oil ($4), the smokiness of the oil helping to accent the meatiness of the hearts (much in the tradition of a great barbeque). We also enjoyed a stick of sunchokes with a barely-there horseradish cream. Finally, we had a plate of crispy pork, pea shoots, peanuts soaked in vinegar, and grainy mustard sauce ($9). I wasn’t floored by this dish, but the peanuts are a terrific idea, providing much needed blasts of vinegar throughout a relatively fatty dish.

Despite being short handed, I have to note that the service was excellent. Our server was around when we needed him and was happy to describe the intricacies of the menu, a matter on which he was clearly and expert. After things cooled down, we shared beer stories, and I got the impression it was more than a job for him and that he was clearly a beer geek.

In short, Bellwoods in an exceedingly well thought-out brewpub in a town that could really use one. If you are in Toronto, I would seek this out as a unique experience in a not-very-touristy part of town.

The Caveat

This write-up is a product of a single experience during the brewpub’s first month. I wouldn’t treat it as a review as much as a description of a single data point.

[ol_ironstomach]

I'm very sad to report that Fifth Town Artisan Cheese Co (Picton, ON) halted production last month, supposedly temporarily, due to cashflow problems. The retail store continues to operate with the inventory in their cave, but the production staff have been laid off and the operation is struggling. The divorce of the co-owners, founding cheesemaker Petra Kassun-Mutch and her husband Shawn Cooper, precipitated Petra's departure last fall as president of the operation. She remains a force in the Canadian artisanal cheese scene, as a founding member of the Ontario Cheese Society, and interim chair of the new Canadian Cheese Society.

Shame on me for never getting around to posting a proper write-up of this place, the most extraordinary cheesemaking operation in North America. Noted for their award-winning goat and sheep cheeses, Fifth Town operated out of a purpose-built facility in which spent whey was run through a series of constructed biomarshes in order to minimize its environmental impact. The buildings were constructed out of advanced recycled building materials, and were super-efficient. It was/is the only LEED Platinum-certified dairy in the world, and the only LEED Platinum factory of any type in Canada. In addition, their business model was designed to keep the vast majority (93%) of the company's spending in the local community.

I've attached a couple of photos from when I toured their facility in 2009. It really is a showplace; they went to the extraordinary measure of obtaining laminated polymer panels, normally found as bullet-resistant applications, for all the windows (including the huge viewing windows) in the cheesemaking room where glass is prohibited by food safety regulations. If you're in Toronto this summer, consider stopping by this little gem in the cottage region of PEC an hour or two to the east.

view from the road; semi-buried aging cave at right, marshes in front

cheesemaking room

retail shop

[jasonc]

Caplanksy's Deli

356 College St, Toronto Ontario

Website

Standard Deviation

If you believe the internet, Caplanksy’s isn’t a story about quality; it’s all about variance. It’s not the tale I expected when I moved to Toronto. In fact, when I found out I was moving to Toronto, Caplansky’s was the restaurant I was most excited about trying. A couple of years ago I got obsessed with making my own pastrami, daydreams of opening my own deli dancing through my head. And when it comes to smoking and curing meat, Caplanksy is at the head of the class.

Zane Caplansky gained a great deal of notoriety a while back for being on the vanguard of a deli movement: quality-conscious, artisanally-minded young deli men bringing the art form back from the brink. I read about him and Nick Zukin of Portland’s (of course) Kenny and Zuke’s in a Gourmet article by David Sax, and later in Sax’s novel, Save the Deli.

Trepidations about opening up a small business, and really, fear of the unknown got in the way of my cured meat dreams. The story seems to have changed at Caplansky’s as well. Chowhound currently holds pages and pages of complaints about Mr. Caplansky’s deli. But it isn’t that it’s not good – it’s that it’s not consistent. Apparently, what you get at Capalansky’s varies wildly night to night, to the point that some of sworn off it completely. Some even say you should go in and ask for a sample prior to ordering, and if it’s not up to snuff get a tongue sandwich instead..

What is indisputable about Caplansky is that he knows deli. The smoked meat is his own recipe, aggressively spiced, and when it’s good, it’s a rival to Schwartz’s in Montreal.

I went on a Friday night in May, and came away very satisfied. Like I said, there is a good chance it was just luck, but I can’t argue with my own experience. My date and I both ordered the sandwich combo (a sandwich, coleslaw, pickle and fries/soup/salad for $13 – a decent deal for this town) with smoked meat, hers medium, mine fatty. Turns out, fatty was the way to go.

Unlike Schwartz’s (and again, this may have just been the (bad) luck of the draw), where the fatty smoked meat is more-or-less pure fat, the fatty here was the perfect balance of fatty and lean, more what I would call a medium. My date’s medium was actually lean, and a bit try to tell the truth. But the rye was fresh, and the house-made mustard hot (we bought some to take home, $5 and worth it), and we both left satisfied. The combo comes with a side, my date’s order of fries being plentiful, if not burnt in parts, and my matzoh ball soup clean tasting with a fluffy dumpling.

I have no reason to doubt the various cautionary tales out there. But even if the average visit deviates a great deal from my experience, this is an accessible deli serving most of the traditional fare in a time when such a restaurant is hard to find.

(the photograph is my own)

[jasonc]

Noka (Website)

513 Bloor West, Toronto Ontario

Noka is a Japanese restaurant on Bloor, in the Annex, home to no shortage of Japanese restaurants. One can classify the Japanese fare on Bloor into three categories:

I. Cheap, decent sushi:

Japan Sushi (terrible name award winner, 2012)

Big Sushi (runner up, terrible name award, 2012)

Sushi on Bloor (long lines no longer justified/sensible)

II. Good Izakaya:

Guu

III. Inventive + Better than average Sushi:

Sushi Couture

Noka presents itself as a newcomer in the third category, but from my one experience, it seems closer to a more expensive version of the first.

From the “Signature Appetizer” section (the part of the menu that drives my hypothesis that Noka is trying to be something more), we tried the Chili Tuna ($8.95). This dish is described as “tuna, diakon, cucumber, fresh mint, beet, chili sauce.” At the end of the day, this is just a misconceived dish. It’s more or less a salad of those ingredients, the beets actually being beet chips. That’s not to say there’s anything wrong with the combination of these ingredients, but more that not one was heightened by that particular combination. It didn’t help that the fish was past its prime, with a fishy taste and mushy texture.

Rounding out the meal, we opted for maki combo B ($13.95), which is a roll each of spicy salmon, tuna and escolar along with miso soup and salad. This was a bit of a you get what you asked for situation, but the fish was sauced to hell and for the life of me I couldn’t tell the difference between the tuna and escolar. We also ordered an eggplant tempura and a sweet potato tempura, the two stars of the show and the sign of a kitchen that knows its way around a deep fryer. Maybe it’s not a good omen that a restaurant’s fry work was its best effort, but perhaps worth knowing.

Overall, Noka seems to want to join the likes of Sushi Couture on Bloor’s sushi scene, but based on my experience, it simply doesn’t weigh up.

Perpend: Noka’s website links to two food blogs (TO Bites & Food Junkie Chronicles) that had considerably better experiences, the latter of which did a much better job at sampling the menu.

[petercarrjones]

So what is the most "Toronto" thing to do/eat? I know it's a very metropolitan and cultural city with lots of ethnic food offerings. I also know a bunch of NY places have just opened outposts- I don't really feel like eating momofuku in Canada when it's just a few hours up the road. Soo.. poutine and kids in the hall marathon?

[jasonc]

I can help with this. do you have any geographic specifications within the city?

[petercarrjones]

Any area works. I'm just looking for something great. Jason, your blog is great and def helpful for asian recommendations.

[jasonc]

Sure, here are some ideas:

Check out Edulis. Their Sunday dinner is an especially good deal.

Check out Chinatown, where Americanized Chinese food has been perfected. I like Swatow.

The Ossington strip is especially popular right now and is home to several interesting places: Bellwood's Brewery (I wrote about it upthread) continues to impress and many consider it Ontario's finest producer of craft beer, Hawker Bar, and Yours Truly.

Wallflower, mentioned on my blog.

Black Hoof

The suburbs for authentic Sichuan, Cantonese and various Northern cuisines.

Toronto is a lot like Brooklyn-lite right now. Lots of small independent chef-driven restaurants that pop up every week. Except since it's Canada it's a lot more expensive than Brooklyn. For instance:

http://henhousetoronto.com/

Also, in the Eglington West area (little Jamaica) features numerous restaurants with guys cooking jerk chicken outside their shops on makeshift grills.

[Genevieve]

Are there restaurants you'd recommend near the harbourfront / Rogers Centre area? We'll be there this summer and one of our party may not be up to walking far, so we might need to stick close, or go within a reasonable cab or transit ride - probably can't do subway, too much walking. I know traffic/parking is supposed to be very difficult in general so we probably will not drive places.

My sense from reading a little about it is that the Harbourfront area may be primarily fast food / chains, and the same may be true right near the ballpark, but that the "Entertainment District" is nearby and may have good places. (I would've taken a streetcar to go somewhere, but the streetcar from Queen's Quay apparently has been replaced with bus service during construction until the end of the year - there's bus service instead but I haven't figured out yet how often that runs or if it goes close to where we'll be and where we'd want to go.)

If there are only a few good places in the area, I'd love to know what they are. If there are lots of places, would love to hear the ones you think are best (which does not have to mean fanciest/most upscale). We like good food from super casual to somewhat fancy. Can't do MSG, but I don't know if that's a common ingredient in Chinese food in Canada as it is in much of the U.S.

Thank you!

[jasonc]

Sure, I'll work on this. I will say that you should avoid the restaurants in the entertainment district at all costs. It's chain or just high priced, low value restaurants that are designed to extract money from tourists. That's sort of the nature of the area unfortunately. It neighbors the financial district (where I work), and that's just a business lunch area that shuts down after 6.

But there is some stuff. I'll start a list.

[Genevieve]

Oh, thank you so much, Jason! I can't say how much I appreciate it. It's my first time visiting Canada and I'm looking forward to it very much, but we only have a couple days in Toronto and I'd like them to be good. (Probably eating lunch at the ballpark one day, but the rest of the time would be eating in the neighborhood or a short cab ride away, depending on how easy/hard it is to get cabs.)

[jasonc]

Hi Genevieve,

Here are some thoughts I had. I may come up with more later. They should all be reasonably close to where you are staying, some moreso than others.

• Biff's Bistro - they have $1 oysters after 5:30 in the whole restaurant.
• Banh Mi Boys
• White Squirel Snack Shop
• WVRST
• Canteen
• Bannock
• Cibo has half priced wine on Thursday, but I wouldn't go otherwise.

There is a restaurant in the four seasons pretty close to where you are staying that I would NOT go to. I wasn't paying but it was one of the most poorly executed over-priced meals I've had in a long time.

[Genevieve]

Thank you so much, Jason!! I will be sure to have this list on hand. None of us are wine-drinkers or oyster-eaters, so we'll skip Cibo and I'll see what else is on Biff's menu (am guessing they will have other good seafood).

How hard is it to get cabs? If there's somewhere wonderful worth cabbing to, and we could get a cab back to the hotel from the restaurant without too much difficulty, we'd do that one night.

[jasonc]

Biff's is actually more French - other than the oysters I'm not sure seafood is a highlight.

Outside of about 4:30-6:30 or so, cabs are easy to find and pretty affordable here. I've been happy with the cabs.

I spoke to a colleague who lives just east of the Rogers Centre and she listed Real Sports as her restaurant of choice that's in walking distance. That's kind of just a crappy sports bar, so I think that's an indicator of the choices in that general area.

Edulis is a chowhound favorite and a reasonable cab ride from the Rogers Centre. Less than $10 one way.

You could also get to Leslieville for about $10 and that's a very trendy area at the moment. I've never been but friends rave about the brunch at Lady Marmalade.

[Genevieve]

Wonderful - thank you again!! adding those to my list.

[lovehockey]

I cannot contribute to the restaurant discussion because I've never left Pearson International Airport (in my experience, expect mediocrity if you're looking for food) but if you are a Bank of America account holder you can withdraw money from Scotiabank ATMs across Canada without surcharges or access fees (if I recall from the days when I took advantage of this, Scotiabank charges you an exchange fee).

[Tweaked]

Bero, in the Leslieville neighborhood of Toronto (yeah, I have no idea where that is)

Modern technique with Spanish/Basque influences.

Full disclosure alert:  Matt Kantor, the chef is my former college roommate.  Physics degree, computer programing background, ditched it all to go to the Culinary Institute of America.  After several years of wanderings around the country, Matt ended up in Toronto.  He ran a noted series of pop-up dinners called Secret Pickle and has finally partnered and opened up his first restaurant.

Back in college, Matt and I, and a third roommate, use to whip up huge batches of chicken curry to feed us for the week and experimented with all sorts of homebrew gear.  Our Blacker Than Black Chocolate Stout was particularly delicious.

I'm hoping to get up to Toronto this Fall...but in the mean time here is some gratuitous food porn from a blog review of his restaurant:

[Genevieve]

Getting excited for our Toronto trip!  We're going to be a little more mobile than I'd thought, so we can look at places to eat outside the harbourfront area, though we'll have a meal or two there from Jason's recommendations, so glad to have those. We should be able to walk a little more than I thought (though probably not more than three or four blocks at a time) and/or take buses/streetcars as well as cabs.  And since Toronto is the main highlight of our trip, we could definitely take cabs a bit further and splurge a bit more.  So if you have any great places that are a bit further from where we're staying but are worth the cab ride or couple blocks' walk from the bus/streetcar, I'd love to have their names.

I do need to make sure the restaurants have something for one in our party who is not eating pork or seafood and is sometimes adventurous but sometimes not.  Edulis will depend on what they have on the daily menu, since it's a short one, but if it works for the whole party I would love to go there; Bero sounds amazing but we should go somewhere with more than 3 choices per course, especially when it's a 4-course prix fixe.  Most places look like they have plenty of other options, though - pleased to see that Banh Mi boys has steamed bao with braised beef cheek or fried chicken as well as pork.

So is North 44 still highly recommended?  The post above has me very intrigued, but it's from 2006.

[jasonc]

In that case: Harbord Room, Splendido (quite pricey), Yours Truly, The Burger's Priest, Lai Wah Heen, County General

I'll try to think of others

[Genevieve]

Thank you so much, Jason!  I really appreciate it.  Adding these to my list.  Also thinking we may want to go to Daisho (for dinner after a Blue Jays game at Rogers Centre).

[jasonc]

I've heard good things about Daisho but haven't been.  I suppose I didn't mention it before because Chang's empire isn't endemic to Toronto.

In terms of ramen, i've heard very good things about A-OK foods

http://www.torontolife.com/tag/a-ok-foods/

[Genevieve]

Jason, thanks to you, we ate very very well in Toronto.  I'm indebted!

We started at Lai Wah Heen and had some of the best dim sum I've had.  A menu full of creative dumplings, things I haven't seen before, as well as top-notch har gow and shu mai and steamed pork buns.  The turnip cake came as a rough pyramid of little cubes instead of the thick rectangles we're used to, and that just meant more surface area to be crisped - terrific.  A crab dumpling was designed like a crab, with legs drawn in sauce and black sesame seed eyes.  Good service, too, very friendly and helpful.

Other places we ate at your recommendation were Canteen (looks like a little sandwich joint, had great creative casual food) and White Squirrel Snack Shop (terrific! loved my brown rice/great mushrooms/tofu/kimchee/steamed greens).  Hoped to get to Banh Mi Boys but that didn't work out.  We also enjoyed Daisho very much, though a little pricey for the amount of food you get (not that we weren't happy not to be stuffed, and everything was delectable and different from what I've had in DC - I recommend the dessert that was like a baked or fried snack pie with warm peaches inside).  Had a very nice though not out-of-the-ordinary lunch at By the Way Cafe in the Annex when we were over there (the daily soup special was unusual, carrot/ginger/coconut, and that was just lovely). 

[jasonc]

I'm really glad they mostly worked out!

I realize now I should have probably recommended more Chinese food as that's a local specialty.  Although, a great deal of it is outside of the city proper, so it might not have worked out anyway.

[Joe H]

Source: Grub Street New York

Just remember, it's cash-only and only one burger per-person.

There are lots and lots of people outside the "stately farm-to-table Italian restaurant" Osteria dei Ganzi this morning in Toronto, where the venerated California-based In-N-Out Burger has set up shop temporarily to sell three kinds of burgers at $4 to $6 a pop. The city's mad blitz of double-doubles lasts from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m., or until inventory runs out, of course, and, well, the odds are clearly stacked against most of these folks: Some 600 people showed up for a chance to get 300 burgers in Singapore at a ...

Read full article >>

I have raved about In-n-Out Burger on several Chowhound posts.  This looks dry, completely devoid of any juice.  The photo is actually a good argument for In-n-Out not expanding outside of the area where they can control their quality.

[Joe H]

Above is a photo of a California In-n-Out double double with grilled onions.  The Toronto double double has a slice of raw onion.  Nobody, nobody orders a double double with raw onion  Grilled onions!  Note on the right hand side of the burger that the juice is oozing into the cheese and bun.  You won't see this in the Toronto wannabe.  I will also note that the Canadian bun doesn't even look like an In-n-Out bun.

Having said all this the best Canadian burger-and perhaps the equal of In-n-out-is in Vancouver at a drive-in White Spot, several of which still have teletray service and car hops.

Sincere thanks to Estufarian for posting my original "the 5,000 mile hamburger" post from 2003 on Chowhound's Toronto board.

[jasonc]

This isn't specific to Toronto. They do these pop-ups all over the world and have a guy whose job it is to arrange them!!

[goodeats]

Any updates? I am taking my mom to Toronto over Thanksgiving holiday. I really don't want to rent a car, so transportation advice is also appreciated. We will be staying downtown, near Union Station.

A visit to Chinatown is a must, but where to go for good eats these days in or around Union Station?

Has anyone done a day-trip to Niagara? Do you recommend a tour ticket or GO or VIA Rail?

Thanks.

[jasonc]

I think the greater Toronto area, in terms of Chinese food, is probably third in North America behind Vancouver and the San Gabriel Valley.  Maybe behind the Bay Area 'burbs as well.  The annoyance is that these restaurants simply don't lie in Downtown Vancouver, and Toronto's public transit doesn't make it easy to get out there (unlike say in Vancouver where Richmond - the place where the world class Cantonese and Sichuan can be found - is easily accessible by Skytrain).  Consider making the trek anyway.

Some cool new places of note:

Pai (indeed, many of the staff are actually from Pai or have lived there for a long period of time)

Little Sister

http://www.buca.ca/bar/ (haven't been but have heard good things)

http://www.thechasetoronto.com/ (haven't been but have heard good things)

Portland Variety

Also, most of the lists here are solid, maybe use them as idea fodder:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/884382

[jasonc]

You might also like Fat Pasha and Rose & Sons.

[jasonc]

I think the greater Toronto area, in terms of Chinese food, is probably third in North America behind Vancouver and the San Gabriel Valley.  Maybe behind the Bay Area 'burbs as well.  The annoyance is that these restaurants simply don't lie in Downtown Vancouver, and Toronto's public transit doesn't make it easy to get out there (unlike say in Vancouver where Richmond - the place where the world class Cantonese and Sichuan can be found - is easily accessible by Skytrain).  Consider making the trek anyway.  

Of course, this should read:

I think the greater Toronto area, in terms of Chinese food, is probably third in North America behind Vancouver and the San Gabriel Valley.  Maybe behind the Bay Area 'burbs as well.  The annoyance is that these restaurants simply don't lie in Downtown Toronto, and Toronto's public transit doesn't make it easy to get out there (unlike say in Vancouver where Richmond - the place where the world class Cantonese and Sichuan can be found - is easily accessible by Skytrain).  Consider making the trek anyway.

[goodeats]

^ It's okay Jason--that's what our autocorrect function in the brain does--glossed right over that (although I see where your bias lay... ^_~ )

So after polling GEgrandma, who promptly said, "anything is fine, but not too..." (I'm not sure what the "not too" part is, so doing my best here), I have the following ideas. Also, apologies, jasonc, my mom's not very adventurous food-wise for some things, so I had to gloss over some of your ideas... ;

1. Booked: 360 at the CN Tower (she wanted to do touristy) and Yasu (after pouring through that Chowhound thread--thanks!).

2. Touristy other places involving food:  Kensington & St. Lawrence Markets (what to taste and see?), Distillery District (Toronto Christmas Market?), walking around Chinatown? Advice would be greatly appreciated.

3. Touristy other places not involving food:  Bata Shoe Museum & Niagara Falls (taking the GO Transit over--any "walkable" places appreciated).

GEgrandma is taking the approach of "it's Toronto; we can eat at any dim sum place and it'll be great!" But I am the cautious one; are there okay places within the Chinatown area?

Itinerary is as follows:

Day 1: Arrive and check in early afternoon. Walk around until 6-ish dinner reservation at CN Tower. (This is where I was thinking Distillery & St. Lawrence Markets?)

Day 2: Breakfast at Kensington Market, then Bata Shoe Museum or Chinatown until 5-ish seating at Yasu.

Day 3: Take transit to Niagara Falls. Do touristy stuff and walk around going "ooh and ahh" and "I'm freezing" around the Falls.

Editing and such advice appreciated. Don't want to wear out my mom either. Thanks all!

[Joe H]

^ It's okay Jason--that's what our autocorrect function in the brain does--glossed right over that (although I see where your bias lay... ^_~ )

So after polling GEgrandma, who promptly said, "anything is fine, but not too..." (I'm not sure what the "not too" part is, so doing my best here), I have the following ideas. Also, apologies, jasonc, my mom's not very adventurous food-wise for some things, so I had to gloss over some of your ideas...  ;

1. Booked: 360 at the CN Tower (she wanted to do touristy) and Yasu (after pouring through that Chowhound thread--thanks!).

2. Touristy other places involving food:  Kensington & St. Lawrence Markets (what to taste and see?), Distillery District (Toronto Christmas Market?), walking around Chinatown? Advice would be greatly appreciated.

3. Touristy other places not involving food:  Bata Shoe Museum & Niagara Falls (taking the GO Transit over--any "walkable" places appreciated).

GEgrandma is taking the approach of "it's Toronto; we can eat at any dim sum place and it'll be great!" But I am the cautious one; are there okay places within the Chinatown area?

Itinerary is as follows:

Day 1: Arrive and check in early afternoon. Walk around until 6-ish dinner reservation at CN Tower. (This is where I was thinking Distillery & St. Lawrence Markets?)

Day 2: Breakfast at Kensington Market, then Bata Shoe Museum or Chinatown until 5-ish seating at Yasu.

Day 3: Take transit to Niagara Falls. Do touristy stuff and walk around going "ooh and ahh" and "I'm freezing" around the Falls.

Editing and such advice appreciated. Don't want to wear out my mom either. Thanks all!

I did a major driving trip for business with a circuit that wound through Buffalo, Grand Island, Niagara Falls, St. Catherines, Niagara on the Lake, Toronto (including Cenre Island) and on annually for more than 25 years.

If you are intent on visiting Niagara Falls and can, rent a car.  Serious.  It is an easy drive from Toronto to Niagara Falls on the QEW.  Primary reason is that this will allow you to stop at Niagara on the Lake which is absolutely beautiful.  If you and your mom enjoy wine Niagara's wine country (200 wineries?) is gorgeous also.  I would liken Niagara on the Lake to Williamsburg.  Niagara Falls is interesting and the Falls are spectacular.  It will also probably be dead over Thanksgiving.

You may also want to spend two full days in Toronto.  It is almost the size of Chicago and there is a lot to see and do.  I suspect that once you get there you'll find that you may not leave it.

Last, snow.  I am not sure how much snow Toronto and the area south to Buffalo has received.  Perhaps little if any, perhaps pockets with a lot.

And, for opinions on restaurants, "Estufarian" is on the Toronto board of Chowhound and has been posting for 15 years.  He is extremely knowledgeable and sophisticated and totally up (and opinionated as I) on where to go today.  He is probably the "father" of that board.

Enjoy!  Toronto is a Great city.

[Tweaked]

And if you do Niagara Falls, the Canadians have the better side of the river.  The American side kinda sucks, other than Goat Island.  But the money shots are all on the Canadian side.   

[jasonc]

I did a major driving trip for business with a circuit that wound through Buffalo, Grand Island, Niagara Falls, St. Catherines, Niagara on the Lake, Toronto (including Cenre Island) and on annually for more than 25 years.

If you are intent on visiting Niagara Falls and can, rent a car.  Serious.  It is an easy drive from Toronto to Niagara Falls on the QEW.  Primary reason is that this will allow you to stop at Niagara on the Lake which is absolutely beautiful.  If you and your mom enjoy wine Niagara's wine country (200 wineries?) is gorgeous also.  I would liken Niagara on the Lake to Williamsburg.  Niagara Falls is interesting and the Falls are spectacular.  It will also probably be dead over Thanksgiving.

You may also want to spend two full days in Toronto.  It is almost the size of Chicago and there is a lot to see and do.  I suspect that once you get there you'll find that you may not leave it.

Last, snow.  I am not sure how much snow Toronto and the area south to Buffalo has received.  Perhaps little if any, perhaps pockets with a lot.

And, for opinions on restaurants, "Estufarian" is on the Toronto board of Chowhound and has been posting for 15 years.  He is extremely knowledgeable and sophisticated and totally up (and opinionated as I) on where to go today.  He is probably the "father" of that board.

Enjoy!  Toronto is a Great city.

Lots of stuff to reply to here!

1. We barely got any snow!  Maybe half an inch and it'll all be melted by Monday.  Most of it is gone now. Kind of surprising given how close Buffalo is.  
2. Agreed re: Estufarian's post. I've come across his work before too.  Also, for Chinese, a poster named Charles Yu is beyond reproach.
3. I do also think Niagara is going to be a pain in the neck on the Go-Train. I wonder if renting a car would be that much more expensive than the two round-trip train tickets and possible cabbing when you get there.
4. The CN Tower restaurant isn't really my kind of thing, as you noted, but if it's a clear day you'll get an incredible view. 
5. Try Rol San in Chinatown, but try to get there early as a line usually forms. I think you'll find the quality is a step above Fortune-strata restaurants in the DC-area and considerably cheaper - especially with the favourable exchange rate you are getting now!
6. With regard to the CN tower day, St. Laurence Market is walkable from/to the Tower. It's closed Monday though, so be careful there. It's touristy but there is a seafood place - Rock Lobster - that is actually quite well respected locally and has a food truck and restaurant elsewhere. There's a downstairs with a really good salsa vendor with free samples. They are really expensive to buy though.
7. I think you'll be surprised about how quickly you can work your way through Kensington Market. But it's a cool area. I'd try either Kaplansky's, which is an internationally recognized deli (featured in David Sax's Save the Deli), with house made smoked meat. Get the fatty version. It's not in Kensington Market though. But only about two minutes walk away. I'd also maybe try Nu Bagel in Kensington. It's a good represetnation of Montreal-style bagels. I was having some trouble with them being too doughy at the end of the summer, but the owner said they were training a new baker, so I have to think it's probably fixed by now. Maybe get some for the hotel room and get your own cream cheese elsewhere. The bagels are only $1, but their cream cheese is expensive. 
8. Never been to Yasu but I used to live right across the street (it was a Persian restaurant then). Very exciting!

[jasonc]

How was it?

[goodeats]

How was it?

Well, jasonc--three days after the trip, I had about a page of my write-up written and then, somehow the website timed out, and all my writing was lost (the auto-save feature only "saved" 3 sentences). But then life took over, and I haven't found time to rewrite it, so I am going to write it up in the next few days.

Had a lot of fun! Thanks for all of yours and others' recommendations!

[jasonc]

Ahhh yes the classic move.

Well I look forward to reading it!

[DonRocks]

]Well, jasonc--three days after the trip, I had about a page of my write-up written and then, somehow the website timed out, and all my writing was lost (the auto-save feature only "saved" 3 sentences). But then life took over, and I haven't found time to rewrite it, so I am going to write it up in the next few days.

Had a lot of fun! Thanks for all of yours and others' recommendations!

[Mary, what operating system and browser are you using? Was it a new or existing post? There should be NO problems with the auto-save feature, and it's saved every TWO MINUTES after a change is made. I had a problem using Chromebook on existing posts, sent it into Invision, and they fixed the bug in a day. ANYTIME ANYONE is typing someone and they don't see the "Last Autosave made at xx:xx:xx," PLEASE take a screenshot and send it to me. This doesn't even need to be during a lost post; it can be anytime you're posting. This should not and (in Invision's eyes) does not happen. You may have found a bug peculiar to your setup, and I want to help fix it. Please PM me details. Examples of how the Autosave works are below:]

At 4:27 AM, I typed an "x" in a new post. Two minutes later, this appeared (please take note of the bottom-left corner of the text box):

Then, I left the post completely, went back in (typing "Reply" as if I were going to type a brand new post once again), and got this (*):

Then, I clicked on "View Auto Saved Content" and got this:

Then, clicked on "Restore Content" and got this:

The Auto Save works! I need to know situations where it doesn't.

(*) Is it possible you're assuming the Auto Save automatically comes up and fills in the text box? It doesn't. You have to actively choose it; otherwise, it's just a little sentence in the bottom-left corner, sitting there, and will be overridden and wiped out once you start typing again and not restoring it. This may well be your issue: Auto Save requires pro-active action on the poster's part.

If anyone, at anytime, has typed in a long post and thinks they've lost it, CALL ME at (202) 630-DINE and leave an urgent message. Do not do *anything* else regarding that thread (you can surf the website, and post other threads, but do *not* go back into that particular thread). I will get your message, call you back, and help you - I promise. Even if I don't call you back until the next day, the information will still be intact if you don't override it.

[jasonc]

Goodeats...I'd love to hear about your experience, even if it's perfunctory and aged. 

[goodeats]

Goodeats...I'd love to hear about your experience, even if it's perfunctory and aged. 

<sheepish look>

I was just thinking how to write this up, now, jasonc, especially, since, I really had a lot of fun! Here's my (long) summary.

Prior to arrival, I knew I didn't want to rent a car; I couldn't justify parking prices for the 3 nights, on top of rental costs, so I opted for mass transit. It was very confusing at first, since I tried to research prior to arrival, but my research efforts caused more confusion; however, I got really good at figuring out the system by the end of the trip. There are 3 viable systems in Toronto:

1. VIARail:  The Amtrak equivalent in Canada. Also equally expensive, but offers good deals via email subscription.

2. GOTransit:  Toronto's regional rail system. The link will take you to the PRESTO card system, which is a reloadable card system like the SmarTrip card.

3. Toronto Transit Commission (TTC):  Toronto's local transit system, comprised of subway, buses, and streetcars. Very convenient and pretty frequent. Also expensive, if you pay per fare. Currently, this is the only public transit method to get to downtown Toronto, although the GOTransit will take you to surrounding suburbs/neighborhoods of Toronto.

To get to downtown via the TTC from Toronto Pearson International Airport, you will need to take the 192 Airport Rocket (Terminal 1, Column R4 or Terminal 3, C12) to Kipling Station (subway). It costs $3 CAD for adults, $2 for seniors/students, and $0.75 for children, but requires exact change, if paying on the bus. Instead, buy a bus token at the Currency Exchange located near door S (I think) of Terminal 1, ground level, if you don't have exact change.

I ended up buying a PRESTO card for my mom and I, which, thankfully, turned out to be useful for the Niagara Falls trip via GOTransit (it was too pricey via the VIARail), but if you are going just be downtown or in the surrounding neighborhoods (e.g., Richmond Hill), you can just purchase TTC passes to save money and time. Or walk. We walked quite a bit because many places were quite walkable.

We were lucky to book a hotel near Union Station. This is such a convenient hub to everywhere--highly recommended if you can.

Day 1: While walking from Union Station to our hotel, I gleefully leapt for joy at the fact that a Tim Horton's was conveniently located across our hotel. Definitely made my mom try their doughnuts, which we had as a nice afternoon snack. Then we toured the Bata Shoe Museum and a bit of Eaton Centre, prior to dining at the 360 restaurant, located at the top of the CN Tower.

2 things of note:  1. Black Friday was alllll over Toronto during the American Thanksgiving holiday weekend, even though they didn't celebrate it, of course, and 2. Starbucks was equally all over the city--you couldn't really escape from it. I think it is slightly scary how much Starbucks has seeped into their culture too.

The CN Tower was beautifully lit and the restaurant was definitely not for those who have slight motion sickness (i.e., me). I was a bit nauseous from the constant turning, but my mom enjoyed every view from the top. The service was lovely and the kitchen was very respectable of our allergies. The food was pricey (as was the wine list--both expected), but well-executed and run-of-the-mill-touristy (nice) fare. It is a great way to sightsee the entire downtown area, especially since you can walk around the observation deck after you have finished dining. I would recommend it because of the experience.

Day 2:  Kensington Market and Chinatown (the 2 are near each other) during the day and Yasu for dinner.

1. Kensington Market is an eclectic little town-like feel of a neighborhood. It was a bit of shopping, bakeries, coffee shops, restaurants, butcher/fishery shops, and so forth in a concentrated area. You can get off at the center of it via the Spadina Avenue streetcar--very convenient.

We started out our day at Jason's recommendation:  Nu Bí¼gel. A great representation of a Montreal-style bagel, these are first boiled in honey water and then baked in their wood fire oven. My mom and I split a lox and cream cheese sesame bagel sandwich, which was delicious (think: nice chewy, soft, warm), especially with their housemade honey mayo.

Next, my nose led me to Wanda's Pie in the Sky, where I had to buy a slice or two for later...too full and could never resist pie. These are really well-made pies, with a nice buttery, thickish crust and not too much sugar or flavorings to let the main flavor shine through. I opted for a slice of the Ontario Sour Cherry, while mom picked their seasonal Sweet Potato Praline. Mom's slice still tasted great a day later, while I consumed mine happily that night. I think these ran about $4 CAD per slice.

Then, my mom overheard a tour guide of the market walking tour proclaiming, "this has the best coffee in Toronto!" So, of course, my mom had to try it, as this guide was the "professional." So we grabbed a cup of joe from Casa Acoreana (Yelp link. Also known as "Casa Coffee"). This was probably the cheapest, decent cup of coffee you can find anywhere, since it was $1. The star is probably its sister store, which sells freshly made cannolis for $3 (I think--this is from memory), if you buy a cup of coffee. Mom never tried cannolis, so I bought one. Being a typical Asian mom, she declared it was "too sweet," but liked the well-made filling and the crispy, crunchiness of the shell. Warning--this place is really a hole-in-the-wall, corner shop. Very lovely place, but turn the corner, and you'll miss it.

We proceeded to walk around, heading toward Chinatown, and as I "oohed" and "ahhed" about the butcher and fish shops along the way, I had to drag my mom into Blackbird Baking Co. A neat little shop with breads baked daily, this would be my daily stop if I lived nearby. A sampling of its sourdough baguette had me excited about its sourness, chewiness, bounce, if you pressed on it, and of course, its taste. Alas, needed to make room for dim sum, so no purchases made here.

2. Chinatown, next stop. Mom recalls having the best dim sum in Toronto, even though our last visit here was quite harried. So, we went with Jason's recommendation and dined at Rol San (FB link). I think it was pricier than dim sum in the DC area, but was really good. I especially liked the way they did their shrimp changfen, while mom loved their pork and bamboo rolled in tofu sheets. Their taro dumpling was also the best I've had in awhile. The one thing I didn't like was how they added gratuity onto the bill, even though it was just the two of us. This was the only place we ate at that did this.

Even though we were really full, we stopped at various bakeries. I would have to add to this part later, as I can't recall which ones we visited (most of our baked goods were consumed the next day on the train to Niagara Falls). The only two I could recall were Mashon Bakery (Yelp link--the best of all we tried) and Ding Dong Bakery (Yelp link--just alright, but conveniently located next to Rol San).

3. I think the most memorable meal of our trip by far was at Yasu. An intimately designed sushi bar, with a seating for about 8 total, the omakase designed by the chef-owner was very well thought out, with a nice progression through its 18-piece meal (plus dessert), showcasing fresh ingredients sourced globally. (Even though the chef-owner wasn't there that night--I think--since the two chefs present that night do not match online photos, you can still tell they were very well trained. I also liked the fact they asked if you had any food allergies prior to serving the initial course). At $80 CAD, I think it was a good value for what was presented and probably the freshest that I have had in awhile. I will post a dropbox link of photos later. 

I really liked how there were two chefs available for the tasting--1 for each two pair-seating, and I also liked how the chefs explained where the fish was sourced, along with the staff showing us a picture of it on the iPad from time to time. They answered any question lobbed at them, including my question of what type of rice they used in the restaurant (answer: koshihikari). The most interesting course was the Shirako (I won't spoil the surprise--click on thekitchn.com explanation)--and my favorite was probably the first course, a Hawaiian fish, the name I cannot recall right now (Opah?). It was nice and sweet, with almost an apple-y taste to it. They have a nice wine/beer list there, too.

Day 3:  St. Lawrence Market and Niagara Falls. By mass transit, you take the GOTransit Lakefront line to the 12 bus, I think, which will take you to Niagara Falls. It was about an hour's ride each way. The baked goods came in handy, as my mom didn't want to eat there, for some reason. The highlight was riding back with a bunch of Maple Leaf fans and seeing a brave 11 or 12 year old girl wearing the lone Caps jersey on the train. (I think Caps lost 3 straight that weekend...)

Prior to heading out to Niagara Falls, we started our day at the St. Lawrence Market. If you can, go on a Saturday, as that is when they have their farmer's market in the north building. The South Market, or the daily portion, reminds me a lot of Philly's Reading Market.

1. The Farmers' Market at St. Lawrence Market North (blogTO link) is more like the size of the Courthouse Saturday market, but with much more variety of options, such as a few butchers (with actual pigs hanging in the window of their portable butcher case), more ethnic selections and the like. My three favorites were:

a. Meadowview Honey (not sure if this is the correct link, but it is the honey vendor closest to the food stand inside the North Hall). An Ontario-based apiary, they make a variety of liquid and creamed honeys for sale, as well as beautifully carved beeswax candles. We bought two small jars of a type of creamed honey that I still can't bear to use, but found it quite tasty when I sampled.

b. Maple Syrup vendor right outside of the North Hall doors leading to the South Hall. Of course I cannot recall the vendor's name or find it online, but of the few vendors' "locally produced" maple syrups sampled, this vendor had the best taste to its syrup.

c. Merchants of Green Coffee. The best coffee tasted during the entire trip took place that morning. They only sell beans at the farmer's market, but they hand out sample coffee. You only need to drink it black. That's how good it was. One whiff of the beans and you know they carefully choose their beans and where they source from. I bought a 1/4 pound each of their India-sourced bean and somewhere from South America origin to brew at home. I just finally finished it around Christmas time, and it was still "good to the last drop." I wish I could direct order from here. I finally found two good coffee bean vendors, but one being here and the other being in Taiwan, I'd say I'm a bit out of luck...

2. South Hall was a place one can get lost quite easily. The market is split between two levels, which most of the vendors on the main level. We only made 2 purchases, since we were heading out to Niagara Falls shortly thereafter, but mom's one find made her giddy like no other.

a. Anton Kozlik's Canadian Mustard. Ironically, her giddiness was not over the mustard sold here, which rivals many a favorites you all have posted, but rather, she went absolutely delighted over their horseradish. Apparently it is that good. It was a very popular shop, as a queue formed soon after we arrived. So you will have to find out for yourself which type of mustard you like and whether the horseradish is really mom-approved good.

b. Future Bakery. Future Bakery actually takes up two stalls in the market (one directly across from the other), with one stall focusing on its baked goods, cakes, and tarts, and the other on its breads. After reading how every visitor should try the famous Toronto butter tart and seeing it sold here at a reasonable price, I purchased one to go. It did not disappoint, but is slightly an acquired texture/flavor, as it somewhat resembled eating a spoonful of Lyle's Golden Syrup.

After the market, mom was ready for a cup of latte to drink on the way to Niagara Falls, so we stopped in a Second Cup cafe. I think it is the second largest coffee franchise in Canada, after Starbucks (or third, if you count Tim Horton's). It served its purpose, offering a nice variety of coffee/tea and coffee/tea specialty products along with pastries and food. Mom liked the croissants there.

We ate at Momofuku Toronto on our last night here because it was closest ramen/noodle place to our hotel. Not very different from the other Momofukus, so I won't elaborate. But it was nice to have hot noodle soup on a cold night.

I think you can see why it took me so long to find time to compose it. As it is, I took an hour, unbelievably. But it was a worth it, as it was a lot of fun. We ended the trip flying out of the Billy Bishop Airport. I highly recommend flying in and out of here, as it was a short ferry service from the Union Station area to the airport, with virtually no wait at security (think tiny airport). A bonus was a nice lounging area with free snacks and beverages.

[jasonc]

Amazing - thanks!

I was nervous some of my suggestions wouldn't work out and I'm so glad they did!

Sorry about the Rol San prices - I guess I just don't know my shit there.  At least you got the benefit of a favorable exchange rate!

I wish you had asked me more about the TTC.  took me a while to figure that out myself and I could have passed it along.

Thanks again  -great write-up.

[goodeats]

Amazing - thanks!

I was nervous some of my suggestions wouldn't work out and I'm so glad they did!

Sorry about the Rol San prices - I guess I just don't know my shit there.  At least you got the benefit of a favorable exchange rate!

Thanks again  -great write-up.

Aw, shucks. Toronto's an amazing place--very vibrant, a lot of personality, and great places to go exploring.

Please don't worry/feel bad about Rol San prices. I mentioned it as a point of comparison; I suspect Rol San prices are on par with other dim sum restaurants in the area.

Also, I like figuring things out, so it was a good challenge for me re: transportation.

On all my trips, I keep receipts from everywhere I went and I try to keep a daily ledger to make sure I'm within budget, just to be safe. For Toronto, I was a bit surprised at my daily spendings, so I feel bad that the cost of living is a bit higher there compared to here...

[goodeats]

I promised photos. So here they are. Most were taken on my iPhone, in case you were wondering why the lighting is off.

[jasonc]

Really digging the sushi photos

[lekkerwijn]

We've been doing a lot of traveling lately, with more to come and so a bit behind on posting.  We spent a long weekend in Toronto at the end of July. Our first time back there in nearly ten years despite a family tradition of quarterly trips over the boarder to secure dim sum.

Quick highlights below:

Bar Buca  Really cool, little cafe and wine bar that serves intensely delicious Italian small plates. We got a sampling of things to try including fried squash blossoms, dandelion greens salad, cannelloni, polipo and a special off menu mushroom dish. We also had some late lunch appropriate cocktails that were super bitter and really played off the food nicely. No wait when we got there around 2 pm on a Friday.

DaiLo  Trendy little spot that does Asian fusion in a really fun, elegant way. We had - Big Mac Bao (really does taste like a Big Mac- they're off menu you have to ask for them), Tempura Watermelon, General Tso Sweet Breads, Ponzu Waygu Carpaccio, Ma Po Halloumi and Shrimp Bang Xeo. Without a doubt the sweet breads and tempura watermelon were the high lights. Cocktails were also really delicious. Note the restaurant was really, really loud.

Patchmon's Homemade Thai Desserts We schlepped out to this place because the pictures in the Porter Airlines magazine looked cool. It is definitely an interesting little place. They let you try everything and make a pretty stellar Thai iced tea. If you like gelatinous Asian desserts this is the place for you.

Dandylion  This was our only non-Asian meal of the weekend. I'm finding that a restaurant that does vegetable centric non-vegetarian food in a really excellent way is a place worth making an effort to visit. They have a tiny menu but everything we ate was superb including the homemade sour dough bread and ricotta. The menu changes frequently. We started with two of the salads, one that was turnip greens and bottarga another that was beets and citrus. Mains were fish and lamb. For dessert we had a cheese plate with fresh figs and the mixed berries over homemade sour cream. The wine list is similarly short, but eclectic and jives well with the food.

Luckee Per family tradition, we ended the weekend with dim sum. We were surprised how empty the place was given how excellent the food is. Definitely not cheap but really delicious and very fresh. We enjoyed everything we got. The scallop and peashoot dumplings were definitely a favorite. Xiao Long Bao were good, but not our favorite. Har gow notable for being made with whole shrimp.

We also made a stop at the St. Lawrence market. Managed to score some wild Canadian blueberries and grabbed a bagel, lox and cream cheese from St. Urbain bakery. The blueberries were insanely awesome. The bagel was good  but not great.

[Rhone1998]

Taking a quick glance at the posts above looking for a dinner spot on a quick business trip up to Toronto earlier in the week, I decided to try the dim sum at Rol San.  Good stuff, and I'd go back, but the real revelation was a place called The People's Eatery I spotted a few doors down.  I stopped in there for a quick drink on my way to dinner the first night where I was also talked into trying a snack of chanterelles on toast.  Both were superb and brought me back for a full dinner the next night.  Overall the place makes me think of a smaller, low-key Rose's Luxury in its emphasis on taste over provenance or consistency of flavors.  There may not have been much coherence to the overall meal but man was everything good, from the cocktails to the sashimi salad (a great mix of textures and flavors) to the crispy Thai style pork belly, while the above mentioned chanterelles on toast might have been my favorite, thick very buttered brioche with a generous portion of mushrooms on top. Highly recommend this place.

[astrid]

Doing a long weekend in Toronto, to take advantage of the relatively cool weather over July 4th (and 150th anniversary Canada Day).  Enjoyed our meal at Honest Weight, really impressed by the bar at Alo.  More food to come (yay!).

[astrid]

Toronto Restaurants Subjective Best to Worst

ALO Bar - Great cocktails and food, excellent service, good space, and plenty of room to accommodate walk-ins.  All this is severely under-rating how lovely this place is.  We're definitely going to try for a reservation to ALO proper for a re-visit to Toronto plus re-visiting ALO's bar.

Black Hoof - we almost didn't go here because their website said cash and Canadian debit only.  Actually they're happy to take US-ian credit cards now.  I really love the place, it has a nice vibe and a menu that reads well and tastes even better. The cocktails are nice, the food is very good, and the waitstaff treated us well.  We loved it so much that we came back for an encore the next day. 

Honest Weight - Honest to goodness great fresh seafood, not expensive and generous portions, and nice space.  The service was a little space-y but pleasant, and easy to forgive when everything else clicks so well.

Dragon Boat - seems to be amongst the top 2-3 places in Toronto for dimsun according to current Chowhound chatter.  It's certainly popular with the local Chinese population.  There was a line out the door at 10:45 AM on July 4th, a work day in Canada.  Luckily we were able to get seated quickly and ordered way too much food.  They don't do pushcarts but let you mark up an order sheet and then bring the food to your table when  its ready.  It's definitely the best dimsun since my last trip to Shanghai (my opinion is that Shanghainese shenjianbao is impossible to beat in the dimsun category).  Overall I really liked the food, even though the presentation is not elegant and the taste is not very refined, they're all spot-on for tasty.  They are really generous with portions, one of their dimsun (of 3 or 4 per order) would practically be a full order elsewhere (which is why my fridge is now crammed with dimsun of dubious eatability). 

Bar Raval - Bar Raval gets lots of positive raves.  It's good but I don't think a level above top tier tapas/pintxo bars elsewhere.  The atmosphere is nice and the Pollard punch I had was really really nice.  The specialty here is expensive imported cans of Spanish seafood.  Having parted with a decent chunk of change for 2 smallish cans of seafood, I don't get the appeal.  The flavor profile is more or less tinned oysters packed in oil, not a bad taste but not worth $20-50 per 50g portion, at least for me.  The non-canned portion of their menu is quite good and they serve their full menu (plus donuts) for breakfast (starting at 8 AM), so maybe a great spot to start drinking early to a platter of ham, tomato toast, and some fine tender octopus.

Fishman Lobster Club - I couldn't resist *GIANT CRUSTACEAN MOUNTAIN* so we made our way here.  You get pretty good value for your money, for $120CAD before tax and tip, we got a 7+ lb lobster fried up into a foot plus tall mound of garlic scented lobster chunks plus a large platter of tasty fried rice with roe and tamale plus a large platter of decent stir fried pea shoots.  This is their suggested 2 person meal but could feed 4 and maybe even 6 normal appetite people.  Good thing they ran out of king crab because I was actually tempted to order the lobster/crab combo for 4 people (5 lbs lobster + 6 lbs king crab).  The lobster was nicely done - tasty, fresh, and easy to extract.  It's probably worth going just for the picture, getting to eat a giant pile of lobster is just a bonus.  If you can get smaller, 3-5 lbs is probably the sweet spot for lobsters, bigger lobsters have a higher proportion of weight tied up in heavy claws rather than tail meat. 

Edulis - scored a last minute brunch (really lunch, nothing brunch-y about the meal) reservation at Edulis.  It was quite good but didn't fully click with us.  I think I just don't like homestyle cuisine when I'm dining out, and it seems like Edulis is mostly serving an elevated kind of home cooking.  I had a similar issue with Vetri and Bibou in Philly, everyone else seems to love them but I'm luke warm on the experience.  The individual bites were really nice and +1 loved the house soda program here.  The rolls and butter here are really great too (rolls almost as good as Kinship's parker house rolls and butter almost as good as the best Parisien butter).  The atmosphere for brunch is lovely and warm, it seems like half the people here are regulars and knew the owners well.  If this sounds like your thing, you may be happy to know that Edulis offered half off on wines with their Sunday brunch. 

Buca Yorkville - the seafood charcuterie plate was very nice.  The seafood platter is nicely fresh but too dominated by the olive oil that it's doused with.  The pastas were nice too.  It's good but not good enough to justify the mark-up (probably 50-100% more expensive than comparables elsewhere).  We did considerably better and much cheaper elsewhere.

DaiLo - I've decided that Chinese fusion cuisine is just not my thing and may just not that good, period.  Always end up unbalanced and dominated by one or two notes.  And the cocktail I got here was the worst one I had in Toronto by far.

[DonRocks]

[This is a wonderful post, astrid. Posts like this are why I have a moral obligation to permanently curate this website.]

This is an incredible number of restaurants to frequent in one long weekend.

[Ericandblueboy]

3 hours ago, astrid said:

Fish man Lobster Club - I couldn't resist *GIANT CRUSTACEAN MOUNTAIN* so we made our way here.  You get pretty good value for your money, for $120CAD before tax and tip, we got a 7+ lb lobster fried up into a foot plus tall mound of garlic scented lobster chunks plus a large platter of tasty fried rice with roe and tamale plus a large platter of decent stir fried pea shoots.  This is their suggested 2 person meal but could feed 4 and maybe even 6 normal appetite people.  Good thing they ran out of king crab because I was actually tempted to order the lobster/crab combo for 4 people (5 lbs lobster + 6 lbs king crab).  The lobster was nicely done - tasty, fresh, and easy to extract.  It's probably worth going just for the picture, getting to eat a giant pile of lobster is just a bonus.  If you can get smaller, 3-5 lbs is probably the sweet spot for lobsters, bigger lobsters have a higher proportion of weight tied up in heavy claws rather than tail meat. 

I think I saw this place in Andrew Zimmern's Bizarre Food Delicious Destinations. I didn't realize the mountain came from one lobster.  The king crab looked delicious too.  

[astrid]

As with any old school Cantonese seafood restaurant, you even get to meet your lobster/crab/fish before eating it.  I don't know what they use to cut up the lobster claws, some of the shells were 3-4 mm thick.

[Shaho]

Had some great food in Toronto over the weekend. Started with a late snack at Kinka Izakaya Original. This place would kill it in DC, great energy from the moment we walked in, with the entire staff yelling out in greetings to any entering customers, waitresses leading sake bomb chants, and lots of buzzed (not obnoxiously so) twenty-somethings having a great time. Salmon Tataki was an excellent start, perfectly seared with ponzu sauce, scallions, and garlic chips. In contrast, the Sashimi Salad was the one miss, 5 sad small pieces of some forgettable fish drowned in a mountain of typical Japanese salad and dressing. Kaarage righted the ship. This came simply accompanied with some salad leaves, mayo, and a single slice of lemon, but was some of the juiciest chicken I've had anywhere, with the lemon juice and some leftover ponzu sauce providing just enough balance to keep it fresh. Finally, Grilled Saba (Mackerel) with garlic chips, onions, tomatoes, and lemon served on a hot plate was another divine example of simple ingredients executed well. At <$10 a dish, this is the kind of place I would hit every week if it was in my neighborhood.

On recommendations above, I visited Bar Buca and The People's Eatery for lunch and dinner the next day. "Intensely delicious small plates" sums up Bar Buca well. I had a fantastic Crudo of steelhead trout, pickles, citrus, oil, and yogurt where every bite just worked together seamlessly. The same could be said for a wonderful dish of roasted beets with honey and pistachios. I was hoping to finish with the vanilla pudding, but they had run out, and I ended up with an order of Gnocco Fritto, which were 4 puffs of savory pastry with a cunza, pistachio, and honey spread similar to the beet dressing. While fresh and delicious, this was a bit too filling, and the spread started attracting a few gnats, which was a little bit of a sour note to end on.  

The People's Eatery was a spot that appealed to my personal sensibilities, small, dark, hard to find, and out of place in the middle of Chinatown, but with a very cool laid-back style. The soundtrack (The Cinematic Orchestra) was chill and jazzy, which fit the atmosphere perfectly. I sampled a few small plates, a Fried Tongue Sandwich on a pretzel bun, Potato Latkes with pastrami-smoked trout, and General Tso Fu. All were tasty, with the General Tso Fu a standout, cubes of tofu with crispy skin surrounding a fluffy custardy interior and slathered with a rich, spicy, and complex General Tso-style sauce. The Bone Marrow with tortillas and salsa was a bit of a letdown, fine but one of the weaker renditions I've had. A well made faux-Cosmopolitan carried me through the meal. 

On our last day, we ended up back in Chinatown, and rather than waiting for Rol San, decided to try August 8 a few doors down, a newly-opened All You Can Eat dim sum and sushi place for $20 at lunch. I had tempered expectations going in, but this place vastly exceeded them. Food was ordered in individual quantities off of a tablet and came out quickly, with everything solidly above-average. The dim sum menu was small, but the classic dishes like tripe, chicken feet, spareribs, shao mai were all very good. Sushi was nothing special but fairly good quality as well. Due to an initial mixup, we started out with our tablet set to the dinner menu and got an order of dinner-only crispy calamari, which was legitimately excellent and made me contemplate paying the extra $10 just to get more. This was a meal I was happy to end the trip on, and the packed house as we left made me think it might not be so easy to walk-in the next time we come back.

 

  

[Simul Parikh]

Good pics and review! Maybe it's changing, but if you look at TDot itself and exclude suburbs (Chinese area on Hwy 7, Scarborough, etc), Toronto feels like one of the worst food cities for a city of it's size? Possibly the worst that I can think of (NY, DF, Chicago, London, Bangkok, Mumbai, Shanghai, Beijing, Paris, etc. are all way better). Hopefully that's changing and I don't have to run to Scarborough every time I visit!

S

[PollyG]

A week ago, we snagged a table on the night before Boralia closed for its annual 2 week hiatus.  We opted for the $60pp (Canadian) Carte Blanche, which consists mostly of on-menu items with a few off-menu ones at the discretion of the chefs.  After identifying food allergies for the staff, the fun began.  Everything was delicious and the place is a screaming bargain.  Parking in the neighborhood is a bit of a challenge, though.  

We started with on-menu deviled Chinese tea eggs, likely the only dish we had that I could replicate easily at home.  Then we moved on to a crudo of arctic char, also an on-menu item.  Our first off-menu item was cod cheeks fried in an algae-tinted batter, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, served over a saffron aoli.  Next came one of their signature dishes, mussels smoked with pine needles.  This is served in a smoke-filled globe which the waitstaff removes with a dramatic swirl.  This was followed by a vegetable dish, dumplings filled with squash over a tender and sweet fresh creamed corn.  Whelk was next on the menu.  The meat was removed, skewered, and served back in the shell over a slaw of shredded root vegetables.  Our meat dishes were a pepper-crusted seared bison having a 3-way relationship with parsnips (funnel cake, roasted strips, and parsnip puree) and duck breast accompanied by a seeded corn bread and chantrelles. Dessert was the weakest of the dishes, a chocolate and marscapone ganache embellished with tart fruit puree. (It was still delicious!)

[Mark Dedrick]

Anybody have any recent recommendations? 

[Mark Dedrick]

We had a great time in Toronto last weekend. Extremely pleasant and walkable city. Our hotel, the Bisha, was very nice, and in a great location. Here are a few of our dining and drinking experiences:

Dandylion - Absolutely loved this spot. It's a tiny restaurant, with a very small (focused?) menu, but everything we had was outstanding. There are only three appetizers and three entrees to chose from, which means that you can make your way through most of the menu without really straining yourself. There menu is not online, so I'm having trouble remembering exactly what we ate, but they had a grilled squid "steak" with piquillo peppers which was outstanding, and a pork with chanterelle mushrooms which was also great. 

DaiLo - Asian-Fusion in a very trendy-feeling setting. We liked it a lot. We were seated at the bar, and if I remember correctly at the time I made my reservations a regular table was not available, I was given the option of the bar or a high top table. Service was fantastic. There was a lot on this menu that looked great, and we ended up going with the tasting menu ($65 Canadian) primarily to avoid having to make any tough decisions. For us, it was the right decision. We were able to actually try more of the menu this way, and it was the correct volume of food. Highlights, for us, were the Crispy Octopus "Tacos" (the tortillas were actually slices of jicama), Torched Tamari Glazed Beef Carpaccio (served with a Vietnamese-style salad on top), and Sweet and Sour Pork Hock. 

Bar Raval - I loved this place. As mentioned above, it's not appreciably better than other tapas/pinxto places I've been, but it's also exactly the style of food that I like to eat, and I also just loved both the look and the feel of the restaurant. This is the place that we went that I most wanted to move to H Street. It's actually right next door to DaiLo, and it's pretty tiny. The menu is relatively small, but everything we had was good. They have a canned section which we did not explore. The Squid with Artichokes and Romesco was awesome, as was the Octopus a la Planxa. I was also a big fan of the Bay Scallops from the Raw Bar section. They were incredibly sweet and delicious. Good and relatively inexpensive wine list, and very good cocktails as well. 

Dumpling House - We had dumplings at this Chinatown spot (of course). It's a pretty small spot on Spadina. I'm not an expert in this type of food, but I thought it was delicious. The fried pork and chive dumplings were my favorite.  

Assembly Chef's Hall - We hit this place up for lunch, and it's a pretty large food hall with 18 different vendors. I think it's probably a better bet during the week, as a majority of the options were closed on a Saturday. We got ramen from Ramen Isshin and tacos from Colibri, and both were quite good. I'd definitely recommend this for lunch if you're in this part of Toronto. 

Torteria San Cosme - Really good tortas in the Kensington Market neighborhood. The esquites were also great. 

NU Bügel - I don't think I'd ever had a Montreal-style bagel before. Given that, it's hard for me to rank these bagels within that category, but we did enjoy them a great deal. 

BarChef - This is a very cool cocktail bar that comes very close to bordering on obnoxious, but they save themselves by having outstanding bartenders and really well made and creative drinks. They get into molecular mixology a bit, and have a "Modernist" section of their menu where they get into this. These drinks are more expensive (the Vanilla Hickory Smoked Manhattan is $50, although most of the drinks in this section of the menu are in the $25 range). We went with one from this section because we thought we needed to have that experience, and it was a whole ordeal. There were tree branches and smoke, but also a very good drink. The rest of the drinks are more normally priced ($16 Canadian), and fantastic. Our bartender was wonderful, and I'd definitely return.

El Rey Mezcal Bar - This place was actually recommended to us by Alvin, our mezcal guide in Oaxaca. They don't have a huge mezcal selection, but it is a good and thoughtful list, and it's a cool space. 

Craft Beer Market - A friend had recommended this spot. While it's not the best atmosphere, in that it's cavernous with no personality, they do have 97 beers on draft from Ontario alone, so it's a good spot to sample some local beers, and worked well for us as we wanted to rest our feet for a bit during the middle of the day. 

Kensington Brewing Company - Very cool brewery, and they make some wonderful beers. 

Amsterdam BrewHouse - I didn't enjoy this brewery as much. It's also enormous, as I think I read they have seating for more than 500 people. The beers were fine. I also had to respect the fact that, on a Sunday afternoon, they weren't showing any football, and instead had every single television in the place tuned to the Blue Jays-Yankees game. 

Horseshoe Tavern - We went to a show here, and it's not a bad rock club. Pretty tiny, but good sound and sightlines. It's also insanely hot.