bacon – Michael Eats

Caesar and Bacon McCrispy at McDonald’s

Published on September 21, 2026September 21, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 30 Courtneypark Drive East, Mississauga
Website: https://www.mcdonalds.com/ca/en-ca.html

McDonald’s isn’t exactly reinventing the wheel by combining chicken, bacon, and Caesar dressing. It’s a combination that works — but it’s a bit boring.

They can’t all be menu heists, I guess.

Here’s how McDonald’s describes the Caesar and Bacon McCrispy: “A crispy chicken patty – made with 100% Canadian-raised seasoned chicken – and shredded lettuce on a soft potato bun, topped with a Caesar parmesan sauce, crispy onions and hickory smoked bacon. It’s the Caesar you know and love – the McDonald’s way!”

Remember when I said this sandwich was boring? I actually wish it were a bit more boring. The Caesar parmesan sauce is pretty different from normal Caesar dressing, and I’m not sure why. It’s sweeter and more tangy than you’d expect, and it lacks the garlicky bite of the real deal.

It’s not bad, but I would have preferred something more typically Caesar-esque. I’m honestly not sure I would have even guessed what this was supposed to be if you hadn’t told me.

Otherwise, the sandwich is exactly what you’d expect. It’s perfectly fine — I just don’t understand why the Caesar doesn’t taste like Caesar.

Cheesy Bacon McFlavour Fries at McDonald’s (World Menu Heist)

Published on August 21, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 1001 Islington Avenue, Etobicoke
Website: https://www.mcdonalds.com/ca/en-ca.html

I mentioned before that the Stroopwafel McFlurry might be the most boring item in this year’s World Menu Heist. Well, the Cheesy Bacon McFlavour Fries — which are just fries, cheese sauce, and bacon — are a very close second.

Here’s how McDonald’s describes them: “France’s Cheesy Bacon McFlavour Fries have gone missing… and surfaced in Canada. Golden fries loaded with a creamy double cheddar cheese sauce and hickory-smoked bacon. Rich, indulgent, and easy to lose track of. Grab them before they’re ‘disparues’.”

(Does McDonald’s really think my French is advanced enough to know what “disparues” means? That’s very kind of them, but the sum total of my decade or so of French classes in school is that I can say “Je m’appell Michael.” (It means “missing,” BTW.))

This was… fine? It was food? I ate it? The cheese sauce is basically a slightly zestier version of Cheez Whiz, and the bacon and fries are what they are.

It likely would have been tasty enough if the fries and/or the bacon were more fresh (or fresh at all), but they were not. The bacon was off-puttingly jerky-like, and the fries were lukewarm, dry, and cardboardy.

(Didn’t the fries at McDonald’s used to get soggy when they were stale? Did they change the formula? Because even soggy fries likely would have been more satisfying here.)

I also got an order of the Truffle Flavoured Mayo Style Sauce from Sweden, which was okay. I’m not generally a fan of truffle oil, which this definitely tastes like, so it’s possible you’ll like this better if you enjoy that stuff.

It basically tasted like a thick, gloppy cream of mushroom soup with truffle oil. It wasn’t my favourite thing ever, but the fries were so dry, and so monotonous in their cheesy/salty flavour, that I still wound up using all of it.

A Delicious Brunch at Emma’s Country Kitchen

Published on May 23, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 810 Saint Clair Avenue West, Toronto
Website: https://www.emmascountrykitchen.com/

Emma’s Country Kitchen has been serving up brunch for a while. I’ve been wanting to check the place out since seeing it on a 2015 episode of You Gotta Eat Here, and yeah, they’re still around and kicking. Even more surprising: the place is still hopping. I showed up at about 10:00am on a Saturday, and it was a half hour wait to get in.

I tend not to go to brunch places all that often, because it’s all a bit boring, and it’s generally all stuff you can make at home relatively easily. But when it’s as good as it is here? Yeah, I can’t do that at home, and I doubt you can, either.

It’s worth braving the crowds. Everything here was stellar.

In particular, the cinnamon bun pancakes (“Stack of light and fluffy buttermilk pancakes swirled with caramelized brown sugar, butter and cinnamon. Served with whipped brown butter and real maple syrup”) might be their most well known dish (it was featured on that episode of You Gotta Eat here all those years ago), and for good reason.

Seriously, I think these might be the best pancakes I’ve ever had? They were nice and fluffy with just the right amount of density, they’ve got a nice tang from the buttermilk, and the caramelized brown sugar gives the pancakes a nice crispiness in spots and a delightful amount of sweetness. I didn’t even use the syrup on the side — the level of sweetness here was restrained, but perfect.

The brown butter on top gives it a nice creaminess and a mild salty pop that offsets the sweetness of the brown sugar. Good lord these were good. I could eat about a million of them.

I also tried the Breakwich (“Freshly baked buttermilk biscuit topped with over easy egg, melted cheese and choice of sage and onion sausage, house cured bacon or griddled tomato”) and yeah, that was stellar, too. You can choose your egg, cheese, and meat: I went with scrambled, spicy pimento cheese, and sausage.

The perfect biscuit was the highlight, but everything here was very, very good. In particular, that pimento cheese has a nice kick and a satisfying zippy flavour. I want this stuff on all my breakfast sandwiches from now on.

Finally, I tried the Emma’s BLT (“Freshly baked buttermilk biscuit, 2 pieces house cured bacon, fresh tomato, baby arugula and roasted garlic mayo”). You can get this with a biscuit, or a toasted rye bun. I went with the bun since I was already having the biscuit.

This was the least exciting of the dishes I tried, but still quite tasty. I’m pretty sure I’m going to dream about that thickly-cut house-cured bacon. It’s fantastic. But then everything here is fantastic, so why shouldn’t it be?

Spicy Avocado Bacon Chicken Sandwich from Jollibee

Published on April 27, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 800 Boyer Boulevard, Mississauga (inside Seafood City Supermarket)
Website: http://jollibeecanada.com/

I’ll give the Spicy Avocado Bacon Chicken Sandwich one thing: they’re not stingy with the avocado. Typically with a fast food sandwich featuring avocado, you need to pull out a magnifying glass to spot the stuff, but there’s actually a generous amount of it here.

As for the rest of the sandwich? Uh…

Here’s how Jollibee describes it: “Our New Spicy Avocado Bacon Chicken Sandwich starts with a crispy, juicy, hand-breaded chicken breast fillet, topped with hickory-smoked bacon, creamy Hass avocado, fresh jalapeños, crisp lettuce, and spicy sriracha mayo, served on a toasted brioche bun.”

It’s fine, mostly, but it’s a bit of a salt bomb. Between the salty chicken and the salty bacon, and with nothing sweet to balance things out, it’s a lot. The chicken was pretty dry, which somehow made the saltiness issue seem more pronounced (the fact that I had to wait 15 minutes in a mostly empty restaurant for this thing, only for it to be clearly not fresh, just added insult to injury).

The sandwich is also not particularly spicy, which is a shame. The spice level is there, but it’s quite mild.

Otherwise, it was okay. The chicken had a nice exterior crunchiness, the combo of bacon and avocado is certainly a tasty one, and the bun was nice and fresh. It’s fine, but I can’t say I’m particularly keen to run out and buy another one.

Also: the sandwich cost $13.99 before tax (!!), which might make it the most expensive fried chicken sandwich in the GTA (at least outside of restaurants with waiter service). Even local joints like PG Clucks and the Michelin-noted Chica’s Chicken are cheaper by a buck or two.

Delicious Slices at Sadboy Pizza

Published on March 23, 2026 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 51 Main Street South, Georgetown
Website: https://sadboy.ca/

I can’t say I’m in Georgetown often (or ever), but I had heard nothing about good things about Sadboy Pizza and was in the general vicinity, so sure, why not?

All those good things: 100% correct. Sadboy Pizza serves some top notch slices.

They have a variety of interesting-looking pizzas, but I’m all about the plain cheese, particularly when I’m first trying a place, so I went with the mozz OG (“fresh and aged mozzarella blend”).

It’s a great slice of pizza. In particular, the crust is just where you want it to be, with a perfect amount of exterior crispiness, a tender chewiness within, and a really satisfying flavour.

The combo of fresh and aged mozzarella adds a pop of flavour that you normally don’t get in this type of pizza, and there’s a good ratio of cheese to tasty sauce.

It’s not one of the bigger slices I’ve ever had, but it was also only five bucks even. Which means that it was small enough and cheap enough that I was able to justify buying a second slice. I went with the breakfast4dinner (“garlic cream sauce, crispy diced hashbrowns, bacon, chicken breakfast sausage (halal), sesame seed crust, frank’s maple syrup drizzle”), and yeah, it was just as good.

I don’t know that I would have guessed the breakfast angle if you hadn’t told me — it tastes like a pretty standard meaty pizza, though the syrup does add a nice sweetness that helps to balance out the saltiness from the sausage and bacon. Still, whatever it is, it’s quite delicious.

My only real complaint here is that both slices could have used another minute or two in the oven (they were both a bit lukewarm around the middle), but other than that? Sadboy totally holds up to any of the top-tier pizza joints in the GTA. It’s that good.