Restaurant Review – Page 86

Quality Salads at Flock

Published on October 31, 2018 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 330 Adelaide Street West, Toronto
Website: https://www.eatflock.com/

If you’re downtown and you’re looking for something quick and relatively healthy, you could probably do worse than Flock. Though I’m not crazy about their much-ballyhooed chicken sandwich (its texture is one-note soft, and it generally doesn’t taste much better than something I could throw together at home from leftovers), I just tried one of their salads and found it quite satisfying.

I got the Frenchy Flock (“Mixed Greens & Arugula, Vine Beans, Crispy Onions, Roasted Cauliflower, French Lentils, Sweet Peppers, Cucumber, Cherry Tomatoes, Hard Boiled Egg, Yellow Zucchini with Roasted Tomato/Olive/Caper Vinaigrette”) and had it topped with pulled chicken.

Yes, it’s a lot of stuff. And it’s a quality salad; the veggies are all nice and fresh, and the zippy vinaigrette suited it well. The pulled chicken was above average, and did a good job of making the salad feel like a full meal.

But the roasted cauliflower was overcooked and mushy, and the egg was chalky and dry, which was unfortunate. Also unfortunate: with the chicken add-on, it came up to about $17.50. That’s almost hilariously expensive for a salad that, though tasty, isn’t substantially better than the pre-packed salads you can get at a nicer supermarket (which cost about half as much).

Passable Noodle Soup at Pho Vistro

Published on October 29, 2018 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 259 Queen Street West, Toronto
Website: http://www.phovistro.com/

The pho at Pho Vistro was fine. There wasn’t anything particularly wrong with it, and I didn’t dislike eating it.

But it made no real impression on me; my biggest takeaway is that it was food and I ate it. It wasn’t memorable in any particular way.

They have a few different varieties of pho on the menu; I ordered the restaurant’s namesake dish, which features beef and chicken.

The broth had a nice, clean chicken flavour, but almost none of the distinctive spicing you expect from a good bowl of pho. They have a couple of bottles of sauce on the table that add a nice dose of spice and zestiness; these are absolutely essential. On its own, the soup is seriously bland.

The slices of chicken and beef are okay, but they all had a vaguely leftovery flavour, and they’re all a bit tough.

The broad rice noodles are what you’d expect. They’re good.

It all adds up to a very inoffensive meal that I can’t imagine anyone getting too excited over.

Surprisingly Tasty Vietnamese Food at Mii Sandwich Co.

Published on October 26, 2018 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 3401 Dufferin Street, North York (inside Yorkdale Mall)
Website: http://mii.herokuapp.com/

Mii is a small fast food chain specializing in quick Vietnamese eats. As far as I know it’s only in mall food courts, which kinda makes you think it’s not going to be very good.

(Also, the name seems like a lawsuit from Nintendo waiting to happen. It’s a bit puzzling.)

Well, I just tried their classic banh mi, and I was shocked at how much I enjoyed it. It’s certainly not the best banh mi I’ve ever had, but it gets pretty much everything right, and very little wrong.

Basically: it’s not the bastardization you’d expect from the food court in Yorkdale. It’s legit.

It’s seven bucks, so it’s somewhat pricey by banh mi standards, but it’s a hefty sandwich; considering the location, you really can’t expect it to be much cheaper.

Everything is as it should be: a nice slathering of butter, a healthy amount of chunky pate, a variety of cold cuts, and a good proportion of veggies and cilantro. There was some kind of dark sauce that was a little bit too sweet for my taste, but aside from that, it was a tasty sammich.

The baguette was quite good, too; maybe a little bit too crunchy on its exterior, but otherwise soft and fresh.

Bizarre Pizza at Big Trouble Pizza

Published on October 25, 2018 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 235 Spadina Avenue, Toronto
Website: https://www.bigtroublepizza.com/

The dessert pizza at Big Trouble Pizza — called the Butter Jam Jam — is quite odd. It features raspberry jam, butter cream, bocconcini cheese, mozzarella cheese, balsamic reduction, and lemon zest.

It sounds kinda absurd, and… yeah, it’s absurd. I was hoping it would be one of those things that sounds weird but is actually great; no such luck.

It’s not bad, though. It’s generally tasty enough — all of the components are good — but the flavours/textures never quite cohere in any meaningful way. It’s a little too salty for something that’s supposed to be a dessert, and nothing about it particularly pops.

It tastes like something you might whip up in a moment of bizarre inspiration (perhaps under the influence of a certain substance that was just legalized) and then, once you actually try it, never make again.

Still, I didn’t dislike eating it, I guess. And the crust was actually quite good, with a light exterior crispiness, and a pleasantly chewy interior. It definitely makes me want to go back and try one of the traditional pizzas.

Decent Breakfast Sandwiches at Egg Bae

Published on October 24, 2018October 24, 2018 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 189 Augusta Avenue, Toronto
Website: http://eggbae.ca/

I’ve been meaning to check out Egg Bae pretty much since it opened, though I’ll admit that the name kinda makes me cringe. I can’t help but think about this moment from 30 Rock every time I see it.

But regardless of the name, I just can’t say no to a tasty breakfast sandwich. Who can?

The menu is admirably focused, with breakfast sandwiches, breakfast sandwiches, and more breakfast sandwiches (they also have hash browns if you want something on the side). I went with the eponymous Egg Bae: “Soft Scrambled Eggs, Chives, Muenster Cheese, Slow Cooked Onions, Bae Sauce.”

It’s decent enough, but alas, it didn’t quite knock my socks off.

All of the components are really good (in particular, the eggs themselves are perfect — they’re amazingly soft and creamy with zero sliminess), and the hearty bun does a great job of holding up to the very gooey sandwich.

But all of the flavours and textures are basically on the exact same wavelength; it’s one-note soft, salty, and rich, and as good as it is, it gets monotonous. It really needed some texture to balance out how soft everything is, and something acidic to cut the richness. It’s not a large sandwich, and I was still sick of eating it towards the end.

Certainly, Gold Standard, which serves my current favourite breakfast sandwich in the city, remains the… well, gold standard of breakfast sandwiches.

This will probably flush my credibility down the toilet, but I think even a McMuffin is better (I’m partial to the Egg and Sausage). Yes, the quality of the ingredients at Egg Bae are clearly superior and the eggs are better prepared, but the McMuffin is just more satisfying. The toasted English muffin gives it some much-needed textural contrast, and the flavours are better balanced.

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