Strawberry Salad from Wendy’s

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Strawberry Salad from Wendy's
Location: 5250 Dundas Street West, Toronto
Website: https://www.wendys.com/en-ca

A few years ago, pretty much every fast food chain started serving salads in a short-lived attempt to prove to everyone that they’re not just about clogging your arteries and raising your blood pressure.  But healthy eats at a fast food joint is an affront to everything that is good and pure about the world, and the salads are pretty much all gone — except at Wendy’s.

I guess people actually order the salads at Wendy’s?  Because not only are they still on the  menu, but they’re adding new ones, too.

Strawberry Salad from Wendy's

Here’s how Wendy’s website describes the Strawberry Salad: “Herb-marinated, grilled 100% Canadian grilled chicken breast topped with fire-roasted corn, sharp white cheddar, roasted pecans, greenhouse-grown strawberries and lettuce all finished with a sweet onion vinaigrette. It’s the best you’ll pick all year.”

It’s fine?  It’s a pretty generic salad.  I didn’t dislike eating it, but the guy next to me was eating a burger and I’ll admit that I was pretty jealous.

Strawberry Salad from Wendy's

It mostly all works pretty well — in particular, the balance between the salty cheese, the sweet strawberries and candied pecans, and the zippy dressing is fairly satisfying.  I was worried that the dressing might be too oniony, but it was fine.

The biggest issue here are the chicken pieces.  I was hoping they’d use freshly-cooked chicken, but instead it’s those pre-cooked chicken breast pieces that you can find in the supermarket or at Costco.  They get the job done, but they have a very processed taste and texture that I’m not crazy about.

Quick Bites: Emmer, Dear Grain, Craque de Creme

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Peanut Butter Miso Cookie from Emmer
Peanut Butter Miso Cookie from Emmer

Toronto Life recently called the peanut butter miso cookie from Emmer one of the best new cookies in the city, so obviously I needed to try it.  And yeah, it’s fantastic, with a really addictive crispy/chewy contrast and a deep savouriness from the miso and the generous amount of salt on top.  The level of sweetness here is very, very restrained, which seems like it maybe shouldn’t work, but it absolutely does.

Blueberry Scone from Dear Grain
Blueberry Scone from Dear Grain

I feel like I can’t bring up Dear Grain without grumbling about their refusal to slice most of their (very delicious!) bread (unless you buy it frozen), so: what’s the deal with that??  With that out of the way, I’ll say that their blueberry scone is absolutely fantastic.  Seriously, seriously good.  The exterior is nice and crispy, it’s sweet without being too sweet, it’s got a nice blueberry punch, and the texture of the scone itself is perfect.  It also comes with a little cup of tasty lemon curd, and its pleasant tartness really takes things over the top.  It’s so good.

Canele from Craque de Creme
Canele from Craque de Creme

Speaking of tasty pastries, the canele from Craque de Creme is thoroughly tasty, with a rich custardy flavour and a restrained sweetness that I found to be quite delightful.  The overly crunchy exterior does hold it back from canele perfection, however.  I love a nice crisp, caramelized exterior on a canele, but this one takes a step or two (or three, or four) too far.  The rock hard exterior here kinda shredded the inside of my mouth.

Tasty Cold Cut Sandwiches at Bevi Birra

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Bevi Birra
Location: 3072 Dundas Street West, Toronto
Website: https://bevi-birra.com/

Though Bevi Birra seems like yet another place serving Italian cold cut sandwiches because that’s the trend, they’ve actually been around since 2020.  Props to them for doing this purely because that’s what they want to serve — not to jump on a bandwagon.

And you know what?  That level of passion makes a difference.  The sandwiches here are very, very good.

Bevi Birra

I tried a couple.  First up: the Anna Rosaria (“Prosciutto, provolone, rosemary aioli, olive tapenade, arugula”).

Bevi Birra

They make their sourdough bread in-house, and it’s absolutely fantastic.  It’s got a great crispy (but not overly crunchy) exterior, a chewy interior, and a nice sourdough flavour.  I could have just eaten the bread alone and walked away satisfied.

Bevi Birra

But everything else here was thoroughly tasty as well, with a nice hit of saltiness from the cold cuts and the tapenade, a creaminess from the aioli, and with the pepperiness of the arugula balancing it all out.

Bevi Birra

I also tried the Giovanna (“Hot sopressata, garlic ricotta, pepperoncino, honey, arugula.”

Bevi Birra

Both sandwiches were very good, but this one might have been my favourite.  In particular, the salty/sweet combo from the sopressata and the honey is kinda irresistible, and the sandwich’s spicy kick is very satisfying.  It’s seriously delicious.

Delicious Wheel Cakes at Mister Wheel

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Mister Wheel
Location: 5317 Yonge Street, North York
Website: https://www.instagram.com/misterwheel_toronto/

Mister Wheel is a Taiwanese wheel cake chain that recently opened in Toronto to a decent amount of hype, and having just tried it: yeah, I get it.  They serve some top-notch wheel cakes.

Mister Wheel

The nice thing about this place is that all the cakes are made to order — there’s a note on the counter saying that all cakes are a 15 minute wait — so you know they’re going to be fresh.

Mister Wheel

I tried two of the classics, red bean and custard, and both were absolutely stellar, with a lightly crispy exterior, and perfectly cooked pancakey pastry within.

Mister Wheel

As for the fillings, both were above average.  The red bean had a pleasantly chunky texture and a restrained level of sweetness that I really enjoyed.  And the custard might have been even better — I normally prefer red bean, but the custard here was just so good, with a rich, creamy texture and a thoroughly satisfying flavour.

Zinger Drip Sandwich from KFC

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Zinger Drip Sandwich at KFC
Location: 4559 Hurontario Street, Mississauga
Website: https://www.kfc.ca/

KFC recently came out with a “Zinger Drip” menu, which seems to have nothing to do with the Zinger Sandwich that they currently serve, aside from the presence of spiciness.  But sure, I like spice — I’ll check that out.

There are three items to choose from: a sandwich, popcorn chicken, and hot wings, all coated in a spicy sauce.

Zinger Drip Sandwich at KFC

I went with the sandwich: “The Zinger Drip Sandwich brings bold, saucy heat to a fan-favourite classic. Our Famous Chicken sandwich fillet fully coated in KFC’s rich Zinger Drip sauce, then layered with cheddar cheese and fresh lettuce – all served on a soft potato bun. It’s a spicy, satisfying bite from top to bottom.​”

It’s tasty.  The Zinger Drip sauce has a vinegary, Frank’s-esque base, but with some mild sweetness and a bit of a garlicky punch to round things out.  It’s not particularly spicy, but there’s enough heat to give your mouth a tingle.  It’s pretty satisfying, which is good because the chicken is absolutely drenched in the stuff.

Zinger Drip Sandwich at KFC

The word “drip” in the name of this sandwich is extremely appropriate — this was one of the drippiest, messiest sandwiches I’ve eaten in quite a while.  After I was done, I had to lather up my hands like a doctor preparing for surgery just to get the stickiness off them.

As for the rest of the sandwich, it’s all pretty standard KFC stuff.  I will say that the cheese feels entirely superfluous — the Zinger Drip sauce is not subtle, and its flavour completely wipes out the cheese, which may as well not be there.