Bloomin’ Onion at Outback Steakhouse

Remember the Outback?  We had a bunch of them around the GTA, but then they abruptly closed down all their locations and, mostly, left Canada altogether.  But they’ve got a couple of locations in Niagara Falls, so sure, for nostalgia’s sake, why not?  I got the Bloomin’ Onion (of course) and a steak.  The steak was just okay (it was mostly pretty decent, but was something like 50% gristle), but the Bloomin’ Onion was actually pretty great.  This was always my favourite thing about the Outback, and yeah, it’s just as delicious as I remembered.  It was nicely seasoned and perfectly fried, with the individual petals having a great exterior crispiness and tender onion within.  And the zesty dipping sauce complements it perfectly.  You can find knockoff Bloomin’ Onions at various carnivals and ribfests, but the version at the Outback can’t be beat.

Cheese pizza from Blondies Pizza

I’m not sure why it took me so long to check out Blondies Pizza — they’ve been around for a few years now, and have expanded to an impressive 14 locations.  So clearly, they’re doing something right.  I tried the plain cheese pizza, and yeah, it’s not bad.  But while it’s definitely a step up from chain pizza like Dominos or Pizza Pizza or whatever, it’s not remotely on the level of any of the better pizza joints in the GTA.  Most pressingly, the slice I got was fresh out of the oven (it was still hot despite the fact that it was handed straight to me without being reheated), but had a crust that was just one-note soft and chewy, with zero exterior crispiness.

Margherita pizza from Insieme

Speaking of pizza that’s not much better than okay…  Insieme.  They have a lunch special where you can get a pretty generous salad and a pizza for 18 bucks (or at least they did when I originally wrote this — I’m not seeing any mention of it on their website), so it’s definitely a good deal.  And the pizza was mostly pretty solid, with a great amount of char on the crust and a nice exterior crispiness.  It’s a bit gummy, however, and I’m not sure what kind of tomatoes they were using, but the sauce was overly acidic (it was downright sour).  Still, it certainly wasn’t outright bad, and they have chili oil available by request that really jazzes it up.