Foodival

This weekend we had the pleasure of attending a new food event. We try our best to frequent as many as we can and on Sunday we were double booked! After Ashley sipped her way through the Soupalicous show we headed to Foodival. A new event for both of us, but with a name like that how could we not be excited!

The event was very different from the usual food shows we attend. With a fire dancer, card reader and inflatables it was a great mix between food venders and fun!

Fire Dancing!

After our initial walk around we headed to Ice Volcano, the liquid nitrogen ice cream stand that looked like a science lab. We ordered the frozen marshmallows instead of the ice cream. It was a very interesting texture and the flavour of the marshmallow changed quite a bit with the liquid nitrogen. The first few bites were crunchy and sweet, but half way through we were ready to move on to the next stop. But definitely worth a try!

Ice Volcano’s mixing station

As a new found meat eater I have realized one thing, I LOVE bacon! When we spotted Rashers’ booth, I knew I had to try it. I was told the Hogtown Sandwich was a favourite, so I went with the recommendation, and I’m so happy I did. Peameal bacon on a bun with homemade brown sauce, this was the best thing I ate at Foodival I almost went back for seconds. The brown sauce, which I will rename as “heaven”, complemented the bacon perfectly. I can’t wait to head over to their Leslieville shop to try more!

The delicious Hogtown Sandwich

Mike’s Dog House seemed like a good idea, but sadly this truck was disappointing. With unique hot dogs on the menu like the Red Neck Dog and Frito Bandito I was expecting amazing but got nacho cheese (literally). I ordered the Mac n Cheesy Dog. I was served a hot dog with cold Kraft mac and cheese and Nacho cheese sauce (YUCK). However, the funnel cake fries with ice cream, chocolate sauce, served in a waffle bowl were very yummy!

Funnel cake fries

Crazy Corn was one of our last stops before heading home (with a food coma). The Halloween Haunt popcorn with chocolate, Reese’s Pieces and orange sprinkles was the one I purchased and Ashley took home the He Shoots He Skorz. Not only were they all fun and tasty but, gluten free! The lady that helped us could not have been sweeter and made a great point, “You just feel better when sprinkles are around” –  AMEN!

The final stop was Redline Coffee for the Caramel Apple Cider. One of the best Apple Ciders we have ever had, it was the perfect blend of caramel and apples.

A big thanks to the organizer of the event, Steve, for being such a great help and an all around friendly guy!

We can’t wait to attend next year!

The Best: Rasher’s Hogtown Sandwich

Not the Best: Mike’s Dog House Mac n Cheesy Dog

http://www.foodivalto.com/

http://foodiesonfoot.ca/

The Best Blender Ever

As a new wife, I recently received more than my fair share of gifts (thanks husband for letting me choose what “we” want/need).  One of the best items I received is costly but worth every penny.  It comes with  a 7 year warranty and satisfies my daily smoothie craving,  my Vitamix is a prized possession.  Note: this is not for the faint of heart.  I thought about this blender for over 3 years, watching demos in awe at every trade show.  At over $500, this is a serious investment for a top notch blender.

It crushes everything.  It can cook a hot soup and freeze an ice cream all on its own (I haven’t tried either).  I usually make smoothies and soups, but I cook the ingredients first before blending.  It’s super easy to clean – whir up a couple drops of soap with hot water or put it in the dishwasher.  The only thing about it that isn’t perfect is the noise it makes, it sounds like a plane taking off.

My go-to smoothie recipe (I start work at 8am, there’s no time for breakfast before):

• 1 cup of vanilla almond milk
• A few tablespoons vanilla/plain yogurt
• 1 cup of frozen fruit (now this is peaches and mango, but often mixed berries)

Sometimes I add in other things to change it up like oats (yes, seems weird to add raw oats, but they are quite good), flax seeds, honey or maple syrup

Tip: wait for them at Costco… they are usually about $50 off

www.vitamix.com/Home

Lunch at The Chickery

I would love to be the kind of person that can say I make my lunch every day but sadly, I can not. My office is in a great area of Toronto, so I am able to eat a variety of different foods on any given day. On this particular day I was on the hunt for some good comfort food and my colleague recommended The Chickery.

When I first walked in, the decor instantly caught my eye. Everything was in its perfect place and even though it was more of a take-out spot , I didn’t feel like I was at just another fast food place.

There are a lot of different option to choose from including, 2 piece chicken finger, quarter chicken and some healthy (looking) salads. Not to mention the many side options that come with it. For my lunch I decided to go with the 4 piece chicken fingers, a side of mac and cheese, and a glass of their home made iced tea and lemonade, which came out to around $19.00.

Once my name was called I was presented with a take out bag and my food in a biodegradable container, another great way to make me feel like this wasn’t just any take-out place.

The chicken looked perfectly cooked with just enough coating on it. It wasn’t taken over by bread crumbs or a brown layer of unrecognizable chicken (cough cough, Mcdonalds). The mac and cheese also had a nice golden brown layer of bread crumbs on top. Sadly, this is where my story falls flat. As a lover of mac and cheese (my second favourite food item after eggs Benedict) I have yet to find something that can rival my all time favourite  from Cafeteria in NYC. I’m not sure what it was about this dish that had me reaching for a packet of ketchup in my desk drawer but something wasn’t doing it for me. The cheese was more of a white cheddar soup then a creamy texture and the flavouring of the bread crumbs didn’t complement it at all.

The iced tea and mac and cheese

I moved on to the chicken and with my first bite I noticed how perfectly it was cooked. However, the breading just slipped right off and at some points I was eating the chicken on its own. To be honest there wasn’t that much of a difference with or without the coating because I felt like it was missing an important ingredient, SALT!

I am a big believer in second chances so I am not going to rule this place out completely but I am hoping my next visit will be a little tastier!

130 Spadina Ave (Spadina and Richmond)

http://www.thechickery.com/

Bar Isabel

One of my very good friends finally came home.  I have a few friends away in other cities which started as university homes, but continued for longer than I wanted. People are starting to realize Toronto is an amazing city.

On a Sunday night at 8:45, we tried Bar Isabel. It’s on a weird part of College so they parked a few blocks away without realizing (it’s close to Ossington). The place was jammed. And tables kept getting turned over as the night went on (10 on a Sunday and this isn’t New York).

I wasn’t feeling great or particularly adventurous, but that didn’t stop me from enjoying the great eats. We ordered quite a bit….

Garden Pickles x 3 – there’s no such thing as a pickle that’s not my friend.  This was a great mix – broccoli, celery, peppers, carrots and more with a little spice.  Perfectly done.  We ordered two to start and then I needed a third.

Olives – meh.  Just olives.  A couple different kinds with garlic, some lemon zest and hot peppers.  It sounds strange, but they really didn’t have much flavour.

Pan con jambon iberico – delightful white-ish bread, covered with super yummy, tender meat that tasted awesome.  It was the perfect amount of saltiness and I could have sworn there was butter on the bread, but no, just piggy fat..  Worth getting for sure, twice even.

Patatas bravadas – glorified tater tots, but 100x better.  They were so creamy on the inside and crispy on the outside.  Covered in aioli (I picked around – for a refresher on my dislikes check out http://wp.me/p3KWf1-R ) and green onions.  A definite must order.  Everyone will love them.

Fried chicken – I consider myself to be a fried chicken expert.  And this was a winner.  Juicy (almost too juicy if that is possible) and super crisp.  No bone.  I ate it with my hands.  I’m like that sometimes.

Shishito peppers with salt – the mandatory vegetable.  I was looking around before we got any food and thought people were eating jalapenos.  How wrong I was.  These were nicely charred and perfectly salted.  Be careful though, a couple were pretty spicy.

Half a grilled octopus – You’ll need to trust my friends, but they were happy to have tried this (would I say you need to order this? no, but you can for the spectacle).  They described it as a little slimy (like okra) and chewy, but also crispy where the tentacles were.  No thank you for me, but to each their own.

And king crab – this was covered in a red sauce that was not as flavourful as I expected.  They serve it to you with a nutcracker and a poker (two pronged fork) to let you get the most out of it.  Again, not a good white pants dish, but everyone was happy with it.

The drink menu is excellent.  There isn’t a tequila drink I don’t try, so I went for one infused with pineapple, sage and lime juice.  Wasn’t tart enough for me and all the flavours sort of cancelled themselves out.  Needless to say, next time I will be following my friend and going with the We choose yer adventure.  This is actually on their menu!  You choose an alcohol and some adjectives, he went for bourbon and refreshing and he got a fabulous bourbony lemonade.  I’m wondering if you say the same adjectives, if everyone gets the same drink or they mix it up.  I’ll need to find out.

Best: Fried chicken – it was so juicy and crispy, the perfect combination.

Not the Best: Olives. They were just olives.

Sorry for the lack of pictures.  I will get better… Feel free to ask questions!

http://www.barisabel.com

797 College St. (College and Ossington)

More about Ashley

Me in all my leopard chef hat glory

I’ve said it a few times – I used to be an extremely picky eater.  I ate chicken and beef, most fruits and vegetables and very little dairy.  I was never too big on sweets, but of course the occasional cookie or cake never hurt anyone.

Times have changed.  I eat many more foods now, but there are still things pretty much off limits:

1. mayonnaise

2. mustard

3. cold seafood (yes, no sushi for me)

4. fish that isn’t mild and white

5. hazelnuts (I’m severely allergic)

6. eggs (cooked into things are fine, but on their own… nasty)

7. cream cheese

Even though it looks delicious, I’m definitely not eating it.

Most recently, I conquered my fear of the tasting menu.  This past year, I went to an 18 course meal and tried more than 10 new foods.  While I won’t eat most of them again, I was happy to try raw scallops, sea urchin, goat and more.  I’m sure there will still be new foods in my future and you’ll see how many are repeats.

Another thing about me, I hate cell phones at the table.  I think there are better times for texting, try to enjoy the people you are eating with.  This makes taking pictures of meals very hard for me (plus I have a hard time waiting to eat).  Occasionally, you won’t see my food or it could look like a brown blob.  But I’m working on it and will try to get better.  Hopefully, at some point, you will start to trust me.

Brunch at Bonjour Brioche

Brunch is my all time favourite meal for so many reasons.  Mainly because I can eat breakfast at 3:00pm and not be the only one in the entire restaurant.  One thing you will learn about me as we embark on this food blog journey, I LOVE eggs benedict. I love it so much that it is pretty much the only brunch item I order and will often choose not to go certain places If they don’t have it on the menu. Some might even call me an Eggs Benedict connoisseur.

Bonjour Brioche is a cute French bakery that offers homemade pain au chocolat, fresh baguette and an AMAZING house salad dressing (I bought 4 bottles). My family has been eating there for quite some time, but somehow I had never been. When my mom asked me to go for brunch, I jumped on the invitation! We arrived at noon, right before the rush and were seated outside almost immediately. For my beverage, I ordered their seasonal cucumber lime juice. It was the perfect balance of cucumber and lime and wasn’t too sweet or tart. My mother and I decided to share the pain au chocolat because… well… why not! The chocolate was nicely melted and the pastry was very flaky. We both felt there was a little too much butter, but overall it was still one of the best in Toronto.

The refreshing cucumber lime juice!

For my main dish I order… wait for it… eggs benedict with peameal bacon. It was served on a croissant with a side salad. The positives: the hollandaise sauce was very good with just enough poured over my eggs so it didn’t feel too dry. The egg was cooked very well and wasn’t too runny. The negatives: the peameal bacon was too heavy for the croissant and made it very soggy and flat. I liked the idea of it being on a croissant but with all of the heavy cream, egg and bacon, it was too much and got lost. Maybe next time I will try it with something a bit lighter, they offer a spinach and smoked salmon option as well.

Peameal Bacon Eggs Benedict

The service was good and our waiter was very friendly and helpful when giving us suggestions on what to order. He suggested the cucumber and lime juice and I am so happy he did! Towards the end we did have to wait a little for the cheque, but the brunch rush had just started when we were leaving so I can understand why it took a while.

Overall, this was a great first dine-in experience and I will definitely be going back

Best: salad dressing and pain au chocolat

Not the Best: croissant with the eggs benedict doesn’t work. It gets too soggy and loses its delicacy

Honourable mention: Cucumber Lime Juice

http://bonjourbrioche.com/

812 Queen St E (Queen and Broadview)

Starfish Oyster Bed & Grill

Not a Starfish picture, but still a delicious looking lobster

For my mother-in-law’s birthday, she chose Starfish Oyster Bed & Grill.  Starfish is on a pretty popular top 100 restaurant list that I’m working my way through, so I was into the selection.  It wouldn’t have been my first choice, but I was happy to get another check mark on the list.

Starfish’s menu isn’t posted online since it’s created daily based on the fresh fish they get.  My mother-in-law had been there previously and they were out of lobster so she made sure to call ahead and order 3 females (apparently they are better, but I have no clue).

Since we came for the lobster feast, we didn’t really order much else – just one salad with goat cheese, candied pecans, and a great vinaigrette. We also got an order of fish and chips – haddock that evening.

The salad was huge and tasty, definitely worth getting if you can share since it took quite a while for the rest of the food to come. The fish and chips wasn’t what I expected or wanted. I like a delicate, tempura-like batter, rather than the bread crumbs they used here. The fish was also drier than I expected.  Not perfect, but not bad either.

The star of the show was definitely the lobster.  Lobster dinners either come with vegetables dripping in butter (how can you go wrong?) or fries.  For our 3 lobsters, we had 2 orders of fries and 1 vegetables. The fries were the right combo for the lobsters, but the brussel sprouts, broccoli and baby carrots were all cooked perfectly.  The lobsters came out in the shell with the claws on the side.  So, we went at it with crackers, pokers and no bibs!  It was sweet and tender and perfect with the melted butter.  My first whole lobster – mission accomplished!

Final note: do not make the same mistake I did – no white pants for lobster eating.

Best: Whole boiled lobster with so much butter and super crisp, salty fries

Not the Best: Freshly shucked lemonade – too sour and not minty like it claimed

http://www.starfishoysterbed.com

100 Adelaide St  (Church and Adelaide)

Our top restaurant picks in Toronto

 

We love everything about food, eating and restaurants.  We don’t care if it’s the most expensive fine dining or a hole in the wall, we want the best, yummiest (sometimes healthy) food.  Read on for our current (constantly changing) opinions of some of Toronto’s best.

When:	Ashley	Jess
Anytime	The Stockyards for fried chicken	Asuka sushi for the red carpet roll (no rice)
With Reservations	Playa Cabana for short rib-brisket crispy tacos and playa palomas	Gusto 101 for the kale salad
Special Occasion	Frank’s Kitchen for pretty much everything fresh and seasonal	Fabbrica for the Funghi Pizza
Dessert	Sweet Flour for any oatmeal freshly baked cookie OR Dutch Dreams for a homemade waffle cone	D’lish cupcakes for red velvet cupcake
Not to see anyone	East Side Marios for the unlimited garden salad	Ethiopian House for vegetarian bayaaynatu (sampler plate)

We can’t wait to share our not foodies approved (and not approved) restaurants with you and hope you will join us as we embark on this crazy food journey.

XOXO

Jess and Ashley