Burger's Priest

Date Visited: Lunch on Saturday Jun 27, 2015
Company: Take-out with +Will Ives

+Will, +Alex, +Brian, and I had plans to see Jurassic World on a rainy Saturday afternoon in the Entertainment District before heading to a Birthday BBQ for the evening. After meeting at Scotiabank Theatre and seeing that our showing was sold out already, we decided to grab lunch before catching the next show. Will remembered that a new Burger's Priest had opened up in the area right by the Burrito Boyz/Smoke's Poutinerie building so we headed in that direction. Will and I went over to get burgers while Alex went to get a burrito.
Will and I climbed the steps and entered new and shiny new Burger's Priest location complete with a flashy sign outside. It had ample standing room on brand new hardwood and limited tables around the perimeter of the space. We walked up and took a look at the menu for a bit, I was a bit confused on what The Option and The Priest were. Apparently, The Option is two breaded and deep-fried portabello mushrooms with cheese in the middle. The Priest is The Option + a Cheeseburger which is what I ended up getting with a few more condiments. We found a table to sit at to wait for our burgers to be made... timing was an issue due to our movie so we headed straight back to Burrito Boyz once we got our orders. Surprisingly, Alex hadn't gotten his burrito yet... I thought ours would take longer but it must have took about 10 minutes (seemed forever!).

I unwrapped my burger to see a monstrosity of a thing to eat, I was dumbfounded on how to even begin the first bite! Nonetheless, I went for it, and it was amazing... cheese oozed out of The Option like lava... what a sight. Bite after bite, more cheese kept on coming out of no where, it was heavenly for me. I was very impressed on how contained and structurally sound the option was, hardly messy! The cheeseburger part was simple but also delicious, it was incredible how great these two paired up together. We shared some fries from Will's combo and they were pretty good too. Very standard but I enjoyed the size and soft texture, not so much on the crispy side.

I think everyone should try Burger's Priest, it's definitely worth the $10 you spend on the burger. I can't imagine coming here very often unless I wanted to become obese so prepare yourself for it!

Food: 4.5/5 - Wish I didn't have to eat it in a rush so I could savoir each bite!
Decor: 3/5 - Very clean and fresh, not much decor going on yet though.
Service: 3/5 - Wait time was pretty standard.
Willingness to go back: 2.5/5 - Worth bringing noobies to try it but I wouldn't regular the spot!
Overall: 3.5/5

Website: http://www.theburgerspriest.com/

NaRoma Pizza Bar

Date Visited: Lunch on Sunday Jun 14, 2015
Company: Walk-in for 5

I had a bit of a family reunion this summer and had a bunch of family members from out of the country stay at my house for a few weeks. My cousin +Mark decided to take our cousins from HK out for a hiking day trip in Hamilton to experience some Canadian nature. After being rained out, we headed into the city to grab some lunch. We picked NaRoma out of a list of restaurants from a blogTO article showcasing some of the best places to eat in the city. Parking wasn't too hard to find on Locke St. and we also saw a few shops to stop by after lunch (ie cupcakes!).

The location was a lot smaller inside than I expected with only about 8 tables and more of a cafe vibe than a restaurant. Our wait for 5 people was going to be around 10 minutes. Their menu was very intensive with a ton of different pizza flavours. We were a bit confused on what their 'sizes' meant and weren't sure if flavours meant we could try multiple on an order. We ended up getting 2 Coppia's (12 pieces) and only 2 flavours, but we could have tried 4 flavours which was unfortunate to find out after. Our wait seemed forever as we were starving from the hiking but the kitchen also seemed to take a long time. Every time I saw the cooks slicing up pizza I was excited but it seemed they had a lot of take-out orders.

Eventually, our pizzas did come fresh out of the oven and they were huge for the smallest sizes. Our first pick was the Brie e Prosciutto with Mozzarella, Triple Cream Brie Cheese, Prosciutto, Fig Jam, Caramelized Onions, Arugula, and reduced Balsamic. The Prosciutto was very crispy and you could really taste the Brie. The Arugula balanced nicely with the sweet Balsamic which was drizzled all over. I liked this the best, the flavours were equally distributed and tasted great together!

Our second pizza was the Vegetale with Mozzarella, Ricotta, Zucchini, Rapini, Red Peppers, and Garlic. The only reason I didn't enjoy this one as much were the Garlic patches, all I could taste was garlic after eating them. The flavours of the vegetables weren't as prominent, but it was more cheesy and bland. My cousins from HK preferred this one however while Mark and I preferred the Prosciutto.

I was very impressed with their pizzas, they are thicker crust and less cheese but were done excellently. The dough was delicious which is important in this case and they had a ton unique flavours for you to choose from, I can see why it's such a popular spot!

Food: 4/5 - Delicious and filling pizza.
Decor: 2/5 - Very small and hipster, set like a pizza cafe.
Service: 2/5 - Nice servers but slow!
Willingness to go back: 4/5 - Definitely!
Overall: 3/5

Website: http://www.naroma.ca/

George Restaurant

Date Visited: Late Dinner on Wednesday June 3, 2015
Company: AJ's Convocation dinner for 6

Last week, +Will invited me to dinner with his family to celebrate AJ's convocation from Queen's U. They had recently found out about my food blog and Will advised me I would enjoy the restaurant they chose for dinner. He gave me the link and told me to check out their interesting cocktails. The location was walking distance from Will's and had a very cool exterior with large tall door. Upon entering, the decor was a bit more fancy but with a modest atmosphere. They had an open kitchen which we were seated right next to with a mirror on the ceiling to see the chef's working stations. There seemed to be a lot of students in the kitchen learning as well.

We were explained a bit about the difference between their five-course and seven-course tasting menu, each contains an amuse bouche, 1 or 3 appetizers, fois gras, a red-meat course, a cheese course and dessert. The Seven-Course Tasting Menu was decided upon and I also got the George - 75 Cocktail for a drink. The cocktail consisted of Tanqueray Gin, Aperol, St. Germain Elderfower Liqueur, Champagne, and a dash of fresh lemon juice. I hadn't really had anything similar to it before but it was very delicious, not too sweet and a bit tangy. We also got some interesting bread for the table to start with some crisps that were very oily but delicious and different breads on the bottom.

Our first dish was the amuse bouche, a bite-size hors d'oeuvre. Mine kind of fell apart while they brought it out so AJ switched so my photo would look better :) It was a mushroom puree on top of grilled eggplant and chipotle mayo with Plum relish. Everyone enjoyed the flavour and it got our taste buds ready for the rest of the meal. This is also when we realized that we'll have to take notes of our dishes as they were way too complicated to remember. Most of the table received wine pairings for each dish so it was interesting to hear the sommelier speak to each of them.

So when our first dishes came, we knew we were in trouble for remembering ingredients as they decided to do two different dishes for our table of 6. The plus side was that that we were able to try even more dishes by sharing. We received a Potato wrapped Tuna and Sesame Crab Cake with Lentil Salad. I'm not usually a fan of Tuna but this may have turned me into a fan, the middle was so soft and the potato exterior provided a crispy edge, great textures. The crab cake was not like anything I'd had before, very rich in flavour while the lentil salad provided good balance.

Next, we had Salmon Tappanyaki with Saffon in the front and White Asparagus and Peas in the back and Steelhead Trout with grilled white Asparagus. The Trout had an mild flavour as I've never had it before but I definitely preferred the Salmon, it was cooked perfectly and was presented with interesting ingredients. I was surprised how un-fishy all of the seafood tasted as they were mostly raw.

Our last seafood dish was an Octopus Carpaccio over a Radish Carpaccio and Butter Lobster with Sesame Soya Noodles and Tempura. I adored the presentation of the Octopus, it was like a drawing on paper, the flavours were light and refreshing. I was happy to see an Asian inspired dish with the Soya noodles, it was the heaviest of all our dishes so far but have a variety of textures to keep it interesting. 

Next would be our Fois Gras plates, and once again our Chef decided to be creative and make two separate dishes. One was the Duck in a Mint Crepe with Buffalo Mozzarella with Fois Gras on top and Tomato Foam and the other was a Fois Gras on Sweetbread. So I read and seen a lot of videos about fois gras before so I was both nervous and excited to finally try it. So the duck was basically raw which made it very difficult to cut through and chew. It was probably my least favourite dish of the night, there was just a lot going on on the plate. The fois gras specifically was extremely tender and melts in your mouth, it tasted pretty much how I'd expected. It made it a bit harder to eat just knowing so much about the controversies over it. A few bites were do-able but I didn't think I could eat it all. The second dish was served over sweetbread, which I just Googled now to find out what it was. I definitely thought it was just chicken and sweetbread was the coating they used over it. It tasted very good though and I'm glad I didn't know what it was when I was eating it.

Our peak of the courses were the red meats, I received a Herb Crusted Rack of Lamb with Asparagus and Sweet Potato while Will got the Beef Tenderloin with Cheese and Peppercorn. There was also some Pesto and Gnocci on the plate for sure but our waiter kind of stopped after the first part, I think he forgot what it was. Will and I were both happy with what we got so we weren't sure if we were going to do halfsies on this one. The Lamb was spectacular, pink on the inside but subtle flavour and so tender. The sweet potato were in sheets and stacked on each other, so creative and fun to eat, not to mention it accentuated the flavour. Will cut me off a piece of his steak, it was too rare for my usual liking but tasted pretty tender. The gnocci was an interesting addition but tasted great.

Our second last plate was cheese which is something I've never experienced before. This time they gave us three different types instead of two. I had the Pasturized Cow's milk with Apples and Pecans. The cheese was very creamy and thick almost like brie. The flavour was very tart so it was nice to pair with the other various things on the plate which were all generally sweet.

And finally, our desserts! We got three different ones again this time. Both Will and I were lucky to receive the Chocolate Souffle with Mandarin Tea! I thought at first it was Lava cake but once you broke into it, it was so soft, creamy, and held together. The Mandarin flavour was quite sour, all the sweetness was left to the chocolate. I didn't really enjoy the texture the cookie crumbs added to the plate, a bit unnecessary for me. I also tried some of AJ's Lemon Pie, it was so sour but actually tasted really good as it had equal sweetness, very lovely.

As an end note, I think everyone had a fun and enjoyable time at George Restaurant, I love discussing food over a meal and we were able to do that with this tasting menu. It offered so much variety and I don't think anyone wouldn't have enjoyed it! A foodie's dream meal :)

Food: 4.5/5 - Experienced so many new flavours and all done brilliantly.
Decor: 5/5 - Very classy, interesting decor and views into the kitchen.
Service: 4/5 - Mostly knowledgeable, a few staff weren't very detailed with their descriptions of the food.
Willingness to go back: 5/5 - Great experience and would love to return.
Overall: 4.5/5

Website: http://www.georgeonqueen.com/

Cabo Eats: Campestre

Date Visited: Dinner on Monday May 4, 2015
Company: Walk-in for 4

So... it's been a while, but I'm back and ready to hit the restaurant scene again... and just in time for patio season! I was in Mexico the first week of May and had spend the most of the month prior at the gym and trying to eat better in preparation. I was pretty lucky to to be able to try lots of the restaurants in Cabo San Lucas as we didn't stay at an all-inclusive. But instead of blogging about all of those places, I thought I'd just pick one that really stood out to my palate :)

Campestre is the spot where I thought we got to try the most authentic Mexican food, it was filled with locals and located off the beaten path. Our Cabo expect Laura suggested it when we asked for a cheap, authentic Mexican restaurant to check out, and it also happened that two of her local friends work there. It took about 10 minutes to get there from our hotel via taxi into some dirt road streets away from downtown. We were dropped off and entered a fairly large open restaurant with ample tables and even more floor space. It was about half-full for dinner and I didn't see any tourists there. Luckily they still had some english menus. We also got started off with some chips and salsa for the table. The portion of salsa was hefty compared to other restaurants, there was also a spicy salsa that was more liquidy. The tomatoes in the mild one were extremely fresh but light in flavour.


To start, I ordered the Bloody Merry (according to their menu) while the boys got beer and Laura got a Beer and tomato juice combo drink. I hadn't ordered a Caesar as of yet the whole trip so I was very excited to see how it would taste. The drink looked fancily dressed but more importantly it tasted amazing. Almost exactly like a Caesar but with more of a kick of different spices. The prices here were cheaper than anything we had seen before too which made things even better!

Their food menu had a lot of options with some photos to accompany. The one dish that stood out to me though Grilled Steak Tampioueña with Quesadilla, Enchilada, Guacamole and Rice, mostly the photo beside it looked delicious. The plate I got however, looked even better. The steak was perfectly grilled a medium-well (just like how I asked) and extremely tender. It was a thin slice but had a lot of character with some fatty and muscly parts on the edges and tons of flavour. I thought I had gotten a tortilla on top but turns out it was filled with cheese! One difference I noticed from home was that their tortillas are flakey and layered unlike a soft taco shell. Also their quesadillas are mostly just all cheese, no veggies inside. The Enchilada was great too, I could only finish one of the two but I loved the red sauce and cheese on top. The guacamole was a nice addition to the plate as well as the rice, which had a lot more flavour compared to other plates I'd had.

Overall, I was very happy with my choice of dish... even happier the next night where I got to drunkenly finish my leftovers. Like many of the restaurants we visited in Cabo, the service was quite slow, we were sitting a while just waiting for our bills before we could find anyone to flag down. But despite this, they were always accommodating and even nice enough to call us a taxi to pick us up since there was no way we could flag one nearby. I would definitely recommend this to anyone going to Cabo that wants to try a local authentic restaurant, I'd try to come back here anytime I was in the city.

Food: 4.5/5 - Best meal we had in Cabo and cheap prices!
Decor: 3/5 - Pretty cute restaurant.
Service: 2.5/5 - Really friendly, but pretty slow. Little bias since Laura knew our servers though
Willingness to go back: 4.5/5 - Totally worth the trek.
Overall: 3.5/5

Website: http://www.restaurantcampestreloscabos.com/#_=_

Bistro '67

Date Visited: Lunch on Friday Apr 3, 2015
Company: +Stephanie

Bistro '67 is a restaurant I've been wanting to visit ever since I heard about its existence. It's unique because it's a teaching restaurant apart of the Durham College campus which focuses on local farm ingredients. They happened to be open on Good Friday which excellently timed with trying out their lunch menu as they are usually only open for dinner on Saturday during the weekends. I made a reservation for 2 at noon and drove into a fairly empty parking lot at the College's Centre for Food. I took my time walking around the building a bit before heading up to the second floor where the restaurant was located. It's a very new building with large windows and modern decor. I was the first one in the restaurant and the waitress seated me to one of the side tables beside the large glass walls with the bright sun shining in.

When +Stephanie arrived, we took a look at the menu which was filled with quite a few sandwiches, salads, and hot plates. I decided on the Muffulleta, layers of salami, mortadella, ham, Edwardsburg cheese with spicy relish. Their Soup was a Carrot and Coconut with a cilantro creme and bacon bits which I also opted for because it sounded amazing. We really enjoyed talking about the restaurant and how cool it looked. They even had a screen which projected a live video of the chefs making our food in the kitchen!

Our waitress was also sweet and told us about their drink specials but all I was craving was a caesar. She brought me the Caesar '67 in a long, tall glass and it looked pretty appetizing. I thought the juice was a bit too thick, maybe they used tomato juice and not clamato? The spiciness was on point though.

Our lunches came extremely quickly (only ones there still!). I wasn't quite sure what to expect with the Muffulleta (never heard of the word before) but it looked like a very large panini with lots of meats in the middle. What they stated on the menu was exactly what you got. I thought there would be a bit more toppings in the sandwich, not just the relish. There was a lot of meat and the cheese was nicely melted but though the relish was salty, it didn't add much flavour. It was a bit plain for my liking, I could probably whip this up myself if I had a panini press... but at $13, I can't really complain.

The Soup on the other hand was a different story. The combination of carrot and coconut was creamy and delicious, I didn't mind the little pieces of carrots in there either. The creme on top was a bit spicy and added another complexity to the soup. The bacon bits were minimal but huge, each one was a treat. The temperature stayed consistent throughout and I really savoured each spoonful.

Food: 3.5/5 - Sandwich was not impressive but the soup! Reasonable price though.
Decor: 4.5/5 - Loved the decor, simple, spacious and lots of natural lighting.
Service: 4.5/5 - Extremely quick... but we were the first ones there :)
Willingness to go back: 3.5/5 - For sure, dinner is pricier but it's a unique gem in the Durham region you got to support.
Overall: 4/5

Website: http://www.bistro67.ca/

Piola

Date Visited: Dinner on Saturday Feb 28, 2015
Company: A sick +Will

I had been watching the dates for Piola's All-you-can-eat Gnocci nights for a while now to see when the 29th would fall on a good weekend to attend. Luckily for the month of February, they decided to have Gnocci night on the 28th which happened to be a Saturday instead of skipping it altogether! I made a reservation for 2 for the 7PM seating and patiently awaited for the date to come. Unfortunately for Will, he started to get sick that week and still wasn't feeling 100% on the Saturday. We were debating skipping it and trying again next month, but in the end Will thought he could still eat a decent amount of gnocci.

We drove to Piola because it is quite a ways from us on Queen West. We found parking easily on the street but had a bit of trouble with finding the right entrance to the restaurant. Apparently the left side is not where the entrance is and the different coloured building to the right is also Piola, much to my mistake. We waited a few minutes after we told them of our reservation and were then taken to an open room in the back. There was some confusion on our table as we were moved a bit later to a smaller table for 2  right in the middle of the room instead of a table for 4. There were a huge group of older Italians which took up a lot of the area so I think they were trying to sort them out.

We didn't have drink menus on the table or anything so we ended up just getting waters. About 15 minutes after 7PM, a waitress came out of the kitchen with a huge bowl of gnocci and started going to tables. They would come up and tell you what flavour they had and we would tell them if we wanted any or not. Then they would scoop a bit on your plate and go on to the next table. It was a really fun experience to anticipate what we were getting next and trying all of them.  The speed at which them came was a bit slow at first but it allowed you to enjoy the food and some conversation as well. They started flowing more heavily at the end but by then I was starting to reject them. There were about 9 flavours we got to try before they started repeating.

The gnocci itself I thought was good, very squishy and softer than I remembered them. Will said the texture is usually like that and only the size was a bit smaller than normal. I would have liked to taste a bit more potato in them though, I felt like it was all dough. I've ranked the flavours and what I thought about them below:

Favourites:

Rose - This was my favourite of them all just because the flavour was mellow, sweet and not too prominent. Great combination of creaminess, tomatoes, and cheese.

Sage & Butter -  This one looked like it had no sauce but it was packed with flavour. Never tried anything like it before and really enjoyed it.


Ham & Tomato - Second one we got and compared to the Tomato & Mozzarella, it tasted so much better. Very smooth and creamy with a nice lightness added from the tomatoes.

Bolognese - The bolognese had lots of minced meat in the tomato sauce. Interesting flavour, a bit sweet almost like Chef Boyardee.



                                                                         Neutral:

Ham & Mushroom - Nothing too special about this one. Had it third after the Ham & Mushroom so it was almost the same except I thought the sauce was heavier.

Tomato & Mozzarella -This is the first one we tried, the tomato flavour was too sour and very little mozzarella.

Didn't like:

Four Cheese -  A little disappointed by this one, not enough cheese flavour to be honest.

Puttanesca (spicy tuna, olives, capers, onion, tomato) - Wasn't sure what it was when we first got it but could definitely tell there were olives from the colour and some kind of seafood from the taste. Not a fan of either tuna or olives.

Basil Pesto - The texture was the biggest turnoff, too grainy.

After dinner, I didn't want to have gnocci for a long time. Now, I can't wait to have it again. I noticed though that I favourited the ones with mild flavours that let the gnocci do the talking, which is a good sign I think! Fun setting to enjoy so authentic Italian food in a well organized manner. All in all, we paid $25 each to stuff ourselves silly with little dough dumplings of goodness.

Food: 4/5 - Lots of hits with the flavours, amazing AYCE experience
Decor: 3/5 - Very rustic, wooden walls everywhere with colourful tables. Lots of space.
Service: 3/5 - Impressive flow of food, no one was going to go home hungry. Some of the servers looked like they hated their lives though and others were hard to understand what flavour we were getting.
Willingness to go back: 4.5/5 - Totally, their pizza looks amazing too! So many Italians there, it must be legit.
Overall: 3.5/5

Website: http://www.piolatoronto.com/

Bistro 238

Date Visited: Late dinner on Thursday Jul 31, 2014
Company: +Will

+Will was spending one of his working days in Oshawa and had some time to spare afterwards to go out for dinner with me. Since the GM Head Office is near the Oshawa/Courtice border, I decided to look up some places in that area. I haven't eaten in any restaurants in Courtice before and there wasn't very many I found to be honest. There are were a lot of bars but I wanted something nicer without being too pricey. I read some reviews on Bistro 238 and saw that they were a local favourite, it sounded fancy but their prices were reasonable. I called in the morning to get a reservation but they only had something available at 5:30PM or 8PM! We went for the 8PM so we didn't have to rush after work.

Driving there, it was a tad difficult to find because their sign wasn't visible from the main road, but you had to drive into the parking lot of the strip mall to find it. When we entered, it lined you up behind a divider from the dining area to be greeted. There was one couple in front of us and it seemed pretty full, we arrived around 7:45PM as they said they should be ready for us around then which they were. There's two small rooms for dining with about 6-8 tables in each? Most of the clientele were mature families or groups of seniors.

We came on their Pasta night for which they had a chalk board listed with their specials. Each pasta came with a Caesar Salad and was only $12! They were very keen on 'no substitutions' but there was plenty of pasta variations. I went for the Fettuccine with Atlantic Salmon and Asparagus in a Pesto Alfredo Sauce and Will got the Potato Gnocci with Bacon and Mushrooms in a Cream Sauce. We got some slices of a dark brown rye bread to start with butter on the side. Our salads came and they were fairly sized for starters, definitely not a small portion. It was topped with a crouton with pesto spread which gave it good flavour to eat by itself. The ingredients of the salad was pretty standard. The only thing I would say is that I found the Caesar dressing had a bit too much anchovy flavour. I usually don't like to taste that part of the sauce but found it to stand out.

The atmosphere of Bistro 238 is very relaxed and calm so it's great to come here for a date or a low-key family celebration where you can have a conversation. The staff were also very sweet and humble. I was pretty excited when our pastas finally arrived, I also got mine topped with some fresh Parmesan. The portions were a good size but I was already a bit full from the earlier food! They also told Will that he got the last serving of Gnocci, which I'm sure made him very happy. I tried the Gnocci and it was so good, it almost melted in your mouth after a bite. His dish also had tons of mushrooms and bacon mixed it, he finished it in no time! I couldn't say the same for mine though, mostly because I found it it very hefty and rich. The fettuccine pasta was cooked a bit hard and I didn't really taste much of the pesto in the sauce. The salmon was very fresh and you could taste it throughout the pasta. There wasn't enough asparagus though and I wish you could taste the flavour more like the salmon. Overall, everything was cooked perfectly and even though I only finished half of it, I enjoyed eating every bite!

Food: 3.5/5 - Great deal for what we paid!
Decor: 3/5 - Very old-fashioned but comfy and welcoming space.
Service: 3/5 - Pretty good, nothing too extraordinary.
Willingness to Return: 5/5 - Hope to make this a regular spot for me!
Overall: 3.5/5

Website: http://bistro238courtice.wix.com/bistro238

Cali Eats: Patxi's

Date Visited: Late Dinner on Sunday April 20, 2014
Company: Walk-in for 5

+Elliott was telling us about an awesome Deep Dish Pizza place in Palo Alto during our visit to San Francisco and luckily for us, we were going to pass by during our way out of the city. After our final stop of sight-seeing at Marin Headlands, we were heading out to get closer to Yosemite National Park for the next morning and it was just past dinner time, so we were all ready for some delicious pizza. We drove through a quaint neighbourhood which I guessed was downtown Palo Alto to find parking for the restaurant after a long drive out of San Francisco. Even though it was pretty late, the restaurant was still busy and we still had to wait for a table. 

The waiters let us know that if we were ordering the Chicago style pizza, it would take about 40 minutes so we could pre-order to minimize the wait when we got a table. We of course took him up on the offer as it probably would have taken a while to decide what we were getting anyways. There was 5 of us so we split off in 2 groups as we wanted different toppings. +Elliott and I went for a Small Authentic Chicago Stuffed Pizza with Pineapple, Spinach, and Garlic-Fennel Sausage pricing at $20.50. 

Shortly after, we were seated at table right in the middle of the fairly small restaurant. It looked more liked a bar with the TVs on the wall and the rustic wooden decor. The seating area wasn't that big and covered only about half the restaurant, the bar was situated near the front side going half-way back, the kitchen was in the back with a window looking in, and stairs going up to the very nice bathrooms. They had a nice selection of beers but I opted for a water since I was driving. 

Our wait seemed to take forever, especially because we were starving and it was pretty late already. We were seated after a few tables which didn't have their meals yet so I knew it would be a while. But finally, when our food arrived and it looked amazing and well worth the wait. That first slice from the pie was just oozing with cheese on all sides with a layers of toppings in there also. The small pie has 6 pieces and feeds 2-3 people. Both groups got the small so ours was a bit excessive since we had to have 3 slices each (but we did it). 

I have to say though... it was the best deep-dish pizza I've ever had, I haven't had much but this definitely sticks out in my mind. There was so much sauce and cheese, I felt like that was all I was eating... the sauce wasn't too extravagant and stuck to the simple but bold tomato flavour. The toppings we had were delicious and fresh, lots of spinach in there! They also had honey on the table for the crust (because we saw other people eating it this way!) and it was kind of interesting and tasty, it obviously added just a hint of sweetness to the crust and tomato sauce. I was thinking that it was pretty pricey for pizza, being about $15 each, but the quality was great and they really stuffed that pizza to the max... totally worth the splurge.

Food: 5/5 - Amazing! Been craving this ever since and looking for some deep dish places in Toronto to check out now!

Decor: 3/5 - Pretty small but very comfortable and roomy, they need more tables!

Service: 2.5/5 - Average service, at least they warn you about the wait time!

Willingness to go back: 4.5/5 - Yes, definitely would try to find one of their locations if I was nearby! Glad we made the trek to find this place!

Overall: 4/5

Website: http://www.patxispizza.com/ 

Craft Dog

Date visited: Dinner on Friday Jan 4, 2014

Company: Grabbed food with +Will before seeing Aladdin

+Will and I walk down Church street quite often to get meals and we happened to spot Craft Dog one time while getting lunch at another restaurant. We noted that we had to go back to try their gourmet home-made hot dogs one day. We tried to go there early on a Sunday before but unfortunately they were only opened at noon. Hot dogs are one of +Will's favourite foods so he was pretty keen on returning. We only had an hour or so prior to seeing Aladdin at Ed Mirvish Theatre on Friday night so we thought this was a great chance to finally try Craft Dog nearby for dinner.

This newly opened restaurant has very comical and eye-grabbing signage outside for anyone walking by which is how we first noticed it. Even entering the place, the decor is very bright and similar to a fast food joint. All their order options are hanging on the wall written on hot dog-shaped black boards. There's about 12 different choices in addition to a daily special. Each hot dog has different meats infused into the wiener and an arrangement of different toppings. They ranged from $7-$13 not including a drink or fries. Their 'meal' option gives $1 off the order of a drink and fries which isn't much of a deal. They also have unique, house-made pop flavours instead of the regular ones you get everywhere else and craft beer.

Checking out the menu, there actually wasn't many options I really wanted, either there was a topping I didn't like on it or I didn't want the meat it was made it. I finally decided on the Chicago Shout-Out after debating between that or the Naked Dog but there were so many toppings you could choose from for the Naked Dog, I didn't feel like deciding. The Chicago Shout-Out was made of Beef Chuck and Pork Shoulder topped with Yellowy Mustard, Sweet Pickle Relish, Raw Onion, Tomato, Pepperoncini, and Celery Salt. Will ordered the Philly Cheese Steak Dog made out of Local Beef topped with Sweet Peppers, Onions, Provolone, and House-Made White Cheddar Wiz. We also got Fries and a Drink to share. 

We sat down to wait for our order which they said they would bring over to us. Our fries came first and they said there's home-made condiments we can dress them with. We walked to the counter and indeed they had Smoked Ketchup, Curry Mayo, Petter Mayo and Homemade Mayo. My favourite was the Curry flavoured one but they were all very well made. Their fries were very delicious, lightly salted, and home-made.

So our hot dogs finally came and they looked so huge stuffed with all their toppings! The wieners fit perfectly in their buns and wasn't falling apart. The hard part about eating these were the falling toppings everywhere. The Chicago Shout-Out had a lot going on in terms of flavours, the mustard and onions were very overpowering. I did noticed that the dog was filled with lean meat and didn't taste like regular preserved hot dogs. It was fine quality. The Philly Cheese Steak Dog had a much smaller dog than the other and the didn't have very much flavour not did it taste like Philly cheese steak. There was a lot of cheese on this and I didn't really enjoy the Wiz. Both of the dogs fell short for us in terms of flavour. 

+Will is a huge hot dog fan and he was very disappointed in our meals especially for how much they costed. I appreciated the concept and what the Craft Dog is trying to do for hot dogs here but it wasn't for us. I have to mention that the guys serving us though were extremely friendly and attentive. They filled up our pop when it was done and let us try another one of their funky flavours. The Cola Root Beer and Vanilla Cola were great!

Food: 1/5 - Good quality hot dogs but nothing came together to make it a good meal.

Decor: 3/5 - Very shiny and clean, reminded me of a average fast-food sit in place.

Service: 4/5 - Awesome service, so nice and welcoming. 

Willingness to come back: 1/5 - Unlikely I'd go back, but if I did I'd definitely get a Naked Dog and dress it myself.

Overall: 2/5

Website: http://www.craftdogs.com/ 

Remezzo Italian Bistro

Date Visited: Dinner on Wednesday Nov 13, 2013
Company: Walk-in for four

Being in the Scarborough area for work, some friends and I randomly decided to meet up for dinner afterwards as they also happened to be in town that day. After meeting up at STC for some browsing, we drove to Remezzo, an Italian restaurant nearby. It's in a small plaza with a few stores, but right beside a huge Asian grocery. +Will had drove there earlier as he had come straight from work and had a table waiting, not that it was very busy. The place is very spacious with many sections, and most tables seemed to be family gatherings.

They had their specials of the day written at the front but when I asked the waitress what they were, she had a hard time recalling them, not the best waitress. We decided to split Bruschetta to start and I also ordered the French Onion Soup. The wait wasn't too long for our appetizers. The Bruschetta came in 6 pieces which was perfect because only 3 of us ended up sharing it. The bread was nicely tasted and there was ample amount of tomatoes, very simple and delicious. The French Onion Soup also came shortly after and it looked extremely delicious in its little bowl. There was tons of cheese on the top layer and wasn't overcooked, it stayed hot throughout. It was very stringy though and I had a hard time getting down to the crouton part right underneath. Near the end, I also found all of the onion bits together at the bottom of the broth. It was +Stephanie's first time having it but she thought it was too salty. Overall, I think it was a bit messy but a great French Onion Soup.  But I would definitely get it again, it wasn't too expensive and loaded with cheese and onions.

For my main, I wanted to get the Eggplant Parmesan which was a special that day but the waitress forgot to mention that it was all out and had to return to re-take my order. Instead, I ordered the Linguini Di Mare. Our main dishes were brought out right as we were finishing our appetizers. The Linguini had scallops, shrimp, and scallops mixed in with a tomato-basil sauce. There were tons of seafood in the pasta which I enjoyed, you could really taste the flavour as the tomato sauce was pretty light. The shrimps and scallops were very big while the clams were small but there were tons of them in the dish. I took some of it home as I was pretty full from the apps but the portions were a good size as everyone finished their dishes.

Food: 3.5/5 - Mediocre but tasty food at reasonable prices!
Decor: 3/5 - Cozy, family-friendly restaurant with tons of space.
Service: 1/5 - Our waitress was so bad, but the food came quickly.
Willingness to go back: 4/5 - Definitely would go back for some delicious Italian without breaking the bank!
Overall: 3/5
Website: http://www.remezzo.ca/