Michael Nusair

Bull’s-Eye BBQ Cheeseburger at Wendy’s

Published on November 6, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 5250 Dundas Street West, Toronto
Website: https://www.wendys.com/en-ca

No, the Bull’s-Eye BBQ Cheeseburger isn’t the most interesting new item at a fast food joint; it’s a bacon cheeseburger with barbecue sauce and crispy onions. Is is boring? Yeah, absolutely. But is it tasty? Also yes.

Here’s how Wendy’s describes it: “Wendy’s new Bull’s-Eye BBQ Cheeseburger gets the combo of sweet and smoky exactly right. 100% fresh, never frozen Canadian beef topped with applewood smoked bacon, crispy onions, and a sweet twist on the bold taste of Barbecue sauce. It’s the freshest in the west.”

Yeah, it’s good. The barbecue sauce is sweet, tangy, and a bit smoky, and the generous amount of crispy onions adds a noticeable crunch. The description doesn’t mention it, but there’s also mayo in there, which brings the burger some creaminess and mellows out the sweet barbecue sauce a bit.

That’s not to mention the bacon and the cheese, which are both quite welcome on a burger, for obvious reasons.

The only other fast food item I can think of that features barbecue sauce this prominently is the McRib, and you know what? This is better. It’s a top-tier fast food hamburger.

Satisfying Korean Fried Chicken at bb.q Chicken

Published on October 28, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 3038 Hurontario Street, Mississauga
Website: https://bbqchicken.com/

bb.q Chicken is a Korean fried chicken chain with an impressive footprint throughout the globe. According to their website, they have over 3000 locations in 57 countries. Clearly, they’re doing something right.

And yes, sure, there are plenty of huge chains that serve absolutely abysmal food (i.e. pulling a Subway), but you know what? This isn’t one of them. Really tasty fried chicken.

I tried the boneless fried chicken, which can be ordered with various sauces or seasonings; I went with their secret sauce, which they describe as “a sweet and tangy Korean sweet sauce.” Note that they use the word “sweet” twice in that description, and yeah, it is very, very sweet. Borderline too sweet? But it has a nice tanginess and a very mild spiciness that helps to balance out the sweetness, at least somewhat.

And honestly, the chicken itself is so perfectly fried, with a great crunchy (but still fairly light) exterior and a juicy interior. It’s stellar fried chicken.

It comes with a side of the crispiest battered fries that I’ve ever had. I’m normally not crazy about battered fries, but these had an aggressive crunch that I actually quite enjoyed.

I also tried the spicy dukk-bokki (“Stir fried rice cakes & fish cakes in our traditional Korean spicy sauce, topped with green onions and hard boiled egg”), which is a classic Korean dish featuring ultra-chewy rice cakes in a spicy sauce. Unlike the fried chicken, this one is legitimately pretty spicy. The fish cakes are a nice addition, and liven things up. It’s a great dish.

Tasty Sandwiches at Vero Italian Sandwich Co.

Published on October 26, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 477 Queen Street West, Toronto
Website: https://verosandwich.ca/

All restaurants are Italian sandwich shops now. Don’t like it? Sorry, them’s the breaks.

But you know what? Based on the quality of places like this and Alfie’s, I for one welcome our new Italian sandwich overlords.

They have a handful of meaty sandwiches on the menu (and one vegetarian). I went with the Gabagool: “Capicola, Mortadella, Fresh Mozzarella, Giardiniera, Tomato and Arugula.”

Yeah, that’s a top-notch sandwich. The bread is great (it’s got a nice balance of chewiness and crispiness), there’s a generous amount of good quality cold cuts, it’s nice and zippy, and the fresh mozzarella adds a nice creaminess that rounds things out.

It was a little greasy (it was dripping with oil) and the flavours don’t quite pop like in the best versions of this type of sandwich, but I still enjoyed it quite a bit.

Quality Eclairs at The Happy Chocco

Published on October 23, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 100 City Centre Drive (inside The Food District at Square One)
Website: https://www.thehappychocco.ca/

I’ll admit that I was a bit skeptical of The Happy Chocco. They always have a million eclairs on offer, and they never seem to be particularly busy. And I’m like, are these all fresh? Because it seems like they won’t all be fresh. There’s nothing sadder than a stale eclair with soggy pastry.

Well, I just went with two other people, and we all tried different eclairs and found them to be quite fresh (and quite delicious!) so I’m happy to say that I was wrong.

I went with the Dubai chocolate eclair: “classic eclair filled with pistachio pastry cream and Belgian milk chocolate dip with roasted kataifi.”

I really enjoyed this. The choux pastry had a great texture and was clearly not stale at all, the pistachio pastry cream was creamy and delicious (if a bit light on the nutty flavour), there was a decent layer of good-quality chocolate on top, and the roasted kataifi added a nice crispy texture. It’s a quality eclair.

Tasty Rice Bowls at Omai Rice Bar

Published on October 21, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 21 Baldwin Street, Toronto
Website: https://omairicebar.com/

Omai Rice Bar is a spin-off of Omai, a high-end Japanese restaurant. The rice bar is much more on the casual end of things — they serve a selection of six rice bowls that are all around 15 bucks, and it’s take-out only (they also have a few benches on a patio out front).

I went with the Oh-My Fried Chicken: “Korean fried chicken, garlic yuzu glaze, wasabi cucumber, kimchi slaw and pickled daikon. Every bowl comes with our signature Omai salad on a bed of steamed white rice.”

I liked everything about this. The fried chicken was fresh, crispy, and tender, and was tossed in a tasty sauce (that was maybe a touch too sweet — my only complaint). Everything else in the bowl complemented it perfectly, with a whole bunch of bold, zippy flavours.

Even the salad on the side was a noticeable upgrade from the standard vinaigrette-tossed greens, with a nice citrusy punch that was really satisfying.

It’s all served on a bed of fluffy white rice, and it’s great. I wish I lived closer to this place, because I feel like I need to try every bowl on the menu.