Late-Night-Ish

Now that I work in the west end it made sense to go to Apache Burger for best late night burger– it was relatively close to my work and I finished in the evening. We got there right as the sun was setting, but still for me it felt late-night and by the time we left it was dark out- so it counts.

Second time around, I ordered a double cheeseburger. My complaint last time had been too much bun, not enough meat so it was the logical choice. This time the ratio was on point. BUT that means nothing when the burger itself is bland and not good. In my rankings it was only above Burger Shack and about on par with Holy Chuck, maybe a smidge higher.

I’d rather have Five Guys.

 

I’ll Have the Beouf

madame beouf strong cocktails good burger ok hotdog, cheese fries lies lies lies

It was so long ago now (ok fine, it’s only been a year) since I came up with the alternate fooding list that I can barely rememner why certain restaurants are on the list or what my sources are (North Toronto Post? Toronto Life? Pretty pictures on Instagram?- who can say). One of those was Madame Beouf. This was a summer one so we had to wait for the appropriate weather. I initially thought we would be going on a Saturday when it becomes Madame Beouf and Flea and half the place is a flea market but it didn’t work out that way.

When Brent asked me what the deal was I quickly scramble to google it while pretending I totally knew. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the guy behind Rose & Son et al. was also behind Madame Beouf. Maybe going on a non-flea market day wouldn’t be so bad after all? I mean cocktails on tap sounded great.

I was really sold when I read about the cheese fries and saw a photo: shoe string fries with a house-made cheese sauce! Instead what we got were crinkle-cut fries with melted slices of American cheese (read: it did not stay melted). I was sad. At least I had a fancy-sounding banquet hotdog to cheer me up. It had bacon and cheese- can’t go wrong. The clear knock-out however was the burger. Oh, and those on-tap cocktails? Strong. The hibiscus margarita was amazing, the long island iced tea was just standard. Oh, and nice patio.

 

My Milkshake…

I continue not being a fan of milkshakes. Even though, I am willing to admit that the one from Sweet Jesus, the current best in the city according to BlogTO, was the best one yet. This is probably due to the fact that it was made with soft serve ice cream for which I have a soft spot in my stomach. Why drink your ice cream when you can chomp down on it?!– I say!

Any excuse for soft serve and I am there. Even if I am getting over a bad head cold and ice cream is like the last thing I need. The brownie concoction was particularly palate-pleasing and I did not regret my decision to leave the comforts of home and venture out- even if my head felt like a brick. Sweet Jesus barely swayed me in my milkshake opinion.

 

Cheesus

Whenever I spot a cheese I am sure is in the 1000 foods book I buy it. Any excuse for cheese right? Trouble is these are not the usual cheeses I am used to (aka bland Canadian* versions of European cheeses).

Where do I even begin on Gorgonzola? We were at Harvest Wagon (fancy grocery store for fancy people) and I suggested we check out the cheese section. We were there because ~somebody~, who shall remain nameless, purchased parsley instead of dill (we were making dolmas that weekend). Gorgonzola may possibly be the most confused cheese of all time. I have never tasted so many different profiles in my life. It was salty, sweet, umami, creamy with a hard rind, a little bit acidic at times. Each bite was more confusing than the last. It did not help that for my first bite I loaded the cracker sky-high with cheese. I have since learned that gorgonzola is to be eaten in small, tiny portions. Even still, I am not a fan.

Last week I chanced upon parmigiano-reggiano (aka parmesan) cheese at the store and I couldn’t resist. I had read in Real Food/Fake Food that a great way to enjoy it is drizzled with a bit of olive oil. And what do you know, since I had read that book last summer I have only been buying proper olive oil- which just so happened to also be in the 1000 foods book. So convenient! As with most cheeses, I preferred it melted. But it was still good either way.

 

*I have since glanced through a book of good Canadian cheeses and am on the lookout

 

Olive? Oh No.

We’ve expanded our food adventures beyond the scope of the BlogTO best of’s list. Partly due to a dwindling list and geographical constraints. Partly due to an expanded list of sources. Our latest outing was thanks to the 1001 Foods book. We were out on the hunt for niçoise olives. They just so happened to be on offer at Cafe Boulud, conveniently located in Yorkville. I had been wanting to eat at one of Daniel Boulud’s restaurants for a while now.

One cold Saturday night (back in March was it?- I’m behind) we found ourselves getting all gussied up and heading out on the town. We got to the Four Seasons hotel and promptly got lost. Wandering through the lobby we got to the downstairs bar. We had followed the signs so the only logical conclusion was that we had to go up the stairs by the bar. In retrospect it seems quite obvious. But at the time! (We had walked halfway back to the lobby and back).

We split the appetizer that featured the olives. The waiter did not bat an eyelash at it. As we sat there still looking at the menu it dawned on us that we may have ordered a salad. Crap. I hate salads so much! Soon our complimentary bread arrived and I did a double-take. It was in a tiny sack-cloth and I swear I had just seen that same dish presentation on a BuzzFeed list of hipster food going too far.

AUTHOR’S NOTE:  I just found this post in my Drafts. I do not remember much of the food. We were too distracted by the table next to us. It was a party of 7-8, one person’s birthday. Everyone ordered freely, not doing the math. Then the bill came. One guy was shocked at the bill, he tried to to the math, had to redo it because he forgot the birthday girl doesn’t pay, $200/person?! Him and a few others freaked out. How did this happen?! they wondered. Meanwhile the birthday girl sat there awkwardly silent. The guy who had just been bragging about his worldly travels and new-found affluence was suddenly balking at a restaurant bill. What they had not realized was that the girls at the other end of the table had been freely ordering multiple bottles of wine- not a care in the world. At a fancy restaurant no less. He starting adjusting his math, trying to calculate each individual’s bill plus a portion of the birthday girl’s bill. A lot of awkwardness interspersed with math ensued. Needless to say when they were leaving and the guy mentioned splitting an Uber, an emphatic NO arose from everyone.

 

My Little Macaron

Apparently the French section of the 1001 Foods book is rife with references to one bakery in particular: La Duree. It was beginning to feel like we’d never be crossing brioche and a few French cookies off our list until we visited Paris. Until we found out that the bakery now had an outposting at Yorkdale mall! Any excuse for a shopping trip and I am in.

It was nowhere near the same thing- except in name and branding. My only option for brioche was to sit down in the salon and eat some french toast, maybe getting half to go for Brent back home. I asked if they sold loaves, assuming they cut the slices of brioche off a loaf? Nope. No dice. I asked about cookies and was told there were some (palmiers is all I remember) in the salon. Frustrated, I just settled on ordering a few macarons. Four to be exact. I did not expect such a whopping bill. I thought to myself- these had better be the best goddamn macarons I’ve ever had if I have paid this much for them. Raspberry and lemon were good but I still feel I may prefer Nadege’s, they were lighter. The rose one was ok. The last one (vanilla-something?) tasted like sunscreen. We’ve all been there. We’ve all gotten sunscreen in our mouths at some point, so this is not hyperbole. It was bad.

 

 

~Finally!~

Up next in our rotation was the Top 100 list aka Canada’s Best 100 Restaurants*. All these years I’ve lived in Toronto, having walked by Nota Bene so many times and yet I’d never been. Now was my chance. Once our dishes arrived it absolutely made sense why it had been voted one of the best. You could tell the dishes were made with high quality ingredients. That being said, they kind of played it safe. Yes the dishes were good and well-prepared but they were by no means memorable or outstanding. All I can remember a month later is that my dish had rabbit in it and noodles.

We did also get to knock off another from the 1001 foods list: burrata. I was all for a cheese dish. When I saw that it was served with zucchini though I was quite skeptical. Turns out that it just tastes like cucumbers. All my life I did not know this. But I guess it’s never too soon to learn? The ratio of the dish was off. The main ingredient (based on the menu title) should have been the buratta, with just a touch of all the other stuff. Not the other way around. There were moments when I was eating just zucchini.

Looking at a photo it would appear that we had also ordered a charcuterie board. It was THAT not-outstanding.

*it has inexplicably disappeared from the list since I first came across it and now I am wondering what list I had been reading

 

Where There’s Smoque There’s Bones

I could not for the life of me remember why I had added Smoque N Bones to our fooding list, but really you can’t go wrong with barbecue. They were up against Adamson and I really wasn’t sure how well they would do. We were tempted by the platter deal, we were already ordering a few meat dishes and it made economic sense. But I was wary of it, we would have way too much food. We were only getting one side and the platter came with at least three. We settled on going a-la carte and it was the perfect amount of food. The food was amazing. The brisket was outstanding and we had ordered the perfect amount. Plus I finally got to try smoked lemonade.

 

Dolmas

I was not looking forward to our latest food item from the 1001 books, dolmas. I worried that we would not even be able to find grape leaves. But we did! We found them on the Danforth… and then they sat in the cupboard for a month? Dolmas got bumped by a marathon, which was fine by me. I was already dreading attempting to make these. But then I found out there’s no meat in them? It’s just rice, pine nuts, raisins and currants? Wrapped in leaves that you are supposed to eat?! It was really weird to be frying rice, garlic and onions… with raisins and currants. Thankfully I was able to easily figure out how to roll the dolmas up in the grape leaves and we did not lose a single one in the cooking process. It did take a lot longer for them to cook, as I had the heat on too low. And then we had to wait for them to cool before eating? It was a lot of work for an appetizer that wasn’t really that good.