Easy Restaurant

1645 Queen Street West, Toronto                                                       Rating: Fair to Average

“Overwhelmingly underwhelming”

This little west-end hole-in-the-wall offers typical brunch fare and serves up a delicious cup of coffee. It’s a trendy Queen Street West diner so the prices are on the higher side. I’ve patronized this establishment numerous times and I’ve always ordered the Easy Rider Breakfast ($10.95) which is a typical meal of bacon, eggs and toast. Despite the fact that I'd never been disappointed with this choice at Easy, I decided to branch out and ordered the Eggs Benedict ($11.95). What could go wrong? Two poached eggs with grilled peameal bacon on an English muffin and accompanied with either salad or homefries. I’m not a salad-for-breakfast type person so I opted for the homefries.  With ordering safely under our belts, we did some catching up while sipping our delicious coffees. There's real pleasure in sitting in a cozy warm diner on a cold winter Sunday morning.

Our food arrived fairly quickly and we dug in with relish. That it arrived quickly was the good part; the bad part was the food. I don’t know what happened on this particular morning at Easy, but the chef must have dozed off while tending the grill because the slice of peameal bacon was a dried up piece of charred wood. It was cut too thin which meant there was a greater margin for error and unfortunately the chef wasn’t up to the challenge of pulling the bacon off the grill before it was charred. The overcooked bacon was accompanied by undercooked home fried potatoes. They were so unpalatable that I couldn’t eat more than a few bites. I kept hoping to spear into a tender spud, but each bite was a crunchy experience so I eventually gave up.  Cooking school 101: chefs must test the food to ensure that it’s properly cooked before sending it out to unsuspecting patrons. Fortunately the eggs were cooked to perfection, but unfortunately there was an overwhelming sour flavour that detracted from the taste. I couldn’t tell if it was the hollandaise sauce or if the chef added vinegar to the water when poaching the eggs.  It’s an amateur approach to poaching and ruins the flavour of eggs.

It was an underwhelming food experience that I doubt I’ll repeat.  I do like the place, so I’ll switch back to the Easy Rider Breakfast next time and avoid this particular menu item.  This establishment gets a Fair to Average rating because it only takes one bad experience to ruin an otherwise Good experience. Better luck next time, Easy Restaurant.

www.easyrestaurant.ca/

Taste of Thailand

5310 Dundas Street West, Etobicoke ON                                                     Rating: Fair

"Shrinking Portions and Expanding Prices"

On a bitterly cold February evening, my husband and I decided to order in to avoid heading outside in search of food. We had frequently ordered from Taste of Thailand in the past, but stopped a few years ago and for the life of me I couldn't recall why. I wish we'd remembered because it would have saved us from a big disappointment. Our order for two people came to $52 dollars for three dishes plus some steamed rice. If either of us had been really hungry there would have been no leftovers. And what happened to the complimentary shrimp chips with accompanying peanut sauce?  

I wouldn’t mind the price if the food was as good as it used to be and as plentiful as it used to be. No and no. The food isn’t fresh, and it can’t be blamed on the delivery time because it arrived quickly. The steamed rice had clearly been sitting in a pot for hours, and the pad thai was a lump of congealed rice noodles with a tired orange slice. But my biggest beef was with the Chinese Broccoli and Shitake Mushrooms, because the container had very little in it and it was $11.95!  I usually need my arm twisted to choose anything containing broccoli so the fact that I used to like this dish speaks volumes. But this order was a bunch of stems floating in a watery liquid. No thanks.

Taste of Thailand, you've cheaped out and we won’t be ordering again. “Fool me once shame on you...”

http://www.tasteofthailandcuisine.com/

Bier Markt

199 N Queen St, Toronto, ON M9C 4Y1                                                                           Rating: Fair

"Schnitzel Special isn't so special"

We met a couple of friends for dinner at the new Bier Markt across from Sherway Gardens. It was in the old East Side Mario’s location where we had dined several times so the place was nicely familiar. It was fairly busy for a Tuesday night, but we didn’t have to wait for a table. The server warned us that if it had been a Saturday night, we might have waited for hours. All I can say is that I am grateful that I didn’t have to wait for this particular meal.

Who would go to a specialty beer establishment and order wine? I would. What can I say except that it was a lovely chardonnay and I was in the mood for wine. My co-diners all ordered beer and had no complaints. A couple of them tried some complimentary tasters in cute little glasses, which was a nice touch. The wide variety of beers is definitely a draw, and the wait staff know their beer. 

With drinks safely ordered, we spent several minutes staring at the menu before admitting to each other that we were at a loss as to what to order. We were distracted by the possibility of ordering a whole roast pig at $58 a person and wondered how it would arrive at the table, but this item needs 48 hours notice. I guess you’d have to be a repeat customer to know that it’s even on the menu. Fine by me, because I wouldn't want to be looking at a pig's face while digging into a slice of pork. 

My one friend ordered oysters and mussels. The oysters arrived in a large bowl of ice. Six oysters at $3 each so it was $18 for six bites of seafood. Each oyster was covered with a large dollop of horseradish, an act that has always puzzled me when it comes to slugs and such. Take my opinion with a grain of salt because I am obviously biased, but I don’t like slimy bits of rubber-like raw creatures covered in a searing hot sauce sliding down my throat. However my friend, like many people, loves seafood and quite enjoyed the oysters and mussels at Bier Markt. Fair enough.

Three of us ordered the Schnitzel special which was a serving each of pork, veal and chicken schnitzel on a bed of fingerling potatoes with a side of asparagus. Having been told that it was a substantial portion, I decided to forgo the appetizer. It was one of the rare times that I have not finished a restaurant meal when I was still somewhat hungry. The schnitzels were all overcooked, dry and flavourless. It was surprisingly difficult to tell which was the chicken, pork or veal. Unfortunately, each piece of meat was covered with a different flavoured jam. That's right folks, JAM. Blackberry jam on the pork schnitzel, tomato jam on the veal, and lingonberry jam on the chicken. You would think that jam would have given those dried out bits of meat some flavour and that might have been the case if the jam had actually tasted good. It did not. I scraped it to the side of the plate and attempted to continue sawing away at the meat but eventually gave up. The fingerling potatoes were not memorable, perhaps because there were so few of them.  

Not a satisfying meal, which was surprising because everything about the place smacked of a ‘you want it, we got it’ attitude. But they don’t got it, and I don’t want it. I doubt I’ll visit a second time. This restaurant was rated Fair because only one out of four of us enjoyed our meal.

http://www.thebiermarkt.com/

Butler's Pantry

591 Markham Street, Toronto, ON                                                                   RATING: Excellent

"New favourite brunch locale in the Annex"

I have visited this location of Butler’s Pantry twice for brunch in the past month with a fellow foodie. We meet regularly to have a good meal and do a lot of catching up.  ‘Catching up’ venues need to be comfortable, not too loud, with seating spaced out sufficiently to avoid people overhearing personal girl-stuff gabbing.  Butler’s Pantry gets a gold star on all counts. 

We came upon this restaurant by accident when we couldn’t get into our first choice.  My friend, local to the area, remembered Butler’s so we popped in out of the cold to check it out.  The menu looked promising, although there wasn’t a soul in the place which can be a serious red flag.  We were famished and decided to take a chance.  The waitress sat us in a cushioned booth at the front of the restaurant beside floor to ceiling windows.  The wait staff is very pleasant and have attained a wonderful balance of neither hovering, nor ignoring. 

Mugs of aromatic freshly brewed coffees were set in front of us.  I added cream and took a sip of Java-heaven.  Was this coffee really that good, or was I in some kind of withdrawal needing a fix?  

They have a full brunch menu that I would like to have sampled in its entirety but I settled on the Eggs Benedict ($11) which was accompanied by three (probably from frozen) hash browns.  But so what if they were frozen?  They were crispy and not super greasy and didn’t even need ketchup.  The eggs were beautifully prepared because they were cooked with a soft yoke and well cooked whites.  Just the right amount of hollandaise sauce was spooned over the top.  The eggs were set upon a layer of crispy bacon atop the usual English muffin.  It was a delicious breakfast. 

My ‘catch-up’ friend ordered the Benny Gone Veggie which replaced bacon with spinach and the hash brown with a salad.  But she asked for smoked salmon which she thought was going to be inserted where the bacon would have been.  Apparently the waitress thought the same thing because she apologized for the placement of the salmon - a blob on one side of the plate -  explaining that she didn’t want to ask the cook to move the salmon after the dish had been plated.  Fair enough – it would have been a messy looking Benny.  But the only nit was that there was a charge of $3.50 for the salmon and it would have been nice to have been given a heads up about this. 

Happily that was the only nit that we had in our two visits and I’m really just being picky. This place is a ‘must-visit’ location for brunchers in the Annex area (university district) of Toronto; however, one word of warning is that this venue is not for the student budget because our bill before tip was $31.00. 

My ‘catch-up’ friend and I will definitely be back to sample more of that delicious menu. 

Restaurant website:  http://www.butlerspantry.ca/ 

Canyon Creek

1900 The Queensway, Etobicoke, ON                                               RATING: Average to Good

“A Hit and a Miss”

My husband and I had reservations at Canyon Creek on New Year’s Eve. We arrived to a packed lobby but were promptly led past the crowd of people to a booth in the bar area. Make reservations, people!  I usually prefer being seated in the main dining room of a restaurant because the bar area is often loud and cramped; but the booths in the Canyon Creek bar were spacious and comfortable. Our servers were knowledgeable, pleasant and efficient.  We split an appetizer, both ordered mains, drinks and desserts and the bill was $100 before the tip. Quite reasonable.

The appetizer we split was the Cool Ranch Ribs. Five medium sized pork ribs that were deep fried and served with a ranch dipping sauce.  They were definitely fall-off-the bone ribs as promised, but they were also quite greasy which shouldn`t have been surprising given that they were deep fried.  It was an ‘okay’ appetizer, but I couldn`t get past the grease dripping from my fingers to really enjoy the experience. I would never order that particular starter again.  

My husband's main course choice was the Coffee Crusted Steak that was accompanied by steamed carrots, golden beets, and buttery mashed potatoes.  Our server informed us that this particular steak is coated in crushed coffee beans and then blended with brown sugar to cut the bitterness of the coffee. It`s finished off with a tangy BBQ sauce.  An odd combination but my husband was game to give it a try.  He found it noticeably spicy and after I sampled a taste I was unpleasantly surprised by the fact that it could have been any type of meat underneath that spicy exterior because I couldn’t taste the steak. This was surprising because there was nothing in the description that indicated it would be spicy. When we inquired as to the mystery ingredient in the coating, we were told that it was the tangy BBQ sauce.  I don’t think so.  What obliterated any flavour of steak was not a tangy flavour. Maybe the chef reached for the ground pepper instead of the coffee grounds in error. In any case, it was a shame because at $23.95 it was an expensive searing of the tongue. 

My main course was from the Simply Steaks section of the menu, and consisted of a 7 oz top sirloin steak accompanied by buttery mashed potatoes.  This restaurant relies heavily on top sirloin as their primary cut of steak.  It is a less tender, more flavourful cut of meat and my steak didn’t disappoint because it was perfectly cooked to medium rare and was as tender as a top sirloin can get.  I couldn’t fault the mashed potatoes because they were melt-in-your mouth delicious. My main was definitely two thumbs up while my husband’s was one thumb down.

For dessert I was looking for something rich and chocolately.  I was on the verge of ordering the Double Chocolate Brownie but the server wisely explained that it was a more cakey brownie as opposed to rich and fudgey.  I dodged a bullet there because I ended up with the Molten Chocolate Cake that nicely tamed my chocolate craving.  A scoop of vanilla ice cream finished off this delicious dessert.  

My husband ordered the Banana Coconut Cream Pie.  Now this was an odd dessert because we were expecting a triangle wedge of pie.  It IS pie, right?  But it was pie in a jar.  Layered like a fancy bar drink, the top layer was whipped cream, then coconut cream beneath it and a layer of crust at the bottom of the jar.  Interesting and tasty, but it would have been nice to just have a piece of pie.

All in all, this was a good experience for me, and a not-so-good experience for my husband who ended up with several hours of indigestion from who-knows-what part of his unfortunate meal.  

I gave this an Average to Good rating which is a balance between our very different dining experiences at this restaurant.

Restaurant website: http://canyoncreekrestaurant.ca/sherway/

Far Niente Nappa Grill

187 Bay St (At Wellington St.), Toronto                                                     RATING: Fair to Average

“Poor to average food, too-small portions”

I lunched at Far Niente with three coworkers during the week before Christmas. We were seated in a comfortable booth and given the specials by an attentive, pleasant waitress. Each of us ordered a main course only, no starter, which was a mistake because the main course was not filling enough for any of us to make it through the afternoon without snacking. 

Two of us had the special of the day which was northern pickerel in a roasted red pepper sauce accompanied by couscous and steamed arugula. I hadn’t eaten pickerel since my uncle Walter caught one out of the back of his boat in Northern Ontario when I was a kid; so I was anticipating the taste of this unique mild white fish. It was indeed nicely cooked: tender and moist. The sauce was fine, the couscous okay, but the steamed arugula was not edible. Why serve such an incredibly overpowering bitter accompaniment? Neither of us enjoyed that part of the meal and pushed it around our plates after one small bite. It was an average meal at best. 

Another coworker had the Crispy Chicken which were deep fried chicken pieces, with an average tasting coleslaw. Average. The last of the four of us ordered the Fish n’ Chips, which was beer-battered haddock, and fries that looked mouth wateringly good. He’s a guy, so he didn’t go on and on about the food, but I could tell that he was really enjoying that meal. I was almost tempted to hand back my pickerel and ask for the haddock, because it looked that good. 

I would say three thumbs down and one thumb up for this meal. Good wait staff and comfortable seating, too-small portions, and prices are not cheap – we split the bill four ways and each paid $32. No alcohol, only a main course. And I had a bagel in the mid afternoon because I was still hungry. This is definitely not my favourite restaurant, so if you can choose another location, and there are many to choose from in the financial district, do so.

Restaurant website: http://www.farnienterestaurant.com/

Jump Cafe and Bar

18 Wellington St. West, Toronto, Ontario                                                             RATING: Excellent

"Healthy AND delicious!"

This is an ‘Oliver & Bonacini’ restaurant; but who cares about the fancy frou-frou name? It’s the quality of the food and the efficiency of the wait staff that is of prime importance in a busy restaurant in the financial district. Fortunately this restaurant came up trumps on both counts. 

I went with two colleagues during the busy Christmas season and it was hopping. Service was fast and efficient, and the wait staff endlessly pleasant and knowledgeable. They need to get people in and out in a reasonable amount of time, but at their ...ehem.. prices, the food had better be good. And it is. 

I ordered the Roasted Organic Chicken Breast that was accompanied by quinoa and mushroom salad, along with a date and lemon sauce. What a pleasure for the palate. I usually order quinoa with trepidation because it can be bitter and just plain awful, but it was not. Flavourful! Oh so flavourful with the mushrooms adding tender chewiness, and the date sauce bringing a sweetness that wasn`t overpowering. The chicken was mouth wateringly tender. I ate every speck of food on my plate and could barely concentrate on the conversation. My colleagues made similar work of their dishes. One had the chunky tomato soup with accompanying BLT sliders. She was initially disappointed that the `sliders` had no beef! But once she got past that expectation she proceeded to clean her plate and pronounced the sliders a success.

One word of warning, this venue isn’t going to satisfy a big man with a big appetite because the portions aren’t large; but they are perfect for people who don’t want to feel like they need a nap to recover from a massive midday meal. Thank you Jump. A last sad comment is about the desserts. All three of us women were looking for a rich dark chocolate cake and the only item that came close was black forest cake, which is no substitute for an orgasmic slice of melt-in-your-mouth dark chocolate cake. We finished our meal with coffee, and Jump made no dessert sale on this day. 

Restaurant website: http://www.oliverbonacini.com/jump.aspx