beef – Michael Eats

Black Truffle Burger at Shake Shack

Published on November 11, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 100 City Centre Drive, Mississauga (inside Square One)
Website: https://shakeshack.ca/

The last time I tried Shake Shack, it was during their collaboration with Mimi Chinese; it was thoroughly delicious.

I went with their latest special on this visit, the Black Truffle Burger (“Gruyere cheeseburger topped with black truffle sauce made with real black truffle oil and our crispy sweet onions on a toasted potato bun”), and it was… not thoroughly delicious.

I find it kind of hilarious that they boast that this is made with “real truffle oil,” as if that means anything. Seriously: don’t make me tap the “the vast majority of truffle oils have never seen a truffle in their life, and are artificially flavoured to taste vaguely like a truffle” sign.

No, I’m not a fan of truffle oil — though I will say that its flavour here isn’t too overbearing, and is mostly balanced out by the crispy onions and the tasty cheese.

This should have been a decent enough cheeseburger, except the star of the show — the beef — was surprisingly bad. The patty had a decent beefy flavour, but was very dry and disconcertingly crammed with crunchy gristly bits.

Shake Shake is ostensibly about higher quality food than big chains like McDonald’s or Wendy’s, but I don’t know if I’ve ever had beef this bad at either of those places.

A $36 Bowl of Pho at The Lunch Lady

Published on July 20, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 93 Ossington Avenue, Toronto
Website: https://thelunchlady.com/

The Lunch Lady is a Vietnamese restaurant that opened in Toronto with some built-in hype thanks to its Anthony-Bourdain-related backstory (it started as an anonymous street food stall in Vietnam that Bourdain visited and blew up, then it expanded to Vancouver, and most recently, Toronto).

And when I say hype, I mean hype. I actually tried to visit last weekend for lunch and was flat-out turned away. Reservations (for now, at least) are advised.

The biggest bummer here is that the dish that Bourdain tried — a noodle soup called bun bo hue — isn’t on the menu. The closest thing is the pho, which comes in two versions: standard (“brisket, short plate, rare beef shoulder, rice noodles, 24-hour beef broth”), which costs $22, and wagyu (“rare wagyu zabuton, beef cheek, ox tail, bone marrow, slow poached egg, rice noodles, 24-hour beef broth”), which costs a whopping $36.

The menu notes that the wagyu version is the chef’s recommendation, so sure, why not — you can’t take it with you, I guess?? $36 is a somewhat upsetting amount to pay for a bowl of pho; was it worth it?

Kinda? Nothing about the broth particularly stands out — it tastes quite similar to any other decent bowl of pho I’ve had in the GTA, with none of the extra oomph or beefy flavour you’d hope for, given the price tag.

Everything else, however? Fantastic. In particular, the very generous portions of oxtail and beef cheek are both phenomenal; they’re tender and unctuous, with a nice balance of perfectly rendered fat and ultra-tender meat, and an intense beefy flavour that lets you know they’re using good quality stuff.

Do I dare use the word unctuous twice in one post?? Yeah, I’m gonna do it. The generous amount of bone marrow — which comes right on the bone — is silky and unctuous, and has a really nice roasty flavour.

The wagyu zabuton (which, apparently, is a cut from the shoulder of the cow — I learned something today) comes uncooked on the side; the waiter advised that it be dipped in the soup for about 10 seconds to cook it very lightly. Like all the other beef here, it’s tender and flavourful.

There’s also an ultra-silky slow-poached egg in the bowl; it basically just melts into the soup, adding some extra richness. Everything else — the rice noodles and the sauces, veggies, and herbs on the side — are standard-issue pho stuff.

So, once again, was it worth $36?

I guess? I doubt I’d order it again (what am I, Warren Buffet???), but I’m not mad I tried it.

Tasty Sandwiches at Tutto Panino

Published on July 5, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 100 Sorauren Avenue, Toronto
Website: https://www.tuttopanino.com/

In case you haven’t noticed, Toronto is in the grips of an Italian sandwich obsession. It seems like every other new restaurant these days is serving up a variety of Italian cold cut sandwiches.

Enter: Tutto Panino. They’ve got the usual assortment of cold salami and mortadella sandwiches, though their specialty — the Bolito (“beef brisket, salsa verde, chili oil”) — is a hot one.

It’s a solid sandwich. It comes crammed with a healthy amount of ultra-tender braised beef brisket, and is topped with a zippy salsa verde. You can get it mild or hot — I went with hot, and yeah, it’s got a decent kick. It’s nothing too aggressive, but it’ll give you a bit of a tingle.

The lightly crispy bun does a good job of holding up to the meaty sandwich, though I wish it were either a bit crustier, or lightly toasted. Everything here is quite soft, so some extra texture would be nice.

Similarly, the salsa verde is tasty, but I really think the sandwich needs some pickles or something a bit more acidic to cut through the richness of the beef.

Still, I didn’t love it, but am I mad that I ate this sandwich? Absolutely not. Would I eat it again? I absolutely would.

Quality Pastrami at Linny’s Luncheonette

Published on May 18, 2025May 18, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 174 Ossington Avenue, Toronto
Website: https://linnysluncheonette.com/

Whenever there’s a new deli specializing in pastrami or Montreal smoked meat, I sit up and take notice. We have a handful of quality restaurants like this in the GTA, but not nearly enough. There should be one on every block, and there’s what? Like maybe five or six?

The menu here is extremely simple. They serve pastrami, a couple of other sandwiches, and a few sides. It’s also take-out only, so if you don’t get one of the two small picnic tables out front, too bad. Take your food and walk.

The pastrami is quite tasty. The spicing on the meat is weirdly restrained, though, which dials down the flavour and holds the sandwich back from greatness. But otherwise, everything here is exactly where it should be, with thick, hand-cut slices of ultra-tender beef on perfectly-fresh rye bread with just the right amount of mustard (I find a lot of places tend to over-mustard their sandwiches, overwhelming the beef, but here it’s just right).

I will say that although the borderline bland spicing is a bummer, the meat has a distinctly smoky flavour that goes a long way towards mitigating this. And it’s still a great sandwich — it’s just that everything else about it is so stellar that its lack of seasoning stands out more than it would otherwise.

I also got a side order of the coleslaw, which is a great zippy counterpoint to the very heavy sandwich (albeit a little too heavy on the onions for my personal preferences).

Cheap Eats at Mini Bar

Published on April 21, 2025 by Michael NusairLeave a comment

Location: 116 Spadina Avenue, Toronto
Website: None

If nothing else, Mini Bar is an absolute steal. A relatively hearty sandwich downtown for eight bucks? Yeah, you can’t go wrong there.

Well, I suppose you could go wrong if the sandwich didn’t taste good, but that’s clearly not an issue here.

I ordered the bulgogi and kimchi, which comes in a Kaiser roll, topped with tender beef bulgogi, kimchi, lettuce, tomato, mayo, and a slice of cheddar cheese.

Is it going to rock your world? No, probably not; it’s a pretty no-frills sandwich, but for what it is (and considering the price) it’s very tasty. If I worked in the area, I’m sure I’d be a regular.

Mini Bar serves kimbap on Fridays, which is also quite satisfying. They were making them as I ordered, so it was super fresh and filled with tasty stuff.