February Not-So-Blahs

Byblos (Toronto Life top 100 of 2019): we were finally in delivery range of Byblos… and then it wasn’t available. Thankfully that was just a blip and it became available again. I was not expecting the lamb ribs to be so good. I took a little bite just to say I tried lamb ribs and that I could be justified in ignoring the rest, but I was pleasantly surprised. The black cod was amazing and tied for first place with the truffle rice. I kept going back for more rice, piling it high on my plate. The duck kibbeh was ok but paled in comparison to the rest.

Churrasqueira Martins (BlogTO best Portuguese restaurant): I joked about the customary giant portion sizes whenever we ordered churrasqueira in the past, so we ordered the chicken on it’s own as an add-on. The chicken was some of the best churrasqueira we’ve ever had, it wasn’t dry and was nice and grilled. The piri piri shrimp was delicious, even though I was annoyed with the peeling. A minor inconvenience for deliciousness. The steak was alright, the fries were buried beneath it so they got a bit soggy and cold- yet somehow they still tasted good? It must have been the smokiness from the grill thanks to the steak. Incidentally this was our Valentine’s Day dinner on Sunday because on Saturday we had Firehouse Subs and that proved to be a much bigger lunch than either of us had anticipated. I did end up ordering a small sushi dinner for myself from Miku’s sister restaurant at Yorkville (which I still want to go back to, the sushi is served to you via conveyor belt!!).

Patois (Toronto Life top 100 of 2019, BlogTO): I had seen Patois on BlogTO and Toronto Life for both their fried chicken and their burger. This was in addition to it being a top 100 restaurant. You can’t beat accolades like that. The burger was great, I liked the grilled flavour and the pineapple bun, while not very pineapple-y, was still good. The Hickory Sticks in the burger did get lost in the mix. The shrimp crackers on the side of the burger were great, but the puffed ones were like rice cakes. The fried chicken was delicious, it came with a deceptively spicy Sriracha sauce that was labelled sweet. The dirty fried rice was great, as was the rice that came with the fried chicken (it had a smokiness to it). We ended up with a lot of leftover rice but that’s ok because it freezes great in portions and makes future dinners easy to assemble.

Bomou (BlogTO): I was planning on making a sourdough discard pizza for dinner, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t order for lunch! I had seen Bomou on BlogTO for their beautiful pistachio mousse and their buttery croissants. Both lived up to the promise. The croissants, while buttery, were a little overbaked and crunchy but still very good and filled with pistachio spread, the other with almond spread and chocolate chips. The mousse was so good, it had a rosehip jelly centre and was just delicious but it felt almost a shame to eat something so pretty.

On the last day of the month my sourdough starter passed the float test! I’m in uncharted territory here, trying to make a levain. Hopefully March will bring sourdough success. At least the cat’s fever is gone, we barely had her three weeks and blammo- fever city. February also brought the realization that I am really not that good at making cakes, I will stick to slab cakes and mini cupcakes but abandon layered cakes except for the one mini buttermilk recipe I got from Hamilton Beach.

 

January- New Year, No Change*

The Sweet Oven Bakery (BlogTO list of top bakeries): they had me at butter tarts, they truly won me over with a variety of different fillings! I was skeptical about mint Oreo, in a butter tart?! But damn if it wasn’t better than coffee, which I thought would surely be the winner. But nope, the winner was peanut butter. All three were really good, the crust was just the right texture and not very sweet. The filling was just the right amount of sweetness, I could actually take more than one bite without my teeth literally aching. A good start to the new year.

Knockout Chicken (BlogTO): if you order a burger but instead get small pieces of chicken on a hotdog bun, things do not bode well. The fries were good. The Left Hook chicken sandwich was good, I especially liked the hint of curry in the sauce. But were we knocked out? Nope. It wasn’t as good as your standard fast food chicken sandwich, and it paled in comparison to PJ Cluck’s. It’s early in the year, so it ranks high but oh boy that is going to change (unless the rest of the year is a fooding disaster?).

Knead It Baked (BlogTO): Cheesecake? Love. Sugar cookies? Love. Smash some cheesecake atop a sugar cookie and finish it with raspberries? LOVE LOVE LOVE!!! Glad I got my order in before she sold out for the month of January, soon after launching.

Botham’s (BlogTO): Sourdough! Woodfired! Pizza! At first we could find no trace of why this place was on our fooding list. As soon as Brent started reading about it and I heard “smoked provolone” it clicked. This was definitely one of my picks, maybe I had just talked about it? The pepperoni was so good, the mozzarella actually tasted like real cheese instead of just stretchiness. The smoked provolone was good, but I was not a fan of the meat on that one. Ideally it would have been some provolone on the pepperoni pie. No need for dipping sauce, the sourdough crust was so good on its own.

Parallel (was on the list forever, I forget what it was, best something, I think on BlogTO?): for so long we had been out of range but finally in the new house we were in! The falafel far and away was the winner, even cold the next day it was so good. The hummus was kind of bland and needed garlic and way less yogurt and olive oil. The grilled pita was ok but I could taste all lamb and no beef.

Illstyl3 Sammies (BlogTO): I am not a huge fan of philly cheesesteaks, but when it was recently revoted and we were in the old house and within range it just made sense. We gotta eat before we can clean! The sandwich was actually pretty good considering my dislike. I would have preferred some more provolone but still. The crab fries were really good at first but towards the end it got too salty for me.

Home Baking Co. (BlogTO): We had to say goodbye to the old house and what better way than with a slice of chocolate cake and a raspberry meringue from Home Baking Co. It was one of the last times I would be regularly taking the subway (new commute is just one bus) and I really liked Baker Bots. The chocolate cake was unchanged from Baker Bots time, so fudgy and chocolatey and good. And the raspberry meringue= I got to sing Raspberry Beret.

Matty’s Patty’s (BlogTO, Instagram, Toronto Life): I was very skeptical despite the many accolades. I was not a fan of his Parts & Labour burger, why would the smash burger be any different? I was wrong and I am glad we tried it. Definitely one of the best smash burgers in the city! Good meat, good bun, good cheese, good everything. Except the fries. But who cares, I am here for the burger! We also ordered the non-smash burger but I was not a fan, which worked out well as Brent preferred it, so we just swapped back after one bite. I could see us ordering this every once in a while.

Gertie’s (BlogTO): not sure if this one counts as fooding? I saw the article for a peanut butter pie, whcih is the only thing on offer from Gertie’s and I scrambled to order one. I am normally not a fan of peanut butter flavoured stuff. But oh man was this good. The graham crust was a touch of sweetness, the mascarpone added some tartness and the peanuts added a bit of salty. The textures were also very cohesive. A great pie all around, thank god it was so small or else I’d be in trouble.

Firehouse Subs (friend’s reccomendation): didn’t even know this was a thing, now we were in delivery range so it was our first meal in the new house. NOW THIS IS A SUB! So much meat! I ordered the Engineer (smoked turkey breast, Swiss cheese and mushrooms) and sweetmotherofgod we had a contender for best sub ever. The second day (you gotta try the whole menu) I had the Hook & Ladder. This time I remembered to say no tomatoes. But it just wasn’t the same, the honey ham was too sweet and I missed the mushrooms. I don’t know why I strayed from something so good.

I think that is everything for January? It is horribly out of order in terms of chronology.

*no change pandemic-wise for our day-today lives