Restaurant Review – Page 97

Outstanding (if untraditional) Philly Cheesesteaks at Illstyl3 Sammies

Published on November 5, 2018November 5, 2018 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 300 Richmond Street West, Toronto
Website: https://www.facebook.com/Illstyl3-Sammies-227723081025310/

I’ve mentioned before that it’s surprisingly difficult to find a classic Philly cheesesteak in the city (i.e. just steak, onions, and Cheese Wiz or provolone on a roll).

But if every cheesesteak could be as delicious as what they’re serving at Illstyl3 Sammies, then classic shmassic. Because it’s far from traditional, but exceptionally delicious.

And it’s classic enough. The steak, the onions, and the gooey provolone are all perfect. In particular, the steak is exactly as it should be — it’s super tender, and has enough of a beefy taste to assert itself even among the very assertive flavours of the sandwich.

Specifically, they liberally season the beef with some kind of spice blend (the fennel stands out the most, but there’s definitely a lot going on here), and they add in hot peppers along with the onions. They also top the sandwich with a zesty house-made hot sauce that adds a ton of flavour and a very mild spiciness.

The taste is very far from a classic cheesesteak, but it’s got the three things you’re hoping for: it’s beefy, cheesy, and delicious.

My only real complaint is that the roll was a bit on the dry side, but other than that this was a top-shelf sammich.

Fried Chicken Breakfast Sandwich at Porchetta & Co.

Published on November 1, 2018 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 130 King Street West, Toronto
Website: http://porchettaco.com/

The Exchange Tower location of Porchetta & Co. is a bit different from the other ones — it opens early, and it has a breakfast menu. This menu includes a buttermilk fried chicken sandwich.

Fried chicken in the morning? Yes please.

Sadly, it’s not quite as great as you’d hope, but it’s fried chicken, an egg, and gooey cheese. Of course it tastes good. How could that combo not taste good?

Like all of the fried chicken at Porchetta & Co., the chicken here is perfectly cooked, with a satisfyingly crispy exterior. It’s dipped in hot honey, with a very strong emphasis on the honey. It’s sweet. I wish there were a bit more spice, and maybe some vinegar to cut the sweetness, because it’s tasty, but it’s a bit cloying.

The egg was overcooked, with a chalky yolk — but other than that, the sandwich was solid. The cheese was nice and melty, and the buttery toasted English muffin was the perfect vehicle for the chicken, egg, and cheese.

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.