Petit Thuet

Date Visited: Lunch on Sunday Sept 8, 2013

Company: Grabbed a quick bite for myself on the way to a TIFF volunteer shift

As I was walking along King Street after leaving Roy Thompson Hall after a TIFF volunteer session, I randomly glanced upon Petit Thuet, a small bakery very close to Will's place that I had never seen before. Thinking back, I was a bit nippy so I was probably looking around for a place to grab a small bite. I walked by and it looked a bit intimidating truthfully, so I continued walking, contemplating whether or not I should have gone in. The next morning however, I walked by again on the way to RTH for another volunteer shift and took the steps into the bakery this time. The place was very lighted from the sun outside, shining through the windows with high ceilings. There were a few people in there, sitting and having coffees. They didn't seem to have very much selection that Sunday morning with about 3 choices of sandwiches. I also noticed that they were also pretty pricey, about $8 for a small sandwich. 

I ordered the Pulled Pork Sandwich off the top of my head and got it heated to go. I regretted not getting a croissant while there as I read on Foursquare right after that they were a signature item. They also had a few macaroons that also seemed popular from reviews. I had a nice conversation with the waiter about TIFF and he said that the bakery caters to celebrities and it's where they get their bread from while in Toronto. The owner's son who is also an employee gets to meet many of the celebs while delivering their food (fun fact!). The owner also has a book on display and for sale near the cash register.

Anyway, I got my sandwich and ate while walking down King St. The sandwich was nice and warm when I took it out. It's pretty standard sized but just a bit thinner than usual, so I thought that there wasn't much pulled pork between the buns. However, the it was packed a lot of flavour despite its look. The sauce was very sweet and the cheese was melted which added a nice texture. The bread was crispy fresh and the sandwich wasn't too heavy and very delectable.

Food: 3.5/5 - Excellent quality, but over priced.
Decor: 3/5 - Simple, spacious and classy.
Service: 3.5/5 - Kind of pretentious but friendly.
Willingness to come back: 1/5 - Too pricey for me, unless I wanted to try a macaroon or croissant.
Overall: 3/5
Website: http://www.petitethuet.com/

Big Moe's Burgers

Date Visited: Lunch on Monday Aug 19, 2013
Company: Went out for my lunch break while working at the office

I wasn't sure what I was craving for my lunch on Monday, so I decided to just Google some places around the area I work. Googlemaps didn't give me anything I didn't really know about until I searched 'hamburger' and I found Big Moe's Burgers. I had heard of the name before somewhere so I decided to check it out that day. I had been in the area a few times before right near Pacific Mall, but never noticed the small stores in the hectic area. It's located in a small plaza right on the corner of a gas station neighbouring a handful of Asian establishments. 
It was dead when I entered and it's a pretty small and unattractive place with about 5 stools at the counter. There was one woman working the cash and the open kitchen. I asked her what a Juicy Lucy was because apparently it was famous for this burger. She told me that it's a hamburger with cheese in the middle, you could also get chicken instead of beef. I ordered that as a combo which came with Fries on the side. The poutine instead of fries was also a tempting option along with a funnel cake, but there was no way I had the time or the stomach for that. I think they also recently cut down on their menu size as I saw other options online which weren't on the menu anymore. Side note: their burgers are all halal!

I grabbed a seat at the counter as I waited for my order to be made, and was quite curious as to why it wasn't very busy. Another group of 3 came in around 12:30 but I didn't see anyone else other than them. They have $2.50 cheese burgers on Tuesday so maybe everyone waits for that, as I probably would have if I didn't go into the office only once a week. I was worried about the time as I only had one hour to spare and with the traffic, it would take at least 10 minutes to get back. It took longer than I had liked, about a 20 minute wait, so I wasn't able to relax and enjoy my meal but rather had to scarf it down. 

I got everything on the burger which included the regular condiments and toppings but also had thousand island sauce and hot peppers. The burger was hot and oozing cheese as it'd just come off the flat grill. It didn't look that appetizing to me but that first bite was heavenly. The combination of all the flavours was excellent, the hot peppers were placed all on their own which really brought them out. The bun didn't get soggy and was a bit larger, proportionally to the burger which I appreciated. The burger was cooked very well done with a somewhat charred outside layer, but this contained the extremely juicy interior, probably from the cheese. The meat is very crumby though and pieces would fall off randomly at times. The fries on the other hand were less desirable. Most of them were thin pieces but randomly there would be larger cut ones in there. There were too over-cooked as most of them were hard and browning. They didn't have any flavour and I ended up throwing most of them out.

Food: 3/5 - Uniquely crafted and decent tasting burger, but shitty fries. 
Decor: 1.5/5 - OK for waiting or if there was minimal people there, but it could be very crowded if busy.
Service: 2/5 - Not great, but acceptable.
Willingness to come back: 3.5/5 - I'm probably going to crave this sometime again and I don't think there are other competitive places in Scarborough to get a similar meal.
Overall: 2.5/5
Website: none